{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56386/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56386","id":"gutenberg_56386","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56386","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - American","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Journals","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Catholic Church -- Periodicals"],"text":"Produced by David Edwards, Carol Brown, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n THE\n CATHOLIC WORLD.\n\n A\n MONTHLY MAGAZINE\n OF\n\n GENERAL LITERATURE AND SCIENCE.\n\n ------\n VOL. XXIII.\n APRIL, 1876, TO SEPTEMBER, 1876.\n ------\n\n NEW YORK:\n THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION HOUSE\n 9 Warren Street.\n\n 1876.\n\n\n\n\n CONTENTS.\n PAGE\n\n Abroad, How we are Misrepresented, 1\n Allies\u2019 Formation of Christendom, 689\n American Revolution, Catholics in, 488\n Are You My Wife? 22, 186, 316\n Assisi, 742\n Aude, The Valley of, 640\n\n Brownson, Dr., 366\n\n Catholicity in the United States, Next Phase of, 577\n Catholic Church in the United States, The, 1776-1876, 434\n Catholics in the American Revolution, 488\n Catholic Sunday and Puritan Sabbath, The, 550\n Charitas Pirkheimer, 170\n Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 537\n Chillon, The Prisoner of, 857\n Church and Liberty, The, 243\n\n Daughter of the Puritans, A, 92\n De Vere\u2019s \u201cThomas \u00e0 Becket,\u201d 848\n Devout Chapel of Notre Dame de B\u00e9tharram, The, 335\n Dr. Brownson, 366\n\n Easter in St. Peter\u2019s, Rome, 1875, 255\n Epigraphy, Sacred, 270\n Eternal Years, The, 128, 258, 402, 565\n\n Formation of Christendom, Allies\u2019, 689\n French Novel, A, 158\n Frenchman\u2019s View of It, A, 453\n\n German Journalism, 289\n Gladstone Controversy, Sequel of, 30\n\n Hammond on the Nervous System, 388\n Hobbies and their Riders, 413\n Home-Rule Movement, Irish, 500, 623\n How we are Misrepresented Abroad, 1\n Hundred Years Ago, One, 802\n\n Irish Home-Rule Movement, The, 500, 623\n Italian Commerce in the Middle Ages, 79\n\n Journey to the Land of Milliards, A, 773\n\n Kiowas and Comanches, A Day among, 837\n\n Labor in Europe and America, 59\n Land of Milliards, A Journey to the, 773\n Letters of a Young Irishwoman to her Sister, 464, 654, 687\n Life and Works of Madame Barat, The, 592\n\n Madame Barat, Life and Works of, 592\n Miles Standish, Was He a Catholic? 668\n Modern English Poetry, 213\n More, Sir Thomas, 70, 224, 350, 517, 698, 817\n\n Napoleon I. and Pius VII., 200\n Next Phase of Catholicity in the United States, The, 577\n Notre Dame de B\u00e9tharram, The Devout Chapel of, 335\n Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9, 116\n Novel, A French, 158\n\n Philosophy, Thomistic, 327\n Pirkheimer, Charitas, 170\n Pius VII. and Napoleon I., 200\n Plea for our Grandmothers, A, 421\n Poet among the Poets, A, 14\n Poetry, Modern English, 213\n Poets, Some Forgotten Catholic, 302\n Primeval Germans, 47\n Prisoner of Chillon, The, 857\n Protestant Bishop on Confession, A, 831\n Prussia and the Church, 104\n\n Religious Liberty in the United States, The Rise of, 721\n Rise of Religious Liberty in the United States, 721\n Root of Our Present Evils, The, 145\n\n Sacred Epigraphy, 270\n Scanderbeg, 234\n Sequel of the Gladstone Controversy, A, 30\n Sir Thomas More, 70, 224, 350, 517, 698, 817\n Six Sunny Months, 606, 758\n Some Forgotten Catholic Poets, 302\n Some Odd Ideas, 710\n Studio in Rome, A Quaint Old, 781\n\n \u201cThomas \u00e0 Becket,\u201d De Vere\u2019s, 848\n Thomistic Philosophy, 327\n Transcendental Movement in New England, The, 528\n Typical Men of America, The, 479\n\n Valley of the Aude, The, 640\n Vittoria Colonna, 679\n\n Was Miles Standish a Catholic? 668\n Wild Rose of St. Regis, The, 379\n\n Years, Eternal, The, 128, 258, 402, 565\n\n\n POETRY.\n\n\n Ascension, The, 377\n\n Centenary of American Liberty, The, 433\n Chorus from the \u201cHecuba,\u201d 653\n Consuelo, 816\n\n Forty Hours\u2019 Devotion, 223\n\n Da Vinci\u2019s \u201cVirgin of the Rocks,\u201d Lines on, 13\n\n Lamartine, From, 424\n Lines on Da Vinci\u2019s \u201cVirgin of the Rocks,\u201d 13\n\n Mysteries, 185\n\n Sacerdos Alter Christus, 58\n Sennuccio Mio, 233\n Sunshine, 278\n\n Vago Angelletto che Cantanas Vai? 7\n\n\n NEW PUBLICATIONS.\n\n Achsah, 718\n Acolyte, The, 286\n All Around the Moon, 430\n Alzog\u2019s Universal Church History, 279\n Are You My Wife? 426\n Asperges Me, etc., 430\n Authority and Anarchy, 288\n\n Breviarium Romanum, 288\n Brief Biographies, 142\n British and American Literature, Student\u2019s Hand-book of, 138\n Board of Education, Report of, 431\n Boston to Washington, 432\n Burning Questions, 280\n\n Cantata Catholica, 429\n Catechism for Confession and First Communion, 280\n Catholic Church and Christian State, 425\n\n Daniel O\u2019Connell, Popular Life of, 143\n\n Eden of Labor, The, 139\n Elmwood; or, the Withered Arm, 143\n Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland, and Ireland, 432\n Episodes of the Paris Commune in 1871, 431\n Explanatio Psalmorum, 287\n\n Faber\u2019s Hymns, 282\n Father Segneri\u2019s Sentimenti, 142\n Faith and Modern Thought, 718\n Five Lectures on the City of Ancient Rome, 142\n Flaminia, and other Stories, 431\n\n Geographical Text-Books, Mitchell\u2019s, 860\n German Political Leaders, 716\n Gertrude Mannering, 285\n Glories of the Sacred Heart, The, 576\n\n Haydon, Benjamin Robert, The Life, Letters, and\n Table-Talk of, 860\n Histoire de Madame Barat, 425\n How to Write Letters, 287\n\n Labor, the Eden of, 139\n Labor and Capital in England and America, 139\n Lectures on the City of Ancient Rome, 142\n Life, Letters, and Table-Talk of Benjamin Robert\n Haydon, The, 860\n Life of Rev. Mother St. Joseph, The, 427\n Life of Daniel O\u2019Connell, 143\n Little Book of the Holy Child Jesus, 288\n Literature for Little Folks, 287\n\n Meditations and Considerations, 719\n Men and Manners in America One Hundred Years Ago, 860\n Mitchell\u2019s Geographical Text-Books, 860\n\n Newman, Characteristics from the Writings of, 288\n New Month of the Sacred Heart, 720\n Note to Article on Thomistic Philosophy, 432\n Notiones Theologic\u00e6, 720\n\n Outlines of the Religion and Philosophy of Swedenborg, 281\n Ordo Divini Officii Recitandi, 141\n\n Pius IX. and his Times, 288\n Principia or Basis of Social Science, 428\n Principes de la Sagesse, Les, 287\n Publications Received, 288\n\n Revolutionary Times, 720\n\n Sancta Sophia, 859\n Science and Religion, 720\n Scholastic Almanac for 1876, The, 144\n Segneri\u2019s Sentimenti, 142\n Sermons by Fathers of the Society of Jesus, 141\n Story of a Vocation, The, 432\n Spectator, The, 144\n Spiritualism and Allied Causes, 713\n Student\u2019s Hand-book of British and American\n Literature, The, 138\n\n Universal Church History, Alzog\u2019s, 279\n\n Voyages dans l\u2019Am\u00e9rique Septentrionale, 432\n\n Wyndham Family, The, 430\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC WORLD.\n\nVOL. XXIII., No. 133.\u2014APRIL, 1876.\n\nCopyright: Rev. I. T. HECKER. 1876.\n\n\n\n\nHOW WE ARE MISREPRESENTED ABROAD.\n\n\nFollowing the example of older nations, the United States has been\naccustomed to keep at foreign courts and capitals certain diplomatic\nagents whose presence there seems to be considered necessary for the\nprotection of our national interests, as well as a pledge of mutual\nfriendship and comity. Under the more modest title of envoys or\nministers these gentlemen exercise the powers and enjoy the immunities\nof ambassadors, and to their supposed wisdom, tact, and judgment are\nentrusted all difficult negotiations and the settlement of doubtful\nquestions of international law.\n\nIn view of the increased facilities for communication between\nindependent governments afforded by railroads and telegraphs, the\ngeneral diffusion of accurate geographical and commercial knowledge,\nand the almost total disuse of the secret diplomacy of former times,\nit has been seriously considered whether this class of rather\nexpensive officials might not be dispensed with altogether. Many\npersons, also, are inclined to believe that the public welfare would\nsuffer little, if at all, by such a measure, on the principle that bad\nor incompetent representatives are worse than none. But if the custom,\nas appears probable, is still to be adhered to, it is becoming more\nand more apparent that the _personnel_ of our diplomatic corps must\nspeedily undergo a radical change for the better, if we would not\nbring our country into lasting disrepute and contempt in the eyes of\nall just and discerning men.\n\nIn Europe diplomacy is practically as much a profession as law or\nmedicine. Its students begin their allotted course at an early age in\nthe capacity of _attach\u00e9s_ or secretaries of legation. As they gain in\nexperience they are moved from one court to another, in regular order\nof promotion, until finally, after years of practical observation and\nlaborious study, they develop into accomplished diplomatists and ripe\nstatesmen, whose services are invaluable to their country, at home and\nabroad. Not so in America; with us the post of minister resident or\nenvoy extraordinary, is usually the reward of some obscure partisan,\nthe solace of a disappointed Congressional aspirant, or the asylum in\nwhich superannuated cabinet officers can find dignified obscurity.\nOccasionally accomplished international lawyers like the late Mr.\nWheaton or Reverdy Johnson are selected, but these rare cases are in\nsad contrast with the generality of persons chosen, every few years,\nto represent in foreign countries the power, dignity, and intelligence\nof the republic. They are almost invariably men of mediocre ability,\ncontracted views, and defective education; unaccustomed to any high\ndegree of social refinement, and sometimes ignorant of the very\nlanguage of the country to which they are accredited, while not\nnecessarily masters of their own. From a perusal of some volumes of\nstate documents[1] we are led to conclude that the principal duty of\nour diplomats is to write long, prosy letters to the Secretary of\nState, and to encumber the archives of his office with copious\nextracts from foreign newspapers of no value or public interest\nwhatever. In this mass of correspondence we look in vain for the keen,\naccurate criticism of men and manners, or the profound views of\nstatesmanship which characterized the despatches of the Venetian\nambassadors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and the French\nand English emissaries of a later period.\n\nOn the contrary, we find these letters exhibiting a remarkable\nfeebleness and crudity of mind, and, where matters relating to\nreligion or morals are discussed, a purblind prejudice unworthy of any\nrational American, but especially reprehensible in an exalted official\nof our government. This latter blemish is so prominent, and withal so\nrepeatedly displayed, as to be painfully suggestive of a desire on the\npart of the writers to win, by unworthy means, the favor of the\nappointing power at the federal capital. We also observe with regret\nthat they are accustomed to use, with the greatest deliberation and\nupon the slightest occasion, the terms reactionist, Romanist,\nultramontane, and other nicknames\u2014all of which are inaccurate and most\nof them offensive\u2014when describing the supporters of the Catholic\nChurch, who, in various parts of the Christian world, are battling for\nthe rights of conscience and the freedom of their religion; while\neulogistic adjectives are lavished on all parties and measures, no\nmatter how tyrannical or arbitrary, provided they are directed against\nthe church and her priesthood. Just here we may as well ask at the\nstart, Is there not occupation enough for our diplomatic service in\nattending to the great commercial and other secular interests of the\nrepublic, but that they must turn aside to devote their chief\nattention to the cultivation and spread of anti-Catholic bigotry?\n\nOne of the most glaring examples of this indecent partisanship is to\nbe found in the records of our diplomatic relations with Mexico\u2014our\nnearest neighbor and the most populous of the Spanish-American\nrepublics. Formerly the greatest care was exercised in filling this\nimportant mission, only gentlemen of sound discretion and liberal\nviews being selected; but since the advent of Mr. Fish as Secretary of\nState, this wise precaution has been neglected, and, as a consequence,\nwe have had at the Mexican capital, for several years, a deputy named\nJohn W. Foster, whose total misapprehension of the duties of his\noffice is painfully apparent, even from his own reports. It will be\nremembered that in 1859 the partisans of Juarez, assembled at Vera\nCruz, proclaimed war on the Catholic Church, abolished all religious\ncommunities, confiscated their property, and expelled their members of\nboth sexes. They also declared marriage a civil contract, to be\nentered into only before a magistrate, abolished religious oaths, and\nattempted other \u201creforms\u201d equally impertinent and detrimental to the\npublic good. During the short reign of Maximilian these attempts on\nthe liberty of the church were of course discontinued; but when Juarez\nassumed absolute control of the government they were renewed, and on\nthe 25th of September, 1873, were declared by his successor, Lerdo de\nTejada, a part of the constitution. This effort to make religious\nproscription the fundamental law of the republic seemed so judicious\nand praiseworthy to Mr. Foster that he immediately transmitted to\nWashington a full copy of Lerdo\u2019s proclamation, with the remark:\n\u201cTheir incorporation into the federal constitution may be regarded as\nthe crowning act of triumph of the liberal government in its long\ncontest with the conservative or church party.\u201d\n\nKnowing something of the antecedents of Mr. Foster, we are not\nsurprised at his sympathy with what may be called the illiberal or\nanti-church party; but the reply of our Secretary of State is simply\ninexplicable. On October 22 he writes:\n\n \u201cThe Mexican government deserves congratulation upon the\n adoption of the amendments of its constitution to which the\n despatch relates. It may be regarded as a great step in\n advance, especially for a republic in name. We have had\n ample experience of the advantage of similar measures\u2014an\n experience, too, which has fully shown that, while they have\n materially contributed to enlarge and secure general freedom\n and prosperity, they have by no means tended to weaken the\n just interests of religion or the due influence of clergymen\n in the body politic.\u201d\n\nHow a gentleman of Mr. Fish\u2019s acknowledged intelligence could permit\nhimself to write such a document is incomprehensible. He knows well\nthat \u201cwe\u201d\u2014meaning the United States\u2014have not had \u201cample experience,\u201d\nor any experience whatever, \u201cof the advantage of similar measures.\u201d\n\u201cWe\u201d have had our moments of fanaticism, our church-burnings and\nconvent-sackings, it is true; but neither the municipal law nor the\nConstitution has presumed to control the spiritual affairs of the\nchurch in this republic. Our seminaries, colleges, convents, and\nschools are yet untouched by the civil magistrate; our priests can\nadminister the sacraments without the risk of police interference; and\nour Sisters of Mercy and Charity can pursue their holy avocations and\nnot incur the risk of perpetual banishment. What has contributed to\nenlarge and to secure to us general freedom and prosperity is not such\nanti-Catholic legislation as that upon which Mr. Fish congratulates\nthe \u201crepublic in name,\u201d but the very contrary.\n\nIt would seem, however, that some of those entrusted with the highest\noffices of state regret this happy condition of things. Evidence crops\nout everywhere to strengthen the suspicion that our government, not\nfinding interests at home of sufficient magnitude to occupy its\nattention, is drifting more and more into sympathy with the conspiracy\nnow prevalent in Europe against the rights of the Catholic Church and\nthat birthright of every American citizen\u2014freedom of conscience.\n\nBut, however unsustained by fact, the moral sympathy thus tendered by\nthe mouth-piece of our government to the Mexican president was highly\nvaluable to his party at that juncture. The laws against the clergy\nand nuns were exceedingly unpopular with the great mass of the\nMexicans, and it was necessary that the endorsement of the powerful\nand prosperous republic of the north should be secured in their favor.\nIf such measures had \u201cmaterially contributed to enlarge and secure\ngeneral freedom and prosperity\u201d in one country, as Mr. Fish solemnly\nasserted, why should they not have the same salutary effect in\nanother? There is no reason for surprise, therefore, to find that when\nthe elated Mr. Foster transmitted Mr. Fish\u2019s letter, with his own\nfelicitations, to Mr. Lafragua, the Mexican Minister of Foreign\nAffairs, he was answered in the following complimentary phrase:\n\n \u201cThe president of the republic has received with special\n gratification the expression of the kind sentiments which\n animate the people and government of the United States\n respecting the people and government of Mexico, which\n sentiments could not have been interpreted by a more\n estimable person than your excellency. The president is\n sincerely thankful, as well for the cordial congratulation\n which his excellency the Secretary of State has had the\n kindness to address to you on account of the proclamation of\n the amendments to the federal constitution, as for the\n ardent wishes which your excellency manifests for the\n consolidation of the republican institutions and of peace,\n and for the prosperity and material development of the\n United Mexican States.\u201d\n\nIt will thus be seen that by the wilfulness\u2014or indiscretion, let us\ncall it\u2014of Mr. Fish \u201cthe people and government of the United States\u201d\nare credited with a sympathy for, and approval of, what their\nconscience, their spirit, and their whole history up to this time\nrepudiate\u2014a legislation of tyranny and religious proscription. Mr.\nFish\u2014and no man better\u2014knows that such sympathy has no foundation in\nthe hearts of the American people or in the real policy of its\ngovernment. He knows that the people abhor the sentiment expressed in\nthe \u201camendments to the federal constitution\u201d of Mexico. What are we to\nthink, then, of a statesman who, actuated by whatever motive, shows\nhimself so ready to play fast and loose with the solemn trusts\nconfided to him? Is the vast power that he must exercise safe in the\nhands of one who is ready to veer with every wind that blows,\nespecially when it blows against Rome? Is this the true expression of\nthe policy of which we have lately heard so much\u2014\u201cLet the church and\nthe state be for ever separate\u201d? Our American feelings rise with\nindignation against so grave a misrepresentation of the principles and\npolicy of our government, especially by one so familiar with them as\nMr. Fish. There is no excuse for this.\n\nMr. Fish\u2019s _faux pas_ was too precious to the anti-Catholic faction\nnot to receive the widest publicity. \u201cThis correspondence,\u201d writes Mr.\nFoster to his principal, \u201cwas yesterday read in the national Congress\nby the Minister of Foreign Affairs, by direction of the president of\nthe republic, and after its reading the president of Congress, in the\nname of that body, expressed the gratification with which the assembly\nhad received the intelligence, and by a vote of Congress the\ncorrespondence was entered upon its journal. The Minister of Foreign\nAffairs has also caused its publication in the official newspaper, and\nit has appeared in all the periodicals of this capital.\u201d\n\nA year had scarcely passed away, during which every effort had been\nmade thus to mislead and pervert public opinion, when De Tejada\u2019s\ngovernment found itself strong enough to pass additional \u201claws of\nreform\u201d infringing still farther on the rights of conscience. On the\n15th of December, 1874, the Sisters of Charity, the last remnant of\nthe Catholic orders in Mexico, were also rudely expelled from their\ninstitutions and ordered to quit for ever the scenes of their pious\nand untiring labors. And in this connection, a curious comment on Mr.\nFish\u2019s congratulatory despatch was offered by the people of the city\nof San Francisco. The Sisters expelled by virtue of the constitution\nwhich met with such marked approval from Mr. Fish, were received with\nopen arms and welcomed by our fellow-citizens in California. Surely,\nthis was giving the lie direct to Mr. Fish by his own countrymen,\nwhose conscience naturally revolted from a system of government which,\nas its chief claim to the sympathy and fellowship of foreign peoples,\nset up its power and willingness to banish from its jurisdiction all\nthat was purest and holiest. Yet Mexico is as far from \u201cgeneral\nfreedom and prosperity\u201d as ever, and Messrs. Fish and Foster, the\ninstigators of this last outrage on humanity, continue to be high and\ntrusted officials of our freedom-loving republic.\n\nStill, the faction that controls Mexican politics was not content with\nconstitutional and statutory \u201creforms.\u201d As long as the heart of the\ncountry remained Catholic its hold on power was feeble and uncertain.\nIt therefore aimed at nothing less than a general conversion of the\npeople, at a new Reformation, and selected what it considered the most\nfitting instruments for that purpose. These were itinerant Protestant\nmissionaries of all sects, kindly furnished to order by the Boston\nAmerican Board of Missions and the Pacific Theological Seminary of\nCalifornia, who soon overspread the promised land and began their\nlabors of conversion. The states of Mexico, Vera Cruz, Guerrero,\nPuebla, Jalisco, Hidalgo, Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi were\nespecially favored by their presence, where, from their method of\nproceeding, their foul abuse of the religion of the populace, and the\nrank blasphemy that characterized their preaching, it was plain that\nthey considered they had fallen among barbarians and idolaters. Going\nfrom place to place, and surrounded by armed guards, they not only\nfulminated the heresy of Protestantism, but scattered broadcast\nprinted travesties of the Commandments and of the prayers and ritual\nof the church, some copies of which they had the hardihood to nail to\nthe cathedrals and other places of Catholic worship. To make matters\nstill more offensive, they frequently interspersed their harangues\nwith laudations of the \u201cliberal\u201d party who patronized them, and direct\nattacks on all who opposed its iniquitous policy.\n\nOne of those zealots, a Rev. Mr. Stephens, after a nine months\u2019\njourney through several towns, found his way to Ahualulco, where,\nrelying on the countenance of the government officials, he commenced a\nseries of bitter assaults on Catholicity. A popular tumult was the\nresult, during which the unfortunate man was killed, March 2, 1874.\nWhen news of this cruel, though not unprovoked, murder reached Mr.\nFoster, he waited on the Mexican minister, who informed him that \u201cthe\nprincipal assassins and two priests had been arrested, and that a\njudge had been despatched to the district with an extra corps of\nclerks to ensure a speedy investigation and trial.\u201d This promise was\nfaithfully and promptly kept, as we find by a despatch dated April 15,\nin which the minister says:\n\n \u201cUp to the present date seven of the guilty parties have\n been tried and condemned to death, from which sentence they\n have appealed to the supreme court. Twelve or fifteen more\n persons charged with complicity in the crime are under\n arrest awaiting trial, including the _cura_ of the parish of\n Ahualulco.\u201d\n\nYet this summary vengeance, nor even the indignity offered to the\nvenerable _cura_, who had had no participation whatever in the\ndisturbance, did not satisfy the insatiable soul of Mr. Foster. From\nhis subsequent letter to Lafragua, and several despatches to our\ngovernment, we infer that the condign punishment of the priest,\ninnocent or guilty, was to him the most desirable of objects. To\ninaugurate the new Reformation by the execution of a Catholic\nclergyman appears to have been considered by him as a master-stroke of\npolicy. But even the Lerdistas were not prepared for so desperate a\nstep, and Foster was doomed to find his hopes blighted. Alluding to a\nconversation with Minister Lafragua in September, he writes to Mr.\nFish, bemoaning his hard fate:\n\n \u201cI thanked him for communicating the intelligence in\n relation to the trials of the assassins of Rev. Mr.\n Stephens, the receipt of which I had anxiously awaited, but\n expressed my disappointment in finding no mention of the\n proceedings had in the trial of the _cura_ of Ahualulco, to\n whom the published accounts attributed the responsibility of\n the assassination.\u2026\u201d\n\nThis information, and the fact that the appeal of the seven condemned\npersons had not been determined, drew forth one of Mr. Fish\u2019s\nunaccountable diplomatic missives. \u201cYou may farther inform him\norally,\u201d says our Secretary, alluding to Lafragua, \u201cbut\nconfidentially, if need be, that this must necessarily become an\ninternational affair, unless it shall be satisfactorily disposed of\nand without unreasonable delay.\u201d Now, why should the information be\ngiven _orally_ and _confidentially_ if there was not some desire, some\ntrick, to avoid responsibility for a doubtful act tending to\nintimidate a friendly power? and wherefore should the killing of the\nman Stephens be made an international affair\u2014_i.e._, a just cause of\nwar\u2014when so many American citizens had been already murdered in Mexico\nwith impunity? Foster had repeatedly complained that during the short\ntime he had been in charge of the legation thirteen \u201cmurders of the\nmost horrid character and revolting to our common civilization\u201d had\nbeen committed on his countrymen, for which there had not been a\nsingle punishment; yet we hear of no intimation of making them\ninternational affairs. Were the lives of these persons, presumably\nfollowing legitimate callings, collectively of less value than that of\na mendacious preacher of a gospel of violence?\n\nEmboldened by the words of Mr. Fish, Foster again returned to the\nattack in a note to Lafragua, in which he directly, and on his own\nresponsibility, charges the _cura_ with having been the instigator of\nthe crime. The first intimation that the _cura_ had had any\nparticipation in exciting the mob against Stephens was contained in a\nletter from a brother preacher named Watkins, who was stationed at\nGuadalajara, more than sixty miles from the scene of the disturbance.\nOn this suspicious and slender foundation Foster had been in the habit\nof building up a mass of insinuations and charges against the priest,\nreferring to \u201cgeneral\u201d and \u201cprinted\u201d reports as his authority. When\nafter a searching investigation the _cura_ was honorably discharged,\nand the minister again complained to Lafragua, that official replied\nrather tartly in the following unequivocal terms:\n\n\u201cIn relation to the acquittal of those who were charged with being\ninstigators of the crime, it is the result of a judicial act, which\nhas taken place after the due process had been completed for the\ninvestigation of the truth, which is not always in accord with the\nprejudices of the public.\u201d\n\nIf the minister had added: \u201cand of Mr. Foster and the Board of\nMissions,\u201d the sentence would have been more complete. Having failed\nto accomplish his grand design\u2014the chastisement of the _cura_\u2014the\nultimate fate of the convicted laymen became a matter of little\nimportance to our assiduous representative.\n\nAnother opportunity soon presented itself for Mr. Foster\u2019s official\ninterference. On the night of January 26, 1875, a riot occurred in\nAcapulco, in which five persons were killed and eleven wounded on both\nsides. Of the former, one was claimed to be an American. It appears\nthat a Rev. M. N. Hutchinson, supported by the United States consul,\nJ. A. Sutter, and a few native officials, had commenced his\nevangelical labors in that city by personally insulting the parish\npriest, Father J. P. Nava, and by openly abusing everything considered\nholy and venerable by Catholics. This method of preaching Christ\u2019s\nGospel so exasperated the populace that an attack was made on the\nbuilding used as a Protestant church, and a street fight, with fatal\nresults, followed. Hutchinson, the cause of the fray, escaped and\nfound refuge on board a ship; while Sutter, who seems to have been as\ncowardly as he was vicious, threatened to abandon the consulate and\nfollow his example. As in the case at Ahualulco, the \u201cliberal\u201d\nauthorities at once arrested the _cura_, but so indignant were the\ncitizens, and even some of the federal employees, at the act that he\nwas at once set at liberty.\n\nHere was a rare chance for Mr. Foster to display his reformatory\nenergy, and on this occasion he had a most efficient associate in the\ngallant consul. That truthful gentleman writes to his chief, January\n27, three days after the riot:\n\n \u201cAll the Indians are under arms, and threaten to attack the\n town if the parish priest\u2014who, in my opinion, is the prime\n mover of these heinous crimes\u2014should be arrested. So he is\n still at large, and laughing, probably, at the impotence of\n the authorities.\u2026 Everybody in town is afraid of the\n Indians, who, incited by a fanatical priest, would\n perpetrate the most atrocious crimes.\u201d\n\nAll this Mr. Foster believed, or appeared to believe; for we find him\nembodying it in his official communications to Lafragua, with some\nadditional remarks of his own to give the calumny greater point and\nforce. Supported by the American minister, Sutter now looms up as the\ndefender of Protestant rights in general. Addressing personages of no\nless distinction than the governor of the state and the district\njudge, he requests them to \u201cpromptly take the necessary measures\nwithin your power to procure the speedy punishment, according to the\nlaw, of the instigators and perpetrators of the atrocious massacre of\nProtestants,\u201d etc. There is no limitation here, it will be observed,\nto American citizens; the peremptory consul, \u201cin obedience to\ninstructions received yesterday from the Hon. John W. Foster, envoy\nextraordinary, etc.,\u201d had assumed a protectorate over the entire\nevangelical body of Acapulco, and felt himself at liberty to insult\nthe executive and judiciary of the state of Guerrero.\n\nThe people of Acapulco, however, differed materially in opinion from\nthe consul. Not only did they not fear the Indians or regard their\npriest as an abettor of riot and murder, but, on the contrary, five or\nsix hundred of them waited on Governor Alvarez, and, in the name of\nthe rest, assured him that the disturbance was wholly caused by\nHutchinson and his handful of Protestants, requesting him at the same\ntime to remove the disturbers from their city, as he had the power to\ndo under the laws of the state. Even the Minister of Foreign\nAffairs\u2014though, like so many of his party, deadly opposed to the\nchurch\u2014could not help but ascribe the riot to something like its\nproper cause. Annoyed, doubtless, by the impertinence of Sutter and\nthe importunities of Foster, he writes to the latter in a vein of\ndelicate irony:\n\n \u201cThe consul in Acapulco cannot be ignorant of the fact that\n Protestant worship was a new propaganda among a people who,\n unfortunately, have not been able to attain to that degree\n of civilization to enable them to accept without aversion\n religious tenets which they disown, and it is well known\n that the religious sentiment is one of the most sensitive,\n and that, when attacked, it is all the more irritable.\u201d\n\nThe logical position of the Mexican minister is unassailable. But what\na humiliating predicament for our government to be placed in by her\ndiplomatists abroad! Such is the natural result of selecting the kind\nof men for important posts, or indeed for any posts at all, complained\nof at the beginning of the article. It is clear that this Mr. Foster\nhas missed his vocation. He would be more at home in a Protestant\nboard of missions, or as a \u201cworker\u201d in \u201crevivals,\u201d than standing\nbefore a people as the representative of the truth, worth, and genius\nof a great nation.\n\nMr. Foster was not satisfied with the explanation. He had lost one\npriest, and he was not going to let another slip through his\nfingers without a struggle. He reminds Lafragua of Mr. Fish\u2019s\n\u201ccongratulations,\u201d and appeals to his gratitude. \u201cWhile it is very\nnatural that I,\u201d he writes, \u201cas the representative of a government\nwhich has officially congratulated that of Mexico on the\nconstitutional triumph and recognition of the principles of religious\nliberty, should watch with deep interest the practical enforcement of\nthese principles, I have made the outbreaks of fanatical mobs the\nsubject of diplomatic intervention only when American citizens have\nbeen assassinated.\u201d But the plea was in vain; even the government of\nLerdo de Tejada dared not molest the _cura_ of Acapulco, who, strong\nin his innocence and in the affection of his flock, continued to\nexercise the duties of his sacred office, regardless alike of native\n\u201creformers\u201d and officious diplomats. Up to the latest dates Mr. Foster\nhad not yet caught a _cura_, and the people of Mexico seem as far as\never from the enjoyment of the blessings of a new Reformation, so\nhappily and characteristically begun.\n\nThe Central American States include Guatemala, San Salvador, Honduras,\nNicaragua, and Costa Rica, each of which holds an undivided fifth\ninterest in the official attention of Mr. George Williamson, our\nworthy minister peripatetic. When not involved in domestic\nbrawls\u2014which seldom happens\u2014these miniature commonwealths have a habit\nof varying the monotony of peaceful life by a descent on one of their\nneighbors, and even a civil and a foreign war have been known to rage\nat the same time and place. Having such a vivacious people to look\nafter, the attention of our representative might reasonably be\nconsidered fully occupied; yet we learn that he has ample leisure to\ndevote himself to theological and educational speculations, and\nparticularly to the subject of marriage. On this important social\nrelation he not only becomes eloquent, though occasionally obscure, in\nhis despatches, but is evidently looked upon as an authority by the\n\u201cliberal\u201d party on the Isthmus. Having been asked his opinion by\nPresident Barrios of Guatemala, who contemplated extending civil\nmarriage to his people, \u201cI replied,\u201d he says, \u201cit would in all\nprobability soon come; \u2026 that in our country we considered the civil\nlaw supreme, and would neither furnish a hierarchy of Romanists nor\nProtestants, to assert its sanction was necessary to give validity to\na contract which the law pronounced good.\u201d It may be objected that\nthis passage is not well constructed; so, in justice not only to the\nliberal views, but to the erudition of Mr. Williamson, we quote the\nfollowing descriptive extract from a despatch on the condition of the\nCentral American population:\n\n \u201cIntelligence is more generally diffused; people are slowly\n learning republican habits and adopting republican ideas; a\n monarchical hierarchy that fostered superstitions, that only\n allowed education in a certain direction, and which\n \u2018gathered gear\u2019 unto itself \u2018by every wile,\u2019 has been\n dethroned; agriculture now has the aid of the numerous\n laborers who were employed in the erection of large edifices\n for monks and nuns and religious exercises.\u201d\n\nA subsequent communication on the state of public education furnishes\na rather strange commentary on the above:\n\n \u201cThe present attempt at organizing a public-school system\n is, in my judgment, one of the most laudable acts of the\n present government, for which it should be entitled to\n credit, whether there be success or failure. My opinion is\n that there are too many obstacles to be overcome for the\n plan to be successful, and that the government is\n undertaking a grave experiment which is likely to create\n great dissatisfaction, and may result in revolution. But\n having driven out most of the priests and nuns, who were\n heretofore the instructors of the people, it seemed\n necessary the government should try to supply their place.\u201d\n\nThe same latitude of opinion and ill-concealed hostility to the\nCatholic Church, the same desire to take advantage of every trifling\ncircumstance to misrepresent and malign the motives of her supporters,\npervade the correspondence of our other representatives in South\nAmerica, almost without exception. Thus Mr. Thomas Russell has no\nscruple in lauding the usurping government of Venezuela, which, in\n1870, first imprisoned and then banished perpetually the Archbishop of\nCaracas and Venezuela, suppressed the seminaries, confiscated the\nproperty of the monasteries, and expelled the nuns. Still less has Mr.\nRumsey Wing in assuring the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador, in\nwriting about an alleged desecration of a grave in Quito, that the\nnews \u201cof those outrages on the bodies of Protestants\u201d \u201cwould create an\nintense feeling not only in my own country but throughout Europe\u201d;\nwhile, having nothing else to send, we suppose, the same officious\ngentleman forwards to Washington copies of two decrees of Congress,\none granting a tithe of the church revenues to his Holiness the Pope,\nand the other placing Ecuador under the protection of the Sacred\nHeart, \u201cto show the intense Catholicism prevailing in this country.\u201d\n\nThen Mr. C. A. Logan, some time of Chili, appears to have interested\nhimself very much in local politics, and it is not difficult to\ndiscover upon which side his sympathy rests. In a despatch to\nSecretary Fish, November 2, 1874, he has the hardihood to charge the\nArchbishop of Santiago with bribing congressmen, pending the passage\nof a bill for the partial repeal of a penal law against the clergy. He\nwrites:\n\n \u201cThe day arrived for the vote, and a large crowd gathered\n about the building, awaiting the result with the most\n breathless anxiety; among these was the archbishop himself,\n in full clerical robes. Much to the chagrin of the liberals,\n a two-third vote was gained by the church party under the\n spur and lash of the clericals, and, as it is freely\n asserted, by the liberal use of money. The senate is\n composed of only twenty members, which is not a large body\n to handle, if they take kindly to handling.\u201d\n\nMr. Francis Thomas, of Lima, goes even farther than his _confr\u00e8re_,\nand deliberately asserts the complicity of the Catholics, as a body,\nin the recent attempt to assassinate President Pardo.\n\n \u201cThe conspirators,\u201d he says, \u201chad calculated upon the\n co-operation of all that class of the population of this\n country who have become hostile to the president of Peru on\n account of his proceedings, in which high dignitaries of the\n Catholic Church were concerned. The congress of Peru at its\n last session passed a law forbidding members of the order of\n Jesuits to reside within the jurisdiction of Peru. In\n violation of this law, members of that order who had been\n expelled from other Spanish republics took possession of a\n convent in the interior of Peru, and took measures to\n organize their society. President Pardo, in conformity to\n the law, issued a proclamation requiring them to leave the\n country, which has caused some degree of excitement.\u201d\n\nThis fact, and the attempts of the government to introduce irreligious\nbooks and periodicals into the schools, were sufficient, in the\nopinion of our impartial minister, to provoke the Catholics of Peru to\nthe foulest crimes.\n\nThe Emperor of Brazil, in his open war on the church, also finds an\nadvocate and eulogist in Mr. Richard Cutts Shannon, the American\n_charg\u00e9_ at his court, who employs his vicarious pen in justifying the\narrest, trial, and condemnation of the Bishop of Olinda to four years\u2019\nimprisonment with hard labor. But he is surpassed by minister James R.\nPartridge, who, in alluding to the determined intention of the\ngovernment to prosecute to the bitter end the various vicars who were\nnamed to take the place of those successively cast into prison,\nemphatically declares: \u201cFrom present appearances, the ministerial\nparty are going on and are determined to carry it through. It is to be\nhoped that their courage may not fail, neither by reason of the long\nlist of those who are thus declared ready to become martyrs, nor by\nany political move of the ecclesiastical party.\u201d\n\nSuch, in brief, are the views of the men sent to represent this\ncountry on American soil. If we turn to Europe\u2014though we may\nacknowledge a higher order of ability in our diplomatic agents\nthere\u2014we discover prejudice as strong and partisanship equally\nconspicuous. Referring to the German Empire, we are pained to find so\nprofound a student of the past as Mr. Bancroft our late minister at\nBerlin, so easily deceived in contemporary history. Nothing,\ncertainly, can be more untrue than the following statement of the\nposition of affairs in Prussia in 1873:\n\n \u201cThe effect of the correspondence [between the Pope and\n Emperor William] has been only to increase the popularity\n and European reputation of the emperor, and to depress the\n influence of the clerical party, thus confirming the\n accounts, which I have always given you, that the\n ultramontane political influence can never become vitally\n dangerous to this empire. The Catholic clergy are obviously\n beginning to regret having commenced with the state a\n contest in which it is not possible for them to gain the\n advantage. The intelligent Catholics themselves for the most\n part support the government, and so have received from the\n ultramontanes the nickname of state Catholics.\u201d\n\nThere is not a single sentence in the above which is not a\nmisapprehension of facts. How far Mr. Bancroft\u2019s easy assertions and\nconfident predictions, made scarcely two years ago, have been\njustified by the event is a matter that happily needs no inquiry,\nwhile comment on our part would be almost cruel. Mr. Bancroft,\nhowever, was not content with supplying information to the State\nDepartment on matters exclusively pertaining to his mission. His wide\nrange of vision took in all Europe, past and present. Of the old\nHelvetian republic he writes:\n\n \u201cSwitzerland shows no sign of receding from its\n comprehensive measures against the ultramontane usurpations;\n and the spirit and courage of these republicans have\n something of the same effect on the population of Germany\n that was exercised by their forefathers in the time of the\n Reformation.\u201d\n\nAnd again:\n\n \u201cHow widely the movement is extending in Europe is seen by\n what is passing in England, where choice has been made of a\n ministry disinclined to further concessions to the demands\n of the Catholic hierarchy, and where the archbishops of the\n Anglican Church are proposing measures to drive all\n Romanizing tendencies out of the forms of public worship in\n the Establishment. Here in Germany, where the question takes\n the form of a conflict between the authority of the state at\n home within its own precincts, and the influence of an alien\n ecclesiastical power, it is certain that the party of the\n state is consolidating its strength; and I see nothing,\n either in the history of the country, or in the present\n state of public opinion, or the development of public\n legislation, that can raise a doubt as to the persistency of\n the German government in the course upon which it has\n entered.\u201d\n\nWhat the \u201ccomprehensive measures\u201d in Switzerland \u201cagainst the\nultramontane usurpations\u201d mean readers of THE CATHOLIC WORLD already\nknow. They are simply a rather aggravated form of the Falck laws\u2014a\nform so aggravated that it is only within the past year M. Loyson\nhimself warned the world that the \u201ccomprehensive measures against\nultramontane usurpations,\u201d which Mr. Bancroft finds such reasons to\ncommend, were aimed, through Catholicity, at all Christianity. And yet\na high official of our free government, a man of universal reputation\nand great authority in the world of letters, finds in this elaborate\nsystem of proscription and intolerance food for congratulation. One\nwould suppose from the spirit so plainly animating Mr. Bancroft that\nhe is a member of the O. A. U., and that he was chosen rather to\nrepresent that delectable society in Berlin than the American\nGovernment. It is to be presumed, from his own despatches, that he\nwould have our government follow the tyrannical attempt of Prussia and\nSwitzerland to \u201cstamp out\u201d freedom of conscience. Mr. Bancroft\u2019s\ndiplomatic experience, under the influence of the court of Prussia,\nseems destined to reverse his principles and maxims as an American\nhistorian. He has, we fear, remained too long abroad for the good of\nhis native truth, character, and sense of right. It is to be hoped\nthat this baneful influence of foreign courts does not pursue him on\nhis return to his own country and people.\n\nMr. John Jay, who formerly acted as our envoy at Vienna, though not so\npronounced or diffusive in his despatches, is not far behind Mr.\nBancroft in expressing his entire concurrence with the restrictive\npolicy recently adopted by the government of Austria towards the\nchurch; while Mr. George P. Marsh, our representative in Italy, is so\ngreat an admirer of Garibaldi that he is never tired of chanting his\npraises in grandiloquent prose. Those familiar with the life of that\nnotorious bandit will be surprised to learn from so high an authority\nas the American minister that \u201che has never through life encouraged\nany appeal to popular passion or any resistance to governments, except\nby legal measures or in the way of organized and orderly attempts at\nrevolution; and, from the moment of his arrival at Rome, he exerted\nhimself to the utmost to restrain every manifestation of excitement.\u201d\n\nIn marked contrast to the unfair and ungenerous spirit displayed in\nthe despatches of those ministers are the letters from France, Spain,\nand England. The stirring political events which occupy the entire\nattention of the two former countries leave no room, perhaps, for the\ndiscussion of penal laws and judicial decrees against Catholicity;\nwhile the latter, having carried out Protestantism to its logical\nconclusion, and found it a sham, is more inclined to profit by the\nblunders and crimes of its neighbors, so as to push its commercial\ninterests, than to imitate them and begin anew the _r\u00f4le_ of\npersecutor for conscience\u2019 sake.\n\nIn explanation of the erroneous views so frequently put forth by so\nmany of our diplomatic officials, we are assured that most of those\nsent to Mexico and Central and South America have been members of\nsecret societies, and, having been accustomed to affiliate with the\nlodges of those Freemason-ridden countries, have had whatever little\nsense of equity they originally possessed perverted by the sophisms of\ntheir new associates. Possibly; but let us consider how much harm may\nbe done by following such a short-sighted course. All the independent\ncountries south of us on this continent are largely Catholic, and,\nwith the exception of Brazil, claim to be republican. They are bound\nto us by strong ties, political as well as commercial, and are\nnaturally inclined to look upon the United States as their exemplar\nand guide, and, if need be, their protector. When they shall have\nshaken off the incubus of military dictation that now weighs upon\nthem, and, restoring to the church its rights\u2014as will eventually be\ndone\u2014have entered on a new career of freedom and material prosperity,\nhow will they be disposed to feel towards a power which they have\nknown only through its agents, and those the advocates and supporters\nof everything that is illiberal in politics and degrading in polemics?\n\nIn Europe the influence of incapable and unworthy representatives is\nlikely to be even more deleterious to our national character. The\naffections of the people of the Old World are strongly inclined toward\nthe free institutions of the New. But if we continue to permit our\ndelegated authority to be used only in favor and encouragement of such\nenemies of human liberty as the usurper at the Eternal City, the\ntyrant at Berlin, and the communists of Geneva, the popular sympathy\nborn of our protestations of liberality will soon fade away, to give\nplace to feelings of mistrust, if not of positive aversion.\n\nIn calling public attention to the incapacity and perversity of the\nmajority of our diplomatists\u2014men who do not hesitate to put into their\ncorrespondence with foreign governments, and their private home\ndespatches, sentiments they dare not utter publicly in the forum or\nthrough the press\u2014we by no means desire to restrict proper expressions\nof opinion or limit the just criticisms of the agents of the\nDepartment of State. We only insist that these shall not be indulged\nin at the expense of a very large and respectable portion of this\ncommunity. Neither do we require that they shall take sides with\nCatholics, as such, anywhere, no matter how harsh or unjust may be\ntheir grievances. This country is not Catholic, it is true, neither is\nit Protestant; and, indeed, it is questionable if, in any strict\nsense, it can be called Christian. But it is a country civilly and\nreligiously free, by custom, statute, and Constitution, and we have a\nright to demand that whoever undertakes to act for it, as part and\nparcel of the machinery of our government, among foreigners, shall\nrepresent it as it is, in spirit as well as in fact\u2014the opponent of\nall proscription for conscience\u2019 sake, the enemy of tyranny whether\nexercised by the mob or the state. Is it not the true policy of our\ngovernment to send abroad as representatives of our interests men who,\nwhile they are not hostile to the prevailing religious beliefs of the\ncountry to which they are accredited, are, at the same time, true and\nstanch Americans? If such men cannot be found, let us, in the name of\ncommon sense, have none at all. Some minor interests may perhaps\nsuffer by the omission, but the honor and reputation of the republic\nwill remain unsullied and unimpaired.\n\n\n [1] _Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United\n States_, etc., for 1874-5.\n\n\n\n\nLINES ON LEONARDO DA VINCI\u2019S \u201cVIRGIN OF THE ROCKS.\u201d\n\n Maternal lady with the virgin grace,\n Heaven-born thy Jesus seemeth sure,\n And thou a virgin pure.\n Lady most perfect, when thy sinless face\n Men look upon, they wish to be\n A Catholic, Madonna fair, to worship thee.\n CHARLES LAMB.\n\n\n\n\nA POET AMONG THE POETS.\n\nIt is of the last importance that English criticism should clearly\ndiscern what rule for its course, in order to avail itself of the\nfield now opening to it, and to produce fruit for the future, it ought\nto take. The rule may be summed up in one word\u2014disinterestedness.\n\n\nMr. James Russell Lowell[2] has applied Mr. Matthew Arnold\u2019s rule with\nrare fidelity in his essays, just published, on Dante, Spenser,\nWordsworth, Milton, and Keats. His estimate of the two greatest of\nmodern poets, especially the paper on Dante, is calculated to attract\ngeneral attention, and to arouse, we apprehend, some acrid sentiment\nin a certain class of literary butterflies who are accustomed to sip\nor decline according to the theological character of the garden. It\nrequires considerable courage to place Dante above all his rivals and\nsalute him as\n\n \u201cThe loftiest of poets!\u201d\n\nin an hour when poetry has lost the qualities that made Dante lofty\nand Milton grand, and when the epithet \u201cCatholic,\u201d which Dante loved\nand Milton hated, has become again a reproach. Lowell\u2019s consideration\nof both is characterized by disinterestedness as to time, religion,\npolitics, and literature; and the sincere student who casts aside his\nprejudices, like his hat, when he approaches the temples that enshrine\nso much of divinity as God deposited in the souls of the Florentine\nand the Puritan, will find it difficult to dissent from the judgment\nof Lowell upon their individuality, their inspiration, or their art.\nLowell is peculiarly adapted to the form of literature, semi-critical,\nsemi-creative, in which he has recently distinguished himself. We\nbelieve his essay on Dante to be the most successfully-accomplished\ntask which he has yet undertaken; and the cultivated American public\nshould thank one who has amused and diverted it as well as he has done\nfor the solid instruction which this volume conveys in a style at once\nscholarly, fresh, and refined. Lowell\u2019s mental temperament is\nadmirably adapted for the mirroring of poets\u2019 minds. Himself a genuine\npoet, without ambition above his capacity, his agile fancy discerns\nthe quicker and appreciates more intensely the imagination of epic\nsouls; while his critical faculty, naturally acute, has the additional\nadvantage of a keen sense of humor, which enables him to discover more\nreadily the incongruous, and is, therefore, an invaluable assistant in\nliterary discrimination.\n\nIt is the trade of criticism to expose blemishes; it is genius in\ncriticism to appreciate the subject. The journeyman critic of the last\ntwo centuries has been so busy making authors miserable without\nfelicitating mankind that when we read through an essay like Lowell\u2019s\non Dante, on Wordsworth, or on Spenser, we cheerfully recognize a man\nwhere experience has taught us to look only for an ingenious carper or\nspiteful ferret. However, critics are no worse than they used to be.\nSwift, who had excellent opportunity of forming an opinion, both in\nhis own practice and in the observation of that of others, has left\nthis dramatic picture, the truthfulness of which there is no reason\nyet to question: \u201cThe malignant deity Criticism dwelt on the top of a\nsnowy mountain in Nova Zembla; Momus found her extended in her den\nupon the spoils of numberless volumes half devoured. At her right hand\nsat Ignorance, her father and husband, blind with age; at her left,\nPride, her mother, dressing her up in the scraps of paper herself had\ntorn. There was Opinion, her sister, light of foot, hoodwinked, and\nheadstrong, yet giddy and perpetually turning. About her played her\nchildren, Noise and Impudence, Dulness and Vanity, Positiveness,\nPedantry, and Ill-Manners.\u201d Such is reckless and conscienceless\ncriticism even to this day; and we turn from it, in grateful delight,\nto the reverential commentary which Lowell has produced upon one of\nthe saddest of all human creatures\u2014the great Catholic poet of the\nmiddle ages.\n\nDante, little understood by those who have the largest title to his\nlegacies, is, after all, the universal poet\u2014the poet of the soul.\nHomer chants the blood-red glories of war, and is the poet of a\nperiod; Virgil charms by the grace of his lines, and is the poet of an\nepisode; Milton awes with the mighty sweeps of his rhetoric, and is\nthe poet of the grandiose; Shakspeare astounds with his knowledge of\nhuman nature and enchains with his wit, and is the poet of the\npassions; Dante, when read aright, is found to be the poet of the\nSoul. The line that divides him from Shakspeare lies between the\nsubjective and the objective\u2014Shakspeare\u2019s themes are men and women;\nDante\u2019s sole subject is Man\u2014man within himself, as he is related to\nGod, to religion, to eternity. As Lowell felicitously writes it,\n\u201c_Arma virumque cano_; that is the motto of classic song. Dante says,\n_Subjectum est homo_, not _vir_\u2014my theme is man, not a man.\u201d\n\nWhy, then, do we not read him more and value him as he deserves? For\ntwo reasons: first, the difficulty of adequate translation; next, the\nmysterious richness of his thought, whose pearls are not strung across\nthe door of the lines to warn us, as later poetry so candidly does,\nthat within there is nothing but barrenness. The proper understanding\nof Dante has been a growth, beginning in Italy as soon as he was dead,\nextending gradually over Europe, into England, and now westward,\ngaining in clearness and glory as time recedes and space enlarges.\n\nWithin a century after the poet\u2019s death lectures on his works were\ndelivered in the churches, and, as soon as the invention of printing\nenabled, numerous editions were edited and circulated. The first\ntranslation was into Spanish; then into French; next into German; and\na copy of a Latin translation of the _Divine Comedy_ by a bishop was\nmade at the request of two English bishops in the early part of the\nfifteenth century, and was sent to England. Spenser and Milton were\nfamiliar with the poet\u2019s works, but the first complete English\ntranslation did not appear until 1802. Of the English translations\nsince then, the most familiar are Cary\u2019s and Longfellow\u2019s; and to this\ncatalogue Mr. Lowell adds: \u201cA translation of the _Inferno_ into\nquatrains by T. W. Parsons ranks with the best for spirit,\ntruthfulness, and elegance\u201d\u2014praise which will be cordially endorsed by\nthose who have profited by Mr. Parsons\u2019 labor.\n\nWe propose to discuss Dante the man and Mr. Lowell\u2019s estimate of him,\nas exhibited in his writings, and shall touch upon the latter only as\nthey may be necessary to the clearer revelation of their author\u2019s\ncharacter. For Dante, like Milton, was not of common mould; in\nwhatever aspect we view him he proves extraordinary to a degree which\nfrequently becomes incomprehensible. It is natural to wish to throw\nthe two under the same light, although the result of the experiment is\nonly to magnify their points of difference and diminish those of\ncomparison. The sum of the results appears to be that only in the\naccidents of life are they comparable; in the essentials of character,\nwith a single exception\u2014that of intense faith\u2014they were radically\nunlike. Widely apart as their names appear\u2014Dante dying in 1321 and\nMilton entering life in 1608\u2014men were engaged during the lives of\nboth in civil revolution, and each had his own theory of government\nand exercised the functions of political power. Both were men of\nsorrow, both were unappreciated in their day and generation, and the\nlight and joy which each experienced emanated from within and supplied\nthe fire of their genius. The noblest work of each was written in the\ngloomiest period of his life. Here the possibility of parallel ends.\n\nThere is a close relation\u2014a much closer one than may at first be\nsuspected\u2014between Dante and the instant condition of American society\nand politics. Nearly six hundred years have passed away, and we have\nto go back to Dante to learn personal virtue in political life, as\nwell as religion in social affairs. Lowell has escaped the poison of\nthe time. He perceives the essence as well as the necessity of virtue,\nand fully realizes its absence in our own state.\n\n \u201cVery hateful to his fervid heart and sincere mind would\n have been the modern theory which deals with sin as\n involuntary error, and by shifting off the fault to the\n shoulders of Atavism or those of Society\u2014personified for\n purposes of excuse, but escaping into impersonality again\n from the grasp of retribution\u2014weakens that sense of personal\n responsibility which is the root of self-respect and the\n safeguard of character. Dante, indeed, saw clearly enough\n that the divine justice did at length overtake society in\n the ruin of states caused by the corruption of private, and\n thence of civic, morals; but a personality so intense as his\n could not be satisfied with such a tardy and generalized\n penalty as this. \u2018It is Thou,\u2019 he says sternly, \u2018who hast\n done this thing, and Thou, not Society, shalt be damned for\n it; nay, damned all the worse for this paltry subterfuge.\n This is not my judgment, but that of the universal Nature,\n from before the beginning of the world.\u2019\u2026 He believed in the\n righteous use of anger, and that baseness was its legitimate\n quarry. He did not think the Tweeds and Fisks, the political\n wire-pullers and convention-packers, of his day merely\n amusing, and he certainly did think it the duty of an\n upright and thoroughly-trained citizen to speak out severely\n and unmistakably. He believed firmly, almost fiercely, in a\n divine order of the universe, a conception whereof had been\n vouchsafed him, and that whatever or whoever hindered or\n jostled it, whether wilfully or blindly it mattered not, was\n to be got out of the way at all hazards; because obedience\n to God\u2019s law, and not making things generally comfortable,\n was the highest duty of man, as it was also his only way to\n true felicity.\u2026 It would be of little consequence to show in\n which of two equally selfish and short-sighted parties a man\n enrolled himself six hundred years ago; but it is worth\n something to know that a man of ambitious temper and violent\n passions, aspiring to office in a city of factions, could\n rise to a level of principle so far above them all. Dante\u2019s\n opinions have life in them still, because they were drawn\n from living sources of reflection and experience, because\n they were reasoned out from the astronomic laws of history\n and ethics, and were not weather-guesses snatched in a\n glance at the doubtful political sky of the hour.\u201d\n\nIn this Dante strikingly differed from Milton, who was a revengeful\nand intensely-bigoted fanatic of his own faction, and he admitted to\nhis companionship no man, high or low, who presumed to differ from\nhim. Dante was a politician by principle, placing his country first,\nand setting a high value on himself as her servant. Milton was a\npolitician by bigotry, placing himself first, and setting a high value\non his country because he was her servant. But the manliness of Dante\nin demanding that the severe precepts of religion should be inflexibly\napplied to political administration in an age whose corruption was\nonly less shocking than that of our own, is the particular lesson\nwhich this vigorous extract from Lowell conveys. If society in this\nera should esteem political wire-pullers, convention-packers, and\npoliticians who deem patriotism the science of personal exigencies, as\nDante esteemed and treated them, should we be any the worse off? Dante\nlooked upon a thief as a thief, and the knave who conspired to defraud\nthe government as fit only to \u201cbegone among the other dogs.\u201d Would\nthere not be a healthier tone in our political affairs if these\nclasses of criminals were not met, as is usually the case, by justice\ndaintily gloved and the bandage removed from her eyes, lest she should\nmake a mistake as to persons?\n\nThe inspiration of Dante was strictly religious. So was Milton\u2019s; but\nwith this distinction: that Dante\u2019s religiousness was real and\nbeneficent, while Milton\u2019s was unreal and malignant\u2014as Lowell says,\nMilton\u2019s \u201cGod was a Calvinistic Zeus.\u201d\n\nA brief and succinct analysis of the _Divine Comedy_ will be found\nserviceable by those who have not analyzed it for themselves, and at\nthe same time will make manifest the dependence of Dante\u2019s inspiration\nupon Catholic doctrine:\n\n \u201cThe poem consists of three parts\u2014Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.\n Each part is divided into thirty-three cantos, in allusion to the\n years of the Saviour\u2019s life; for although the Hell contains\n thirty-four, the first canto is merely introductory. In the form\n of the verse (triple rhyme) we may find an emblem of the Trinity,\n and in the three divisions of the threefold state of man, sin,\n grace, and beatitude.\u2026 Lapse through sin, mediation, and\n redemption\u2014these are the subjects of the three parts of the poem;\n or, otherwise stated, intellectual conviction of the result of\n sin, typified in Virgil; \u2026 moral conversion after repentance, by\n divine grace, typified in Beatrice; reconciliation with God, and\n actual, blinding vision of him\u2014\u2018The pure in heart shall see\n God.\u2019\u2026 The poem is also, in a very intimate sense, an apotheosis\n of woman.\u2026 Nothing is more wonderful than the power of absorption\n and assimilation in this man, who could take up into himself the\n world that then was, and reproduce it with such cosmopolitan\n truth, to human nature and to his own individuality as to reduce\n all contemporary history to a mere comment on his vision. We\n protest, therefore, against the parochial criticism which would\n degrade Dante to a mere partisan; which sees in him a Luther\n before his time, and would clap the _bonnet rouge_ upon his\n heavenly muse.