[516 J | [ Noy. 
RABELAIS: HIS MEMOIRS’ AND! WRITINGS. |’ tbe 
Tue writings of Rabelais, though mominally,“;familiary in, our 
mouths as household words,” are yet, sealed books to, the, majority: of 
modern readers. They know. him as an author, of-established. whim and 
humour, alloyed with. no slight portion of licentiousness; but,as aman 
of lofty and yersatile inyention, penetrating .research, information 
unbounded. in_ its. variety, and above. all, of , unexceptionable;moral 
character, he yet remains to be appreciated. . In literature, asin every 
thing else, there are two kinds of reputation :, the one, |all,sound and 
shadow; the other, silent, unobtrusive, but substantial, and rooted like 
an oak, in the cultivated soil of the public mind, \ Wordsworth among 
the moderns, is a striking instance of the last species. of notoriety. Itis 
the fashion at present to under-rate him ; yet there is no one whose stern, 
but poetic modes of thinking, are so often remembered, even, in their own 
despite, by those who professedly decry him. Rabelais, on the contrary, 
is amere name—a mighty one, it is true—but nothing more. All classes 
are alike familiar with it; for it comes before them consecrated by’ the 
recollection of those lofty spirits, who have drawn their chief inspiration 
at its source: yet if we ask the majority of readers the nature and 
tendency of this author’s writings, we shall be answered. with a con- 
fession of ignorance. It is to remove this obscurity, that hangs like a 
veil over the splendour of a great name, that we here endeavour, however 
humbly, to render it adequate justice ; as also to glean from the fields of 
literary research, the scattered relics that are yet to be pickedup respecting 
it, premising at the same time that these relics, to apply a hackneyed 
but appropriate metaphor, are “like angels’ visits, few and far between.” 
Francis Rabelais, son of Thomas Rabelais, apothecary of, Chinon, 
was born in that town towards the close of 1483. The rudiments of: his: 
education were laid in the Abbey of Sevillé, from, which place he was 
removed while yet in his teens to the university of), Angers. | Here 
(according to a letter written by the celebrated scholar Budceus), he 
continued about two years; and though in no way, distinguished. for his 
application, yét contrived to acquire a. creditable modicum, of know- 
ledge ; and, what is still more important, to Jay the seeds. of,a friendship 
with Du Bellay, afterwards Cardinal, which continued unimpaired, till 
death. Sczvola Sarmathanus relates, that he, was educated ata, convent 
of Franciscan Friars in the Lower Poicteau, where he distinguished him- 
self so highly by his classical attainments as to incur the odium, of a> 
conjuror, which was still further embitterd by his unguarded sallies 
against the priesthood. A singular anecdote is recorded of him at this 
convent, that he had personated its tutelary patron Saint Francis; but 
as the tale, although characteristic enough to be true, rests only on the 
apochryphal testimony of a monk, we have thought, ourselves warranted \, 
in omitting it. Two facts, however, are certain: the first, his secession, 
perhaps his expulsion from the convent; the second, his introduction to., 
the more lucrative order of Saint Bennett, obtained, through the 
influence of his friend the Bishop of Maillezais. nid Hooles 
It is from this period, 1513 down to 1529, about which time Rabelais)! 
first began to practise physic at the University of Montpellier,,that the 
principal gap occurs in his biography. The Floretum Philosophicum says. 
little of him during this interval; the Bibliotheque Francoise, contents 
itself with one or two characteristic anecdotes; while Mr, Ozell attempts) ») 
