SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

Eccumurricm. Hurroity, The Reformation In Europe. By Cesare Cantu. Translated by Fortunato Pratull.

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CANTU'S REFORMATION IN EUROPE.

CESARE CANTU is one of the most remarkable litti!rateurs of Italy, if not of Europe ; and bears in his career a general resemblance to Southey both as regards the number and nature of his works. He was born in 1803 ; at a very early age he published an epic on the Lombard League, and va- rious other pieces in verse and prose. In an illustrative commentary on the Promessi Sposi, both the Italians and the Austrians traced modern politics in historical exposition. The countrymen of the author took off twelve editions of his book in a few months, and the Austrians put him into prison ; where they kept him for a year, subjecting him all the time to inquisitorial examinations; and when they dismissed him, without trial, refused to make him any recompense for wasted time or a pro- fessorship which he had lost. Driven to seek support from his pen, he became a vontributor to several literary journals; wrote some historical novels, in one of which he again introduced the Austrians, though pro- fessedly describing bygone times; translated Lamartine's Journey in the Levant, Sismondi's Fall of the Roman Empire, and Conde's Arabs in Spain; besides publishing different literary controversial works and some compilations. According to Fortunato Prandi, his natural bent was to history ; and, indeed, all his greater works were in their nature his- torical, his epic, his fictions, his commentaries, and his translations, having history for their base. In 1838, or rather earlier, he began an Universal History, to be comprised in about forty octavo volumes, and to be completed in eight years I His plan, says M. Prandi, was " en- tirely new i - embodying modern inventions and discoveries, and ex- hibiting mankind not in separate sections but in one collective mass, so as to show that in spite of the stationary or retrograding condition of individual portions the whole has been constantly progressing towards a higher and purer state of society." That section which embraced the religious movement begun by Luther, and its effects in improving Chris- tendom, is the part now selected for translation, with the title of "The Reformation in Europe."

A work of such extent, undertaken with comparatively slender direct preparation, can scarcely allow of great original research, or of that "much pondering" which should distinguish the opinions of the writer who sits in judgment upon the actions and characters of nations and kings, however great may be the ability and industry of the author. All that we can expect is a general coup d'ceil, drawn from the leading writers who have treated any particular country, and from such ori- ginal authorities as are or ought to be read by all scholars,—the Bible, Herodotus, Thucydides, Ctesar, Sallust, and, as modern specimens, Guic- ciardini, i ' Machiavelli, More, Bacon, and Clarendon. To expect more thin this, would be to expect more than mortal could accomplish; since any one class of subjects—as classical or mediaeval history, or law in general, or modern science—would require and exhaust a life, if treated thoroughly and originally. So far as we can judge from the limited evidence before us, Cantu's Universal History accomplishes all that could be expected; and we are tempted to subscribe to the translator's decision with some allowance for the natural bias which all translators or editors enter- tain for their author. "His history," says M. Prandi, "is in fact more extensive than any yet known ; its arrangement more strictly historical ; its views more extensive • its information more copious and critical. He has freely availed himself of modern works, but always exercising his judgment cautiously, and carefully consulting the original sources. But what forms the chief excellence of his performance, is the spirit of free- dom and liberality with which it is pervaded."