\u201d\n\nDante proved himself a reformer of the most aggressive kind. The\ndifference between him and Luther was that Dante endeavored to reform\nmen by means of the church; Luther endeavored to destroy the church\nrather than reform himself. Evils existed within the church, as a part\nof society, during the periods of both. Dante helped to correct them\nas a conservative; Luther chose, as a radical, to tear the edifice\ndown. Unlike the temple of Philistia, the church stood, and the Samson\nof the sixteenth century fell beneath the ruins of a single column.\n\nNo fact in the history of poetry is more striking than the necessity\nof religion as a source of inspiration. The _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_\nacquire their epic quality from the religion of Greece; gods stalk\nabout, and Minerva\u2019s shield resounds in the clangor with that of\nAchilles. The _\u00c6neid_ would be beautiful without the association of\nmythology; but it is mythology which enhances its grace into grandeur.\nThe Vedas are an expression of the religious aspirations of the\nHindoos. The verse of Boccaccio is pleasing only in proportion as\nreligion cleansed his pen. Petrarch\u2019s sonnets would never have been\nwritten had not Laura taught him the distinction between pure love, as\nthe church knows it, and the passions which carried Byron into\nhysterics. The Italian epic of the sixteenth century, _Jerusalem\nDelivered_, which is held by Hallam to be equal in grace to the\n_\u00c6neid_, had the First Crusade for its theme. Would it have been\npossible for Milton to have written any poem equal to _Paradise Lost_\nout of other than Scriptural materials? Aside from the literary\ncharacteristics and dramatic strength of the plays of Shakspeare, does\nnot their chief value lie in their correct morality\u2014the morality which\nis found nowhere outside Catholic teaching? This is not the place to\ndiscuss the modern decline of poetry. Matthew Arnold\u2019s theory\u2014it is a\ngeneral favorite\u2014is that history and boldly-outlined epochs make\npoetry; and Lowell says, in his essay on Milton, \u201cIt is a high\ninspiration to be the neighbor of great events.\u201d But the last two\ncenturies have been crowded with history; boldly-outlined epochs have\nlifted their awful summits in England, in France, in Italy, in the\nUnited States, in Spain. Where are the great poets among the\nverse-makers who have been neighbors of these great events, and might\nhave caught high inspiration from them? Since the Reformation the\nmoral world has been growing iconoclastic, and there is no poetry in\niconoclasm.\n\nNext to religion, woman has been the great inspiration of poets; but\nthe modern idea of marriage has shattered the sanctuary walls which\nChristianity erected around it; the sacredness of home is invaded, the\noneness of love destroyed\u2014there is no poetry in divorce.\n\nIs not the decline of poetry a very curious, if not a fatal, reply to\nthe hypothesis of evolution, carried logically into the moral and\nintellectual world?\n\nMr. Lowell completes his essay by a minute examination of Dante\u2019s\nthought and style, as exhibited in the _Divine Comedy_; and we can\nfind space only for the closing period:\n\n \u201cAt the Round Table of King Arthur there was left always one\n seat empty for him who should accomplish the adventure of\n the Holy Grail. It was called the perilous seat, because of\n the dangers he would encounter who would win it. In the\n company of the epic poets there was a place left for whoever\n should embody the Christian idea of a triumphant life,\n outwardly all defeat, inwardly victorious; who should make\n us partakers in that cup of sorrow in which all are\n communicants with Christ. He who should do this would\n achieve indeed the perilous seat; for he must combine poesy\n with doctrine in such cunning wise that the one lose not its\n beauty nor the other its severity\u2014and Dante has done it. As\n he takes possession of it we seem to hear the cry he himself\n heard when Virgil rejoined the company of great singers:\n\n \u2018All honor to the loftiest of poets!\u2019\u201d\n\nMr. Lowell\u2019s Dante is a man divinely inspired and overshadowed by\ndivinity to the grave itself\u2014a character austere, devoid of humor,\nunflinchingly faithful to his conceptions of right whether moral or\npolitical, self-respecting, and believing in his own commission from\nGod; a mind logical, systematic, and illuminated by Heaven,\nconsciously developing its marvellous genius in the midst of\ncontumely; a heart consumed first by human love for Beatrice, and by\nit purged and refined out of personality into the love of God and the\nproper relative appreciation of all creatures; a sublime human soul,\nin brief, transformed from the individual into the universal, and\nteaching all men, as it was taught in sorrow and in love, to seek\neternity as the sole object worthy of human effort; and teaching in a\nlofty splendor of phrase and successions of exquisite imagery which\ncontinue to astonish posterity and will for ever adorn general\nliterature.\n\nThe essay on Milton is devoted rather to Mr. David Masson than to the\npoet. There is nothing to indicate that the critic is in love with\neither the poems or the personality of the sublime Puritan who\nofficiated in the capacity of Latin secretary to Oliver Cromwell, and\nwho devoted himself to epic verse after his services ceased to be\navailable for the oppression of his fellow-men. Still less is he\nenamored of Mr. David Masson as a biographer of Milton, and the jovial\nthough thoroughly effective manner in which he demonstrates the Scotch\nprofessor\u2019s unfitness for this office adds to his volume a flavor of\npungency which brings back happy recollections of the \u201cTable for\nCritics.\u201d Masson is very voluminous and exasperatingly given to remote\nand often irrelevant detail; and Macaulay, in extinguishing some of\nthe literary pretenders of his time, was never more dextrous than\nLowell in this grotesque joust at the Edinburgh professor\u2019s faults,\nnor half so witty. Referring to the length of the biography\u2014there are\neight volumes octavo of the _Life_ and _Works_\u2014Lowell says with\nperfect gravity: \u201cWe envy the secular leisures of Methuselah, and are\nthankful that _his_ biography, at least (if written in the same\nlongeval proportion), is irrecoverably lost to us. What a subject that\nwould have been for a person of Mr. Masson\u2019s spacious predilections!\u201d\nAnd he goes on to say: \u201cIt is plain, from the preface to the second\nvolume, that Mr. Masson himself has an uneasy consciousness that\nsomething is wrong, and that Milton ought to be more than a mere\nincident of his own biography.\u201d Masson, on the other hand, is of\nopinion \u201cthat, whatever may be thought by a hasty person looking in on\nthe subject from the outside,\u201d no one can study Milton without being\nobliged to study also the history of England, Scotland, and Ireland;\nwhereupon Lowell retorts that, even for a hasty person, eleven years\nis \u201crather long to have his button held by a biographer ere he begins\nhis next sentence.\u201d\n\nMasson\u2019s rambling history of the seventeenth century \u201cis interrupted\nnow and then,\u201d says Lowell, \u201cby an unexpected apparition of Milton,\nwho, like Paul Pry, just pops in and hopes he does not intrude, to\ntell us what _he_ has been doing in the meanwhile.\u201d Blinded by the\ndust of old papers which Masson ransacks, to discover that they have\nno relation to his hero, the critic compares the ponderous biography\nto Allston\u2019s picture of Elijah in the wilderness, \u201cwhere a good deal\nof research at last enables us to guess at the prophet absconded like\na conundrum in the landscape, where the very ravens could scarce have\nfound him out.\u201d This characterization of Edinburgh by Harvard will\ncertainly inspire suggestion, if it does not awaken hope; but Lowell\u2019s\nright to criticise the sedate and prolix gentleman who occupies in the\nScottish metropolis the chair which he himself fills at Cambridge does\nnot rest, as we have already seen in the essay on Dante, on Susarion\u2019s\nfaculty of turning the serious and dull into actual comedy.\n\nLike all who have recently written of Milton\u2014with the exception of\nMasson\u2014Lowell looks upon him as a being \u201cset apart.\u201d To idealize the\nauthor of _Paradise Lost_ is quite as natural as to idealize Dante,\nnotwithstanding their relative distances from us; but in the former\ncase, with Lowell, it is the idealization of admiring awe; in the\nlatter, of tender and exquisitely appreciative love. He does not\nappear to hold Milton in any degree of the personal affection which he\nfeels for the inspired Florentine, but is constrained to insist that\nMasson is disrespectful toward his subject, and that \u201cMilton is the\nlast man in the world to be slapped on the back with impunity.\u201d\n\nWhen Lowell writes of Milton\u2019s literary style, although he does it\nsparingly, every stroke is a master\u2019s. His estimate of Milton as a man\nis calm, judicial, and courageous. \u201cHe stands out,\u201d he says, \u201cin\nmarked and solitary individuality, apart from the great movement of\nthe civil war, apart from the supine acquiescence of the Restoration,\na self-opinionated, unforgiving, and unforgetting man.\u201d It is the\nhabit of hurried teachers of our day, who have to teach so many more\nthings than they know, to exalt Milton\n\n \u201cHigh on a throne of royal state,\u201d\n\nand swing before him the incense of a senseless and absurd homage. In\nour school-days most of us were led to look upon the sightless poet as\na being more than man, if a little less than God. Virtues, as he\nunderstood them, he certainly possessed; but many more virtuous than\nhe suffered ignominy and death for presuming to exercise the very\nliberty which he grandly claimed for himself, but which, we find on\nexamining his prose, he was dilatory in awarding to others, even in\nthe abstract. These prose writings are at once curious and monstrous,\nand exhibit the real Milton in a true and natural light, even as\n_Samson Agonistes_, _Lycidas_, and _Paradise Lost_ manifest his superb\nand supreme characteristics as a poet. In prose he wrote as he\nthought; in verse he wrote as he could. He was always the rhetorician,\nmaking an art of what men of less genius can display only as the\nartificial; but while his poetry is the complete manifestation of his\nart, his prose, always written with an obvious and acknowledged\npersonal purpose, manifests himself. His prose works are already\nscarce; the day is not distant when nothing will remain of them but\ntheir ashes, for the types will plead release from perpetuating the\nhard, angular, stony reality of a man whom taste, if not instinct,\nyearns to withdraw from our painful knowledge of what he was, and veil\nhim in a radiant mistiness of what we wish he might have been. Nothing\nbetter illustrates the idealism with which the pencil of youth paints\nMilton than Macaulay\u2019s essay, written while he was still a boy, but\nincluded with the mature expressions of his manhood. Nothing could\nmore completely pulverize this roseate estimate than Milton\u2019s own\nworks in the days when he wrote for time and not for immortality. No\nmatter what the theme, his prose is always ponderous and polysyllabic,\nabounding in magnificent metaphor, violent epithets, arrogant\ndogmatism, and personal abuse of those who differed from him, of which\nno trace, happily, remains in our day. The higher the man, the coarser\nthe missile which he hurled at him with a giant\u2019s force. In his reply\nto Salmasius he addresses that eminent scholar as \u201ca vain, flashy\nman,\u201d and, in the progress of his argument, reminds him that he is\nalso a knave, a pragmatical coxcomb, a bribed beggar, a whipped dog,\nan impotent slave, a renegade, a sacrilegious wretch, a mongrel cur,\nan obscure scoundrel, a fearful liar, and a mass of corruption.\n\nHe seems to have lacked both consistency and clearness of conviction.\nHe was apparently incapable of loving woman; he scarcely respected\nher; and, in his social theory, awarded the sex a place somewhat below\nthat which it occupied under the patriarchs, and considerably lower\nthan that described by Homer as peculiar to the heroic age of Greece.\nHe obtained coy and pretty Mary Powell from her father in\nconsideration of so many pounds of the coin of the realm, at a time\nwhen a mortgage had become embarrassing and a daughter was the only\navailable means of extinguishing it. When that volatile young woman,\nshivering in the shadows of a Puritan despot, found courage enough to\nleave his roof, Milton was undoubtedly more impressed by her audacity\nthan grieved by her absence. It was his pride that was hurt; and\nnotwithstanding that he had previously advocated social views of the\nstraitest and most conservative kind, he then published his essay on\ndivorce, which, in amazing egotism, in wealth of classical and\nScriptural allusion, in looseness of morals, and in equality of social\nprivileges as between man and woman, is as veritable a curiosity as\nantiquarians have yet rescued from the monumental mysteries of old\nAssyria. In politics and religion he was as unsound and wavering as in\nhis laws for society. An aristocrat of the most despotic type, he\nenthroned learning, and yet permitted his daughters to acquire only\nthe alphabets, that he might use their senses as his slaves. He\ndespised them as human beings, and they, in turn, hated and deceived\nhim, and almost his last words on earth were terrible denunciations of\nthose whom God intended to illumine his home, soothe his life, and\ndeliver his whitened head, already aureoled, to\n\n \u201cDear, beauteous Death.\u201d\n\nFor many years\u2014the very best of his life\u2014he lent himself to the\npolitical schemes of Oliver Cromwell, and the violence and coarseness\nof his pamphlets made him one of the most conspicuous figures of a\nlong series of civil storms; yet Lowell is constrained to admit that\n\u201cneither in politics, theology, nor social ethics did Milton leave any\ndistinguishable trace on the thought of his time or in the history of\nopinion.\u201d He considered his ideas and inclinations correct and above\nappeal, simply because they were John Milton\u2019s. The harshest word\nwhich Lowell says of his prose style is his comparison of a man of\nMilton\u2019s personal character, which was without taint, to Martin\nLuther, whose writings were a true reflection of their author. Lowell\nis very gentle in saying of so noted a plagiarist as Milton: \u201cA true\nAttic bee, he made boot on every lip where there was a trace of truly\nclassic honey.\u201d He did indeed, not in prose only, but in his verse.\nBut we easily forgive him. There are thieves whom stolen garments more\nbecome than their owners.\n\n\n [2] _Among my Books._ Second Series.\n\n\n\n\nARE YOU MY WIFE?\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cPARIS BEFORE THE WAR,\u201d \u201cNUMBER THIRTEEN,\u201d \u201cPIUS\nVI.,\u201d ETC.\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE EPISODE EXPLAINED.\n\n\nThe night closed in\u2014night, that is so cruel, yet so merciful;\nintensifying every pain in the long dark watch, or lulling it in\nblessed sleep.\n\nThere was very little sleep for Raymond that night, and none at all\nfor his two nurses. They sat by his bed while the slow hours dragged\non, watching his feverish restlessness, that was occasionally soothed\nby broken snatches of rest, thanks to a potion that was administered\nat intervals. Franceline\u2019s anxiety gradually returned as she sat there\nobserving every sound and symptom. She could not but see that there\nwas something far more serious in this sudden attack than an ordinary\nfainting fit. Raymond was so troubled and excited in his sleep that\nshe almost wished him to awake; and then again she longed for\nunconsciousness to soothe his feverish terrors. He clutched her hand;\nhe could not bear her to move from him. At last the dawn came, and\nlike a bright-winged angel scattered the darkness and scared away the\nghostly phantoms of the night, and Raymond fell into a slumber long\nand deep enough to be refreshing.\n\nSome days passed without bringing any change; but he was no worse,\nwhich, the doctor said, meant that he was better. His condition,\nhowever, continued extremely critical.\n\nIt was wonderful both to Ang\u00e9lique and to herself how Franceline bore\nup under the strain; for both her mental and physical powers were\nseverely taxed. She had hardly closed her eyes since her father had\nfallen ill; and she took scarcely any food. But anxiety, so long as it\ndoes not utterly break us down, buoys us up.\n\nThe few neighbors who were intimate were kind and sympathizing. Lady\nAnwyll had driven over and made anxious inquiries, and would gladly be\nof use in any way, if she could. Miss Bulpit also came to offer her\nservices in any way they could be available. Miss Merrywig called\nevery day. So far Franceline had seen none of them; she was always\nwith her father when they called, and Ang\u00e9lique would not disturb her\nfor visitors.\n\nFather Henwick came constantly to inquire, but did not always ask to\nsee the young girl. Franceline wondered why her father had not before\nthis expressed a wish to see him; it seemed so natural that such a\nwish should have manifested itself the moment Raymond was able to\nreceive any one. She dared not take the initiative and suggest it, but\nshe could not help feeling that it would be an immense relief to the\nsufferer if he could disburden his mind of the weight that was upon\nit, and speak to Father Henwick as to a tried and affectionate friend,\nif even he did not as yet seek spiritual help and guidance from him.\nIt had long since been borne in on Franceline that the horrible\nsuspicion which had so mysteriously fallen on Raymond was in some way\nor other connected with his sudden illness; she brooded over the\nthought until it became a fixed idea and haunted her day and night.\nHow was it that he did not instinctively turn for comfort to the\nSource where he was sure to find it? Father Henwick himself must feel\npained and surprised at not having been summoned to the sick-room\nbefore this. Franceline was thinking over it all one morning, sitting\nnear Raymond\u2019s bedside, when Ang\u00e9lique put in her head and announced\nin a loud whisper that M. le Cur\u00e9, as she dubbed Father Henwick, was\ndown-stairs, and would be glad if she could speak to him a moment.\nFranceline rose softly, and was leaving the room, when her father, who\nwas not dozing, as she fancied, said:\n\n\u201cWhy does he not come up and see me? I should be glad to see him; it\nwould do me good.\u201d\n\nFather Henwick came up without delay, and Franceline soon made a\npretext for leaving him alone with the invalid. It was with a beating\nheart that she closed the door on them and went down-stairs to wait\ntill she was recalled. She could hear only the full, clear tones of\nFather Henwick\u2019s voice at first; after a while these grew lower, and\nthen she heard the murmur of Raymond\u2019s voice; then there seemed to\nfollow a silence. She was too agitated to pray in words, but her heart\nprayed silently with intense fervor. The conference lasted a full\nhalf-hour, and then Father Henwick\u2019s cheerful voice sounded on the\nstairs.\n\n\u201cHow do you think he looks, father?\u201d she said, meeting him at the\nstudy door with another question in her eyes that Father Henwick\nthought he understood.\n\n\u201cMuch better than I expected!\u201d he answered promptly and with a\nheartiness of conviction that was music to her ears; \u201cand you will\nfind that from this out he will improve steadily, and rapidly, I hope,\ntoo.\u201d\n\nA stifled \u201cThank God!\u201d was Franceline\u2019s answer.\n\n\u201cAnd now how about you?\u201d said the priest, with something of the old\nblunt grumble that was so much more reassuring than the tenderness\ncalled forth by pity. \u201cI heard a very bad account of you this\nmorning\u2014no sleep, and no food, and no air; you mean to fret yourself\ninto an illness before your father is up and able to attend on you, do\nyou? That would be one way of showing your dutiful affection for him.\nHumph! Are those the eyes for a young lady to have in her head on a\nfine sunny morning like this? Did you go to bed at all last night?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, but I could not sleep; I was too anxious, too unhappy.\u201d\n\n\u201cToo unbelieving, too mistrustful. Go up-stairs this minute, you child\nof little faith, and lie down and lay your head upon the pillow of\ndivine Providence, and be asleep in five minutes!\u201d\n\nHe left her with this peremptory injunction, and Franceline, with a\nlightened heart, went up-stairs determined to obey it. It was as yet,\nof course, a matter of pure conjecture what had passed between the\npriest and her father; but when, an hour later, after obediently\ntaking that refreshing sleep on the pillow of divine Providence which\nhad been commanded her, she came into Raymond\u2019s room, there was a\nmarked change in his whole demeanor. He had not passed the interval in\nthe listless apathy that had now become habitual to him. He had made\nAng\u00e9lique bring over a little celestial globe and set it on the bed\nfor him, and had amused himself with it awhile; and then he had taken\nup the book Franceline had left on the chair beside him when she stole\nout of the room. It was _The Imitation of Christ_. He was reading it\nwhen she entered, and there was an expression on his features that\nmade her happier than she had been for a long time. He looked more\npeaceful, more life-like than she had seen him for weeks even before\nhe had fallen ill.\n\n\u201cYou are feeling better, petit p\u00e8re?\u201d she said, kissing him, and\ntaking the dear face between her hands to look into it more closely.\n\n\u201cYes, my clair de lune, much better,\u201d he replied, with a smile that\nhad all its wonted sweetness and something of the old brightness. \u201cI\nthink I shall be able to get down-stairs in a day or two.\u201d\n\n\u201cI see you have been at your old tricks again,\u201d she said, shaking her\nfinger at him and pointing to the globe; \u201cyou know you are forbidden\nto do anything that gives you the least fatigue.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was not a fatigue, my little one\u2014it amused me; but I will not do\nit again, if you don\u2019t wish it.\u201d\n\nFranceline hugged his head to her cheek, and said she would let him do\nanything so long as it amused him.\n\n\u201cI was thinking of you last night, petit p\u00e8re,\u201d she said, making the\nglobe revolve slowly on its axis; \u201cthe sky was so beautiful at twelve\no\u2019clock when I happened to look out of my window that I longed for you\nto see it.\u201d\n\n\u201cHa! Then probably it will be the same to-night,\u201d said Raymond. \u201cI\nwill keep my curtain drawn, so that I may see it, if it is.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes; and let the moon keep you awake whether you will or not! I\nshould like to hear what Ang\u00e9lique would say to that proposal! No; but\nI will tell you what we\u2019ll do: I will be on the watch to-night, and if\nthe stars are like last night I will steal in and see if you are\nawake, and if you are I will draw the curtain so that you may see them\nfrom your bed. We shall be like two _savants_ making our\n\u2018observations\u2019 in the night-time, shall we not? And\u2014who knows?\u2014we may\ndiscover a new star!\u201d\n\nRaymond pinched her cheek and laughed gently. His hopes in this\nrespect were limited by facts\u2014or rather negatives\u2014that Franceline did\nnot stop to inquire into; she had not gone deeply into the science of\nastronomy.\n\n\u201cThere is no saying what I might not discover with those bright eyes\nof thine for a telescope,\u201d said M. de la Bourbonais.\n\nAng\u00e9lique rejoiced in her own fashion at the decided turn for the\nbetter that her master had suddenly taken. She saw that he spoke a\ngood deal during the evening, and ate with a nearer approach to\nappetite than he had yet shown; so she settled him for the night, and\nwent to bed with a lighter heart than for many past nights, and soon\nslept soundly.\n\nFranceline did not follow her example. It was not anxiety that kept\nher awake, but happiness; she could not bring herself to part with it\nso quickly, and lose it for a time in unconsciousness. There was a\npresence, too, in the ecstatic silence of the night, that answered to\nthis sense of joy and appealed to her for responsive watch. Joys are\nmore intense when we dwell on them in the night-time, because they are\nmore separate, farther lifted from the jarring discord of our daily\nlives, where pain cries around us in so many multiform tongues. It is\nas if the world grew wider in spiritual space, and that senses and\nfibres, too delicate to vibrate in the glare of daylight, woke up in\nthe solemn hush when the world of man is out of sight and God comes\nnearer to us.\n\nFranceline stood at the window and gazed at the beautiful scene that\nspread itself before her. The moon was at her full; the landscape,\ndiluted in the moonlight, floated in mystic, illimitable space, still\nand hushed as if the world were holding its breath to hear the stars\ntingling in the sapphire dome; every tree and blade of grass were\nlistening to the silence; the river sped stealthily along like a\nsilver snake between its banks where the gray poplars stood looking\ndown, frighted by the vibration of their own shadows, dyeing\nthemselves black in the water.\n\n\u201cIf he were awake, how he would enjoy this!\u201d murmured Franceline to\nherself; and then, unable to resist the temptation, she stole softly\nthrough Ang\u00e9lique\u2019s room and across the landing into Raymond\u2019s. The\ndoors were all open, partly to admit more air, partly that they might\nhear the least tinkle of his little hand-bell, if he sounded it.\n\n\u201cIs that my Franceline?\u201d asked a voice from the bed. The night light\nthrew her shadow on the floor, and Raymond, who was not asleep, saw\nit.\n\n\u201cYes, petit p\u00e8re,\u201d she answered in a whisper; \u201cthe sky is so lovely I\nthought I must come and see if you were awake. Shall I draw the\ncurtain?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes.\u201d\n\nShe did so, and then crept back and knelt down beside him. Raymond\nlaid his cheek against her head, and clasped her hand in his, and they\nremained for some moments gazing at the beauty of the heavens in\nsilence. Then he said, making long pauses, as if he were thinking\naloud rather than speaking to her:\n\n\u201cHow wonderful is the splendor of God as he reveals it to us in his\nworks!\u2026 Who can measure his power, his glory?\u2026 Think what it means,\nthe creation of one of those stars! And there are myriads and myriads\nof them spangling millions of miles of blue sky! There are no steppes,\nno barren spots, there where the stars cannot grow. They are not like\nflowers, those stars of our world; they never perish or fade\u2014they only\ndraw behind the light for a while; always harmonious, moving in their\nappointed places like the notes of a divine symphony; they make no\ndiscord. The great stars are not scornful of the little ones; the\nlittle stars are not jealous of the great; each is content to be as it\nis and where it is, and to stay where the great Star-Maker has fixed\nit.\u2026 My clair de lune, let us try and be content like the stars.\u201d\n\nFranceline raised his hand to her lips, and murmured the strophe of\nher favorite hymn of S. Francis: \u201cPraised be my Lord for our sister\nthe moon, and for the stars, which he has set clear and lovely in the\nheavens.\u2026\u201d\n\nThe next morning Father Henwick came and was once more closeted with\nRaymond. Nothing had been said about it, but, when the door-bell\nsounded, M. de la Bourbonais glanced quickly at the clock, and\nexclaimed in a tone of surprise: \u201cAlready half-past twelve! I did not\nthink it was so late. Thou wilt show him up at once, my child, and\nthen leave us alone for a little.\u201d\n\nNo further explanation was necessary. Franceline kissed him in\nsilence, placed a chair close by his pillow, and then, in a happy\nflutter, went down to meet Father Henwick.\n\nTwo days after this there was great joy at The Lilies. The little\ncottage was decked out as for a bridal. Franceline had stayed up late\nto have it all finished for the early morning; she would do everything\nwith her own hands. The stairs were wreathed with garlands of green\nleaves and ferns; every vase and cup she could find was filled with\nthe sweet spring flowers\u2014cowslips, primroses, anemones, and wild\nviolets\u2014and placed in the tiny entrance and on the landing opposite\nRaymond\u2019s room. The room itself was transformed into a chapel. At the\nfoot of the bed stood a small table covered with Franceline\u2019s snowiest\nmuslin, joyously sacrificed for the occasion. Lights were burning on\neither side of a large crucifix; there were lights and flowers on the\nmantelpiece, where she had placed her statue of the Madonna and other\nprecious ornaments; the thin curtains were drawn and filled the little\nroom with a soft golden twilight. Franceline was kneeling beside the\nbed, reciting some litany aloud, which Raymond answered from a book in\ntimid, reverential under-tones.\n\nBut now a sudden hush falls upon the faintly-broken silence. There is\na sound of footsteps without; a dear and awful Presence is\napproaching. No need to ring; the door stands open to its widest, and\nAng\u00e9lique, kneeling on the threshold, adores and welcomes the divine\nGuest; a little bell goes tinkling up amidst the flowers, and ceases\nas it enters the illuminated room.\u2026\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe sudden improvement in Raymond\u2019s state was not followed by a\nproportionately rapid progress. He still continued extremely weak, and\nwas not able to come down-stairs until several days later. Dr. Blink\nwas puzzled; he had been very sanguine when the rally took place, and\nnow he hardly knew what to think. He was convinced from the first that\nthe attack had been in a great measure caused by some mental shock;\nbut that seemed at one moment to have righted itself, and he thought\nhis patient was safe. This was apparently a mistake. The pressure may\nhave been unexpectedly lightened, but it was clearly not removed; and\nuntil this was done medicine could do very little.\n\n\u201cThere is something on his mind,\u201d said the doctor to Mr. Langrove one\nmorning, on coming out from his daily visit; \u201cthere is some trouble\nweighing on him, and he will not recover until something is done\ntoward removing it.\u201d\n\nThe vicar understood perfectly the drift of this remark. It was an\nappeal from the medical man to the friend of the patient for help or\nlight. Mr. Langrove could give neither. He observed that the count had\nbeen seriously anxious about Franceline\u2019s health; but Dr. Blink shook\nhis head. He knew how to discriminate between the effect of heartache\nand a pressure on the mind. In this case the mind was oppressed by\nsome secret burden, or he was very much mistaken; it might be some\npainful apprehension in the future, or something distressing in the\npast; but whatever the cause was, past or future, the present effect\nwas unmistakable, and, unless some friend who had the full confidence\nof the patient could afford some relief, the worst might still be\napprehended. Mr. Langrove answered by some irrelevant expression of\nsympathy and regret, but volunteered no opinion of his own. He went\nhome and sat down and wrote to Sir Simon Harness. This was all he\ncould think of. If Sir Simon could not help, he believed no one else\ncould.\n\nIt so happened that the baronet was just now absent in the South of\nItaly, in dutiful attendance on Lady Rebecca; and as he had been\ncalled off suddenly, and left no orders about his letters being sent\nafter him, those directed to his bankers lay there unopened. There was\nanother besides Mr. Langrove\u2019s lying there, which, if it had reached\nhim, would have rejoiced the baronet\u2019s heart and provoked a quick\nresponse.\n\nThe fears which Raymond\u2019s tardy progress raised in the mind of his\nmedical man were not shared by Franceline. Hope still triumphed over\nalarm, and she felt confident that, since the great weight on her\nfather\u2019s mind had been removed, his complete recovery must ultimately\nfollow. This certainty made the delay easy to bear. It was wonderful\nhow her own strength bore up. She had quite lost her cough\u2014a fact\nwhich confirmed the doctor\u2019s previous opinion that the nerves had more\nto do with this symptom than the lungs\u2014she kept well, and was\naltogether in better health than for some months previously. Her\nspirits raised to elation after that happy morning\u2019s episode,\ncontinued excellent\u2014at times as joyous as a child\u2019s.\n\nThe moment M. de la Bourbonais was able to get down-stairs Ang\u00e9lique\ninsisted on Franceline going every day for a walk while the sun was\nshining. One morning, when he had come down and was comfortably\nestablished on the sofa in his study, propped up so that he could see\nout of the window, Franceline said she was going to gather him a\nbouquet. She smoothed and changed the cushions, put another shawl over\nhis feet, moved the sofa a little bit nearer the window, and then back\nagain a little bit nearer the fire, until, finding there was\nabsolutely nothing more to fuss over, except to kiss him for the tenth\ntime with \u201cAu revoir, petit p\u00e8re!\u201d as if they were separating for a\njourney, she sallied forth for her constitutional.\n\nThe weather was mild and beautiful; spring was intoning the first bars\nof its idyl, striking bright emerald notes from the tips of the trees,\nand drawing low, pink whispers from the blackthorn in the hedges; the\nbirds were beginning to tune their lutes and make ready for the great\nconcert that was at hand. Franceline\u2019s heart bounded in unison with\nthe pulse of joy and universal awakening; she began to warble a duet\nwith the skylark as she went along, stopping every now and then to\nmake a nosegay of the pink and white anemones and violets and\ntorch-like king-cups that grew in wild luxuriance in the woods and\nfields. Dullerton was famous for its wild flowers. Half an hour passed\nquickly while thus engaged, and then she turned homewards. The doves\nwere on the watch for her, \u201csunning their milk-white bosoms on the\nthatch,\u201d as she came in sight, and swelling the sweet harmony of earth\nand sky with a tender, well-contented coo. But hark! Could that be the\ncuckoo that was already calling from the woods? She paused with her\nhand on the latch to listen. No: it was only the voice of the sunshine\nechoing through her own happy heart. She pushed open the gate and\nwalked quickly on; but again her step was arrested. Some one was\ncoming round by the park entrance. It was no doubt Mr. Langrove; no\none else came that way\u2014no one but Sir Simon Harness, and there he\nstood. Franceline had nearly uttered a cry, when a quick sign from the\nbaronet checked it and made her walk leisurely on without doing\nanything to attract attention. She cast a furtive glance towards the\ncasement, to see if by chance her father had changed his place and\ncome to sit by the window; but he was still on the sofa where she had\nleft him.\n\nSir Simon opened his arms and clasped her with a warmth of emotion\nthat did not surprise Franceline.\n\n\u201cYou heard that he was ill! You are come to see him!\u201d she exclaimed.\n\n\u201cI have only heard it this minute from my people at the house. Why did\nyou not write to me, child? Ah! he would not let you, I suppose? My\npoor Raymond! And now how is he? Can I see him? _Will_ he see me?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy should he not see you, dear Sir Simon?\u201d said Franceline, raising\nher large, soft glance to him, full of wondering reproach.\n\n\u201cOf course, of course,\u201d said the baronet; \u201cbut is he strong enough to\nsee me? They tell me he has been terribly shaken by this illness. It\nmight cause him a shock if he saw me too suddenly.\u201d \u201cShall I tell him\nthat you are expected down to-day? That would break it to him,\u201d\nsuggested Franceline. \u201cOr you might write a line and send it in first\nto say you were here; would that do?\u201d\n\nBefore Sir Simon could decide for either alternative, fate, in the\nshape of Ang\u00e9lique, decided for him. She had seen Franceline enter the\ngarden, and wondered why she loitered outside instead of coming in; so\nshe came out to see, and, on beholding Sir Simon, threw up her arms\nwith a shout of astonishment.\n\nFranceline cried out \u201cHush!\u201d and shook her hand at the old woman, but\nit was too late; Raymond had seen and heard her from his sofa.\n\n\u201cGo in at once,\u201d said Sir Simon, much excited\u2014\u201cgo and tell him I am\ncome to kiss his feet; to ask his forgiveness on my knees. Tell him _I\nknow everything_.\u201d And he pushed her gently from him. Franceline did\nnot stop to ask what the strange message could mean, but ran in,\nthinking only how best she could deliver it so as to avoid too sudden\na shock to her father.\n\nRaymond was sitting up on the sofa, his face slightly flushed.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter? Who is there?\u201d he cried.\n\n\u201cDear father, nothing is the matter; only something you will be glad\nto hear,\u2026\u201d she began.\n\n\u201cHa! it is Simon! What has he come for? What does he want?\u201d\n\n\u201cHe wants to embrace you; and, father, he bade me say that he knows\neverything, and has come to ask you to forgive him and let him kiss\nyour feet. He is waiting; may he come in?\u201d\n\nBut Raymond did not answer; he was murmuring some words to himself,\nwith hands lifted reverently as in prayer, while a smile of unearthly\njoy diffused itself on his whole countenance. The emotion was too much\nfor him; he fell back exhausted on his pillow.\n\nFranceline thought he had fainted and screamed out for help. Sir Simon\nwas beside her in an instant.\n\n\u201cRaymond! my friend, my brother, can you ever forgive me?\u201d he cried,\nkneeling beside M. de la Bourbonais and taking his hand in both his.\n\n\u201cYou know the truth, then? You got his letter?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhose letter? I got no letter; but I found the ring. Look at it!\u201d\n\nHe drew an enamelled snuff-box from his pocket, opened it, and held up\nthe diamond, that flashed in the sun like a little star.\n\n\u201cThank Heaven! I shall now be justified before all men!\u201d exclaimed M.\nde la Bourbonais with trembling emotion. \u201cThis is more than I dared to\nhope. My God! I give thee thanks for this great mercy.\u201d\n\nNo one spoke for a moment. Franceline had signed to Ang\u00e9lique to leave\nthe room, but remained herself, a silent spectator of the strange\nscene.\n\n\u201cWho had it? How was it found?\u201d said M. de la Bourbonais, taking the\nring and examining it with an expression of mistrust, as if it were\nsome uncanny thing that he half expected to see melt in his fingers.\n\n\u201cIt has been in my possession, locked up at the Court, all this time!\u201d\nreplied Sir Simon. \u201cYou may remember I used this snuff-box that night,\nand sent it round the table. Someone dropped the ring into it\nunawares; it was not opened afterwards, and it never entered into my\nstupid brain to think of looking into it. I went away in a great hurry\nnext morning, and threw the snuff-box into a safe in my room where I\nkeep papers and the loose jewelry I have in use. I came down this\nafternoon to get a deed out of the safe, saw the snuff-box, and by the\nmerest chance opened it and found the ring.\u201d\n\n\u201cMon Dieu!\u201d murmured Raymond, after hearing this simple explanation of\nthe mistake that had very nearly cost him his life.\n\n\u201cBourbonais, can you ever forgive me?\u201d said Sir Simon.\n\nRaymond opened his arms without speaking. Sir Simon flung himself with\na sob upon his breast, and the two clung together and wept.\n\nFranceline felt as if even she had no right to be present; that she\nwas intruding in a sacred place where some mystery, not intended for\nher eyes, was being unfolded. She was moving softly toward the door\nwhen her father called her back.\n\n\u201cCome hither, my child; come and embrace me. I can have no happiness\nthat thou dost not share.\u201d\n\n\u201cFranceline,\u201d said Sir Simon, rising from his knees and taking her\nhand with an expression of humility that was very touching in the\ngrand, white-haired gentleman, \u201cI have been guilty of a great act of\ndisloyalty towards your father. I cannot tell you what it was; perhaps\nhe will. Meantime, he has forgiven me for the sake of our long\nfriendship, and because his soul is too noble, too generous, to bear\nmalice, even against an unfaithful friend. Will you do as he has done,\nand say you forgive me too?\u201d\n\nHis voice was full of trembling, his eyes were still moist. Franceline\ndid as he had done to her father: she flung her arms round his neck\nand wept.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n\n\nA SEQUEL OF THE GLADSTONE CONTROVERSY.\n\nIII.\n\n\nThe keen relish which we all have for other people\u2019s sins is\nproverbial. As those who think with us are right, so are they virtuous\nwho have only our own vices. Prodigality, which, to the miser\u2019s\nthinking, is the worst of sins, is, in the eyes of the spendthrift,\nmerely an evidence of a generous nature. Men who wish to be thought\ngentlemen have a weakness for what are called gentlemanly vices; but\nfrom the coarser though less depraved wickedness of the vulgar they\nturn with loathing. This bias of our common nature is not confined in\nits action to individuals; it affects classes, nations, races. The\nrich are shocked by the vices of the poor, and the poor, in turn, no\nless by those of the rich; masters hate the sins of servants, and are\nrepaid in their own coin.\n\nWhen the free-born Briton sings, \u201cEngland, with all thy faults, I love\nthee still,\u201d he means that faults, if only they be English, are after\nall not so bad. Wrapt up in the precious bundle of our self-love are\nall our pet sins and weaknesses. The universal hatred which existed\nbetween the nations of antiquity must be attributed in great part to\nthe fact that their vices were unlike, and therefore repellant. The\nnational contempt for foreigners is, in Christian times, strong in\nproportion to the barbarism of the people by whom it is felt; but in\nGreece and Rome such civilization as was then possible seemed to have\nno power over this prejudice. Not to be a Greek was to have been\ncreated for vile uses, and not to be a Roman was to be nobody. The\nFrench, as seen by the English, are giddy and lack dignity; the\nEnglish appear to French eyes, sulky and wanting in good nature; the\nTurk thinks both struck with madness, because they walk about and\nstretch their legs when they might sit still; and though he is at\ntheir mercy, yet he cannot persuade himself that they are anything but\nChristian dogs. The negro is quite sure the first man must have been\nblack, and in this he is in accord with Mr. Darwin. The North American\nIndian will vanish from the earth through the golden portals of the\nwestern world still believing that he is the superior of the \u201cpale\nface.\u201d The power of national prejudice is almost incredible. \u201cOur\ncountry, right or wrong\u201d is, we believe, an American phrase; but it\nexpresses a sentiment which is almost universally held to be right and\nproper. In international disputes men nearly always take sides with\ntheir own country, without stopping to inquire into the merits of the\nquarrel, which, indeed, the strong feeling that at once masters them\nwould prevent them from being able to do. They act instinctively like\nchildren who always think that in difficulties with neighbors their\nown parents are in the right. We Americans are certainly not paragons\nof virtue, and in this centennial year it is probably wise to discuss\nalmost anything rather than our morals; yet we cannot but think that\nM. Louis Veuillot was somewhat under the influence of national\nprejudice when he wrote that, if we were sunk in the bottom of the\nocean, civilization would have lost nothing. Our form of government,\nit is true, does not lead us to look for salvation, either in church\nor state, from a king by divine right; still, he might just as well\nhave let us alone, especially as he is at no loss for quarrels at\nhome. Nor can we think that the Germans who have raised such a storm\nof indignation over the crime in Bremerhaven, committed, as it is\nsupposed, by an American, would have held the whole German people and\ntheir civilization responsible for the offence had they known its\nauthor to be native there and to the manner born.\n\nAs no passion takes hold of the human heart with such sovereign power\nas that of religion, it follows that no bias of judgment is more fatal\nto truth than religious prejudice; and now let us gently descend again\nto M. Emile de Laveleye and his pamphlet:\n\n \u201cIt is agreed on all sides,\u201d he says (p. 25), \u201cthat the\n power of nations depends on their morality. Everywhere is\n found the maxim, which is almost become an axiom of\n political science, that where morals are corrupted the state\n is lost. Now, it appears to be an established fact that the\n moral level is higher among Protestant than among Catholic\n populations. Religious writers confess this themselves, and\n explain it by the fact that the former remain more faithful\n to their religion than the latter, which explanation I\n believe to be the true one.\u201d\n\nHere is fairness surely. The soft impeachment could not have been made\nin a more moderate or subdued tone. Catholics are notoriously more\nimmoral than Protestants; but the subject is a painful one, and M. de\nLaveleye does not wish to emphasize the unpleasant truth by giving\nproof\u2014which, indeed, would be superfluous, since Catholics themselves,\nwe are assured, admit the fact and are concerned only about its\nexplanation; and, strange to say, they have found the key to the\nmystery in the greater fidelity of Protestants to their religion: so\nM. de Laveleye and the Catholics shake hands and the dispute is at an\nend.\n\nThe position of Protestants with regard to this question is peculiar.\nThe very life of their religion is intimately associated with a fixed\nbelief in the preternatural wickedness of popes, priests, nuns, and\nCatholics generally. The sole justification of Protestantism was found\nin the abominable corruptions of Rome, and its only defence is that it\nis a purer worship, capable of creating a higher morality. The history\nof the Reformation, as written by Protestants, traces its origin to an\nawful and heaven-inspired indignation at the sight of papal iniquity,\nwhich resulted in a divine Protest against sin. It is this feeling,\nindeed, which is the living human magnetism in the words of Luther,\nCalvin, Zwingli, and Knox. They all felt that in so far as they\nprotested against open and patent evil they were right, and therefore\nstrong. Leo X., with God\u2019s eternal truth, but encircled by all the\nGraces and Muses, was at a disadvantage with those strong and\nplain-spoken men. In fact, the eternal ally of human error is human\ntruth. It is because men who are right do wrong that men who are wrong\nseem right; and if men in general were fit to be priests of God, there\nwould be on earth no power to oppose the Catholic Church. St. Paul had\nprotested, St. John Chrysostom had protested, St. Peter Damian had\nprotested, St. Bernard had protested, St. Catherine of Sienna had\nprotested, and yet there was no Protestantism. To protest was well and\nis well, but to seek to found a religion upon a protest is madness;\nand this is Protestantism. With Protestants purity of dogma is out of\nthe question; and nothing, therefore, remains to them but purity of\nmorals. To this they must cling like drowning men to straws.\nProtestantism, if considered from a doctrinal point of view, is\nnihilism. Gather up the hundred sects which, taken collectively, are\ncalled Protestantism, and we will find every positive religious dogma\nexcluded; not even the personal existence of God remains. Mr. Matthew\nArnold is a true Bible-Protestant, who has a little sect of his own,\nand all that he holds is that there is \u201ca Power in us, not ourselves,\nwhich makes for righteousness\u201d; and this he has discovered to be the\nsum and substance of all Scripture teaching. Doctrinal Protestantism\nis like the wrong side of a piece of tapestry with its fag-ends\nhanging in patches, twisted and jumbled; and yet they are the very\nsubstance out of which has been wrought a work of divine beauty. The\ndogmatic weakness of Protestantism throws its whole energy upon the\nmoral side of religion. Its utter falseness, when we accept the fact\nthat Christ has established a divine system of faith, is so manifest\nthat no impartial thinker would hesitate to give his full assent to\nthe sentiment of Rousseau: \u201cShow me that in religious matters I must\naccept authority, and I shall become a Catholic at once.\u201d Supposing\nthe Christian religion to be what it is commonly held to be by both\nCatholics and Protestants, it necessarily follows that the Catholic\nChurch is the only logical as it is the only historical Christianity.\nThis, we believe, is the almost universally-received opinion of\nnon-Christian writers in our own day, in which, for the first time\nsince the Reformation, a considerable number of learned men who are\nneither Catholic nor Protestant have been able to view this subject\ndispassionately. We do not mean to say that these writers prefer the\nchurch to the sects; on the contrary, they are partial to these\nbecause in their workings they perceive, as they think, the\nbreaking-up and dissolution of the whole Christian system.\nProtestantism is valuable in their eyes as a stage in what Herbert\nSpencer calls \u201cthe universal religious thaw\u201d which is going on around\nus. If there has been no divine revelation, then whatever tends to\nweaken the claim of the church to be the depository of such revelation\nis good, especially as her claim is the only one which rests upon a\nvalid historical basis. And it is because a very large number of men\nmore than half suspect there never has been a revelation that\nProtestantism meets with so much favor from the unbelieving and pagan\nworld, as serving the purpose of an easy stepping-stone from the\nstrong and pronounced supernaturalism of the church to the\nnature-worship of Darwin and Spencer or the German _Culturists_.\n\nMacaulay was struck and puzzled by what his keen eye could not fail to\nperceive to be so universal a phenomenon as to have the force of a law\nof history.\n\n \u201cIt is surely remarkable,\u201d says this brilliant writer, \u201cthat\n neither the moral revolution of the eighteenth century nor\n the moral counter-revolution of the nineteenth should have\n in any perceptible degree added to the domain of\n Protestantism. During the former period whatever was lost to\n Catholicism was lost also to Christianity; during the latter\n whatever was regained by Christianity in Catholic countries\n was regained also by Catholicism. We should naturally have\n expected that many minds, on the way from superstition to\n infidelity, or on the way back from infidelity to\n superstition, would have stopped at an intermediate point.\n Between the doctrines taught in the schools of the Jesuits,\n and those which were maintained at the little supper-parties\n of the Baron Holbach, there is a vast interval in which the\n human mind, it should seem, might find for itself some\n resting-place more satisfactory than either of the two\n extremes; and at the time of the Reformation millions found\n such a resting-place. Whole nations then renounced popery\n without ceasing to believe in a First Cause, in a future\n life, or in the divine authority of Christianity. In the\n last century, on the contrary, when a Catholic renounced his\n belief in the Real Presence, it was a thousand to one that\n he renounced his belief in the Gospel too; and when the\n reaction took place, with belief in the Gospel came back\n belief in the Real Presence. We by no means venture to\n deduce from these phenomena any general law; but we think it\n a most remarkable fact that no Christian nation which did\n not adopt the principles of the Reformation before the end\n of the sixteenth century should ever have adopted them.\n Catholic communities have since that time become infidel and\n become Catholic again, but none has become Protestant.\u201d\n\nThere could not be a more satisfactory proof of the transitional\nand accidental nature of Protestantism. Like all human revolutions,\nit grew out of antecedent circumstances; and these were primarily\npolitical and social and only incidentally religious. The faith in the\ndivine authority of the Christian religion was at that time absolute,\nand not at all affected by the tendency to scepticism observable among\na few of the Humanists. The political power of the pope, however,\ntogether with his peculiar temporal relations to the German Empire,\nhad gradually created throughout Germany a very strong national\nprejudice against his authority, which, upon the slightest\nprovocation, was ready to break out into downright hatred of the\nPapacy. The worldly lives and ways of some of the popes had been as\nfuel for the conflagration which was to burst forth. Men,\nunconsciously it may be, grew accustomed to look upon the Christian\nreligion and the Papacy as distinct and separable; and the temper of\nthe public mind, while remaining reverential toward Christ and his\nreligion, was embittered against his vicar. When, from amidst the\nsocial abuses and political antagonisms of Germany, Luther, in the\nname of Christ, denounced the pope, his voice struck precisely the\nnote for which the public ear was listening, and, as Macaulay says,\nwhole nations renounced allegiance to the pope without giving up\nfaith in God and his Christ. This was done in the excitement of\nrevolutionary enthusiasm, when passion and madness made deliberation\nimpossible, and when a thoughtful and analytical study of the\nconstitution of the church was out of the question. The Reformers\nimagined that they could abolish the pope and yet save Christianity,\njust as in France, two centuries and a half later, it was thought\npossible to abolish God and yet save the principle of authority,\nwithout which society cannot exist. And, indeed, it is as reasonable\nto suppose that this world, with its universal evidence of design and\nadaption of means to ends, could have come into existence without the\naction of a supreme and intelligent Being, as to think that the\nsystem of religious truths taught by Christ can have either unity\nor authority amongst men without a living centre and visible\nrepresentative of both. Protestants, by rejecting the primacy of the\npope, were forced to accept as fundamental to their faith a principle\nof so purgative and drastic a nature that, in the general process of\nsloughing of religious thought which it brings on, it is itself\nfinally carried away into the vacuum of nihilism.\n\nThis became evident as soon as the attempt was made to agree upon\narticles of belief. New heresies sprang up day after day, and\ncomplete chaos would have ensued from the beginning had not the\ndifferent states taken hold of one or other of the sects and\n\u201cestablished\u201d it, thus, by the aid of the temporal power, giving\nto it a kind of consistency, but at the same time depriving it of\nvitality. Thus what Macaulay regarded as so remarkable\u2014that no\nChristian nation which did not adopt the principles of the\nReformation before the end of the sixteenth century should ever\nhave adopted them\u2014and he might as well have made the proposition\nuniversal, since there was no reason why he should limit it to\nChristian nations, since it is well known that in nothing has\nProtestantism given more striking proof of its impotence than in\nits utter failure to convert the heathen,\u2014this, we say, far from\nsurprising us, seems so natural that we cannot understand how an\nobservant mind should think it strange.\n\nProtestantism was, in the main, the product of the peculiar\npolitical and social condition of Europe during the last period\nof the middle ages, and to expect Catholic nations, or indeed\nindividual Catholics of any intellectual or moral character, to\nbecome Protestant in our day argues a total want of power to\ngrasp this subject. As well might one hope to see the pterodactyls\nand ichthyosauri of a past geologic era swimming in our rivers.\nCatholics there are, indeed, now, as in the eighteenth century, who\nbecome sceptics, who abandon all belief in Christianity, but none who\nbecome Protestants; for we cannot consider such persons as Achilli or\nEdith O\u2019Gorman as instances of conversion of any kind. A very limited\nacquaintance with Catholics and Catholic thought will suffice to\nconvince any reflecting mind that for us there is no alternative but\nto accept the doctrine of the church or to renounce faith in Christ.\nWas there ever fairer field for heresy to flourish in than that which\nopened up before Old Catholicism at its birth? But it was still-born.\nTo this day its sponsors have not dared define its relation to the\npope; and until this is done it remains without character. At any\nrate, it does not claim to be Protestant.\n\nTurning to view the present condition of Protestantism, we are\nstruck by the contrast. The very word \u201cProtestant\u201d is without\nmeaning when applied to two-thirds of the non-Catholics of\nGermany, England, and the United States. Their mental state is\none of disbelief in, or indifference to, all forms of positive\nreligion; and if occasionally they are roused to some feeling\nagainst the church, it is through an association of ideas,\ntraditional with them, which places her in antagonism with their\npolitical theories and national prejudices. Among earnest and\nreflecting Protestants who are united with one or other of the\nsects, there are two opposite currents of religious thought of a\nstrongly-marked and well-defined character. Those who are borne\non the one are being carried farther and farther away from the\nhistoric teachings of Christ, and are busied in trying to dress\nout in Biblical phraseology some of the various cosmic or\npantheistic philosophies of the day. They very generally assume\nthat religion has nothing to do with theology, nor, consequently,\nwith doctrines and dogmas. As its home is the heart, its realm is\nthe world of sentiment; and so it matters not what we believe,\nprovided only we feel good. Opposed to this current, which is\nbearing with it all the distinctive landmarks of the Christian\nreligion, is another which is carrying men back to the church. In\nfact, all great minds among Protestants who have been strongly\nimpressed by the objective character of Christian truth have been\ndrawn towards the Catholic Church. Who can have failed to\nperceive, for instance\u2014to mention only the three greatest who\nhave occupied themselves with religious questions\u2014how Leibnitz,\nBacon, and Bishop Butler, in their intellectual apprehension of\nthe Christian system, were, in spite of themselves, attracted to\nthe church? Or who that is acquainted with the English Catholic\nliterature of our own day is ignorant of the divine illumination\nwhich many of the most intellectual and reverent natures from the\nsects of Protestantism have found in the teachings of the one\nCatholic Church? In this way, by a process of supernatural or\nnatural selection, the fragments of Protestantism are being\nassimilated to the church or are disappearing in the sea of\nunbelief in which even now they are seen only as barren islands\nin the wild waste of waters.\n\nThese considerations must be borne in mind by whoever would take\na comprehensive view of the question which we propose now to\ndiscuss. In the first place, by reflecting upon them we shall\nfind no difficulty in accounting for the marked difference in\ntone and character between Catholic and Protestant controversy,\nby which no attentive observer can have failed to be struck.\nTaking for granted the existence of God and the divinity of\nChrist, as admitted by the earlier Protestant sects, the logical\nposition of the church is unassailable, which, as we have already\nstated, is generally conceded by impartial non-Christian\nthinkers.\n\nAs a consequence, Catholic controversialists, assured of the\nabsolute coherence of their whole system with the fundamental\ndogma of the divine mission of Christ, have been chiefly\nconcerned with showing the logical viciousness of the essential\nprinciples of Protestantism. They have, indeed, not omitted to\nremark upon the moral unfitness of such men as Henry VIII.,\nLuther, Knox, and Zwingli to be the divinely-chosen agents of a\nreformation in the religion of Christ; but such observations have\nbeen incidental to the main course of the argument, and this is\nalike true of our more learned discussions and of our popular\ncontroversies.\n\nCatholic writers\u2014allowing for individual exceptions\u2014have not felt\nthat, to show the falsity of Protestantism, it was necessary to\ndenounce Protestants or to stamp upon them any mark of infamy.\nThey have treated them as men who were wrong, not as men who were\nwicked. Protestant controversy, on the other hand, presents for\nour consideration characteristics of a very different nature. In\nthe consciousness of their inability to settle upon a fixed\ncreed, which has been shown by history, and from the necessarily\nfeeble manner in which articles of faith could be held by them,\non account of the disagreement and conflict of opinion among\nthemselves, Protestant writers were forced to treat their\nreligion, not as a doctrine, but as a tendency; and for this\nreason, together with the natural hatred which men entertain for\na church or government against which they have rebelled, they\nwere led to draw contrasts between the results of Protestantism\nand Catholicity; so that it became customary to attribute all the\nenlightenment, morality, progress, and liberty of the world to\nProtestantism, and to represent Catholics as cruel, ignorant,\ncorrupt, and in every way depraved. Luther, as we should\nnaturally expect, led the way in this style of controversy.\n\n\u201cThe Papists,\u201d he said, \u201care for the most part mere gross\nblockheads.\u2026 The pope and his crew are mere worshippers of idols\nand servants of the devil.\u2026 Pope, cardinals, bishops, not a soul\nof them has read the Bible; \u2018tis a book unknown to them. They are\na pack of guzzling, stuffing wretches, rich, wallowing in wealth\nand laziness.\u2026 Seeing the pope is Antichrist, I believe him to be\na devil incarnate.\u2026 The pope is the last blaze in the lamp which\nwill go out and ere long be extinguished\u2014the last instrument of\nthe devil, that thunders and lightens with sword and bull;\u2026 but\nthe Spirit of God\u2019s mouth has seized upon that shameless\nstrumpet.\u2026 Antichrist is the Pope and the Turk together.\u2026 The\npope is not God\u2019s image, but his ape.\u2026 Popedom is founded on mere\nlies and fables.\u2026 A friar is evil every way; the preaching friars\nare proud buzzards; all who serve the pope are damned; the\nPapists are devoid of shame and Christianity.\u201d[3]\n\nThis is the style of Protestant controversy which, except in\nform, still lingers in this nineteenth century. Protestant\ndevotion, it may be said without sarcasm or exaggeration,\nconsists essentially in a holy horror of popery. Were it possible\nto eliminate the Catholic Church from human society, Protestantism\nwould at once fatally assume an attitude towards the world wholly\ndifferent from that in which it now stands. At present, when attacked\nby evolutionistic pantheism\u2014which means all the sophistries of the\nday\u2014it takes refuge behind the historic fortress of Christianity, the\nCatholic Church, and, when encountered by the church, it makes an\nalliance with cosmism or anything else. Were the Catholic Church not\nin existence, it would be forced at once to build a fortress of its\nown; for the Bible is only a breastwork, which must be in charge of a\ncommander-in-chief if we hope to hold it for the sovereign Lord. From\nthe beginning, then, Protestants branded Catholics with a mark of\ninfamy; they were idolaters, worse than pagans, for the most part\ngross blockheads, who fall an easy prey to the designing arts of\npriests and monks, who are only knaves and rogues, whose chief aim is\nto carry out the fiendish purposes of the pope, the arch-enemy,\nAntichrist, the devil in the flesh; and thus the church becomes the\nWoman of Babylon, flaming in scarlet, and alluring the nations to\ndebauch.\n\nNo evidence, therefore, is needed to show that Catholics are\nimmoral, depraved, thoroughly corrupt. To doubt it would be to\nquestion the truth of Protestantism and to believe that something\ngood might come out of Nazareth. In good sooth, do not the\nCatholics, as M. de Laveleye says, admit the fact themselves?\n\nWe often hear persons express surprise that intelligent and\nhonest Protestants should still, after such sad experience, be so\neager to believe the \u201cawful disclosures\u201d of \u201cescaped nuns,\u201d\nand to patronize that kind of lecture\u2014of which, thank God!