SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY,

The Novitiate, or a Year among the English Jesuits ; a Personal Narrative. With an Essay on the Constitutions, the Confessional Morality, and History of th Jesuits. By Andrew Steinmetz Smith and Elder TRAM" The King of Saxony's .Tourney through England and Scotland, In the Year 1844. By Dr. C. G. Carus, Physician to his Majesty the King of Saxony, and Privy Coun-

sellor of the Medical Department. Translated by S. C. Davidson, B.A., he.

rotrrzcAL Economy, Chapman and Hall. Protection to Home Industry : some Cases of its Advantages considered. The sub- stance of two Lectures delivered before the University of Dublin, In Michaelmas Term 1840; to which is added, an Appendix, containing Dissertations on some points connected with the subject. By Isaac Butt, Esq., LL.D., formerly Professor of Political Economy in the University of Dublin. POETRY, Parker ; Hodges and Smith, Dublin. The Legacy of an Etonian. Edited by Robert Irelands, sole Executor.

Bell; Macmillan and Co., Cambridge.

ANDREW STEINMETZ'S NOVITIATE.

Tins is as singular a book of its kind as has appeared since Blanco White's Letters of Doblado ; with the advantage of dealing with the Jesuits in England, instead of Popery in Spain. Mr. Steinmetz, who unfolds the secrets of Stonyhurst, is of French and German parents ; and was born "in an island situated between the Tropics—a Swedish colony." A Tropical sun, with maternal and priestly influence, heightened the reli- gious fever of a temperament devotionally inclined by nature. At twelve years of age he was smitten with a zeal for controversy, and succeeded in converting his elder sister. His mother designed her Andrew for the medical profession ; but he had secretly vowed himself to the priesthood ; and the maternal consent having been obtained, (for his father was dead,) he came to England, and was entered a student of St. Cuthbert's College, near Durham. There he remained five years; which period appears to have carried him through his teens.

In the interim, several things occurred. His mother died; the family circumstances were broken ; and Andrew's habit of controversy continuing, he argued himself "into doubts." About the same time, a hope flashed on his mind that by returning to the world he could retrieve the fortunes of his family. "This hope," says he, "sounded a truce to my tempta- tions against the faith, from which I longed to escape by a life of action; and I resolved to resign the certainties of the priesthood for the hopes of my dreams."

There is here a gap in Mr. Steinmet2's memoirs. It is clear he went to London ; he also travelled, and even visited America; it may perhaps be inferred that he was simple enough to look to literature as a means of restoring the family fortunes ; but all we know distinctly is, that the idea of becoming a Jesuit suddenly struck him in Fleet Street.

"It was in London—in Fleet Street. I can point out the very stone of the pavement on which I stood at that eventful moment. Hardly an instant MIS

given for consideration. The idea took complete possession of my mind, and I believed it to be an inspiration. I turned on my heel, wended my way to— Street, knocked, was admitted, and stood in the presence of a—Jesuit, for the first time in my life."

This man was the London agent of Stonyhurst College ; and after some delay, apparently to test the character and determination of the applicant, Mr. Steinmetz was received, and sent to Stonyhurst in a high flood-tide of fervency. The first appearance of things at the College dis- appointed him. The Jesuits, with the exception of the Principal, did not "look the character "—the neophyte expected more keenness of eye and of intellect, with a greater love of literature, than he seems to have found. His enthusiasm was also scandalized by their lax conduct. A newspaper was read on Sunday "over our wine"; ; and one brother took off "the manner and expression of some absent individual on whom the conversa- tion turned," and seems to have laughed heartily at his own powers of mimicry. However, newborn zeal supported the disciple ; he went to Hodder House, where the novitiate is passed, and seems to have got through the first year favourably, enough. But there is always a risk with ardent temperaments, from the sudden offences they take, the sud- den impulses they receive, and the fervour with which they follow them— till they wear them out. It is part of the discipline of the order that the Principal should abdicate his office for a certain time, and bumble him- self as the lowest novice. During this period, his office is filled by the Father Minister, or Principal's assistant. To this man Mr. Steinmetz had taken an antipathy. It was in vain that he confessed his fault to the Principal, and was put through the mental courses proper to the case, which would seem to be a common one. The feeling of the epi- gram, "I do not like you, Doctor Fell," was too strong to be driven out by all the arts of Jesuitry. The idea of confessing to this man caused the novice "a pang" ; a reprimand administered by the Father Minister for walking too fast, and some other trivialities, heightened the dislike ; and Steinmetz felt he might be unable to carry out the vow of obedience. In the particular case he did not fail, supported by the mild exhortation of the Principal, whom he sought ; but he seems to have argued, reason- ably enough, that if he rebelled in his novitiate on trifles and personal vanities, how could he hope to obey implicitly when he was sent into the world as a Jesuit to carry out views that might not be so " innocent " as was his present obedience. In this frame of mind he gave notice of his intention to withdraw, and left the society. The greater part of the volume before us is occupied with an account of the novitiate ; and it will be found a very curious work, though some- what diffuse, but in the agreeable, half-mystical, half-poetical style of the Romish divines. The reader, however, must be warned that there is no- thing of the "raw head and bloody bones" character about it, such as fanatics put into fictions. Personal kindness distinguished many indivi- duals with whom our author came in contact, and mildness is the cha- racteristic of the system. Fasting is not pushed to any extent, for the Jesuits always desire health in their members : enthusiasm seems rather to be controlled than encouraged, and would be checked if the authorities dared. Mental discipline animated by religious autobiography is the subject of The Novitiate ; an account of the manner in which a