The choice of that part of Cantu's History which relates to the Re- formation is judicious. We have, it is true, many accounts of the Re- formation; but all except Ranke's are biassed on one side or the other, and several are by hot religions partisans. Ranke himself, though a philosopher, is a German ; Cantu is an Italian and a Romanist, but a Romanist of liberal views and a philosophical spirit, yet with the Italian traceable throughout. It is not likely that M. Cantu, with the critical freedom he allows himself; should adopt the infallibility of the Pope, or the half-inspired character which superstition ascribes to the Romish priesthood : nevertheless the theorist, bribed by nationality, and perhaps by an unconscious contempt for Ultramontane nations, is fre- quently visible. The unity of the Church, and the consequent needs- sity of a conclusive judge somewhere, seem to have possessed M. Cantu, not only as a household and Italian feeling, but as a philceophical theory. The variety of doctrines, the individual inconsistencies, and the violent outrages that accompanied the Reformation, as well as the scurrilous style that distinguished most of its authors, seem to have shocked his Italian taste, and induced him to regard variety and inconsistency as a necessary consequence of allowing every man's " reason " to judge of mysteries. On the other hand, patriotism puts in a claim for the per- fecting of the Reformation by Italians. " The Reformed doctrines were suppressed in Italy; but the Italians, besides con- tributing to spread them elsewhere, carried them out more rigorously. Luther had preserved many dogmas and the hierarchy, subjecting the latter to temporal power; so that he only destroyed ecclesiastical discipline. Calvin left the clumsy structure of official Lutheranism, and flung himself into the fields of criticism, but stopped short. The Italians, on the contrary, proceeding more logically, as- sailed at once both discipline and the hierarchy, proclaimed the absolute authority of reason, and rushed into Arianism."

As regards general structure, it is probable that the author is some- what indebted to Ranke; for he pursues a similar plan. First be exhi- bits the corrupt state of the Romish Church, and the infidel character of her Churchmen, in the times preceding Luther ; he then describes the triumphant outbreak of the Reformation ; and finally the check which it received, by the interior reform of the Papal Church, when the new doc- trines seemed about to triumph in France and even Italy, as they had already done in Britain and North of the Rhine. The resemblance to Ranke, however, is only generaL Cantu mingles more of secular history . with ecclesiastical affairs, in proportion to the scale of his work. His treatment is more brief and rapid ; as might be expected, when we con- sider that it is only one part of so large a field as universal history. He also consulted Italian authorities more fully perhaps than Ranke ; at least he seems to make more use of them, both to exhibit the literature of the Papal Church before the Reformation, and to urge the claims of his countrymen in the work of the Reformation itself. Thus, apparently to defend the liberality of the Church, as well as to convey information, he exhibits the early versions of the Bible : but the controversial question is nut as to the versions of the Scriptures permitted to be made by Rome, but their denial to the laity. " The Church had from the earliest ages authorized translations of the Bible. There was a Latin version as early as the first century, and afterwards one by TAfilla fur the Goths, and others for the various converted nations. There were several in Italian. After Jacopo della Voragine, Bishop of Genoa, Nicolo Ma- . lerbi, a Cainaldolese monk, published a translation at Venice, in 1421, which was .reprinted no less than thirty-three times. At Venice Fra Guido published, in 1486, his four volumes of the Gospels, with explanations by Fra Simone da Cas- tie. In 1530, Brucioli brought out a complete translation of the Holy Scriptures. An Italian Bible was also printed at Rome in 1471. Passavanti, in his Specchio di Penitenza,' (Mirror of Penitence,) complained of the translators of the Bible, 'the which they do debase in divers manners. Some there are that do cut it short by the use of truncated words, as the French and Proveneales; some do darken it by the obscurity of their language, as the Germans, Hungarians, and English; some do degrade it by their rude and barbarous dialect, such are the Lombards; some do give it a twofold and uncertain sense by the use of doubt- ful and ambiguous phrases, as the Neapolitans; some do cover it with the rust of AL harsh accent, as the Romans; some do disguise it under the rustic dialect of the marshes or the hills; and some, worse than all, as are the Tuscans, do trouble and defile it by too much freedom of speech, more especially the Florentines do distort and make it distasteful by the frantic mouthing of their Florentine tongue.' " It was not the act of translating that wa% censured, but the manner in which translations were executed. Leo X. at his own expense commenced the publi- cation of a new Latin translation, which, though interrupted by his death, was pub- lished at Lyons in 1527. Pantaleone Giustiniani, an Augustine friar of Genoa, afterwards Bishop of Nebbio, undertook to publish the Bible in Latin, Greek, He- brew, Arabic, and Chaldee. He commenced the printing of the Psalter in eight columns, one with the Hebrew text, and six with interpretations and notes, and dedicated it to Leo X. in 1516. But of 2,050 copies struck off, scarcely a fourth part found purchasers; and the remainder perished with the compiler in a ship- wreck in 1536. There was no living language without a version of the Bible an- terior to the Reformation."

