nine weeks at the Hague. The minister, M. Basnage, begged me to go with him to several noblemen, who wished to obtain a pension for us, which their highnesses kindly granted a short time after. We had in no way deserved this benevolence, and it was only their Christian charity which made them bestow it upon us. For my own part, I cherish a gratitude beyond all expression for it, and considering this generosity of their highnesses, I can only admire their piety, their zeal for the glory of God, and their love for their neighbours, which induces them to conform constantly to that holy precept of "doing good to all men, but especially unto those who are of the household of faith."

May God himself be the rewarder of their virtues, and to the end of time may he richly bestow upon their republic his most gracious blessings!

JEAN MARTEILHE AND OLIVER GOLDSMITH. (Note to p. ix.)

THE French editors seem not to have been aware of the fact that the volume had been translated into English so early as 1758. The preface to the English edition sets at rest all doubt as to the historical character of the narrative. The translator says, "The author, indeed, who is still alive and known to numbers, not only in Holland, but London, has, from prudential motives,

thought proper to suppress his name; and the same reasons that have induced him to conceal it equally influence the translator."*

This statement gains additional interest from the fact that the translator, who calls himself James Willington, was no other than Oliver Goldsmith. Goldsmith had but recently returned from his wanderings on the continent of Europe, and he was endeavouring to eke out the scanty pittance which he received as usher in a school by doing drudgery as a bookseller's hack. The work which he did in this capacity was either anonymous, or under the pseudonym of James Willington, who had been a fellow-student at Trinity College, Dublin. Most of his biographers conjecture that he concealed his name from feelings of weariness, disgust, and despair, at his repeated failures in literary composition. More probably, however, he was prompted to this course from a consciousness of latent power, and the hope of occupying a place in our literature which he would not imperil by giving his name to anything unworthy of himself. It is probable that, during his stay in Holland, he may have met Marteilhe. His language seems to imply that he had some personal acquaintance with him. The following extract from the preface is characteristic :

"Could the present performance teach one individual to value his religion by contrasting it with the furious spirit of Popery; could it contribute to make him enamoured with liberty by showing their unhappy situation whose possessions are held by so precarious a tenure as tyrannical caprice; could it promote his zeal in the cause of humanity, or give him a wish to imitate the virtues of the sufferer, or redress the injuries of the

* "The Memoirs of a Protestant Condemned to the Galleys of France for his Religion. Written by Himself. In two volumes. Translated from the Original. Just published at the Hague, by JAMES WILLINGTON. London, 1758.' See Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Vol. III., p. 355. Edited by PETER CUNNINGHAM. Murray's British Classics. And Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith. By JOHN FORSTER, Vol. I., p. 134.

T

oppressed; then, indeed, the author will not have wrote in vain."

The Quarterly Review,* in a very interesting article based upon this volume, and Les Forcats pour la foi, par Athanase Coquerel, carries Marteilhe's history down to a point somewhat later than that at which the present narrative breaks off. "His death took place at Cuylenberg in 1777, at the advanced age of ninety-three years. Mention is made of his aged widow, and it is known that he had a daughter, who was married at Amsterdam to an English naval officer of distinction, Vice-Admiral Douglas. In 1785 their son, Mr. Douglas, and his wife, came to visit their French relations in Perigord. 'It is pleasing to find,' says M. Coquerel, 'that the memory of Marteilhe, though lost sight of in France, was respected in England, and that the honour of an alliance with the martyr of the galleys was estimated as it deserved.'. . . It is, indeed, a good lesson for us who live in an easy and tolerant age, in which the exercise of the sterner virtues is more rarely called for, to be reminded of the fortitude of such men as these admirable, though little known, martyrs of the Reformation, who, in the fine language of Sir Thomas Browne, 'maintained their faith in the noble way of persecution, and served God in the fire, whereas we honour him in the sunshine.'”

THE SUFFERINGS OF M. SABATIER.
(Note to p. 172.)

THE foregoing narrative is confirmed, in a remarkable manner, by the statements of a volume, entitled, Relation des tourmens que l'on fait souffrir aux Protestants qui sont sur les Galeres de France. Londres, 1708; Amsterdam, 1709. This work, which is extremely rare, was written by Jean Francois Bion, a native of Dijon,

* No. 239, July, 1866.

and cure of Ursy, in Burgundy. Growing weary of the inactive life of a country priest, he applied for and obtained the appointment of chaplain in the galleys, and served in this capacity on board the Superbe. Touched by the courage, patience, and resignation of the suffering Protestants under his charge, he was led, first, to question the truth of a religion which could persecute so cruelly as his own, and, ultimately, he embraced the faith which could endure persecution so nobly. He says, "It was wonderful to see with what true Christian patience and constancy they bore their torments; in the extremity of their pain, never expressing anything like rage, but calling upon Almighty God, and imploring his assistance. I visited them day by day, and, as often as I did, my conscience upbraided me for persisting so long in a religion whose capital errors I long before perceived, and above all that inspired so much cruelty; a temper directly opposite to the spirit of Christianity. At last their wounds, like so many mouths, preached to me, made me sensible of my error, and experimentally taught me the excellency of the Protestant religion. God grant it may be effectual to my salvation."

Bion made his escape to Geneva in the year 1704, and subsequently settled in London, where he kept a school, and was minister of a congregation at Chelsea. His narrative not only confirms the general truth of Marteilhe's, and acquits it of any suspicion of exaggeration, but it gives details more horrible by far than any which this work contains. It is evident that Marteilhe enjoyed special privileges and immunities, in which his fellowsufferers were not permitted to share. Of the punishment inflicted on M. Sabatier, Bion says:

""Tis certain that though there was at first a very great number of Protestants condemned to the galleys, the bastinado and other torments hath destroyed above three parts out of four, and the most of those who are still alive are in dungeons; as Monsieurs Bancilhon, De Serres, and Sabatier, who are confined to a dungeon

at Chateau d'If. But the generous constancy of this last, about eight or ten months ago, deserves a place in this history, and challenges the admiration of all true Protestants.

"M. Sabatier, whose charity and zeal equals that of the primitive Christians, having a little money, distributed it tc his brethren and fellow-sufferers in the galleys; but the Protestants being watched more narrowly than the rest, he could not do it so secretly, but he was discovered and brought before M. de Montmort, intendant of the galleys at Marseilles: being asked, he did not deny the fact; M. Montmort not only promised him his pardon, but a reward, if he would declare who it was that had given him the money. M. Sabatier modestly answered, that he should be guilty of ingratitude before God and man, if, by any confession, he should bring those into trouble who had been so charitable to him; that his person was at their disposal, but he desired to be excused as to the secret expected from him. The intendant replied that he had a way to make him tell, and that immediately: whereupon he sent for some Turks, who, at his command, stripped Sabatier stark naked, and beat him with ropes and cudgels during three days, at several times; and seeing this did not prevail over the generous confessor, the intendant himself turned executioner, striking him with his cane, and telling the bystanders, 'See what a devil of a religion this is.' These were his own expressions, as is credibly reported by persons that were present. The gazettes and public letters give us an account of the same. At last, seeing he was ready to expire, he commanded him into a dungeon, where, maugre all torments, Providence hath preserved him until this day."

LONDON: ROBERT K. BURT, WINE OFFICE COURT, FLEET STREET.