course, as pursued by the late Dr. Doddridge. His mode of training divinity-students (as we saw it stated in an American work of authority) was to give forth the various views of doctrines and practices, with all the arguments belonging to both; and then to leave them to form their own judgments. And it is a well-known result (though the fact has been often misapprehended), that many of his pupils settled down as teachers of open heresies.

This well illustrates the appropriate attitude of the theological teacher and pupil. The Church's expounders of her higher doctrines and points of ritual should be self-confident men; self-confident, because they have themselves passed through the processes of believing and proving; and her learners (an appellation which, if they ever become doubters or questioners, must designate the habits of mind of her ministers many a weary year after the days of school and college and divinity lectures are over), must sit at their feet as simple-hearted believers. To men so trained subscription will be an act at once natural and grateful: and the service of the Church, like that of her divine Lord and Master, will be felt to be "perfect freedom."

ART. V.-The Diplomatic Correspondence of the Right Honourable Richard Hill, Envoy Extraordinary from the Court of St. James to the Duke of Savoy; in the reign of Queen Anne. Edited by the Rev. W. BLACKLEY, B.A., Domestic Chaplain to Viscount Hill. In Two Vols. 8vo. London: Murray. 1845.

HISTORY and Literature in general owe very little to public or national efforts in England. Neither to the Crown, nor to the Government, nor to the Church, nor to the Universities, nor to bodies or associations of public men, have we much reason to be grateful for bringing forth original papers, which serve to illustrate the annals of this or of any other country, or to throw light into the dark regions of the republic of letters. Of late years the Parliamentary commissions and reports of persons who have explored record offices, and the labours of literary societies, such as the Historical, the Irish Archæological, the Parker, the Surtees Societies, and the Royal Society of Literature, have made some endeavours to supply the desideratum; but still we have nothing that will compare with the successful performances of the Benedictines, the French Academy and Institute, and with the great national undertaking,

which is now producing in France a series of hitherto unedited works, that will bring light out of darkness in elucidation of language, literature, and history, from the earliest dawn of the French monarchy to the present time. In England it is the zeal, the taste, and the industry of individuals which enrich our literature. The press is, at this moment, teeming with publications which, professing to be the biography only of eminent men, or memoirs illustrative of certain periods, are, in reality, the valuable mines out of which the precious metal of history is to be dug. Whence come the chronicles of nations but from the journals of individuals? The history of the many-of mankind at large is made up of the biography of the few. The book which heads our present article contains the correspondence of Richard Hill, British Envoy to the Court of Turin, from July, 1703, to May, 1706. Thanks to the diligence and sagacity of the editor, who discovered ample materials for two volumes in a collection of papers that accidentally came under his eye, a very treasure of historical information is laid open to the public, under the modest title of "Correspondence Supplemental to the History of Europe," during that period of three years. Mr. Blackley's publication, the result of much patient labour in deciphering MSS., and preparing them for the press, is so full of charming and deeply interesting matter, that it is utterly impossible to do justice to it by any sketch or outline of its contents. It abounds in political and military intelligence; in anecdotes of princes, statesmen, generals and admirals; in descriptions of battles and sieges; in accounts of the secret movements and motives, which led to important political results and the change of dynasties; in the exploits of such men as the Camisards, Roland and Cavallier; and Henri Arnaud the Vaudois; of Rook, Peterborough, Prince Eugene, and Marlborough. It conducts us behind the scenes, where we may discern the machinery, the faces and figures, and almost the very thoughts, of the dramatis persone who acted on the great European stage in the reigns of Queen Anne and Louis XIV.

In our selection from this diplomatic correspondence, we have made Piedmont and Savoy our salient point. These countries, by their position, constitute a state of the highest importance in European policy. It is the mountain region which lies between. France and Lombardy; and is one of the strongest barriers that the northern powers have to pass before they can reach the plains of Italy. France, under Francis I., Louis XIV., and Napoleon, had to secure the Piedmontese fortresses of Pignerol, Susa, and Aosta-those keys of Italy, as Cardinal Richelieu called them-before the decisive battles could be fought (it is

enough to name Marengo), on which the destinies of Europe seemed to depend. The Dukes of Savoy and their dominions have, therefore, been objects of attention to the contending parties in every great continental war of modern times; and the chronicier, who has not access to documents which illustrate the true character and policy of the predecessors of the King of Sardinia, may well complain, with Muratori and Hallam, that this state is one of the darkest spots in history.

The correspondence is dated principally from Turin, and gives such a graphic description of the condition of the states under the dominion of the most remarkable of the Dukes of Savoy, Victor Amedèe, and of the personal character of that prince, that we are tempted to dwell on this portion of Mr. Hill's developments, under the belief that it will afford a solution to one of the most difficult questions-namely, why is less known of Piedmont and Savoy than of any other European state? Because, inasmuch as the history of states consists chiefly of events in close relation with the personal conduct and character of their rulers, the character of the Dukes of Savoy would be compromised by any true narrative of events. The political, the public, and the private history of many of the rulers of that country will not bear the light, their domestic and foreign policy has been systematically so dark and perfidious, on the very worst principles of Machiavelism, as Mr. Hill's corres pondence shows in its exposure of the duplicity of Victor Amedee, that a true history of Piedmont and Savoy never will be written with the consent of the reigning dynasty. We remember seeing in the copy of a later edition of Cardinal D'Ossat's "Letters," which belonged to Dr. Southey, a note written by the lamented poet himself, stating "that this edition contains the letters which had been suppressed in tenderness to the House of Savoy." But why in tenderness ? · Because the truths they reveal would be too disgraceful to the despots, who have misruled the fairest portion of Italy, and the very finest race of men that is to be found between the Alps and the Mediterranean.

