History of Civilization in England, Vol. 2 of 3

1145

In a letter written in 1756, it is said, ‘Mais c'est peine perdue aujourd'hui que de plaisanter les érudits; il n'y en a plus en France.’ Grimm, Correspond. vol. ii. p. 15. In 1764, ‘Il est honteux et incroyable à quel point l'étude des anciens est négligée.’ vol. iv. p. 97. In 1768, ‘Une autre raison qui rendra les traductions des auteurs anciens de plus en plus rares en France, c'est que depuis long temps on n'y sait plus le Grec, et qu'on néglige l'étude du Latin tous les jours davantage.’ vol. vi. p. 140. Sherlock (New Letters from an English Traveller, London, 1781, p. 86) says, ‘It is very rare to meet a man in France that understands Greek.’ In 1785, Jefferson writes from Paris to Madison, ‘Greek and Roman authors are dearer here than, I believe, any where in the world; nobody here reads them, wherefore they are not reprinted.’ Jefferson's Correspond. vol. i. p. 301. See further, on this neglect of the ancients, a significant precursor of the Revolution, Mém. de Montbarey, vol. iii. p. 181; Villemain, Littérature au XVIIIe Siècle, vol. iii. pp. 243–248; Schlosser's Eighteenth Century, vol. i. p. 344.

1146

For further evidence of the popularity of physical knowledge, and of its study, even by those who might have been expected to neglect it, see Mém. de Roland, vol. i. pp. 115, 268, 324, 343; Mém. de Morellet, vol. i. p. 16; Dupont de Nemours, Mém. sur Turgot, pp. 45, 52, 53, 411; Mém. de Brissot, vol. i. pp. 62, 151, 319, 336, 338, 357; Cuvier, Progrès des Sciences, vol. i. p. 89.

1147

A celebrated writer has well said, though in a somewhat different point of view, ‘Il ne peut y avoir dans les sciences morales, pas plus que dans les sciences physiques, ni maîtres, ni esclaves, ni rois, ni sujets, ni citoyens, ni étrangers.’ Comte, Traité de Législation, vol. i. p. 43.

1148

The remarks which Thomas made upon Descartes in 1765, in an éloge crowned by the Academy, illustrate the opinions which, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, were becoming rapidly diffused in France. See the passage beginning ‘O préjugés! ô ridicule fierté des places et du rang!’ &c. Œuvres de Descartes, vol. i. p. 74. Certainly no one would have used such language, on such an occasion, thirty years earlier. So, too, the Count de Ségur says of the younger nobles before the Revolution, ‘nous préférions un mot d'éloges de D'Alembert, de Diderot, à la faveur la plus signalée d'un prince.’ Mém. de Ségur, vol. i. p. 142: see also vol. ii. p. 46.

1149

Among many other illustrations which might be given of this distinction of classes by dress, see Monteil, Hist. des divers Etats, vol. vii. pp. 7–10; and Tallemant des Réaux, Historiettes, vol. i. p. 36 note.

1150

In August 1787, Jefferson writes from Paris (Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 224): ‘In society, the habit habillé is almost banished, and they begin to go even to great suppers in frock: the court and diplomatic corps, however, must always be excepted. They are too high to be reached by any improvement. They are the last refuge from which etiquette, formality, and folly will be driven. Take away these, and they would be on a level with other people.’ Jefferson was a statesman and a diplomatist, and was well acquainted with his profession. The change, however, which he noticed, had been coming on some years earlier. In a letter written in May 1786, it is said: ‘Il est rare aujourd'hui de rencontrer dans le monde des personnes qui soient ce qu'on appelle habillées. Lee femmes sont en chemise et en chapeau, les hommes en froc et en gilet.’ Grimm, Correspond. vol. xiv. p. 485; and on the increased simplicity of attire in 1780, see vol. xi. pp. 141, 142. Ségur, who witnessed these changes, and was much displeased by them, says of their advocates, ‘ils ne voyaient pas que les frocs, remplaçant les amples et imposans vêtemens de l'ancienne cour, présagaient un penchant général pour l'égalité.’ Mém. de Ségur, vol. i. p. 131. Soulavie (Règne de Louis XVI, vol. vi. p. 38) observes, that ‘les grands, vers les approches de la révolution, n'avoient plus que des habits simples et peu coûteux;’ and that ‘on ne distingua plus une duchesse d'une actrice,’ p. 43: see also an extract from Montjoye, in Alison's History, vol. i. pp. 352, 353. Compare Mém. sur Marie-Antoinette, vol. i. pp. 226, 372, vol. ii. p. 174, and Mém. de Madame au Hausset, introduc. p. 17.

