ARTICLE V.-RÉCIT D'UNE SŒUR: - MEMOIRS OF A

FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC FAMILY.

Récit d'une Sour. Souvenirs de Famille, recueillis par MME. AUGUSTUS CRAVEN, née LA FERRONNAYS. Ouvrage couronné par l'Académie Française. Quartorziéme édition, reDidier & Cie. 1868. 2 vol. p. 451, 433.

vue.

A Sister's Story. By MRS. AUGUSTUS CRAVEN. Translated from the French by EMILY BOWLES. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1870. 8vo, pp. 539.

PROTESTANTS believe that the Roman Catholic Church, by the additions which it has made to the pure religion of the Bible, has brought incalculable evils upon Christendom; that by the superstitious observances which it has inculcated it has put to sleep the consciences of millions; and that by its connivance with evil it has brought upon itself a heavy burden of just reproach through all the ages. Yet Protestants also believe that practically in every generation there have been within the communion of that Church a great number of persons who have so intelligently and firmly held to the vital truths which it has retained, that even the errors which they have accepted have not materially injured the beauty of their Christian character, or deprived them of the consolations and hopes of the Christian religion.

The volume whose title we have placed at the head of this Article furnishes satisfactory evidence that what has been true in the past remains true at the present time; that there are very many in our day who implicitly accept the dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church who in their lives and in their deaths give unmistakable evidence of genuine piety.

We hardly need say that, as Protestants, we rejoice in all such evidence. Believing as we do in the communion of saints, and in a Church greater and more catholic than the Roman Catholic Church, it is a matter of rejoicing to us to know that even among those who denounce us as heretics, and

look upon us with pity and horror, there are those who are our brethren-for they belong also to that Church which is gathered from among all peoples and nations, of which the only Head is Jesus Christ.

The book of which we speak presents the Memoirs of the various members of a French Roman Catholic family in our own times, of high social position. It introduces the reader to a great variety of persons, well known in church and state, not only in France, but in other European countries. The "Story" is consequently one of real life; and illustrates in an exceedingly beautiful and affecting manner what we have said with regard to the piety which exists among the adherents of the Romish faith. It is accepted by them in Europe and America as one of the most powerful and attractive works of its kind which has been published in modern times. Yet it plainly appears from these Memoirs, as we think, that this piety, wherever it is exhibited, owes its existence to, and derives its nourishment from, the great truths which those who acknowledge the authority of the Pope hold in common with Protestants; and we cannot but think that it appears also that nearly everything which is distinctive in the Church of Rome, either in doctrine or practice, is useless to those who are seeking in earnest to live in conformity to the will of God, and to those who are not is fruitful only of evil.

Such an exhibition of religious life as is here presentedwhatever opinion the reader may form of it-merits consideration. There is reason to believe that many of our countrymen have derived their ideas of what Roman Catholicism is from what they have seen of it among the ignorant and semi-barbarous foreigners who are to so great an extent engaged here only in menial employments. Perhaps it is not too much to say that even well informed Protestants are to be found who firmly believe that no educated man in the Roman Catholic Church is or can be sincere in his reception of its dogmas.

Nothing surely is to be gained by undervaluing what is really good in that Church. We propose, accordingly, to give a somewhat full abstract of the "Story" which is here told. We feel, however, that we ought to premise that anything

which we can do in the way of compressing these two thick volumes within the limits at our command must prove very unsatisfactory. The book is one which requires to be read throughout, if any adequate impression is to be obtained.

The Memoirs open with an introduction to the home of the French ambassador in Rome, at a period only a few weeks before the famous Revolution in Paris of "the three days"the 28th, 29th, and 30th, of July, 1830. The ambassador at that time to the Papal Court was M. le Comte de Ferronnays, who had already for many years represented his government at St. Petersburg. In 1828, on his return from Russia to Paris, he had accepted the position of minister of foreign affairs; but a severe illness made it soon necessary for him to resign his portfolio. In the autumn of the following year, his health being in a measure reëstablished, he received information, while traveling in Italy, that he was appointed minister to Rome. Circumstances, however, prevented his entering immediately upon the duties of this office, so that it was not till the month of May, 1830, that he was fairly established with his family at the French embassy, which was then in the Palazzo Simonetti in the Corso.