\nProtestants have the monopoly\u2014delivered to men or women only, in\nwhich the abominations of the confessional are revealed and the\ngeneral preternatural wickedness of priests, monks, and nuns is\nmade fully manifest. This, to us, we must say, has never seemed\nstrange. The doctrine of total depravity is an article of\nProtestant faith, and, when applied to Catholics, to none other\nhave Protestants ever clung with such unwavering firmness and\nperfect unanimity. When disagreeing about everything else, they\nhave never failed to find a point of union in this. Even after\nhaving lived and dealt with Catholics who are kind-hearted, pure,\nand fair-minded, in the true Protestant there still lurks a vague\nkind of suspicion that there must be some mysterious and secret\ndiabolism in them which eludes his observation; that after all\nthey may be only \u201cas mild-mannered men as ever scuttled ship or\ncut a throat\u201d; and after his reason has been fully convinced that\nthe Catholic Church is the only historical Christianity, he is\nstill able to remain a strong Protestant by falling back upon the\nundoubted total depravity of Papists. Dr. Newman, in his\n_Apologia_, the most careful and instructive self-analysis which\nhas been written in this century, or probably in any other,\ndeclares that after he had become thoroughly persuaded of the\ntruth of the Catholic Church his former belief that the pope was\nAntichrist still remained like a stain upon his imagination; and\nyet he had never been an ultra-Protestant. Many a Protestant has\nceased to believe in Christ, without giving up his faith in the\npope as Antichrist. It is not surprising, in view of all this,\nthat Protestants should have habitually held the church\nresponsible for the evil deeds of Catholics.\n\nWhen quite recently the excited Germans charged the dynamite plot\nof Thomassen upon our American civilization, we replied, with\nperfect justice, that such crimes are anomalies, the guilt of\nwhich ought not to be laid upon any nation, and all reasonable\nmen admitted the evident good sense of our answer; but Protestants\nthe world over have been unanimous in seeking to hold up the church to\nthe execration of mankind as responsible for the St. Bartholomew\nmassacre. Is Protestantism answerable for Cromwell\u2019s massacres at\nDrogheda and Wexford? Religious fanaticism, no doubt, had much to do\nin urging him to butcher idolaters and slaves of Satan; but we should\nblush for shame were we capable of thinking for a moment that such\ninhumanities are either produced or approved by the real spirit of the\nProtestant religion.\n\nWe know of nothing in the Catholic Church which in any way\ncorresponds with Protestant anti-popery literature; indeed, we\ndoubt whether in the whole history of literature anything so\ndisgraceful and disreputable as this can be found, unless,\npossibly, it be that which is professedly obscene, but which has\nnowhere ever had a recognized existence; and we question whether\neven this is as discreditable to human nature as the \u201cawful\ndisclosures\u201d and \u201clectures to men or women only\u201d of Protestants.\n\nIn discussing the comparative morality of Catholic and Protestant\nnations it would be more satisfactory, even though it should not\nbe more conclusive, to consider their respective virtues rather\nthan their vices. There would seem to be neither good sense nor\nlogic in taking the individuals and classes that are least\nbrought under religious influences of any kind, in order to use\ntheir depravity as an argument for or against the church or\nProtestantism. In the apostolic body one out of twelve was a\nthief and traitor, yet neither Catholics nor Protestants are in\nthe habit of concluding from this that they must all have been\nrogues and hypocrites. The amount of crime, one would think, is\nbut a poor test of the amount of virtue. As the greatest sinners\nhave made the greatest saints, so in the church depravity may\nco-exist with the most heroic virtue, though, of course, not in\nthe same individual. Our divine Saviour plainly declares that in\nhis church the good shall be mingled with the bad; that the\ncockle shall grow with the wheat till the harvest time; that some\nshall call him Lord and Master, and yet do not the will of his\nFather; that even, with regard to those who sit in the chair of\nMoses\u2014and, let us add, of Peter\u2014though their authority must ever\nbe acknowledged, yet are not their lives always to be imitated,\nnor approved of even. It is manifestly contrary to the teaching\nof Christ to make the note of sanctity in his church consist in\nthe individual holiness of each and every member. He is no\nPuritan, though he is the all-holy God. A puristic religion is\nessentially narrow, self-conscious, and unsympathetic; it draws a\nline here on earth between the elect and the reprobate; its\ndisciples eat not with sinners, nor enter into their abodes, nor\nhold out to them the pleading hands of large-hearted charity.\nSuch a faith does not grow upon men; it does not win and convert\nthem to God.\n\nIf, instead of comparing the crimes, we should consider the\nrespective virtues of Catholic and Protestant nations, we should\nat once be struck by the difference in their standards of\nmorality. The most practical way of determining the real standard\nof morality of any religion is to study the character of its\nsaints. There we find religious ideals made tangible and fully\ndiscernible. Here at once we perceive that there is an essential\ndifference between the Catholic and the Protestant standard of\nmorality. The lives of our saints, even when understood by\nProtestants, generally repel them. They are, in their eyes,\nuseless lives, idle lives, superstitious lives, unnatural and\ninhuman. We take the words of Christ, \u201cIf thou wouldst be\nperfect, go sell what thou hast, give it to the poor, and come\nand follow me,\u201d in their full and complete literal meaning. The\nhighest life is to leave father and mother, to have nor wife nor\nchildren, nor temporal goods except what barely suffices, and to\ncleave to Christ only with all one\u2019s soul in poverty, chastity,\nand obedience. Now, this life of prayer in poverty, chastity, and\nobedience is an offence to Protestants. They do not believe in\nperfect chastity, they hold religious obedience to be a slavery,\nand poverty, in their eyes, is ridiculous. Inasmuch as the monks\ntilled the earth, transcribed books, and taught school, they\nreceive a partial recognition from the Protestant world; but\ninasmuch as they were bound by religious vows they excite\ndisgust. We should say, then, that the distinctive trait of\nCatholic morality is ascetic, while the Protestant is utilitarian.\nThe one primarily regards the world that is to be, the other that\nwhich already is. The one inclines us to look upon this as a worthless\nworld to lose or win; the other is shrewd and calculating\u2014this is the\nbest we have any practical experience of; it is the part of wisdom to\nmake the most of it. The one seems to be more certain of the future\nlife, the other of the present. It is needless to prolong the\ncontrast, and we shall simply confess that we have always been\ninclined to the opinion of those who hold that Protestantism, in its\naims and direct tendencies, is more favorable to what is called\nmaterial progress than Catholicism. In fact, one cannot realize the\npersonal survival of the soul through eternity, and at the same time\nbe supremely interested in stocks or the price of cotton.\n\nNot that the church discourages efforts which have as their\nobject the material interests of mankind; but, in her view, our\nduties to God are of the first importance, and to these all\nothers are subordinate. What doth it profit? she is always\nasking, whereas Protestantism is busy trying to show us how very\nprofitable and pleasant the Reformation has made this world\u2014and\nvirtuous, too, since honesty is the best policy and enlightened\nself-interest the standard of morals. It is the old story\u2014God and\nthe world, the supernatural and the natural, progress from above\nand progress from below.\n\nBut we feel that it is time we should give our readers proof that\nwe have no desire to avoid direct issue with M. de Laveleye. We\nflatly deny, then, his assertion that the Catholic nations are\nmore immoral than the Protestant; and when he further affirms\nthat Catholic writers themselves\u2014for his words can have no other\nmeaning\u2014admit this, he lies under a mistake for which there can\nbe no possible excuse. In the statement of facts, however, which\nwe propose now to give, we make no use whatever of the testimony\nof Catholics, but rely exclusively upon the authority of\nProtestants and of statistics; and that our readers may have the\nbenefit of observations extending over considerable time as well\nas space, we will not confine ourselves to the most recent\nwriters or statistics on the subject under discussion. Laing, a\nScotch Presbyterian and a most conscientious and observant\ntraveller, who wrote some thirty-five years ago, says of the\nFrench: \u201cThey are, I believe, a more honest people than the\nBritish.\u2026 It is a fine distinction of the French national\ncharacter and social economy that practical morality is more\ngenerally taught through manners among and by the people\nthemselves than in any country in Europe.\u201d[4] Alison, the\nhistorian, writing about the same time, but referring to the\nearly part of this century, says that the proportion of crime to\nthe inhabitants was _twelve times_ greater in Prussia than in\nFrance.[5] To this may be added the testimony of John Stuart\nMill, in his _Autobiography_, published since his death, who\npassed a considerable portion of his life in France. Referring to\nhis sojourn there when quite a young man, he says:\n\n \u201cHaving so little experience of English life, and the few\n people I knew being mostly such as had public objects of a\n large and personally disinterested kind at heart, I was\n ignorant of the low moral tone of what in England is called\n society: the habit of, not indeed professing, but taking for\n granted in every mode of implication that conduct is of\n course always directed towards low and petty objects; the\n absence of high feelings, which manifests itself by sneering\n depreciation of all demonstrations of them, and by general\n abstinence (except among a few of the stricter religionists)\n from professing any high principles of action at all, except\n in those preordained cases in which such profession is put\n on as part of the costume and formalities of the occasion. I\n could not then know or estimate the difference between this\n manner of existence and that of a people like the French,\n whose faults, if equally real, are at all events different;\n among whom sentiments which, by comparison at least, may be\n called elevated are the current coin of human intercourse,\n both in books and in private life, and, though often\n evaporating in profession, are yet kept alive in the nation\n at large by constant exercise and stimulated by sympathy, so\n as to form a living and active part of the existence of a\n great number of persons, and to be recognized and understood\n by all. Neither could I then appreciate the general culture\n of the understanding, which results from the habitual\n exercise of the feelings, and is thus carried down into the\n most uneducated classes of several countries on the\n Continent, in a degree not equalled in England among the\n so-called educated, except where an unusual tenderness of\n conscience leads to a habitual exercise of the intellect on\n questions of right and wrong.\u201d[6]\n\nThis is strong testimony when we consider that it comes from an\nEnglishman. In speaking of the elder Austin the same writer says: \u201cHe\nhad a strong distaste for the general meanness of English life, the\nabsence of enlarged thoughts and unselfish desires, the low objects on\nwhich the faculties of all classes of the English are intent.\u201d[7]\nMill\u2019s opinion of the French is confirmed by Lecky, who writes: \u201cNo\nother nation has so habitual and vivid a sympathy for great struggles\nfor freedom beyond its border. No other literature exhibits so\nexpansive and \u0153cumenical a genius, or expounds so skilfully or\nappreciates so generously foreign ideas. In no other land would a\ndisinterested war for the support of a suffering nationality find so\nlarge an amount of support.\u201d[8]\n\nMuch has been said and written of the licentiousness of the French,\nwhich may, in part at least, be due to the fact that they, more than\nany other people, have known how to make vice attractive by taking\nfrom it something of the repulsive coarseness which naturally belongs\nto it, but must also be ascribed to the feeling that they are\nCatholic, and therefore sensual. But let us examine the facts on this\nsubject. We again bring Laing forward as a witness.\n\n \u201cOf all the virtues,\u201d he says, \u201cthat which the domestic\n family education of both the sexes most obviously\n influences\u2014that which marks more clearly than any other the\n moral condition of a society, the home state of moral and\n religious principles, the efficiency of those principles in\n it, and the amount of that moral restraint upon passions and\n impulses which it is the object of education and knowledge\n to attain\u2014is undoubtedly female chastity. Will any\n traveller, will any Prussian, say that this index-virtue of\n the moral condition of a people is not lower in Prussia than\n in almost any part of Europe?\u201d[9]\n\nActs which in other countries would affect the respectability and\nhappiness of a whole family for generations are in Prussia looked upon\nas mere youthful indiscretions. But let us take the statistics of\nillegitimacy, which is a method of discussing the question made\npopular among Protestants by the Rev. Hobart Seymour in his _Evenings\nwith the Romanists_.\n\nThe number of illegitimate births in France for every hundred was, in\n1858, 7.8; in the same year in Protestant Saxony it was 16; in\nProtestant Prussia, 9.3; in W\u00fcrtemberg (Prot.), 16.1; in Iceland\n(Prot.) (1838-47), 14; in Denmark (1855), 11.5; Scotland (1871), 10.1;\nHanover (1855), 9.9; Sweden (1855), 9.5; Norway (1855), 9.3.\n\nCatholic France, then, judged by this test, stands higher than any\nProtestant country of which we have statistical reports, except\nEngland and Wales, where the percentage was, in 1859, 6.5; but England\nand Wales are below other Catholic countries, and notably far below\nIreland. The rate of illegitimacy in the kingdom of Sardinia (1828-37)\nwas 2.1; in Ireland (1865-66), 3.8; in Spain (1859), 5.6; in Tuscany,\n6; in Catholic Prussia, 6.1.\n\nIn Scotland there are, in proportion to population, more than three\ntimes as many illegitimate births as in Ireland; and in England and\nWales there are more than twice as many, and in Protestant Prussia the\npercentage is a third greater than in Catholic Prussia.[10]\n\nIf chastity, to use Laing\u2019s expression, is the index-virtue, the\nquestion as to the comparative morality of Protestant and Catholic\nnations may be considered at an end. Lecky\u2019s words on the Irish people\nhave often been quoted, to his own regret we believe.\n\n \u201cHad the Irish peasants been less chaste,\u201d he says, \u201cthey\n would have been more prosperous. Had that fearful famine\n which in the present century desolated the land fallen upon\n a people who thought more of accumulating subsistence than\n of avoiding sin, multitudes might now be living who perished\n by literal starvation on the dreary hills of Limerick or\n Skibbereen.\u201d[11]\n\nThere is not in all Europe a more thoroughly Protestant country than\nSweden. For three hundred years its people have been wholly withdrawn\nfrom Catholic influences. During all this time Protestantism, upheld\nby the state, undisturbed by dissent, with the education of the people\nin the hands of the clergy, and a population almost entirely rural,\nhas had the fairest possible opportunity to show what it is capable of\ndoing to elevate the moral character of a nation. What is the result?\nIn 1838 Laing visited Sweden and made a careful study of the moral and\nsocial condition of the people; and he declares that they are at the\nvery bottom of the scale of European morality. In 1836 one person out\nof every 112\u2014women, infants, sick, all included\u2014had been accused of\ncrime, and one out of every 134 convicted and punished. In 1838 there\nwere born in Stockholm 2,714 children, of whom 1,577 were legitimate\nand 1,137 illegitimate, leaving a balance of only 440 chaste mothers\nout of 2,714.\n\nDrunkenness, too, was more common there than in any other country of\nEurope or of the world. Nearly 40,000,000 gallons of liquor were\nconsumed in 1850 by a population of only 3,000,000, which gives\nthirteen gallons of intoxicating drink to every man, woman, and child\nin the kingdom.\n\nIf these things could be said of any Catholic nation, the whole\nProtestant world would stand aghast, nor need other proof of the\nabsolutely diabolical nature of popery. Compare this agricultural and\npastoral population with the Catholic Swiss mountaineers\u2014who to this\nday claim to have descended from a Swedish stock, and whose climate is\nnot greatly different from that of Sweden\u2014and we find that the\nCatholic Swiss are as moral and sober as the Protestant Swedes are\ncorrupt and besotted. Or compare them with the Tyrolese, than whom\nthere is no more Catholic and liberty-loving people on earth.\n\n \u201cHonesty may be regarded as a leading feature in the\n character of the Tyrolese,\u201d says Alison.\u2026 \u201cIn no part of the\n world are the domestic or conjugal duties more strictly or\n faithfully observed, and in none do the parish priests\n exercise a stricter or more conscientious control over their\n flocks.\u2026 Perhaps the most remarkable feature in the\n character of the Tyrolese is their uniform piety\u2014a feeling\n which is nowhere so universally diffused as among their\n sequestered valleys.\u2026 On Sunday the _whole people_ flock to\n church in their neatest and gayest attire; and so great is\n the number who thus frequent these places of worship that it\n is not unfrequent to see the peasants kneeling on the turf\n in the church-yard where Mass is performed, from being\n unable to find a place within its walls. Regularly in the\n evening prayers are read in every family; and the traveller\n who passes through the villages at the hour of twilight\n often sees through their latticed windows the young and the\n old kneeling together round their humble fire, or is warned\n of his approach to human habitation by hearing their evening\n hymns stealing through the silence and solitude of the\n forest.\u2026 In one great virtue the peasants in this country\n (in common, it must be owned, with most Catholic states) are\n particularly worthy of imitation. The virtue of _charity_,\n which is too much overlooked in many Protestant kingdoms, is\n there practised to the greatest degree and by all classes of\n people.\u201d[12]\n\nWith true Protestant condescension Alison adds: \u201cDebased as their\nreligion is by the absurdities and errors of the Catholic form of\nworship, and mixed up as it is with innumerable legends and visionary\ntales, it yet preserves enough of the pure spirit of its divine origin\nto influence in a great measure the conduct of their private lives.\u201d\nAmong rural populations more than elsewhere the divine power of the\nChristian religion is made manifest. To the poor, the frugal, and the\nsingle-hearted those heavenly truths which have changed the world, but\nwhich were first listened to and received by fishermen and shepherds,\nappeal with a force and directness which the mere worldling and\ncomfort-lover cannot even realize. In the presence of nature so silent\nand awful, yet so vocal, everything inclines the heart of man to\nhearken to the voice of God. Mountains and rivers; the long,\nwithdrawing vales and deep-sounding cataracts; winter\u2019s snows, and\nspring, over whose heaving bosom the unseen hand weaves the tapestry\nthat mortal fingers never made; summer\u2019s warm breath, and autumn, when\nthe strong year first feels the chill of death, and \u201ctears from the\ndepth of some divine despair rise in the heart and gather to the\neyes\u201d\u2014all speak of the higher world which they foreshadow and\nsymbolize. But in the hurry and noise of the city, with its extremes\nof wealth and poverty, of indulgence and want, of pride and\ndegradation, the pleading voice of religion is not heard at all, or is\nheard only as a call from the shore is heard by men who are madly\nhurrying down some rapid stream. It is evident, therefore, that the\neasiest and surest way of getting at the relative moral influence of\nthe Catholic and Protestant religions is to study their action upon\nrural populations. We have already established on the best authority\nthe incalculable moral elevation of the Catholic rural populations of\nSwitzerland and the Tyrol over the Protestants of the same class in\nSweden. Let us now turn to Great Britain.\n\nKay, after having given a table of criminal statistics for England and\nWales for the years 1841 and 1847, makes the following remarks upon\nthe facts there presented:\n\n \u201cThis table well deserves study. It shows that the\n proportional amount of crime to population calculated in two\n years, 1841 and 1847, was greater in both years in almost\n all the _agricultural_ counties of England than it was in\n the _manufacturing_ and mining districts.\u2026 With what\n terrible significance do these statistics plead the cause of\n the poor of our rural districts! Notwithstanding that a town\n life necessarily presents so many more opportunities for,\n and temptations to, vice than a rural life; notwithstanding\n that the associations of the latter are naturally so much\n purer and so much more moral than those of the former;\n notwithstanding the wonderfully crowded state of the great\n manufacturing cities of Lancashire; notwithstanding the\n constant influx of Irish, sailors, vagrants, beggars, and\n starving natives of agricultural districts of England and\n Wales; and notwithstanding the miserable state of most of\n the primary schools of those districts and the great\n ignorance of the majority of the inhabitants, still, in the\n face of all these and other equally significant facts, the\n criminality of the _manufacturing_ districts of Lancashire\n is LESS in proportion to the population than that of most of\n the rural districts of England and Wales!\u201d[13]\n\nIn Scotland illegitimacy is more common in the country than in the\ntowns and cities. In 1870 the rate of illegitimacy for the whole\ncountry was 9.4 per cent., or 1 in every 10.6; whereas in the rural\ndistricts alone it was 10.5, or 1 in every 9.5. In 1871 it was for the\nwhole country 10.1, or 1 in every 9.8, and in the rural districts\n11.2, or 1 in every 8.9.[14] In England also the rate of illegitimacy\nis much larger in the rural districts than in the cities, whereas in\nCatholic France it is just the reverse. In the country districts of\nEngland we have the following rate:\n\n Nottingham, 8.9\n York, North Riding, 8.9\n Salop, 9.8\n Westmoreland, 9.7\n Norfolk, 10.7\n Cumberland, 11.4\n\n In France:\n\n Rural districts, 4.2\n La Vend\u00e9e, 2.2\n Brittany\u2014C\u00f4te d\u2019Or, 1.2\n\nThus in the most Catholic rural districts of France there are only one\nor two illegitimate births in every hundred.\n\nThis is also true of Prussia, whose most strongly Catholic provinces\nare Westphalia and the Rhineland. In Westphalia there are only three\nand a half illegitimate births in every hundred, and in the Rhineland\nonly three and a third; but in thoroughly Protestant Pomerania and\nBrandenburg there are ten and twelve illegitimate births in the\nhundred.[15] In Ireland, again, we find the same state of things. The\nrate of illegitimate births for all Ireland is 3.8 per cent.; but the\nlowest proportion is in Connaught, nineteen-twentieths of whose people\nare Catholics, and the greatest is in Ulster, half of whose population\nis Protestant. \u201cThe sum of the whole matter,\u201d says the _Scotsman_\n(June, 1869), a leading organ of Presbyterian Scotland, \u201cis that\nsemi-Presbyterian and semi-Scotch Ulster is fully three times more\nimmoral than wholly popish and wholly Irish Connaught\u2014which\ncorresponds with wonderful accuracy to the more general fact that\nScotland as a whole is three times more immoral than Ireland as a\nwhole.\u201d There is no reason why further proof should be given of what\nis a manifest truth: that rural populations\u2014let us say, rather, the\npeople\u2014in proportion as they are Catholic, are also chaste; and\nconsequently that the Catholic Church, as every man who is competent\nto judge must know, is the mother of purity, which is the soul of\nChristian life, and without which we cannot draw near to the heart of\nthe Saviour and supreme Lover of men. Protestants, however, will be at\nno loss for arguments. Should the worst come to the worst,\nillegitimacy, like the gallows, may be declared an evidence of\ncivilization, and then it needs must follow, as the night the day,\nthat it is more common in Protestant than in Catholic countries.\n\nLet us now turn to the vice of intemperance. \u201cI am sure,\u201d says Hill,\n\u201cthat I am within the truth when I state, as the result of minute and\nextensive inquiry, that, in four cases out of five, when an offence is\ncommitted intoxicating drink has been one of the causes.\u201d[16]\n\nIn an attempt, then, to form an estimate of the relative morality of\nnations, we should not omit to consider the vice of drunkenness, which\nis the cause of half the crime and misery in the world. Were it in our\npower to obtain accurate statistics on this subject, as on that of\nillegitimacy, the superior sobriety of the Catholic nations would be\nshown even more strikingly than their superior chastity. The\nSpaniards, it is universally acknowledged, are the soberest people in\nEurope, as the Swedes are the most intemperate. Their respective\ngeographical positions suggest at once what is often assigned as a\nsufficient explanation of this fact\u2014the great difference of climate.\nIt was long supposed that the southern nations were more sensual than\nthe northern, because it was thought a warm climate must necessarily\ndevelop a greater violence of passion. We know now, however, that this\nis not the case. Though climate has an undoubted influence on\nmorality, its action is yet so modified or controlled among Christian\nand civilized nations that generalizations founded upon its supposed\neffects are unreliable. The Swedes and the Scotch are intemperate, the\nSpaniards and the Italians are sober. The former are Protestant, the\nlatter Catholic; it is therefore at once evident that religion has\nnothing to do with this matter, which can only be accounted for by the\ndifference of climate. These are the tactics of our opponents: those\nvirtues in which the Catholic nations excel must be attributed to\nnatural causes; but when some of them are found to lack the enterprise\nand industrial spirit of the English or the Americans, it would be\naltogether unreasonable to ascribe this to anything else than their\nreligion.\n\nScotch statistics show a greater amount of intemperance in summer than\nin winter, which would seem to indicate that a high temperature does\nnot tend to destroy the passion for intoxicating drink. But we do not\npropose to enter into a discussion of causes, which, however, we are\nperfectly willing to take up at the proper time. Our controversy with\nM. de Laveleye turns upon facts.\n\nWe have already cited the testimony of Laing to show that the Swedes,\nafter they had been under the exclusive influence of Protestantism for\nthree hundred years, were the most drunken people in Europe. Laing was\nin Venice on the occasion of a festival, when the whole population had\nturned out for pleasure, and he did not see a single case of\nintoxication; not a single instance, even among the boys, of rudeness;\nand yet all were singing, talking, and enjoying themselves. He gives\nthe following account of a popular merry-making which he saw at\nFlorence:\n\n \u201cIt happened that the 9th of May was kept here as a great\n holiday by the lower class, as May-day with us, and they\n assembled in a kind of park about a mile from the city,\n where booths, tents, and carts, with wine and eatables for\n sale, were in crowds and clusters, as at our village wakes\n and race-courses. The multitude from town and country round\n could not be less than twenty thousand people, grouped in\n small parties, dancing, singing, talking, dining on the\n grass, and enjoying themselves. _I did not see a single\n instance of inebriety, ill-temper, or unruly, boisterous\n conduct_; yet the people were gay and joyous.\u201d[17]\n\nRobert Dale Owen, writing from Naples, said: \u201cI have not seen a man\neven partially intoxicated since I have been in the city, of 420,000\ninhabitants, and they say one may live here for four years without\nseeing one.\u201d\n\nLet us now turn to Protestant lands. St. Cuthbert\u2019s parish, Edinburgh,\nhad in 1861 a population somewhat exceeding 90,000 souls. Of these,\n1,953 were \u201cdrunk and incapable,\u201d 3,935 were \u201cdrunk and discharged\u201d;\nmaking in all 5,888, or nearly 1 in 15.\n\nIn Salford jail (England), in 1870, the proportion of commitments for\ndrunkenness was, as compared with commitments for all offences, 37 per\ncent.[18]\n\nWe have it upon the authority of the English government that in 1874\nno fewer than 285,730 Britons were proceeded against for being drunk\nand disorderly, or drunk and not disorderly; and, of course, to this\nmust be added the probably greater number who escaped arrest. Mr.\nGranville, one of the secretaries of the Church of England Society in\nthe Diocese of Durham, estimates that there is an aggregate of 700,000\nhabitual drunkards in England. \u201cIt is a melancholy but undeniable\nfact,\u201d says the _Alliance News_,\u201d that, notwithstanding vast agencies\nof improvement, intemperance, crime, pauperism, insanity, and\nbrutality are more rampant than ever; and, if we except pauperism,\nthese evils have more than doubled in the last forty years.\u201d We have\nnot been able to get the statistics of drunkenness for Ireland, and\ncan therefore institute no comparison between England and that country\nwith regard to intemperance;[19] but we have before us the criminal\nstatistics of both countries for 1854, the population of England and\nWales in that year being about three times as great as that of\nIreland. The following table of convictions will enable us to form an\nestimate of the comparative honesty of the two nations:\n\n Robbery by persons armed, England and Wales, 210\n Robbery by persons armed, Ireland, 2\n Larceny from the person, England and Wales, 1,570\n Larceny from the person, Ireland, 389\n Larceny by servants,[20] England and Wales, 2,140\n Larceny by servants, Ireland, 44\n Larceny, simple, England and Wales, 12,562\n Larceny, simple, Ireland, 3,329\n Frauds and attempts to defraud, England and Wales, 676\n Frauds and attempts to defraud, Ireland, 62\n Forgery, England and Wales, 149\n Forgery, Ireland, 4\n Uttering and having in possession counterfeit coin,\n England and Wales, 674\n Uttering and having in possession counterfeit coin,\n Ireland, 4\n\nOn the other hand, the following crimes are proportionately more\nnumerous in Ireland:\n\n Convictions for manslaughter in 1854:\n\n England and Wales, 96\n Ireland, 50\n Burglary, England and Wales, 384\n \u201c Ireland, 240\n\nWe cannot think, however, that these returns are reliable, for the\n_Statistical Journal_ of 1867 gives the following criminal tables for\nEngland in 1865:\n\n Wilful murder cases tried, 60\n Manslaughter, 316\n Concealment of birth, 143\n ---\n Total, 519\n\nAnd in Ireland from 1865 to 1871, a period of six years, only 21\npersons were sentenced to death, of whom 13 were executed.\n\nIt is greatly to be regretted that criminal statistics give us no\ninformation upon the religious character of the persons accused or\nconvicted of offences against the law. Many persons have been baptized\nin infancy, and are called Catholics, though they have never been\nbrought under the influence of the church. In the absence of official\nstatistics, Dr. Descuret, who, in his capacity of legal physician in\nParis, had abundant opportunity to obtain data relative to this\nsubject, made, about thirty years ago, a careful study of the\nreligious views and sentiments of French criminals. The conclusion\nwhich he reached was that, in every hundred persons accused of crime,\nfifty are indifferentists in religion, forty are infidels, and the\nremaining ten sincere believers. In a hundred suicides he found only\nfour persons of known piety, three of whom were women subject to\nmelancholia, and the other had been for some time mentally\nderanged.[21]\n\n\n [3] _The Table-Talk of Martin Luther_, pp. 200, 206, 213,\n _et passim_.\n\n [4] _Notes of a Traveller_, pp. 79, 80.\n\n [5] _History of Europe_, vol. iii. chap. xxvii. 10, 11.\n\n [6] _Autobiography_, pp. 58, 59.\n\n [7] _Ibid._ p. 177.\n\n [8] _History of European Morals_, p. 160.\n\n [9] _Notes of a Traveller_, p. 172.\n\n [10] For the full discussion of the statistics of this\n subject see THE CATHOLIC WORLD, vol. ix. pp. 52 and 845.\n\n [11] _European Morals_, p. 153.\n\n [12] Alison\u2019s _Miscellaneous Essays_, p. 119.\n\n [13] Kay\u2019s _Social Condition of the People_, vol. ii. p.\n 392.\n\n [14] See _London Statistical Journal_, 1870, 1871.\n\n [15] _Historische Politische Bl\u00e4tter_, 1867.\n\n [16] _Crime: its Amount, Causes, and Remedies._ By Frederick\n Hill, Barrister-at-law, late Inspector of Prisons.\n London, p. 65.\n\n [17] _Notes of a Traveller_ pp. 418-19.\n\n [18] See _London Statistical Journal_, 1871.\n\n [19] In 1871, 14,501,983 gallons of spirits were distilled\n in Scotland. What proportion of this was consumed at\n home we do not know. For the same year the number of\n gallons entered for home consumption in Ireland was\n 5,212,746. The population of Scotland is nearly three\n millions and a half, and that of Ireland about five\n millions and a half.\n\n [20] England and Wales, with not quite three times the\n population of Ireland, had fifty times as many cases of\n dishonesty among servants, which clearly accounts for\n those newspaper advertisements in which English\n housekeepers are careful to state that \u201cno Irish need\n apply.\u201d\n\n [21] _La M\u00e9decine des Passions_, p. 116.\n\n\n\n\nPRIMEVAL GERMANS.\n\n\n_Urdeutsch_ (which we have translated _Primeval Germans_) is a\nhistorical novel, the scene of which is laid in the Black Forest\ntowards the second half of the fourth century. The author, Conrad von\nBolanden,[22] says in his preface that he intends it to be the first\nof a series of three illustrating the action of Christianity on the\nGerman people: the state in which it found them, that to which it\nbrought them, and that to which he says they are likely to be reduced\nby modern infidelity. The story\u2014which is mainly put together from\nfacts of the biography of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, and from\ndescriptions of ancient German life drawn from Roman and German\nhistorians\u2014is interesting as the record of a time utterly gone by, and\nof a state of barbarism incident to the childhood of nations. Very\nnearly the same characteristics appear in the earliest chapters of the\nhistory of all uncivilized tribes, and a special likeness can be\ntraced between the Teutons of the ninth century and the American\nIndians of the sixteenth and seventeenth. Sprung from widely different\nraces, and experiencing the effects of Christianity in a very\ndifferent manner, there is yet a striking likeness in some of the\nmanners and customs, the industries, the opinions, and the few moral\naxioms of both peoples with which Christian missionaries have made us\nfamiliar. The plot of the story is slight, and has the advantage of\nnot being confused and complicated, as is the case in many modern\nnovels. St. Martin, yet a deacon, is travelling to Strassburg with his\nservant Eustace (one of the best characters in the book), and stumbles\nupon a sleeping barbarian, whom he awakens from a bad nightmare by the\nstrains of his harp or lyre. He then asks of the gigantic German what\nis his errand, and the Buffalo (such names were common among the\nTeutons) tells him that he is on his return from the famous grove of\nHelygenforst, where he had been sent by Bissula, the only daughter of\nthe last king of the Suevi, to consult an oracle on the issue of a\nblood-feud between the two noble families of the Walen and the\nBilling. She and her youngest brother Hermanric are the only\nrepresentatives left of the former family, her father and her eleven\nbrothers having all fallen victims to the enmity of the Billing. St.\nMartin remonstrates with the German (a freedman of the Suevi), and\ntells him that the true God abhors blood-feuds, and, availing himself\nof the German belief in one Supreme God, the All-Father, whose reign\nis to be made manifest after the end of the world and the destruction\nof the gods Odin, Thor, Freya, Loki, etc., tells Buffalo that he is\nthe messenger of the All-Father, and will save the last of the Walen\nfrom their danger and dilemma. The German, by his word and his hand\n(as was also the custom later in the vowing of feudal _homage_),\nconstitutes himself the Muntwaldo, or protector, of the deacon, and\nthey set off to the land of the Suevi. Eustace, formerly a soldier\nunder Martin when the latter was a centurion, strongly objects to this\narrangement, and grimly reiterates his certainty that nothing will\never transform the hopelessly barbaric Germans. On their way the party\nare attacked by four Chatti, a tribe opposed to the Suevi, and Martin\nforbids Buffalo to fight in his behalf, saying that he will willingly\ngo with the strangers, but in six days will not fail to visit the\nSuevi. Buffalo goes on his way, and the two Romans are taken to the\nvillage of Duke Fraomar, the leader of the Chatti.\n\nHere follows an interesting description of the dress and domestic\narrangements of the early German tribes. The duke is not an hereditary\nchieftain, but a leader chosen by the tribe for his valor and\nstrength, who has collected round himself a personal following or\nguard, a sort of freebooter\u2019s company\u2014the original, perhaps, of the\nroving bands of \u201cFree Companions\u201d who played such a conspicuous part\nin the wars of the middle ages. The dress of the freemen of the tribe\nconsisted mostly of skins and furs, with the head of the animal,\nwhether buffalo, stag, wolf, or bear, drawn like a hood over the head,\nand the front paws tied under the chin or crossed on the breast. The\nwomen wore long, rather tight-fitting garments of coarse linen, with\nshort sleeves and bands of gaudy colors sewed round the hem; the feet\nwere bare. Both men and women wore long hair; it was a sign of free or\nnoble birth, and was plentifully greased with butter, as were also, on\nsome occasions, the bodies of the warriors. The children and the\nslaves were for the most part naked or only provided with leathern\naprons. The house had but one apartment, which served all purposes:\nthe fire was in the middle, while to one side were bundles of straw\nand skins, the primitive beds, and to the other a slightly-raised\nplatform, the primitive table and chairs. The men sat or lay on this\nand ate off their shields, or sometimes off wooden platters. The women\nserved them at meals and filled the drinking-horns with beer and mead.\nBesides these horns, human skulls\u2014those of enemies slain in\nbattle\u2014were used as goblets, and these, together with the skulls of\nsacred horses and the horns of stags, adorned the walls of the\ndwelling. There was also generally a wooden chest, clumsily fashioned,\ncontaining the clothes of the family. The women, children, and slaves\nate round the hearth after their lords, and while these were gambling\nwith dice. The passion of gambling seems to have been an inveterate\none, and a man would often stake his all, including wife, children,\nand slaves\u2014sometimes even himself. If he lost, he was reduced to the\ncondition of a slave. The walls of the house were black and glistening\nwith the smoke of the mighty and continuous fires, and there is no\nmention of even a hole in the roof as an outlet. St. Martin and his\nservant are introduced into this wild interior just after the Duke\nFraomar has been winning house, lands, slaves, cattle, and even his\nwife, from a freeman of the \u201chundred.\u201d The strangers are made welcome\nand become the guests of the duke, which implies that henceforth their\npersons are sacred, as nothing was more shameful in the eyes of the\nGermans than to break their word or infringe the rights of\nhospitality. Eustace, however, looks ruefully on the evidences of\ngood-will tendered him in the shape of a kind of oat-broth, seasoned\nwith the primitive German preparation of salt, which (Pliny is\nresponsible for the statement) consisted of charcoal made of oak or\nhazel, impregnated when hot with the water of salt springs; the black\nmorsels giving the same odor to the broth with which they were mixed.\n\nDuke Fraomar, who has a promise from Odin\u2019s oracle to help him in a\nforay against the neighboring Suevi, provided he does not attack them\nbefore the \u201cninth full moon,\u201d is rather uneasy at having these\nstrangers, who are under the protection of his enemies, brought to\nhim, in case anything untoward should happen to them, and the Suevi\nfall upon him to avenge them, before the charmed time. The next day\none of the freemen takes the saint and his servant round the\nsettlement; and the author here introduces an account of the old\nGerman division of property in a \u201chundred,\u201d or community of one\nhundred freemen, each possessing the same quantity of ground, and each\nobliged to render military service to the head of the tribe. The\nagricultural economy was by no means contemptible. Ploughed land and\nland overgrown with bushes alternated in lots, and each was cultivated\nduring six years, then allowed to lie fallow six more. Manuring was\nunknown, chiefly because the animal manure was used as a safe and warm\ncovering to the earth caves where the grain was stored in winter, and\nwhere not seldom the owner and his family also took refuge from the\ncold. Each freeman had his stables, his slave-huts, and his brewery,\nthe latter being generally a cave in a rock furnished with one or two\nmighty caldrons. At the end of this inspection of the \u201chundred\u201d (such\na division exists still in England, though far enough in spirit from\nthe ideal of the free Teutons) the strangers come upon a terrible\nscene of cruelty and superstition.\n\nThe \u201cjourney to Walhalla\u201d was the poetical title given to the\nimmolation of aged and wealthy persons of both sexes, who, instead of\nbeing allowed to die a natural death, were, according to the ancient\ncustom, first killed and then burned with their possessions, with an\naccompaniment of religious ceremonies. A pile of wood was raised, and\nthe victims, stupefied with beer, laid thereon, with one or two slaves\nwho were to wait upon them in the halls of Odin; for the Germans\nbelieved that no one who died a natural death went to Walhalla, but\nendured torments and shame in hell. Men and women, therefore,\nwillingly allowed themselves to be killed, and often committed suicide\nas another means of reaching Walhalla. On this occasion two old men\nand a woman were to be immolated. A ludicrous dispute occurs here\nbetween one of the men and his son, who grudges him _two_ slaves as\nhis servants in Odin\u2019s hall, whereupon the father announces his\ndetermination to live rather than go to the other world with so paltry\na following. This settles the question, and the son gives up the\nsecond slave. A great deal of drinking and a sacred chant by the\npriest of Odin precede the butchery, and the victims are each killed\nby one blow of \u201cThor\u2019s hammer,\u201d wielded by a freeman deputed to this\noffice by the heathen priest. The worst part follows. Just as the pile\nhas been set on fire an infant is thrown on, the child of the woman\nwhom the duke won the night before at dice. The indifference of the\nmother at the order for this barbarous execution seems to us rather\noverdrawn. Human nature is human nature the world over; and if there\nis one feeling more obstinately ineradicable than any other, it is the\nfeeling of a mother for her child\u2014or, say, in the very lowest possible\nscale of civilization, of a female for her young. Even though\ninfanticide is common among most heathen nations, and was certainly\nnot unknown among the early Germans, it is rather an exaggeration on\nthe part of the author to represent the mother herself in this case as\nutterly and absolutely indifferent to the child\u2019s fate. While their\nguide is busy drinking among the spectators of this scene, Martin and\nEustace penetrate the sacred grove, round which is drawn a cord, which\nno German would have passed with unbound hands. Unknowing of this\ncustom, the strangers enter the wood and gaze on the human skulls and\nskeletons, the bloody skins and the sacred horse-skulls, hung on the\nbranches of the trees. The priest soon discovers their presence in the\nholy grove, and threatens to kill them on the spot, but is restrained\nby the duke\u2019s messenger, their guide. He afterwards goes to the duke\nand demands that the law shall be carried out, which, for such a\nsacrilege, decrees that the profaner of the holy grove should lose his\nright hand and his left foot. Fraomar, thinking of his plan for\nattacking the Suevi at the ninth moon, and not before, hesitates to\nconsent to the priest\u2019s demand and seeks to protect his guests.\n\nMeanwhile, the story goes on to follow Buffalo to the house of the\nWalen princess Bissula, who, though a heathen, has been in Gaul and\nhad some intercourse with the Romans and a German Christian sovereign\nfamily called the Tribboki. Her dress and dwelling are described as\nmuch embellished by Roman arts and many degrees removed from the\nancient German simplicity. But, though outwardly less a German, she is\nat heart an uncompromising adherent of the old customs of her fathers,\nparticularly of the blood-feud. She lives for the sole purpose of\navenging the death of her father and brothers; and, indeed, her stern\ndetermination is the only circumstance of the book which can be called\na \u201cplot.\u201d Withimer, the son of the king of the Tribboki, is her lover\nand her suitor, and comes to her house to offer himself as her\nhusband. He is a Christian and hopes to convert her also, but the\nterrible blood-feud stands between them. She loves him as passionately\nas he loves her, but refuses to marry him unless he will swear to take\nupon himself the duty of revenge against her enemies, the Billing.\nThis, as a Christian, he cannot do, and hence ensues a hard struggle\nbetween his love and his conscience, in which the \u201cbaptized heathen,\u201d\nas the author calls him, very nearly breaks down and forswears the\nfaith. Bissula, on her side, is still more determined, and once even\nattempts suicide by throwing herself in the way of a wild beast while\nout hunting, saying, as she does so, that she can more easily give up\nher life than her love, but that her honor is yet dearer to her than\nher love. Various devices are resorted to by Katuwald, the young chief\nof the Billing, the hostile family, to end the blood-feud by marrying\nBissula, with whom he is in love; and the author now introduces the\n\u201cThing,\u201d or assembly of the people, the primeval parliament. This took\nplace in a circle surrounded by trees, on which the freemen hung their\nshields and helmets. A rock, sacred as a kind of tribunal, stood in\nthe centre, and round this stone benches were ranged, on which sat the\nrepresentatives of the several hundreds. The oracle which Buffalo had\nbeen sent to consult had returned the answer, \u201cLet the Thing judge the\ncause,\u201d the priest who represented the deity having been bribed by the\nBilling prince to send this answer. Bissula, with her lover, appears\nat the assembly; but before their coming a lesser court of justice is\nheld for the adjustment of local claims, which gives us an opportunity\nof reviewing some curious customs of the ancient Germans.\n\nFor instance, the value of human life in the case of a slave is shown\nin two \u201ccases\u201d which come up for arbitration. A slave\u2014but the son of a\nfree father, and a freeman himself by birth\u2014secretly marries a\nfreewoman, and, on her father\u2019s discovering the connection, the choice\nis given her of killing her husband with her own hand or of being\nherself degraded to slavery. A sword and a distaff were offered her;\nif she chose the former, she was free, but was forced to plunge it in\nthe man\u2019s breast; if the latter, she became a slave. There were two\nother possible means of settling the question: the father had the\nright to kill her, and the owner of the slave might give him his\nfreedom. In the case in point this last was the happy solution of the\nproblem. Another difficulty arose in the case of damages claimed by a\nfreeman whose neighbor\u2019s tame stag, trained for hunting purposes, had\nbroken into his fields, killed a dozen head of cattle and two slaves,\nin return for which he himself had shot the stag. The latter was\ndeclared by law to be of a greater value than the two slaves, and a\nfixed rate of compensation was adjudged, which completely satisfied\nboth parties. From a heathen point of view, considering that both men\nand stags were \u201cchattels,\u201d it cannot be wondered at that the latter\nwere thought most valuable; for the market was over-stocked with\nslaves, who might be had any day during a foray, while \u201cdomestic\u201d\nstags were very hard to train, and required to be taught some years\nbefore they could be of any use to their owners.\n\nWhen Bissula makes her appearance, the gathering of the people\nresolves itself into a \u201cThing,\u201d and she and her enemies, the five sons\nof the noble Billing Brenno, take their place by the rock. Hermanric\u2019s\nabsence causes some wonder and annoyance, but Marcomir, the umpire,\nnevertheless begins the session. Katuwald boldly proposes to end the\nfeud by marrying Bissula, who openly and contemptuously refuses his\nsuit, whereupon a great tumult arises and Hermanric rides into the\ncircle, a bloody head dangling at his saddle-bow. He recounts his\nexploit\u2014how he, though not yet invested with a man\u2019s weapons (as the\nrule was to entrust neither sword nor spear to a youth under\nnineteen), forced the aged Brenno, who had stayed at home, to fight\nhim in single combat, the Billing armed with sword and shield, and\nhimself only with a club. The trembling slave who follows him\ncorroborates his story, and Katuwald, already sore from Bissula\u2019s\nproud refusal of his love, looks upon the youth with a significant and\nangry eye, and at last leaves the council, having publicly asked to be\ntold the law of compensation for carrying off another man\u2019s wife or\nbetrothed. Affairs stand thus with the Suevi, while the story returns\nto Martin in the hands of the Chatti.\n\nAn assembly of the freemen of this tribe is held to discuss the\nquestion raised by the priest, as to Martin\u2019s punishment for invading\nthe sacred grove. This takes place the same day that Buffalo goes in\nquest of his friend, and he arrives in time to be present at the\ngathering. Duke Fraomar is anxious to save the strangers\u2014not for their\nown sakes, but for fear of precipitating the attack on the Suevi\nbefore the propitious time appointed by the oracle. At last Martin\nproposes an ordeal such as, since the days of Elijah, has often been\nresorted to to decide rival claims to truth. A few chosen\nrepresentatives are to accompany him and the priest to the shrine of\nthe heathen gods in the forest, and the Christian and the priest are\nboth to call upon their gods to show themselves. Here follows a\ndescription of the shrine\u2014a building of wood beneath a gigantic\noak-tree. Within are kept \u201cThor\u2019s hammer\u201d and \u201cTyr\u2019s sword,\u201d and the\ncar of the goddess Hertha, the Cybele of Teutonic mythology, or simply\nthe Earth-mother. Into this car she was at times supposed to descend,\nwhen a yoke of cows was harnessed to it, and it was covered with a\nwhite cloth, and thus drawn solemnly through the \u201chundred.\u201d After\nthese processions, the car and cloth were washed by slaves in a pond,\ninto which the latter were afterwards thrown and drowned. The statue\nor figure of the goddess was erected in a huge crack of the sacred\ntree, and her grim, enormous head, with staring eyes and yawning\nmouth, black with clotted blood, crowned a clumsily-carved block,\nwithout either arms or legs.[23] Horse-skulls and white horse-skins\n(the priest was also clad in such skins), human skulls and skeletons,\ndogs\u2019 heads and skins of wild beasts, hung from the branches of the\nsacred tree, which might have sheltered a regiment. Near the sacred\ncar stood a stone altar encrusted with blood. The priest carefully\nplaced the Christian stranger within easy reach of his arm, and\ndistributed the others, the duke, the Sueve Buffalo, and the wise men\nof the hundred, where they could not see his movements. After his\nprayer, he was preparing to swing the hammer so as to reach the\nsaint\u2019s head, when Buffalo, suspecting foul play, stole quietly\nforward and called to Martin to shift his position. Martin simply bade\nhis companions, who, like himself, had their hands securely bound,\nrise up and lift their hands free from the cords. The fastenings fell\noff and the heathens stood in awe, waiting for his words. This, says\nthe author, is word for word from St. Martin\u2019s biographer, Sulpicius\nSeverus. Then came a crashing noise, and the lightning fell on the\npriest, killing him instantly, while the mighty tree was rent in\npieces and fell to the earth, carrying in its fall the idol, temple,\naltar, and car, which disappeared under its burning branches. With awe\nand terror Fraomar and the Chatti besought the stranger, as a terrible\nmagician, to leave them and not work them any more mischief. The saint\nsorrowfully complies, grieving that the true God had not yet conquered\ntheir hearts, though his might had been shown in such a way, and goes\nhis way with Buffalo to the Suevian settlement. Here he takes up his\nabode in a cave, in front of which is a spring called Odin\u2019s Spring,\nand in which the Germans bathe their new-born children and give them\nnames. Meanwhile, Withimer, the Christian, struggles with his love,\nand Bissula, the proud, beautiful heathen princess, still refuses to\nmarry him unless he will undertake the duty of avenging her murdered\nfather and brothers. St. Martin reasons with both, and at last\nprevails with the former to give up his love for the sake of his\nconscience; but having painted the evils of ingratitude to God and of\neternal damnation in vain, he at last conquers the youth by reminding\nhim that, as a German, it would be an indelible disgrace to him to\nforswear himself by breaking his baptismal vows. Bissula mourns his\nsudden departure, which she attributes to a messenger having recalled\nhim during her absence, and turns her attention to preserving her last\nremaining brother from the hatred of the Billing. This she does by\nresorting to the charms of the Abruna woman Velleda, a priestess said\nto be hundreds of years old, and to possess marvellous powers, as\nCirce of old, to change men into stones, trees, and animals. She is,\nhowever, not a witch, but the enemy of witches; and here follows a\nterrible account of the cruelties and absurdities to which the belief\nin witches led in those times, and, indeed, in all times.\nCh\u00e2teaubriand\u2019s[24] beautiful Gallic Velleda is a very different\ncharacter from this hideous old hag of the Black Forest. Though not a\nwitch, she has, in Bolanden\u2019s book, all the conventional \u201cproperties\u201d\nof one in the shape of a talking raven and two snakes entwined round\nher neck and arms. She promises Katuwald to give Bissula a love-drink,\nto turn her heart from Withimer to himself; and by a charm, consisting\nof a piece of skin inscribed with mystic characters, she promises to\nHermanric invulnerability against \u201csword and spear.\u201d\n\nSt. Martin, in the meanwhile, has managed to gather an audience of\nchildren, whom he instructs in the truths of Christianity and teaches\nto behave according to Christian morality, not forgetting also to\ninduce them to clothe and wash themselves regularly every day. Some of\nthe parents also join his catechumens, but the greater part still look\nupon him as an impious contemner of the gods and a powerful magician\nThe priest of this \u201chundred\u201d once tries to entrap him at the head of a\ncrowd of infuriated Germans, but the saint mildly and logically drives\nhim into contradictions which are evident even to his unlearned\nhearers. On this occasion the two accounts of the creation, the\nBiblical and the Teutonic, are set side by side. The defeated priest\nretires, but only to plot further mischief; and the scene changes to a\nGerman wedding, which forms a very interesting chapter. Girls of an\nage and willing to be married usually wore several little bells in\ntheir girdle, and it was allowed to any freeman to carry them off,\nprovided he afterwards loyally paid the stipulated price\u2014two fat oxen,\na caparisoned horse, two slaves, a sword, a spear, and a shield\u2014to the\nbride\u2019s father. The bridegroom\u2019s dress was that usually worn by\nfreemen on state occasions, and of course the full complement of\nweapons was indispensable. Falk, the bridegroom, is represented as\nwearing a magnificent bear-skin, with the head drawn over his own as a\nhood. The bride, besides her linen tunic or undergarment; wore also a\ncloak of Roman manufacture and of gaudy colors. The whole kindred of\nthe bridegroom accompanied him with horns, pipes, and a kind of\ncymbals to his father-in-law\u2019s house, and the oxen, etc., were led by\nthe slaves. The father performed the ceremony, and Falk swore by\n\u201csword and spear\u201d to hold his wife in all honor and truth. The father\nput a ring on the bride\u2019s finger and bade her remember that, although\nher husband would be allowed by ancient custom to take other wives if\nhe pleased, she herself would nevertheless be bound to the most\nunswerving fidelity; and, giving her two yoked oxen as a wedding\npresent, told her that as these two drew one car, so husband and wife\nwere bound to share and carry together the burdens of life.[25] The\nshrill music of the horns and clashing together of weapons accompanied\nthe approving hurrahs of the two families, and Falk now led his wife\nhome. From the door of his house hung a naked sword\u2014the \u201cmarriage\nsword\u201d\u2014a warning of the doom that follows the least infidelity; and on\ngoing in the bridegroom led the bride three times round the hearth,\nsaying: \u201cHere shalt thou stay and watch as housemistress in chastity,\nprudence, and industry.\u201d A free-woman of the husband\u2019s kindred then\nbrought a bowl of water and washed the bride\u2019s feet, after which the\nbride\u2019s father dipped a linden-branch in the same water and sprinkled\nthe bed, the domestic utensils, and the relations of the bridegroom. A\nwooden platter full of honey was then handed to him, and, as he\nanointed the bride\u2019s mouth with honey, he said these words: \u201cLet thy\nmouth always speak sweet words to thy husband, but no bitter ones.\u201d\nAfter this ceremony the bride\u2019s head was wrapped in a cloth, and she\nwas led to the closed door of the dwelling, and in succession to those\nof the stables, the grain-store, and the slave-huts, each of which she\nstruck with her right foot, while the women showered handfuls of\nwheat, oats, barley, and beans on her head, during which rite the\nfather said to her: \u201cAs long as thou governest thy house with\nindustry, so long shalt thou not lack the fruits of the earth.\u201d Falk\nnow took the cloth off his wife\u2019s head and kissed her, and all the\nfamily followed with their congratulations.\n\nThe expected presence of Bissula at the banquet had led to a departure\nfrom the ordinary German usage, and a table had been prepared for such\nas would sit at it during the bridal feast. The king\u2019s daughter, when\nshe came, brought a much-valued present, one which German housewives\nof the present day rate as highly as their gigantic ancestresses of\nthe days of old\u2014a store of home-spun linen. After the banquet, a wild\ndance was performed in honor of the young couple. Tacitus gives an\naccount of it: The young men assembled in a crooked double line, half\nof them holding naked swords and the other half spears, held forward,\ncrossing each other. Four or five youths, entirely naked, now began a\nskilful dance, threading their way with incredible quickness between\nthe shining weapons. The Scotch sword-dance is thought sufficiently\nclever nowadays, but what is it compared to the real danger, and the\nopportunity of showing dexterity as well as courage, which this\nancient German custom offered? This game was accompanied by the shrill\nblast of horns and pipes and the hoarse shouting of the excited\nspectators. Another drinking bout followed this exploit, when, as the\nday began to fade, the priestess Velleda made her appearance. And now\na natural phenomenon was added to the strange scene\u2014a partial eclipse\nof the moon, which the Germans explained as the struggle between the\nmoon and the giant wolf Managarm, a half-divine creature, who feeds on\nthe bodies of the dead and now and then hunts and pursues the heavenly\nbodies. As the shadow grew less and the moon\u2019s light broke forth\nagain, the guests clamored and clashed their arms together, crying\nout, \u201cThe moon wins! the moon wins!\u201d as if encouraging human\ncombatants. During this confusion Katuwald, the Billing chief,\nemboldened by the love-potion which Velleda has given Bissula to\ndrink, attempts to carry her off; but the maiden, strong as the women\nof giant growth of old Germany ever were, wrestles with him and\novercomes him, bearing him in her arms into the midst of the assembled\nguests. Most of the authorities quoted by Bolanden go to confirm the\nfacts of the extraordinary strength of the women of that time, their\nstature of six and often seven feet, and of the custom prevalent among\nthe Germans of teaching young girls to wrestle and throw the spear\nlike the men.\n\nThe next scene of primitive life in the Black Forest is the doom of\nthe adulteress, a wretched, guilty woman being driven naked through\nthe \u201chundred,\u201d pursued by all the free-women, each armed with long\nwhips and small knives. This was the common punishment decreed for\nsuch offences. A human sacrifice to the gods of Walhalla is also\nportrayed in vivid colors: the Chatti immolate a slave and two oxen as\na propitiatory offering before their foray against the Suevi; and one\nmore example of German manners and customs is afforded by the funeral\nof Hermanric, Bissula\u2019s brother, whom the Billing Katuwald has slain\nwith an arrow. This is gorgeously described: the car, drawn by six\nhorses, contained the corpse and was adorned with endless plate,\njewels, rare stuffs, and articles of Roman workmanship of great value;\nthe horses\u2019 heads were wreathed in oak and ash garlands; three fully\ncaparisoned horses and eight gorgeously-arrayed slaves, the special\nservants and companions of the deceased, followed the car and were\ndestined to be struck dead and burned with their master. Marcomir, the\numpire, pronounced a funeral oration, and the priest\u2019s deputy had\nlifted the sacred hammer to kill the first slave, when a strange\nwhirlwind began to shake the forest around the funeral pile. Trees\nwere uprooted, the wind tore and howled through the branches, thunder\nand lightning added their terrors, and the Suevi stood rooted to the\nground in awe and amazement. St. Martin is seen in the distance\nadvancing towards them at a miraculously quick pace, and as he comes\nnearer the storm-cloud is just seen passing away, while the sun breaks\nforth again. The cry of \u201cThe sorcerer!\u201d is raised, but Buffalo cries\nout, \u201cHe is no sorcerer, but a holy man,\u201d and, breathless, they all\nwatch the saint.\n\nHere the author again draws on Sulpicius Severus for a signal\nmiracle\u2014nothing short of a raising from the dead. St. Martin commands\nthe dead Hermanric to arise and live; the youth starts up and clings\nto the saint\u2019s mantle, while the bystanders are dumb with fear and\nawe. He comes forth, and, mounting one of his horses, seats his\ndeliverer on another and rides away with him, bidding his sister\nbelieve in the almighty and only God of the Christians, and telling\nhis slaves that as they were to have followed him into Walhalla, so he\nexpects them the next day at the saint\u2019s abode, to follow him in the\nnew way of life he has at last discovered. The end is easy to see:\nBissula becomes a Christian, renounces her hatred against the Billing,\nand receives baptism with hundreds of her relations and slaves, to all\nthe latter of whom she and her brother give their freedom and certain\nnecessary possessions\u2014in fact, almost portioning out their estate\nbetween them. Bissula then marries Withimer, and they spend their\nlives in trying to spread the light of the Gospel among their\nfellow-countrymen, while Hermanric follows St. Martin and becomes a\nmonk in one of the first Frankish monasteries.