The Story of My Life Part 55

_April 5th._--Commenced conversing in French, in good earnest.

Heard a lecture by Mons. Despretz on Modern History, in which the eloquent lecturer drew a parallel between France and Rome, and the reign of Augustus and the career of Buonaparte, of course in favour of the latter.

_April 6th--Sabbath._--Attended church both morning and evening.

Received this morning a present of several books in French from the pious author of them; read the description and reflections upon "Jesus Benissant les Enfants"; was deeply affected with the remembrance of the manner in which my most pious and excellent mother brought me, in various ways, to the Saviour, when I was a little boy. I owe my all to her, as a divinely-owned instrument, in my early conversion and dedication of myself to G.o.d and His Church.

She is now on the verge of heaven--may grace strengthen me to meet her there.

_April 7th._--Heard four lectures this day on law, chemistry, theology, and philosophy. The lecture on theology was on the authenticity of the Scriptures--comparing the prophecies of Isaiah with the narrative of the evangelists. Lecture on philosophy was devoted to an admirable a.n.a.lysis of Locke.

_April 8th._--Attended four lectures at the university at 9 o'clock. "Droit de la nature et des nations," (in the college of France) by Mons. de Postels; "Poesie latine," by M. Patin, the subject was Horace; "Anatomie, physiologie comp. et zoologie," by De Blainville; much of geological theory; "Physique-Acoustique," by M. Despretz; musical instruments.

_April 9th._--Have attended five lectures: "Histoire de Litterature Grecque," by Egger; "Histoire Ecclesiastique," by l'Abbe Jager; "Botanique anat. et Physiologie Vegetales," by Payer; "Theologie Morale," by l'Abbe Receveur.

_April 10th._--Attended three full lectures, and part of a fourth.

1st. Eloquence latine--Cicero, by M. Hanet; 2nd. Histoire Moderne, by M. Michelet, celebrated, (College de France) crowded audience and much applause; 3rd. Litterature Grecque; 4th. Histoire Moderne, par M. Sornement. I understood more than I ever did before. The name of the Lord be praised!

_April 11th._--Attended five lectures. 1st. Civil Law of France; 2nd. Astronomical Geography; 3rd. Sacred Literature; 4th. Botany and Vegetable Physiology; 5th. French Eloquence. Read French and English with a young collegian. The name of the Lord be praised for the goodness of this day, and for the success of my labours!

_April 12th._--Was enabled to make a long recitation this morning, and have attended five lectures at the university. Received a parcel from London, furnishing me with Canadian papers; how refreshing is news from home in a foreign country. Thus has my heavenly Father blest me with all good things.

_April 13th--Sabbath._--Attended service at the Chapelle Tailbout; M. Bridel preached on prayer; thence to the Wesleyan Chapel, which was crowded. Read the religious intelligence from Canada. I rejoice to hear of the doings of my brethren; the success of the work in their hands; hope still to labour with them.

_April 14th._--Attended four lectures at the university, besides my studies. I pray my heavenly Father to a.s.sist and prosper my exertions. I can do nothing without confidence in Him. To the glory of His name shall the fruit of my unworthy labours be consecrated.

_April 15th._--Attended the meeting of the "Societe des Introits generaux du Protestantisme francais." Proceedings commenced with prayer. The meeting was addressed by a number of pasteurs; most of the speakers had notes. Also attended the annual meeting of the "Societe des Traites religieux" in the Chapelle Tailbout; report well read; speeches short and energetic.

_April 16th._--Attended the Conference of the Protestant Pastors, in the Consistory of the Oratoire. About sixty present; the proceedings opened with prayer. The President then asked the members present to propose the subject of their friendly conversation; several were proposed. Two hours brotherly conversation took place on the duties, powers, and interests of the synod. Most of those who spoke had notes; delivered their sentiments sitting; were asked in order. Attended the twenty-fifth anniversary of the "Societe Biblique Protestante;" commenced with prayer and singing. The Count de Gasparin spoke extemporaneously, and with great elegance and ease. A number spoke with energy and force; the last speaker selected pa.s.sages to show that the Gospel is not incomprehensible to the vulgar, as Romanists a.s.sert; also attended the annual meeting of the "Societe Evangelique de France;"

Chairman read a very short address; several spoke; M. de Gasparin concluded by prayer.