• Strictly speaking, the work before us is rather a disquisition or lecture on the Reformation than a history ; to write which fully, in- deed, would have made a considerable hole even in the forty octavo volumes. Hence, though the book is readable, rapid, and compendious, it cannot be considered as a substitute for any other history, but rather as a companion. In compressing the subject into the necessary space, something had to be treated cursorily; and sometimes M. Cantu speaks of things well known to him as if they were equally familiar to the reader. Bourbons sack of Rome, to which Hume even in a history of England gives some space, is dismissed by Cantu in one sentence ; and the cap- ture of Clement is treated as summarily : possibly, indeed, these events were not particularly palatable. Hence, it is rather as a view than as a guide that this work is valuable; which seems, in fact, the transla- tor's object. The reader gets an opposite conclusion to those of the Ultra- montane historians, and often a very just one ; but still a bias, national, and perhaps religious, is visible enough. The facts, indeed, seem always truly stated ; but it is impossible not to avoid observing the coolness with which M. Cantu sometimes narrates the most atrocious crimes on the part of the Romanists, with his severity upon less offences committed by the Protestants. In like manner, he seems to draw his facts about Luther from the second-hand statements of others, rather than from the Reform- er's work : the exceptions, (gross and great, no doubt,) rather than the entire and pervading character, are the evidence on which he relies, and the grounds of his judgment. In most cases he makes too little allow- ance for the spirit of the age and the social state of the country. Despite all critical objections, however, the book is a remarkable effort ; con- densed, animated, and rapid, with no appearance of compilation. It is the author's digested view from his reading, not a mere abridgment or 'Curtailment of other books.

The limited extension of the work, and probably the natural and ac- quired aptitude of the author, are leas favourable to the narrative of events than for literary or religious notices, and to what is called drawing &grader. The last is perhaps the author's forte; and though not with- out a flavour of bitter, he is in the main just enough.

ERASMUS.

Luther trusted to the warm support of Erasmus, the most credited man of his day; who had prepared the way for him, and had applauded his first efforts, probably foreseeing only a literary contest between the idolaters of the old school and the abetters of reform and amelioration. Luther flattered this arbiter of fame; but they were two proud spirits in the arena, and Erasmus became jealous of the man, who though a less finished writer, raised himself to the same level, and attracted the attention of all Germany, formerly fixed on himself alone. , In truth, Erasmus can scarcely bepraised for his constancy. He was a courtier with insatiable vanity; and he never forgot that to attach himself to one party was to make the other his enemy, thus losing a portion of the praise, incense, and re- pose which he enjoyed. In his jests be respected neither doctrine nor discipline, but spoke ever covertly, and made use of expressions sufficiently ambiguous to ad- mit of denial if desirable. He spoke ill of the Monks as a body, but addressed words of flattery to each individually. He abused the Popes, but kissed the feet of Leo X, and received a pension from him. Little disposed to be a martyr for any religion, he writes thus—" Luther gave us a salutary doctrine, and excellent advice: would that he had not destroyed their effects by unpardonable errors. But even were there nothing in his writings to gainsay, I have never felt inclined to die for truth. All men are not gifted with the requisite courage to become mar- tyrs; and had I been subject to the like temptation as St. Peter, I fear I should have acted as he did."

Stung by the haughty indifference of Luther, he could not resist the desire of humbling his rival. He prepared himself for the attack, and the Catholics ex- ulted: but he had no profound knowledge of the subject, and his book never peered. If he launched forth his jests against Luther, neither did he spare the Catholics. When the Vicar of the Angustines asked him what Luther had done to incur the hatred of all the world, he replied, " Two grievous sins—he attacked the tiara of the Pope and the bellies of the Friars." Luther, after treating him with a lingering regard or compassion, at length ad- dressed him a letter in hisown peculiar style, full of cordial abase. This might have been a fine opportunity for Erasmus to give vent to his sarcasm, and to use his powerful sneers against the thousand adverse opinions which now sprung into life, against the discord among the Reformers, and the increasing superstitions. He, however, took a different view of the matter, and wrote a theological confuta- tion of Luther; instead of assigning limits to the doctrine of Free-will, denied it altogether: Erasmus wished to steer a middle course, and to reconcile Free-will with Grace. But this was not a time for conciliation; and nobody understood a treatise which savoured of the schoolmeo, and which could not stand against Luther's reply, overflowing with fervour, imagination, and wit.

