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to him; it pleased the Lord eminently to appear amongst us, and to fill our hearts with the refreshing streams of his divine love, and to open the mouth of one of us in prayer and supplication; and the Lord was graciously pleased abundantly to replenish our spirits to our mutual comfort, in a living sense of divine goodness; and this our dear friend expressed himself in great tenderness and brokenness of spirit, on this wise, I am sensibly comforted and refreshed in this visit; and that afternoon, he, fixing his eyes upon me, with great earnestness of spirit, expressed, as well as he could at that time, a great concern that was upon his mind for truth, and the friends of it, in divers particulars: especially in relation to our monthly and quarterly meetings, the writings of both which had been under his care for more than forty years after which he was much eased in his spirit, and so continued to the last, so far as I perceived; often saying, when asked how he did, I am easy, I am quiet.' And he was often very tender in his spirit, expressing his resignation to the will of God, whether in life or death, saying, If the Lord hath no more work for me to do, I am content and resigned to his will; and my hearty farewell to all my brethren.' And, at another time, nearer his end, he said to us present, in much brokenness of heart, I am full of joy and peace, my spirit is filled with joy;' or to this effect: for, by reason that his speech was so weakened, several things could not be so well collected, which he at times spoke, in a tender sense of the Lord's goodness; the sense of which deeply affected some of us who were with him, and my heart is sorrowfully affected at this time, in a sense of the great loss which the church of Christ (in these parts especially) hath by his removal. But in this I am comforted in a living sense of the Lord's mercy and goodness towards him, in carrying him through his affliction in great patience and quietness, under which he was sweetly refreshed by the streams of divine love, and his cup was often made to overflow and we who were present, being touched with a sense thereof, were comforted therein, being in a travail of spirit for him, and did in our measures truly sympathize with him under his affliction, and I am fully satisfied that he laid down his head in peace with the Lord, and is gathered to his everlasting rest."

ART. VIII.-Mémoires de Messire Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, Lieutenant-General des Armées du Roi, et Mestre de Camp General de la Cavalerie Légère. 1711.

Those who are in love with absolute monarchy-those who envy the life of a courtier, or court the favour of princes, may find useful lessons in the work before us. They may see what gratitude, what justice, is to be expected from despotic kings; for though, in fact, to us, the injuries and insults heaped upon

their most servile instruments, may appear the appropriate return, yet, to blind and abject loyalty, services of whatever nature, rendered to a sovereign, are qualified as acts of duty, and merit honours and rewards. They will see that this boasted sense of noble descent generally raises its possessor, in his own estimation, just high enough to make him the insolent tyrant of those beneath him; while he is content to crawl at the feet of those who can put him in possession of more of the means of domination;-they will see, a man of high descent, of wit, gallantry, and military courage, a man, who was ready to incur any danger, to acquire, or to defend, the so-called honour of absolute monarchies, grovelling in tears, in every pitiable attitude of self-degradation, before another man, from whom he believed himself to have received nothing but injurious treatment. Such was the brave, the noble, and accomplished cavalier of France, in the 17th century. It is curious to observe how far a perverted public opinion contributes to the formation of this character. Reputation was to be lost, by refusing to run any gratuitous and senseless risk, if it was proposed as a frolic by others: reputation was to be lost, by refusing to hazard life and limb in the absurd squabbles of other and indifferent men. Here, therefore, courage was never wanting; but no reputation was to be lost among those with whom every servile humiliation, every intrigue, every sycophantic trick of mental prostration, was honourable, provided it led to honours, i. e. to the attainment of the means of plundering and oppressing the people, the bas peuple, by the total want of that dignity and courage, which sustains a noble spirit under injustice and oppression. Of this sort of courage the courage of a conscientious citizen, there was, consequently, little or none, and the brave soldier sunk under the frowns of a tyrant, a minister, or a mistress; or the slights of the creatures who smiled and frowned at their bidding.