_April 17th._--Attended the Conference of Pastors; the proceedings the same as yesterday. At the annual meeting of the "Societe des Missions Evangelique;" the chair was occupied by a venerable old man, who seemed, from the allusions made, to be an old friend and supporter of the Society. The aged President read with a feeble voice a short address. There were nine speakers; the last the venerable Monod, who delivered a charge and parting address to the young men who were going to Africa. He embraced in his address the marrow of the Gospel, its power, its promises, its preciousness.

The young men were deeply affected, as were all present. He directed them to the power and promises of Christ; a.s.sured them of the continued sympathy of the Protestant pastors and churches of France. Another pastor volunteered a few words of address to the young men, on the distribution of religious tracts, and everywhere proclaiming themselves as the missionaries of Christ from France.

There was a most affectionate greeting of pastors and old friends.

In the Consistory Chapel of the Oratoire de l'Eglise, there are four busts of ministers whose memory is cherished by their survivors. The names and epitaphs are as follows:--(1) F.

Methezet--"Il se repose de ses travaux et ses oeuvres le suivent." (2) J.A. Barbant--"Je sais en qui j'ai cru." (3) J.

Monod--"Christ est ma vie, et la mort est gain." (4) P. H.

Marron--"O mort ou est ton aiguillon! O sepulcre ou est ta victoire!"

_April 18th._--Attended the annual meeting of the "Societe Biblique Francoise et Etrangere." Count de Gasparin in the chair; speeches spirited; details of report interesting and encouraging. Went to Dr. Grampier's; a social meeting of pastors, to converse and pray on the subject of Missions; subject of conversations; the Missionary work and spirit. From thence went to an annual party, where there was much of fashion and elegance; magnificent tea; peculiar manners; conversed with Mr. Touse, an English clergyman, and with M. G. de Gasparin.

_April 19th._--Attended the annual meeting of the "Societe pour l'encouragement et l'instruction primairie le protestants de France." The Protestants are not satisfied with the system of mixed schools; they wish to have exclusively Protestant schools. The report was full, explicit, and decided. Several speeches from the princ.i.p.al Protestant ministers, dwelling upon religious instruction in primary schools. Attended the morning conference; nothing new in the proceedings; but there was a marriage; but neither groomsmen nor bridesmaids. Address of the pastor. The bride led by her father, the brother-in-law leading the bridegroom; salutations of friends; the presentation of the wedding-ring by the father of the bride; presentation of a Bible to the newly-married couple; touching offering to the poor.

_April 20th--Sabbath._--Went to the "Inst.i.tution des Diaconesses de l'eglise Evangelique de France." The situation is delightful.

Several addresses and statements of affairs. Employed the evening in religious study. Witnessed much lightness among certain ministers of the Protestant Reformed Church. The prevalent views here respecting the sanct.i.ty of the Sabbath are very different from those which prevail either in England or Canada.

_April 25th._--Visited several schools of the Protestant dissenters in Paris--called "Ecoles Gratuites." The first was the Female Normal School, containing nineteen pupils. I was impressed with the admirable arrangement of the school and its appliances, as well as the taste and neatness of the botanical garden. The dormitory was plain, neat, and airy; in it on the wall were pasted the following pa.s.sages of Scripture, viz., Psalms xv. 5., Amos iv. 12. There were two schools for boys and girls attached to the inst.i.tution, but these several departments const.i.tute one school--all Roman Catholic children taught by Protestants, on strictly Protestant principles.

The priests make no opposition. People independent of the priests.

