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the reformers, and they deserved highly of literature; still, you must admit that the first advances were made by roman-catholics, and that the revival of letters was originally, if not principally, owing to them.

You will probably expect, that I should say something on the subject of the Biblical studies of the roman-catholics before the period of the reformation. I trust that you will agree with me, that, taking the circumstances of the times into consideration, they were pursued both with ardour and success. On this head, I beg leave to refer you to the second part of doctor Hody's "Scholastic His"tory of the Text and Versions of the Greek and "Latin Vulgate:" you will find it proves, beyond controversy, that there never was a time, even in the darkest ages, in which the study of the scriptures, in their original languages, was not cultivated and encouraged by the roman-catholic clergy. The works of the venerable Bede, of Grossetête, the bishop of Lincoln, and Roger Bacon, show how much they were encouraged in this country. No sooner was the typographic art discovered, than the catholic presses were employed in printing, in every size, from the folio to the twenty-fourth, editions of the Old and New Testament. The labours of Lanfranc, whom you so much and so deservedly praise, in procuring correct copies both of the Old and New Testament, are mentioned by Baronius, Cave, Dupin, and Wetstein. Every roman-catholic acknowledges, with readiness, the transcendent merit of the London Polyglot; but it was preceded

by those of Complutum, Antwerp, and Paris. Will it be too much to require, of candid protestants, to admit, that without these, the London Polyglot would not have existed? The Complutensium Polyglot was begun in 1502, and the whole printed in 1517, long before the first dawn of the reformation.

You mention the translations of the Bible into English in terms, which must lead your readers to suppose, that the roman-catholic church discourages translations of it into vernacular languages. How very often, and how very erroneously, has this been charged upon the catholics! If you will do your present correspondent the favour, to look into his

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Essay on the Discipline of the Church of Rome, "respecting the general perusal of the Scriptures "in the vulgar Tongue, by the Laity," you will find, that several translations into the German, several into the French, several into the Italian, and several into the Belgic tongue, had been printed, before publications of protestant versions in those languages appeared. In the "Garden of the Soul," the most popular catholic prayer-book, a new edition of which, with the formal approbation of doctor Poynter, has been recently published, romancatholics are recommended, (p. 203), "before they go to bed, to read a chapter in the scripture, or some spiritual book." I beg leave to add, that, at the revocation of the edict of Nantes, 50,000 copies of a French translation of the New Testament, were, at the recommendation of Bossuet, distributed among the converted protestants, by the

* Butler's Works, vol. 4, essay ii. p. 191.

order of Louis XIV*. Several years ago, I was furnished, by an English bookseller, with a list of twenty-three editions of the roman-catholic transla❤ tion of the New, or of both the Old and New Testament; and many have been printed since that time. For several years past, the romancatholics have been censured, with great severity, for not encouraging, to the extent recommended, the promiscuous reading of the English Bible, by the laity, without note or comment. Are we not entitled to our opinion upon this subject? Has not experience justified our caution? Have not several eminent lights, of the protestant church, always condemned, do not several of them now condemn it? Have not many of the most respectable advocates, for the general distribution of Bibles, now declared a different opinion? Does not the disapprobation of it daily increase?

XII. 5.

Whether the Conduct of the religious Orders justified the Dissolution of the Monasteries?

A PERSON, who would publish a true and full account of this important event, and state candidly in it, the advantages and disadvantages which, at the æra of the reformation, attended monastic establishments, would deserve well of the literary world. To the best of my power, I have attempted to do it in my "Historical Memoirs of the English,

* Vie de Bossuet, evêque de Meaux, par le cardinal de Bausset, ed. 1814, tome iv. p. 83.

"Scottish, and Irish Roman-catholics;" and you will oblige me by perusing what I have written in that work upon this subject.

In a preceding letter, I have inserted the encomiastic account given of monasteries by M. Mallêt an intelligent and candid protestant. I shall now transcribe what is said of them, by an abler writer, ́not unknown to yourself*.

"The world has never been so deeply indebted "to any body of men, as to this illustrious order; “but historians, when relating the evil of which "they are the occasion, have forgotten the good "which they produced. produced. Even the commonest "readers are familiar with the history of that arch "miracle-monger St. Dunstan; whilst the most "learned of our countrymen scarce remember the "names of those admirable men, who went forth from England, and became the apostles of the North. Tinian and Juan Fernandez are not "more beautiful spots on the ocean, than Malms

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bury, and Lendisfarne, and Jarrow, in the ages "of our heptarchy, A community of pious men, "devoted to literature, and to the useful arts, as "well as to religion, seems, in those ages, like a

green oasis amid the desert; like stars in a moon"less night, they shine upon us with a tranquil

ray. If ever there was a man who could truly "be called venerable, it was he to whom that ap'pellation is constantly fixed, Bede, whose life was past in instructing his own generation, and 'preparing records for posterity. In those days

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* Quarterly Review for December 1811.

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"the church offered the only asylum from the " evils to which every country was exposed: amidst "continual wars the church enjoyed peace; it was "regarded as a sacred realm by men, who, though (( they hated each other, believed and feared the ་ same God. Abused as it was, by the worldly"minded and ambitious, and disgraced by the "artifices of the designing, and the follies of the "fanatic, it afforded a shelter to those who were "better than the world in their youth, or weary of "it in their age: the wise, as well as the timid and "the gentle, fled to this Goshen of God, which enjoyed its own light and calm, amid darkness and "storms."

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After perusing this splendid tribute, evidently given by no mean hand, to the useful and the edifying habits of the inhabitants of the monasteries, it is difficult to believe, that the lives of a great proportion of them were so scandalous, or even so useless, as to justify a total suppression of them.

The best account of this extraordinary event, which has come to my hands, is given in " Collier's "Ecclesiastical History." He sheds a generous tear over the sufferers; and, while he admits the criminality of some individuals, and the disorders of some houses, he honourably and successfully advocates the general integrity of the body.

In my opinion, the report of the commissioners, employed in the visitation of the monasteries, is wholly unworthy of credit. We see how little attention to truth, and how great a violation, both of

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