Trent, which is sufficient designation*. The time for the re-opening of the council, which had been appointed for Easter day, in 1561, was drawing nigh. It was necessary for his holiness to select his legates. The choice fell upon Hercole Gonzaga, cardinal of Mantua, and another, for whom, on account of illness, was substituted cardinal Seripando. The affairs of France in respect of religion, particularly the colloquy of Poissyt, agitated the pope violently, and made him welcome a council as the least of the evils with which he saw himself surrounded. He exerted himself, therefore, to give a beginning to the renewed council. He increased the number of legates, by the addition of Ludovico Simonetta, a great canonist, and Marco di Altemps, his

* Fra Paolo, v. 68, &c., in Courayer's Translation.

For the most satisfactory account of this colloquy, see the Rev. E. Smedley's History of the Reformed Religion in France, vol. i. ch. v. throughout. Before the appearance of the present work, this interesting portion of ecclesiastical history in English was a desideratum; and it is a gratification to the Christian and reading public, that it is so well supplied. If the succeeding volume equal that which has appeared, all true protestants will have cause to rejoice. It will, however, by some be regretted, that the conduct of those to whom the name of Calvinist was applied, not from the adoption of the main and most obnoxious doctrine, but from the services and general Christianity of a great and good man, is sometimes, particularly in the accounts of the synods of those persecuted Christians, both censured and represented in a way which the better reflexion of the able author would not perhaps perfectly approve. The ministers who were principally concerned in these synods, seem to have acted most conscientiously under the influence of the fear of God; and it is difficult to conceive how a conscientious clergyman of the church of England, explaining the obligation to renounce the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, could have expressed himself in a manner essentially different from that which these holy men adopted. It may be not uninstructive to learn how one striking incident of this important conference is represented by the Venetian, Milledoni. Teodoro Besa heretico, con 15 suoi seguaci, alla presenza del Ré, Reina, e Re di Navarra, . . . diede una scrittura a sua Mta. Christma. della sua fede, che era quella del Calvino sacramentario, e la pouderò passo per passo, e quando fù al passo ove si niega il santissimo sacramento, ognuno si mutò di colore, e il Cardinal di Tornone disse alla Regina, che non sopportasse tal biastema alla presenza del Re suo figliolo. Onde il Besa si perse d'animo, e non seppe piu continuare. Did this poor bigot suppose Beza's doctrine to be a denial of the sacrament?

nephew. With Stanislao Osio*, who was appointed before, the addition was three: five, therefore, in allt. Simonetta was sent to Trent at the beginning of December, to open the council without delay; but he was unable to do so.

In this manner was passed the ten years' interruption of the celebrated council of Trent. As the present does not pretend to the character of a regular history of that assembly, and still less of the times which intervened between the periods of its actual existence and proceedings, we have contented ourselves with a brief sketch of the events in question, as they seemed necessary to connect the distant histories of the council, and render them sufficiently intelligible. He who would enter into the views, most of them very distant from religious ones, of the parties who from their station and power assumed the management of this professedly religious congress, may find as much as will satisfy him, in the acute, laborious, and generally accurate Venetian, who had access to documents not now accessible, and whose fidelity has been established by the accidental confirmation supplied, by such documents as since his time have been brought to light.

At this time, about the middle of the year, the Christians of the valleys of Piemont, who had been goaded by fresh persecution into self-defence, in opposition however to the admonitions of their pastors, were favoured by that God, whose cause was theirs likewise, with a victory so complete and bloodless on their part, as to be esteemed miraculous by others as well as themselves. In 1555, anti-christian malevolence had impelled those spiritual janizaries, the monks, with the clergy and bigoted secular rulers, especially the duke of Savoy, to molest them in every possible way; and the passion growing with what produced it, issued in the brutal attack made upon them by the Lord of Trinity,

He is better known by the Latin form, Hosius. He was bishop of Ermeland, in Eastern Prussia, in Latin, Varmia or Warmia.

+ Courayer, in a note on c. lxxviii., observes, that Simonetta had been named as one of the legates at the same time as Seripando and Osio. In the present instance the inaccuracy is trifling.

who was repulsed with shame and slaughter, and a peace honourable for the conquerors was obtained, and confirmed by an edict. We must claim for these meritorious sufferers, for such they were even in their victories, the title of martyrs, or witnesses, if the cause, the cause of faith and the gospel, make the martyr, and unless simple passivity be a necessary ingredient of martyrdom, and the apostle's enumeration of martyrs be incorrect by including those who 'subdued kingdoms,' and 'waxed valiant in fight*.'