1151

‘Les personnes du premier rang et même d'un âge mûr, qui avaient travaillé toute leur vie pour obtenir les ordres du roi, preuve de la plus haute faveur, s'habituèrent à en cacher les marques distinctives sous le froc le plus simple, qui leur permettait de courir à pied dans les rues et de se confondre dans la foule.’ Mém. de Montbarey, vol. iii. pp. 161, 162. Another alteration of the same tendency is worth recording. The Baroness d'Oberkirch, who revisited Paris in 1784, remarked, on her arrival, that ‘gentlemen began about this time to go about unarmed, and wore swords only in full dress… And thus the French nobility laid aside a usage which the example of their fathers had consecrated through centuries.’ D'Oberkirch's Memoirs, Lond. 1852, vol. ii. p. 211.

1152

A striking instance of which was, moreover, seen in the number of mésalliances, which first became frequent about the middle of the reign of Louis XV. Compare Mém. de Montbarey, vol. iii. pp. 116, 156, 157; Lacretelle, Dix-huitième Siècle, vol. iii. p. 220.

1153

‘Nous commençâmes aussi à avoir des clubs: les hommes s'y réunissaient, non encore pour discuter, mais pour dîner, jouer au wisk, et lire tous les ouvrages nouveaux. Ce premier pas, alors presque inaperçu, eut dans la suite de grandes, et momentanément de funestes conséquences. Dans le commencement, son premier résultat fut de séparer les hommes des femmes, et d'apporter ainsi un notable changement dans nos mœurs: elles devinrent moins frivoles, mais moins polies; plus fortes, mais moins aimables: la politique y gagna, la société y perdit.’ Mém. de Ségur, vol. ii. p. 28. By the spring of 1786, this separation of the sexes had become still more marked; and it was a common complaint, that ladies were obliged to go to the theatre alone, men being at their clubs. See the very curious observations in Grimm, Correspond. vol. xiv. pp. 486–489, where there is also a notice of ‘le prodigieux succès qu'a eu l'établissement des clubs à l'anglaise.’ See also, on the diminished attention paid to women, Williams's Letters from France, vol. ii. p. 80; 3rd edit. 1796.

1154

The remarks of Georgel appear to apply to the political clubs only: ‘A Paris les assemblées de nouvellistes, les clubs qui s'étoient formés à l'instar de ceux des Anglais, s'expliquaient hautement et sans retenue sur les droits de l'homme, sur les avantages de la liberté, sur les grands abus de l'inégalité des conditions. Ces clubs, trop accrédités, avoient commencé à se former en 1784.’ Mém. de Georgel, vol. ii. p. 310.

1155

‘Le lieutenant de police fit fermer le club nommé Club du Salon; ordre arbitraire et inutile: ce club alors était composé de personnes distinguées de la noblesse ou de la haute bourgeoisie, ainsi que des artistes et des hommes de lettres les plus considérés. Cette réunion offrait, pour la première fois, l'image d'une égalité qui devient bientôt, plus que la liberté même, le vœu le plus ardent de la plus grande partie de la nation. Aussi le mécontentement produit par la clôture de ce club fut si vif, que l'autorité se crut obligée de la rouvrir.’ Mém. de Ségur, vol. iii. pp. 258, 259. On the increase of these clubs from 1787 to 1789, compare Du Mesnil, Mém. sur Le Brun, p. 148; Mém. de Lafayette, vol. i. pp. 312, 322, 391, 434, vol. ii. p. 9; Barruel, Hist. du Jacob. vol. i. p. 40, vol. ii. p. 310, vol. v. pp. 101, 168; Thiers, Hist. de la Révolution, vol. i. p. 36, Paris, 1834.