\n\nAmong the most natural characters in the book are Eustace and Buffalo,\nwho delight the reader with their various shrewd sayings and their\ndog-like fidelity to St. Martin. One or two curious facts have an\nincidental place in the story; for instance, the derivation of the\nmodern German word for grandson\u2014_Enkel_\u2014vouched for by Simrock, and\nwhich is a survival of the old custom of reckoning the two nearest\ndegrees of relationship by the two joints of the leg; the knee\nsignifying the _son_, and the ankle the _grandson_.\n\nA very good point is also made in Withimer\u2019s spiritual probation, his\npenance in the cave with St. Martin, and his meekly submitting, after\na terrible struggle with his own pride and passions, to receive a\nscourging from the saint, and to cut off his golden, flowing hair, the\noutward badge of his sovereignty. His victory over himself and his\ntrue humility are very beautiful. In the baptism scene it is\ninteresting to be reminded of the old formula of the questions\naddressed to the catechumens, of which the following are specimens:\n\n\u201c_Forsachis [renouncest] tu diabol\u00e6? \u2026 End ec [and I] for sacho allum\ndiaboles workum [works] en wordum [words] Thunaer ende woten ende\n[and] allein them unholdum [unclean] the ira genotes [companions]\nsint.\u2026 Gelobis tu [believest thou] in got alamehtigan [Almighty]\nFadaer [Father]?_\u201d\n\nWe meant to have spoken more at length of the mythology of the\nTeutonic races, but have no space for the subject. The authorities\nBolanden has followed are Tacitus, Grimm, and Arnkiel. Concerning\nhistory, manners, and customs he quotes Julius C\u00e6sar, Tacitus,\nProcopius, Strabo, Pliny, Schmidt, Simrock, Wirth, Heber, Cant\u00f9,\nOzanam, and Arnkiel. For the traditions of St. Martin\u2019s life Sulpicius\nSeverus, his deacon, friend, and biographer, is the authority. We\nshould like to give an example of the poetry of the ancient Germans;\nbut as the _Nibelungenlied_ is accessible to every scholar and widely\nknown even to the ordinary reading public, no specimen of inferior\nwar-hymns would be worth drawing attention to. We will conclude by a\nbeautiful description of the simplicity and humble appearance of a\nholy bishop of the fourth century, Justinus of Strassburg, and who, as\nwell as St. Martin, had a high opinion of the grand \u201craw material,\u201d\nready to the hand of Christian workers, in the brave, truthful, loyal,\nhospitable, even if cruel and uncivilized, Germans of the \u201cforest\nprimeval.\u201d Bolanden says: \u201cThe simplicity of the bishop reminded one\nof the apostolic age. He bore no outward sign of his high rank, and\nhis only garments were two tunics of white wool, one long with long\nsleeves, and another, sleeveless and short, over it, while over all\nhung a cloak of Roman make. His feet were shod with sandals. His black\nbeard hung low over his breast, while a ring of whitening hair\nencircled his bald head. His features were thin, as if with fasting\nand mortification, his glance calm, and his demeanor humble; while his\nhands, used to toil, were extraordinarily strong, for he followed the\nexample of St. Paul, who refused to be a burden upon any one.\u2026 For\nprecisely the most pious and holy of the bishops of the Frankish\ncountry gave themselves to manual labor, to give a good example to the\nFranks, who shrank from work as from a shameful occupation,\u2026 and this,\ntoo, by no means to the prejudice of the vineyard of the Lord. On the\ncontrary, those self-denying men, indifferent to life, seeking no\nearthly honors or distinctions, thinking only of the service of God,\nwere the pillars of the church and the most fruitful signs of her\nprogress. Neither did they acknowledge the golden fetters of kings,\nwhich hinder the working of Christ\u2019s messengers. They were free in\ntheir sacred ministry, and God\u2019s protection accompanied them in their\nhallowed work.\u201d\n\nBolanden\u2019s book has, of course, an _arri\u00e8re-pens\u00e9e_, which is so\nevident through the story that it rather spoils the mere literary\nvalue of the book, as \u201ca purpose\u201d more or less cramps any literary\nproduction. But, as a clever contemporary says, \u201cIn the hot\ntheological controversies of the present day it is hard to treat any\nsubject, even remotely connected with ecclesiastical history, without\nbetraying a \u2018tendency.\u2019\u201d Bolanden is outspoken enough as to his, which\nhas for object the present Prussian laws against religious freedom.\nBut we think we may safely say that the first book of the series will\nbe the most original and interesting, illustrating as it does a period\nso little known and not yet become, like the middle ages, the\nhackneyed theme of every novelist, from first to fifth rate, of every\ncivilized and literary European nationality.\n\n\n [22] Conrad von Bolanden, a brief sketch of whose life has\n already appeared in these pages, requires no\n introduction to the readers of THE CATHOLIC WORLD, who\n will know him best as the author of _The\n Progressionists_, _Angela_, _The Trowel or the Cross_,\n etc.\n\n [23] This reminds one of the Aztec war-god Quatzacoatl.\n\n [24] _Les Martyrs_, Ch\u00e2teaubriand.\n\n [25] Tacitus, _Germania_.\n\n\n\n\n SACERDOS ALTER CHRISTUS.[26]\n\n\n The priest, \u201canother Christ\u201d is he,\n And plights the church his marriage-vows;\n Thenceforth in every soul to see\n A daughter, sister, spouse.\n\n Then let him wear the triple cord\n Of father\u2019s, brother\u2019s, husband\u2019s care;\n In this partaking with his Lord\n What angels cannot share.\n\n O sweet new love! O strong new wine!\n O taste of Pentecostal fire!\n Inebriate me, draught divine,\n With Calvary\u2019s desire!\n\n \u201cI thirst!\u201d He cried. The dregs were drained:\n But still \u201cI thirst!\u201d his dying cry.\n While one ungarnered soul remained,\n The cup too soon was dry.\n\n And shall not _I_ be crucified?\n What though the fiends, when all is done,\n Make darkness round me, and deride\n That not a soul is won?\n\n God reaps from very loss a gain,\n And darkness here is light above.\n Nor ever did and died in vain\n Who did and died for love.\n\n 1871\n\n\n [26] St. Bernard.\n\n\n\n\nLABOR IN EUROPE AND AMERICA.[27]\n\n\nThere was a time, not far distant, when men thought they had found in\nthe United States of America the sovereignty of labor. It was the\nboast of its people that there were no American paupers. The working\nclasses looked with something like contempt upon the condition of\ntheir fellow-laborers in Europe. Here was the land where every man\u2019s\nindependence rested in his own hands and his willingness to labor. No\nday should come when an honest day\u2019s work would not earn, not bread\nalone, but a home\u2014an American home. This was the time when the\nfollowers of Boone were disclosing to wondering eyes the virgin\nrichness of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys; when, later, adventurous\nspirits led the way over the Rocky Mountains to a new western empire;\nwhen, close succeeding, California opened its Aladdin\u2019s caves, not to\nthe lash of kings or tyrants over toiling slaves, but to the picks and\npans of free labor. Yes, here at last was found what the poets and\nphilosophers of Greece and Rome had only dreamed of\u2014the ideal\ncommonwealth, a golden age. Thus had a free republic, established in\nthe richest and grandest territory the sun shone on, conquered at last\nthe problem of ages, and labor stood the peer of capital\u2014nay, aspired\nto be its master. It was claimed not only that a particular form of\ngovernment had achieved those economic results, but that it was\ncapable of maintaining them indefinitely. Politics bade defiance to\npolitical economy.\n\nIs this state of things true of to-day? In part, yes, it may be\nanswered. Looking at the comparative independence and comfort of the\ngreat masses of the working classes of this country, noting that\nintelligent zeal for personal liberty which pervades them, much reason\nfor congratulation still remains. But the pressure of those social\nconditions affecting labor in other countries is beginning to be\nseriously felt. The reserve forces of capital are coming up. The\n\u201csalad days\u201d of the nation are over. It has grown to manhood, and,\ngrowing thus, has met the harsh experiences inseparable from national\nas from individual life. It begins to feel the burdens of maturity,\nand to be harassed by its anxieties. Labor has met war, its wild\nfever, its deadly collapse; labor has met debt, the second and\ncostlier price of war, sucking out the life-blood after the wounds of\nbattle have been stanched; and, lastly, labor has met capital, which,\nlike one of those genii described in the Arabian tales, rises\nportentous to its full strength and stature out of the smoke of war\nand the shadow of debt. These two forces, labor and capital\u2014which, to\nborrow an image from the ancient myths, \u1f08\u03bd\u03ac\u03b3\u03ba\u03b7 or _Necessitas_ seems\nto have linked together in iron bonds\u2014mutually hostile yet inseparable\nco-laborers in the work of human progress, are preparing to try their\nstrength in the New World as they have done in the Old. The first\nmurmurs of that contest which it was deemed republican institutions\ncould for ever avert are plainly heard. Daily observation shows that\nthe laws governing the accumulation of wealth elsewhere\u2014increase\nstimulating increase in a geometrical ratio\u2014are not suspended here.\n\u201cThe rich are growing richer, the poor poorer.\u201d Any of the great daily\nnewspapers need only to be looked at from week to week and month to\nmonth to find the growing record of strikes, the agitation of labor,\nthe increase of pauperism. The glory of the country, its greatest\nsource of prosperity, has had in it an element of weakness. That rich\nand wide domain, which invited immigration, postponed, but has not\nbeen able eventually to stay, the aggregation of surplus\nlabor\u2014especially on the two seaboards\u2014which everywhere becomes the\nbond-slave of capital, and fights its battles against free labor. In a\nword, politics, the barriers of merely political _pronunciamientos_,\nhave yielded in the United States, as elsewhere, to those primal laws\nof supply and demand which govern the wages of labor. We are\nassimilating to the economic conditions of Europe. A revolution has\ntaken place during the course of the last quarter of a century in the\nindustrial features of this country. The flux and reflux both of labor\nand capital between America and Europe are instant and inevitable.\nHenceforward the contest between them will be fought out on the old\nconditions, little or not at all affected by political or\u2014what is the\nsame thing\u2014sentimental considerations. Here, then, is a problem for\nthe statesmen of this age widely differing from that which engaged the\nattention of the fathers of the Constitution, yet like it in this:\nthat the successful solution of each aims at the amelioration of the\ncondition of mankind. One was political; the other is, and will be,\nsocial, and may be regarded as a sequel to, and complement of, the\nfirst.\n\nMust we sink into the old ruts along which labor has slowly and\npainfully dragged its burdens for ages in Europe? Is there no help for\nthis Sisyphus? Must the stone roll down the hill again, after having\nmounted so near the top? Or is it possible that the light which the\nfounders of this republic set up as a beacon for the political\nregeneration of mankind one hundred years ago may be rekindled in the\nsame land in a succeeding age to lead the way to the regeneration of\nlabor? It is a task for the highest, the most Christian, the most\nCatholic statesmanship. The church, faithful to its great _r\u00f4le_ of\nemancipator or manumitter, which it took up, in advance of the age, in\nthe darkest eclipse of the declension of the Roman Empire, and has\nnever since abandoned, will be found again in the van of this\nmovement. Labor and capital, which, left to themselves, would rend\neach other, may find in its arbitrament a truce\u2014peace\u2014harmonious\nworking.\n\nIs the hope that this republic shall be the first to utter to Europe\nand the world some grand maxims in social economy, as one hundred\nyears ago it did in politics, chimerical? By its realization we shall\nbe able to avert from this country the atheistic commune which is\nthreatening to ravage Europe, or to meet it and defeat it should it\ncome.\n\nWise action must be the result of good information. Such a work,\ntherefore, as this of Dr. Young\u2019s on _Labor in Europe and America_ is\na valuable auxiliary to those who like to know what they have to deal\nwith before moving in any matter. It is a bulky volume of over eight\nhundred pages octavo of closely-printed matter; but it is not so\nappalling as it looks, the number of countries surveyed and the\ndiversity of the conditions of labor presented making it interesting\neven to the general reader. Dr. Young\u2019s position as chief of the\nUnited States Bureau of Statistics has given him exceptional\nadvantages and facilities for obtaining information in the preparation\nof such a work, and it is fair to say that he appears to have availed\nhimself of them with great industry and ability. It is, in fact, the\nwork of a specialist who is devoted to his subject, and is therefore\n_prim\u00e2 facie_ worthy of attentive consideration. Nor does it fail in\ngreat part to make good its pretensions. Yet it has all the faults of\nthe current works of the infant science of statistics. It jams\neverything into columns of tabular statements, and seeks to draw\ninfallible averages and wide-sweeping deductions from them which\ncannot be always sustained on closer scrutiny. Observation is\neverywhere too limited, the conditions of society and of individual\nexistence and labor too minutely diversified and shifting, to be toted\nup like a sum in addition by a calculating machine. Were we to listen\nto the statisticians, however, we would displace the Pope and put them\nin his chair. They would feel quite at ease there, and the\ninfallibility they shake their heads at in Pio Nono would fit them to\na charm. Like the jailer in _Monte Christo_, they would blot out all\nindividuality and number every one and everything 1, 2, 3. But man is\ntoo stubbornly self-willed ever to be made the term of an equation.\n\nHow different, how inferior, such a work as this, for instance, of Dr.\nYoung\u2019s\u2014comprehensive and well digested as it truly is\u2014to any one of\nhis great namesake\u2019s in the last century, Arthur Young, who, more\njustly than M. Adolphe Quetelet, deserves the title of the \u201cfather of\nmodern statistics.\u201d One is like the Turkey carpet that Macaulay speaks\nof in his criticism on Montgomery, which contains indeed all the\ncolors that are to be found in a masterpiece of painting, but is fit\nonly for its own uses; the other is a picture instinct with life. The\nold method of personal, detailed, and necessarily limited observation,\nwhile it excelled in picturesqueness, gave at the same time solid,\naccurate, special information which the hasty generalizations of the\npresent day too often miss. The latter confuse the mind by their\nimmense array of figures.\n\nAgain, Dr. Young has given, we think, a disproportionate share of\nattention to Europe, Asia, and even Africa\u2014occupying in all over seven\nhundred pages with his account of labor in those countries, while he\nhandles the subject in the United States and Canada in just one\nhundred pages. His explanation is that his work is intended chiefly\nfor circulation in the United States, but this explanation is\nunsatisfactory. His long introductory history of labor from the\nremotest times, compiled, as it plainly is, from the works of European\nscholars within everybody\u2019s reach, and his view, chiefly at second\nhand, from the reports of American consuls, of the state of labor in\nEurope, are manifestly inferior, both in interest and authority, to\nthe copious original works of the statisticians of particular foreign\ncountries; while his history of American labor and presentation of its\nexisting conditions, which ought to have given its real value to his\nwork, are extremely meagre and superficial. His own tour through the\nmanufacturing centres of England and the Continent appears from his\nstatements to have been of too flying a nature to yield any very\nauthoritative results. But we wish it to be distinctly understood that\nwhile the plan of Dr. Young\u2019s work, and, in some respects, its\nexecution, appear to us defective, we are by no means disposed to\nundervalue the great utility of what he has accomplished in thus\npresenting to the American reader in compact form a survey of the\nhistory of labor down to our own times. It is only from a study of the\nsubject in its widest aspects that an intelligent comprehension of the\nfactors of the problems before us in America can be arrived at.\n\nDr. Young begins by a review of the origin of slavery and gradual\ndevelopment of wage labor, following its thread through the rise and\ndecline of the ancient empires of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The\nconquest and carrying off of alien races for the uses of manual labor,\nwhile their conquerors followed the profession of arms, was the most\nfruitful source of slavery in ancient times. This species of slavery\nis still found in Africa. It was long ago extinguished in Europe. It\nwas crippled in America by the suppression of the slave trade, and has\nfinally disappeared in the United States by the emancipation of the\nnegro race. On the other hand, we have never had in this country the\npredial slavery which is bound to the soil and digs the ground it\noriginally sprang from, of which the last great example is vanishing\nfrom Russia under the benignant edicts of Alexander II. But there is\nno doubt that that form would have developed itself in the United\nStates from negro slavery if the distinction of color could have been\nannihilated. It was already tending in that direction when the war\nintervened.\n\nWe must pass over Dr. Young\u2019s account of labor under the feudal\nsystem, but we cannot help noting the prejudice he seems to share with\nthe vulgar against the monks. To read his pages, one would necessarily\nbe led to infer that the clergy were among the worst oppressors of the\npoor; that they ground their unhappy serfs, and were the allies of the\nnobles and military commanders in keeping down the working classes.\nThat all this _farrago_ of calumny is directly the reverse of the\ntruth is now so universally admitted by students of those ages that it\nis needless to enter into the question, nor would our space permit us\nto do so. It will suffice to quote Hallam, who, while opposed to the\nprinciples upon which monasteries are founded, calls those of the\nmiddle ages \u201cgreen spots in the wilderness where the feeble and the\npersecuted could find refuge.\u201d[28] And again, speaking of the\ndevastation of immense tracts by war, he says: \u201cWe owe the\nagricultural restoration of the great part of Europe to the\nmonks.\u201d[29] It is singular that such testimony is omitted by Dr.\nYoung. It would be still more singular if it had escaped his\nobservation. His admissions are as ridiculous as his omissions. In a\nfoot-note of a single line, which is lost in the midst of two chapters\non the subject, he says: \u201cIt is admitted that the abbots were most\nindulgent landlords.\u201d This is as if a writer on the woollen\nmanufacture of the present day should devote a hundred pages to the\nknitting-needles of the old women in our country towns, and inform his\nreaders in a one-line footnote: \u201cSteam machinery was also used in this\nage in the manufacture of woollens.\u201d The monastery was as\ndistinctively the economic feature of the civilization of the middle\nages as the steam-engine is of our times. Each played the same part in\nits development. It is just as easy to be blind to one as to the\nother.\n\nPassing over the period included between Elizabeth and George III.,\nand the early days of what Dr. Young aptly terms the \u201cera of\nmachinery,\u201d we come down to the consideration of the organization and\nprices of labor, the rates of wages and cost of subsistence, and the\nhabits of the working classes in England at the present day. These are\nfruitful themes, and are treated of in detail. We will endeavor to\npresent a few items of comparison, from the statistics given in\nconnection with them, with those afforded later in the case of the\nUnited States.\n\nWhat we have said about the change that has taken place in the\nconditions of labor in the United States is shown by Dr. Young\u2019s\naccount of the trades-unions of the United Kingdom. Instead of, as\nformerly, maintaining their position on a totally different and higher\nplane than European workmen, American mechanics now take the law, in\nmany cases, from English organizations. For instance, the \u201cAmalgamated\nSociety of Engineers,\u201d a union including machinists, millwrights,\nsmiths, and pattern-makers, and numbering at the close of 1874 about\n45,000 members, had 30 branches in the United States at the end of\n1873, with an aggregate membership of 1,405. These branches were\nspread over every manufacturing city of the first or second class in\nthe Union. Five branches were established in Canada. Some idea of the\npower of such a society, apart from its mere roll of membership, may\nbe gathered from its annual statements of the account of its\naccumulated fund. Its balance on hand at the close of 1873 amounted to\n\u00a3200,923 1s. 6\u00bed. Its expenditure during the same year amounted to\n\u00a367,199 17s., 5\u00bdd., including such items as telegrams, banking\nexpenses, delegations, grants to other trades, parliamentary\ncommittees, gas-stokers defence fund\u2014disclosing, in fact, all the\nincidents of a powerful and active organization.\n\nThe \u201cAmalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners\u201d has 265 branches,\n14 of which are in the United States. The membership, however, appears\nto be small in this country, numbering only 445 men. The governmental\norganization of societies of this class is very elaborate and\ncentralizing in character. Monthly reports are received from all the\nbranches, including those in the United States. For instance, the\nmonthly reports of the Amalgamated Carpenters\u2019 Society for January,\n1875, from the United States, represent the state of trade as \u201cbad,\u201d\n\u201cdull,\u201d or \u201cslack,\u201d with the exception of San Francisco, where it is\nreported \u201cgood,\u201d and Newark as \u201cimproving.\u201d Although no data are here\ngiven, it is not to be doubted that this system of reports will be, or\nhas already been, extended to such organizations as the \u201cMiners\u2019\nNational Association,\u201d numbering 140,000, and the National\nAgricultural Laborers\u2019 Union, numbering 60,000, thus seriously\naffecting the immigration not only of skilled but of agricultural\nlabor. In fact, we are already aware that personal reports have been\nmade by Joseph Arch and others, some of them not favorable. The\nformidable character of the trades-unions of Great Britain is seen by\nthe mere statement of their aggregate membership, which Dr. Young\nestimates, with all deductions, at 800,000 in January, 1875.\n\nThe question of strikes in England is too large a one to be entered\ninto here. Dr. Young gives a brief history of the great Preston strike\nof 1836, of the Nottingham, the Staffordshire Colliery, the Pottery,\nand the Yorkshire strikes, all of which proved unsuccessful after\nterrible suffering on the part of the workmen and great loss on both\nsides had been endured. A short account is also given of the\nunsuccessful \u201cAmalgamated Engineers\u2019\u201d strike of 1851-52, and the\nprotracted engineers\u2019 strike on the Tyne, 1871-72, for the nine hours\u2019\nsystem, which resulted in a compromise. Experience has demonstrated of\nstrikes, 1st, that they are usually unsuccessful; 2d, that they lessen\nthe employer\u2019s ability to maintain even the wages paid before the\nstrike, by giving an advantage to his competitor in other countries\nwhich he cannot always recover; 3d, that where they are fought out to\nthe end they cause suffering and develop disease in the weak, and in\nwomen and children, which no wages can pay for or cure; 4th, that they\ndeteriorate the character of the men engaged in them by promoting a\nfeeling of lawlessness and desire for stimulation even among the best\ndisposed; 5th, that, even if successful, there is a greater dead loss\nin money spent than is recouped by the advance gained in wages. These\nconclusions are now beginning to be so well understood in\nEngland\u2014where, from more perfect organization, strikes are larger and\ncost more to both parties than in the United States\u2014that the chairman\nof the Trades-Union Congress of the United Kingdom, held at Liverpool\nin January, 1875, in his opening address referred to strikes as a mode\nof settling differences with employers which ought to be avoided by\nall practicable means, and resorted to only in the most extreme\ncases\u2014an opinion afterwards embodied in a resolution which was adopted\nby the Congress. The principle of arbitration has already been tried\nsuccessfully in several important instances.\n\nDr. Young illustrates the rates of wages in the United Kingdom by\ntables. He accompanies the tables with the explanation that \u201cin a very\nlarge number of occupations the hands are paid by the piece or by\nweight, and the actual rate of wages would not indicate the sum an\noperative would take home with him at the end of the week as the price\nof his labor. The sums stated in all these tables are therefore the\naverage sums earned per week, whether the labor be paid by the day or\nthe piece.\u201d The same explanation holds good for the United States. Of\nthese tabular statements our space will only permit us to give two or\nthree, to which we shall subjoin the rates of wages in the United\nStates in the same occupations by way of comparison. The British pound\nsterling is computed at $4 84, and the shilling at 24 cents.\n\n\nWAGES IN COTTON-MILLS.\n\nThe reduction in the hours of labor and the increase in the rates of\nwages in English cotton-mills are shown in the following table:\n\n_Statement showing the average weekly earnings of operatives in\ncotton-mills during the years 1839, 1849, 1859, and 1873._\n\n -----------------------+--------------------+-------------+-------------\n | | WORK OF | WORK OF\n | | 69 HOURS. | 60 HOURS.\n OCCUPATION. | SEX. +------+------+------+------\n | | 1839.| 1849.| 1859.| 1873.\n -----------------------+--------------------+------+------+------+------\n Steam-engine tenders, | |$5 76 |$5 72 |$7 20 |$7 68\n Warehousemen, | | 4 32 | 4 80 | 5 28 | 6 24\n Carding: | | | | |\n Stretchers, |Women and girls, | 1 68 | 1 80 | 1 92 | 2 88\n Strippers, |Young men, | 2 64 | 2 88 | 3 36 | 4 56\n Overlookers, | | 6 00 | 6 72 | 6 72 | 7 68\n Spinning: | | | | |\n Winders on | | 3 84 | 4 32 | 4 80 | 6 00\n self-acting mules, | | | | |\n Piecers, |Women and young men,| 1 94 | 2 16 | 2 40 | 3 84\n Overlookers, | | 4 80 | 5 28 | 6 24 | 7 20\n Reeling: | | | | |\n Throttle-rulers, |Women, | 2 16 | 2 28 | 2 28 | 3 00\n Warpers, | | 5 28 | 5 28 | 5 52 | 6 24\n Sizers, | | 5 52 | 5 52 | 6 00 | 7 20\n Doubling: | | | | |\n Doublers, |Women, | 1 68 | 1 80 | 2 16 | 3 00\n Overlookers, | | 5 76 | 6 00 | 6 72 | 7 68\n -----------------------+--------------------+------+------+------+------\n\n\u201cOther branches show the same ratio of advance.\u201d The following\nstatement was furnished to Dr. Young by the proprietors of the\ncotton-mills of Messrs. Shaw, Jardin & Co., of Manchester, operating\n250,000 spindles, and producing yarns from No. 60 to 220, sewing\ncottons, lace yarn, crape yarn, and two-fold warp yarns:\n\n_Average wages (per week of 59 hours) of persons employed in 1872._\n\n OCCUPATION. WAGES.\n\n Carding:\n Overseer, $10 89\n Second hand, 7 26\n Drawing-frame tenders, 2 66\n Speeder-tenders, 3 14\n Grinders, 5 32\n Strippers, 5 32\n Spinning:\n Overseer, 14 52\n Mule-spinners, $13 31 to 15 73\n Mule-backside piecers, 2 42 to 3 87\n Repair-shop, engine-room, etc.:\n Foreman or overseer, 14 52\n Wood and iron workers, 7 74\n Engineer, 9 68\n Laborers, 5 32\n\nThese tables will be found on pp. 330-31. Now let us compare the wages\nthere given with those paid to the same class of operatives in the\nUnited States. On pages 750-51, Dr. Young gives a table showing the\naverage weekly wages paid in American cotton-mills in various States\nin 1869 and 1874. We select Rhode Island, for the reason that the rate\nof wages there appears to be a good average, being lower than is paid\nin Massachusetts and higher than in New York.\n\n_Wages in cotton-mills (weekly average)._\n\n ---------------------------------+-----------------\n | RHODE ISLAND.\n OCCUPATION. +--------+--------\n | 1869. | 1874.\n ---------------------------------+--------+--------\n Carding: | |\n Overseer, | $17 00 | $17 00\n Picker-tenders, | 7 80 | 7 72\n Railway-tenders, | 3 50 |[B]4 47\n Drawing-frame tenders, | 5 00 |[C]5 40\n Speeder-tenders, | 6 12 |[C]7 48\n Picker-boy, | 6 25 |[A]4 03\n Grinders, | 9 08 | 9 10\n Strippers, | 7 26 | 7 50\n Spinning: | |\n Overseer, | 15 60 | 17 69\n Mule-spinners, | 9 50 | 10 16\n Mule-backside piecers, | 2 85 |[A]2 52\n Frame-spinners, | 5 00 |[B]3 70\n Dressing: | |\n Overseer, | 13 75 | 14 80\n Second hand, | 9 00 | 11 83\n Spoolers, | 5 00 |[C]4 32\n Warpers, | 5 75 |[C]6 98\n Drawers and twisters, | 5 00 |\n Dressers, | 11 25 | 13 11\n Weaving: | |\n Overseer, | 18 33 | 18 00\n Weavers, | 8 00 |[C]7 91\n Drawing-in hands, | 7 50 |[C]7 25\n Repair-shop, engine-room, etc.: | |\n Foreman, | 18 00 | 15 79\n Wood-workers, | 15 00 | 13 58\n Iron-workers, | 13 16 | 13 68\n Engineer, | 18 00 | 13 71\n Laborers, | 9 33 | 8 59\n Overseer in cloth-room, | 15 00 | 12 42\n ---------------------------------+--------+--------\n\n [A] Boys.\n [B] Females.\n [C] Part females.\n\nIt will appear, therefore, from an examination of the tables that the\naverage weekly wages in Rhode Island cotton-mills (which fairly\nrepresent those of the rest of the country) are in most cases from a\nthird to nearly double those paid in Manchester. But it will also be\nobserved that, whereas English wages appear to have increased steadily\nin every grade, the American rates show a decided tendency downwards.\nThe highest skilled American labor holds its own with difficulty, but\nin the lower grades cheaper labor has been extensively employed since\n1869. Dr. Young\u2019s explanation must also be borne in mind in reading\nthese tables\u2014viz., that the labor is frequently piece-work. In some\ninstances the English operatives also employ their own helpers.\n\nBut do these figures really represent the present rate of wages?\nDoubtless the average given is a fair one. But any one whose attention\nwas directed to the strike at the Lonsdale Mills, R. I., January,\n1875, must have noticed that wages are in reality much lower than here\ngiven. Into the merits of that controversy we do not enter\u2014we wish\nmerely to arrive at the figures. The company would appear to have done\neverything they could for the comfort and improvement of the condition\nof their hands, and the reduction complained of probably could not be\navoided in the then depressed state of the market. The special\ncorrespondent of the New York _Herald_ of that date gives the\nstatement of the superintendent, who said that the weavers before the\nreduction were receiving fifty cents per cut (wide goods), and with\nthe reduction of 10 per cent. the price paid would be forty-five cents\nper cut; or, in other words, they would earn about $1 a day. Taking\nthe statements of the operatives, it was claimed that many of the men\nwere making only ninety-six cents a day before the strike, and the\nwomen sixty-five cents. Those figures, therefore, in the case of one\nof the largest companies, represent labor as already reduced below\nEnglish rates. This strike also afforded an illustration of the\nstatement, made in the beginning of this article, of the instant ebb\nand flow of labor, as well as capital, which now characterizes\nindustry in the United States. The operatives were about half English\nand half Irish (the overseers alone being American), and the first\nmovement of those who had enough money to do so was to return to\nEngland or Ireland.\n\nNotwithstanding the readiness of operatives to strike the moment the\nopportunity offers\u2014a readiness perfectly well known and appreciated by\ntheir employers\u2014and notwithstanding also, it may be said, the\ndetermination of employers to regulate wages by the laws of trade, it\nis nevertheless one of the most noble and encouraging features of the\nindustrial pursuits of this age that the employers in many\ninstances\u2014and those generally the chief\u2014show that they intend that\ntheir minds shall not be diverted from the purpose of improving the\ncondition of their workmen, both mentally and materially. It is well\nthat the mild voice of Christian charity should still be able to make\nitself heard in the midst of this whir of iron machinery.\n\nIn the condition of no kind of labor does the United States compare\nmore favorably with England and the Continent of Europe than in\nagriculture. Here the respective wages paid hardly admit of\ncomparison. But it is not to be lost sight of that, wretched as the\ncondition of the English agricultural laborer may appear to us, his\nway of viewing things is not ours. The rough, arduous, irregular,\nexposed labor of the Western backwoodsman, or even farmer, appears to\nhim more terrible than the dull, stated servitude, with its beer in\nthe present and its work-house in the future, that shock our free\nthought. The report of the delegates of the Agricultural Union was\ndecidedly unfavorable in the case of Canada, where the conditions of\nlabor do not essentially vary from those of the Northwestern States.\nThis question of agricultural labor is, however, too vast a one to be\ntreated of here. Dr. Young\u2019s reports are very valuable, but take,\nperhaps, the American view of the question too much for granted.[30]\n\n\nWAGES OF MECHANICS AND SKILLED ARTISANS IN GREAT BRITAIN.\n\nThis branch of his subject is copiously treated by Dr. Young in\nconnection with his tour through the chief manufacturing cities of the\nUnited Kingdom in 1872. From the numerous tables presented we select\none under the head of \u201cSkilled trades in London, weekly wages in 1871\u201d\n(page 242) as being the most comprehensive.\n\nThe average _daily_ wages of persons employed in the same trades in\nthe United States in 1874 was from $2 25 for shoemakers to $3 33 for\nbricklayers or masons (pp. 745-747); or, in other words, from 50 per\ncent. to 100 per cent. more than in England.\n\n_Statement showing the established rates of wages obtained by members\nof the various trades societies of the metropolis, in summer and\nwinter, compiled under the supervision of Alsager Hay Hill, LL.B._\n\n ----------------------+----------+--------------------\n | NUMBER | RATE OF WAGES.\n TRADES. | OF |----------+---------\n | MEMBERS. | _Sum\u2019r_ | _Winter_\n ----------------------+----------+----------+---------\n Bakers, | -- | $3 87 | $5 08\n Basket-makers, | -- | 3 63 | 4 84\n Boat-builders, | -- | 8 47 | 7 26\n Bookbinders, | 702 | 7 26 | 7 26\n Brass-cock finishers, | -- | 8 47 | 8 47\n Brass-finishers, | -- | 8 47 | 8 47\n Bricklayers, | 2,386 | 16[D] | 16[D]\n Brush-makers, | 400 | [E] | [E]\n Cabinet-makers, | 500 | 7 26 | 7 26\n Cabinet-makers, deal, | 450 | 7 99 | 7 99\n Carpenters, | 4,740 | 9 14 | 9 14\n Carvers and gilders, | 50 | 4 84 | 4 84\n Coach-builders, | 25 | 9 68 | 9 68\n Coach-makers, | 320 | 9 68 | 9 68\n Coach-smiths, | 200 | 4 84 | 12 58\n Coach-trimmers and | | |\n makers, | -- | 6 05 | 6 05\n Compositors, | 3,550 | 4 84 | 8 47\n Cork-cutters, | 100 | 7 26 | 7 26\n Cordwainers, | 3,678 | [F] | [F]\n Curriers, | 1,900 | 8 47 | 8 47\n Engineers, | 33,539 | {16[D] | 16[D]\n | | {18[D] | 16[D]\n Farriers, | 220 | 9 68 | 12 10\n French polishers, | 30 | 7 26 | 7 26\n Hammermen, | 80 | 5 81 | 5 81\n Iron-founders and | | |\n moulders, | 7,372 | 9 20 | 9 20\n Letterpress printers, | -- | 7 26 | 7 26\n Painters, house, | -- | 14[D] | 14[D]\n Pianoforte makers, | 400 | 16[D] | 16[D]\n Plasterers, | -- | 14[D] | 14[D]\n Plumbers, | -- | 18[D] | 18[D]\n Pressmen, printers, | 60 | 7 26 | 7 26\n Skinners, | 225 | 7 26 | 7 26\n Steam-engine makers, | 100 | {16[D] | 16[D]\n | | {18[D] | 18[D]\n Stone-masons, | 17,193 | 9 14 | 7 82\n ----------------------+----------+----------+---------\n\n[D] Per hour.\n[E] Piece-work.\n[F] Uncertain.\n\n\nPURCHASING POWER OF WAGES.\n\nBut we cannot stop at the mere figures in dollars and cents. In this\nconnection we must consider what those wages will buy in each\ncountry\u2014what is their purchasing power:\n\n \u201cIf a workman in Birmingham\u201d says Dr. Young, \u201creceive for\n fifty-four hours\u2019 labor 30s., or about $8 33 in United\n States currency, and another, of the same occupation, in\n Philadelphia earn $12 50, it would be inaccurate to say that\n the earnings of the latter were 50 per cent. more than those\n of the former. The question is not what is the United States\n equivalent of the thirty British shillings, but what is the\n purchasing power of the wages of the one workman in England\n and of the other in the United States? In other words, how\n much food, clothing, and shelter will the earnings of the\n one purchase as compared with the other?\u201d\n\nFor the solution of this question Dr. Young enters into an\nelaborate analysis of the price of provisions, clothing,\nhouse-rent, etc., in each country. In this we are unable to\nfollow him. But taking the amount paid for board by single men\nand women employed in mechanical labor in the great cities of\nboth countries, the average price paid by men in Great Britain\nranges from $2 50 to $3 50 per week; in the United States, from\n$4 50 to $5 50. For women, in manufacturing cities in England,\nfrom $1 50 to $2 50 per week; in the United States, from $2 50 to\n$3 50. In the great American manufacturing centre, Philadelphia,\nthe average price of mechanics\u2019 board is, for men, $5 per week;\nfor women, $3. But this does not mean a single room for each; in\nmost cases two, in some three, four, and even five, sleep in the\nsame chamber. British workmen probably eat as much meat as\nAmerican workmen, but they have not the same variety of dishes.\nHouse-rent is cheaper in most English cities even than in\nPhiladelphia, where great and commendable efforts have always\nbeen made to provide good and cheap houses for working-men.\nClothing Dr. Young estimates at less than half the price in\nEngland for the laboring classes compared with the United States;\npartly from cheaper rates, and partly from the inferior kind\nBritish workmen consent to wear\u2014fustian or corduroy being the\nmost common material.\n\nWe would wish to follow Dr. Young, if it were possible, into a\ncomparison of the rates of wages and cost of living in the great iron\nand steel works on the Tyne, at Essen, Prussia, and in Philadelphia,\nbut our space is already exceeded. The highest wages earned at the\nworks of Fried. Krupp, Essen, which Dr. Young personally visited in\n1872, were $1 80 for 11 hours\u2019 piece-work. At the same establishment\ndinner (meat and vegetables and coffee) and lodging are supplied to\nunmarried men at $1 18 per week. Bread is an extra charge. Large\nbakeries are attached to the works.\n\nIn the comparison of the general rates of wages and cost of living in\nGreat Britain and the United States, so many and so great diversities\nexist in both countries that it is a hazardous matter to draw general\nconclusions. Stated broadly, it would appear that the rate of wages in\nGreat Britain since 1865 has shown a steady tendency to advance, with\nsome fluctuations, while the cost of living is nearly stationary; in\nthe United States, within the same period of ten years, wages have\nremained stationary or shown a tendency to decline, allowing for the\nfluctuations caused by a depreciated currency, while the cost of\nliving has increased. The commercial depression existing since 1873\nhas affected labor in both countries, but more sensibly in the United\nStates. The great falling off in immigration since 1873 is a\nremarkable and sensitive test of the depreciation of the labor market\nin the United States and the simultaneous rise of wages in Europe.\nFrom the recent report of the New York Emigration Commissioners it\nappears that there were landed at Castle Garden during 1875 84,560\nimmigrants, against 140,041 for 1874 and 294,581 for 1873. The falling\noff has been equally divided among all nationalities. Nor does this\ntell the whole story; for the steamship companies show a very large\nreturn of laborers to Europe during the past year. It is not intended\nto convey the impression by these figures that European emigration has\nfinally stayed its course towards these shores, but it is evident that\nit has received a serious temporary check. It is not the purpose of\nthis paper to investigate what the remedy for this state of things may\nbe. But it may be stated as the conviction of the writer that a mere\nreturn to specie payments, though beneficial, will not do all for the\ncountry that its advocates claim. Something more will be required\u2014that\nis, economy, curtailment of expenses, national and individual\u2014before\nwe can reach bottom. Like youth sometimes, we have temporarily\noutgrown our strength. We have no vast deposits of wealth, the\nhoardings of centuries, to fall back upon like some European\ncountries. We have always lived right up to our income, and have not\nyet adjusted ourselves to our sudden plunge into national debt. Hope\nhas all along buoyed us up to over-production and consequent\nover-expenditure. The supply of labor must equalize itself to the\nnecessary, not speculative, work to be done before it can be\nestablished on a sound basis. Fresh enterprises, promoting renewed\ninflation and over-production, will lead to another collapse. In the\neffort to recuperate, and before a new start can be made on a safe\nroad of prosperity (which it is not doubted will be opened again),\nthose who are already poor will suffer the most, as always has been\nand will be the case. The American working classes will have\neventually to abandon most of those habits of personal expense which\nnow seem to them a matter of course, but which European working-men\nwould regard as extravagant, and to approach nearer to the old-country\nstandard of living.\n\nWe are not able to follow Dr. Young in his researches into the rate of\nwages and cost of subsistence in the various countries of continental\nEurope which he visited. None of them approach so near the American\nstandard as Great Britain. In most of them labor is poorly paid and\nthe working classes live meanly according to our notions, yet\ncontrive, withal, to enjoy a degree of comfort, and even happiness,\nwhich to us seems hard to understand under the circumstances.\n\n\n [27] _Labor in Europe and America: A Special Report on the Rates\n of Wages, the Cost of Subsistence, and the Condition of the\n Working Classes in Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany,\n the other Countries of Europe, and in the United States and\n British America._ By Edward Young, Ph.D., Chief of the\n United States Bureau of Statistics. 1875.\n\n [28] Hallam\u2019s _Middle Ages_, ch. ix. part i.\n\n [29] _Id._ ch. ix. part ii.\n\n [30] $1 a day for laborers was offered by public advertisement in\n February of this year, by the superintendent of the\n Centennial grounds, and men were glad to take it. How\n strange the spectacle in free America\u2014how fruitless and\n disheartening the struggle it portends\u2014when legislation is\n invoked at Albany, in the great State of New York, to keep\n up a fictitious price of labor!\n\n\n\n\nSIR THOMAS MORE.\n\n_A HISTORICAL ROMANCE._ FROM THE FRENCH OF THE PRINCESSE DE CRAON.\n\n\nVI.\n\n\nThere was a castle in Yorkshire whose tall, majestic towers commanded\na view of the country for miles around, rising far above the sombre\ndepths of the ancient forest-trees that covered the hills on which the\ncastle was seated.\n\nA silence like the grave reigned within and around this princely\nhabitation. Merry young pages no longer bounded over balustrades and\nthe walks winding from the drawbridge. The Gothic arches no more\nre-echoed with the noisy clamor of the hounds nor the loud cheering of\nthe young hunters. Rank weeds covered the lofty ramparts and clusters\nof wild flowers swung between their solitary battlements, as though\nnature had struggled to conceal the eternal mourning which they seemed\nfor ever condemned to wear.\n\nA traveller approached the castle and examined with great attention\nthe arches bearing the arms of the earls of Northumberland. He held by\nthe bridle a beautiful horse, covered with sweat and dust, whose\ndrooping head and trembling limbs attested his extreme fatigue.\n\n\u201cThis is certainly the place!\u201d he exclaimed, still looking around him.\n\u201cI recognize the crouching lion of Northumberland!\u201d He knocked loudly\nand waited a long time.\n\nAt length the door opened and an old man appeared before him. \u201cWhat do\nyou want?\u201d he demanded brusquely of the traveller. \u201cIf you ask\nhospitality, you will not be refused; but if you ask to see my master,\nthe Earl of Northumberland, you cannot see him.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is he whom I wish to see,\u201d replied the stranger.\n\nThe old domestic contracted his white eyebrows. \u201cThat cannot be. Since\nthe death of his father he sees nobody.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe old Count of Northumberland dead!\u201d replied Sir Walsh (for it was\nhe).\n\n\u201cAlas! yes, for an entire year. We buried him at Alnwick,\u201d answered\nthe old servant, wiping away a tear.\n\n\u201cGo to your master,\u201d replied Sir Walsh,\u201d and tell him that some one\nasks to see him on the part of the king. I will wait for you here.\u201d\n\n\u201cOn the part of the king!\u201d replied the old servant. \u201cOn the part of\nthe king! That will make a difference, I think, and I do not want you\nto stay here. Follow me.\u201d\n\nAfter fastening the horse to one of the iron rings which were fixed in\nthe wall of the inner court, he led Sir Walsh into the castle. They\ncrossed long courts, then entered magnificent galleries, where they\nsaw arranged, between the Gothic arches which separated the vast and\ndeeply-embrasured windows, the richest armorial trophies of all ages.\nLances, longbows, and javelins filled up the interstices. Shields and\nbucklers, borne in battle by the ancestors of the noble earl, were\neating away with rust, and the festoons of spider-webs which hung from\nthe huge antlers of stag and deer bore witness to the neglect and\nindifference of the master of the castle.\n\nSir Walsh, as he passed along, regarded all these things with an\nadmiration mingled with astonishment. He could not understand the\nstate of abandonment in which he found a habitation that he had always\nheard described as being one of the most magnificent in all England.\nThe delicately-sculptured wainscoting, the costly paintings, the rich\ngilding of the rafters and ceilings, were renowned among artists and\nconsidered as models which they labored to imitate.\n\n\u201cHow singular all this is!\u201d he said to himself. \u201cHow can Lord Percy,\nwhom I have known at court, so brilliant and accomplished, content\nhimself in a place like this, magnificent without doubt, but\nabandoned, desolate, especially since the death of his father? And why\nhas he not returned to court, where his tastes and habits naturally\ncall him?\u201d\n\nWhile absorbed in these reflections Sir Walsh, preceded by his aged\nconductor, entered a large octagonal saloon, gilded all over and\npierced with crosslets on every side, through which poured floods of\nbrilliantly-colored light, reflected from the stained glass with which\nthey were ornamented.\n\nThe view extended very far, and a large river, like a broad belt of\nsilver, wound through the beautiful fields, interspersed with clumps\nof trees that increased still more the beauty of the landscape.\n\nWalsh paused, enraptured with the prospect that met his gaze, and his\nconductor made a sign to him to remain there until he had informed his\nmaster of his arrival.\n\nThe old domestic noiselessly entered Lord Percy\u2019s chamber, and paused\nnear the door in order to observe him; then an expression of profound\nsadness stole over his features and he advanced still more slowly.\n\nSeated in the embrasure of a large window, and always dressed in the\ndeepest mourning, Lord Percy scarcely ever left his room. Surrounded\nby a great number of books and papers, he appeared to be absorbed in\nreading, and the messenger was quite near before he was aware of his\npresence.\n\n\u201cMy lord!\u201d he said in a very low and gentle voice, \u201cthere is a\nstranger here who wishes to speak to you.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou know very well that I receive nobody, Henry,\u201d said the Earl of\nNorthumberland without turning his head. \u201cHave you asked him his\nbusiness?\u201d\n\n\u201cMost assuredly,\u201d replied Henry with a lofty and important air. \u201cI\nknow it, too. He comes here on the part of the king\u2014of the king\nhimself,\u201d he repeated.\n\n\u201cOn the part of the king!\u201d cried Northumberland, turning pale. \u201cOf the\nking! What does _he_ want with me? Have I not done enough for him? Is\nhe not satisfied with having destroyed all my hopes, all my happiness,\nall my future? Of what consequence to him now is my existence?\u201d\n\nAnd, overwhelmed with the weight of his afflictions, he folded his\narms on his breast and forgot to give his servant an answer.\n\n\u201cMy dear son,\u201d murmured the old man softly, after a moment of silent\nattention, \u201care you going now to torment yourself again, and may be,\nafter all, without any cause?\u201d For he dreaded beyond expression\nanything that might arouse or excite what he termed his master\u2019s\n\u201cmanias.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my old foster-father, do not be alarmed!\u201d replied Northumberland,\nwho knew very well what was passing in his mind. \u201cGo, and bring in\nthis stranger.\u201d\n\nHe then arose, in a state of agitation he was unable to control.\n\nHenry soon returned, bringing Sir Walsh.\n\nOn entering, the latter was prepared to give Northumberland a joyful\nsurprise and fold him in his arms; but on being suddenly ushered into\nhis presence he recoiled in astonishment. Could this be the gay and\nbrilliant young man he had known, always cheerful, always affable,\nwhose handsome face and charming manner attracted all around him?\nDressed in the deepest mourning, which by contrast increased the\npallor of his face, his expression anxious and haggard, a painful\nconstraint was observable in all his movements.\n\n\u201cYou do not recognize me, Lord Percy,\u201d said Sir Walsh at last. \u201cThere\nwas a time when you called me your friend, and I was proud to bear the\ntitle!\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! no, my dear Walsh,\u201d replied Northumberland, \u201cI could not have\nforgotten you. Rather say you no longer recognize me; for time has\npassed like a dream. Since you saw me last I have been transformed\ninto another person. But tell me, why does the name of him who sends\nyou come to invade my solitude? What have I done to him to bring him\nhere again to disturb my ashes? For am I not already dead? Does this\ncastle not strike you as being strangely like a tomb, to which no one\nany more finds entrance?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I think,\u201d said Sir Walsh, astonished at this outburst and forcing\na smile, \u201cthat some young girl, descended from her palace of clouds to\nthe midst of your abode, draws around her crowds of your astonished\nvassals. They admire her snowy robes and crown of stars.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied Northumberland gloomily; \u201cno, never! No female inhabits\nthis place. She who ought to have ruled here will never come, and she\nwho did rule would not remain!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean by that riddle?\u201d inquired Walsh. \u201cWhat! is the\nCountess of Northumberland no longer here?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, she is no longer here,\u201d replied Lord Percy. And he passed his\nhand over his eyes, unable to conceal the emotion all these questions\nexcited; for, in spite of himself, the sight of an old friend had\nagitated him to the depths of his soul. Man was not made for solitude;\nhe is a social being; he has need of his fellow-men to love them, or\neven to complain of and to them; and for many long, weary months no\nhuman being had knocked at his door or come to offer a word of\nconsolation.\n\nWalsh regarded him with increasing solicitude; at length, unable to\nrestrain his feelings, he threw his arms around his neck.\n\n\u201cMy dear Percy,\u201d he exclaimed, \u201cwhat has happened to you? You seem\noverwhelmed with sorrow. I felt so happy in anticipation of surprising\nyou by this visit, and again seeing you at the head of all the young\nnobles of the north, loved as you were among us, the life of the chase\nand of all those sports in which you excelled! Alas! my friend, what\nmisfortune has befallen you? Tell me; for I swear I will never more\nleave you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat misfortune has befallen me, do you ask, my dear old friend?\u201d\nreplied Northumberland, deeply moved. \u201cYes, you are ignorant of all.\nAnd what does it matter? It was irreparable. But tell me the cause\nthat brought you to me. Why has the king sent you hither?\u201d\n\n\u201cFor nothing that need give you the least uneasiness,\u201d replied\nWalsh\u2014\u201ca commission readily executed, and in which you must assist me.\nWe will return to this later. Tell me first of yourself\u2014of yourself\nalone, my friend\u2014and of your father.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy father? He died in my arms more than a year ago without suffering.\nI have done what he wished,\u201d continued Northumberland, his eyes\nfilling with tears. \u201cI have nothing with which to reproach myself on\nthat account. I have obeyed him. Yes,\u201d he added, fixing his eyes on\nthe floor, \u201cthat is the only thought that ever comes to console me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not understand you!\u201d replied Walsh. \u201cSpeak more explicitly;\nexplain what you mean.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, know, then,\u201d replied Northumberland in an altered voice, and\nmaking a violent effort to control himself\u2014\u201cknow that for a long time\nI loved Anne Boleyn\u2014yes, Anne Boleyn! We were betrothed. The day, the\nhour, for our marriage were fixed, when the king tore her from me for\never! In his jealous hatred he commanded Cardinal Wolsey, to whose\nhousehold I belonged, to summon me before him, and forbid me in his\nname dreaming, for an instant, of marrying her; but on my refusing to\nobey he appealed to my father, who ordered me to marry immediately a\ndaughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, under penalty of visiting upon me\nall the weight of his indignation if I hesitated for one moment. In\nvain I tried to resist; my father was furious and threatened me with\nhis curse. I at length submitted, and you have all assisted at the\nfestivities of my marriage, and, seeing my new bride, have pierced my\nheart with your congratulations and assurances of my future happiness.\nI then left the court. I brought her here; and that young wife, justly\nwounded by my melancholy, absurd and ridiculous in her eyes, wearied\nof the retired life I compelled her to lead, left me very soon after\nmy father\u2019s death and returned to her family. And\u2014shall I acknowledge\nit?\u2014sensible of the wrong I have done her, I am quite reconciled to\nbeing forgotten and finding myself abandoned and alone. I have\ndismissed successively all my pages and valets, retaining only the\noldest servants belonging to my house. Henry, my old foster-father,\ntakes entire charge and control of everything. Misfortune and sorrow\nhave made me prematurely old; I need the companionship of the aged,\nand not of youth. I love to hear around me the slow and faltering step\nof a man ready to sink into the grave; he seems to hasten the hour for\nme. His soul, cold and subdued, soothes and refreshes mine. He never\nlaughs; never comes to tell me of a thousand chimerical projects, a\nthousand vain hopes, recalling those in which I have indulged in days\npast. His presence alone would be sufficient to expel them! And yet,\nnotwithstanding all this, the sorrow that slumbers in my soul is often\nsuddenly aroused, more wild and insupportable than ever. Wearied by\nlong vigils and sleepless nights, I sometimes imagine I see Queen\nCatherine enter my chamber; the reflection of her gold-embroidered\nrobes sheds a dazzling light around her. Her ladies follow. I hear the\nrustling of their heavy trains; I hear them laugh and converse\ntogether about the tournament of the day before. Then all becomes\ndark! Anne Boleyn turns her eyes away from me; she is envious of the\nqueen; pride, ambition, stifle in her heart every sentiment of\naffection. Then my agony is renewed. I weep, I sigh, and the shadows\nvanish into nothingness.\n\n\u201cWhat happiness can any one expect to find in the honors of a usurped\nrank? Ah! my friend, I have seen, and felt, and suffered everything.\nOur faults are the sole cause of all our afflictions. Therefore, far\nfrom feeling incensed at the injustice of men, I no more recognize an\nenemy among them. My heart goes out with deepest pity toward the\nsuffering ones of earth, and I would gladly be able to console them\nall.\u201d\n\nSaying this, Northumberland paused, overcome by emotion.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d at length replied Walsh, who had listened with rapt attention,\n\u201chow limited are our judgments! Had I been asked the name of the\nhappiest mortal living, I should have given yours without a moment\u2019s\nhesitation.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know it, and have been told it a hundred times,\u201d replied\nNorthumberland earnestly. \u201cMany men have had their marriage relations\ndissolved, their fortunes changed, and have still borne up\ncourageously under their misfortunes; but with me it cannot be thus.\nIf Anne Boleyn had married another lord of the court\u2014well, I might\nhave been reconciled. I should at least have been spared the outrage\nof her dishonor; for her dishonor is mine! I had so taken her heart\ninto my own, united my life so entirely with hers, in order not to\nsuffer the slightest stain to touch it, that there is no torture equal\nto that which I now endure. Every moment I feel, I suffer; I hear the\nwhisperings of this infamous and widespread report which her foolish\nvanity alone prevents her from discovering around her.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear Percy,\u201d replied Walsh, \u201cyou cannot imagine how much you\nexaggerate all this! The solitude in which you live has excited you to\nsuch a degree that you almost imagine she bears the name of Countess\nof Northumberland.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d he exclaimed excitedly, \u201cshe bears it in my heart; and there,\nat least, no one can dispute her right!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd poor Lady Shrewsbury?\u201d replied Walsh.\n\n\u201cLady Shrewsbury,\u201d cried Northumberland, \u201cis the victim, like myself,\nof compulsion! Never have I regarded her as my wife. If the king had\ndemanded my head, I should not have been bound to obey; but a father\u2019s\ncurse is a weight that cannot be supported! My obstinacy would have\nbrought upon his tottering old age the bitterness of poverty and want.\nNo, no; that is my only excuse, and Lady Shrewsbury herself would have\nforgiven me had she known my sorrow.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear Percy,\u201d interrupted Walsh anxiously, \u201cI am deeply grieved to\nfind you in this condition; your heart misleads you, and I perceive\nthe commission with which I am charged will be anything but agreeable.\nHowever, what can I do? Here,\u201d he added, unfolding a letter and a roll\nof written parchment, from which hung the king\u2019s seals, \u201ctake and\nread.\u201d He preferred giving him the order to read rather than have the\nunpleasant task of verbally announcing what he now foresaw would cause\nhim such extreme grief. Northumberland had no sooner glanced over it\nthan the parchment fell from his hands.\n\n\u201cWho? I?\u201d he cried. \u201cI go to arrest the archbishop at the very moment\nwhen all the nobility of these parts are assembled to assist at the\nceremony of his installation! I, formerly of his household, who have\nspent all the happiest years of my youth with him\u2014charge _me_ with\nsuch a commission? The king wishes, then, to have me regarded with\nhorror and detestation by all the inhabitants of this country! Know,\nmy friend,\u201d continued Percy, fixing his flashing eyes upon Walsh,\n\u201cthat since Wolsey came here he has made himself universally loved and\ncherished. He is no longer the vain, imperious man whom you knew;\nadversity has entirely changed him. He occupies himself only in doing\ngood, reconciling family differences, and relieving the distressed.\nAnd this gorgeous entry, which causes the king so much uneasiness, he\nwas to have made on foot with the utmost possible simplicity.\n\n\u201cFor a long time Wolsey hesitated, entirely for fear of seeing his\nenemies array themselves against him; but his clergy seemed so wounded\nat conduct contrary to the usage of all his predecessors that he at\nlength consented. But see how they deceive the king, and endeavor to\nexcite him against those who least of all merit his displeasure!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat shall I say to you, my dear Northumberland?\u201d replied Walsh.\n\u201cWhen the king issues an order, how can its execution be avoided? All\nthat you say is true beyond doubt, but neither you nor I can do\nanything; it only remains for us to try and accomplish this\ndisagreeable commission with as little noise as possible.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d replied Northumberland, \u201cwhy has he imposed such a commission on\nme? See if even the slightest pleasure of my life is not instantly\nextinguished. I was rejoicing at seeing you, and immediately I am made\nto pay for it.\u201d\n\nHe continued for a long time talking in this manner, when, Walsh\nhaving expressed a desire to go through the castle, Northumberland\nconsented. They found everything in a state of extreme disorder. In\nmany places no care was taken even to open the house to admit the\nlight of day. As old Henry successively opened to them each new hall\nof the immense castle, the dust, collected in heaps like piles of\ndown, arose and flew away to collect again further on in the apartment\nupon some more valuable piece of furniture.\n\nWalsh could not avoid expressing to the earl his surprise at seeing\nhim so neglect the magnificent abode of his ancestors. \u201cIt is wrong,\u201d\nreplied Percy, \u201cbut I prize nothing any more. Of what consequence is\nit to me whether the roof that shelters me is handsome or plain? When\nour hearts are crushed by sorrow, we become oblivious to all outward\nsurroundings.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nWhen night came on, his host retired and left him to that repose of\nwhich, after the fatigue of his journey, he stood so much in need.\nNorthumberland ordered old Henry to retire and leave him alone as\nusual; but Henry had decided otherwise, and continued for a long time\nto come and go and pass the chamber slowly under various pretexts, as\nhis solicitude on account of his master was more and more increased on\nremarking that his habitual sadness had been redoubled since the\nadvent of his visitor.\n\n\u201cAccursed stranger!\u201d he said to himself, \u201cbird of ill-omen, what has\nbrought him here? That famished maw of his would have been very well\nable to carry him far from the moats of our castle! It is the king who\nsends him here; but is not our son king of these parts?\u201d And thus\nmuttering to himself, old Henry walked on. Not being able to determine\non leaving his master, he stopped and peered through the door in order\nto observe Lord Percy. The latter sat leaning on the table before him,\nhis eyes closed, his head resting on his hands, and seemingly\noblivious to everything around him.\n\n\u201cThere he sits still, to take a cold with this trouble!\u201d continued\nHenry. \u201cHowever, I must go and leave him.