THE WATCH-TOWER OF KOAT-VEU. 137 



which the encyclopedic school produced about this time, and deceived 

 by the appearance of philanthropy which it displayed, he devoted 

 himself altogether to the propagation of its new doctrines. Par- 

 taking of the singular mania which at that time led astray the reason 

 of a part of the French nobility in the speculative field of one of the 

 most dangerous Utopias, he forwarded, as far as lay within his power, 

 the progressive development of ideas which afterwards proved so 

 fatal to all aristocracy and power. 



The railleries with which he assailed his wife for what he called 

 her superstition had no effect so long as she remained in Spain, where 

 the power, both temporal and spiritual,, of the clergy was so com- 

 manding, the faith of the people so complete, that Rita, moving in 

 this atmosphere of piety, surrounded by persons of the same convic- 

 tion, meeting at every step the exterior signs of religion, preserved 

 all the purity of her faith. But when she had lived for some time in 

 thejrnidst of the fetes and enjoyments of the court at Versailles, sur- 

 rounded by wit and eloquence, her faith was shaken by this dazzling 

 vortex and began to waver. Then, again, the religion of France was 

 unlike that of Spain. There were none of those lofty, sombre, and 

 solemn churches, those rich shrines glittering with gold and precious 

 stones, which, absorbing a scattered and feeble light, dart forth a ra- 

 diance in the midst of the darkness like a bright light from heaven. 

 The grave and sublime chaunt of the monks was gone. They were 

 no longer crowded by a population dressed in black, kneeling de- 

 voutly upon the cold pavement of the aisles, and telling with faith 

 the beads of their rosaries in gloom and silence. 



In France the religion, slighted, insulted in its spirit of observance, 

 appeared to endeavour to attract the eye by adding a borrowed splen- 

 dour to its worship. The churches were bedecked and adorned ; they 

 had lost the magnificently wrought windows which gave to the in- 

 terior a tint of mysterious obscurity ; and, now that the mass was at- 

 tended for the purpose of seeing and being seen, the sun darted his 

 joyous beams through the expansive windows, inundating the whole 

 choir with light, and glittering on the costly velvets, the gold, and 

 silks which clothed a gay and noisy multitude, whose luxurious dress 

 vied with the altar's rich and costly ornaments. And then the voice 

 of " philosophisme " began already to be heard, breaktng upon the 

 sanctity of the sacred mysteries, and the holy canticles sung by 

 choristers from the Opera-house. 



It must be confessed that the religious feelings of Rita were ac- 

 quired rather than instinctive or the fruit of reason. She was en- 

 dowed with an unfixed, inconstant, and ardent imagination, and was 

 particularly struck with the pompous exterior of Catholicism, its 

 imposing and solemn ceremonies. Having never tasted a life of suf- 

 fering, she had nothing to ask of the echoes of the abyss in which 

 Pascal was overwhelmed. The poetry of religion was all she felt. 

 Of the unfathomable depths of ocean she only saw the bright azure 

 wave that danced upon its mirrored plain, and cradled there her 

 thoughts, inhaled an atmosphere of ardent incense, calmed by the 

 harmonious peals of the organ's receding melody. 



Therefore, when men of learning, who formed her husband's so- 