SESSION XVII.

PREPARATIONS-SESSION.

Celebration of the Council under Pius IV.

Ar the third opening of the council and to its conclusion, the period at which we are now arrived, the assistance of our manuscripts returns in full force. Among them our principal guide for the remainder of our journey will be, the Acta of Gabriel Paleotto, who after the rising of the council became cardinal, bishop of several sees successively, and archbishop of one of them, Bologna.

During the time that the council was sitting, the author's own account of himself will be perhaps our best, certainly most appropriate, authority. Throughout the whole of his work, which is generally described in the Preface, it will be evident that the writer is a devoted servant of the Roman see. The very commencement is expressive of that principle. In most of such productions as the present, which possibly had no title, or would guard against the loss of it, the writer

* Heb. xi. 33, 34. For the preceding statement, see Memorabilis Historia Persecutionum Bellorumque in Populum vulgo Valdensem appellatum, Angrun. Lusern. Sanmartin. Perusin., &c. ab anno 1555 ad 1561, religionis ergô gestorum. Gen. 1581, 8vo.; Leger, Hist. Gen. des Eglises des Vallies de Piemont ou Vaudoises, Deuxieme Partie, pp. 28-40; and Thuani Hist. xxvii. 8-14. Many other historians might be cited, and, not the least of them, our faithful martyrologist.

has expressly introduced his own name and designation, and, as is here the case, an account of his work. Paleotto, accordingly, having first asserted the value of the peculiar description of history which he had undertaken, and the authority of the head of his church, proceeds to write, that when Pius IV, supreme pontiff, had determined upon completing the council, he sent the writer, one of the twelve auditors of the Rota, to be present at it. Paleotto resolved, in the time which was his own, after the performance of his public duties, to commit to writing the transactions of which he was an ocular witness. He amplifies, in the discussion of the subjects submitted to the fathers, their admirable subtlety, variety, judgment, and learning; and enters with interest, as well as particularity, into the details. In the present volume, which is sufficiently bulky, he professedly declines inserting public documents, having devoted to that department another work, to which he satisfies himself with making references, as he regularly does. Fortunately, these pieces are to be found published in accessible collections, and particularly in the magnificent and comprehensive one of Le Plat. Paleotto magnifies the advantages supplied by his office, and professes to have subjected his performance to the inspection and criticism of many of the gravest of the fathers, who formed a part of the council, and who advised him to make his labours public for the common use of the Christian republic. This he modestly refers to the judgment of his superiors, who, with the permission of the chief Roman pontiff, may consider whether such a measure would be subservient to the benefit of the Holy Church. They have not yet so thought, nor was it likely from the honesty of the contents that they ever would. The author then expresses an apprehension, that the disclosures made in his narrative of the numerous contentions, complaints, suspicions, calamities, and sad events, appearing there, might be regarded as an aspersion upon the glory of the assembly. But he is satisfied that the exhibition will turn to its credit, as discovering the continual ambushes of demons to obstruct

what is good, and particularly as evincing the perfect liberty of speech allowed in the council.-If this could have been prevented by the heads of the council; or if any thing like the freedom required had been granted to the protestants, the statement would have been worth something. However, the auditor is a good rhetorician; and in a fine round sentence, bringing before the reader in full detail the most grave fathers constituting the synod, and beginning with those of England and Scotland, he is overwhelmed with admiration of the divine wisdom, which shed its riches so munificently upon this most holy assembly. It is somewhat amusing to find, in the sequel, the writer congratulating himself upon its being not one of the least valuable fruits of the Tridentine council, that in future the most holy Roman pontiffs will not be so importunately called upon to celebrate new councils. The heretics in particular could have no hopes from the same quarter, being self-convicted by refusing, notwithstanding the invitation and offers of security, to come into the field. They would have been heard. Yes: heard by those who were eager, empowered, and sworn to condemn them. It has been sufficiently seen what those calumniously called heretics required, and what was denied.

Leaving these preliminaries, and approaching his subject, the acts of the first session, after expressing his intention of beginning in some measure at the causes, the author makes the following prayer: May I be assisted, while meditating such an undertaking, by the celestial favour of the Holy Spirit, communicating his light and 'truth, that being illuminated thereby, I may faithfully write in such a way as to promote his eternal glory, the advancement of his church, the profit of readers, and the remission of my own sins.' The simplest act in devotion is thus defiled by the unwholesome breath of papal theology.

It is unnecessary for us to follow the historian from the beginning of the council under Paul III. What has preceded in the present work is sufficient introduction. At the