\u201d And the old domestic, still\nturning his palsied head to look back, passed slowly under the heavy\ntapestry screen, that fell rustling behind him.\n\n\u201cHe is gone,\u201d said Northumberland to himself\u2014\u201cgone, perhaps, for ever;\nfor who knows how long Henry has yet to live? What happiness to think\nwe must die! When weary with suffering, the soul reposes with a bitter\njoy upon the brink of that tomb which alone can deliver her from her\nwoes! How the certainty of seeing them end sweetens the sorrows we\nendure! Here where I stand\u201d (he arose to his feet), \u201cbeside this\nhearth, each one of my sires has taken his place, and each has\nsuccessively passed away. Their armor hangs here empty; their names\nalone remain inscribed upon them. Why have not I the courage, then, to\nendure this time of trial they call \u2018life,\u2019 which I have wished to\nconsider the end, but which is only a road leading to the end\u2014a road\nperilous, rough, and wearing? The shortest is the one I consider the\nbest; and he who travels over it most rapidly, has he not found true\nhappiness?\n\n\u201cHave you not sometimes seen, in the midst of a violent storm, a poor\nbird wildly struggling with winds and waves? You behold it for a\nmoment in the whirlpool, and suddenly it disappears. Just so I have\npassed through the midst of the world; I had hoped to shine there,\nbecause I was dazzled with it. To-day it becomes necessary to forget\nit. O my soul! I wish thee, I command thee, to forget.\u201d\n\nAt this moment a slight noise was heard. Northumberland started.\n\n\u201cWhat do you want, Henry?\u201d he asked, seeing the old man standing like\na shadow at the end of the apartment.\n\n\u201cNothing!\u201d he replied impatiently.\n\n\u201cBut truly,\u201d said Lord Percy, \u201cwhy have you returned?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo see if you were asleep,\u201d brusquely answered the old servant,\napproaching him. \u201cIt was scarcely worth the trouble,\u201d he continued,\nelevating his voice, \u201cof harboring so carefully this new-comer, if he\nmust pay his reckoning in this way.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d replied Northumberland, regarding his old foster-father with a\nsuppliant expression.\u201d Tell me, Henry, have you never known what it\nwas to grieve for one whom you loved?\u201d\n\n\u201cAy, in sooth,\u201d replied Henry, \u201cunfortunately I have known it; but we\nare not able to live, like you, in idleness, and have hardly time to\nbe unhappy. When I lost my poor Alice, your foster-mother, what\nanguish did I not feel in the depths of my soul! Well, if I had\nstopped to think of her, I should have heard immediately my name\nresounding through all the turrets of the castle: \u2018Henry! my lord\u2014my\nlord goes hunting; hurry! make haste! my lord gives a ball this\nevening to all the ladies of the country.\u2019 And away I had to go, to\ncome, to run; otherwise my lord your father would fly into a passion.\nHow would you find time to weep if somebody was always calling after\nyou? Besides, I\u2014poor Henry\u2014if they had seen me sitting, like you, all\nthe day in silence, with tears in my eyes and my arms folded, they\nwould have laughed at me, and the pages would have called me a fool.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true; you are right,\u201d replied Northumberland in an abstracted\nmanner. \u201cYou say, then they gave balls here?\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd superb ones, too!\u201d replied Henry, who liked, above all things, to\ntalk about the old times. \u201cIn those days you were not here; they\neducated you with Monseigneur the Cardinal, our good archbishop at\npresent.\u201d\n\nOn hearing these words Northumberland became violently agitated, and\nhis old servant, perceiving his countenance change and his features\ncontract, stopped suddenly in great alarm.\n\n\u201cYou are ill, my lord?\u201d he exclaimed.\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d replied Northumberland; \u201cbe calm. Leave me, Henry; I want to\nbe alone. Go to your bed\u2014I command you.\u201d\n\nHenry, forced to leave his master, as he went reproached himself for\nhaving spoken of the _f\u00eates_ the Countess of Northumberland had given\nin the castle; he imagined it was the recollection of his mother that\nhad so affected Lord Percy.\n\n\u201cThe archbishop! the archbishop!\u201d repeated Northumberland. \u201cOh! let me\nbanish the name, in mercy\u2014for a few hours, at least! He said, I\nbelieve, that they gave balls here! What did he say? Yes, that must be\nit: my mother loved them. Yes,\u201d he continued, looking round at the\nlarge and magnificent panels of his chamber, \u201chere they hung garlands\nand baskets of flowers; a thousand lamps reflected their brilliant\ncolors; delicious music floated on the perfumed air; crowds of people\nof every age, sex, and rank eagerly gathered here. Time has very soon\nreduced them to an equality; the sound of their footsteps is heard no\nmore; their voices are mute; they have all passed away. I alone still\nexist.\u201d\n\nThe entire night was spent in these reflections, and when day began to\ndawn the heavy tramp of horses was heard in the courtyard, and soon,\nin the cold fog of morning, there issued from the castle gate a troop\nof armed men wearing long cloth cloaks and caps. It was the earl\u2019s\nretainers, whom he had assembled during the night from all the\nsurrounding country. He rode in the midst of them in profound silence;\neven Sir Walsh, reading in his countenance the melancholy dejection\nunder which he labored, had simply pressed his hand without daring to\naddress him a word.\n\nAs to the followers of Northumberland, they were astonished at this\nsudden departure; they were completely ignorant of whither their\nmaster was carrying them, having learned nothing from old Henry\nhimself, to whom Lord Percy had deemed it inexpedient to reveal the\ndestination, and still less the object, of this expedition. The old\nman felt singularly anxious on the subject, as he was every day\nbecoming more and more accustomed to regard himself as the guardian\nand adviser of him whom he called his son. Therefore, after having\nclosed the gate of the castle upon the travellers, he went sadly and\ntook his station on the highest tower, to see in what direction his\nmaster was going.\n\nA few moments only he followed them with his eyes; for, the valley\nonce crossed, their route conducted them into the depths of the\nforest, and the cavalcade was soon lost to view.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n\n\nVAGO ANGELLETTO CHE CANTANAS VAI.\n\nFROM PETRARCH.\n\n\n Sweet bird, that, singing under altered skies,\n Art mourning for thy season of delight\u2014\n For lo! the cheerful months forsake thee quite,\n And all thy sunshine into shadow dies\u2014\n O thou who art acquainted with unrest!\n Could thy poor wit my kindred mood divine,\n How wouldst thou fold thy wings upon my breast,\n And blend thy melancholy plaint with mine!\n I know not if with thine my songs would rhyme,\n For haply she thou mournest is not dead:\n Less kind are death and heaven unto me;\n But the chill twilight, and the sullen time,\n And thinking of the sweet years and the sad,\n Move me, wild warbler, to discourse with thee.\n\n\n\n\nITALIAN COMMERCE IN THE MIDDLE AGES.\n\n \u201cYour mind is tossing on the ocean;\n There, where your argosies with portly sail,\n Like signiors and rich burghers of the flood,\n Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,\n Do overpeer the petty traffickers,\n That curt\u2019sy to them, do them reverence,\n As they fly by them with their woven wings.\u201d\n \u2014_Merchant of Venice_, act i. sc. i.\n\n\nThucydides, in the introduction to his history, remarks that one of\nthe principal causes that raised some of the Greek cities to such a\nhigh degree of prosperity and power was their engagement in mercantile\npursuits. All the great peoples of antiquity by whom the shores of the\nMediterranean were occupied\u2014Ph\u0153nicians, Carthaginians, Etruscans,\nIonians of Asia Minor\u2014rose to wealth and importance by the same means.\nThe Romans alone despised it.\n\nAfter the subversion of the Western Empire and the last inroads of the\nbarbarians, the natives of Italy were the first to emerge from the\nruins of the ancient world. Except religion, they found no worthier or\nmore potent element of civilization than commerce, which procures, to\nuse the words of a celebrated writer, what is of far greater value\nthan mere money\u2014\u201cthe reciprocation of the peculiar advantages of\ndifferent countries\u201d; and throughout the middle ages, until the\npassage to India by the Cape of Good Hope and the discovery of\nAmerica, Italy was the most forward nation in Christendom for wealth,\nrefinement of manners, and intellectual culture.\n\nItalian commerce reached its greatest development between the\nthirteenth and fifteenth centuries\u2014that is, between the ages when\nMarco Polo travelled to Tartary, China, and the Indies and Christopher\nColumbus discovered America. In these two men, representatives of\nVenice and Genoa, are embodied the geniuses of trade and navigation;\nand as though Florence, seated between the rival cities and engaged\nrather in reaping the fruits than in sowing the seeds of enterprise,\nwere destined to unite in herself the glory of both Italian shores,\none of her citizens\u2014Americus Vespucius\u2014gives his name to the New\nWorld. This commerce began slowly but progressed rapidly, and attained\nits noblest proportions during the fourteenth century, when for a\nhundred years it spread over every sea and land then known in the\neager search after riches, bringing back to its votaries whatever\nluxury Europe, Asia, and Africa produced or man\u2019s invention had\nevolved out of the necessities of his nature. Next, it gradually fell\naway and almost disappeared in the sixteenth century, leaving behind\nit only the cold consolation that there was no reason why it alone\nshould be excepted from the common doom of human affairs, which, when\nthey have enjoyed a certain measure of success, must surely decline\nand fall.\n\nWhen the Goths, Longobards, and Carlovingians had conquered Italy,\nalthough most of the arts and sciences were lost or hidden in\ncloisters, neither trade nor commerce was quite neglected; but,\ndespite the dangers from pirates, the ignorance of the sea, and the\nexactions of the lawless on land, the Adriatic and Mediterranean were\ntimidly attempted by the inhabitants of the coast, while in the\ninterior of the country an interchange of commodities was carried on\nbetween neighboring districts at places set apart for the purpose.\nThese places were generally the large square or principal street of a\ntown, or under the walls of a monastery, and the interchange took\nplace on certain days appointed by public authority.\n\nThe assemblies of the people were usually held on the Saturday, and\nwere at first called markets; but afterwards the rarer and more\nimportant ones, which were held annually and for several consecutive\ndays, were termed fairs, from the Latin word _feria_, because they\nalways took place on the feast of some saint. Many rights and\nprivileges were granted at an early period to the merchants who\nexhibited wares at these yearly gatherings; for without such\ninducements few cared to undertake a journey with a part, or perhaps\nthe whole, of their earthly substance about them, along roads and\nacross ferries beset by robber-nobles, who levied toll from passers-by\nand sometimes seized goods and persons for their own use.\n\nThe Venetians began earlier to sail on distant seas, and maintained\nthemselves longer on the water, than did the natives of any other\nparts of Italy. Cassiodorus represents them in the sixth century as\noccupied solely in salt-works, from which they derived their only\nprofit; but in course of time they issued from their lagoons to become\nthe most industrious and venturesome traffickers in the world. At the\nbeginning of the ninth century they had already introduced into Italy\nsome of the delicacies of the East, but drew odium on themselves for\nconniving with pirates and men-stealers to capture people and sell\nthem into slavery in distant quarters of Europe and Asia. On the\nopposite shore of Italy the inhabitants of Amalfi showed themselves\nthe most successful navigators during the early middle ages, trading\nwith Sicily and Tarentum, and even with Egypt, Syria, and\nConstantinople. Their city is described by the poet-historian William\nof Apulia, in the eleventh century, as the great mart for Eastern\ngoods, and the enterprise of its sailors as extending to all the ports\nof the Mediterranean. Flavio Gioja, a citizen of Amalfi, if he did not\ninvent the mariner\u2019s compass, as is somewhere asserted, certainly\nimproved it about the year 1302, either by its mode of suspension or\nby the attachment of the card to the needle itself. This discovery\ngave such an impulse to navigation that what had been for ages hardly\nmore than a skilful art became at once a science, and vessels no\nlonger crept along the shore or slipped from island to island, but\nattempted \u201cthe vasty deep\u201d and crossed over the ocean to the New\nWorld.\n\nAnother rich emporium at an early period, on the same side of Italy,\nwas Pisa. The city was four or five miles from the sea, but had a port\nformed by a natural bay to the southward of the old mouth of the Arno\nat a place called Calambrone. The Pisans at first traded principally\nwith Sicily and Africa. They fitted out expeditions against the\nSaracens,[31] seized several islands in the Mediterranean, and with\nboth land-troops and seamen took an important part in the first\nCrusade, being careful, before returning from the East, to establish\nfactories at Antioch and Constantinople. They also sent fleets to\nhumble the Mohammedan cities of Northern Africa. Through commercial\njealousy and political reasons they became involved in bitter wars\nwith the Genoese for the possession of Corsica, and with the\nAmalfitans, who had sided against the emperor. The Pisans, as\nauxiliaries of the Emperor Lothaire, sent a strong squadron to Amalfi,\nwhich was held by the Normans, and, after a rigorous blockade, took it\nby storm in 1137. It was on this occasion that a copy of the long-lost\nPandects of Justinian was found, which is said to be the original from\nwhich all subsequent copies in Italy were made, thus reviving the\nstudy of Roman law. It was taken from its captors by the Florentines\nin 1411, and is now preserved in the Laurentian Library at Florence.\nThe monk Donizo, in his metrical life of the Countess Matilda, being\nannoyed that the mother of the countess should have been buried in\nPisa, describes the city somewhat contemptuously as a flourishing\nemporium whose port was filled with large ships and frequented by many\ndifferent races of people, even by swarthy Moors.\n\nTo the north of Pisa rose her haughty rival, Genoa, surnamed the\nSuperb from her pride and magnificent natural position. After four\nsanguinary wars with the Pisans, the Genoese swept their fleets from\nthe sea, destroyed their port, and ruined their foreign commerce. The\ncity never recovered from that blow, and the population, which once\nexceeded 100,000, has fallen to a fifth of that number.\n\nThe Genoese had at first been the allies of the Pisans, and united\nwith them to drive the Saracens out of several important islands. They\nalso ravaged the coast of Northern Africa in the eleventh century,\nand, taking part in the first Crusade, obtained settlements on the\nshore of Palestine, particularly at Acre. Owing to their secure\nposition at home and their foothold in the East and the islands of the\nWest, their city became one of the two great maritime powers of Italy\nand the only noteworthy rival of Venice. The power of the Genoese and\nVenetians was immensely increased by the Crusades, and at one time so\nfeared were they in the Levant that they were able to draw pensions\nand exact tribute from the pusillanimous emperor at Constantinople.\nThe Venetians were especially favored by Alexius Comnenus, through\nwhom they acquired convenient establishments along the Bosphorus and\nat Durazzo in Albania. Their doge was honored with the pompous title\nof _Protosebaste_. In the meanwhile intestine disturbances and wars\nwith neighboring republics had reduced several of those cities which\nhad lately been most flourishing, and none could compete successfully\nin the fourteenth century with Venice and Genoa, to which the foreign\ntrade of Italy was left, and to whose marts the produce of the Levant\nand the countries bordering on the lower Mediterranean was brought,\nand either there or at the great cities of the interior exchanged for\ndomestic manufactures and the industries of Central and Northern\nEurope. The carrying trade was almost exclusively their own, but the\nhome or inland business was shared by many other cities\u2014principally by\nBologna, Ferrara, Florence, Lucca, and Milan. At that period the\nAtlantic ocean and northern coasts of Europe were but rarely navigated\nby Italian merchants. The Venetians alone despatched annually a large\nfleet, which\u2014taking its name, the Flanders fleet, from its\ndestination\u2014carried on an enterprising and lucrative traffic with the\nLow Countries, and, in connection with the Hanseatic League or\ndirectly, spread over England, Scotland, and the nations lying on the\nNorth Sea and the Baltic, the spices, gums, silks, pearls, diamonds,\nand numerous other articles of oriental origin which they had procured\nfrom the Levant and further Indies. The Genoese furnished the same\nthings to the French, Spaniards, and Moors of Andalusia; but Portugal\nwas served by their rivals.\n\nA maritime power had risen before this time which disputed with the\nGenoese and Venetians the ascendency on the Mediterranean. This was\nBarcelona, whose sailors were among the best on the sea, and whose\nmerchants were largely engaged in commerce. Many bold encounters took\nplace between the Catalans and Italians, through jealousies of trade,\nbut the former finally succumbed.\n\nThe products of the more distant East reached Italy in Genoese and\nVenetian ships, through Armenian merchants at Trebizond, and through\nArabs by way of Alexandria and Damascus. Those of the north, so\nnecessary for a seafaring people, were brought from the mouth of the\nDon, the merchandise being floated down that great river in boats from\nthe interior. The Mongols were the masters of all the region\nthereabouts; but the insinuating Italians, aware of the interest of\nthis branch of commerce, played upon their barbarous pride with so\nmuch dexterity that they succeeded in making treaties with them by\nwhich they were allowed to occupy certain trading posts where the\ngoods ordered might accumulate and their own wares be exchanged for\nthe productions of Russia, Tartary, and Persia. The wily Genoese had\nbought from a Tartar prince, at the beginning of the fourteenth\ncentury, a small piece of land on the south-eastern shore of the\nCrimea on which to build a factory. Only a few rude cabins were raised\nat first, for stores and the dwellings of their agents; but the\ntraffic soon brought together a large population, sumptuous palaces\nwere erected, a strong and lofty wall was built around, and Kaffa[32]\nbecame one of the most opulent colonies of the republic, with a\npopulation at one time of 80,000.\n\nThe rival Venetians had _their_ great deposit at the city of Azov, on\nthe banks of the Don, twenty miles from its mouth. They were not the\nproprietors, and, although they received numerous favors from the\nTartar governor, they were obliged to share them with the Genoese,\nFlorentines, and others, who also did a flourishing business. The\namount of goods collected there was so immense and the value so\nconsiderable, that when, as sometimes happened, a destructive fire\nbroke out or the place was plundered, the loss was felt as a shock to\ncommerce throughout the whole of Europe.\n\nAll along the coast of the Black Sea the Italians plied a profitable\ntrade, and many merchants were settled at Trebizond, from which\nvantage-ground they had an important communication open with Armenia,\nwhose people, being united by religion to the Latins, granted them\nvery valuable commercial privileges. The Venetians were favored above\nthe rest. They had churches, magazines, and inns, coined money, and in\nall matters in dispute were tried by judges chosen among their\ncountrymen, or rather their own fellow-citizens. They could introduce\ntheir goods without paying duty, freely traverse the kingdom, and\nmonopolize the exportation of camel\u2019s hair, which was an important\narticle of traffic. The Genoese were no less enterprising than their\nrivals, and restored in the port of Trebizond a mole that had been\nbuilt by the Roman Emperor Hadrian. Large quantities of India goods,\nand especially spiceries, were stored by Italian merchants in the\nwarehouses of Trebizond, Damascus, and Alexandria. There were several\noverland routes by which this merchandise was transported, but none of\nthem was safe, on account of the frequent revolutions in the countries\nthrough which they ran. Some of the caravans that brought the\ncommodities of India and China passed through Balkh, the _Baetria_ of\nthe ancients and at one time the commercial centre of eastern Asia,\nthen up to Bokhara, whence they descended the Oxus for a distance,\ntouched at Khiva, and, traversing the Caspian Sea, ascended the river\nKour (the _Cyrus_ of Strabo, xi. p. 509) for seventy miles to its\njunction with the Aras (the _Araxes_ of Herodotus, iv. 40), from which\nthey crossed by a journey of four or five days into the historical\nPhasis at Sharapan and down to the Euxine. Another beaten track\nentered Syria by the Tigris and the Euphrates, and diverged towards\nthe several ports of Palestine and Asia Minor. It passed through\nBagdad, which was a great commercial emporium during the middle ages\nand an entrep\u00f4t for the commodities of eastern and western Asia. A\nmemorial of those days when Frank merchants, mingling with Persians,\nArabs, Turks, Hindoos, Koords, and Armenians, ransacked her splendid\nbazaars, remains in our language in the word _Baldachin_, because\ncanopies made of costly stuff interwoven with gold thread were\nmanufactured in this city, which was known to the Italians as\nBaldacca, and in the adjective form Baldacchino. Much trade was also\ndone by way of the Red Sea, Cairo, and Alexandria.\n\nIn all the ports of the Euxine and Mediterranean the Italians had\nshops and warehouses, and every rich company kept a number of factors,\nwho despatched goods as they got orders and maintained the interests\nof their principals. An officer called a consul, who was appointed by\nthe government at home, resided in each of these foreign sea-ports, to\ndefend the rights of his countrymen, and decide differences among\nthemselves, or between them and strangers. Consuls were recognized as\nofficial personages by the sovereign in whose territory they resided,\nand were honored as public magistrates by their own people, from whom\nthey received certain fees for their support, according to the quality\nand amount of business they were called upon to perform.\n\nThe maritime republics of Italy were very fortunate in having\ntransported the Crusaders to the Holy Land in their ships, for by this\nthey acquired many rich establishments in the Levant, and it was not\nlong before the dissolute and degraded Greeks, who would neither take\ncounsel in peace nor could defend themselves in war, became subject to\nthe imperious will of the Italians.\n\nThe Venetians obtained in 1204 the fertile island of Candia, which\nbecame the centre of their extensive Egyptian and Asiatic trade. They\nalso had a quarter in Constantinople, which they surrounded by a wall,\nthe gates of which were guarded by their own soldiers, and a distinct\nanchorage for their own vessels in the Golden Horn. A senate and\nbailiff representing the doge held authority in this settlement, and\nexercised jurisdiction over the minor establishments of the republic\nin Roumelia.\n\nThe Genoese were still more powerful at the capital, and the Emperor\nMichael Pal\u00e6ologus, who was indebted to them for his return to the\nthrone, had given them the beautiful suburbs of Pera and Galata, on an\nelevated plateau, which they made still more secure, under the elder\nAndronicus, by a moat and triple row of walls. To these places they\ntransferred their stores and stock; nor was it long before the\nchurches, palaces, warehouses, and public buildings of Pera vied in\nmagnificence with those of the metropolis itself. The island of Chios,\nwhere gum-mastic was collected and the finest wine produced, was\nanother of their colonies. These were all ruled by a _podest\u00e0_\nannually sent from Genoa. The Genoese and Venetians had also factories\nin Barbary, through which they drove a brisk trade with the interior\nof Africa. To them more than to any others was it due that for three\nhundred years the commerce of Italy was famous from the Straits of\nGibraltar to the remotest gulf in the Euxine.\n\nThe maritime strength of the Italian republics, especially of Genoa\nand Venice, corresponded to their vast commercial interests and the\nnumber of colonies they were expected to enlarge and defend. Thus, the\nPisans in 1114 sent an armament, consisting of 300 vessels of various\nsizes, carrying 35,000 men and 900 horses, to the conquest of the\nBalearic Islands, which had become a nest of Moorish pirates. A great\npart of these troops were mercenaries procured from all parts of the\nworld, and contingents drawn from their possessions in Sardinia. In\n1293 the Genoese fitted out in a single month, against the Venetians,\n200 galleys, each of which bore from 220 to 300 combatants recruited\nwithin the continental limits of the republic; and in the vast arsenal\nof Venice during the fourteenth century 800 men were continually at\nwork, and 200 galleys, not to count the smaller craft, were kept ready\nin port for any emergency that might arise. Such formidable fleets\nwere manned either by voluntary enlistments or impressment; the hope\nof heavy plunder, according to the barbarous war-system of those days,\nwhich the church strove against but could not wholly change, appealing\nto young men to serve as sailors or soldiers. The furious rivalry\nbetween Genoa and Venice began to show itself soon after the taking of\nConstantinople by the Franks in 1244, each desiring to reap alone the\nprofits of the Levant trade. After many bloody encounters a peace was\npatched up in 1298, by which the latter was excluded for thirteen\nyears from the Black Sea, along whose shores the former had colonies,\nforts, and factories, and was forbidden to send armed vessels to\nSyria. Terms so propitious raised the pride and influence of Genoa to\nthe utmost; and feared by all, and claiming to be mistress of the\nseas, she upheld the honor of her flag with extravagant solicitude. In\n1332 she wasted the coast of Catalonia with a force of 200 galleys,\nand inflicted great injury on the commerce of Barcelona; and two years\nlater, having captured twelve ships of the enemy, heavily freighted\nwith merchandise, in the waters of Sicily, Cyprus, and Sardinia, with\nan example of ferocious cruelty which only the \u201caccursed greed of\ngold\u201d and a determination to exclude the Catalans from any share in\nEastern commerce could prompt, six hundred prisoners were hanged at a\nsingle execution. She was resolved to command the seas, and\nconsequently the trade of the world; but her rival, although crippled,\nwas not prostrate, and the fourth war broke out between them in 1372\nfor possession of the classical island of Tenedos, so valuable as a\nnaval station and renowned for its wheat and excellent red wine. The\nGenoese actually got into the lagoons of Venice, vowing to reduce her\nto the stagnant level of the waters, and approached so near to the\ncity that their admiral could shout to the affrighted people on the\nquays, _Delenda est Carthago_! but by a singular freak of fortune they\nwere themselves totally defeated, and glad to accept the mediation of\nAmadeus VI., Duke of Savoy. It was agreed that neither party should\nhave the island in dispute, but that the duke should hold it at their\ncommon expense for two years and then dismantle the fortress.\n\nDuring this war, called the War of Chioggia, which lasted until 1381,\nan unusually large number of corsairs roved the seas; but the Italians\nhad long practised piracy, and whole communities were corsairs by\nprofession, just as on land _condottieri_ could be hired to sack\ncities and castles and desolate whole provinces. The little town of\nMonaco was notorious during the middle ages for its pirates, as it\nstill is for its ravenous land-sharks. There were two sorts of\ncorsairs. Some were private individuals who went to sea through lust\nof gain, or because driven from their homes during the fights of\nfaction, and seized whatever they could. These robberies and\ndepredations marked piracy in its original form. Nevertheless during\nthe twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries many otherwise\nhonorable characters, who were often unjustly despoiled of their\npatrimony and driven as outcasts from their native cities, took to\nthis occupation not entirely from inclination, but impelled by the\nbrutality of their countrymen. We may recall as an extenuating\ncircumstance what that grave judge, Lord Stowell, observed (2 Dods.\n374) of the buccaneers, whose spirit at one time approached to that of\nchivalry in point of adventure, and whose manner of life was thought\nto reflect no disgrace upon distinguished Englishmen who engaged in\nit.\n\nOther corsairs were patriotic citizens who armed their ships to injure\nthe enemy during lawful hostilities; and although there was abuse in\nthe system, they were not pirates, but privateersmen. Foreign nations\nused to buy ships from the Italians to increase their own armaments,\nor engage them to harass their opponents. It is curious, considering\nhow completely maritime supremacy has deserted the Mediterranean for\nnorthern seas, to know that the poet Chaucer was sent by King Edward\nIII. in November, 1372, as envoy to the republic of Genoa to hire\nvessels for his navy; and Tytler says (_Hist. of Scotland_, vol. ii.\np. 261) that in the same century many of the privateers employed by\nthe Scots against England appear to have been vessels of larger\ndimensions and more formidable equipment than those of England,\nprobably from their being foreign built, and furnished by the Genoese\nor the Venetians, for the purposes both of trade and piracy.\n\nIt was now that the word _Jane_ came into the language\u2014Chaucer and\nSpenser use it\u2014for a small coin so-called from Janua (Genoa). It is\ntermed in the old English statutes a _galley half-pence_.\n\nThe Florentines had originally no seaboard, and were obliged to\ncharter ships wherever they could. In 1362, having taken into the\nservice of the republic Pierin Grimaldi of Genoa, with two galleys,\nand hired two more vessels, their little fleet took the island of\nGiglio from the Pisans, and the following year, having broken into the\nport of Pisa itself, they took away the chains that protected it and\nhung them as trophies on the porphyry columns of their Baptistery.\n\nThe foreign commerce for which the maritime cities of Italy, and\nparticularly Genoa and Venice, so savagely disputed, to the scandal of\nthe Christian name among the infidels, as the old English traveller\nSir John de Mandeville shows, was certainly very considerable, and a\nsource of almost fabulous profit to those engaged in it who were\nfortunate in their ventures. Commerce was the foundation of Italy\u2019s\nprosperity, which was greater than that of any other European country\nfrom the twelfth to the fourteenth century. The Italian merchants got\ncottons, silken goods, brocades, Cashmere shawls, spices, rhubarb and\nother medicines, amber, indigo, pearls, and diamonds from India and\nCentral Asia. From Persia there came silks, carpets, skins, and\nmanufactured articles used by the great for clothing or for the\ncomfort of their homes. Tartary and Russia furnished hemp, canvas,\nship-timber, tar, wax, caviare, raw-hides, and peltries. From the\nports of Syria and Asia Minor, and particularly from Smyrna, were\nshipped to Italy hare-skins, leather, camel\u2019s hair, valonia, cotton\nstuffs, damasks, dried fruits, beeswax, drugs and electuaries, arms,\narmor, and cutlery; and many articles of Asiatic luxury and\nmagnificence found their way thence through Italian merchants to the\ncourts and castles of England, Scotland, France, Germany, and other\nnorthern nations. Greece sent fine wines, raisins, currants,\nfilbert-nuts, silk, and alum. A large quantity of grain was brought\ninto Italy from Egypt and the Barbary States; but the supply to the\ncolonies in the Levant came mostly from the Black Sea. Wool, wax,\nsheep-skins, and morocco came from the Moorish provinces of Africa.\nThese were the principal imports, and were exchanged for the products\nand manufactures of Italy and the countries to the north, for which\nthe Italians acted as agents. The Genoese exported immense quantities\nof woven fabrics from the looms of Lombardy and Florence, fine linens\nfrom Bologna, and cloths of a coarser make from France, for which a\nready market was found in the East and among the Italians settled in\nthe Archipelago and Levant. The oils of Provence and the Riviera of\nGenoa, soaps, saffron, and coral, were also largely exported.\nQuicksilver was a valuable article in the hands of the Venetians, who\ngot it from Istria and sold it in Spain and the Levant; they also\nextracted a great amount of salt from Istria and Dalmatia, which was\nsold at a good profit in Lombardy and other parts of Italy. Sardinia,\nSicily, and Naples also did a large foreign business; the last city\nimporting cargoes of delicate Greek and Oriental wines, such as the\nfamous Cyprian, Malmsey, and Muscatel, much of which was sent to\ndifferent parts of Italy, and into England and the Netherlands. Spain,\nPortugal, and Flanders were supplied with the products of the Indies\nand Levant principally by Genoese and Venetian merchants. The latter\nespecially had many privileges and fiscal exemptions in Flanders, and\nin returning from the North loaded their ships in Portugal with tin,\nsilver bars, wines, and raisins; while the former had the greater part\nof the trade with the Moors of Africa and southern Spain, from whom,\nin return for spiceries and other Eastern products, they got gold,\ncordovans, and merino wool, which were sold to advantage in France and\nItaly.\n\nThe Italians were the best cloth-weavers in Europe in the fourteenth\ncentury, although the Flemings were not contemptible rivals. The\nmanufacture of cloth was industriously carried on in many of their\ncities; in those of Tuscany particularly, the finest kind of work\nbeing done in Lucca. When this city was taken by Uguccione della\nFaggiuola, in 1314, the factories and goods were destroyed, and many\ncitizens emigrated to other parts of Italy, and even into France,\nGermany, and England. Yet long before this Italian operatives had\nintroduced, or at least improved, the art in the northern countries.\nCrapes, taffetas, velvets, silks, camelots, and serges were\nextensively made in Italy, the richest quality being sold at Florence,\nwhere the home industries seemed to centre, and only the most skilled\nartisans were employed. The art of weaving wool was practised by\nthousands of citizens, and, nominally at least, by some of the noblest\nfamilies of the city and _contado_ (commune), since there was a law\nthat no one could aspire to public office unless he were a member of\none of the trades-corporations of the republic. The citizens of\nFlorence were classed from 1266 into twelve companies of trades or\nprofessions, seven of which were called _arti maggiori_, viz., 1.\nlawyers and attorneys; 2. dealers in foreign stuffs; 3. bankers and\nmoney-changers; 4. woollen manufacturers and drapers; 5. physicians\nand apothecaries; 6. silk manufacturers and mercers; 7. furriers. The\nlower trades were called _arti minori_. The records of these\ncorporations are now preserved in a part of the Uffizi palace devoted\nto the public archives of Florence. They range from A.D. 1300 to the\nend of the eighteenth century. Around the hall, which was fitted up a\nfew years ago to receive them, are the portraits of some of the\ndistinguished men who belonged to these guilds: Dante, Cosimo de\u2019\nMedici, Francesco Guicciardini, and others. Balmes gives an\ninteresting account, after Capmany, in his _European Civilization_, p.\n476, of \u201cthe trades-unions and other associations which, established\nunder the influence of the Catholic religion, commonly placed\nthemselves under the patronage of some saint, and had pious\nfoundations for the celebration of their feasts, and for assisting\neach other in their necessities.\u201d Although his long note refers\nprincipally to the industrial organization of the city of Barcelona,\nit is acknowledged that Catalonia borrowed many of its customs and\nusages in this matter from the towns of Italy.\n\nBefore the middle of the fourteenth century there were over two\nhundred drapers\u2019 shops in Florence, in which from seventy to eighty\nthousand pieces of cloth were made every year, to the value of\n1,200,000 gold florins, and employing more than thirty thousand\npeople. The historian John Villani says that the trade had been still\nmore flourishing, when there were three hundred shops open and one\nhundred thousand pieces were made yearly, but that they were of a\ncoarser quality and consequently did not bring as much money into the\ncity, although more people got work. The art of dyeing cloths and\nother stuffs was cultivated by the Italians during the middle ages\nwith considerable success. Alum, which is much used for this purpose,\nwas eagerly sought after, and the Genoese obtained from Michael\nPal\u00e6ologus, on payment of an annual sum, the exclusive right of\nextracting it from a certain mine in the Morea that had previously\nbeen worked by Arabs, Catalans, and others. The lessees began\noperations with a force of fifty men, and soon built a castle to\nprotect themselves, and finally a town, which was destroyed by the\nTurks in 1455. The Florentines were so expert in dyeing wool that the\nmaterial was sent to them for the purpose from other parts of Italy,\nand even from Germany and the Netherlands. It was only in 1858 that an\nimmense wooden building for stretching and drying cloth in the sun,\ncalled _Il tiratoio della lana_, which had been used for over five\nhundred years, was torn down as too liable to catch fire.\n\nThe cloths of France and other northern countries found a sale in\nFlorence, not so much for home use as for exportation through the\nGenoese and Venetians. An exception, however, must be made for a rich\narticle called _say_, manufactured in Ireland, and esteemed so\nbeautiful as to be worn by the ladies of that refined city.[33] John\nVillani, already mentioned, says that there was a quarter of Florence\ncalled Calimala, containing twenty stores of the coarser cloths of the\nNorth, of which thirty thousand pieces, of the value of three hundred\nthousand gold florins, were yearly imported.\n\nFlorence in the middle ages had a territory extending only a few miles\nround its walls; but the industry and speculative spirit of its\ncitizens wonderfully enriched them, and, since \u201call things obey money\u201d\n(Ecclesiastes x. 19), they soon became the predominant power, and\nfinally the masters in Tuscany. They were money-changers,\nmoneylenders, jewellers, and goldsmiths for the whole of Europe and no\nlittle part of the East. The elements of a business education were\ngiven to its youth in numerous schools, attended by some twelve\nhundred boys, who were taught arithmetic and book-keeping. A great\ndeal of money circulated within the city itself, and a large amount\nwas necessary, particularly before the introduction of bills of\nexchange, to accommodate merchants in their visits to other countries.\nThe public mint coined annually during the fourteenth century from\nthree hundred and fifty thousand to four hundred thousand gold\nflorins, and about twenty thousand pounds weight of coppers, called\n_danari da quattro_, or half-farthings; and eighty private banks\nassisted the circulation. The beautiful golden florins were first\ncoined in the year 1252, bearing on one side the impression of St.\nJohn Baptist, the patron, and on the other that of a lily, the device\nof the city. This was considered the finest coin in the world, and so\nmuch admired that many princes and governments began to imitate it\nwhile preserving its original name, and consequently perpetuating the\nmonetary renown of Florence. It was current in Europe, Asia, and\nAfrica. The workmanship of the Florentines was so superior that they\nwere often called upon to conduct or superintend the coinage in\nforeign countries. During the reign of King David II., in the first\nhalf of the thirteenth century, he appointed a Florentine one of the\ntwo keepers of the exchange for all Scotland, and masters of the mint;\nand under King Robert III. (1390-1424) gold was minted for that\nkingdom by Bonaccio of Florence.[34] In 1278 the Exchange at London\nwas under the direction of some Lucca merchants; and it seems to be\ndirectly from the Italian that we get our English word cash, derived\nfrom _cassa_, the chest in which Italian merchants kept their money.\nWe may have some idea of what a money-centre Florence was in that age\nfrom the fact that the notorious French adventurer, the Duke of\nAthens, who was elected Lord of Florence in 1342, contrived in the\ncourse of only ten months to draw four hundred thousand golden florins\nout of the city. The Florentines, who had the reputation of being the\nsmartest people in Italy, were extremely fond of banking in all its\nbranches. While the middle and lower orders of society were mostly\nengaged in mechanical occupations, the higher classes handled the\nmoney, and would appear to have taken lessons of the Jews. The great\nfeudal nobles of the north, with more land than gold, would often\nask their chaplains to reprove them with some holy text of\nScripture\u2014Ecclesiasticus X. 10 being a favorite one\u2014when interest was\ndemanded or mortgages were forfeited. They were not by any means the\nonly Italians who publicly courted the queen _Regina Pecunia_; the\nancient name in England for a banker, which was _Lombard_, and the\nstreet in London called Lombard Street, preserving the memory of the\nMilanese and others out of Lombardy who took up their first residence\nthere before the year 1274, and were great moneychangers and usurers.\nThe stupendous fortunes of the Chigi, who gave Pope Alexander VII. to\nthe church and are now Roman princes, and before them of the Medici\nfamily, which became royal, were amassed chiefly in the banking\nbusiness; but it is a popular error that the well-known sign of the\npawnbrokers\u2019 three gilt balls is derived from the armorial bearings of\nthe latter, which their agents in England and other countries placed\nover the doors of their loan-shops. The arms of the Medici were _or_,\nsix torteaux _gules_ except the one in chief, which was _azure_\ncharged with three fleurs-de-lis _or_. Whether these roundlets had any\nallusion, as has been suggested, to doctors\u2019 pills and the\nprofessional origin whence the family name is supposed to be derived,\nwe cannot determine; but the gold pieces called bezants because coined\nat Constantinople\u2014Byzantium\u2014and so common at an early period in Italy\nthat the saying _Aver buoni Bisanzi_ was a proverbial expression\nof one who had plenty of money, seem to have been early the\ndistinguishing sign of money-lenders and changers, and are the true\norigin of the pawnbrokers\u2019 balls.\n\nThe shrewdness of the Italians in money matters did not always save\nthem from disastrous failures and bankruptcies caused by wars, breach\nof faith in persons too high to be reached, loss of goods and bullion\nby fire, piracy, shipwreck, and other accidents. The first great\nfailure of this kind was that of a mercantile company in 1296, which\nhad existed for one hundred and twenty years, and became insolvent for\n400,000 gold florins, due to citizens and strangers. It was felt\nthroughout the republic of Florence like the loss of a battle. Even\nworse was the failure of the Bardi and Peruzzi in 1347. They were both\nmerchants and bankers, and stood at the head of their class in Italy.\nLoans to the kings of England and Sicily brought them down. The first\nowed them 900,000 and the second 450,000 gold florins. These were\nunavailable assets when the 550,000 florins they owed their\nfellow-citizens and others began to be called for, and therefore they\nbroke. This downfall carried with it a large number of smaller houses,\nand among them that of Corsini, of the since princely family of that\nname, which gave St. Andrew and Pope Clement XII. to the church. The\ncelebrated historian John Villani was a great loser by this failure,\nand was even imprisoned in the _Stinche_ in consequence of it as an\ninsolvent. The law punished fraudulent failures very severely; but if\nit could be proved that the failures resulted from unavoidable\naccidents, the debtors were allowed to go free, after surrendering all\nthey possessed to their creditors. For the convenience of customers,\nthe bank-offices used to be on the ground-floor of the houses\u2014sometimes\npalaces\u2014the masters living above. The rate of discount on exchange was\nfrom one and one-half to two per cent., and four per cent. on sums\nadvanced. Jacques Savary, in his _Parfait N\u00e9gociant_, says that the\ninvention of bills of exchange is due to French Jews who were driven\nout of France by Philip the Fair in 1316, and took refuge in Lombardy.\nBy means of such bills they were able to get the value of the property\nthey had left in the hands of friends. They were imitated by certain\nGhibellines who, being exiled, went to Amsterdam and saved some of\ntheir goods left in Italy. In negotiating these bills and effecting\nthe sale of goods, persons called _sensali_ (brokers) were employed.\n\nNo duties were levied on exports, but imported goods had to be stored\nin government buildings called _dogane_\u2014_i.e._, custom-houses, or,\nperhaps more accurately, bonded warehouses\u2014from which, although they\nmight be hypothecated, they could be withdrawn only after payment of a\ncertain sum. There was a chamber of commerce called _Mercanzia_ at\nFlorence, and all the other commercial cities had their merchants\u2019\nexchange for the transaction of business, the sordid use to which they\nwere put being often disguised by the beauties of architecture,\npainting, and sculpture. Thus, the _Sala del Cambio_ at Perugia was\ndecorated with frescoes by the celebrated Pietro Perugino, assisted by\nhis immortal pupil Raphael of Urbino.\n\nIn all seaports there were certain judges, elected by and from among\nthe merchants, who composed a tribunal called _Consolato di Mare_.\nThey settled disputes between traders and ship-owners, gave assistance\nin distress, and watched over the interests of commerce. The origin of\nsuch boards of trade was very ancient among the Italians, for as early\nas the year 1129 one was established at Messina. It is said that the\nPisans were the first to make laws regulating navigation, and that\ntheir code was approved in 1075 by Pope Gregory VII.[35] There was no\nappeal from the decisions of these admiralty courts, and in cases of\nfraud or other misdemeanor the guilty party was punished by public\nauthority.\n\nSericulture began in Italy in the fourteenth century, and was\npractised with success, especially in Lombardy. The statutes of Modena\nobliged the peasants to plant a large number of mulberry-trees, in\norder to promote it.\n\nThe wide extent of Italian commerce and the industrial prosperity of\nItaly, which was a consequence of it, greatly enriched her higher\nclasses and led to the most extravagant luxury during the latter part\nof the middle ages. Nations now reckoned highly civilized, and where\nthe comforts of life are within the reach of all, were then badly\nclothed and poorly fed. The effeminacy of the wealthier Italians\nduring the fourteenth century, when commerce was most extended, caused\nthem to despise, amidst the delicacies of the East and the fruits of\ntheir own intelligence, the rude simplicity of their more northern\nneighbors. Even the lower classes among them felt a desire for greater\nconvenience and refinement. Dante, Boccaccio, the chroniclers, and\nother writers of this period portray or lament the ever-increasing\nluxury of the age, and we can gather from them an accurate idea of the\nstyle of living and magnificence of the patricians in their\nprovisions, furniture, and dress during the thirteenth and fourteenth\ncenturies. Nuptial entertainments and civic festivals were the\noccasions of most display; and Chaucer, who had partaken of such,\nwrites probably as much from recollection as after Petrarch, whom he\nhas imitated, when he describes the preparations for Griselda\u2019s\nwedding to the young Marquis of Saluce.\n\nThe women were particularly dainty, and many sumptuary laws were\nenacted to restrain the excess of refinement in houses, furniture, and\napparel. A very fine sort of thin, transparent linen, made in Cyprus,\nwas much worn by the female sex. It resembled, but was not quite so\nindecent as the _Coa vestis_ of the ancients. They also carried much\njewelry, and were clothed in garments worked in silver and gold stuff.\nTheir minds naturally ran on money:\n\n \u201c_Julia._ What thinkest thou of the rich Mercutio?\n _Lucetta._ Well of his wealth; but of himself, so, so.\u201d\n \u2014_Two Gentlemen of Verona_, act i. sc. 2.\n\nThe habits and head-dress of the men were often bespangled with\nprecious stones, and their whole attire answered to their haughty\nbearing, which bespoke successful foreign ventures and a splendid\nstyle maintained at home. In innumerable ways they exemplified Dr.\nJohnson\u2019s observation: \u201cWith what munificence a great merchant will\nspend his money, both from his having it at command and from his\nenlarged views by calculation of a good effect upon the whole.\u201d Few of\nthem would have dared to say with _Bassanio_:\n\n \u201cGentle lady,\n When I did first impart my love to you,\n I freely told you all the wealth I had\n Ran in my veins; I was a gentleman.\u201d\n \u2014_Merchant of Venice_, act iii. sc. 2.\n\nWhen Shakspere uses the expression \u201croyal merchant\u201d in the play from\nwhich we have just quoted, it is, as Warburton remarks, no ranting\nepithet; for several Italian merchant families obtained principalities\nin the Archipelago and elsewhere, which their descendants enjoyed for\nmany generations, and others of their class made sovereign alliances.\nFor instance, James, King of Cyprus, married Catherine Cornaro,\ndaughter of a Venetian merchant, who gave her a dowry of 100,000\ngolden ducats.[36]\n\n\n [31] The Cathedral of Pisa, one of the most remarkable\n monuments of the middle ages, owes its origin to such\n an expedition; for it was built with part of the rich\n booty taken from the Saracens at Palermo in the year\n 1063.\n\n [32] This city was taken from the Genoese by the Turks in\n 1474, but the Christians were not all driven out. The\n late Father Theiner has published an interesting letter\n from the Papal Nuncio in Poland in 1579, in which he\n mentions having met some Kaffa people at Wilna and\n tells of their strange manner of obtaining a priest,\n reminding one a little of Michas and the Levite in\n Judges xvii.\n\n [33] McPherson\u2019s _Annals of Commerce_, vol. i. p. 562.\n\n [34] Innes, _Scotland in the Middle Ages_, p. 309.\n\n [35] Muratori, _Ant. Ital._, tom. ii. p. 54.\n\n [36] The ducat was the great money of Venice, as the florin\n was of Florence, and bears in its name a proof of the\n more aristocratic government of the former city. The\n first gold ducats were coined by the Doge John Dandolo\n in 1280, and are inscribed I0. DANDVL. DVX.\n\n\n\n\nA DAUGHTER OF THE PURITANS.\n\n\nRose Standish Howson\u2014that was her name, and very proud she was of it.\nBack of the _Mayflower_, she knew little about her ancestors; but\ncertain it was that in that well-filled vessel one of her forefathers\nhad come to America, and, marrying a distant connection of the\nveritable Standish family, had handed this name down to all succeeding\ngenerations. Rose boasted, so far as it is proper for a well-bred New\nEngland girl to boast, that, however it might have been outside of her\nown country, here at least her lineage was most democratically noble;\nshe belonged\u2014and could prove it, too, out of a little book compiled by\nher grandfather\u2014thoroughly to the old Puritan race. In all her books\nthe name was written in full\u2014Rose Standish Howson; and it was her\nunfailing source of regret that her only brother had not been called\nMiles. John Howson laughed good-naturedly at his sister\u2019s foible, but\nwas really quite as proud as she, though in a more passive way.\n\nTheir home was not in Boston. Let this important fact receive our\nprompt attention. But, since it could not be there, it was in the next\nbest place\u2014an old academic town; in which New England State matters\nlittle to our story. There for thirty years Rose Howson\u2019s father had\nbeen the academy\u2019s honored principal. His wife had died young, leaving\nonly this son and daughter. John fitted for Harvard at the academy;\nRose went steadily through grammar-school and high-school in her\nnative place, then went to Boston with hopes of at least a two years\u2019\nadded course of study there. It resolved itself into one brilliant\nwinter and spring of hard work and exhausting pleasure, symphony\nconcerts, Shakspere clubs, Parker Fraternity lectures, abstruse\nreading, and keenly exciting conversation; one merry June, one gay\nclass-day, one delightful commencement, when Dr. Howson came to\nCambridge to meet old pupils and friends, and see his son bear off the\nhighest honors; then they went home for vacation, and before it was\nover Dr. Howson sickened and died.\n\nThe whole town was in a fervor of excitement; there was a funeral, to\nwhich people came from far and near; resolutions were passed, and in\nthe flush of enthusiasm John Howson, young as he was and just out of\ncollege, was elected on trial to fill his father\u2019s place. So the\nbrother and sister still lived on in their old home, but into it they\ninfused a new manner of living. Fresh from the intellectual arena,\nthey sought to shape society about them into some likeness to that\nthey loved so well, and they found their old friends and playmates\nmore than ready to meet them half-way. A book club was started, into\nwhich the current literature of the day was crowded, and from which,\nit was placidly affirmed, all \u201ctrash\u201d was excluded; but Mill was\nthere, and Darwin, and a strange mixture of German philosophy, which\nthe young men, but more especially the young women, read, or fancied\nthey read, and about which they talked much, after a fashion revealing\nmore ideas than thought. There were \u201cmusicals\u201d too, and a Shakspere\nclub, and German and French conversations and readings, and the second\nwinter after Dr. Howson\u2019s death there were dramatic entertainments and\nconcerts; and it came to pass that almost every afternoon and evening\nof Rose\u2019s life was filled with some sort of intellectual work or\npleasure. She was a capital housekeeper, and so her early mornings\nwere occupied with household cares; but, later, she was always ready\nfor a walk or talk, and her reading was done in snatches by day and by\nlong hours of steady work late at night.\n\nAbout religion \u201cexperimentally\u201d she knew little. The old\nmeeting-house, which the Puritan settlers had built, was still\nstanding, but it had been enlarged and made over, though not\nbeautified. There Rose had been accustomed to go Sunday after Sunday\nas a matter of course, and sometimes to the Friday evening\nprayer-meeting; but she was not \u201ca Christian.\u201d Once there had been a\nrevival, when she tried to be converted, but she had failed. Then in\nBoston she had been taken to hear preachers who were not \u201corthodox\u201d at\nall; she had almost feared them at first, because of strange names she\nhad heard applied to them\u2014they had German tendencies, rationalistic\ntendencies, were free-thinkers. But when she came under the spell of\ntheir presence and their eloquence she was fascinated. They appealed\nto what she thought the highest faculties of her nature\u2014her intellect,\nher love for the beautiful, her reason. She missed it when she came\nhome and she did more than miss it: she began to doubt. Was old Mr.\nGray wiser than the cultured men she had been hearing? He claimed that\nthey were wrong; how did he know that? How could she tell that he was\nnot mistaken? In this one small town, originally occupied by orthodox\nCongregationalists only, there were now Orthodox Unitarians,\nMethodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, and Universalists. A Roman\nCatholic priest was serving there too, in a dingy hall in a back\nstreet, but \u201csociety\u201d rarely noticed him or his work; he and his alike\nwere out of its pale, anomalies, hardly worth mentioning except with\npitying wonder or idle jest and scorn. What made Mr. Gray superior to\nany or all of these in his power of discerning truth?\n\nAnd while Rose queried thus on Sunday mornings, sitting wearily in her\naccustomed place at the right of the pulpit, sometimes trying to find\nout how to be good, but oftener losing herself in memories of the\nfeasts of reason she had known for so brief and bright a while, some\none came to town who was to influence her life greatly. Looking up\nsuddenly from one of these reveries, she found herself still in the\nmeeting-house, but opposite her was a new face, a lady\u2019s, thin and\npale, with searching eyes fixed upon hers, and after service the lady\ncame straight to her pew and held out her hand.\n\n\u201cI am sure you are Miss Howson,\u201d she said. \u201cYour friend Grace Roland\nhas told me much of you. I am Ellen Lawton.\u201d\n\nRose\u2019s heart leaped up. In those happy Boston days she had often heard\nEllen Lawton spoken of as one of the most elegant and cultured women\nof her time, and she had read her writings with delight, but she had\nhardly hoped to meet her. It took her breath away with joy when she\nlearned that Miss Lawton had come to live for a while in this quiet\ncountry place.\n\nIt was a season of keen delight. Rose had thought she knew what it was\nto revel in intellectual pleasure, but it was something new to meet\none so superior to herself, yet so loving; always ready to listen to\nher ideas, to help her unfold them, and yet so calm and tranquil. Miss\nLawton was an invalid, and, after that first Sunday, Rose never saw\nher at church again. Once, when Rose stopped on her way thither to\nleave her some flowers, Miss Lawton said that she was going to sit in\nthe sunshine; would not Rose stay with her? And when Rose demurred,\nMiss Lawton said gently, \u201cShall we not please God as well in the\nbeauty of his sunshine as in that bare and cheerless house where you\nknow you do not like to go?\u201d\n\nThis was the beginning of Rose\u2019s first knowledge of Ellen Lawton\u2019s\nso-called religious life; they sat and talked all that morning about\nit. With a sweet smile upon her calm face, the invalid said quietly\nthat she believed there might be a God; she was not sure, of course;\nbut if there was one, he was kind and good, and loved to see her\nhappy. She made life as bright and beautiful as she possibly could\nalways; it was given her to enjoy. Books and music and art and flowers\nwere parts of her religion; beyond this world she did not look; what\ncame after death she knew not and cared not; if there was a God, he\nwas good and would be good to her; if there was not, the thought of\nannihilation did not distress her. Rose watched her closely after\nthis; she never heard an impatient word or saw a hasty movement; the\nlife was an exposition of what a great many people would call \u201cthe\nbeautiful,\u201d and Rose found in it more and more satisfaction for her\nextreme intellectual cravings.\n\nOne morning a servant ran in with blanched face to tell her that Miss\nLawton was dead. Rose had known that heart-disease was the fatal\nmalady which was surely sapping at her friend\u2019s life, yet this blow\nfell upon her with an awful suddenness. She went to the house, where\nthey left her to do as she would, for she was the nearest friend Miss\nLawton had there; she went up to the silent room, and shut herself in\nalone with the silent dead. Ellen Lawton lay as they had found her;\nshe must have risen in the morning and dressed with her usual dainty\ncare; then, perhaps feeling some acute pang of the pain to which she\nwas subject, she had sunk upon the couch by the window. Her face was,\nas in life, calm and noble; about her lay her books that she had\nloved, her rare pictures looked down upon her, her flowers scented the\nroom; outside the sun shone brightly on the grand hills she had been\nused to watch, finding in them food for heart and soul both, she said.\nNone of these moved her now at all.\n\nRose went close to her and looked at her, and looked, and looked, as\nif she would waken her by the very fixedness of her gaze. What was\nthis _thing_ lying there, this beautiful clay, this voiceless,\nmotionless, tenantless body? Yesterday it spoke to her, kissed her,\nloved her; what had changed it, gone out of it? The spirit? The soul?\nWhere was that soul then?\n\nShe knelt down trembling, and put her hand where the heart had beat\nnot five short hours ago. There was no movement now; and the silence\nin the room grew terrible. Where was that which yesterday she spoke\nwith? Nowhere? Then to-morrow she herself might be nowhere and\nnothing.\n\nSuddenly there came to her a memory which she had striven for years to\nbanish. A stranger had preached at the time of that unforgotten\nrevival; he had painted vividly and unsparingly the torments of the\nlost. Often in the night Rose had wakened from a dream of it, and\nfound herself cold with horror, and cried out, \u201cI never will believe\nit.\u201d Now like a painting she seemed to see it all again, and through\nher mind rang the words with which the sermon had ended, \u201cDoubt on as\nyou will, O unbeliever, O careless soul, O faithless Christian! Laugh\non as you will, forget as you will. But suppose that you wake up after\ndeath and find this true! _What then?_\u201d\n\nJohn Howson, hearing the news at school, hurried home at noon to\ncomfort Rose, but she was gone. He found her in that room of death,\nrocking to and fro upon her knees, her hands held out over the dead,\nwhile she was whispering in hoarse tones: \u201cEllen, is it true? Tell me\nit is not true.\u201d And no one answered.\n\nJohn lifted her tenderly, and she clung to him like a little child.\n\u201cTake me home!\u201d she cried, quivering all over. She could not walk; he\nhad to carry her, and all the way she clung to him as if the very\ntouch of something that lived and loved was comfort. \u201cO John! I am so\nglad you are alive,\u201d she sobbed. \u201cDear John, do not die, do not die!\u201d\n\nHe could hardly bear to leave her for afternoon school, and when he\ncame home she was crouching by his arm-chair, while Abby, their old\nservant, sat looking at her with pitying horror. \u201cYou\u2019d best do what\nyou can for her, Master John,\u201d she said, \u201cor she\u2019ll kill herself going\non in this way.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no! not kill myself,\u201d Rose answered hysterically. \u201cIt is awful to\nlive, but it is worse to die.\u201d\n\nJohn sat down near her, and she took his hand and held it tightly. \u201cI\nwant to _feel_ that you are here, and warm and well,\u201d she said. \u201cO\nJohn! tell me what is true.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is true?\u201d he repeated. \u201cWhy, I am, I hope; and you, dear child.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! no,\u201d she exclaimed, as if his tender lightness were unbearable.\n\u201cIs God true? Is there a God? What comes after death?\u201d\n\nHe answered her honestly; he had even less faith than she, but his\ndoubts did not trouble him. He lived a life as upright and fair as his\nneighbors; whether there was a God or not, what difference did it\nmake, so long as he behaved himself? This was John Howson\u2019s creed, if\nsuch a title could be applied to it.\n\nHow strong and kind he looked, how honorable he always was! Why should\nRose worry, if he did not? Either there was no God, and what they did\nmade no difference\u2014they could live as they liked and get all the\npleasure possible\u2014or, if there was a God, he was too good to be ever\nangry with them. It was a consoling belief; she would take the comfort\nof it. But alone at night the horror returned. Suppose there was a God\nwho demanded something\u2014she knew not what\u2014from his creatures; she could\nonly express it by the vague term, \u201cto be Christians.\u201d She held her\nhead between her hands and tried to think what that meant. Yes, she\nmust be converted, and be sorry for all her sins, and join the church.\nHow were people converted, and what church should she join? Perhaps\nshe had better say a prayer. \u201cO God!