1156

Mem. of Franklin, vol. ii. pp. 14 seq.; and Mem. of Jefferson, vol. i. pp. 17–22, where the passages are given which Congress altered.

1157

Ségur (Mém. vol. i. p. 111) says that his father had been frequently told by Maurepas that public opinion forced the government, against its own wishes, to side with America. Compare Mém. de Georgel, vol. iv. p. 370; and Flassan, Diplomatie Française, vol. vii. p. 166.

1158

The news of which soon reached England. In January 1777, Burke writes (Works, vol. ii. p. 394), ‘I hear that Dr. Franklin has had a most extraordinary reception at Paris from all ranks of people.’ Soulavie (Règne de Louis XVI, vol. ii. p. 50) says, ‘J'ai vu Francklin devenir un objet de culte.’ See also, on his popularity, Mém. d'Epinay, vol. iii. p. 419.

1159

Flassan, Diplomatie Française, vol. vii. p. 159; Life of Franklin, by Himself, vol. ii. pp. 60, 61; Mahon's Hist. of England, vol. vii. pp. 197, 198.

1160

The sneering letter written from Paris by Lord Stormont, as early as December 1774 (Adolphus's George III. vol. ii. p. 316), should be compared with Lafayette, Mémoires, vol. i. pp. 24, 169, 229; Dutens, Mém. d'un Voyageur, vol. ii. p. 317; Mém. de Ségur, vol. i. p. 149; and Schlosser's Eighteenth Century, vol. v. p. 175.

1161

De Staël sur la Révolution, vol. i. p. 88; Mém. de Montbarey, vol. iii. pp. 134, 186; Mém. de Ségur, vol. i. p. 277; Campan, Mém. de Marie Antoinette, vol. i. p. 233, vol. iii. pp. 96, 116; Soulavie, Règne de Louis XVI, vol. ii. pp. xxiv. li. iii.; Dumont, Souvenirs sur Mirabeau, p. 176; Mém. de Du Hausset, introduc. p. 40; Mém. de Genlis, vol. vi. p. 57; Jefferson's Mem. and Correspond. vol. i. p. 59; and Maitland's speech, in Parl. Hist. vol. xxx. pp. 198, 199; also the remarks of the Duke of Bedford, vol. xxxi. p. 663.

1162

Lamartine, Hist. des Girondins, vol. i. p. 46. Dumont (Souvenirs, p. 97) calls this ‘une idée américaine;’ and see to the same effect, Mém. de Lafayette, vol. i. pp. 193, 268, 269, 416, vol. ii. pp. 139, 140; Jefferson's Correspond. vol. i. p. 90; Barruel, Hist. du Jacobinisme, vol. v. p. 311. The influence which the American Revolution exercised over the mind of Lafayette is noticed by Bouillé, his cousin and his enemy. Mém. de Bouillé, vol. i. p. 102, vol. ii. pp. 131, 183.

1163

‘The Duke of Dorset, the English ambassador, writing to Mr. Pitt from Paris, July 9th, 1789, said, “Mr. Jefferson, the American minister at this court, has been a great deal consulted by the principal leaders of the tiers état; and I have great reason to think that it was owing to his advice that order called itself L'Assemblée Nationale.”’ Tomline's Life of Pitt, vol. ii. p. 266.

1164

In the second chapter of the first volume of Buckle's History of Civilization.

1165

‘The low state of agriculture in Spain may be ascribed partly to physical and partly to moral causes. At the head of the former must be placed the heat of the climate and the aridity of the soil. Most part of the rivers with which the country is intersected run in deep beds, and are but little available except in a few favoured localities, for purposes of irrigation.’ M'Culloch's Geographical and Statistical Dictionary, London, 1849, vol. ii. p. 708. See also Laborde's Spain, London, 1809, vol. iv. p. 284, vol. v. p. 261. The relative aridity of the different parts is stated in Cook's Spain, London, 1834, vol. ii. pp. 216–219.

