ce of Heaven
against the murderers of the unfortunate Brune, or pointedly rebuked the
religious and political animosities subsisting in the south of France,
they would have given a proof of their sincerity, but at the risk of
much of that good which it was desirable to use their temporal influence
in effecting. Instead, therefore, of giving unnecessary offence, they
laboured to eradicate from the minds of their hearers the seeds of
hatred and uncharitableness, and to divert their attention from their
private bickerings and dissensions, to the common guilt of all in the
sight of Heaven. The very object which, from all we learn respecting the
state of feeling in Languedoc and Provence, appears particularly
desirable, appears also to have been sought, not only by repeated and
fervent exhortations, but by the exaction also of public vows and
promises, so as to enlist the sense of shame as much as possible, in
favour of the general forgiveness which the missionaries preached. Their
exertions also, always supposing the tract in question to be entitled to
credit, were rewarded by the conduct of their penitents, some of whom
put away their vices, and others their mutual animosities. If this be
fanaticism, then it were to be wished that such fanaticism should
prevail widely in the south of France. "Out of the same mouth cannot
proceed blessing and cursing;" and if the secret object of the Mission
be to denounce the disaffected, or preach crusades against Protestants,
it must be owned that their public labours at Avignon savour but little
of such a purpose, as far as all appearances go.

There is, it is true, something extravagant and bordering on stage
effect, in many of the ceremonies performed, and expressions used, as
recorded by the pen of M. Fransoy. An Englishman, however, is not always
a fair judge of the best means of influencing the mind of a Frenchman,
more particularly a south-eastern one. The Provencaux possess, both in
appearance and in character, the strong characteristics of a people born
under a burning sun; at once lively and ferocious, strongly led away by
the excitement of the moment, and ardent in their partialities and
antipathies: in short, the same romance of character is perceptible
among them, which, in the dark ages, peopled the country with
troubadours. The mass of such a people, particularly when profoundly
ignorant, may not be accessible to cool argument; and the manner and
style of oratory which wou