\u201d she began, then paused. Her\nbrain was reeling with the doubt whether there was any God at all; and\neven if there were, what was the use of prayer?\n\nThe next morning she went to Mr. Gray. With nerves unstrung by intense\nfeeling, she had little thought left for ordinary greetings or for\nceremony. The old man was jarred and hurt by what he thought her\nrudeness, never dreaming that he was dealing with a soul which was\nfast losing all care for earthly joys or pains, or for any earthly\nthing at all, in the one absorbing fear of eternal things. For forty\nyears he had labored in this place in a calm routine, hearing\nsomething but comprehending little of the doubts through which the\nworld without was passing. It filled him with horror to hear Rose\ntalk; he had never imagined what thoughts had been working in the mind\nof his old friend\u2019s child.\n\n\u201cWhat must one do to be a Christian?\u201d she had asked abruptly.\n\nHe had not expected such a question, and looked surprised, but he\nanswered simply enough: \u201cYou must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, my\nchild, and come to him in repentance.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd where is he?\u201d Rose cried, \u201cand who is he, and what does he want\nof me?\u201d\n\nMr. Gray stared at her in amazement and sorrow. \u201cMy dear,\u201d he said,\n\u201cwho is he? He is God, and he is everywhere, and he wants your heart.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow do you know that?\u201d Rose exclaimed. \u201cTell me how you know it.\n\nThe old man laid his hand upon his Bible. \u201cWhere should I know it but\nhere?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cBut other people think differently,\u201d Rose said. \u201cI have read it\nmyself, and I don\u2019t find what you preach. The Baptists read the Bible,\nand so do the Methodists, and so do the Episcopalians, and you cannot\nagree to be one. How do you know the Bible is true?\u201d\n\nIt was of no avail to tell her of internal evidence, or of spiritual\nconviction, or of visible effects. Quickly enough it became clear that\nRose Howson had no faith left in the Lord Jesus Christ as God. She did\nbelieve as an historical fact that he had lived once upon earth, and\nwas man, and possibly something more than man; that was all. To\neverything Mr. Gray said she returned the answer, \u201c_How do you know\nit?_ Is not the Baptist minister a Christian?\u2014and yet you differ. Is\nnot the Unitarian minister a scholar, and does not he pray to\nGod?\u2014and yet you say he is mistaken.\u201d And when Mr. Gray reminded her\nof her father, and asked how he would have felt to hear her speak\nthus, she cried out that she was a woman grown, and it was her own\nsoul she was talking of, and her father could not save that; fathers\nmade very little difference when it was heaven and hell you were\nthinking about.\n\n\u201cAll Christians agree on the vital points,\u201d Mr. Gray said; \u201cat least,\nall evangelical Protestants.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what about the unevangelical Protestants and the poor Catholics?\nand who decides what are the vital points? and why cannot you and the\nBaptists commune together, then?\u201d The eager questions were poured\nforth, overwhelming the listener.\n\nMr. Gray shook his head sadly. \u201cI do not think you are in a fit state\nto speak of such matters, Rose,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Lord Jesus Christ died\nfor you. Pray to him that he will himself teach you.\u201d\n\nRose stood up. \u201cGood-by, Mr. Gray,\u201d she said gently. \u201cI am afraid I\nhave troubled you. Perhaps you will say a prayer for me sometimes.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will indeed, my child,\u201d he answered her, with a very troubled look\nupon his face; \u201cbut you must pray too.\u201d\n\n\u201cPray?\u201d she repeated to herself mechanically as she went out of the\nroom. \u201cI wonder how they do it, and what they mean by it, and what\ngood it ever does? Pray? Oh! if I only could.\u201d\n\nAfter this Rose was never seen inside the old meeting-house again.\nEverybody learned that she was in some religious difficulty; most\npersons never mentioned the subject to her; some told her not to\nworry, but to trust; others that it made no manner of difference what\nshe believed, so long as she was sincere. To the one she answered that\nthe only belief she was sincere in was that she did not know what to\nbelieve; to the other she made no reply. But to John once she answered\nwearily: \u201cIf you sat here studying, and I told you the house was on\nfire, and you could smell it burning, would you keep still at your\nbooks, and trust and not worry, because other people said it was not\nyour house?\u201d\n\nOn one occasion she took up a Protestant Episcopal _Book of Common\nPrayer_ which she found in her father\u2019s library, and, turning its\npages, came to the Apostles\u2019 Creed. It comforted her to read it; she\nthought it must be a blessed thing to be brought up always with that\nimpressed upon one, and never to know anything else. She had some\nProtestant Episcopal friends; they seemed very content. But, still\nidly turning the leaves, she came to the Thirty-Nine Articles, and her\neye lighted on the words, \u201cAs the Church of _Jerusalem_, _Alexandria_,\nand _Antioch_, have erred; so also the Church of _Rome_ hath erred,\nnot only in their living and manner of Ceremonies, but also in matters\nof Faith.\u201d So then even they could not be sure and settled in their\nbelief, she said to herself; for if Rome and Jerusalem and Antioch had\nerred, why not the Protestant Episcopal Church of America? It was the\nclosing drop of bitterness. John found her that noon in as terrible a\nstate as on the day of Ellen Lawton\u2019s death.\n\n\u201cRose,\u201d he said gravely, \u201cfor some time, as you know, I have doubted\nthe existence of a God; but I will tell you now that my doubts on that\npoint are settled. Wherever and whatever he may be, there surely is\none; for I am convinced that no one could suffer as you do without\nsome reality to cause it.\u201d\n\nThe unexpected words brought a ray of comfort; she lifted her poor\npale face to his with a look of pitiful longing. \u201cThen, John,\u201d she\nsaid, \u201cdon\u2019t you think he must know how dreadful the suffering is, and\nthat he will tell me some day where to find him?\u201d\n\nThe tears\u2014a man\u2019s rare tears\u2014sprang to John Howson\u2019s eyes. \u201cI surely\nthink he will, Rose,\u201d he answered; and he stooped and kissed her with\ngreat compassion. His love was the only comfort Rose had now, and at\ntimes she found no comfort even in that.\n\nFanny Mason came to see her in the afternoon. People did not come to\nthe house as freely as they used to come; Rose showed too plainly that\nshe did not care to see them. But Fanny had been an intimate family\nfriend always; the affection between the two girls was more like that\nof relatives than of friends. Fanny was not at all intellectual, had\nnever known a shadow of doubt; she ran in to chat and gossip, not\nwaiting for replies, and brought a sense of refreshment, or at least\nof change, to Rose\u2019s burdened mind.\n\n\u201cTo-morrow is Ascension Day,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Episcopalians are going\nto have service and trim their church beautifully\u2014white lilacs and\nwistaria and lilies of the valley and bunches of forget-me-not. It\nwill be lovely; wouldn\u2019t you like to see it?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am tired and sick of prettiness and pettiness,\u201d Rose said.\n\n\u201cRose Howson! What next? You used to say that the beautiful satisfied\nyou entirely.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought it did,\u201d Rose answered sadly. \u201cBut where is it? All at once\nit failed me. Now I see a death\u2019s-head behind all.\u201d\n\n\u201cRose! Not really?\u201d\n\nRose almost smiled at Fanny\u2019s scared face. \u201cNo, Fanny; not literally,\nat least. Once, though, I did really see it in the very centre of\nloveliness, and I cannot forget.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish you could forget,\u201d Fanny said pityingly. \u201cI wish we could be\nlittle girls once more, Rose.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no!\u201d Rose answered, shuddering. \u201cNot to live all these years over\nagain. But, O Fanny! if I only could forget for ever so short a\nwhile!\u201d\n\nThe strained, wild passion of her look and manner frightened Fanny;\nshe tried to return to her former chatty lightness. \u201cI\u2019ll tell you\nwhat you had better do,\u201d she said, \u201csince you are tired of the\nbeautiful. The Catholics are going to keep Ascension Day too. What a\nqueer set they are! Do you know that they call this the month of Mary,\nand in their hall her image is dressed in lace and flowers, with\ncandles burning around it all day long? It is not so pretty there, I\nassure you. Suppose you try that.\u201d Then laughing as if she had\nsuggested the most absurd of absurdities, Fanny went away.\n\nThe dark cloud of depression which had come upon Rose that morning,\nand had lifted slightly at John\u2019s words, shadowed her now more densely\nthan ever. She looked about the room which John\u2019s taste and hers had\nmade so fair. How everything palled upon her! What good was it to try\nto make life as beautiful as possible, if even in life she ceased to\ncare for the beautiful? The strong, the true, the lasting, was what\nshe needed now.\n\nIt seemed to her that there was no hope anywhere. She fled out into\nthe open air, and walked fast to escape her haunting thoughts; but\nthere was no escape from self. Passing the hall where the Catholics\nhad services, she saw an old woman climbing the steps, remembered\nFanny\u2019s words, and followed her. \u201cSince the beautiful fails me,\u201d she\nthought with a bitter smile, \u201cI will look at what is not beautiful.\u201d\n\nIt was a very dingy hall, and uninviting. On the side walls were poor\nwood-cuts representing the scenes of the Passion. On a plain white\nwood altar a lamp was burning. Near by hung a colored print of the\nSaviour, but as Rose had never seen him portrayed before\u2014with his\nHeart exposed upon his breast, and great blood-drops falling from it.\nRose shrank from the sight; it displeased her. Close by the altar-rail\nwas a highly-colored and gaudily-decorated statue of the Blessed\nVirgin, with flowers distastefully arranged about it. The old woman\nhad fallen on her knees before it, and was praying. Rose wondered at\nher.\n\nBut she was strangely conscious of a peculiar quiet in the place; it\nsoothed her. She sat down on one of the benches, and took up a book\nlying there. _The Key of Heaven_ it was called; a very soiled and worn\nbook it was; she hardly liked to touch it. It opened at the Apostles\u2019\nCreed. \u201cHe ascended into heaven,\u201d she read.\n\nWho was \u201che\u201d? Jesus Christ\u2014God! So Catholics believed as well as Mr.\nGray; in this they were agreed. But, oh! what difference did it make?\nGod and heaven were so very far away\u2014if indeed there were a heaven\nanywhere\u2014that who on earth could tell anything about them? She looked\nup wearily from the book; again her eyes met the poor print of the\nSacred Heart, the poor statue of the holy Mother. Like a flash the\nthought came into her mind, \u201cJesus Christ\u2014God\u2014ascended into heaven,\nand he had a heart like ours, and he had a mother.\u201d\n\nIt was not as if she were uttering a belief\u2014whether Jesus Christ was\nGod she did not know; she was not even thinking about it then. But it\nwas as if she had grasped a link in a mighty chain, which, if one\nother link could be supplied, would solve and settle all doubt for\never. Over and over she said the words, fearing to lose or forget\nthem: \u201cJesus Christ\u2014God\u2014ascended into heaven, and he had a heart like\nours, and he had a mother.\u201d If this was true, how God in heaven must\npity her, how he must love her!\n\nAnd suddenly the tears were falling on Rose\u2019s cheeks. When she had\nwept last she could not tell; certainly not since Ellen Lawton\u2019s\ndeath, though she had often craved the relief of tears. Now they fell\nsoftly and plenteously, while she kept repeating the strange formula\nwith a keen sense that it soothed her and she was resting; and oh! she\nhad been so tired. A mother, a mother\u2014how very sweet it must be to\nhave a mother! And a God with a heart like ours, a heart that could be\nwounded and bleed and suffer sorely; oh! how one must love a God like\nthat.\n\n\u201cJohn,\u201d she said abruptly, when they were sitting by the study-lamp\nafter tea, \u201cwhat are Catholics? I mean, what do you know about them?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot much of anything,\u201d he answered in some surprise, \u201cexcept as one\nis always coming upon them in history and the papers. Why?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat makes them different from Protestants? Aren\u2019t you always coming\nupon them too?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot in the same way, child. You know that Protestants are not so\u2014so\nobtrusive.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut why, John? I want to know about them.\u201d\n\nThere was an animation in her manner which reminded him of old times;\nhe saw that she was really in earnest, and set himself to answer her\nin his straightforward, kindly way, glad to notice any change for the\nbetter in her tone of mind.\n\n\u201cI have never thought very much about them, Rose,\u201d he said; \u201cbut every\ngeneral reader must come in contact with them somehow, even if, like\nme, he has not had personal acquaintance with them in society. Of\ncourse you know the distinguishing features of confession and\ntransubstantiation, the papacy, the worship of saints and relics,\nprayer for the dead.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre you sure they are all wrong?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot at all. We were brought up to think them wrong, but I have never\nlooked so deeply into the matter as to make such an assertion on my\nown judgment; it never has seemed worth while. However, if you care\nfor my opinion, I will tell you what, from all I have read and heard,\npresents itself to my mind as the peculiar and fatal mark of\nCatholicism. It is its claim of absolute authority over the bodies and\nminds and souls of men\u2014a claim which reached its height of tyranny in\nthe declaration of the infallibility of the pope.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat does that mean, John?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, that whatever the pope may say\u2014no matter who he is, remember, if\nhe is only a pope\u2014that thing you and I and every one must believe to\nbe right. However, I mean to be just to all sects. If I have the idea\nrightly, their exact claim is this: that the pope, as pope, speaking\nto the whole church as the Head of the Church, cannot be mistaken,\nsimply because God will not permit him to be. Do you understand?\u201d\n\nShe was sitting in the full light of the lamp. He noticed the quiet,\nthoughtful look upon her face; it made him very happy to see it there.\n\n\u201cJohn,\u201d she said after a minute\u2019s pause, \u201cwhy should it not be?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat, Rose?\u201d\n\n\u201cI mean, if there is a God Almighty, why could he not keep a man from\nerror in teaching, just as easily as he could make a man in the first\nplace?\u201d\n\n\u201cReally,\u201d said John with an amused smile at what he thought her\nbrightness, \u201cI don\u2019t see but that he could; that is, if you give up\nthe idea that we are free agents.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut do they say he is not generally a free agent?\u201d Rose asked, like\none thinking out a problem. \u201cOnly, when God wants to use him to teach\nthe church, he will not let him teach a lie. _Why_ should not an\nAlmighty God do that? O John! look here.\u201d\n\nShe hurried to the bookcase, brought back and opened the _Book of\nCommon Prayer_. \u201cI believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic\nChurch,\u201d she read. \u201cThen there are those who do really believe it; who\nreally think that now\u2014to-day\u2014there is a church where God speaks\nplainly and unmistakably, and always will speak so, and there can be\nno error?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, Rose.\u201d\n\nWas it only the glow of the lamplight shining upon her face? Did his\neyes deceive him, or was that creature, radiant with happiness and a\nbloom of beauty never witnessed there before\u2014was this his poor and\nfading Rose of that very noon? Once in his life he had heard a child\nlaugh who had been suddenly and entirely released from excruciating\npain\u2014a low, sweet laugh most exquisite to hear in the sense it gave of\nindescribable relief. Such a laugh he heard now from Rose\u2019s lips,\nwhich he had almost feared would never so much as smile again.\n\n\u201cJohn,\u201d she said exultingly, \u201cI have it! There is a Heavenly\nFather\u2014God\u2014and he made us all. And there is Jesus Christ\u2014God\u2014who\nascended into heaven, and he had a heart like ours, and he had a\nmother. And there is a Holy Ghost\u2014God\u2014who is with the church, and so\nshe _cannot_ lie. And how those three are one, and how the blood of\nChrist saves us, we may never be able to explain; but, if there is a\nGod, he will never let his church tell lies or err or make mistakes,\nand whatever his church says that we ought to believe, whether we\nunderstand it or not. And only Catholics claim an infallible voice.\nJohn, I am going to try it. I shall speak to the priest to-morrow.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are your own mistress, Rose,\u201d he said gravely. \u201cYou can do as you\nplease. I only warn you that after that one act of your own choice,\nyou must give up your reason and will to another.\u201d\n\nThe color flashed more brightly in her cheeks. He was amazed as he\nlooked at her; once again the fire was in her eyes, and the brilliant\nintellect shone in the face that had been dulled so long.\n\n\u201cI shall give up my reason and my will to God,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is he\nwho will speak to me, without erring and without lying. I do not\nexpect to be as wise as my Creator, and I am sure I shall be none the\nworse for it when he who is wisdom itself teaches me. It is God that I\nam talking about, John, and not a mere man that can make mistakes. I\nam quite content to yield my intellect and my will to him.\u201d\n\nAnd then, as suddenly as it had come, the glow faded from her face;\nshe was kneeling down beside him with that look of anguish in her eyes\nwhich for so many long weeks had wrung his heart with pity. \u201cYou know\nI have suffered,\u201d she said, \u201cbut, John, it is only the outside you\nhave seen; you can\u2019t tell what it has been within. And now a great\nlight is coming\u2014I am sure of it. It is not the love of beauty or\nanything I used to crave. It is the thing I need and we all need;\nsomething stronger than we are: something that cannot by any\npossibility teach us a lie; something that cannot by any possibility\nerr; something plain to hear and plain to see\u2014infallible! I have not\ngot it yet; I am only on my way to it. If it was in your power to stop\nme, would you do it?\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not understand you, Rose,\u201d he answered thoughtfully, \u201cnor do I\nentirely follow your train of reasoning. Still, I grant that for a\ntemperament such as yours has of late disclosed itself to be there is\ncomfort in what you think you see. No, I would not say a word to stop\nyou, my poor child! It goes against the grain to think of one of us\nbecoming a Catholic; but if anything will help you, I shall bless the\nhand that brings relief.\u201d\n\nShe looked full in his face with a look of grave surprise. \u201cI did not\nthink that of you,\u201d she said; \u201cyou always have seemed so honest. Don\u2019t\nyou know that nothing in heaven or earth can satisfy me, unless it is\nthe _truth_? No shams, no half-way things, but something like rock\nthat will never fail. I did not think that of you, John!\u201d\n\nJohn sat alone and puzzled over her words that night. \u201cI always have\nto puzzle things out,\u201d he said. \u201cThey never come to me like a flash,\nas they do to Rose. Stop, though! I am wrong there. She has been\nmonths in getting at it, and they were months that almost killed her.\nWhy was it?\u201d\n\nPlainly enough he saw at last why it was. God, the soul,\neternity\u2014those things which are invisible\u2014were more real to Rose than\nthe visible things. And should they not be? He knew very well that he\nwould be stung to the quick to be told that his body\u2014his material,\ntangible, lower nature\u2014had the upper hand in his life. No, his reason,\nhis intellect\u2014something intangible and invisible anyhow, by whatever\nname you named it\u2014was the governing power. And if so, then why should\nnot One invisible and intangible be the ruler of that, and claim from\nhim more than a merely blameless life and an honest fame; demand\nsubmission of his will and reason and thought? John shook his head\nruefully; the idea struck home; he did not like it, but there it was.\n\nThe next day Rose quietly laid before him her little Catechism, open\nat the very first section, and John read this:\n\n \u201c_Question._ _Who made you?_\n\n \u201c_Answer._ GOD.\n\n \u201c_Q._ Why did he make you?\n\n \u201c_A._ That I might know him, love him, and serve him in this\n world, and be happy with him for ever in the next.\n\n \u201c_Q._ To whose likeness did he make you?\n\n \u201c_A._ To his own image and likeness.\n\n \u201c_Q._ Is this likeness in your body or in your soul?\n\n \u201c_A._ In my soul.\n\n \u201c_Q._ In what is your soul like to God?\n\n \u201c_A._ Because my soul is a spirit endowed with understanding\n and free will, and is immortal\u2014that is to say, can never\n die.\n\n \u201c_Q._ In what else is your soul like to God?\n\n \u201c_A._ Because as in God there are three persons and one God,\n so in man there is one soul and three powers.\n\n \u201c_Q._ Which are the three powers?\n\n \u201c_A._ Will, memory, and understanding.\n\n \u201c_Q._ Which must we take most care of, our body or our soul?\n\n \u201c_A._ Of our soul.\n\n \u201c_Q._ Why so?\n\n \u201c_A._ Because, \u2018What doth it profit a man if he gain the\n whole world and lose his own soul?\u2019\n\n \u201c_Q._ What must we do to save our soul?\n\n \u201c_A._ We must worship God by faith, hope, and charity; that\n is, we must believe in him, hope in him, and love him with\n all our heart.\n\n \u201c_Q._ How shall we know the things which we are to believe?\n\n \u201c_A._ From the Catholic Church of God, which he has\n established by innumerable miracles, and illustrated by the\n lives and deaths of innumerable saints.\u201d\n\n\u201cJohn,\u201d said Rose steadily, \u201cbe honest with God.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nProfessor Howson is a name which no one hears now, though it was once\nsupposed that it would rank among those of New England\u2019s noblest\nscholars. But John Howson teaches still. People had often said of him\nthat he would never marry; that his books and his sister were enough\nfor him. He never did marry; but it was God and the church of God that\nsatisfied him. Once, in a great city, an old friend of his collegiate\ndays, who had not heard of him for years, met him face to face in his\ndress of a religious, and stopped him in utter amazement.\n\n\u201cJohn Howson! You are unmistakable, but how is this? I was told of\nyour change, but did not know it had gone so far. Are not your Puritan\nancestors groaning in their shrouds, man, because of such doings?\u201d\n\nThe priest returned a courteous answer, and would have turned to other\nthemes, but his friend persisted. Then, not with the old outspoken\nfrankness as of one who feared none, but instead, thoughtfully and\nhumbly as in the very fear of God, there came this reply:\n\n\u201cOnce I matched my mind with the mind of God, and judged him, and\nthought his will to be of no account. It was a great sin, and he saved\nme from it. After that I could only say, as another in like case once\nsaid, \u2018I cannot give God less than all.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cA great sin?\u201d his friend repeated. \u201cI do not understand that.\u201d\n\nHe saw a shade of peculiar awe creep over the countenance before him.\n\u201cAnd is it no sin,\u201d John Howson asked in a deep voice, \u201cto hear said\nin the face of God that there is no God? to have counted your own\njudgment superior to his? to have given God the lie? One who is now of\nthe mightiest saints thought that he did God service while he fought\nagainst him, and afterward he named himself the chief of sinners. But\nI did not so much as think of the service of God at all in matters of\nbelief.\u201d\n\n\u201cI can\u2019t see the fault in that,\u201d his friend said wonderingly. \u201cIf it\nwas murder you had on your conscience, I might sympathize with you;\nbut this!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are fresh from Massachusetts,\u201d said Father Howson, \u201cand it is\nyears since I was there. Do they still count the mind as nobler than\nthe body, and the intellect as among their highest gifts?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d was the proud reply.\n\n\u201cSome time,\u201d returned Father Howson with deep meaning in his tone, \u201cwe\nall shall have to learn that God judges sin of the mind by as terrible\na judgment as sin of the body, and that he demands his gifts with\nusury. Believe me, it is better to forestall that judgment, and to\nmeet that demand here than hereafter.\u201d\n\nAnd Rose? Long since she learned to say, \u201cI have loved, O Lord, the\nbeauty of thy house; and the place where thy glory dwelleth.\u201d Long\nsince she learned that there is One invisible who is fairer than any\nchild of man, and to him she gave the heart which a wealth of\nintellectual and earthly loveliness had failed to satisfy. She has\nlearned that there is a nobler Blood than any that the world can\nboast; His place is with the nobility of an eternal kingdom, whose\npeculiar marks of honor are poverty, and self-renunciation, and an\nutter lowliness of obedience, whereby every faculty of one\u2019s nature is\nbrought with a glad free-will into the obedience of Christ. One day\nthe daughter of the Puritans heard another voice than theirs call her\nby that tender name: \u201cHearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thy\near: and forget thy people and thy father\u2019s house. And the King shall\ngreatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord God.\u201d Once before, but\nafter sore struggle and heartrending suffering, she had heard that\nvoice. Hearing it again, she rose up joyfully and followed it, as\nthen, without delay.\n\n\n\n\nPRUSSIA AND THE CHURCH.\n\nIII.\n\n\nWe have already alluded to that feature in the recent ecclesiastical\nlegislation of Prussia which gives to the people the right to choose\ntheir pastors, and we have also seen how nobly the Catholics of\nGermany have thwarted this unholy attempt to create dissension and\ndiscord in the church. When it could no longer be doubted that the\nGerman bishops were immovable in their allegiance to the pope, Prussia\nsought, by holding out every possible inducement to apostasy, to\ncreate disunion between the priests and the bishops; but in this, too,\nshe met with signal defeat. Nothing, therefore, remained to be done,\nbut to devise measures whereby the administration of ecclesiastical\naffairs would be placed exclusively in the hands of the laity; since\nthe breaking of the bonds which unite church and state would not have\nas a result that weakening of ecclesiastical power which is so\nardently desired. This Professor Friedberg, in his _German Empire and\nthe Catholic Church_, expressly states in the following words:\n\n \u201cIf the government were to adhere to the plan of a total\n separation of church and state, what would be the\n consequence? Would the bishops lose their authority because\n the state no longer recognized it? Would the parochial\n system be broken up if unsupported by the state? In a word,\n would the church lose any of her power? It would argue an\n absolute want of perception and a total ignorance of\n Catholic history to affirm that she would. The stream which\n for centuries has flowed in its own channel does not run dry\n because its course is obstructed. It only overflows and\n floods the country. To continue the metaphor, we must first\n seek with all care to draw off the waters, and to lead them\n into pools and reservoirs, where what remains will readily\n evaporate.\u201d\n\nThe Protestants of Prussia are opposed to the separation of church and\nstate, because they are well aware that in the present condition of\nreligious opinion in Germany the rationalists and socialists would at\nonce get control of most of the parishes of the Evangelical church, if\nit were deprived of the support of the government; and, on the other\nhand, both they and the infidels are persuaded that the Catholic\nChurch is quite able to maintain herself, and even to wax strong,\nwithout any help from the temporal power.\n\n \u201cOne thing,\u201d says the _Edinburgh Review_, \u201cthe state is\n quite at liberty to do. The state is not bound to pay or\n maintain churches or sects which it does not approve.\n Indeed, if these conditions are annexed to the acceptance of\n state payment, the church herself would do well to reject\n the terms. But will Prince Bismarck withdraw the stipend and\n set the church free? Nothing of the kind. There is no\n freedom of religious orders or communities in Prussia. The\n whole spirit of these laws is to make every form of\n religious belief and organization as subservient to the\n state as a Prussian recruit is to the rattan of a corporal.\n That we abhor and denounce as an intolerable oppression; and\n it is only by the strangest perversion of judgment that any\n Englishman can have imagined that the cause of true\n religious liberty was identical with the policy of Prince\n Bismarck.\u201d[37]\n\nTo consent to a separation of church and state would be a recognition\nof the independent existence of the church, which Prussia holds to be\ncontrary to the true theory of the constitution of human society in\nrelation to government and religion. This theory is that man exists\nfor the state, to which he owes his supreme and undivided allegiance;\nwhose duty it is to train and govern him for its own service alike in\npeace and war. All the interests of society, therefore, material,\npolitical, educational, and religious, must be subjected to the state,\nindependently of which no organization of any kind ought to be\npermitted to exist. And in fact the whole spirit of the recent\necclesiastical legislation of Prussia is in perfect consonance with\nthis theory. The Falck Laws deny to the church the right to educate\nher priests, to decide as to their fitness for the care of souls, to\nappoint them to or remove them from office; in a word, the right to\nadminister her own affairs, and consequently to exist at all as an\norganization separate from the state.\n\nIt can hardly surprise us that the attempt should have been made to\nprove that this is in accordance with the teachings of the New\nTestament.\n\n \u201cThe New Testament,\u201d says the _British Quarterly_, \u201crequires\n that the Christian shall be a loyal subject of the\n government under which he lives. \u2018Let every soul be subject\n unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God;\n the powers that be are ordained of God: whosoever therefore\n resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God.\u2019\u201d[38]\n\nAfter quoting several texts from the Epistles of St. Paul, of the same\ngeneral import, the writer in the _British Quarterly_ continues:\n\n \u201cNow, it is impossible to find in the New Testament any\n injunctions of obedience to organized ecclesiastical power,\n like those here given of obedience to the civil government.\n It is not ecclesiastical authority, nor a corporate\n ecclesiastical institution, but the personal God, and the\n individual conscience in its direct personal relations with\n God, which is set over against an unrighteous demand of the\n civil authority in the crucial motto of Peter, \u2018We ought to\n obey God rather than men,\u2019 and in the teaching of Christ,\n \u2018Render unto C\u00e6sar the things which are C\u00e6sar\u2019s, and unto\n God the things which are God\u2019s.\u2019 Of conscience as an\n ecclesiastical corporation, or of conscience as an imputed\n or vicarious faculty, determined and exercised by one for\n another, the ethics of the New Testament have no\n knowledge.\u201d[39]\n\nIt is hard to realize the ignorance or the bad faith of a man who is\ncapable of making such statements as these. Let us take the last words\nof the gospel of St. Matthew: \u201cAnd Jesus coming, spoke to them,\nsaying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going,\ntherefore, teach ye all nations, \u2026 teaching them to observe all things\nwhatsoever I have commanded you; and, behold, I am with you all days,\neven to the consummation of the world.\u201d Here surely is an organized\nbody of men, receiving from Christ himself the divine command to teach\nall the nations of the earth their religious faith and duties, which\nnecessarily carries with it the right to exact obedience. But, lest\nthere be any room for doubt, let us hear Christ himself: \u201cHe that\nheareth you, heareth me: and he that despiseth you despiseth me. And\nhe that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me.\u201d[40]\n\nAgain: \u201cAnd if he will not hear the church, let him be to thee as the\nheathen and the publican. Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind\nupon earth, shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall\nloose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.\u201d[41]\n\nWhen Peter and John were brought into court and \u201ccharged not to speak\nat all, nor teach in the name of Jesus,\u201d they should have submitted at\nonce, upon the theory that the state has the right to exact supreme\nand undivided allegiance; but they appealed to their divine\ncommission, just as the bishops of Germany do to-day, and answered,\n\u201cWe cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.\u201d[42]\n\nAnd in the council at Jerusalem, \u201can ecclesiastical corporation\u201d\nsurely, the apostles say: \u201cFor it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost,\nand to us, to lay no further burden upon you than these necessary\nthings\u201d;[43] plainly indicating and using their right to impose\ncommands and exact obedience. But enough of this. The persecutors of\nthe church to-day are not at all concerned about the teachings of the\nNew Testament. The attempt, however, to make it appear that only\nCatholics protest against the doctrine of absolute and undivided\nallegiance to the state is wholly unjustifiable. There is no\nProtestant sect in England or the United States which would submit to\nthe intervention of the government in its spiritual life and internal\ndiscipline. Would the Methodists, or the Baptists, or the\nPresbyterians permit the state to decide what kind of education their\nministers are to receive, or to determine whether they are capable of\nproperly discharging their spiritual duties, or to keep in office by\nforce those whom the church had cast off? They would go out to pray on\nthe hillside and by the river banks rather than submit to such\ntyranny.\n\nIs not the right of revolution, which in our day, especially outside\nof the Catholic Church, is held to be divine, based upon the principle\nof divided allegiance? Practically it is impossible to distinguish\nbetween loyalty to the government and loyalty to the state; and no man\nin this age thinks of questioning the right of rebellion against a\ntyrannical government. This divided allegiance marks the radical\ndifference between Christian and pagan civilization. Before Christ\nthere was no divided allegiance, because the individual was absorbed\nby the state, and nothing could have wrested mankind from this bondage\nbut a great spiritual organization such as the Catholic Church; and\nthis, we believe, is generally admitted by our adversaries. They fail\nto perceive, however, that there is no other institution than the\nCatholic Church which has the power to prevent the state from again\nabsorbing the individual and destroying all civil and political\nliberty. If the church could be broken up into national\nestablishments, and the entire control of education handed over to the\nstate, the bringing all men to the servile temper which characterizes\nthe Russians and Protestant Prussians would be only a question of\ntime. Many will be inclined to hold that the general freedom, and even\nlicense, of thought of our time would be a sufficient protection\nagainst any such danger.\n\nA little reflection, however, will suffice to dispel this illusion. No\nnumber of individuals, unless they are organized, can successfully\noppose tyranny; and mere speculations or opinions as to the abstract\nright of resistance can not stop the march of the state toward\nabsolutism. The most despotic states have often encouraged the most\nunbounded freedom of thought, and we need not go beyond Prussia for an\nexample. In no country in the world has there been more of what is\ncalled free-thinking, nor has any government been more tolerant of\nwild theories and extravagant speculations; and yet the free-thinkers\nand _illuminati_ have done nothing to promote the growth of free\ninstitutions or to encourage civil or religious liberty. They are\nwithout unity or organization or programme. Many of them to-day are\nthe strongest supporters of Bismarckian despotism. Even in 1848 they\nsucceeded only in getting up a mob and evaporating in wild talk.\n\nThe divine right of resistance to tyranny would have no sanction or\nefficacy if it were not kept living in the hearts of men by\nsupernatural religion.\n\nThis is thoroughly understood by the advocates of absolutism, who do\nnot trouble themselves about doctrines of any kind, except when they\nare upheld by organizations, and for this reason all their efforts are\ndirected to the destruction of the organic unity of the church. Had\nPrince Bismarck succeeded in his attempt to get the Catholic\ncongregations which have been deprived of their priests to elect\npastors for themselves, there would have been but another step to open\nschism, which would have inevitably resulted in favor of Old\nCatholicism. But, as we have seen, out of more than a hundred\nparishes, not one has lent itself to the iniquitous designs of the\nenemies of the church.\n\nAnother striking example of the perfect unanimity of thought and\naction which in Prussia exists between priests and people was given\nlast year when the so-called State-Catholics tried to get up a protest\nagainst the encyclical letter of the Pope, in which he declared that\nthe May Laws were not binding upon the consciences of Catholics. All\nthe liberal papers of Germany were loud in praise of this project,\nwhich presented the fairest opportunity to Catholic government\nofficials to curry favor by showing their acceptance of the Falck\nlaws; and yet, in spite of every effort that was made, only about a\nthousand signatures were obtained, most of which were found outside of\nthe eight millions of Prussian Catholics.\n\nMr. Gladstone, in his article on the \u201cSpeeches of Pope Pius IX.,\u201d[44]\nsays of the Catholic clergy that they \u201care more and more an army, a\npolice, a caste; further and further from the Christian Commons, but\nnearer to one another and in closer subservience to the pope.\u201d However\nnear the Catholic clergy may be to one another, it certainly shows a\ngreat lack of power to see things as they are to maintain that they\nare losing the hold which more than any other class of men they have\nalways had on the hearts of the people. The persecution in Germany has\nshown there that inseparable union of priest and people which is\nto-day as universal as the life of the church. Had there existed any\nseed of discord, it certainly would have sprung up and flourished in\nPrussia during the last four or five years.\n\nWhat circumstances could have been more favorable to such development\nthan those created by the Old Catholics in league with Bismarck? The\nunprecedented victories over Austria and France had set all Germany\nwild with enthusiasm. \u201cDeutschland \u00fcber alles, \u00fcber alles in der\nWelt,\u201d was the refrain of every song. On the other hand, many\nCatholics, especially in Germany, had been prejudiced and somewhat\nsoured by the false interpretations which were everywhere put on the\ndogma of papal infallibility. Just at this moment Dr. D\u00f6llinger, whose\nreputation was greater than that of any other German theologian,\nannounced his separation from the church, and at once there gathered\naround him a party of dissatisfied or suspended priests and\nrationalistic laymen. Reinkens was made bishop, and the Emperor of\nGermany publicly prayed that the \u201ccertainly correct conviction of the\n_Hochw\u00fcrdiger Herr Bischof_ might win ground more and more.\u201d Fortune\nsmiled upon the new religion and everything seemed to promise it the\nbrightest future. What has been the result? In a population of eight\nmillions of Catholics this sect, with the aid of the state, German\nenthusiasm, and the whole liberal press, has been able to gather only\nabout six thousand adherents; and they are without zeal, without\ndoctrinal or moral unity, having as yet not even dared to define their\nposition towards the Pope. Dr. D\u00f6llinger himself has lost interest in\nthe movement, and its most sanguine friends have yielded to\ndespondency. Old Catholicism was, in fact, impossible from the\nbeginning. But two roads open before those who to-day go forth from\nthe fold of the church: the one leads to the Babel and decomposition\nof Protestant sectarianism, the other to the unbelief of scientific\nnaturalism.\n\nTo declare that Christianity is lying disjointed, in shattered\nfragments, and yet to pretend that human hands, with paste and glue,\nout of these broken pieces can remake the heavenly vase once filled\nwith God\u2019s spirit of faith, hope, and love, is an idle fancy. Into\nthis patchwork no divine life will come; men will not believe in it,\nnor will it inspire enthusiasm or the heroic courage of martyrdom.\nTherefore they who leave the church, their native soil, have indeed\nall the world before them, and yet no place where they can find rest\nfor their souls.\n\nWhat the religious policy of the Prussian Liberals is, Herr von\nKirchmann, to whom in a previous article we introduced our readers,\ninforms us in the following words:\n\n \u201cThe majority of the Liberal representatives are\n highly-educated men who have fallen out with the Christian\n churches, because they no longer accept their creed, and\n therefore hold as a principle that freedom of conscience for\n the individual is abundantly sufficient to satisfy the\n religious wants of the people. At best, they would consent\n to the existence of congregations; any organization beyond\n this they consider not only unnecessary but hurtful.\u201d\n\nThis, then, is the Liberal programme: the individual shall have\nperfect freedom to believe, as he pleases, in God or the devil; but\nthere shall be no ecclesiastical organization, unless a kind of\ncongregationalism, which, having neither unity nor strength, can be\neasily rendered harmless by being placed under police supervision.\nThese men of culture, as Herr von Kirchmann says, have fallen out with\nall the churches; and they are liberal enough to be willing to do\neverything in their power to make it impossible that any of them\nshould exist at all, since without organic unity of some kind there\ncan be no church, as there can be no state.\n\nBut let us hear what Herr von Kirchmann has to remark upon this\nsubject.\n\n \u201cThis view,\u201d he says, \u201cmay satisfy those who have reached\n the high degree of culture of the Liberals; but those who\n take it utterly ignore the religious wants of the middle and\n lower classes, and fail to perceive the yearning,\n inseparable from all religious feeling, for association with\n persons of like sentiments, in order, through public\n worship, to obtain the strength and contentment after which\n this fundamental craving of the human heart longs.\u201d\n\nTo the existence of this feeling, and its yearning for the largest\npossible association, the history of all Christian peoples, down even\nto the present day, bears witness; for this reason nowhere have men\nbeen satisfied with the freedom of the individual, but have ever\ndemanded a church with acknowledged rights and the privilege of free\nintercommunion.\n\n \u201cTo the dangers which would threaten society if religious\n associations should be broken up, and faith left to the whim\n of individuals, these highly cultivated men give no heed,\n because they do not themselves feel the need of such\n support; but they forget that their security, the very\n possibility, indeed, of reaching the point at which they\n stand, rests upon the power of the church over the masses;\n and should they destroy this by allowing the congregations\n to break up into atoms, leaving the Christian creed to be\n fashioned by passion and ever-varying interests, according\n to the fancy of each and every one, nothing would remain but\n the brute force of the state, which, without the aid of the\n internal dispositions of the people, cannot save society\n from complete dissolution.\u201d[45]\n\nHerr von Kirchmann, then, adds his testimony to that of many other\nobservers who, though they do not believe in the divine origin and\ntruth of the Christian religion, yet hold that its acceptance by the\nmasses as a system of belief, received on the authority of a church,\nis essential to the preservation and permanence of our civilization.\nThis is a subject to which we Americans might with great profit give\nour thoughts.\n\nAs Emerson, who is probably our most characteristic thinker, has\ndeclared that he would write over the portal of the Temple of\nPhilosophy WHIM, American Protestantism seems more and more inclined\nto accept this as the only satisfactory, or indeed possible,\nshibboleth in religion. The multiplication of sects holding\nconflicting creeds, while it has weakened faith in all religious\ndoctrines, has helped on the natural tendency of Protestantism to\nthrow men back upon their own feelings or fancies for their faith.\nThis, of course, results in the breaking up even of congregations into\natoms of individualism, and will, if not counteracted, necessarily\ndestroy our character as a Christian people; and for us it is needless\nto say Christianity is the only possible religion.\n\nOur statesmen\u2014politicians may be the more proper word\u2014though not\nirreligious, lack grasp of mind and depth of view, else they could not\nfail to perceive, however little they may sympathize with the\ndoctrines or what they conceive to be the social tendencies of the\nCatholic Church, that just such a strong and conservative Christian\norganism as she is, is for us an indispensable political requirement.\nThat none of the leading minds of the country should have taken this\nview is a sad evidence of want of intellectual power or of moral\ncourage. The most that any of them feel authorized in saying in our\nfavor is that a country which tolerates free-love, Mormonism, and the\njoss-house of the Chinaman ought not, if consistency be a virtue, to\npersecute Catholics. In spite of appearances which mislead superficial\nobservers, we are the most secular people in the world. No other\npeople is so ready to sacrifice religious to material interests; no\nother people has ever to an equal extent banished all religious\ninstruction from its national education; no other people has ever\ntaken such a worldly view of its religion. The supernatural in\nreligion is lost sight of by us, and we value it chiefly for its\nsocial and \u00e6sthetic power. The popular creed is that religion is\nsomething which favors republicanism, promotes the exploitation of the\nmaterial resources of the globe, softens manners, and makes life\ncomfortable.\n\nThe proposition to tax church property shows that a large portion\nof the American people have ceased to believe in religion as a\nmoral and social power. A church is like a bank or theatre or\ncoal-mine\u2014something which concerns only those who have stock in it,\nand has nothing whatever to do with the public welfare. The\nschool-house occupies quite other ground. The country is interested in\nhaving all its citizens intelligent; this is for the general good; but\nwhether they believe in God or the soul is a matter of profound\nindifference, unless, possibly, to themselves, since this can in no\nway affect the progress or civilization of the American people. This\nis evidently the only possible philosophy for those who would tax\nchurch property. The popular contempt for theology encouraged by\nnearly all Protestant ministers is another evidence of the tendency to\nreligious disintegration. There is but little danger that any church\nwill ever get a controlling influence in the national life of this\ncountry; our peril lies in the opposite direction; and that so few of\nthose who think should see this is to us the saddest sign of the\ntimes; but those who do recognize it cannot help knowing that the\nCatholic Church is the strongest bulwark against this flood-tide.\n\nThe social dangers of an open persecution of the Catholic Church are\nmost clearly seen in Prussia to-day. Since the German chancellor\nentered upon his present course of violence five bishops and fifteen\nthousand priests have been imprisoned or fined, and about the same\nnumber of laymen have suffered for daring to speak unfavorably of\nthese proceedings. Never before, probably, have the police been so\ngenerally or constantly employed in arresting men who are loved and\nvenerated by the people, and whose only crime is fidelity to\nconscience. The inevitable consequence of this is that the officers of\nthe government come to be looked upon, not as the ministers of\njustice, but as the agents of tyranny and oppression, which must, of\ncourse, weaken respect for authority. These coercive measures, from\nthe nature of things, tend only to confirm the Catholics in their\nconscientious convictions, and the government is thereby instigated to\nharsher methods of dealing with this passive resistance. The number of\nconfessors of the faith increases, the enthusiasm and devotion of the\npeople are heightened, and it becomes an honor and a glory to be made\na victim of tyranny. The feeling of disgrace which is attached to the\npenalties for violation of law is more efficacious in repressing crime\nthan the suffering which is inflicted; but this feeling is destroyed,\nor rather changed, into one of an opposite character in the minds of\nthe people when they behold their venerated bishops and much-loved\npriests dragged to prison for saying Mass or administering the\nsacraments. No amount of reasoning, no refinement of logic, can ever\nconvince them that there can be anything criminal in the performance\nof these sacred functions. In this way the ignominy which in the\npublic mind follows conviction for crime is wiped away, and the\nsacredness of the law itself endangered.\n\nThis alone is sufficient to show how blind and thoughtless Prince\nBismarck has been in making war upon the Catholic Church just at the\nmoment when wise counsels would have led him to seek to add the\nstrength of reverence and respect to the enthusiasm with which the\ncreation of the new empire had been hailed. The spoilt child of\nsuccess, wounded pride made him mad. How serviceable he might have\nfound the moral support of the Catholic clergy Herr von Kirchmann has\ninformed him.\n\n \u201cI myself,\u201d he says, \u201cfrom 1849 to 1866, with the exception\n of some intervals, lived in Upper Silesia, a wholly Catholic\n province, and, as the president of the Criminal Senate of a\n Court of Appeals, had the fullest opportunity to study the\n moral and religious state of the people, which in nothing is\n so truly seen as in those circumstances out of which spring\n offences against the law. Now, although this province of\n more than a million of men was thoroughly Catholic and\n entirely in the hands of the clergy; although the school\n system was still very imperfect, and the population, with\n the exception of the landowners and the inhabitants of the\n large cities, not speaking the German language, was thereby\n deprived of culture and of intercourse with the German\n provinces, yet can I unhesitatingly affirm that the moral\n condition of the people was in no way worse than in Saxony\n or the Margravate where formerly I held similar official\n positions. The number of crimes was rather less, the\n security of person and of property greater, and the\n relations between the different classes of society far more\n peaceable and friendly than in the provinces to which I have\n just made allusion. The socage and heavy taxes pressed hard\n upon the peasantry; nevertheless in 1848 insurrections\n against the landlords were not more frequent here than\n elsewhere. It was unquestionably the powerful influence of\n the clergy which, in spite of so many obstacles, gave to the\n people their moral character, and produced the general\n contentment and obedience which reflected the greatest honor\n upon the whole population. The vice of drunkenness, through\n the agency of temperance societies established solely by the\n priests, had been in an almost marvellous manner rooted out\n from among the people, and the general welfare made manifest\n progress. By means of my official and political position I\n had the opportunity to make the acquaintance of a large\n number of the pastors and curates, and still to-day I recall\n with pleasure my intercourse with these men, for the most\n part cultivated, but above all distinguished by their\n thorough gentleness of character. They were firm in\n maintaining the rights of their church, they were filled\n with the excellence of their mission, but they never thought\n of thwarting the civil authorities; on the contrary, they\n found in the clergy a great and efficacious support, so that\n this province needed fewer protective and executive\n officials than others.\u201d[46]\n\nNo enlightened and fair government has anything to fear from the\ninfluence of men who are as firm in upholding the authority of the\nstate as they are in asserting their own liberty of conscience; who\nwill neither do wrong nor tamely submit to it. If, in the social,\nreligious, and political crisis through which the nations of\nChristendom are passing, sound reason is ultimately to prevail and\ncivilization is to be preserved, the necessity of an institution like\nthe Catholic Church will come to be recognized by all who are capable\nof serious thought. The divided allegiance, the maintenance of the\nsupremacy of conscience, is essential to the preservation of the\nprinciple of authority in society. If it were possible to nationalize\nreligion by placing all churches under state control, the authority of\nthe state would necessarily become that of brute force, and would in\nconsequence be deprived of its sacredness. The respect of Christian\nnations for the civil power is a religious sentiment; and if the\nchurch could cease to be, there would be a radical revolution in the\nattitude of the people toward the state. In Europe even now, in\nconsequence of the progress of unbelief, respect for authority and the\nduty of obedience have been so far destroyed in the minds and hearts\nof the masses that government is possible only with the support of\nimmense standing armies, which help on the social dissolution; and\nwith us things would be in a still worse condition, were it not that\nthe vast undeveloped resources of the country draw off the energies\nwhich else would be fatal to public order. Our strength and security\nare rather in our physical surroundings than in our moral resources.\nOur greatest moral force, during the century of our existence, has\nbeen the universal veneration of the people for the Constitution,\nwhich was regarded with a kind of religious reverence; but this\nelement of strength is fast wasting away and will not pass over as a\nvital power into the second century of our life. The criticisms, the\namendments, the patchings, which the Constitution has been made to\nsuffer, have, more than civil strife, debased it to the common level\nof profane parchments and robbed it of the consecration which it had\nreceived in the hearts of the people The change which has taken place,\nthough it have something of the nature of growth and development, is\nyet, unquestionably, more a breaking down and dissevering. The\nCatholic Church, by the reverence which she inspires for institutions,\nis, and in the future will be yet more, the powerful ally of those who\nwill stand by the Constitution as our fathers made it.\n\nOur statesmen, we know, are in the habit of looking elsewhere for the\nmeans which are to give permanence to our free institutions. The\ntheory now most in favor is that universal education is the surest\nsafeguard of liberty, and it is upon this more than upon anything else\nthat we, as a people, rely for the perpetuity of our form of\ngovernment. This hope, we cannot but think, is based upon an erroneous\nopinion of the necessary tendency of intellectual culture; which is to\nincrease the spirit of criticism, and consequently, by dissatisfying\nthe mind with what is, to direct it continually to new experiments,\nwith the hope of finding something better. Now, though this may be\nwell enough in the realms of speculation, and may be a great help to\nthe progress of science, it most assuredly does not tend either to\nbeget or to foster reverence for existing institutions of any kind;\nand this same mental habit which has already made American\nProtestantism so fragmentary and contradictory will beyond doubt\nweaken and, unless counteracted, destroy the unity of our political\nlife. This is a question which does not concern us alone; with it is\nbound up the future of the human race. If the American experiment of\ngovernment by the people fails, all hope of such government perishes.\nIf we allow our personal prejudices to warp our judgment in a matter\nso catholic and all-important, no further evidence of our unfitness\nfor the great mission which God seems to have assigned us is needed.\nUnfortunately, we are at the mercy of politicians for whom all other\nquestions than the present success of party have no interest, and who\ntherefore flatter the passions of the people instead of seeking to\nenlighten them; and the insane hatred and fear of the church which the\nProtestant masses have inherited from the Old World prevents them from\nseeing what a source of strength and bond of union is her strong and\nfirmly-knit organism in a social state like ours, in which there are\nso many elements of dissolution and disintegration.\n\nHerr von Kirchmann, though, as we have seen, not a Catholic nor a\nChristian, is yet too profound a statesman not to recognize the\nsupreme social importance of the church to the modern world.\n\n \u201cHuman society,\u201d he says, \u201ccannot do without the principle\n of authority, of obedience, of respect for law, any more\n than it can do without the principle of individual freedom;\n and now that the family has been shoved into the background,\n there remains to uphold this principle of authority only one\n great institution, and that is the Christian churches, and,\n above all, the Catholic Church.\n\n \u201cThe Reformation has so filled the Evangelical Church with\n the principle of self-examination and self-determination\n that she cannot at all take upon herself the mission of\n protectress of authority, of respect for law, as law; which\n is essential to modern society. She is also too far removed\n from the laity, and lacks those special institutions which\n would enable her energetically to uphold this principle.\n\n \u201cThe same is true of all reform parties within the church,\n and must be applied to the Old Catholics, should they\n succeed in acquiring any importance. The Roman Catholic\n Church alone must be considered the true mother of respect\n for authority. She does not permit the individual to decide\n in matters of faith and discipline; and she most perfectly\n realizes the essence of religion, which cannot proceed from\n the individual, but must have its source in the commandments\n of God. In the bishops, in the councils, in the pope, the\n individual finds authorities who announce to him religious\n truth, and by the administration of the sacraments bring him\n nearer to God. Changes in faith and worship which, with the\n progress of science and of general culture, become\n necessary, are here withdrawn from the disputes of the\n learned and the criticism of individuals; in the councils\n and in their head, the pope, an institution is found by\n which modifications may be permitted without shaking faith\n in the teachings of the church.\n\n \u201cIn the position of the priest toward the laity this\n relation of the individual to the church becomes most\n intimate, and numerous special ordinances cultivate the\n spirit of obedience and respect for the commands of\n ecclesiastical superiors, while they also serve the ends of\n Christian charity and benevolence. It ought not, indeed, to\n be denied that this repression of individual\n self-determination and this fostering of obedience may be\n carried too far, and to some extent has, in the Catholic\n Church, been exaggerated, as in civil society the\n cultivation of individual freedom and the repression of\n authority have produced an opposite excess; but precisely\n through the interaction of these extremes will the true mean\n be obtained; and therefore ought the state to seek in the\n Catholic Church that powerful institution which alone, by\n virtue of her whole organization, is able to ward off the\n dangers which threaten society from the exaggeration of the\n principle of individual freedom. But to do this the church\n must be left in the possession of her constitution as it has\n hitherto existed, and the state, consequently, should not\n interfere with her external power any further than its own\n existence demands. In this respect the principle of\n individual freedom which pervades all modern life is so\n powerful an auxiliary of the state that no fear of the\n influence of the church need be felt, of which a little too\n much is far less dangerous to society than too little.\n\n \u201cThese are considerations, indeed, which are not in harmony\n with the programme of modern liberalism, and will therefore\n have but little weight with those who swim with the current\n of the time; nevertheless, if we look around us, we perceive\n many evidences of the instinctive feeling of human society\n that in the Catholic Church may be found a protection for\n the harmony of social life which now no longer exists\n elsewhere. Only in this way can we explain the rapid growth\n of the Catholic Church in her strictly hierarchical\n constitution in America, and the increasing Catholic\n movement in England, together with the efforts of the\n Established Church to draw nearer to the Catholic; and this\n tendency would be far more pronounced had it not to contend\n against historical reminiscences which in England are more\n vivid than elsewhere. Similar reasons influence the\n government of France to seek rather to strengthen than to\n weaken the power of the church; and in this matter the\n unbelieving Thiers has not acted otherwise than the\n religious MacMahon.\n\n \u201cAfter the principle of authority had been shaken by\n revolutions and an unhappy war in France more than in any\n other country, the people knew not where to seek help,\n except in the fostering of religion and the support of the\n Catholic Church. Like grounds prevent Italy and Austria from\n coming to an open rupture with the church; they prefer to\n yield somewhat in the execution of the laws rather than\n suffer themselves to be deprived of her indispensable aid.\n Similar tendencies exist in the other German governments,\n and also among the rich and powerful families of Germany and\n Prussia. Everywhere, even where these families are not\n adherents of the Catholic faith, they feel that this church\n is a fortress against the anarchy of individual freedom\n which should be defended and not destroyed. The members of\n these families are not blind to the defects of the church;\n but they know that in the present age these are the least to\n be feared, while her power against the self-exaltation of\n the individual is indispensable to modern society. It is\n altogether a mistake to attribute this bearing of the\n wealthy classes of all civilized nations towards the church\n to selfish motives or to the cunning of priests; these\n motives may, as in all great things, slip in in isolated\n cases; but this whole movement in Europe and America springs\n from deeper causes\u2014from causes which lie at the very bottom\n of our common nature, which can neither suffer the loss of\n freedom nor yet do without order and authority.