1166

On these droughts and famines, see Mariana, Historia de España, Madrid, 1794, vol. ii. p. 270, vol. iii. p. 225, vol. iv. p. 32. Conde, Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en España, Paris, 1840, pp. 142, 149, 154, 170. Davila, Historia de la Vida de Felipe Tercero, Madrid, 1771, folio, lib. ii. p. 114. Clarke's Letters concerning the Spanish Nation, London, 1763, 4to. p. 282. Udal ap Rhys' Tour through Spain, London, 1760, pp. 292, 293. Spain by an American, London, 1831, vol. ii. p. 282. Hoskins' Spain, London, 1851, vol. i. pp. 127, 132, 152. ‘España es castigada frecuentemente con las sequedades y faltas de lluvias.’ Muriel, Gobierno de Carlos III., Madrid, 1839, p. 193.

1167

‘Añádase á todo esto las repetidas pestes, y mortales epidemias que han afligido á las provincias de España, mayormente á las meridionales que han sido las mas sujetas á estas plagas. De estas se hace mencion en los anales é historias muy freqüentemente; y en su confirmacion se puede leer el tratado histórico, ó epidemiológia que sobre ellas ha publicado Don Joachîn de Villalba, donde se verá con dolor y espanto con quanta freqüencia se repetian estos azotes desde mediados del siglo décimoquarto.’ … ‘Dos exemplos bien recientes y dolorosos hemos visto, y conservaremos en la memoria, en los formidables estragos que acaban de padecer gran parte del reyno de Sevilla, Cádiz, y sus contornos, Málaga, Cartagena, y Alicante; sin contar la mortandad con que han afligido á la mayor parte de los pueblos de ámbas Castillas las epidemias de calenturas pútridas en el año pasado de 1805.’ … ‘Por otra parte la fundacion de tantas capillas y procesiones á San Roque, y á San Sebastian, como abogados contre la peste, que todavía se conservan en la mayor parte de nuestras ciudades de España, son otro testimonio de los grandes y repetidos estragos que habian padecido sus pueblos de este azote. Y el gran número de médicos españoles que publicáron tratados preservativos y curativos de la peste en los reynados de Cárlos V., Felipe II., Felipe III., y Felipe IV., confirman mas la verdad de los hechos.’ Capmany, Qüestiones Criticas, Madrid, 1807, pp. 51, 52; see also pp. 66, 67; and Janer, Condicion Social de los Moriscos de España, Madrid, 1857, pp. 106, 107; and the notice of Malaga in Bourgoing, Tableau de l'Espagne, Paris, 1808, vol. iii. p. 242.

1168

‘Earthquakes are still often felt at Granada and along the coast of the province of Alicante, where their effects have been very disastrous. Much further in the interior, in the small Sierra del Tremédal, or district of Albarracia, in the province of Terruel, eruptions and shocks have been very frequent since the most remote periods; the black porphyry is there seen traversing the altered strata of the oolitic formation. The old inhabitants of the country speak of sinking of the ground and of the escape of sulphureous gases when they were young; these same phenomena have occurred during four consecutive months of the preceding winter, accompanied by earthquakes, which have caused considerable mischief to the buildings of seven villages situated within a radius of two leagues. They have not, however, been attended with any loss of life, on account of the inhabitants hastening to abandon their dwellings at the first indications of danger.’ Ezquerra on the Geology of Spain, in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. vi. pp. 412, 413, London, 1850. ‘The provinces of Malaga, Murcia, and Granada, and, in Portugal, the country round Lisbon, are recorded at several periods to have been devastated, by great earthquakes.’ Lyell's Principles of Geology, London, 1853, p. 358. ‘Los terremotos son tan sensibles y freqüentes en lo alto de las montañas, como en lo llano, pues Sevilla está sujeta á ellos hallándose situada sobre una llanura tan igual y baxa como Holanda.’ Bowles, Introduccion à la Historia Natural de España, Madrid, 1789, 4to, pp. 90, 91. ‘The littoral plains, especially about Cartagena and Alicante, are much subject to earthquakes.’ Ford's Spain, 1847, p. 168. ‘This corner of Spain is the chief volcanic district of the Peninsula, which stretches from Cabo de Gata to near Cartagena; the earthquakes are very frequent.’ Ford, p. 174. ‘Spain, including Portugal, in its external configuration, with its vast tableland of the two Castiles, rising nearly 2,000 feet above the sea, is perhaps the most interesting portion of Europe, not only in this respect, but as a region of earthquake disturbance, where the energy and destroying power of this agency have been more than once displayed upon the most tremendous scale.’ Mallet's Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association, Report for 1858, p. 9, London, 1858.

