The number of _letters_ written by our author exceeds belief; if they
could be collected, they would be found to contain an immense mass of
interesting matter on many important topics of religion and literature.
He corresponded with many persons of distinction, both among the
communicants with the see of Rome, and the separatists from her. Among
the former may be reckoned the learned and elegant Lambertini, who
afterwards, under the name of Benedict XIV., was honored with the papal
crown: among the latter may be reckoned Dr. Louth, the bishop first of
Oxford, afterwards of London, the celebrated translator of Isaiah. In a
Latin note on Michaelis, our author speaks of that prelate as his
intimate acquaintance, "_necessitate conjunctissimus_."
He had the happiness to enjoy the friendship and esteem of many persons
distinguished by rank, talents, or virtue. The holy bishop of Amiens
spoke of him in the highest terms of admiration and regard. In the life
written in French of that excellent prelate, he is mentioned "as the
most learned man in Europe." He is styled by father Brotier, in his
preface to his edition of Tacitus, "sacra eruditione perceleber." The
late Mr. Philips, in the preface to his life of cardinal Pole,
mentioning the edition of his letters by cardinal Quirini, expresses
himself thus: "They were procured for the author by Mr. Alban Butler, to
whom the public is indebted for the most useful and valuable work which
has appeared in the English language on the Lives of the Saints, and
which has been so much esteemed in France, that it is now translating
into the language of a country celebrated for biography, with large
additions by the author. This gentleman's readiness on all occasions to
assist the author in his undertaking, was answerable to his extensive
knowledge and general acquaintance with whatever has any relation to
erudition." Our author was not satisfied with the French translation of
his work: the writers professed to translate it freely; but he thought
that they abused the privilege of free translation, that they
misrepresented his meaning, that their style was affected, and that the
devotional cast which he had labored to give the original, was wholly
lost in their translation. The editor has heard that a translation of it
was begun in the Spanish and Italian languages, but he has seen no such
translation. Dr. Kennicot spoke loudly of our author's readiness and
disinterested zeal to oblige. Even the stern Mr. Hollis mentions him in
his memoirs with some degree of kindness. No person was more warmly
attached to his friends. With his affectionate and generous disposition,
no one was more sensible of unkindness than he was; but none forgave it
more readily. It was his rule to cultivate those who were inimical to
him by every mark of attention and act of kindness; and rather to seek
than avoid an intercourse with them. His incessant attention to his
studies frequently made him absent in society: this sometimes produced
whimsical incidents.
Whatever delight he found in his literary pursuits, he never sacrificed
his religious duties to them, or permitted them to trespass on _his
exercises of devotion_. Huet, whom, from his resemblance to our author
in unremitted application to study, the editor has often had occasion to
mention, laments his own contrary conduct in {040} very feeling terms:
"I was entirely carried," says he, (_De Rebus ad eum Pertinentibus_,
174,) "by the pleasure found in learning: the endless variety which it
affords had taken up my thoughts, and seized all the avenues of my mind,
that I was altogether incapable of any sweet and intimate communication
with God. When I withdrew into religious retirement, in order to
recollect my scattered thoughts, and fix them on heavenly things, I
experienced a dryness and insensibility of soul by which the Holy Spirit
seemed to punish this excessive bent to learning." This misfortune our
author never experienced. A considerable portion of his time was devoted
to prayer. When it was in his power, he said mass every day; when he
travelled, he rose at a very early hour, that he might hear it: he never
neglected the prayer of the _Angelus_, and, when he was not in the
company of strangers, he said it on his knees. He recommended a frequent
approach to the sacrament of the altar: some, under his spiritual
direction, communicated almost every day. The _morale severe_ of the
Jansenists he strongly reprobated in discourse, and no person receded
further from it in practice: but he was an admirer of the style of the
gentlemen of Port Royal, and spoke with praise of their general practice