_April 26th._--Pursued my studies with encouraging success. Visited M. Toase who gave me useful information.

_April 27th--Sabbath._--Heard M. Toase; went afterwards to the Madeleine; building magnificent; pa.s.sed through the garden of the Tuileries; a paradise of a place; shades; walks; gra.s.s-plots; lakes; fountains; fish; statues; amus.e.m.e.nts; but, alas! what profanation of the Sabbath!

_April 30th._--Went to Versailles; grand and little Trainon, magnificent.

_May 1st._--The King's birthday and fete; illuminations; fireworks; appearance of the King Louis Philippe on the balcony of the palace.

The Tuileries; the Champs Elysees; booths; fetes; riding; examples of physical strength; girls riding; jumping; great mult.i.tudes; good order preserved; Church of St. Roch; music; saw Lord Cowley; his kindness in lending me his ticket for the House of Peers; getting recommendations from the Government; doc.u.ments on education, etc.

_May 3rd._--Visited Notre Dame; Hotel-Dieu; Chambre des Pairs; Chapelle; gallery of paintings; nuns; few peers present; old men; session short; not imposing; fine paintings in the Chapel; admirable selection in the gallery; answer from Lord Cowley.

_May 8th._--Have devoted several days to study, nothing worthy of remark.

_May 9th._--Left Paris for Lyons; on the top of the diligence on the railroad to Orleans, level, fertile country; pa.s.sed through Orleans; saw Cathedral; Jeanne d'Arc; Loire; historical recollections.

_May 12th._--Examined the curiosities of the town; rough-looking people; homage to the Virgin; "Hotel du Midi;" view from the Observatoire; Roman antiquities.

_May 13th._--Left Lyons in a steamer for Avignon; confluence of the Rhone and Soane; varied, beautiful, and sometimes bold; romantic scenery on the Rhone. Vienne; vineyards; wines; St. Villars; Pontius Pilate; river very narrow and crooked; Roch de Tain; Hannibal; vista of the valley of the Isere; Alps; Valence; St. Pay; Percy; wine of St. Peroy; Castle of Crupol; Drome; Montilvart; Viviers; rocks; ca.n.a.l; Ardiche; "Paul St. Esprit," great curiosity; Roquemon; women carrying stones; n.o.ble and extensive work on the banks of the river, and in the erection of new bridges.

_May 14th._--Avignon; wall; view from the tower of the Cathedral; visit it; paintings very beautiful; palace; inquisition; left Avignon for Beaucaire; river uninteresting; thence to Nismes by railway; poor country; a.s.ses and mules used; women shoeing them; people athletic, but very pa.s.sionate and quarrelsome.

_May 15th._--Examined the antiquities of Nismes; truly wonderful and interesting.

_May 16th._--Arrived at Montpellier; narrow streets; Citadel Fountaine; promenade; Jardin des Plantes; Mrs. Temple's tomb; read a pa.s.sage from Young's Night Thoughts there; Baunia Palm; Ecole de Medicine; Cathedral; Museum of Painting.

_May 17th._--Returned to Nismes; revisited the Amphitheatre and the Maison Caree; beautiful in proportion and execution. Returned to Beacaise; visited the Castle; very high, and remarkably strong; crossed the river to examine a castle, now a prison; historical recollections of both castles. Visited the Church dedicated to St.

Martha; curious front. Visited St. Martha's Tomb; felt awful in the grim darkness, rendered barely visible by the flickering lamp; inscription at the head of the Tomb: "Solicita Noritubatur"; singular well; old women in the Church; the Image of St. Martha, with its knees and feet worn by kissing. Proceeded to Cette; the Amphitheatre is by no means as well preserved as that of Nismes, but larger; the walls immeasurably thick. Saw the remains of a Roman theatre; its curious workmanship attests its former magnificence.

_May 18th--Sabbath._--Back at Ma.r.s.eilles, but no Sabbath here; theatres all open, and crowds pressing into them; saw some curious handbills about the Pope granting indulgences; holy water in the churches; children using it.