studied and elaborate system of "exercises," trainings, habits, and ex- amples, seeks to subdue the passions of the individual, and even his in- dividuality, till he becomes a wary, sharp, and polished instrument for the purposes of his "order," prompt to take advantage of the weakness or thoughtlessness of others, never showing weakness or forgetfulness himself. It would seem, too, that in their "meditations" they aim at exciting the mind to action—to render it creative or inventive; as in their discourses or sermons they (in common, however, with other educa- tors) practice the pupil in composition. And a certain sort of mecha- nical success may attend both schemes ; but only to end in the production of religious commonplace. As our notions of conciseness differ from those of the Fathers, we cannot give a complete idea of one of the medita- tions as described by Mr. Steinmetz; but we can exhibit enough to show the sort of invention such forced activity of mind must produce—it seems to be that of the monstrosities of monkery or the commonplaces of divinity.

THE LAST JUDGMENT.

"'But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.

"'And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

"'And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.' "Point L I began by impressing my mind with the certainty of the coming event, and made thereon a firm, fervent act of faith. I reasoned with my soul on the necessity of that judgment. Throughout all time the good have been oppres- sed, afflicted, scorned by the judgment of men: that judgment must be reversed. God himself will right them on that awful day. They have sighed in bitterness of heart: '0 Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me: Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.'" "Point IL Consider who will appear at that final judgment—that judgment which shall never be reversed—which will proclaim the exclusive existence of joy which it has not entered into the heart of man to conceive,' and of wo equally inconceivable—unutterable ! Then there will be no purgatory to expiate the temporal penalties of sin mere human frailties: then there will be no earth where we may retrieve the past! All who appear then to judgment will hear a final blessing or a final curse! Who shall appear? All who have sprung from the first-created man, from the beginning of time to the day of tribulation, the great and the little, the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, Christians and Infidels, Jews and Gentiles, obedient children of the Church and heretics, sincere believers and philosophers; all, absolutely, all of every age, of every land, shall ap- pear to judgment. Thou, my soul, shalt be there ! * * • •

On that day, of what avail will be the dazzling glory and endless renown of mighty conquerors—the power of riches—the power of learning, that destroys as many as it saves—this proud learning, which thou covetest so much ! Of what avail will it be to thee, my poor soul, if thou bast not on the 'wedding garment'? "Sincere Christians, the elect and the rejected, among which wilt thou be? The obedient children of the Church and the disobedient heretics; among which wilt then be? Once more thou bast been reconciled to the faith; what a mercy ! what a favour ! Wilt thou remain faithful to the end—to the judgment? Trem- ble at the awful thought!

"Point IlL Imagine the scene of judgment; see, as it were now, the God of glory; Jesus the crucified, now the glorified, coming in majesty from on high in his chariot of celestial fire that illumines the whole earth from bound to bound, surrounded by all the angels of heaven, thrones, principalities, dominations, cheru- bim and seraphim, hymning renown and glory to Him alone, who was, is, and ever will be, worthy of all honour and praise.

"The trumpet sounds! Phalanx on phalanx, and troop on troop, roll into position instantly, at that sound. Behold! the two divisions stand widely apart. Behold them I read the features of the wicked; then turn to those of the good."

Mr. Steinmetz does not &ft into the error of treating the Jesuits after the manner of the Presbyterian or Minerva Press schools ; but we think he is disposed to attribute to them more power than they are likely ever to possess in the nature of things. In their hands a great genius would either break loose, or his wings would be clipped and his originality ren- dered abortive. They aim at too much when they aim at changing na- ture. The founders of the Society of Jesus were undoubtedly remarkable men; but they lived in an age of fanaticism, when preachers of all sects possessed a power and received a consideration which they must never hope for again—till we get back to Spain "with both the Indies," the realm-bestowing power of the Pope, the non-existence of Prussia, and so great an obscurity hanging over Russia that an English merchant shall rediscover Archangel and be received as a wonder at the court of the Czar. Even in those days the order failed when it aimed at the nimis alta, and some of its ablest men perished on the scaffold. Since that time, we believe, its members have been good easy men, whose physiognomy disappoints the enthusiast, as their quiet enjoyments may scandalize the ascetic; or mild and excellent men, like the Principal of Hodder House, whose natural vocation is the church, and who are an honour to any sect; or active, bold, unscrupulous, cunning men of the world, such as the Stonyhurst agent in London, who would have risen in the law, or the church, or trade, but who would never have set the Thames on fire, or even have produced great changes in society. Since the fanatic and excited times which witnessed the origin of the order, the Jesuits have done little more than produce some works on education, and other com- pilations, besides contributing their share to missionary books. If they should now be more stirring and active than hitherto, it is a character- istic they have in common with the times; and perhaps the Protestant priesthoods will not be any the worse for a little of the stimulus of com- petition, in educational matters at least.