of avoiding the insertion of the pronoun _I_ in their writings. He
thought the Bible should not be read by very young persons, or by those
who were wholly uninformed: even the translation of the whole divine
office of the church he thought should not be given to the faithful
promiscuously. In the printed correspondence of Fenelon, a long letter
by him on frequent communion, and one on reading the Bible, (they
deserve to be translated and generally read,) express exactly our
author's sentiments on those subjects. All singularity in devotion was
offensive to him. He exhorted every one to a perfect discharge of the
ordinary duties of his situation, to a conformity to the divine will,
both in great and little occasions, to good temper and mildness in his
intercourse with his neighbor, to an habitual recollection of the divine
presence, to a scrupulous attachment to truth, to retirement, to extreme
sobriety. These, he used to say, were the virtues of the primitive
Christians, and among them, he said, we should always look for perfect
models of Christian virtue. Fleury's account of them, in his _Manners of
the Christians_, he thought excellent, and frequently recommended the
perusal of it. He exhorted all to devotion to the Mother of God; many,
under his care, said her office every day. The advantage of mental
prayer he warmly inculcated. In the conduct of souls he was all mildness
and patience: motives of love were oftener in his mouth than motives of
fear: "for to him that loves, nothing," he used to say, with the author
of the Imitation of Christ, "is difficult." He often sacrificed his
studies and private devotions to the wants of his neighbor. When it was
in his power he attended the ceremony of the _salut_ at the parish
church; and on festivals particularly solemnized by any community of the
towns in which he resided, he usually assisted at the divine service in
their churches. He was very abstemious in his diet; and considered
systematic sensuality as the ultimate degradation of human nature. He
never was heard to express so much disgust, as at conversations where,
for a great length of time, the pleasures of the table, or the
comparative excellence of dishes, had been the sole topic of
conversation; yet he was very far from being an enemy to rational mirth,
and he always exerted himself to entertain and promote the pleasures of
his friends. In all his proceedings he was most open and unreserved:
from selfishness none could be more free. Dr. Kennicot often said that,
of the many he had employed in his great biblical undertaking, none had
shown more activity or more disinterestedness than our author. He was
zealous in the cause of religion, but his zeal was without bitterness or
animosity: polemic acrimony was unknown to him. He never forgot that in
every heretic he saw a brother Christian; in every infidel he saw a
brother man. He greatly admired _Drouen de Sacramentis_, and _Boranga's
Theology_. _Tournely_ he preferred much to his antagonist _Billouart_.
He thought _Houbigant_ too bold a critic, and objected some novelties to
the _Hebraizing friars of the Rue St. Honore_. He believed the letters
of Ganganelli, with the exception of two or three at most, to be
spurious. Their spuriousness has been since placed beyond controversy by
the _Diatribe Clementine_, polished in 1777. _Caraccioli_, the editor of
them, in his _Remerciement a l'Auteur de l'Annee Litteraire de la part
de l'Editeur des Lettres du Pape Ganganelli_, acknowledges that he filled
sixty pages at least of them with thoughts and insertions of his own
compositions. In the handwriting of a gentleman, remarkable for his
great accuracy, the editor has before him the following {041} account of
our author's sentiments on usury: "Mr. Alban Butler's opinion of
receiving interest for money, in a letter dated the 20th of June, 1735,
but copied anno 1738.--In England, and in some other countries, the laws
allow of five per cent., and even an action at law for the payment of
it. This is often allowable in a trading country; and, as it is the
common practice in England, I shall not blame any one for taking or even
exacting interest-money; therefore will say nothing against it in
general: but, in my own regard, I am persuaded it is not warrantable in
conscience, but in three cases; viz. either for a gain ceasing, as
merchants lend money which they would otherwise employ in trade, _lucrum
cessans_: or, secondly, some detriment the lender suffers by it, _damnum
emergens_: or, thirdly, some hazard in the principal money, by its being
exposed to some more than ordinary danger in being recovered safely.