_May 20th._--Coast from Ma.r.s.eilles, bold, varied, picturesque; barren rocks; vineyards and olive trees; entrance into the bay and harbor of Genoa very beautiful.

_May 21st._--In Genoa the streets are very narrow; the buildings very high; the city clean; all preferable to Paris; left for Leghorn.

_May 22nd._--At Leghorn, visited Smollet's tomb. At Pisa, saw the leaning tower; baptistry, etc.

_May 23rd._--Entered Rome at sunset. We could see St. Peter's more than fifteen miles off.

_May 25th._--Commenced visiting the churches of the city. 1. Temple of Antonius; column to his honour, and his victories inscribed. 2.

Church of St. Ign.a.z.ia; tomb of Gregory XV. 3. Pantheon of Agrippa--built 22 B.C., of Oriental granite brought from Egypt. The obelisk is from the Temple of Isis. 4. In the second chapel to the left, Raphael was buried in 1520. He gave orders to his scholar Lorenzetto to make the statue of the Virgin, behind which he is buried. It is ornamented by gold and silver offerings of trinkets, rings, and bracelets. 5th. Piazza della Minerva--formerly Temple of Minerva, another of Isis, another of Serapis, now a church obelisk. Statue of Michael Angelo. 6. Roman College. 7. Palace of Prince Doria. In the picture gallery I was especially struck by a beautiful painting of the Holy Family; also t.i.tian, by himself, his last work. Visited the Church of St. Joseph--under which was the Mamertine Prison, where St. Paul was confined. Arch of t.i.tus. The Church of St. Peter's in Vincola has twenty pillars from the Diocletian Bath, two of them Oriental granite. Michael Angelo's last work is a marble figure of Moses, with the two tables of the law under his right arm,--magnificent. There are also twelve magnificent marble figures of the twelve apostles.

_May 26th._--Church of St. Maria, in Villicella; festival in honour of St. Fillippo. High ma.s.s was celebrated in presence of the Pope and cardinals. I stood near the altar, and had a good view of them all. The Pope pa.s.sed twice within a few feet of me; was carried in a splendid chair by twelve men, who pa.s.sed up the aisle into the vestry. He is eighty years of age, good looking and walked with a firm step; he blessed the people as he pa.s.sed. The cardinals kissed the Pope's hand, the priests his toe or foot. Next went to the Church of the Jesuits, where there is a splendid representation of Religion, giving the foot to Protestant heresy in the person of Luther and Calvin.

_June 1st--Sunday._--Went to the Roman College to the worship of the congregation of Jesuits. In another hall a discourse was being delivered to the pupils, some four hundred being present. At St.

Paul's, was shown the house in which St. Paul resided during two years a prisoner in Rome. Witnessed an extraordinary but most impressive service in the celebrated Amphitheatre, where, it is said, 200,000 Christians were put to death in two centuries.

_June 6th._--During the last five days have been studying Italian, and revisiting some of the more remarkable remains of Roman antiquities, colleges, and schools; also a prison for women, well managed and arranged; much attention is paid to their religious instruction.

_June 10th--Sabbath._--Visited the Churches of St. John, and Maria Maggiore; visited one of the most important and interesting schools of the Christian Brothers; 400 pupils taught by four masters; 4,000 pupils are taught by the same fraternity. Visited also the College of Propaganda; was shewn by the Rector over the whole establishment; it is wonderful, the influence of which is felt in all lands; he shewed me the oldest and most curious MSS. I ever saw.

_June 14th._--Arrived at Naples, after a stage journey of thirty hours. Peasants very lazy; pa.s.sed the murdered body of a man. As we advanced we observed a great change in the manners and habits of the people.

_June 15th--Sabbath._--Vesuvius was splendid last night, to a degree, I understand that has not been seen since 1839. Visited the Poor House; the establishment accommodates upwards of 2,000.