I quote these passages at length, partly on account of their interest as physical truths, and partly because the facts stated in them are essential for a right understanding of the history of Spain. Their influence on the Spanish character was pointed out, for I believe the first time, in my History of Civilization, vol. i. pp. 123, 124. On that occasion, I adduced no evidence to prove the frequency of earthquakes in the Peninsula, because I supposed that all persons moderately acquainted with the physical history of the earth were aware of the circumstance. But, in April 1858, a criticism of my book appeared in the Edinburgh Review, in which the serious blunders which I am said to have committed are unsparingly exposed. In p. 468 of that Review, the critic, after warning his readers against my ‘inaccuracies,’ observes, ‘But Mr. Buckle goes on to state that “earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are more frequent and more destructive in Italy, and in the Spanish and Portuguese peninsula, than in any other of the great countries.” Whence he infers, by a singular process of reasoning, that superstition is more rife, and the clergy more powerful; but that the fine arts flourish, poetry is cultivated, and the sciences neglected. Every link in this chain is more or less faulty. There is no volcano in the Spanish peninsula, and the only earthquake known to have occurred there was that of Lisbon.’ Now, I have certainly no right to expect that a reviewer, composing a popular article for an immediate purpose, and knowing that when his article is read, it will be thrown aside and forgotten, should, under such unfavourable circumstances, be at the pains of mastering all the details of his subject. To look for this would be the height of injustice. He has no interest in being accurate; his name being concealed, his reputation, if he have any, is not at stake; and the errors into which he falls ought to be regarded with leniency, inasmuch as their vehicle being an ephemeral publication, they are not likely to be remembered, and they are therefore not likely to work much mischief.

These considerations have always prevented me from offering any reply to anonymous criticisms. But the passage in the Edinburgh Review, to which I have called attention, displays such marvellous ignorance, that I wish to rescue it from oblivion, and to put it on record as a literary curiosity. The other charges brought against me could, I need hardly say, be refuted with equal ease. Indeed, no reasonable person can possibly suppose that, after years of arduous and uninterrupted study, I should have committed those childish blunders with which my opponents unscrupulously taunt me. Once for all, I may say that I have made no assertion for the truth of which I do not possess ample and irrefragable evidence. But it is impossible for me to arrange and adduce all the proofs at the same time; and, in so vast an enterprise, I must in some degree rely, not on the generosity of the reader, but on his candour. I do not think that I am asking too much in requesting him, if on any future occasion his judgment should be in suspense between me and my critics, to give me the benefit of the doubt, and to bear in mind that statements embodied in a deliberate and slowly-concocted work, authenticated by the author's name, are, as a mere matter of antecedent probability, more likely to be accurate than statements made in reviews and newspapers, which, besides being written hastily, and often at very short notice, are unsigned, and by which, consequently, their promulgators evade all responsibility, avoid all risk, and can, in their own persons, neither gain fame nor incur obloquy.

