time fhe was fcarcely able to drag about the remains of a miferable life; befides, having been born in England, and brought over to a diftant province in France when very young, the very name of the city of Paris frightened her. She imagined, that in the capital of the kingdom, they must be ftill more cruel than at Toulouse: at length, however, the duty of revenging the death of her husband, got the better of her weakness. She fet out for Paris, arrived there half dead; and was furprised to find herself received with tenderness, sympathy, and offers of affiftance.

At Paris reafon always triumphs over enthufiafm, however great; whereas in the more diftant provinces of the kingdom, enthusiasm almost always triumphs over reafon.

Mr. De Beaumont, a famous lawyer of the parliament of Paris, immediately took her caufe in hand, and drew up an opinion, which was figned by fifteen other lawyers.. Mr. Loiseau, equally famous for his eloquence, likewise drew up a memorial in favour of this unhappy. family; and Mr. Mariette, folicitor to the council, drew up a formal state of the cafe, which struck every one who read it with conviction.

Thefe

These three noble defenders of the laws and of innocence, made the widow a prefent of all the profits arifing from the publication of these pieces *; which filled not only Paris but all Europe with pity for this unfortunate woman, and every one cried aloud for juftice to be done her. In a word, the public paffed fentence on this affair, long before it was determined by the council.

The foft infection made its way even to the cabinet, notwithstanding the continual round of business, which often excludes pity, and the constant habitude of beholding miserable objects, which too frequently feels the heart of the statefman against the cries of distress. The daughters were reftored to their difconfolate mother, and all three in deep mourning,

It is neceffary for the English reader to underftand, that in Paris it is customary for the great lawyers or counsellors employed in any remarkable cafe, to publish their pleadings on each fide. On this occafion however, our author obferves, "That these publications were pirated in several

66

towns, by which Mrs. Calas loft the advantage "that was intended her by this act of «rofity."

gene

and

and bathéd in tears, drew a fympathetic flood from the eyes of their judges before whom they proftrated themfelves in thankful acknowledgements.

de

Nevertheless, this family had still some enemies to encounter; for it is to be confidered, that this was an affair of religion. Several perfons, whom in France we call devots clared publicly, that it was much better to fuffer an old calvinift, though innocent, to be broken alive upon the wheel, than to expose eight counsellors of Languedoc to the mortification of being obliged to own, that they had been mistaken: nay, thefe people made ufe of this very expreffion; That there were more

magiftrates than Calas's" by which it should feem they inferred, that the Calas family. ought to be facrificed to the honour of the magiftracy. Alas! they never reflected, that the

* Dévot, or as we call it in English devotee, comes from the Latin word devotus. The devoti of an tient Rome were such persons who devoted themfelves to death for the fafety or good of the republic; as the Curtii and Decii.

honour

honour of a judge, like that of another man, confifts in making reparation for the faults he may have committed.

In France no one believes that the pope, even when affifted by his cardinals, is infallible: ought they then to have believed that eight judges of Toulouse were fo? Every fenfible and difinterested person did without scruple declare, that the decree of the court of justice of Toulouse, would be looked upon as void by all Europe, even though particular confiderations might prevent it from being declared fo by the

council.

Such was the ftate of this surprising affair, when it occafioned certain impartial, but fenfible perfons, to form the defign of laying before the public a few reflections upon toleration, indulgence, and commiferation, which the abbé Houteville in his bombastic and declamatory work, which is falfe in all the facts, calls a monftrous doctrine, but which reason calls the portion

of human nature.

Either the judges of Toulouse, carried away by popular enthusiasm, caused the innocent maker of a family to be put to a painful and igno

minious

minious death, a thing which is without example; or this mafter of a family and his wife murdered their eldest fon, with the affiftance of another fon and a friend, which is altogether out of nature. In either cafe, the most holy of all religions has been perverted to the production of an enormous crime. It is therefore the intereft of mankind to examine how far charity or cruelty is confiftent with true religion.

CHAP.