་,;

Unfortunately the French lost the opportunity of revealing the secrets of the prison-house, when Turin and its abundant records were in their hands. Had their savans searched the archives of Piedmont, with the same diligence in pursuit of truth, with which their generals ransacked the shrines for gold and silver, pretty pickings would have been found, and very delicious diplomatic anecdotes would have been related of the Emmanuels, and Philliberts, and Victor Amedees, whose breach of faith, both in relation to their allies and their subjects,

has been of the most shameless character. But before we proceed to exhibit Victor Amedèe as a specimen of the royal House of Savoy, and as an impersonation of the bad faith by which it has been too often distinguished for the last three hundred years, we must first adduce our evidence for asserting that, up to the present hour, it has never dared to let any historian, or historical commission, make free use of the valuable historical materials, which still exist in the record chambers of Turin, Saluzzo, Novara, Vercelli, and Chamberri.

Guichenon, in 1660, published a ponderous work, in two volumes folio, under the title "Histoire Genéalogique de la Maison Royale de Savoie;" but Bayle has recorded the saying of a native Piedmontese, a contemporary and schoolfellow of Guichenon, which stamps the character of the production :"Aussi sçay je, de certaine science, qu'il n'a pas ose coucher une ligne dans son livre, qui n'ait este' criblée et récriblée à Turin." "I know for certain that he dared not insert a single line, until it had been sifted and re-sifted at Turin." Well might this book be so dull and tiresome that Cardinal Gerdil, if we are to believe Denina, pronounced it to be an impossibility for any man to read it through. Denina has several anecdotes, in his "Prefazione all' Storia dell' Italia Occidentale," to prove that permission never has been and never will be granted. to make a faithful use of the parchments and papers which are capable of illustrating the history of Piedmont and Savoy, so long as the censors of the Piedmontese press are jealous of the reputation of the former sovereigns of the House of Savoy. He. knew this by experience; for when he was a young man he was forbidden by the Sardinian Government to publish his "Introduction à l'etude de l'Histoire du Piemont et de la Savoie." About one hundred years ago two professors of the University of Turin, one of whom was named Lama, were employed by the court to write a history of Savoy: materials were put into their hands, and to work they went, until their composition was finished. But what was the result? The manuscript was delivered to the censors, and the authors were paid for their trouble, but the history was suppressed; and Lama found that he had given so much offence, by the free exercise of his judgment upon the documents that were entrusted to him, that he made a hasty departure from Turin to escape the royal displeasure. The celebrated Giannone was more wise in his dealings with these sensitive people. After having been driven from his own country, for treating the origin of the Papal power too freely in his "History of Naples," he took refuge at Turin, and was there in high favour with Victor Amedèe, who then happened to be quarreling with the Pope. Now, thought the decendants of Boson

and Berold, we have got the very man whom our smiles will induce to immortalize our family, and to discuss the history of Savoy and Piedmont, without speaking too plainly of the heroes who have enlarged the borders of their country and the limits of their prerogative. Before the eyes of the historiographer were spread all the literary treasures of the university and of the public offices of Turin-the charters, the state-papers, the ordinances, the correspondence-private and diplomatic-of every prince who bore the family-honoured names of Amedèe, Philibert, and Emmanuel were confided to him; but, at the same time, a few hints, such as poet-laureates and court-chroniclers are accustomed to receive, were whispered in the ears of Giannone. The prudent Neapolitan read the documents which were placed at his disposal, weighed well the conditions on which he was to employ them, and restored them to their custodians, with the humble request that some abler and more pliant pen than his might be honoured with the delicate

commission.

Another attempt was made, about the middle of the last century, to get up a narrative which should emblazon the merits of the princely line which has ruled the provinces at the eastern foot of the Alps for the last seven hundred years, without telling too many secrets of misgovernment and perfidiousness. Pierre de Rivaz undertook the task; and he finished a work which he supposed capable of conciliating the most jealous of dynasties: it was entitled "Histoire de la Maison de Savoie, avec des recherches et un Système nouveau sur son Origine." What! could not this history of the House of Savoy, and these new and flattering researches into the origin of a boasted offset of the imperial stem of Charlemagne, please them? No! Monsieur Pierre de Rivaz, courtier as he was, did not know how to mask all the misdeeds of their royal highnesses the Dukes of Savoy and Princes of Piedmont-so his manuscript was not allowed to be published. Lest it should be a matter of doubt whether, after all, there be any unpublished documents of great value in the archive rooms of Turin, and the provincial capitals of Savoy and Piedmont, we will produce a witness of some credibility on the subject, the Count Ferdinand Dal Pozzo, late Maitre des Requêtes et Premier President de la Cour Impériale à Gènes, to whom we are indebted for much information. "I should never end (says he, in his 'Essai sur les Anciennes Assemblees Nationales de la Savoie et du Piemont'), if I tried to make mention of all the precious manuscripts which are among the archives of the Court of Turin, and in the library of the univer sity, the publication of which will never be permitted."

In another place this author, who is still alive, expresses his