Some time afterwards the said Alban Butler was convinced there was no
occasion of scruple in receiving interest for money, so that it was at a
moderate or low rate of interest; and that there was reason to believe
the borrower made full the advantage of the money that he paid for it by
the interest."
Our author's love of learning continued with him to the last. Literary
topics were frequently the subject of his familiar conversation. He was
a great admirer of what is called the simple style of writing; and once
mentioned that, if he could acquire a style by wishing for it, he should
wish for that of Herodotus. He thought the orator appeared too much in
Cicero's philosophical works, except his Offices; that work he
considered to be one of the most perfect models of writing which have
come down to us from antiquity. He professed to discover the man of high
breeding and elegant society in the commentaries of Caesar; and to find
expressions in the writings of Cicero which showed a person accustomed
to address a mob, the _foex Romani populi_. He believed the works of
Plato had been much interpolated; and once mentioned, without blame,
father Hardouin's opinion that they were wholly a fabrication of the
middle age. Of the modern Latin poets, he most admired Wallius, and in
an illness desired his poems to be read to him. He himself sometimes
composed Latin poetry. He preferred the _Paradisus Animae_ to its rival
prayer-book, the _Coeleste Palmetum_. Of the last he spoke with great
contempt. The little rhyming offices, which fill a great part of it, are
not very interesting; but the explanation in it of the psalms in our
Lady's office, of the psalms in the office for the dead, of the gradual
and seven penitential psalms, and of the psalms sung at vespers and
complin, is excellent. A person would deserve well of the English
Catholics who should translate it into English. The Coeleste Palmetum
was the favorite prayer-book of the Low Countries. By Foppen's
_Bibliotheca Belgica_, it appears that the first edition of it was
printed at Cologne, in 1660, and that, during the first eight years
after its publication, more than 14,000 copies of it were sold. Most
readers will be surprised, when they are informed that our author
preferred the sermons of Bossuet to those of Bourdaloue but in this he
has not been absolutely singular; the celebrated cardinal de Maury has
avowed the same opinion; and, what is still more extraordinary, it has
also been avowed by father Neuville. Bossuet's Discourse upon Universal
History may be ranked among the noblest efforts of human genius that
ever issued from the press. In the chronological part of it, the scenes
pass rapidly but distinctly; almost every word is a sentence, and every
sentence presents an idea, or excites a sentiment of the sublimest kind.
The third part of it, containing his reflections on the events which
produced the rise and fall of the ancient empires of the earth, is not
inferior to the celebrated work of Montesquieu on the greatness and fall
of the Roman empire; but, in the second part, the genius of Bossuet
appears in its full strength. He does not lead his reader through a maze
of argumentation; he never appears in a stretch of exertion; but, with a
continued splendor of imagery, magnificence of language, and vehemence
of argument, which nothing can withstand, he announces the sublime
truths of the Christian religion, and the sublime evidence that supports
them, with a grandeur and force that overpower and disarm resistance.
Something of this is to be found in many passages of his sermons; but,
in general, both the language and the arguments of them are forced and
unnatural. His letters to the nuns are very interesting. Let those who
affect to talk slightingly of the devotions of the religious, recollect
that the sublime Bossuet bestowed a considerable portion of his time
upon them. The same pen that wrote the discourse on universal history,
the funeral oration of the prince of Conde, and the History of the
Variations, was at the command of every religious who requested {042}
from Bossuet a letter of advice or consolation. "Was he at Versailles,
was he engaged on any literary work of importance, was he employed on a
pastoral visit of his diocese, still," say the Benedictine editors of
his works, "he always found time to write to his correspondents on
spiritual concerns." In this he had a faithful imitator in our author.
No religious community addressed themselves to him who did not find in
him a zealous director, an affectionate and steady friend. For several
among the religious he had the highest personal esteem. Those who
remember him during his residence at St. Omer's, will recollect his
singular respect for Mrs. More, the superior of the English convent of
Austins at Bruges. He was, in general, an enemy to the private pensions
of nuns; (see Boudon's Letter _Sur le Relachement qui s'est introduit
dans l'Observation du Voeu de Pauvrete_, Lettres de Boudon, vol. 1, p.
