finds, in spite of our vanity and ambition, a deep and holy echo in the human heart.*

The following are the ecclesiastical statistics of the numbers of the Catholic clergy composing the twenty-four dioceses of the kingdom, drawn from authentic documents, year 1833.

* It is to be regretted, perhaps, that with the virtues which the country clergy of France possess, there are not united others, viz.: a greater elevation of views, more extended knowledge, and principles applying better to the affairs and conditions of the world. But with all their faults and deficiencies, these men form, as I have said, a class in which are found some of the most useful and honorable citizens of France. The clergy of G 3

VOL. I.

the towns are better informed, in general, than those of the country. They are paid better and are chosen from a class, a grade or two higher in society; but they possess neither the same virtues, nor do they obtain the same respect.

By this statement it would appear, as well from the number of priests required for the service, as from the decrease which (in 1824 was 36,000) of the students educating for the priesthood, that there is a certain difficulty at the present time in maintaining the ranks of that very respectable body, to whose virtues I should be ashamed not to render justice. But let us not at once suppose that this is owing to the smallness of the salary which the clergy receive a salary wholly sufficient for their simple wants, and, as they are taken, for the most part, from parents poorer than themselves, more than they are accustomed to, or, had they remained among the laity, would have received.

It has become more difficult to fill up the ranks of the priesthood, not because the pecuniary rewards of the church are insufficient, if pecuniary rewards could alone suffice, but because pecuniary rewards cannot alone suffice when they have to counterpoise all the tastes and affections, and habits of the the human heart.

You tell me that the church was crowded when it had rich benefices and bishoprics at its disposition,-ay;-but had it only rich benefices and bishoprics? Had it not also

pomp, power, place, all that corrupts and gratifies our nature? Were not its favours court

ed, and its vices forgiven? What difficulty was there in renouncing the world, when you thereby gained what was most valued in the world? Do you think that the most holy of the martyrs themselves were insensible to the glory that awaited them in front of the lion ?

To be a French priest at present-what do you receive, and what do you renounce? You receive a moderate, but honourable subsistence, perfectly sufficient for all the wants which are necessary to, or indeed compatible with, your calling. But you renounce the honours of a literary or military career; you must turn aside from all that animates and vivifies your nation. You must for ever abandon the passion of the peasant, whose toil you have escaped, but from whose desire-desire becoming every day more ardent, you cannot from every early recollection and daily habit be entirely free. You must abandon the hope of having a little spot of ground, which shall become a field, perchance a farm, under your care and economy;—a field or a farm, which would be your own.

Nor is this all-out from the innermost

depths of your heart you must pluck the soft and gentle passion, which has not only been given you by nature, but which the society in which you live brings in every varied reflection before your eyes.

To be priest you must neither be dramatist, nor warrior, nor proprietor, nor lover, nor husband, nor father;-you must renounce all these titles so precious in a nation at once affectionate and vain ;-and this without any of those gratifications which have mingled with the religion and the religious enthusiasm of the best and wisest of men. No one shall call you saint, or worship you as prophet; no one shall mingle with your person any of that mysterious divinity which of old mantled the ministers of God.

You shall be loved and respected; but you shall be loved and respected as a man ;-you shall be loved and respected, but you shall be loved and respected as a member of society;and you have foresworn the pleasures of a man, you have placed beyond the tomb the pleasures of society; you have made the sacrifice of religious enthusiasm amidst the empire of religious indifference.

Let me proclaim boldly, that a poor priesthood has always been, and always must be a