We have been led, perhaps, too far into these general reflections, by the melancholy contrast exhibited between the brilliant opening of the life of the hero of these memoirshigh-born, handsome, witty, brave, early entrusted with high military command, aspiring to, and expecting the most distinguished honours; with the disappointed hopes, the betrayed friendships, the unrequited services, the humiliations, the oppressions, the tedious imprisonment, and denial of justice, which form a nearly uninterrupted series of mortification and misfortune, during the whole of the maturer part of his life.

The importance of good political institutions to all classes of society, cannot, however, be too frequently pointed out; and if, from the contested succession to the throne of England, and from other circumstances, our nobility have never sunk

into this state of dependance on the crown, and into the consequent necessity of supporting its pretensions, and its splendour, by draining and trampling on the people; if our insular position, and the commercial spirit to which it gave rise, have, in their turn, controlled their power, let us not shut our eyes against the true nature and end of arbitrary government, when not checked by some counteracting powers.

Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, was born in the year 1618, of one of the most ancient families of France. He was, at first, destined to become a knight of Malta; but, on the death of his four brothers successively, his career was changed, and his father, having raised a regiment, in 1634, to assist Louis XIII., "à reduire dans leur devoir les Huguenots de Languedoc," gave him a company. It is no part of our purpose to follow him through the details of military operations, of which his memoirs, in great measure, consist. They are, to those who have lived to see the gigantic operations of our days, sufficiently trivial and tedious. We believe, we shall be doing a kindness to those who might be repelled by the aspect of the book, in selecting some of the very curious and characteristic anecdotes which are scattered through it. Among these, amours and duels are, during the early part of his life, the most remarkable and amusing. We must, however, extract one adventure, which savours neither of love nor chivalry.

"At the end of this campaign, my father fell ill at Amiens, and believing himself at the point of death, he sent for me, to give me some excellent advice as to my future conduct. It was all directed to three points: the first, the fear of God; the second, the preservation of honour rather than life; the third, the service of the king. He strongly urged me to live on good terms with my mother, and told me, that we should find exact accounts of all his affairs, and that there was only one thing which he had not in writing, which was, a deposit of three thousand pistoles he had intrusted to Guenaut, a physician and friend of his; that he had no note of this, but that Guenaut was an honest man, and would not deny it: after this, he gave me his blessing. He did not die, however, and, in a few days, recovered his strength sufficiently to go to Paris in his carriage, whither he took me with him."

His father leaves him at Paris, as his representative in a family affair.

"I did not, however, leave Paris as soon as it was concluded, as my father desired me. I was detained by a little dissipation; and, as I was soon in want of money, necessity, the mother of invention, suggested to me what my father had told me at Amiens; and, without reflecting on the consequences of his resentment, I wrote a note to

Guenaut, informing him that my father had left me at Paris on business, and had desired me to take money of him when I wanted it, as he had three thousand pistoles of his in his hands. Guenaut, who did not imagine that my father could have entrusted me with a secret only known to themselves, except for the reason alleged, made no difficulty of sending me the money; but, as I did not husband it, I soon drew three hundred pistoles. This excited his suspicions, and he wrote to my father to know what his intentions were."

Bussy was, of course, discovered; and, after being in disgrace for three months, was restored to favour, and sent by his father into Nivernois, to collect his regiment.

In 1638, his father, in disgust at fortune, and at some injustice he had received from Cardinal Richelieu, "le supplioit très humblement," to let him resign the command of his regiment to his son, who was accordingly made Mestre de Camp d'Infanterie.

His first duel contains some very curious illustrations of the singular mixture of courtesy and ferocity, produced by the code of honour then in force.