The following portrait of a man almost as celebrated as Erasmus in literature, and much more active as a politician, is a piece of nice de- velopment of contradictory characteristics; though some allowance should have been made for a monk and a Venetian.

PAOLO BARBI.

No one has been so readily classed among the Protestants as the celebrated Venetian friar Paolo Serpi. He was one of the cleverest men of that time. His seven hundred manuscript thoughts show that ho was thoroughly acquainted with geometry, algebra, astronomy, natural philosophy, mechanics, areometry, architecture, and magnetism. As the advocate of the republic of Venice in its contest against the Pope, it was his task to inquire into the rights of the Church, and to diminish her jurisdiction in temporal matters. Although he wrote pro- fessionally, he took up the cause with such warmth that aversion to the Holy See became his principal characteristic. It needed no great courage to attack it in a republic ever so resolute in repelling Papal encroachments. Whilst insulting the Pope he flattered Philip II. with predictions that he world enslave Europe as well as Africa, and reduce Paris into a village; whilst passing for a free-thinker, he was excessively humble with the nobles of his own country. He displayed the nature of his liberal principles in the constitutions which he framed for his own order, recommending the application of torture; as also in suggesting the most tyrannical measures to his Government. He objected to the court of the Qoarantia, because all its resolutions were carried by public debate; a process which he would scarcely suffer in civil questions. In criminal cases, he wished that the Council of Ten alone should decide, as it admitted of no discus- sion.

The system of oppression which he wished to introduce in the Venetian cold nies was absolutely infamous. He proposed that the Greeks should be treated as wild beasts,* and that they should be degraded in every possible manner, without any regard to humanity. In the Italian provinces he recommended the Govern- ment to deprive the cities of their privileges, and to impoverish the inhabitants, so that their property should eventually be purchased by the Venetians. He ex- horted them to destroy, or bribe at any price, the citizens who were attached to their municipal institutions; and to exterminate popular leaders without resorting to the ordinary course of justice, poison being less hateful and more available than

the executioner. • • • •

It has been asserted that he did really apostatize; but whether he believed ots- - not, he never ceased saying mass. Neither his disregard of all authority but rea- son, nor his constant search after truth without ever finding where to rest, would be sufficient to evidence his Protestant tendency, had he not given other proofs far more direct.

However this may have been, his "History of the Council of Trent" was one of the severest blows then struck at the Church. He worked at it with extreme patience, and contrived to procure many precious materials; particularly the re- ports of the Legates of Venice, which he arranged in such a manner as to produce the effect he wished, not even scrupling to alter them. In times of violent dia- tribes he preserved a calm appearance, as if he had reasoned only upon facts and documents; whereby he struck the unwary, especially as he relieved the tedious- ness of his subject by a remarkable clearness and amenity of style. He is, however, represented as a most upright man, indefatigable in study, and in collecting information from all sides, to work out his own opinions. Hav- ing been five times assailed, and once wounded by assassins, he cried out, "I re- cognize the dagger of the Roman Court!" This exclamation was eagerly circu- lated, and gave rise to the belief that the blow came from the Jesuits.

Besides the intellectual, moral, and religious state of Italy throughout the period, the chief sections in this volume are the Reformation in Ger- many under Luther, and at Geneva under Calvin, together with the Hatch and Flemish wars of Independence, that originated in religious persecu- tion. France is very slightly touched upon ; Spain somewhat more fully, but rather in connexion with the lives and characters of Charles the Fifth and Philip the Second than with religious history strictly. As yet there are only passing allusions to Britain.