As may readily be supposed, the younger members of the household were delighted with the prospect before them. "The eternal city" with all its treasures of art, the object of their longing dreams since earliest childhood, was before them. They were to enter society under the most favorable auspices, in one of the most interesting capitals of Europe. So the first few weeks were passed in the pleasantest manner possible. All unsuspicious that these happy days were to be the last which they were to spend in that degree of position and fortune, they enjoyed them to the full. But they had hardly learned to feel at home in the spacious apartments of the Palazzo Simonetti, when tidings of the Revolution in Paris reached them. M. le Comte de Ferronnays felt it to be incumbent upon him to send in his resignation at once; and then all was confusion in their beautiful home. The rooms which had been so elegantly fitted up for them were dismantled. The house was speedily filled with packing boxes. Their carriage and

horses which had been sent on to them from Vienna reached them only in time for one single drive outside of the walls of the city, and then were sent to be sold. All was uncertainty as to what it was best to do and where it was best to go.

At first it was thought advisable to leave Italy; but influ enced partly by considerations for the health of some of the party, and as it would seem partly also by motives of economy, they concluded to go to Naples. There, accordingly, they were soon established in a little villa, at Castellamare, which seemed as we are told very "ugly and desolate " after the broad staircases and spacious salons of the French embassy. Still they contrived to make themselves comfortable. Their house was very small, and the rooms were "dismal and shabby," but there was one large unfurnished room, the windows of which looked full upon the Bay of Naples and the heights of Castellamare, and this they made the gathering-place for the family. Here they brought every day their tables and chairs, and so spent the morning together, reading, writing, and chatting. The Count and Countess had both had an early experience of a life of exile. They had been in childhood with their parents among the emigrés of the first French Revolution. In fact, they had been married in Clagenfurth, in Corinthia, at the time that the army of Condé was encamped there. So their children, from the days of infancy, had been familiar with stories of the miseries and the dangers to which exiles are exposed, and with the courage and resignation which their parents and grandparents had shown in meeting the reverses of fortune. They did not know but a similar fate might be in reserve for them; so with admirable fortitude and cheerfulness they set to work to make their plans for the future. It was determined, if it should become necessary, that Eugénie should give music lessons, and Pauline should be a nursery governess.

But matters speedily changed for the better; and early in 1831 they felt able to remove to a pretty house on the Chiaia, next door to the palace of Sir Richard Acton; and the winter was passed in the most brilliant and agreeable society. Lady Acton delighted in having a circle of young people constantly around her; and with the gay throng which gathered at her house, where the young king, also, was a frequent guest, they

danced and sang, represented tableaux, and acted plays, every evening.

But though apparently living a life at this time of incessant gaiety, we are assured by the compiler of these Memoirs that her brothers and sisters were by no means carried away with it. She says that they enjoyed it exceedingly-so much that during the day they talked with child-like glee of the party of the preceding night and of the friends they hoped to meet again in the evening-still, she adds, they were never long "without exchanging thoughts of God and heaven." Their brother Albert, too, who was about nineteen years of age, soon declared that it would not do for him to live in a place where serious life seemed impossible. He told his father that he longed to improve himself and fit himself for usefulness; that he felt that he had already lost a great deal of time, and that in Naples it was impossible for him to fill his mind as he wished "with great and noble desires." Accordingly he gained his father's consent to accompany M. Rio, an old friend of the family, who was at that time commencing in Tuscany those careful and laborious investigations with respect to places of religious and historical interest in that part of Italy which have since made his name famous. The studies to which he was here incited did much to restore to him the energy which Naples had weakened. He became acquainted also at this time with MM. de Lamennais, and Lacordaire, and Count Charles de Montalembert, who were in Italy for the purpose of submitting to the Holy See the opinions which they had been advocating in Paris in the "Avenir." This acquaintance with Count de Montalembert in particular soon ripened into a firm and lasting friendship. Under such influences, the religious views of Albert seem to have become firmly established; and on returning to Florence he made "a kind of retreat," at the close of which he approached the sacrament, and “fixed on a rule of life which he never ceased to observe till the day of his death."

In 1832, Albert rejoined his family, who had meanwhile removed to Rome. They had found there an old friend whom they had known intimately when they had lived in St. Peters