\n\n \u201cAbout every ten years we are assured that, if only this or\n that is reached, the Catholic Church will of herself fall to\n pieces. Never has the attempt to bring about this\n consummation been made with more spirit and energy than in\n the literature and political constitutions of the last\n century; and yet this church lives still in our day, and\n what she has lost in temporal sovereignty is doubly and\n trebly made up to her in the growing number of her children\n and the gradually-increasing insight into the significance\n of her mission for human society.\n\n \u201cFor this reason the present conflict with the church in\n Prussia ought not to be pushed so far as to bring her power\n as low as the state has brought that of the Evangelical\n Church. If the Catholic Church is to fulfil the great social\n mission which we have just described, and which consists\n essentially in her maintaining an equilibrium between\n freedom and obedience, which is indispensable to society and\n the state, her external power and internal organization must\n not be interfered with in a way to render the accomplishment\n of this exalted mission impossible.\u201d[47]\n\nHerr Joerg, the editor of one of the first reviews of Germany, has\nsaid that Prince Bismarck has done more to strengthen and make popular\nthe Catholic cause in the empire than the two hundred Jesuits whom he\nhas exiled could have done in half a century. This, we believe, is\ncoming to be generally recognized. The war on the church was begun\nwith loud boastings. Men of high position declared that in two years\nnot a Catholic would be left in Germany. The prince chancellor\ndisdained to treat with the Pope or the bishops, and defiantly entered\nupon his course of draconic legislation to compel to his stubborn will\nthe consciences of eight millions of Prussian subjects. He is not able\nto conceal his disappointment. With glory enough to satisfy the most\nambitious he could not rest content, but must court defeat. All his\nhopes have fallen to the ground. The Old Catholics who were to have\nbeen his most powerful allies have sunk into the oblivion of contempt;\nthe priests whom he expected to throw off the authority of their\nbishops have not been found; the uprising of the laity against their\npastors has not taken place; the bishop who was to have put himself at\nthe head of a German Catholic Church has not appeared; the Falck laws\nhave not served the purpose for which they were enacted, nor have the\nnumerous supplementary bills met with better success. He has indeed\nmade his victims personally most uncomfortable; bishops and priests he\nhas cast into dungeons, monks and nuns he has driven forth from their\nhomes and their country to beg the bread of exile; laymen he has sent\nto jail for speaking and writing the truth; but with all this he has\nnot advanced one step towards the end he aims at. He has not made a\nbreach in the serried Catholic phalanx. His legislation has nearly\ndoubled the number of Catholic representatives in the parliament; it\nhas given new life and wider influence to the Catholic press; it has\nwelded the union of bishops, priests, and people, and bound all closer\nto the Pope. From their dungeons the bishops and priests come forth\nand are received in triumph like conquering heroes; imprisonments and\nfines of Catholic editors serve only to increase the circulation of\ntheir journals. In the meantime the radicals and revolutionists are\ngaining strength, crime is becoming more common, and the laws aimed at\nthe church are beginning to tell upon the feebler organizations of\nProtestantism. Since the law on civil marriage has been passed\ncomparatively few contract matrimony in the presence of the Protestant\nministers; great numbers refuse to have their children baptized or to\nhave the preachers assist at the burial of the dead. The government\nhas become alarmed, and quite recently circulars have been sent to the\nofficials charged with carrying out the law on civil marriage, in\nwhich they are instructed to inform the contracting parties that the\nlaw does not abrogate the hitherto existing regulation concerning\necclesiastical marriage, and that they are still bound to present\nthemselves before the clergyman and to have their children baptized as\nformerly. The service of the police, we need scarcely say, is not\nrequired to induce the Catholics to seek the blessing of the church\nupon their marriage contracts or to have their children baptized.\n\nThe result of all this is that many wise and large-minded men, like\nVon Hoffmann, Von Gerlach, and Von Kirchmann, have lost all sympathy\nwith the policy of Bismarck towards the Catholic Church, as well as\nconfidence in its success. They now thoroughly understand that, were\nit possible to destroy the church, this would be an irreparable\nmisfortune for the fatherland. The state needs the church more than\nthe church the state. She can live with Hottentots and Esquimaux, but\nwithout her neither liberty nor culture can be permanent. It must also\nbe humiliating to Prince Bismarck to see with what little success\nthose who have sought to ape him have met. Mr. Gladstone, from faith\nin the chancellor, thought to bolster up a falling party by\n\u201cexpostulating\u201d with the Pope, and he has succeeded only in finding\nhimself in the company of Newdegate and Whalley. President Grant has\nbeen made to believe that the Pope is such a monstrous man that by\nmeans of him even a third term might become possible; and he will\nretire to the obscurity of private life with the stigma of having\nsought to stir up religious strife for the furtherance of his own\nprivate interest.\n\n\n [37] April, 1874, p. 195.\n\n [38] Romans xiii. 1, 2.\n\n [39] The _British Quarterly_, January, 1875, p. 17.\n\n [40] Luke x. 16.\n\n [41] Matthew xviii. 17, 18.\n\n [42] Acts iv. 20.\n\n [43] Acts xv. 28.\n\n [44] The _London Quarterly Review_, January, 1875, p. 160.\n\n [45] _Der Culturkampf_, \u00a7 28, 29.\n\n [46] _Culturkampf_, pp. 33, 34.\n\n [47] _Culturkampf_ pp. 44-47.\n\n\n\n\nNOTRE DAME DE PITIE.\n\n\u201cWas ever sorrow like, unto my sorrow?\u201d\n\n\nThere is in the Imperial Library at Paris an old copy of the gospels\nwritten on parchment, evidently of the fourteenth or fifteenth\ncentury, with the arms of Colbert on the cover. It once belonged to\nthe church of Albi. At the end of the gospels is the _Planctus_, or\n_Complainte de Notre Dame_ in the _langue d\u2019Oc_\u2014the old language of\nSouthern France\u2014full of na\u00efve piety and charming simplicity. No one\ncould hear unmoved the touching tone of reproach and grief it breathes\nthroughout. It is in thirty-two stanzas, the lines of which,\nmonotonous and melancholy, are like the repeated tollings of a funeral\nbell. The last words of each verse are an expression of exhausted\ngrief\u2014the dying away of a voice drowned in tears.\u2026\n\nIt is entitled: \u201cHere begins the Plaint in honor of the Passion of our\nLord Jesus Christ and the sorrow of his most holy Mother.\u201d\n\n \u201cPlanh sobre planh! dolor sobre dolor!\n Cel e terra an perdut lor senhor,\n E yeu mon filh, el solelh sa clardor;\n Jusieus lan mort an grande desonor.\n Ay filh, tan mortal dolor!\u201d[48]\n\nThe cry of _Ay filh!_\u2014\u201cAlas! my Son\u201d\u2014at the end of every verse is like\na sob that breaks the plaint. This long wail of maternal grief, which\nno translation fully renders, was doubtless sung round many an effigy\nof the dead Christ in the dim old churches of Languedoc centuries ago,\njust as the people of the Pyrenees at this day gather around their\ndead to weep and improvise a dirge of sorrow. We were particularly\ntouched at coming across this ancient document; for it seemed to echo\nthe devotion to the Mother of Sorrows which we had found written all\nover southwestern France. Everywhere in this _Terra Mari\u00e6_ are\nchurches and oratories in honor of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_, most of\nwhich are monuments of an age as sorrowful as the holy mystery they\ncommemorate.\n\nIt is remarkable how popular devotion turned to the _Mater Dolorosa_\nin the sixteenth century, when Christ seemed bleeding anew in this\nland of altars ruined and priests slaughtered by the Huguenots.\nNumberless are the legends of the apparitions of Our Lady of Sorrows\nin those sad days, which led to the erection of a great number of\nchurches wherein she is represented holding her divine Son taken down\nfrom the cross\u2014one of the most affecting appeals that can be made to\nthe human heart. For the long, sad procession of mourners who go\nweeping and groaning through this valley of tears\u2014_gementes et\nflentes in hac lacrymarum valle_\u2014constitutes the greater part of the\nhuman race. The widow, the orphan, the friendless, the infirm, the\nneedy, and the laborer with little or no joy in life, when they turn\ntowards Mary, love to find her at the foot of the cross in mute sorrow\nover the inanimate form of her Son, or with the wheel of swords in her\nbleeding heart, or some other attribute of human infirmity. Hence the\nnames given to these mountain chapels by the sorrowful as a mark\nof their trust in this sweet type of grief: _Notre Dame des\nLarmes_, _Notre Dame des Souffrances_, _de la Consolation_, _de\nl\u2019Esp\u00e9rance_\u2014names which have balm in their very sound. Above all is\nthe title which seems to include all other sorrows\u2014_Notre Dame de\nPiti\u00e9_\u2014the most common among the perils of the mountain streams and on\nthe broad moors of the Landes. There are innumerable _Piet\u00e0s_, or\n_Piti\u00e9s_, all through this region\u2014on the sands of the seashore below\nBayonne, where the sailors go to pray before embarking on the\nperfidious waves of the Bay of Biscay; in dangerous mountain passes,\nas in the oratory of P\u00e8ne-Taillade beyond Arreau; among country\ngroves, as in the lone sanctuary near Lannemezan to which the\nhusbandman resorts to be spared the ravages of hail among his vines\nand wheat-fields; in the valleys of Bigorre; on the Calvary of\nBetharam; on the heights near Pau; and at Goudosse, where the poor\n_go\u00eetreux_ of the mountains go to pray. Yes, the shadow of this great\ntype of sorrow extends over all the land. There are several chapels of\n_Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_ in the ecclesiastical province of Auch that are\nparticularly renowned. One of these is the beautiful chapel of _Notre\nDame de Garaison_, in the Diocese of Tarbes, dear to every Catholic\nheart in the land, embosomed among the hills of the Hautes Pyr\u00e9n\u00e9es\nlike a lily in the green valley, whose Madonna was solemnly crowned in\n1865, by the authorization of Pope Pius IX., in the presence of forty\nthousand people. At the very entrance is a _Piet\u00e0_, melting the heart\nwith the sight of the pale, inanimate Christ and Mary\u2019s incomparable\nwoe.\n\n \u201c_Ay filh, tan mortal dolor!_\u201d\n\nWithin are dim Gothic arches, large gilt statues of the twelve\napostles, and the holy image of the _M\u00e8re des Douleurs_, before which\nwe went to pray amid devout pilgrims. At one side is the fountain of\nhealing waters; behind is a garden of roses; and on the other side are\ncloisters shaded with acacias, in the centre of which is the white\nMadonna standing serene and holy in the peaceful solitude with\noutstretched arms, as if calling on all:\n\n \u201cDites, dites une oraison\n A la Vierge de Garaison\n Vous qui en ces lieux am\u00e8ne la souffrance,\n Bon p\u00e8lerins,\n Accabl\u00e9s de chagrins,\n Pour que vos c\u0153urs s\u2019ouvrent \u00e0 l\u2019esp\u00e9rance.\n Dans ce s\u00e9jour,\n Dites avec amour,\n Dites, dites une oraison,\n A la Vierge de Garaison!\u201d[49]\n\nNear Gimont, in the department of Gers, is _Notre Dame de Cahuzac_, in\na pleasant valley on the left bank of a stream that bathes the walls\nof the church. Like all places of pilgrimage in this land of favored\nsanctuaries, it has its old legend, which is associated with a\nvenerable elm, the relic of past ages. It was in the sixteenth century\nwhen a young shepherd, leading his flock at an early hour to a distant\npasture, saw an elm in a garden by the wayside surrounded by an\nextraordinary light. The amazed youth fell on his knees\u2014a spontaneous\nact in those days when the heart turned naturally to God at the moment\nof terror\u2014stammered a prayer, and, unable to turn his eyes away, saw\nthrough the branches aflame, but not consumed, the wondrous form of\nOur Lady of Pity. As soon as he recovered his self-possession he ran\nto the Cistercian abbey at Gimont, and the monks, going to the tree,\nfound the sacred, image of Mary, which they bore in procession to\ntheir church with songs of praise. The next day it was gone, and they\nfound it again in the favored elm. Three times they bore it to their\nchurch: three times it returned to the tree. It was no use to contend\nwith divine Providence. The garden was then purchased and an oratory\nbuilt on the spot\u2014a graceful monument of rural piety, to which one\ngeneration after another has resorted for spiritual favors and\nphysical aid. It has its silver lamps and vessels; its walls are hung\nwith golden hearts, valuable medals, and other offerings from the\ngrateful votary. There is great devotion among Catholics to the one\nleper who returned to give thanks.\n\nCahuzac became renowned throughout the kingdom and attracted pilgrims\nof the highest distinction\u2014lords, bishops, and cardinals. The\narchbishops of Auch, who bore the high title of Primate of the two\nNavarres, when they took possession of their see, came to place\nthemselves under the protection of Our Lady of Cahuzac. Popes granted\nindulgences to the chapel, which thousands of pilgrims came annually\nto win\u2014not only peasants from the neighboring fields, but the nobles\nof the land in penitential garb, with bare feet bleeding from the\nroughness of the way.\n\nThis holy sanctuary was saved, as it were, by a miracle from the\nHuguenots who came to lay it waste three centuries ago, the leader\nbeing struck down, as by an invisible hand, at the very door, to the\nconsternation of his followers. It was closed at the Revolution, but\nagain spared; and when better days arrived, it was reopened to popular\ndevotion. The Abb\u00e9 de Cahuzac, a young nobleman who had renounced the\nhonors of the world and received holy orders at Rome, became chaplain\nof the church that bore his name. He served it with zeal and affection\nfor more than thirty years, and at his death bequeathed a part of his\nfortune for its support, leaving behind him a holy memory still dear\nto the people.\n\nA confraternity of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_ was founded in this chapel by\nDom Bidos, abbot of Gimont, under the patronage of Cardinal de\nPolignac, which became celebrated in the province and included all\nranks of society. Men of illustrious birth, beside the man of humblest\ncondition, bore the lighted torch before the revered image of Cahuzac\nin the public processions.\n\nThe arches and walls of the church were, under Henry IV., covered with\nrich paintings, which in time became half effaced. The church has been\nrecently restored, and attracts great numbers of pilgrims from the\nneighboring departments. It consists of a nave and five chapels. Over\nthe main altar is the revered statue, full of sweet, sad grace, at the\nfeet of which so many have sought consolation. On one of the capitals\nin the nave is sculptured an episode from the old _Roman du Renard_,\nin which the fox takes the guise of a preacher to a barnyard auditory,\nwho do not perceive the store of provisions already accumulated in the\nhood thrown back on his shoulders. This species of satire was one of\nthe liberties of former times of which artists largely availed\nthemselves.\n\nAnother chapel of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_ is at Sainte-Gemme, built\nagainst the walls of an old feudal castle\u2014a cave-like oratory of the\nthirteenth century, beneath a square tower, simple, antique, severe.\nIts gilt statue of the Mother of Sorrows and a few old frescos of the\nPassion are the sole ornaments, unless we except the arms of the old\nlords of Sainte-Gemme, carved among the arches. When the castle was\nbesieged by the Protestants in the sixteenth century, the _ch\u00e2telaine_\nand her attendants betook themselves to the foot of the altar, where\nthey prayed with fervor while the lord of the place defended it\nagainst the attacks of the enemy. A superhuman power seemed to aid\nhim. After a few days the siege was raised, and he came, with his\nhandful of brave followers, to ascribe the deliverance to Our Lady of\nPity. The chapel became celebrated, and so great at times was the\naffluence of the pilgrims that services were held in the court of the\ncastle before an altar set up beneath a venerable elm. Every Friday,\nin the good old times, the chaplain piously read the Passion according\nto St. John in this chapel, and then sang on his knees the _Stabat\nMater_ with the verse,\n\n \u201cQuando corpus morietur,\n Fac ut anim\u00e6 donetur\n Paradisi gloria,\u201d\n\nto obtain a happy end for the dying.\n\nIn the middle of the sixteenth century Dominique de Cuilhens was\nappointed chaplain of Sainte-Gemme. He was born in the vicinity\u2014in the\nold manor-house of Cuilhens, which falling into his possession in the\nyear 1569, he at once drew up a will in which he founded the little\nhospital of St. Blaise for the poor, and bequeathed to the needy of\nthe parish the annual sum of forty-five livres, which the magistrates\nof the place, who were the executors, continued to pay till 1789.\n\nIn 1648 the lord of Sainte-Gemme, about to join the royal army in\nCatalonia, made a will, in which, in order to encourage morality in\nthe town, greatly weakened by the troubles of the times, he gave the\ninterest of a thousand livres, to be distributed annually by the\nrector and consuls of the place to girls of irreproachable morals\nabout to marry\u2014a legacy regularly paid till 1792.\n\nThe widow of his brother, Marie d\u2019Antras, in her will ordered her body\nto be buried in the sanctuary where the lords of Sainte-Gemme had been\nburied since the ninth century, and left extensive domains for the\nfoundation and support of a chapel adjoining, to be served by three\nchaplains, who were to say two requiem Masses a week for her soul, a\n_De Profundis_ at the end of every Mass, and perform a funeral service\non the anniversary of her death. Moreover, the parishioners were to be\nsummoned by the ringing of the bell every Saturday at a late hour to\njoin in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin, which the three chaplains\nwere to say aloud, adding a _De Profundis_ in her memory. Out of these\ndomains were to be paid various legacies to relatives and domestics.\nThey were seized by the revolutionary government and never restored to\nthe church. The parish made an effort to save the legacy of the old\nlord to poor girls of good morals, but in vain. The chapel of Our Lady\nof Pity was also closed, and the government has never allowed it to be\nreopened for public worship, except during Passion Week, when Mass is\nstill offered at the ancient altar and many come here to pray and\nreceive the Holy Eucharist.\n\nThere is another chapel of _Piti\u00e9_ near Puycasquier, the ancient\n_Podium Asterii_\u2014the height of Astier\u2014an old town of the middle ages.\nThis is a votive chapel called _Notre Dame de Gaillan_, built to\ncommemorate the cessation of a pestilence that once raged in the\nneighborhood, where on Whitmonday a dozen parishes around still come\nin procession to hear Mass, deposit their offering, and place under\nthe protection of Mary their hopes for the coming harvests. It stands\na short distance from the town, hidden in a deep, narrow valley\nbetween two streams, in the centre of a churchyard where lie whole\ngenerations of the dead. It is a long, narrow chapel with arches of\nthe fourteenth century, not beautiful in style or ornament, but dear\nto a grateful people, who come here in procession on the\ntwenty-seventh of April to fulfil the vow of their fathers when\ndelivered from the plague. One would think the benefit only of\nyesterday, from the enthusiasm manifested when this day comes. The\nbells ring out joyfully from the very dawn. All the men, women, and\nchildren in the vicinity gather together, and, under the guidance of\ntheir _cur\u00e9_, proceed to _Notre Dame de Gaillan_, the glory of\nPuycasquier, chanting the litany as they go. As soon as they reach the\nedge of the hill, where they can look down on their beloved sanctuary,\nthey all fall on their knees and chant three times the invocation:\n_Sancta Maria, Mater Pietatis, ora pro nobis!_ The _Libera_ is sung as\nthey pass through the graves in the churchyard, and the priest intones\nthe _Oremus_ when he comes to the door, and gives the absolution. Then\nthey enter the church with the joyful _Regina c\u0153li, l\u00e6tare_, as if\ncalling on the Virgin of Sorrows to rejoice over the resurrection of\nher Son at a season when all nature rises to newness of life. There is\nnow a solemn pause of silent prayer. At eight o\u2019clock precisely the\npriest reverently takes down the miraculous Virgin from its niche, and\nplaces it on a kind of trestle amid a profusion of flowers beneath a\nrich canopy. The litany is begun, and four notables of the town carry\nthe statue to the churchyard gate, where it is received by four\nploughmen whose privilege alone it is to carry the Virgin on these\nimportant occasions. Followed by the people in procession, accompanied\nby the local authorities in official array, and frequently escorted by\nthe national guard under arms, they climb the heights of Puycasquier,\nwinding around the hill till they arrive at the opposite side of the\ntown, which they enter and proceed to the church, singing the martyrs\u2019\nhymn in honor of SS. Abdon and Sennen, the patrons of the parish\u2014two\nnoble Persians, martyred in the early ages, who are honored in four\ncountry churches at about equal distances from Auch, devotion to whom\nbecame popular in France after their bodies were brought to Soissons\nin the time of Louis le D\u00e9bonnaire. The Virgin of Gaillan is thus\nborne all around the parish, and then reinstated in her niche with\nacclamations.\n\nAmong other usages peculiar to Puycasquier which have come down from\nancient times are two that are somewhat curious. On Easter Eve, at one\no\u2019clock in the afternoon, the mayor and sub-mayor, in all the majesty\nof their village consequence set off by their official regalia,\nproceed in solemn state to the presbytery, accompanied by all the town\nofficers, the bells ringing, as is due, at a _haute vol\u00e9e_. The\n_cur\u00e9_, thus notified, stands ready to receive them in the wide-open\ndoor. He invites them to enter, and hastens to present wine as a proof\nof his hospitality, which is drunk to the peace and happiness of the\npeople under their rule. The two magistrates now pray the _cur\u00e9_ to\naccompany them to the church to sing the _Regina c\u0153li_, and, placing\nthemselves at his side, they escort him through the crowd, which by\nthis time has assembled, to the holy place, where, in surplice and\nstole and pluvial, he intones the Easter hymn, which is caught up by\nthe whole congregation. The _cur\u00e9_ then places himself once more\nbetween the powers that be and proceeds to the chapel of Gaillan,\nfollowed by a crowd of all ages and conditions in holiday attire, full\nof animation and joy, but not immoderate in their gayety. The _Libera_\nand _Regina c\u0153li_ are here chanted as on the twenty-seventh of April,\nafter which they return to the parish church to sing the latter a\nthird time at the Virgin\u2019s altar. The day of the Resurrection thus\nduly announced, the _cur\u00e9_ is conducted by the mayor to the residence\nof the latter, where the table is loaded with cakes of all kinds,\nespecially the _tourteau_[50] and _pa\u00ebte_,[51] by no means\nunacceptable to appetites sharpened by so long a walk in the fresh\nmountain air. There is then an exchange of Gascon wit still more\nsavory, with which the festival ends.\n\nAnother custom no less ancient and peculiar is connected with the Mass\nat Gaillan on St. Agatha\u2019s day, which at least one member out of every\nfamily in the parish attends, to implore a blessing on the fruits of\nthe earth. Before beginning the Holy Sacrifice, the _cur\u00e9_ solemnly\nblesses the loaves brought by his parishioners, and after the Mass is\nover they cut them in pieces, and, going to their fields, bury them\nhere and there in the ground, setting up a little cross, often a mere\nthornbush twisted into proper shape.\n\n_Picasqu\u00e9_, _petito bilo_, _gran clouqu\u00e9_\u2014Puycasquier, small town,\ngreat belfry\u2014is a proverbial expression associated with the town on\naccount of the fine old tower, visible all over the neighboring\ncountry. It was fortunately spared when the place was ruined by the\nHuguenots three centuries ago. Around its base are held great fairs\nseveral times a year, the resort of all the people in the vicinity.\n\nThe baptistery of the parish church has a curious font of lead which\nis very ancient\u2014probably more than a thousand years old, from the\nstyle. It is cylindrical in form and covered with bas-reliefs like the\nlead font at Strassburg. There is a swan\u2014emblem of the purity of the\nsoul after baptism. An archer stands ready to attack it as soon as it\nissues from the regenerating waters, but the arrow he lets fly so\nvigorously is received by a lion _passant_ in his shoulder, which\nmarches resolutely on, undisturbed by the evil adversary. It is the\nLion of the tribe of Judah, who saves the soul by his power and\nbleeding wounds.\n\nThe votive chapel of _Notre Dame de la Croix_, at Marciac, is another\npious monument of Mary\u2019s protection during a great pestilence. Over\nthe doorway is the following inscription:\n\n Marciacam cum dira lues subverteret urbem,\n Ipsamet hanc jussit mater sibi Virgo dicari\n Sub crucis auspiciis gnatique insignibus \u00e6dem.[52]\n\nIt is a pretty church, with an altar of jasper and tabernacle of white\nmarble, over which is the Mother of Sorrows holding the body of the\ncrucified Saviour. It was built at the repeated instances of a poor\nwoman, who was at first treated as visionary or mad, because she\nasserted a divine mission for the cessation of the pestilence, which\nhad carried off eight hundred and four persons in a short time. Her\npersevering piety was at length rewarded by the foundation of the\nchapel and the deliverance of her townsmen from the plague, which is\nto this day commemorated. Pope Innocent XI. encouraged the devotion to\n_Notre Dame de la Croix_ by granting many privileges to those who went\nthere to pray and perform some good work.\n\nThere is a chapel of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_ at Condom called the\n_Pi\u00e9tat_, now belonging to the _Filles de Marie_, but formerly to the\nBrothers of St. John of God, who served the sick. Near it is a\nmiraculous spring called the _Houn dou Teou_, where pilgrims go to ask\ndeliverance from their infirmities.\n\nNear the historic _Ch\u00e2teau de Lavardens_ is the chapel of _Notre Dame\nde Consolation_ in the woods, quiet and solitary, surrounded by\ngraves. The pensive and the sorrowful love to come here to pray\nundisturbed before the simple altar of Mary, Consoler of the\nAfflicted. It is one of the stations for the processions in Rogation\nWeek. It is the very place to implore peace for the soul\u2014and to find\nit!\n\nThere is another _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_ at Aubiet, an obscure village\non the right bank of the Arrats, about twelve miles from Auch. The\nhouses are poorly built, the streets narrow and irregular, with\nnothing remarkable but the fine tower of the ancient church. It never\nwas a place of much importance, except in a religious point of view,\nand has never recovered from its almost entire destruction by the\nHuguenots in the sixteenth century. In fact, it is only noteworthy for\nits religious associations and picturesque situation on a hill\noverlooking the fertile valley of the Arrats, which comes from\nMauvezin on the one side, and goes winding through a delicious\ncountry, girt with vine-clad hills, towards Castelnau-Barbarens on the\nother. Though small, the town is ancient, and figures under the name\nof _Albinetum_ in the old legend of St. Taurin, who was martyred some\ntime in the fourth century in the Bois de la Verdale at the west of\nthe town\u2014a spot now marked by a cross and an old mutilated bust of the\nsaint. A graveyard is near, where the villagers come to repose around\nthe place watered by the blood of the holy bishop who converted their\nforefathers ages ago. How venerable the religious traditions of a\ncountry which extend back to the first ages of Christianity, and how\ngood to pray at the tombs of those who lived so near the apostolic\ntimes!\n\nSmall as Aubiet has always been, it formerly had five churches\u2014a proof\nof the religious spirit that animated the people; but most of them\nwere destroyed by the Huguenots in the sixteenth century. Among these\nwas the parish church, in which was a chapel of the Five Wounds, built\nand endowed by the father of P\u00e8re de Mongaillard, the Jesuit annalist\nof Gascony; and the church of St. Nicolas, where was established a\nconfraternity of Blue Penitents under the patronage of _Monsieur St.\nJerome_. Nor was the hospital connected with this church spared,\nthough the holy asylum of human miseries, where there were numerous\nbeds for the poor.\n\nSS. Abdon and Sennen are venerated as the special patrons of the\nplace. P\u00e8re de Mongaillard, who lived in the seventeenth century,\ntells us that, in his day, the people called upon all the musicians of\nthe country around to contribute to the pomp of the festival of these\nsaints, on which solemn Mass and Vespers were sung and a procession\nmade through the town. The day always ended with a great repast and\npublic rejoicings. These customs have been perpetuated, more or less,\nto this day.\n\nThe most remarkable church at Aubiet is that of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_,\nwhich dates from the year 1499. It was providentially spared by the\nHuguenots and became the parish church. The people, mourning over so\nmany ruined sanctuaries, gathered with fresh devotion around the altar\nof Our Lady of Pity, with whom they were brought into closer\ncompanionship. This altar is still in great repute. The church has\nrecently been repaired, and in one of its windows is depicted St.\nTaurin in pontifical robes with the martyr\u2019s palm in his hand.\n\nFather Mongaillard relates some curious customs connected with this\nchurch. One of the altars was dedicated to St. Eutrope, where a\nportion of his relics was enshrined and regarded with great\nveneration. The people brought wine for the priest to plunge a relic\nof the saint therein, and then carried it to the sick, especially to\nthose suffering from dropsy or violent colic, who often found relief\u2014a\ncustom also common at Marciac, where there is a chapel to _Sent\nEstropi_, crowded with people on the last of April. This devotion is\nnow discontinued. St. Eutrope of Saintes was one of the early apostles\nof the country. Notker, a monk of St. Gall, says he was consecrated\nbishop and sent into Gaul by St. Clement, the successor of the\napostles.\n\nAnother singular custom at Aubiet was that of the boys of the place,\nwho always assembled around the high altar to hear Mass, and the\ninstant the priest elevated the Host cried repeatedly, in a loud\nvoice: \u201c_Segnour Diou, misericordie!_\u201d\u2014Mercy, O Lord God!\u2014so that\ntheir exclamations, as discordant as they were singular, could be\nheard by the passers-by, and produced a profound impression on their\nminds.\n\nThe same father relates another practice in this church. When a child\nwas brought for baptism, the priest poured the regenerating waters on\nits head three times, and the largest bell was rung to announce the\nevent to the whole parish and admonish the people to pray for the new\nlamb of Christ\u2019s flock. If a boy, the bell was struck nine times, very\nnearly as for the Angelus; if a girl, six times were thought\nsufficient. And when it sounded, every one within hearing cried\nheartily: \u201cGod bless thee!\u201d\n\nAubiet formerly had many clergy, and religious services were conducted\nwith a splendor scarcely to be found now in the largest cathedrals.\nThis was principally owing to a celebrated confraternity of the\nBlessed Sacrament, which was organized in 1526 by Cardinal\nClermont-Lod\u00e8ve, archbishop of Auch, at the request of eighteen\npriests of the town, who, with uncovered heads and robed in their\nsurplices, presented themselves for the purpose before that prelate\nwhen he came to make his pastoral visit. The act of foundation still\nexists. Every Thursday a solemn Mass was to be sung with deacon and\nsub-deacon in honor of _Corpus Domini_, and on the first Thursday of\nevery month the Blessed Sacrament was to be carried in procession\naround the church of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_.\n\nThis institution became very popular, for it was an outburst of faith,\nlove, and reparation; and numerous legacies and foundations were made\nall through that century for its support by people of every condition.\nOne of the priests, foremost in founding the confraternity, was the\nfirst to show his pious liberality. This was Jehan Jourdan, the elder,\na venerable old man, who, in 1626, appeared before the assembled\nclergy of the place and begged them to accept, out of his devotion to\nthe Holy Eucharist, the sum of two hundred and twenty crowns, that\nMass might be offered in perpetuity at the altar of Our Lady of Pity\nfor the welfare of the donor and his relatives during their lives and\nthe repose of their souls after death.\n\nThis same Jehan, the elder, in his last will and testament, likewise\nfounded seven votive Masses on every Friday in the year\u2014one in honor\nof God the Father; another of the Holy Ghost; the third, of the Holy\nTrinity; the fourth, of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_; the fifth, of St.\nJoseph; the sixth, for the dead; the seventh, in honor of the Holy\nName of Jesus. The latter was to be sung with deacon and sub-deacon.\nAll the chaplains were to assist devoutly at its celebration, and if\nany one failed to attend he was obliged to pay a fine of olive-oil for\nthe lamps. No one was to be appointed chaplain unless a native of the\nplace and _doctus in music\u00e2, et non aliter_.\n\nAnother remarkable foundation is still to be seen in an old Latin will\nof a notary at Aubiet. He requests to be buried before St. Peter\u2019s\naltar in the church of Our Lady of Charity (as it was sometimes\ncalled). Among his curious legacies are nine _sous_ for nine requiem\nMasses for his soul, showing what was the customary fee in those days.\nHe also founds a solemn Mass of requiem at St. Peter\u2019s altar every\nWednesday, for himself and all his relatives who have died in a state\nof grace, for which purpose he bequeaths various lands.\n\nPierre Lacroix, in a will of the sixteenth century also, leaves a\ncertain sum for his funeral expenses. Six torches are to burn around\nhis bier, and eighty priests were invited to aid in the service. They\nare to have bodily refreshments: _habeant refectionem corporalem_. On\nthe ninth day after his death all the priests of Aubiet are to\nassemble to pray for his soul. They are to receive _duas duplas_\u2014two\ndoubles\u2014but no refreshments. At the end of the month the eighty\npriests are again to be invited, who are to sing Mass for his soul;\nsix torches, of half a pound each, to burn meanwhile. They are to be\nprovided with bodily refreshments. At the end of the year the eighty\nare again to be summoned, and this time they are to have eight liards\neach _pro labore et p\u0153na_, but nothing to refresh the body.\n\nThe lord of Beaupuy, who during his life always had three Masses a\nweek celebrated, leaves at his death a legacy of seven and a half\nsacks of wheat a year from his lands at St. M\u00e9zard, with one-third of\nthe produce of the vineyards, to be delivered to two priests, each of\nwhom is to say one Mass a week for his soul.\n\nJehan Cavar\u00e9, a man of considerable distinction at Aubiet, makes\nseveral rich bequests and foundations to the different chapels of the\nplace. At his funeral two wax torches of half a pound each are to\nburn. To the attendant priests _qui cantabunt_ he gives three\n_doubles_ and no bodily refection. If they do not sing, nothing is to\nbe given them.\n\nOne hundred poor are to be fed on Good Friday with a loaf, wine, and\n_one sardine_ each. The same obligation is imposed at All Saints, but\nthis time there is no mention of the sardine.\n\nThirty crowns are to be given to two girls of irreproachable morals at\nAubiet on the day of their marriage; and a woollen gown, all made, is\nto be given to twelve widows or poor single women of Mauvezin.\n\n\u201cMoved,\u201d as he says, \u201cby the grace of God and love for the church of\n_Notre Dame de la Charit\u00e9_,\u201d he also founds seven Masses a week in\nperpetuity in the chapel of the Blessed Sebastian, martyr. He also\nfounds seven other daily Masses\u2014one of them on Saturday, _de lacrym\u00e2\nChristi_, in honor of the Holy Tears of Christ. For all these services\nhe leaves numerous lands and revenues.\n\nThese and many other foundations, extraordinary for a small country\nvillage, express the reaction against the innovations of the age, and\nare remarkable proofs of the deep faith and piety of the people. And\nthey are only examples of similar cases throughout the country, the\nrecords of which it does the heart good to ponder over. How pious are\nthe formulas with which such bequests are made: _In remissionem\npeccatorum suorum\u2014Pro remedio anim\u00e6 su\u00e6 et animarum parentum suorum,\net aliorum pro quibus deprecare tenetur_, etc. Everywhere they express\ndevotion to the Blessed Virgin, and to some saint in particular, as\nwell as to all the inhabitants of the heavenly country in general.\nThis was in accordance with the traditions of the country, where the\nheart naturally turns to Jesus in the arms of Our Lady of Pity at the\nawful moment of death. St. Bertrand of Comminges, when his end drew\nnear, had himself transported to the chapel of the Virgin and breathed\nout his soul at the foot of her altar. Bernard de Sariac, a\ndistinguished bishop of Aire, founded on his death-bed a chapel in\nhonor of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_. The old lords of the country show, by\nthe solemnity of their last bequests, their faith in Mary\u2019s powerful\nassistance at the supreme hour of death. William, Count of Astarac, in\nhis legacy to _Notre Dame de Simorre_ in 940, says: \u201cInspired by God\nand the hope of Paradise, and in order to increase my reward in the\nday of judgment, I give the most holy Virgin the following lands in\nAstarac.\u201d Raymond de Lavedan, in 1253, left this clause in his will:\n\u201cI give my land to St. Mary with all it bears towards heaven and\ncontains in its depths.\u201d There are a thousand similar examples of\nillustrious barons of the olden times whose tombstones in the Virgin\u2019s\nchapel in many instances remain an enduring testimony of their\ndevotion to Mary, though the building itself is demolished.\n\nThe confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament at Aubiet only admitted\nthirteen of the most notable persons of the town. Among other\nobligations, they had to accompany the Holy Eucharist when carried to\nany of the members who were ill, bare-headed, wearing surplices, and\nbearing lighted torches in their hands; to assemble in like robes on\nthe first Thursday of every month; to follow the divine Host in\nprocession; and every Thursday to attend a Mass of the _Corpus Domini_\nunder the penalty of a fine. One peculiarity of this Mass was the\n_Kyrie Eleison_, which they sang with a thousand modulations:\n\n KYRIE, _Pater \u00e6terne, fontana Deitas, ex quo manant flumina\n rerum_, ELEISON![53]\n\n KYRIE, _fons co-\u00e6tern\u00e6 lucis et claritas, lucem formans\n primo dierum_, ELEISON![54]\n\n KYRIE, _fons superne, redundant bonitas, panem mittens de\n c\u0153lo verum_, ELEISON![55]\n\n CHRISTE, _lucis fons, lux de luce prodiens; Dei pinguis\n mons, quo pascente vivit esuriens et impletur pane vivente_,\n ELEISON![56]\n\n CHRISTE, _cordium via, vita, veritas; cibus mentium, in quo\n sistit summa suavitas et satietas consistit_, ELEISON!\n\n CHRISTE, _sumptio tui sacri corporis est refectio vires\n pr\u00e6bens immensi roboris, et molesta salutis demens_,\n ELEISON!\n\n KYRIE, _decus amborum, Patris Natique, et duorum non duplex\n Spiritus; quo spirante lux datur morum_, ELEISON![57]\n\n KYRIE, _qui veritatis lumen es diffusum gratis, dictus\n Paraclitus, dans solamen his desolaris_, ELEISON!\n\n KYRIE, _sana palatum, quo gustamus panem gratum et missum\n c\u0153litus, in Marid per te formatum_, ELEISON![58]\n\nThis is an example of the _tropus_ or _farcius_, so common in the\nmiddle ages, which is a paraphrase or extension of the liturgy by\ninserting additional words between the important parts\u2014as at the\n_Gloria in Excelsis_, the _Sanctus_, the _Agnus Dei_, etc.\u2014the word\n_farsus_, _farcius_, or _farcitus_, as it was differently written by\nthe monks of the middle ages, being derived from the Latin _farcire_,\nused by Pliny the naturalist, Apicius, and Cato the agriculturist, in\nthe sense of filling, distending, enriching. Pope Adrian II. is said\nto have instituted these _farci_ to be sung in monasteries on solemn\nfestivals. They were the _festiv\u00e6 laudes_ of the Romans. Others\nattribute them to the Greek church. These _farci_ were of three kinds\nin France: the usual liturgy being expanded by inserting additional\nwords in Latin; or the text was Greek and the paraphrase in old\nFrench; or, again, the latter was in the vulgar tongue of Oil and Oc.\nThese paraphrases in the vulgar tongue became popular, not only in\nFrance, but in England and Germany. From them was derived the\nproverbial expression, _Se farcir de Grec et de Latin_\u2014that is, to\nhave the head full. These _tropes_ or _farcies_ of mixed French and\nLatin are still very common in southwestern France, especially in the\npopular No\u00ebls, which are often rude lines in _patois_ alternate with\nLatin, after the following style:\n\n Born in a manger\n _Ex Mari\u00e2 Virgine_,\n On the chilly straw\n _Absque tegumine_.\n\nIt is not surprising that, with daily High Masses and a perpetual\nround of imposing services, the people of Aubiet should feel the\nchange when the place became impoverished, the number of priests\ndiminished, and most of the churches destroyed at the invasion of the\nHuguenots. We are told that when the vicar was unable to sing High\nMass on the festival of St. John the Baptist in 1623, there was\nuniversal murmuring, and the magistrates drew up a solemn protest\nagainst so unheard-of a scandal, which document is still extant.[59]\n\nBut the church of _Notre Dame de Piti\u00e9_, although profaned, was left\nstanding. The admirable confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament soon\nrevived, and with it many of the former solemnities. P\u00e8re de\nMongaillard tells us the _Kyrie eleison farci_ was still chanted in\nhis time.\n\nWe find a similar confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament at Touget,\nanother village of Gascony, which suffered horribly from the religious\nwars. It was for a long time in possession of the Huguenots, who\nabolished the Catholic religion and ruined the churches. To repair\nthese profanations the association was established, the statutes of\nwhich are still extant in the Gascon tongue. By these we learn that\nthere were nine chaplains in honor of the nine choirs of angels;\ntwelve laymen in honor of the twelve apostles; seventy-two other lay\nmembers in memory of the seventy-two disciples (husband and wife being\ncounted as one); and seven pious widows in honor of the seven Dolors\nof the Blessed Virgin. They were all to be natives of the place, but\n\u201cno ruffian, renegade, public usurer, or vicious person admitted among\nthem.\u201d Every Thursday all the members were to attend High Mass in the\nparish church, robed in their surplices. They were to accompany the\nHost in solemn procession through the village, at stated times, tapers\nin hand; sing the Office of the Dead before the door of any deceased\nmember, and attend the requiem Mass for his soul. These and various\nother pious obligations were encouraged by the bishop of Lombez, who\ngranted certain indulgences of _vray perdon_, especially on the\nfestivals of St. Germain, St. George, St. Vincent, and St. Fritz,\nwhose relics were honored in the church.\n\nSuch is the spirit of love, sorrow, and reparation which perfumes a\nfew of the countless chapels of Our Lady of Pity in southwestern\nFrance, where so many hearts have forgotten their own grief before\nthat of Mary! In all these sanctuaries, wan and desolate, she seems to\nplead for the nation. So pleads she all over the earth. Every mystery\nof religion is perpetuated in the church. Christ is always crucified\nsomewhere on the earth. Mary is always sorrowing over his bleeding\nwounds.\n\nWe have seen her weeping over the door of many a tabernacle in Italy,\nas if over the Saviour wounded anew in the sacrament of his love. Who\ncan turn away from the affecting appeal in this day of profanations in\nthat unhappy land, where the very angels of the church veil their\nfaces before the agony of the divine Sufferer\u2014before Mary\u2019s woes?\u2026\nAround the altar sacred to her grief let us echo the ancient _Planh_\nreferred to at the beginning of this article:\n\n \u201cI conceived thee without corruption; to-day my heart is\n broken with grief: thy Nativity was exempt from all\n suffering; now is the day of my travail\u2014\n\n \u201cAlas! my Son, on account of thy torments!\n\n \u201cWhen thou wert born the shepherds came singing with joy,\n dancing to the sound of their pipes; now traitorous and\n cruel Jews come to seize thee with horns and cries, staves\n and swords.\n\n \u201cAlas! my Son, loving and beautiful.\u201d\n\n _Ay filh! amaros e bel!_\n\n\n [48] \u201cWoe on woe! grief on grief! Heaven and earth have lost\n their lord, and I my son; the sun its clearness; Jews\n have slain him, to their great dishonor. Alas! my son,\n what mortal grief!\u201d\n\n [49]\n Say, say an orison\n To the Virgin of the Garaison,\n Ye who in this spot solace seek from pain,\n Pilgrims so good,\n \u2019Neath sorrows bowed,\n That your hearts may open up to hope again.\n Here while you stay,\n Say with love, say,\n Oh! say an orison\n To the Virgin of the Garaison.\n\n [50] The _tourteau_ is a round cake with a hole in the\n centre, made particularly for Palm Sunday.\n\n [51] The _pa\u00ebte_ is a kind of biscuit for the Pascal\n season.\n\n [52] When a dire pestilence came nigh destroying the city of\n Marciac, the Virgin Mother herself commanded this\n temple to be dedicated to her under the powerful\n protection of the cross and of her Son.\n\n [53] O Lord, Father eternal, Fountain of the Deity, whence\n flow all things, have mercy!\n\n [54] O Lord, Fount and clearness of co-eternal light, who\n didst make light on the first of days, have mercy!\n\n [55] O Lord, Fount supernal, goodness overflowing, sending\n down true bread from heaven, have mercy!\n\n [56] O Christ, Fountain of light, light from light\n proceeding; fruitful mount of God, on which feeding the\n hungry liveth and is filled with living bread, have\n mercy!\n\n [57] O Christ, the way, the life, the truth of hearts; the\n food of minds, wherein abides the sweetest sweetness\n and fulness is contained, have mercy!\n\n O Christ, the taking of thy sacred Body is a\n refreshment, giving mighty strength, and removing every\n obstacle to salvation\u2014have mercy!\n\n O Lord, the beauty of both, of the Father and the Son,\n and the spirit of each, yet not twofold, by whose\n breath the light of all right things is given, have\n mercy!\n\n [58] O Lord, who art the light of truth, freely spread\n abroad, thou who art called the Paraclete, giving\n consolation to those who are desolate, have mercy!\n\n O Lord, purify our taste, that so we may enjoy the\n gracious bread sent down from heaven, formed by thee in\n Mary\u2019s womb\u2014have mercy!\n\n [59] \u201cIn the year 1623, and the 24th of June, in the town of\n Aubiet in Armagnac, in front of the parish church of\n said place, before noon, in the reign of the most\n Christian prince, Louis, by the grace of God King of\n France and Navarre, appeared before me the undersigned\n royal notary, and in presence of the witnesses whose\n names are hereunto affixed, Messrs. Jehan Gaillan,\n Jehan LaMothe, Jehan Gelotte, and Caillard Mailhos,\n consuls of said Aubiet, and Jehan Belloc, syndic, who,\n speaking and addressing his words to M. Jehan Castanet,\n priest and vicar of said church of Aubiet, represented\n to him, for want of a rector in said Aubiet, that from\n all time and all antiquity it had been the custom to\n celebrate in the parish church High Mass with deacon\n and sub-deacon on solemn days like the present; and\n whereas, because there was no one to aid him in\n performing the office, the divine service was omitted,\n the said consuls and syndic protest against the said\n Castanet, vicar aforesaid, etc.\n\n \u201cThe said Castanet affirmed that he did everything in\n his power, but had no one to aid him.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE ETERNAL YEARS.\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE DIVINE SEQUENCE.\u201d\n\nIII.\n\nTHE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD\u2019S GOVERNMENT\u2014ABUNDANCE.\n\n\nWe have adverted to the indirect government of the creation by God\u2014to\nthe government which he condescends to administer first through the\nprimary laws which he has stamped upon the universe; and, secondly,\nthrough the moral and physical activity with which he has endowed\nmankind.\n\nWe are making vast and rapid strides in this day towards discovering\nand unravelling these primary laws. At the present moment we seem to\nhave got ourselves somewhat into a tangle of knowledge, which\nthreatens to asphyxiate us with the overpowering perfume of its lavish\nblossoms, like that of the exuberant growth of the tropical flora.\n\nWe are caught as in the meshes of a net, and are hardly allowed time\nto solve one problem and satisfy ourselves with a conclusion before\nsome new tendril of the ever-growing parasite has flung another\nflowering coil of verdure around us and arrested our steps once more.\nWe have come upon the time long ago predicted by the Archangel Michael\nto the prophet Daniel: \u201c_Plurimi transibunt, et multiplex erit\nscientia_.\u201d[60] We are dazzled and bewildered; and some timid souls\nare like ostriches, which hide their heads in the sand, preferring not\nto see and know, and hoping that their ignorance and the ignorance of\nthe multitude generally will serve as a dam to the coming flood, and\nleave us freed from a torrent of questions which, if once they are\nthere, must be answered. It is to be regretted that these persons\ncannot learn to possess their souls in patience, and to watch calmly\nand intelligently the progress of this gigantic growth of science,\nassured that it will all arrange and classify itself in time, in\nperfect harmony with what they know to be true and enduring, and which\nthey so dishonor by their apprehensions.\n\nHowever, since this is too much to expect of many, there is nothing\nfor it but to allow such people to keep themselves in peace in the way\nthat suits them best; only not permitting them to discourage others\nfrom investigation and reverent inquiry. St. Thomas tells us that the\nend of all science is contained within the end of all theology and is\nsubservient to it. Theology, therefore, ought to command all other\nsciences and turn to its use those things of which they treat. But we\nshall not arrive at this virile steadfastness until the real study of\ntheology has become more general. There is very little in our modern\neducation or habits of thought to teach that calm gaze into the depths\nof the divine mysteries which imparts such strength of mental vision\nthat the soul ceases to be dazzled by the false light of falling\nstars. The robust vigor of the studious habits of old has ceased from\namong us, and the modern mind is attenuated and enfeebled by a vast\nvariety of subjects indifferently explored, many of them received on\ntrust and without inquiry, and all smoothed down to one dead-level of\nsuperficial thought and inadequate expression. Not that for a moment\nwe would imply that mere habits of study are all that is needed. These\nhabits may exist, and do exist to a great extent; but the silence and\nthe solitude do not exist, and the studies themselves have long ago\nceased to be of a nature to clear the mind for the gradual, patient,\ninteriorly-evolved contemplation of the eternal truths which lie at\nthe bottom of all things. The old scholastic philosophy and theology\nlaid the only real foundation of all speculative knowledge, and built\nfor us, for all future time, that solid fabric of theological truth in\nthe received and authorized teaching of the great doctors of the\nchurch which, like a mighty magnet attracting to itself strong bars of\niron, will draw within its own embrace all other truth and all other\nscience, because \u201cthe end of science is _within the end of theology_.\u201d\nMeanwhile, if we would not find ourselves swamped in the torrent of\nsurmises, partial discoveries, inverted reasonings, and unreverential\ndecisions, we must go back to the spirit and method of the ages which\nproduced the deeply metaphysical thinkers and theological writers of\nold. The flood of events pours on, and the concussion of each tears\nthrough our daily life and ploughs up the hours and the days in\nhurried disorder, leaving no time for seed to develop in the fallow\nsoil, for the green blade to strengthen and the harvest to ripen.\nModern inventions speed the latest intelligence into the innermost\nrecesses of our homes, and we live like people in a house without\ndoors or windows, open to every blast; while the age, whose needs seem\nmost to call for contemplative recluses, on the contrary stamps\ncontemplation out of the heart of man, and substitutes the paramount\nnecessity for outward activity. There is no solace, there is no rest,\nbut in prayer. There is no consolation but in cultivating thought in\nthe hidden recesses of our minds, and, amid the racket of life, to go\ndeep down into the silent caverns of our souls and dwell in an inner\nsolitude with thoughts of eternal truth. The tendencies of the age\nhave added a new difficulty to the treatment of many of the questions\nmore or less inextricably mixed up with any largely philosophical\nviews of the union of science with divine truth.\n\nWe have perverted our language because thought, of which language is\nthe clothing, is perverted. We dare not handle questions that in\nthemselves are pure, because we have allowed necessary words to\nrepresent unnecessary indelicacy. No word that expresses a necessary\nfact is in itself evil; but woe to the imagination which makes it so!\nPurity is always dignified. But if you take the white roses of\ninnocence to crown a wanton, white roses will fall into disrepute; and\nthis is what we have done with language. Words no longer only mean the\nthing they represent. They have been made to insinuate the foul\nunderflow of evil fancy that corruption has poured forth. How shall we\ncleanse the source, that we may once more use language of strength and\npurity? How shall we again become manly and brave, and yet avoid the\ncharge of being coarse and too outspoken? Only by going back to the\nnoble candor of the great thinkers of old, and by trying to see things\nas they are in the mind of God, and not as they are in fallen man; by\nlooking at the laws of creation as they came from the hands of the\nCreator, before man had written his running commentary of evil and\nsin, and thus defiled the glorious page. There are two forms of\npurity. The one is the purity of ignorance. The intellect that knows\nnothing of the species cannot predicate the accidents; and no doubt\nblank ignorance is better than an evil imagination. But there is\nanother and a higher purity; it is the purity of an informed mind\nwhich, from the sublime heights of science, or, better far, from the\ndepths of union with God in the all-pervading sense of his presence,\nhas acquired that faculty of viewing subject-matter in the abstract\nwhich leaves no association of imagination or fancy to drag it down\ninto the lower nature and so defile it. The more truly scientific a\nmind becomes, the more will it inhabit those cool, serene heights of\npassionless intellect. But the first, the truest, the absolutely sure\nscience of theology is the one royal road to the habit of mind which\ncan, as it were, stand outside its lower nature and contemplate facts\nand truths in their essential nature, divested of human contact or\ndefilement; or, where both must be recognized, can eliminate the law\nfrom its abuse, and trace back the former to the bosom of the Creator;\nfor \u201cto the pure all things are pure.\u201d This seems to be the faculty\nwhich is more and more dying out amongst us.\n\nIt is probable that some of the hurry and absence of precision and of\ntenacious research which characterize the modern form of mind may be\nthe natural result of the sudden rush of new discoveries which have\ntaken us, as it were, by surprise and carried us off our feet. By\ndegrees it is probable we shall, as a race, accept the changes in our\ncondition, and shall become gradually adapted to the varied forms of\nlife imposed upon us by the vast and multiplied combinations which\nevery day are extending our power over the external world and opening\nnew paths for activity and enterprise. Doubtless this power will\nincrease rather than diminish, and at the same time take less hold\nupon us in a revolutionary way, and we shall lose some of that flurry\nand excitement which now characterize us\u2014much in the way that the\nyoung colt of a week old starts no more than does the old mare when\nthe engine rushes down the railway that skirts the field; and yet when\nrailways first began both were alike alarmed.\n\nBut for the present we have lost much of our original moral and\nintellectual dignity. Upon such questions as interest us we are\nexcited and flurried. Those which we do not affect to understand we\ncannot seriously listen to; and between the bustling activity of the\nfirst and the listless frivolity of the last it is not an easy task to\nbring forward old truths with new faces, old facts with a fresh moral,\nlest those who listen should persist in viewing the question from the\nwrong side, and in taking scandal where no scandal was meant.\n\nWe have set ourselves the task of investigating the chief attributes\nof God\u2019s government of creation and its uniformity of design in\ncomplexity of action. To do this we must condescend to the primary and\nnatural law which he imposed on our world when he called it out of\nchaos; and we must endeavor to explain what were the special\ncharacteristics of that law, and what light it throws upon the\nattributes of Him who gave it.\n\nThe three chief characteristics which we discover in the government of\ncreation are abundance, patience or longanimity, and progression. The\nfirst command which the Creator uttered over the first recorded living\nand moving creatures of his hand was, \u201cIncrease and multiply.\u201d This\nwas the initial law of all that we see and know in the external world;\nand as no temporal law or material condition exists in God\u2019s creation\nwithout its spiritual intention and inner meaning, this law is typical\nof what is beyond sight and belongs to the domain of faith. In\nattempting to define that command we find it conveys an impression,\nwider than the heavens and more diffused than the ambient air, of\ngenerosity, benevolence, and paternity. It is the law of \u201cour Father\nwho is heaven.\u201d It beams upon us like the genial warmth of the\nnoontide sun. It shadows us like the stretching boughs of a large\nforest perfumed with the dews of earth. It was spoken first to the\nproducts of the water and the denizens of the air; and again it was\nspoken over the two first beings created \u201cafter His own image and\nlikeness.\u201d\n\nWherever there is life, even life in its lowest form\u2014and so low that\nscience hesitates to pronounce upon it as being life, and stands\nuncertain how to designate evident growth without equally evident\nlife, like the unintelligent but absolutely accurate formation of\ncrystals\u2014there too the law reigns of \u201cincrease and multiply.\u201d\n\nAttraction and affinity declare the law, and carry it on, while\nrepulsion is but the inverse of the same; and though, for aught we\nknow, and judging by induction, there is not one molecule added on our\nearth to the original chaotic matter, and all reproductions are\ncomposed of the same elements passing through varied forms and phases,\nnevertheless the same impulse governs all living things and everywhere\nrepresents the large, lavish benevolence of the God of life.\n\nThe animal creation is the unreasoning and innocent embodiment of the\nnatural law, and carries out its mandates unconscious of the why and\nthe wherefore; whereas in fallen man the natural law has overlapped\nthe moral law, and the latter has become warped by the pressure of the\nformer, making all things discordant. As abundance is one of the\ncharacteristics of the natural law, so the modes and forms of its\nexecution lie at the very root of all creation. The Spirit of God, the\nbrooding Dove, moved over the face of the waters. The same image of\nincubation and consequently of imparted heat (motion and heat being\nallied as reciprocal cause and effect), was in the mind of the old\nEgyptians when they carved a winged world amongst their mystic signs.\nSo sacred, so holy, so full of deep-hidden meaning was the idea as it\nlay from all eternity in the divine Mind, that it was through the four\nthousand historic years which preceded the birth of the God-Man the\nmode through which God taught the chosen people to expect the\nRedeemer. It became the hope of every maiden to form one link in the\nlong chain which was to lead up to the Messiah. It sanctified all the\nties of domestic life and made them less a necessity than a high moral\nduty.\n\nSo universal was the sentiment that many, in the tenacity of their\ndesire to carry on the holy tradition, and too earthly to perceive the\nsin of doing wrong that good might come, thrust aside the law of\nconscience rather than fail in what weighed upon them as an\noverwhelming necessity\u2014to continue the natural line\u2014that perhaps they,\ntoo, might form one of those from whose loins should spring the\nSaviour of the world. It was thus that a dignity was imparted to\nnatural ties which surpassed among the Israelites the same sentiment\namong the Gentiles, but which was but a foreshadowing of their sacred\nand sacramental state in the church of God.\n\n\u201cWisdom is justified by her children\u201d; and all that God has ordained\nmust reach its ultimate perfection in his church before it can pass\ninto another phase. \u201cTill heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle\nshall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.\u201d[61]\n\nAs all things in creation are by and for him, as all culminate in him,\nso when the prophecies were accomplished, and Mary, the immaculate and\nvirgin daughter of the House of David, had, through the operations of\nthe Holy Ghost, become the Mother of God\u2014the law \u201cincrease and\nmultiply\u201d having thus ascended to its mystical fulfilment and ultimate\ndevelopment\u2014so from henceforth did it confer a new and more holy\ncharacter on natural ties by consecrating them as the type and image,\nof what is spiritual.\n\nThe one end in view had survived through all, despite man\u2019s ignorance,\ninfirmity, and sin; and that end once attained, the sinless Mother\nclasping to her bosom the Infant God who was from all eternity in the\nbosom of the Father, from that moment all that was human had a new and\ndivine element in it. All creation, all life, all we have and are,\nbecame in a special way \u201choly to the Lord.\u201d \u201cKnow ye not that ye are\nthe temple of God? If any man violate the temple of God, him will God\ndestroy. All things are yours, the world, or life, or death, or things\npresent, or things to come: all are yours: and ye are Christ\u2019s, and\nChrist is God\u2019s.