500;) but in this, as in every other instance, he wished the reform,
when determined upon, to proceed gently and gradually.
All who leave had an opportunity of observing the English communities
since their arrival in this country, have been edified by their amiable
and heroic virtues. Their resignation to the persecution which they have
so undeservedly suffered, their patience, their cheerfulness, their
regular discharge of their religious observances, and, above all, their
noble confidence in Divine Providence, have gained them the esteem of
all who know them. At a village near London, a small community of
Carmelites lived for several months, almost without the elements of
fire, water, or air. The two first (for water, unfortunately, was there
a vendible commodity) they could little afford to buy; and from the last
(their dress confining them to their shed) they were excluded. In the
midst of this severe distress, which no spectator could behold unmoved,
they were happy. Submission to the will of God, fortitude, and
cheerfulness, never deserted them. A few human tears would fall from
them when they thought of their convent; and with gratitude, the finest
of human feelings, they abounded; in other respects they seemed of
another world. "Whatever," says Dr. Johnson, "withdraws us from the
power of our senses; whatever makes the past, the distant, or the
future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of
human beings." It would be difficult to point out persons to whom this
can be better applied than these venerable ladies, whose lives are more
influenced by the past, the distant, or the future, or so little
influenced by the present.
Our author was not so warm on any subject as the calumnies against the
religious of the middle age: he considered the civilization of Europe to
be owing to them. When they were charged with idleness, he used to
remark the immense tracts of land, which, from the rudest state of
nature, they converted to a high state of husbandry in the Hercynian
wood, the forests of Champagne and Burgundy, the morasses of Holland,
and the fens of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire. When ignorance was
imputed to them, he used to ask, what author of antiquity had reached
us, for whose works we were not indebted to the monks. He could less
endure that they should be considered as instruments of absolute power
to enslave the people: when this was intimated, he observed that, during
the period which immediately followed the extinction of the Carlovingian
dynasty, when the feudal law absolutely triumphed over monarchy, the
people were wholly left to themselves, and must have sunk into an
absolute state of barbarism, if it had not been for the religious
establishments. Those, he said, softened the manners of the conquerors,
afforded refuge to the vanquished, preserved an intercourse between
nations: and, when the feudal chiefs rose to the rank of monarchs, stood
as a rampart between them and the people. He thought St. Thomas of
Canterbury a much injured character. He often pointed out that rich
tract of country, which extends from St. Omer's to Liege, as a standing
refutation of those who asserted that convents and monasteries were
inimical to the populousness of a country: he observed, that the whole
income of the smaller houses, and two-thirds of the revenues of the
greater houses, were constantly spent within twenty miles round their
precincts; that their lands were universally let at low rents; that
every abbey had a school for the instruction of its tenants, and that no
human institution was so well calculated to promote the arts of
painting, architecture, and sculpture, works in iron and bronze, and
every other species of workmanship, as abbeys or monasteries, and their
appendages. "Thus," he used to say, "though the country in view was
originally a marsh, and has for more than a century wholly survived its
commerce, it is the most populous country in Europe; and presents on the
face of it as great a display {043} of public and private strength,
wealth, and affluence, as can be found in any other part of the world."
Fortunately for him, he did not live to be witness to the domiciliary
visit which, in our times, it has received from France. What would he
have thought, if any person had told him, that, before the expiration of
the century in which he lived, the French themselves would, in perfect
hatred of Christ, destroy the finest churches of France? At their
profanation of his favorite church of St. Bertin, in the town of St.
Omer's, that is said to have happened which Victor Vitensis relates to
have happened in the persecution of the Vandals, (Hist. Pers. Van. 31:)
"Introeuntes maximo cum furore, corpus Christi et sanguinem pavimento
sparserunt, et illud pollutis pedibus calcaverunt."