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"After I had been some time at Paris, as I was one day coming out of the Comédie à l'Hotel de Bourgogne with one of my friends, a young Gascon gentleman of family, named Busc, son to a captain of the regiment de Navarre, took me aside, and asked me whether it was true, that the Count de Tianges, my father's cousin-germain, had said, that he was a drunkard, and his younger brother a madman. I said, that I saw so little of the Count de Tianges, that I really could not tell what he said. He replied, that he was my uncle, and that as he could not demand an explanation from him, in consequence of his never stirring out of his province, he applied to me. Oh,' said I, if you wish me to answer for him, I will tell you at once, that whoever puts words of that sort into his mouth, lies.' 'It is my brother,' said he, who is quite a boy.' 'You must whip him, then,' said I however, he lies like a man;' and at these words we both drew our swords. He had only one friend with him, and I had four, and others, who heard my name, soon joined us, and placed themselves near me, sword in hand. I begged them to let me alone, and advanced upon Busc, who retreated so quickly, the whole length of the street, that I could scarcely overtake him. This gave me a bad opinion of him he was very brave, however; but he was alarmed at the number of my friends, as he did not know that I should not avail myself of their help. At last, having driven him more than a hundred paces, I retired, insulting him aloud, and sent Rigni, a captain of my regiment, to ask his address. He told him; but as the name of the street was an extraordinary one, Rigni forgot it, so that (1 having changed my lodging) we were two days seeking each other in vain. On the third, a gentleman, whom I did not know, and whose name I do not recollect, called on me, and told me, that having heard I had a quarrel with Busc, and was in search of him, he came to offer to

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inform me where he was to be found, if I would accept his services; and that, as he knew us both only by reputation, he wished to serve me. I thanked him warmly for this mark of his friendship; but begged him to consider that I had already four friends with me; that it would be a battle if I accepted the honour he was so good as to design me, but that I was under the same obligation to him as if I availed myself of his services. He appeared satisfied with my reasons. And since, sir,' said he, I cannot be on your side, you will not take it ill that I offer my services to M. de Busc, and tell him where he may find you.' I liked this gentleman's conduct: we embraced, and in a short time, I saw Busc pass my lodgings in a carriage with four men, among whom was my adventurer. I followed them on horseback, with my friends, as far as Bourg-la-Reine, where we were all choosing a place to fight in, when we saw a cavalier coming towards us full gallop, and shouting as far as he could be heard, Stop, gentlemen, stop!' It was l'Aigue, who, having heard of the quarrel, came to serve Busc. As he had now a man more than I, we all agreed to send one of my friends to Paris to look for one, and, in the meanwhile, to go to a tavern at Bourg-la-Reine, and have a collation. My friend, not knowing where to find one, as nobody is at home after dinner unless he is ill, placed himself on the Pont-Neuf, and before he had been there a quarter of an hour, he saw one of the king's body guard, whom he did not know. He accosted him, and told him the difficulty I was in for want of a friend to assist me in deciding an affair, and that, from his appearance, he judged that he would not refuse such an office, nor such a man. The mousquetaire thanked him for his good opinion, and got up behind him. As it was late when they left Paris, they lost their way, and took a wrong road; so that, night coming on, without any tidings of my friend, we resolved to return into the town, where we should be less liable to be arrested than at Bourg-la-Reine. At this moment, as Busc and I were alone together, he proposed to me to get rid of my friends, that he would do the same, and that we would meet on the morrow at the Barrières du Louvre; because,' said he, it is very improbable that we shall have decided our combat first, and we shall not be satisfied if we were separated.' I assented, and we agreed to meet the next day, at eight in the morning, with only a laquey each.

"We met accordingly, and went into the road to Vanvre, and, as the sun was in Busc's eyes, standing along the road, he placed himself with his back to a ditch which divided the road from a field, so that I was obliged to turn, too, and to place myself with my back to a bank on the other side of the road. At the second thrust I pierced him in the lungs, and, as I pressed forward upon him, I wished to put an end to the business, and forgot the bank, so that I fell backwards. Busc, who felt himself badly wounded, rushed upon me, calling out to me to ask for my life, and, at the same time, trying to plunge his sword into my body, but I eluded the stroke, and the sword only grazed my ribs, and entered the ground. I was so afraid that he would repeat it, that I seized the sword by the blade: he snatched it from me, cutting my fingers and my thumb, and presenting it to my

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