The simple fact is, that in Spain there have been more earthquakes than in all other parts of Europe put together, Italy excepted. If the destruction of property and of life produced by this one cause were summed up, the results would be appalling. When we moreover add those alarming shocks, which, though less destructive, are far more frequent, and of which not scores, nor hundreds, but thousands have occurred, and which by increasing the total amount of fear, have to an incalculable extent promoted the growth of superstition, it is evident that such phenomena must have played an important part in forming the national character of the Spaniards. Whoever will take the trouble of consulting the following passages will find decisive proofs of the frightful ravages committed by earthquakes in Spain alone; Portugal being excluded. They all refer to a period of less than two hundred years; the first being in 1639, and the last in 1829. Lettres de Madame de Villars, Ambassadrice en Espagne, Amsterdam, 1759, p. 205. Laborde's Spain, London, 1809, vol. i. p. 169. Dunlop's Memoirs of Spain, Edinburgh, 1834, vol. ii. pp. 226, 227. Boisel, Journal du Voyage d'Espagne, Paris, 1669, 4to, p. 243. Mallet's Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association, London, 1858; Report for 1853, p. 146; for 1854, pp. 26, 27, 54, 55, 57, 58, 65, 110, 140, 173, 196, 202. Swinburne's Travels through Spain, London, 1787, vol. i. p. 166. Ford's Spain, London, 1847, p. 178. Bacon's Six Years in Biscay, London, 1838, p. 32, compared with Inglis' Spain, London, 1831, vol. i. p. 393, vol. ii. p. 289–291.

These authorities narrate the ravages committed during a hundred and ninety years. From their account it is manifest, that in Spain hardly a generation passed by without castles, villages, and towns being destroyed, and men, women, or children killed by earthquakes. But according to our anonymous instructor, it is doubtful if there ever was an earthquake in Spain; for he says of the whole Peninsula, including Portugal, ‘the only earthquake known to have occurred there was that of Lisbon.’

1169

On the superstitious fears caused by earthquakes in Spain, see a good passage in Conde, Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes, p. 155. ‘En el año 267, dia jeuves, 22 de la luna de Xawâl, tembló la tierra con tan espantoso ruido y estremecimiento, que cayeron muchos alcazares y magnificos edificios, y otros quedaron muy quebrantados, se hundieron montes, se abrieron peñascos, y la tierra se hundió y tragó pueblos y alturas, el mar se retrajo y apartó de las costas, y desaparecieron islas y escollos en el mar. Las gentes abandonaban los pueblos y huian á los campos, las aves salian de sus nidos, y las fieras espantadas dejaban sus grutas y madrigueras con general turbacion y trastorno; nunca los hombres vieron ni oyeron cosa semejante; se arruinaron muchos pueblos de la costa meridional y occidental de España. Todas estas cosas influyeron tanto en los animos de los hombres, y en especial en la ignorante multitud, que no pudo Almondhir persuadirles que eran cosas naturales, aunque poco frecüentes, que no tenían influjo ni relacion con las obras de los hombres, ni con sus empresas, sino por su ignorancia y vanos temores, que lo mismo temblaba la tierra para los muslimes que para los cristianos, para las fieras que para las inocentes criaturas.’ Compare Geddes' Tracts concerning Spain, London, 1730, vol. i. p. 89; and Mariana, who, under the year 1395, says (Historia de España, vol. v. p. 27): ‘Tembló la tierra en Valencia mediado el mes de Diciembre, con que muchos edificios cayéron por tierra, otros quedaron desplomados; que era maravilla y lástima. El pueblo, como agorero que es, pensaba eran señales del cielo y pronosticos de los daños que temian.’ The history of Spain abounds with similar instances far too numerous to quote or even to refer to. But the subject is so important and has been so misrepresented, that, even at the risk of wearying the reader, I will give one more illustration of the use of earthquakes in fostering Spanish superstition. In 1504 ‘an earthquake, accompanied by a tremendous hurricane, such as the oldest men did not remember, had visited Andalusia, and especially Carmona, a place belonging to the Queen, and occasioned frightful desolation there.’ The superstitious Spaniards now read in these portents the prophetic signs by which Heaven announces some great calamity. Prayers were put up in every temple, &c. &c. Prescott's History of Ferdinand and Isabella, Paris, 1842, vol. iii. p. 174.