Notes On Literature, Science And Art.

good to civilization which the Almi ghty Ruler of the Universe caused to spring out of that oppressive act of Popish tyranny . On the 30 th of April , 1598—when Queen Elizabeth was really reigning in England , boxing the ears of the Earl of Essex and bidding him " go to the clevil " in her

wrath , and amusing her quiet leisure in translating Horace—when old Lord Burleigh was resting for ever from such statesmanship as he had been capable of—Avhen Sir Thomas Bodley Avas rebuilding aud furnishing the famous Library at

Oxford , which -will preserve his name for all time , Avhilst those of the self-important mere owners of money-bags are deservedly forgotten—when poor Edmund Spenser was dying broken hearted , his glorious "Faery Queen" unfinished—when William

Shakspere , at the early age of thirty-four , hacl won for himself a foremost place alike in English literature aud in social standing at his native Stratfovd-on-Avonthen it Avas that the fourth Henry of France granted that famous Edict at Nantes , which secured to his Protestant subjects the free exercise of their reli gion , ancl made them eligible to all civil ancl

military employments . But Popery is ever antagonistic to civil ancl reli gious liberty , and hence really cannot tolerate that most opposite of all systems in the world , Freemasonry , which does more than anything else I know of to cement in one bond of brotherhood men whose reliions

g and political opinions are as wide asunder as the poles , but who all agree in loviug their brother man . No ! Bartholomew Massacres , Smithfiekl , lit with the lurid light of blazing faggots in Avhich some poor heretic is expiring in agony , monarchs

baring their backs to the well-wielded scourge of some muscular mouk , and gentle ladies disjointed on the rack , are more , much more , in keeping with the real spirit of the Papacy than Masonry ever can be Avhilst it compels its true A'otaries to forget

all distinction of creed in its Lodges . How France was impoverished , and how other nations were enriched , by driving abroad her mo __ t skilled workmen and adventurous manufacturers , is a matter I must not now enter upon . My object is rather at present to quote the following p lainly-put picture of these foolish as well as tyrannical decrees of the fourteenth

Louis , in the words with which Dr . Smiles opens his " Story of a Huguenot Family , " iu Good Words : — " When Louis XIV . revoked the Edict of Nantes , he issued a number of decrees or edicts for the purpose of stamping out Protestantism in France . Each decree

had the effect of an Act of Parliament . Louis combined in himself the entire poAvers of the State . * * . _ . * Protestant grooms were forbidden to give riding lessons ; Protestant barbers were forbidden to cut hair ; Protestant washerwomen were

forbidden to Avash clothes ; Protestant servants were forbidden to serve either Roman Catholic or Protestant mistresses . They must all be ' converted . ' A profession of the Roman Catholic faith was required from simple artizans—from

shoemakers , tailors , masons , carpenters , and such like—before they wore permitted to labour at their respective callings . * . . . _; . * Protestants Avere forbidden to bo employed as librarians and printers .

They could not even be employed as labourers upon the king ' s highway . They could not serve in any public office Avhat-OA'er . They were excluded from the collection of the taxes , and from all government departments . Protestant apothecaries must shut up their shops .

Protestant advocates were forbidden to plead before the courts . Protestant doctors Avere forbidden to practise medicine and surgery . The sages famines must necessarily be of the Roman Catholic religion . „ . $ ... Protestant parents were forbidden to instruct

their children in their own faith . They were enjoined , under a heavy penalt y , to have their children baptized by the Roman Catholic priest , and brought up in the Roman Catholic Religion . When the law Avas disobeyedthe priests were empowered

, to seize and carry off the children , and educate them , at the expense of the parents , in monasteries and nunneries . * * * It was decreed by the king , that all the Protestant temples in Franceshouldbedemolished , or converted to other uses . Protestant

pastors were ordered to quit the country within fifteen days after tho date of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes . If found in the country after that period , they were condemneclto death . A reward of five thousand five hundred livres was offered for the apprehension of any Protes-