\u201d[62]\n\nThrough long centuries man had failed to comprehend even while he felt\nthe underlying mystery of creation. He looked on the fair fields of\nnature with undiscerning eyes. He hardly guessed at the enigma of the\nouter world as leading upwards to something nobler; and therefore he\ndragged the image of God down into the mire of his own existence. He\neven sought the Deity in what was below himself, worshipping, not men\nand heroes, but beasts and creeping things; because, being dominated\nby the idea of the great and all-pervading force of the laws of life\nand nature, the lower creation presented a more simple and abstract\nimage of their potency. The idea of the principle of life haunted him\nlike a dark and perplexing riddle. Its magnitude weighed upon him. Its\nuniversality perplexed him. He had not the light of truth in its\nplenitude to illumine the dark places of the earth. He could only make\nguesses at the typical meaning of creation; and as the whirr of life\nrushed ceaselessly around him without bringing any answer to his\nquestionings, it became a relief to embody the idea which obseded him\nin the obscurity of inarticulate being, as affording, if not some\nsolution, at least an absolutely simple and vulgar manifestation of\nthe great fact, until the very scarabei became sacred; and with\ninverted moral sense, in lieu of seeking for transcendent and pellucid\ntruth in what was above him, he dug down into the very miseries of his\nown degradation in his attempt to describe the incomprehensible, and\nthat to a degree which we cannot pollute these pages by expressing.\n\nThus had man covered over with the veil of his iniquities and the\nthick darkness of his ignorance all the sanctities of life, until the\nchurch of God revealed to him that Christ is the head of the church,\nas the husband is the head of the wife, and placed matrimony among the\nsacraments; because as a sacrament only is it holy to the Lord, and\nbecause, as a sacrament, it is typical of that highest and most divine\nunion of Christ with his church\u2014that union which is her strength, her\ninviolability, her guarantee, and her ever-enduring and indisputable\ninfallibility.[63]\n\nHow little did poor fallen humanity dream of the sanctity and dignity\nof common life until the church turned the full light of revelation on\nthe laws of our being and taught us what those laws prefigured in the\nEternal Mind! It is not until St. Paul wrote by inspiration that\nastonishing chapter to the Ephesians that the laws of being were\nreally less awful in their hidden sanctity. They were never in\nthemselves mean, miserable, and degraded. It is true the state of\nmatrimony only foreshadowed a sacrament; for under the old law there\nwere no sacraments in the specific sense in which we now use the term\nin the Catholic Church. It was holy under the old law, and it may be\nsaid to have had a sacramental character; and that character was the\nanticipation of what it was to become when it should be raised into\none of the seven sacraments of the church, and the type of Christ as\nhead of the church. But at that time mankind was still in darkness.\nHumanity could not earlier review the expression of the mystery. Only\nthe Gospel could open their eyes to the full understanding of the\nsacramental principle which alone makes life holy, and, O sorrowing,\nsuffering hearts! which alone to you can make it endurable.[64]\n\nSee how the beneficent thought of God has touched all our common lot!\nSee what flowers blossom amid the thorns, what gems of light sparkle\nin the dark ways of life, ennobling all, beautifying because\nsanctifying all, and enabling us, while the heavy burden of sorrow,\ndisappointment, regrets, and even ruined hope, may seem to take all\nthe color out of life, and to send us back to a treadmill existence\nand a gray, despairing twilight, to realize that nothing can alter the\nfact that we are holy to the Lord, and that in our daily, hourly lot,\nas husbands, wives, sons, daughters, masters, and servants, we are\ncarrying on the ceaseless weaving of that web of sacred typical life\nwhich has from all eternity been in the mind of God as the law of our\nnatural being, and in one form or another envelops, like the husks of\nthe sweet nut, the gradually-ripening sanctity of those who, even in\nthis life, are to touch on perfect union with their Creator.\n\nCan any one seriously doubt that, if a greater and more hallowed\nveneration for the laws of our natural existence became more general\nand more intense, they would, in their typical and sacramental\ncharacter, develop further heights of holiness\u2014not as the exceptional\nways of a few miraculous saints, but as the table-land of all\nhumanity? As it was the hardness of heart in the Israelites which\ncompelled Moses to give a law of divorce, so may it not be our\nhardness of heart, lessened indeed, but not yet melted, which leaves\nus so often such mere commonplace appreciation of natural ties, and\nthus fails to realize in them all that they possess and can yield?\n\nJesus is our father, our brother, our friend, our master, and our\nspouse. These titles are taken from our common life. But the abstract\nidea which these titles express by subdivision and restriction dwelt\nfor ever in the mind of God as the form and fashion he would give to\nhuman life in his foreknowledge of the divine Incarnation, for which\nend _solely_ do all things exist. What further thoughts can we need to\nmake us tender over our own duties and our own condition? What a noble\norigin there is to all that we are apt to look upon as an encumbrance,\na failure, a mere unfortunate accident! Our ties enchain us; then let\nus hug our chains, and find in wearing them \u201cthe freedom wherewith\nChrist has made us free.\u201d All our life is a God-directed education of\nour souls; and the fashion of our human life is the mould which God\nhas prepared for us each as individuals, save always where there is\nsin or its proximate occasion, or where a higher vocation\u2014that sublime\ninfringement of the common law\u2014comes to impel the soul to forsake all\nand follow the divine Spouse. Then all else melts before the furnace\nof divine love; the intermediate, ordinary steps which lead others to\nGod through the sanctities of common life are cleared at one bound,\nand God puts in his claim to do what he will with his own.\n\nTo resume all in a few words: all we see around us, from the soil\nbeneath our feet, through the vegetable and animal worlds, even to\nourselves, is the working out of the first law of increase and\nmultiply. Consequently, this being, as we have already said, the\nrepresentative idea of the creation, its sacredness lies in that very\nfact, and dates not merely from the new dispensation nor from the old,\nbut from the Eternal Mind before creation was. We have arrived at the\nfacts which prove this representative idea by the aid of natural\nscience, of which the old spiritual writers knew next to nothing, and\nwho consequently, looking at nature through the black mists of man\u2019s\ndefilement, sometimes took distorted views of laws and facts the\nexquisite harmony of which come out in the deductions of modern\nresearch, and so establish the claim we are now making to the absolute\nbeauty and sanctity of all the fashion of human existence as leading\nup by typical forms to spiritual truths. The witness of this like a\ngolden thread in the dim web of patriarchal times may be found in the\nfact that it was the eldest son who officiated as the priest of the\nfamily, thus blending the natural and spiritual by making the former\nthe basis of the latter. This was the reason of the envy and malice of\nJoseph\u2019s brethren. He was not the first-born; and yet it was for him\nthat his father made the sacerdotal coat of many colors. Therefore did\nthey dip the coat in the blood of a kid, as in mockery of his\nsacerdotal character, given him by his father, but not acknowledged by\nhis brethren.\n\nLittle did they dream that while, in the full exercise of their own\nfree-will, they gave license to their thoughts of hatred, they were\nenacting as in a type the one great fact of the universe, the world\u2019s\none important history, the tragedy of all creation, when he who,\nthough in his human nature he is the younger born of God\u2019s children,\nholds, and for ever shall hold, sacerdotal rank over the elder and\nfallen Adam.\n\nThey who said, \u201cSee whether it be thy son\u2019s coat or not,\u201d[65] were the\nforefathers of those who exclaimed, \u201cLet Christ the king of Israel\ncome down now from the cross, that we may see and believe.\u201d[66] They\nmocked at the father who claimed to have made his younger son the\npriest of his house, and their descendants declared of the great\nPriest of our race that \u201che ought to die because he made himself the\nSon of God.\u201d In both cases their pretensions were turned into ridicule\nand treated as a crime. They dipped the sacerdotal coat of Joseph in\nthe blood of a kid; but the great High-Priest they covered with his\nown blood, in derision of his claim to be their King and their God.\nAnd through it all, through the good and the evil, the adaptive\ngovernment of God worked out his ultimate designs, turning the\nwickedness of men to his own glory and hiding the secrets of his\nprovidence beneath the course of events, the incidents of common life,\nthe history of a people, of a tribe, of a family. We look back on the\nlong-drawn-out story and understand somewhat of the underlying\nmystery. But while it was going on it was but little even guessed at.\nGod is unchangeable, the same for ever and ever. What he did then does\nhe not do now?\u2014for his church, his bride, above all, but also for all\nhumanity, all the wide universe according to its measure, as it can\nbear it, when it can receive it; leading on by degrees so slow that to\nus they seem almost imperceptible, but which widen and spread like the\nrings on the surface of the water when a stone has been flung into its\ndepths.\n\nOur range of vision is so narrow, and our knowledge of even the past\nso limited and so full of inaccuracies, that we can do little more\nthan guess at the manifold unrolling of the divine intentions. We know\nenough to fill us with hope as to the ultimate destination of all\ncreation, and of ourselves as the children of God. We know not the\nfuture, save faintly as faith reveals it. Even of the past we know but\ndimly and in broken lines. To one only of the children of men, so far\nas the Holy Scripture informs us, was the past fully and entirely made\nknown, so far as that was possible to a mortal man supernaturally\nsustained to bear it. How many in the hallowed, bold, and rash moments\nof inarticulate prayer have ventured in their lesser degree to say\nwith Moses, \u201cShow me thy glory\u201d! As the thought grows upon us of God\u2019s\nwonderful ways and of his unutterable love and beneficence, we too\nlong to know with certain knowledge something of that Glory which the\ngreat lawgiver intuitively felt would be at once the knowledge of all\nand the consummation of every desire. \u201cShow me thy glory.\u201d Hear the\nanswer: \u201cThou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me, and\nlive. Thou shalt stand upon the rock. And when my glory shall pass, I\nwill set thee in a hole in the rock, and thou shalt see my back parts:\nbut my face thou canst not see.\u201d[67] And thus Moses saw the back parts\nof Him who is from all eternity, through the aperture of time. He had\nrevealed to him the far-off intention of creation. He looked back, in\nGod, to the time before time \u201cwhen he had not yet made the earth, nor\nthe rivers, nor the poles of the world; when Wisdom was with him\nforming all things, playing before him at all times, playing in the\nworld, and whose delights were to be with the children of men.\u201d[68]\nThe back parts were beheld by him, and even this he could not have\nendured in his feeble flesh had not the Eternal \u201cright hand protected\nhim.\u201d All that the past could teach him in the flash of one moment was\nthen made known to him. What floods of light, knowledge, and divine\nhope and expectation must that wonderful backward view have imparted\nto Moses, the man singled out of all mankind to read the past! But\neven with the strength which knowledge such as that must have\nconferred upon him, still he could not see the face of God and live.\nWe are using weak human words, because they alone are given us. It was\nthe forward look of God which Moses could not see and live. It was the\nunutterable Glory that is prepared for us in the future, with and\nthrough Jesus, that not even the man who had conversed with God as man\nspeaks with his fellow-man, face to face, could see and live. Its\nstupendous and exceeding brightness, would have shattered his being as\nthe flash of lightning shatters the oak; even as our Lord revealed to\none of his chosen saints that, could she perfectly realize his immense\nlove for the souls of men, that moment of intense joy would snap the\nfrail thread of her life with its excessive ecstasy. What Moses saw he\ntells us not. No word escapes him of that transcendent vision. He\nneither tells us of its nature nor of its effects upon himself. But\nwho could marvel if, having had it, he was henceforth the meekest of\nmen? What could ever again disturb the serene patience of him who\ncould divine so much of the future from having seen all the past? And\nhow impossible it must have been for any torments of pride to ruffle\nthe calm serenity of one who was humbled to the very dust by the\nunutterably lavish and surpassing developments of love and grace and\nglory which his vision of the past bade him anticipate in that future\nwhich even he who had borne to see the past could not gaze upon and\nlive!\n\nAs \u201cthe end of all science is contained within the end of all\ntheology,\u201d so the seeing the glory of God would be the knowledge of\nall history taken in its widest and fullest meaning; for if history\ncould be truly written, whether as the life of an individual, the\nhistory of a nation or of the whole world, it would be the unravelling\nof the hidden providence of God working through all events to his own\ngreater glory. The perfect sight is the perfect knowledge; and that\ncannot be obtained save through the \u201clight of Glory,\u201d which is the\nbeatific vision. The perfect knowledge of God would be the knowledge\nof all things, not only of all science, but of all facts; for all are\ncontained in him. The use of our faculties in the acquirement of\nknowledge or in its exercise is like the gathering up of fragments\ncaught from the skirts of his garments as we follow slowly in his\nmighty footsteps; and the closer we get to him in our patient toil,\nthe brighter is the lustre and the sweeter the perfume still left upon\nthese shreds of the divine passage through the mazes of creation and\nthe heaped-up centuries of time.\n\n\n [60] Daniel xii. 4.\n\n [61] Matthew v. 18.\n\n [62] 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, 22, 23.\n\n [63] Ephesians v. 23, 32.\n\n [64] This statement, if its terms are taken in a strict,\n theological sense, is not correct. In the sense that\n matrimony under the old law was holy, and foreshadowed\n a sacrament, it may be called sacramental. There were\n no sacraments, in the specific sense in which we now\n use the term in the Catholic Church, before Christ\n instituted them.\u2014ED. C. W.\n\n [65] Gen. xxxvii. 32.\n\n [66] Mark xv. 32.\n\n [67] Exodus xxxiii. 18-23.\n\n [68] Prov. viii. 22-36.\n\n\n\n\nNEW PUBLICATIONS.\n\n\n THE STUDENT\u2019S HAND-BOOK OF BRITISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE.\n Containing sketches, biographical and critical, of the most\n distinguished English authors, from the earliest times to\n the present day, with selections from their writings, and\n questions adapted to the use of schools. By Rev. O. L.\n Jenkins, A.M., late president of St. Charles\u2019s College,\n Ellicott City, Md., and formerly president of St. Mary\u2019s\n College, Baltimore. 1 vol. 16mo, pp. 564. Baltimore: John\n Murphy & Co. (New York: The Catholic Publication Society.)\n 1876.\n\nThis book has many excellencies. The author shows himself thoroughly\nversed in his subject. He writes with elegance, occasionally with\nforce, as in the remarks on the influence of the Protestant\nReformation on literature. His taste is true and his judgment sound.\nIn fact, judging by the work itself, he would seem possessed of the\nqualities fitted to make him an admirable compiler of a literary\nmanual.\n\nThe first sentence of the author\u2019s preface explains the object of the\nbook: \u201cThe compiler of this work has long felt the necessity of some\ntext book of British and American literature which, in its general\nbearing, would be free from sectarian views and influences, and, in\nthe extracts, be entirely unexceptionable in point of morality.\u201d This\nsentence is open to misinterpretation. It is plain, however, from the\ngeneral plan of Father Jenkins\u2019 work, as well as from numerous\npassages in it, that he has had in view from the beginning to restore\nto the Catholic Church, the inspirer of the highest literature, the\nmother of Christian art, and the fosterer of the sciences, her\nrightful place in English letters. In most of the text-books used in\nschools her influence on thought and literature is altogether ignored\nand herself in too many instances derided. It is clear, then, what the\nlearned author meant by freeing his book from \u201csectarian views.\u201d While\ngiving their lawful place to all writers, of whatever manner of belief\nor no belief, he had for his direct object the pruning out of all\nanti-Catholic and immoral passages, and the insertion of established\nCatholic authors who are systematically excluded from ordinary\ntext-books.\n\nNo object could be better calculated to confer more lasting benefit on\nthe minds of the young generation growing up around us, for whom\nchiefly the present work is intended. We open the book with eagerness,\ntherefore, and turn over page after page with interest, often with\nadmiration, until we come up to the present century, when, especially\nwithin the later half of it, Catholic literature in England and the\nUnited States has, from a variety of causes, received a new and\nremarkable impulse. It is hardly too much to say that Catholic\nquestions are among the chief questions of the day here as well as in\nEngland; they have been such for the last fifty years; they promise to\nbe such for at least fifty years to come; and Catholic writers to-day\nhold their own in every branch of literature. After three centuries of\nsilence, of death almost, the church has risen again among these\npeoples who went astray, the voice of truth is heard, and its\nutterances are manifold. Surely there is reason to expect that due\nnotice of such awakening, of such signs of life and hope, be taken in\na literary text-book, which, after all, can only hope to make its way\nin Catholic schools. Yet here, in this crucial point, Father Jenkins\u2019\nwork is singularly and lamentably defective. Whether or not he\nintended to supply the deficiency is not known to us; but those who\ntook up the work after his death ought to have supplied it.\n\nWe turn to the book, and what do we find? The only Catholic writers of\nthe century who are found worthy a place in this Catholic manual are,\nto take them as they occur: Dr. Lingard, Thomas Moore, Cardinal\nWiseman, Dr. Newman, Aubrey de Vere, in England and Ireland; Bishop\nEngland, Robert Walsh, and Archbishop Spalding, in America. And these\nare all!\n\nWhere is Dr. Brownson? His name occurs in a casual note of the\nauthor\u2019s, in the same way as the names of Griswold, Cleveland, or Reid\noccur. Where is Dr. Pise, Dr. Huntington, George H. Miles, Dr. White,\nColonel Meline, John G. Shea, Dr. R. H. Clarke, Archbishop Hughes\u2014they\nsimply run off the pen\u2014together with dozens of others, many of whose\nnames will not need recalling to the readers of this magazine? We\nshrink from extending the catalogue of the absent to England and\nIreland.\n\nWriters conspicuous by their absence are by no means restricted to the\nCatholic faith. Among strange omissions are the following: Southwell\nis in, but not Crashaw; Shakspere, but not Massinger, or Beaumont and\nFletcher; Addison, but not Steele; all the earlier novelists are\nabsent. The dramatists of the reign of Charles II. are ignored.\nGoldsmith is remembered, but Sheridan is forgotten. Scott is in, but\nBurns is out. Moore and Byron, and even Rogers, find their place; but\nShelley and Keats are nowhere to be found. Dickens and Thackeray are\nhere, but Bulwer Lytton is absent; and so the list goes on.\n\nThe book is supposed to reach up to the present day. The writers on\npolitical philosophy, the scientists, the theologians, many of the\nwriters on history known to us as living among us still and destined\nto live long after us, are altogether omitted. Not a hint even of\ntheir existence is given. The \u201ccompiler,\u201d as he styled himself, says\nin the preface that \u201cwhatever has relation to our common humanity, and\ninterests all men alike, whether it be fictitious or real, in poetry\nor in prose, comes within the appropriate province of literature. Even\npopularized science is not excluded.\u201d And he adds, strangely enough in\nthe light of the chief defect we have noticed: \u201cIf, in the early\nperiods, the name of an eminent divine or scholar is introduced whose\nwritings might seem to belong rather to the department of science than\nbelles-lettres, it is because he ranks among the few men of his epoch\nwho were remarkable for intellectual vigor and general knowledge.\u201d\nThis being so, where are the English, Irish, and American Catholic\ntheological, philosophical, and polemical writers of the last\nhalf-century?\n\nOf course a work of this kind, which aimed at doing justice to our\nCatholic writers of the present century, would quite overrun the\nlimits of an ordinary text-book of English literature. Still, the\naddition of two or three hundred pages devoted just to this subject is\nnecessary to complete what in its present form is, for the purposes\nfor which it was intended, quite incomplete.\n\n\n THE EDEN OF LABOR, THE CHRISTIAN UTOPIA. By T. Wharton\n Collens, author of _Humanics_, etc. Philadelphia: H. C.\n Baird, Industrial Publisher, 810 Walnut Street.\n\n LABOR AND CAPITAL IN ENGLAND, FROM THE CATHOLIC POINT OF\n VIEW. By C. S. Devas, B.A., Lecturer on Political Economy at\n the Catholic University College, Kensington. London: Burns &\n Oates, Portman Street.\n\nThese two publications may be combined in one notice. They treat of\nthe same subject, essentially in the same spirit, though looking at it\nin different lights. Both deal with that momentous struggle between\nlabor and capital which has shaken the world in all ages; both profess\nto find the solution of the economic problems of the day in the\nteachings of Christianity as interpreted by the Catholic Church; but\none invokes the aid of the imagination in portraying what labor might\nbe if all men were just and charitable; the other confronts the actual\nposition of labor in England. Each is equally valuable in its own way,\nand both are champions of the rights of labor.\n\nMr. Collens\u2019 work, _The Eden of Labor_, is the fruit of much thought\nupon the subject, a powerful imagination, and a feeling heart for\nthose who labor. The author pictures Adam as founding a patriarchal\nempire after the fall, in which, under wise and equitable laws, labor\nwas universally rewarded by competency and happiness. In the\ndescription of this antediluvian Utopia\u2014of its system of government\nand society, of its condition and rewards of labor, of its land\ntenure, its trade, foreign and domestic, and its currency\u2014the author\ngives himself the opportunity of promulgating his conception of the\ntrue doctrines of political economy. In this he takes issue with the\nliberal school of political economists which recognizes Adam Smith as\nits founder. He denounces its teachings as framed solely in the\ninterest of the selfish and tyrannical employer of labor, and as\nleading irresistibly to the robbery and enslavement of the\nover-matched laborer. While admitting the truth of Adam Smith\u2019s law\nthat \u201clabor is the true measure of exchangeable values,\u201d the author\nstrenuously argues that he (Smith) and his disciples nullify the just\nresults of that axiom by defending the specious but unchristian\ndoctrine of \u201csupply and demand,\u201d which results in the supremacy of\nmight over starvation, and by losing sight of their original\naffirmation of the common right of all to the use of \u201cnatural values,\u201d\nwhich the liberal economists in the end surrender absolutely to the\ncapitalist.\n\nAs a foil to his picture of the \u201cEden of Labor,\u201d Mr. Collens gives, in\nhis description of Nodland, or the empire of Cain, a history of the\nenslavement and misery of labor, and the corruption and tyranny of the\n\u201cmoney lords,\u201d consequent upon the surrender of society to purely\nselfish instincts, and its abandonment of laws which Adam had derived\nfrom his original intercourse with God. This second part may be\nregarded as a satire upon our modern civilization. An ingenious\nmonogram representing Labor, half-starved, drawing a miserable\nsubsistence from the reservoir of \u201cNatural Values,\u201d which at the same\ntime feeds the plethora of Capital, is prefixed to the work and fully\nexplained by the author in the appendix.\n\nPhilosophers from Plato to Sir Thomas More have sought, in their\ndescriptions of Utopia under different names, to portray a\ncommonwealth in which justice should reign and labor receive its\nrightful reward. In following the steps of those illustrious thinkers\nMr. Collens has the opportunity of presenting to his readers, with\nfreshness of treatment and originality of plan, his solution of the\nlabor questions specially affecting this age. The danger besetting\nworks of this kind, where the author is dissatisfied with the existing\norder of things, and feels a strong sympathy with oppressed labor, is\nthat they insensibly verge towards the vindication of the theories of\ncommunism and the revolutionary rights of man. We are convinced that\nno conclusions could be more opposed, or even abhorrent, to Mr.\nCollens\u2019 mind than these. His preface, written on \u201cthe Feast of the\nHoly Name of Jesus,\u201d and the whole spirit of his work, bespeak him a\nfervent Catholic; but, if followed to a logical and forcible\nconclusion, it would be difficult to distinguish the goal to which the\ndoctrines embodied in the author\u2019s denunciation of the \u201cappropriators\nof natural values\u201d would lead from that seen at the end of\nProudhon\u2019s\u2014\u201c_La propri\u00e9t\u00e9, c\u2019est le vol._\u201d This, however, is a defect\ninherent in all Utopias\u2014not of their own nature, but from the fallen\ncondition of man. With this caution we can safely recommend Mr.\nCollens\u2019 work as both interesting and instructive.\n\nProfessor Devas\u2019 pamphlet is on a more ordinary plane of authorship.\nIt is historical and practical in the sense, as to the latter word, of\ntreating of the existing facts of labor in England and their remedies.\nBut we are not of those who would confine the meaning of the word\n\u201cpractical\u201d solely to results immediately before us. A work like that\nof Mr. Collens, depending largely upon the imagination and\ninvestigating first principles, may be practical in the highest and\nmost extensive sense, so far as it influences the original sources of\nhuman action. In his special treatment of the subject, however,\nProfessor Devas has written a very able treatise. It is a reprint of\nthree articles originally published in the _Month_, two of them\ncontaining the substance of a paper read before the Academia at\nWestminster. The first treats of labor and capital in general; the\nsecond, of the economic powers in manufacturing industries; the third,\nof their relative positions in agriculture. In his first article\nProfessor Devas discusses the question whether contracts should be\nleft to competition or a fair rate of wages\u2014_justum pretium_\u2014fixed,\nand, if so, how and by whom. He holds a middle view between the\nliberal economists who will listen to nothing but the rule of \u201csupply\nand demand,\u201d and the socialist school which denounces all competition\nand would have the state fix a compulsory rate. He cites the\nNottingham hosiery trade as a case in point where wages are not fixed\nby competition, but by tariff determined upon at a periodical meeting\nof masters and workmen, in which the state of the market and all\nattending circumstances are mutually considered, and suggests this\nexample as a mode of arriving at the _justum pretium_ in all trades.\nIn his chapter on manufacturing industries Professor Devas takes the\nbold ground of defending trades-unionism, not in its details but in\nits general principles. He is of opinion that the trades unions have\nbeen one of the chief agents in alleviating the condition of the\nworking classes and raising the rate of wages in England during the\nlast forty years. In this latter conclusion he is supported by Dr.\nYoung in his recently published work on _Labor in Europe and America_.\nIn spite of the fact that the large strikes in England and upon the\nEuropean Continent have been in the majority of special cases\nunsuccessful, the general result, according to Dr. Young, has been an\nadvance of wages during the last twenty years. The effects of\ntrades-unionism in Europe may be likened to the flow of the tide,\nwhich, repulsed as to each successive wave, yet gains slowly upon the\nbeach. This advance, however, is not always aided by strikes; on the\ncontrary, they have frequently postponed it, by the exhaustion of the\nstruggle, for many years. Their potential combination, or what\nO\u2019Connell, in a different agitation, called \u201cmoral force,\u201d has been a\nmore successful factor in obtaining justice for them.\n\n\n ORDO DIVINI OFFICII RECTANDI, ETC., 1876. Baltimor\u00e6: Apud\n Fratres Lucas, Bibliopolas.\n\nWhether by the word \u201c_rectandi_\u201d the compiler of this guide for the\nclergy would imply that the principal duty devolving on them with\nregard to the Office is its correction rather than its recitation, we\nare unable to say. We do not, it is true, find the verb \u201c_recto_\u201d in\nthe dictionary, but feeling confident, from the Ciceronian style\ndisplayed in other parts of the _Ordo_, that it must be good Latin,\nespecially as it has appeared two years in succession, presume that it\nmust be the dictionary which is at fault, and cannot suggest any other\nmeaning for the word.\n\nWhether that is its meaning or not, however, it certainly well might\nbe.\n\nWe do not profess to have made a thorough examination of the book. It\nis full of misprints, as usual, of which the one just mentioned and\nthe familiar \u201c_Resurect_.\u201d are good examples. Whether the putting of\nSt. Anicetus for St. Anacletus, which was also noticed last year, can\nbe considered as such seems rather doubtful.\n\nThere are some trifling omissions which really ought to be supplied.\nThe anniversaries of the consecration of about forty of the bishops of\nthe United States are passed by in silence. For what special reason\nthe remainder are given it is hard to imagine, unless it be to remind\nthose who use the _Ordo_ that they ought to take notice of such an\nanniversary and find out when it occurs; but, unfortunately, it has\njust a contrary effect, for every one who sees the anniversary of\nanother diocese noticed expects to be similarly reminded of his own,\nand only remembers that he has not been when the time has gone by.\n\nThe law according to which the feast of St. Leo varies between the 3d\nand the 7th of July is a matter of curious speculation. From its\noccurrence for two successive years on the 3d we are inclined to\ncherish the hope that it has finally settled down upon that day.\n\nWhy cannot we have an _Ordo_ that would be creditable to the compiler\nand the publishers, and in which confidence could be placed? More care\nis all that is needed.\n\nThis notice has been delayed till this month on account of more\nimportant matter. It will probably do as much good now as if it had\nbeen published at an earlier date.\n\n\n SERMONS BY FATHERS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS. Vol. III.\n London: Burns & Oates. 1875. (For sale by The Catholic\n Publication Society.)\n\nIt is somewhat rare to meet with sermons that will bear publication.\nThe circumstances attending their delivery, the authoritative\ncharacter of the priest, the sacredness of the time and place, tend to\ndisarm the critical faculty and dispose the hearers to a favorable\nimpression. Not so, however, when they are given to the world in\nbook-form, to be subjected to the cool criticism of the closet.\nSermons that can stand this test are certainly worthy of praise; and\nthis merit, we are happy to say, belongs to the volume before us. The\nselected sermons are by Fathers Kingdon, Purbrick, Coleridge, Weld,\nand Anderdon\u2014names already familiar to many of our readers. Their\nsubjects are such inexhaustible themes as the Passion of Our Lord, the\nHoly Eucharist, Our Lady\u2019s Immaculate Conception, etc., treated mainly\nin their devotional and practical bearings. They thus form a\ncollection of spiritual reading rendered particularly attractive by\nmany excellencies of style and expression. Regarded merely as sermons,\nthey are models in their conformity to the accepted canons of this\nbranch of composition. The subjects are clearly divided, with an easy\ntransition from point to point. The style throughout is graceful and\nflowing, and there are many passages full of eloquence\u2014a kind of\neloquence not merely ornamental but practical in its effects. The\nsecret of it lies in that warmth and earnestness which can proceed\nonly from those who are animated by a fervid zeal for the good of\nsouls.\n\n\n FATHER SEGNERI\u2019S SENTIMENTI; OR, LIGHTS IN PRAYER.\n Translated from the Italian by K. G. London: Burns & Oates.\n 1876. (For sale by The Catholic Publication Society.)\n\nFather Segneri is one of the greatest of the distinguished preachers\nof the seventeenth century. His name is frequently met in the Italian\ndictionaries, as an authority of the language. His sermons are based\nupon the classic models of eloquence. Though not as exhaustive as\nthose of the great French masters of sacred oratory, they are more\nforcible in rhetoric and more luxuriant in style. We have a great\ndesire to see the complete works of Father Segneri rendered into\nEnglish, and those who have read the volume of his sermons, lately put\nforth by the Catholic Publication Society, will doubtless welcome\nanything bearing his name.\n\nThe little book before us is made up of pious reflections found among\nthe papers left by Father Segneri, and evidently intended for his own\nprivate perusal. They give us a glimpse of the tender religious,\nseeking obscurity, craving the higher gifts, while the world applauds\nhis brilliant and conspicuous talents. This contrast is always\npleasing. The _Sentimenti_ reveal how far this holy man had advanced\nin virtue, and how well founded is the reverence which has ever been\nfelt for his sanctity.\n\n\n BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES: French Political Leaders. By Edward King.\n New York: G. P. Putnam\u2019s Son\u2019s. 1876.\n\nThese are bright and readable sketches of various prominent Frenchmen\nof the day. Whether all of those whose biographies are given may be\nfitly designated \u201cpolitical leaders\u201d is for the reader to satisfy\nhimself and the future to determine. Mr. King does not aim at profound\nreflection. He cuts skin-deep and passes on. The title of the book\nseems to us suggestive of something more serious than this. The\npolitical leaders of France will influence more than France, and it\nwould be worth considering who and what are the French political\nleaders of the day. Of what stuff are they made? Whither are they\ntending? In what do they lead? Is it a lead backwards or forwards? Mr.\nKing passes such questions by, and contents himself with more or less\ninteresting biographies of those whom he takes to be political\nleaders. Among them we find Henri Rochefort, but fail to find Louis\nVeuillot. Mr. King is like all non-Catholic writers\u2014least at home when\nhe comes across a Catholic. Among his leaders Mgr. Dupanloup, the\nBishop of Orl\u00e9ans, very properly holds a place. We scarcely recognize\nthe bishop, however, as painted by Mr. King. One sentence will suffice\nto show our meaning: \u201cThe haughty mind which sneered at the Encyclical\nLetter [which Encyclical Letter?] and the Syllabus became one of the\nmost ardent defenders of illiberal measures.\u201d By \u201cilliberal measures\u201d\nMr. King seems to mean freedom of education in France, of which Mgr.\nDupanloup has been a lifelong, and recently a successful, advocate.\n\u201cThe haughty mind which sneered at the Encyclical Letter and the\nSyllabus\u201d is something new to us, particularly as Mgr. Dupanloup, long\nprevious to the Council of the Vatican, wrote a pamphlet in defence of\nthe Syllabus for which he received the special thanks of the Holy\nFather. It is to be hoped that all Mr. King\u2019s biographies are not\nequally as accurate as that of Mgr. Dupanloup.\n\n\n FIVE LECTURES ON THE CITY OF ANCIENT ROME AND HER EMPIRE\n OVER THE NATIONS, THE DIVINELY-SENT PIONEER OF THE WAY FOR\n THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. A supplement to the student\u2019s usual\n course of study in Roman history. By Rev. Henry Formby,\n London: Burns, Oates & Co.\n\nIn these lectures Father Formby essays the proof of what many a\nwell-read student would at first hearing pronounce as a thesis\nexceedingly difficult, if not impossible, of demonstration\u2014viz., that\nthe Roman Empire, the arch-persecutor of the church of God, drunk with\nthe blood of ten millions of martyrs, and nursing-mother of every\nheathen idolatry, had, in spite of these seeming contradictory\ncharacteristics, a divine mission, fulfilled especially by her\nuniversal empire and the singular part she played in the formation of\nthe political and social life of the nations of the world.\n\nThe learned author signalizes among other marks of the divine\nprovidence shown in the history of the mistress of nations, which\npoint her out as a pioneer of the kingdom of Christ, the following\nremarkable classes of services rendered by her to the accomplishment\nof that work:\n\n1. \u201cThe formation of the nations of the world into a political unity\nof government, in which there existed a great deal to foreshadow and\nprepare the minds of men for the future church; while every eye was\ntaught to look up to the city of Rome, not only as the centre of all\npolitical action, but as supreme in religion, as well as the fountain\nof all civil honor and dignity.\n\n2. \u201cThe preliminary mission of the Roman Empire to civilize the\nnations, and to promote among them education and the cultivation of\nliterature and the arts of life, the care of which was to become, in a\nfar higher and more effective manner, part of the mission of the\nfuture church.\n\n3. \u201cThe mission of the Roman Empire to inculcate and preserve among\nthe nations the knowledge of a certain number of the doctrines and\nvirtues forming part of the original revelation which Noah brought\nwith him out of the ark.\n\n4. \u201cThe advantage, for the formation of the Christian society, of the\nfirm establishment of the outward framework of good public order, of\nmunicipal liberties, and of the general peace of the world, including\nthe necessary security for life and prosperity.\u201d\n\nThese are weighty considerations, and worthy of a much more extended\ndevelopment than the author gives in the lectures before us. His\nthesis affirmed as probable (and we deem it no less), Roman history\nwould need to be re-written, and by one who should be not only an\nhistorian, but a philosopher and a Christian. The perusal of these\nlectures cannot fail to interest the student, and particularly those\nwho pretend to study the philosophy of history.\n\n\n POPULAR LIFE OF DANIEL O\u2019CONNELL. 1 vol. 16mo, pp. 294.\n Boston: Patrick Donahoe.\n\nPublic attention in these days is being more and more turned to\nO\u2019Connell and the work he wrought. No later than last year the Holy\nFather held him up as a guide to Catholics in their conflict with\npowers leagued together against the church, against Catholic rights,\nand, as a matter of consequence, against all right. The more the great\nIrish leader\u2019s life is studied, the more evident becomes the fact that\nfreedom, liberty, right, were not to him merely national but universal\nclaims. What he demanded for his own he would have granted to all, and\nin claiming his own he asked no favor; he called for none of what are\nknown as heroic remedies; he appealed simply to the spirit of all\nsound laws and the sense of right that is in the conscience of all\nmen. It would be well if, in future lives of him, this great, this\ngreatest perhaps, feature of O\u2019Connell\u2019s character were brought out in\nstronger relief. For it is just this that makes him more than a leader\nof his people; it makes him a leader of all peoples who have wrongs to\nright and abuses to abolish. The small volume before us tells the\nstory of O\u2019Connell\u2019s life in the conventional manner. \u201cPopular\u201d is on\nthe title-page, and there is no reason why the \u201clife\u201d should not be\npopular. It \u201chas been compiled from the most authentic sources,\u201d says\nthe preface modestly enough, and in this the value of the book is\nrated in a line. It is a compilation, and no more. As a compilation\nthere is no especial fault to be found with it. On the contrary, the\nvarious parts are stitched cleverly together, so as to make a\nsufficiently interesting narrative. Compilations, however, are\nbecoming too numerous nowadays, and the literature in which shears and\npaste-pot play the chief part is growing into a school, and a school\nthat cannot be commended. It is not encouraging to open what the\nreader takes to be a new book, and find in it page after page of\nmatter that has been writ or told a thousand times already.\n\n\n ELMWOOD; OR, THE WITHERED ARM. By Katie L. 1 vol. 16mo, pp.\n 233. Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co. 1876.\n\nThe title of this story, though sufficiently thrilling, gives but a\nfaint indication of the chamber of horrors that lies concealed between\nthe pleasant-looking covers. The title of the first chapter is\n\u201cMidnight,\u201d and it begins as follows: \u201cW-H-I-R-R! groaned the old\nclock. The sound rang throughout the immense corridor, reverberating\nlike the moan of a lost soul.\u201d Three lines lower down, \u201cA wild,\nunearthly yell\u201d breaks \u201cwith fearful distinctness on the midnight\nsilence.\u201d Chapter III. begins: \u201cSilence! Gloom! Remorse! Anguish!\nAlone! all alone!\u201d and so on. We spare the reader the prolonged agony.\n\nThe story might be called a series of paroxysms, and, were it only\nintended as a caricature of the dime novel, would be one of the most\nsuccessful that was ever written. Murder glares from every page, and\nagony reverberates along every line. There is an abundance of \u201ctall,\nslight figures robed in white,\u201d \u201cethereal oil-lamps,\u201d \u201chowling\ntempests,\u201d \u201cdeathly faintnesses,\u201d thrilling \u201cha! ha\u2019s!\u201d \u201cblue\nchambers,\u201d \u201cnorth-end chambers,\u201d \u201cawful arms,\u201d \u201cblood-stained hands,\u201d\npoison, murder, despair, agony, death. There are the usual heroes with\nthe conventional marble brow and clustering curls around it, and the\nheroines, tall and stately, sylph-like and sweet, blonde or brunette,\naccording to order. Everybody is Maud, or Elaine, or Edwin, or\nHerbert. One quite misses Enid, Gawain, Launcelot, and Guinevere. Of\ncourse there is no special quarrel with nonsense of this kind, beyond\nthe regret that there should be found persons not only to think and\nwrite it, but sane persons to publish and propagate it. When, however,\nwe find religion dragged in to give it a kind of moral flavor\u2014dragged\nin, too, in the most absurd and reprehensible fashion\u2014what might be\npassed over as a foolish offence against good sense and good taste\nbecomes a matter of graver moment, to be utterly condemned as\nirreverent and harmful, however unintentional the irreverence and harm\nmay be. It is necessary to be severe about this kind of literature.\nUninstructed Catholics who, by whatever misfortune, have access to\npaper and types, do a world of harm, though they themselves may be\nactuated by the best motives possible. This book would do no more harm\nto sensible persons than cause a laugh, possibly a shudder, at its\ntissue of absurdities. But falling into the hands of non-Catholics, it\nwould by many be taken as the natural outcome of Catholic teaching,\nand disgust them with everything connected with the Catholic name. The\npreface to the book speaks of \u201cthe moral conveyed in the following\npages,\u201d which, it says, \u201cis too obvious to need particular\nspecification.\u201d Possibly; nevertheless, we thought it our duty to\nspecify it above. The preface adds that the book was written \u201cduring\nsome of the sweetest hours\u201d of the writer\u2019s life, \u201cin the midst of the\nmost charming surroundings, and solely for the eyes of a few friends.\u201d\nIt is to be deeply regretted, for the writer\u2019s own sake, that one, at\nleast, of her few friends had not the courage and kindliness to deter\nher from \u201csending forth upon its new and unexpected mission\u201d a book\nthat can only bring pain to the author and pain to those who feel\nbound to condemn it.\n\n\n THE SCHOLASTIC ALMANAC FOR 1876. Edited by Professor J. A.\n Lyons, Notre Dame, Ind. Chicago: Jansen, McClurg & Co. 1876.\n\nThis is modelled on the _Illustrated Catholic Family Almanac_, the\nfirst of the kind published in this country, only it is not\nillustrated. Its literary matter is very good, and in its paper,\npress-work, etc., it is a creditable publication.\n\n\n THE SPECTATOR (SELECTED PAPERS). By Addison and Steele. With\n introductory essay and biographical sketches by John\n Habberton. New York: G. P. Putnam\u2019s Sons. 1876.\n\nThis is the first of a series to be made up of selections from the\nstandard British essayists. The present volume contains careful\nselections from the _Spectator_. Those who care to see what journalism\nwas in the days when Addison and Steele were journalists will welcome\nthis series, so well begun in the elegant volume before us. It is to\nbe feared that Addison or Steele would stand a poor chance of\nemployment in the present \u201cadvanced\u201d stage of journalism.\nNevertheless, our editorial writers would do neither themselves nor\ntheir readers much harm in trying to discover what is the special\ncharm that lingers about the pages of these dead-and-gone magazines.\nWhen they have made the discovery, they will be in a fair way to make\nit worth the while of an enterprising publisher, say a century hence,\nto wade through the pages of their journals for the purpose of\nunearthing the author of such and such articles, with a view to giving\nthem again to the world.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC WORLD.\n\nVOL. XXIII., No. 134.\u2014MAY, 1876.\n\nCopyright: Rev. I. T. HECKER. 1876.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ROOT OF OUR PRESENT EVILS.\n\n\nWhen Mr. Dickens repaid the hospitality which he had received by his\nextremely humorous satires of this country, he called the attention of\nall Americans to the extent to which our national vanity was likely to\nblind us. Mr. Chollop\u2019s opinion to the effect that \u201cwe are the\nintellect and virtue of the airth, the cream of human natur, and the\nflower of moral force,\u201d has been secretly cherished by many better\nmen.\n\nThe conviction of ordinary Americans is that our system of government\nis so evidently perfect, and the course of our development so\nmanifestly healthy, that nothing but sheer blindness can account for\nany suspicion as to their future stability. To those who question the\nsuccess of our future we are wont to reply by a smile of genuine pity,\nor by pointing to the results already achieved and the difficulties\nwhich have been surmounted. We have fused the most incongruous\nrace-mixture into one homogeneous nation. We have occupied a\ncontinent, and laid the foundations of a great empire upon a\ncomprehensive and stable adjustment of all the functions of\ngovernment. We have eliminated the vast system of human slavery from\nwhich our ruin had been predicted. We have overcome the most powerful\nassault upon the integrity of our national existence; and any violent\nattempt upon our government seems at present to be both impossible of\noccurrence and hopeless of success.\n\nIt cannot be denied, however, that recent events have awakened in the\nminds of earnest and patriotic Americans a sense of uneasiness and\nanxiety very different from any similar feeling in the past. The\nprofessional politician sees in the corruption lately developed in\nWashington simply the evidence of decay manifested by a powerful\norganization which has enjoyed unlimited power and survived the issues\nwhich brought it into existence. He would persuade the people that a\n\u201crotation\u201d is all that is necessary in order to restore things to an\nhonest and sober condition. Less thoughtful men demand a return on the\npart of officials \u201cto the simplicity of our forefathers,\u201d and applaud\nblindly every effort at retrenchment. All observant writers and\nthinkers deprecate any such impossibility and are quite clear as to\nthe folly of attempting it. The _Nation_, March 16, says: \u201cWe confess\nthat there is to us something almost as depressing in this kind of\ntalk as in the practice, in which many of our newspapers indulge, of\ndrawing consolation for the present corruption of this republic from\nthe reflection that the corruption of the English monarchy one hundred\nand fifty years ago was just as great; because both one and the other\nhave a tendency to turn people\u2019s minds away from real remedies and\nthrow them back on quackery.\u201d\n\nThe feeling exhibited by this writer is not confined to himself; and\nthe protest which he makes against disguise and quackery is extended\nmuch further than he himself has carried it. For the most part careful\nobservers are willing to postpone the question of treatment until the\npublic is settled as to what the malady really is. We are shaken out\nof our customary habit of mind by witnessing the disgrace and infamy\nwhich cover our present administration. Everybody feels that something\nought to be done. But to pay particular attention to this portion of\nthe body politic, without examining how far the disease extends and\nwhat is its source, is simply to run the risk of suppressing a symptom\ninstead of curing a disorder.\n\nThe slightest attempt at candid observation reveals clearly that\ncorruption is not confined to Washington. A few years ago it was\nsupposed to be limited to a certain class of local politics; then it\nwas restricted to the city of New York. Now it is proved to extend\nfrom the Atlantic to the Pacific, and to exist in every circle of\nsociety. The suspicion which once attached to the \u201cward politician\u201d\nnow hangs about our representatives and senators. Dishonesty in\ncommercial transactions perpetrates renewed outrages. We shall soon\nhave to establish fresh associations to insure our insurance companies\nand to guarantee our banks. The medical profession feels called upon\nto issue tracts in order to guard against the physical degeneracy of\nthe entire race.\n\nTo deny that there is a pronounced, marked, and universal decadence in\nmorality is simply to stultify all faculties of observation and to\ncontradict the testimony of every sense. It is not necessary to repeat\nthe list of scandals which are daily appearing, or to appeal to the\nconviction, which prevails everywhere, that we have seen but a small\nportion of those which really exist. It is the common sentiment that\nthe next century will witness either a complete and radical reform of\nthe present state of things, or else a condition far worse than the\nenemies of this country have ever yet predicted.\n\nStartling as this conviction may appear, the only thing which ought to\nsurprise us is that the present disorder has not been foreseen and is\nnot now more fully understood. It would have been easy to predict the\nincrease of wealth and the consequent increase of luxury in our midst.\nNo sane person can doubt that these sources of temptation will be\ngreater in the future. The presence of wealth, the possibility of\nattaining it, will call forth all the activity of the rising\ngeneration, and the keenness of the struggle, in which all are free\nwithin the limits of the law, will tend constantly to lower the\nstandard of honesty. The strictness of party discipline, the disgust\nwhich the mass of citizens have for attending to the details of\npolitics, offer the widest scope for unprincipled adventurers. There\nare few careers in which quackery, fraud, and imposture cannot secure\nthose fruits for the possession of which honesty and labor are forced\nto suffer and to strive.\n\nIt does not involve a cynical view of mankind to decide that where the\noccasion of sin abounds wickedness will increase and prove\ndestructive, unless adequate means are taken to preserve the purity of\na nation.\n\nThis restraining influence in the history of nations hitherto has been\nreligion, which is supposed to furnish motives and to supply the\nstrength and means of combating these evil tendencies, and of defining\nand consolidating public morality.\n\nThe religion under profession of which the older portions of the\nrepublic developed was professedly Christian and retained much of the\ntraditional morality of the middle ages. There was no particular form\nof Protestantism which succeeded in impressing itself permanently upon\nthe growing republic, although some connection of church and state was\nuniversally recognized in the early State constitutions. The rigid\nforms of Puritanism and Quakerism were well calculated to preserve\nfrugality and simplicity of life as long as they could be maintained\nin rigidity. But no system of mere forms or external restraint could\nsuffice for the direction of a civilization which, still in its\ninfancy, presents so much richness and luxuriance of growth. Neither\nthe austerity of the Roundhead nor the dignity of the Cavalier could\nhope to remain as the type upon which the American character was to be\nmoulded. The external habiliments of the early generations were bound\nto disappear, as they have disappeared. But their principles\u2014_i.e._,\nthe beliefs of Protestantism\u2014were to remain and to form the intellect\nand conscience of the American people. However great the influence of\nSouthern statesmen upon our external constitution, the New England\nmind has wrought most powerfully upon the popular sentiment of the\ncountry. This action has been manifold.\n\nThe stock in trade, to use a homely comparison, with which\nProtestantism assumed its duty of providing for the moral and\nintellectual necessities of the American people was contained in the\nprinciples of the so-called Reformation.\n\nIn addition to the theory of private judgment, which was retained,\nwith the utmost inconsistency, the early religion of this country\nreposed upon two fundamental and mischievous errors which were\ninherited from the authors of the Reformation. These were the heresies\nof justification by faith alone and the total depravity of human\nnature. If any proof were wanting of the strength and permanence of\nthe religious instinct in man, it would appear in the fact that such\nmonstrous delusions could so long receive the assent of those who\nprofessed at the same time perfect freedom of belief. These disgusting\ncaricatures of Christian dogma have almost lost their control over\nhuman reason, and will remain only to demonstrate the needs of man and\nhis weakness when acting in abnormal ways and under false traditions.\nBut the fruit which they have borne will not speedily perish. After\ncrystallizing into a system and founding institutions for perpetuating\nits growth, the Calvinism of New England assumed all the proportions\nand manners of an established sect. The preachers were intellectually\nwell worthy of the position which they enjoyed. Great eloquence, rich\nthought, and all the scholarship of which they were possessed were\nwasted in elaborate sermons proving, or attempting to prove, their\ndark and malignant creed. A large mass of the people, however, not\nattracted by the airs of Calvinism, were repelled by the heavy and\nmetaphysical style of the Calvinistic pulpit.\n\nBefore the separation of the colonies from the mother country New\nEngland Calvinism had become sufficiently dry and devoid of sentiment\nto prepare the way for a more emotional religion. Thousands of eager\nsouls drank in the enthusiasm of Asbury, Coke, and the other apostles\nof Wesleyanism. The founders of Methodism in America, though obliged\nto adopt some articles of faith as distinctive of their organization,\nowed their success to the fact that, discarding all reasoning, they\nappealed to religious emotion, and were mainly instrumental in\nfounding that school of theology whose doctrine is that it matters\nlittle what one does or believes, provided one _feels_ right.\n\nEmotionalism has run its course and dies out in the Hippodrome,\nwhither the official teachers of evangelicalism have led their\ncongregations to receive from the ministrations of two illiterate\nlaymen that spiritual stimulant which can no longer be obtained from\neducated preachers in the fashionable meeting-house.\n\nWhile the ancient organizations of Puritanism continued, with more or\nless dilution of its original doctrines, another movement had arisen\nin the very heart of Calvinism. The Unitarian movement has proved a\ncomplete reaction against what are called the doctrines of the\nReformation. It has resulted in the extinction of the religious\nsentiment. Its popular summary is to the effect, that it makes little\ndifference what one feels or believes, provided he _does_ right. From\nthe society of the Free Religionists back to the original shades of\nCalvinism is a gloomy road for even the imagination to travel, but no\none can pass over it in fancy without perceiving the utter\nimpossibility of persuading one who has once emerged from, ever to\nreturn to, the earlier darkness.\n\nTo continue in a creed which involved blasphemy against the goodness\nof God and the denial of all the natural sources of morality, or to\nsurrender one\u2019s self to religious emotion without any solid\nintellectual principle, or else to place individuals in entire\ndependence upon their private perceptions of religious and moral\ntruth, and finally pass from one degree of scepticism to another\u2014one\nof these three alternatives was proposed as the occupation of the\nAmerican intellect during the most active period of national growth.\n\nThe Egyptian darkness which Calvinism brings upon any thoughtful soul\nwas the inheritance of the religious youth of the country. What virtue\ncan exist when total depravity is daily preached? What bar does it put\nto the passions of man to know or to believe that his salvation does\nnot depend upon his good life? What conception of the universe can he\nform who sees in it only the work of what a popular preacher has\ncalled an \u201cinfinite gorilla\u201d? Nothing is more pathetic than the\nhistory which we have of minds whose natural goodness vainly struggled\nagainst these detestable heresies. And if the religious heart of New\nEngland found in its creed nothing but discouragement, what was the\neffect of that religion upon the popular mind? Is it not mainly to its\ninfluence that all that is repulsive and hard in the Yankee character\nis to be attributed?\n\nBut, on the other hand, what has been left by the decay of emotional\nreligion? It might have been prophesied with safety that the result\nwould be simply a reaction. So far as can be observed, it is nothing\nmore or less. The writer was not a little amused at reading lately in\na Methodist paper an editorial charging strongly against the present\nstyle of revivals, under the heading of \u201cReligious Fits.\u201d The editor,\nin the course of his remarks, very bluntly asserted that religious\nfits are not much better than any other kind of fits\u2014a proposition\nwhich sums up the vital weakness of Methodism. And when a whole nation\nor a large class is reduced to this condition, the recovery from the\nfit will be attended with great disaster. \u201cThe religion of gush,\u201d as\nit has been forcibly styled, is fatal to morality. It is an attempt to\nfeed a starving man upon stimulants. The appearance of strength which\nit gives is simply an additional tax upon the system. Emotional\nreligion may succeed in quieting women who are secluded in domestic\nlife, or even the weaker sort of men who are occupied solely in\nteaching it; but for the common mass, who are daily exposed to\ntemptation, it is, at most, a salve with which the wounds inflicted\nupon conscience are plastered over. There is nothing in it to\ndiscipline the soul before trial, and nothing to repair its weaknesses\nafter it has fallen.\n\nWith regard to the results of the naturalistic revolt against\nCalvinism there is little to be said. The charming writers who have\ngiven it prestige are not its product but its cause. In so far as they\nassert the dignity of human reason against Calvinism, to this extent\nthey are in harmony with our natural instincts and have tended to\nproduce a wholesome influence. But even transcendentalism is past its\nwane, and will be known in the future only by its literary reputation.\nFree religion has developed no permanent constructive idea. Its\nprincipal effect will be to obliterate whatever of Christianity has\nclung to the tradition of New England Protestantism. Its mission will\nbe accomplished when all connection between the past and present shall\nhave been effectually broken. It leaves us only a considerable amount\nof scientific knowledge which we should possess without it. Its\nmorality staggers through the wide range extending from free love and\nspiritism into the undefined vacuity which it supposes to lie between\nthese bolder theories and old-fashioned uprightness. Like emotional\nProtestantism, it is wholly incapable of withstanding any strain or of\nguiding and controlling the absolute individualism which it has\ncreated. If the Congregational pastor of Plymouth Church affords a sad\nexample of the impotence of emotional pietism, the unfortunate\nplaintiff in the lawsuit against him is no less a melancholy instance\nof the aberrations of the last phase of American Protestantism.\n\nThere is little affectation of concealment, on the part of thoughtful\nAmericans, of the conviction that our national growth and the success\nof our government are subject to the universal laws according to which\npast empires have risen and perished. It is to be hoped that the\nsuccess with which we have been blessed so far will not blind our eyes\nto this truth. We must have a solid basis of morality, or we are\ndoomed to fall into such a condition as will make our absolute\nextinction a desirable thing. Whence is this new life to come? Is\nthere anything in American Protestantism which can reverse its steady\nprocess of decay and disintegration? Has it any principles which can\narrest for one moment the popular tendencies? We are unable to see in\nit even a \u201cserviceable breakwater against errors more fundamental than\nits own\u201d; quite the contrary. Its dogmatic front only serves to\ndisgust those who mistake it for Christianity. Protestantism never\nconverted a nation to Christianity or formed one. It could do neither\neven if it had an opportunity. In its latitudinarian aspect it\ndirectly fosters the present vagueness of moral convictions; while its\nemotional tendency only justifies the substitution of sentiment for\nreason and nullifies all attempts to subject the feelings to the\njudgment.\n\nHowever one may be disposed to prefer the paganism which universally\npervades our era to the unlovely fanaticism of earlier times,\nexperience, both past and present, forbids the indulgence of any hope\nof future success springing from it.\n\nIt is hard to imagine what thought has been expended upon this subject\nby those who profess to see the way out of our present difficulties\nthrough a lavish system of public education. We hear declamations on\nthis subject which fill us with bewilderment. If the public schools\nwere able to furnish the people with sound moral instruction, we could\nunderstand something of the enthusiasm which describes them as the\nsources of national morality and as the salvation of the future. God\nknows we have no desire to cut off one ray of light; but the present\nmoment is not one in which to indulge in madness. The sooner it is\nunderstood that our system of education is destroying the generation\nthat is subjected to its influence, the better. It stands to reason\nthat the great need of the hour is to save our children from its\nevils. Our public education barely succeeds in exaggerating all the\nmoral and physical degeneracies of the day. To develop the desire and\ncapacity for action and enjoyment, without providing means of guiding\nand restraining within wholesome limits the power thus produced, is\nsimply to court disaster. We are suffering at present from aversion to\nhard labor and a quiet life from the unbridled desire of wealth and\npleasure, from the absence of well-defined moral sentiment. The\npresent system of education, so vehemently applauded, is an\naggravation of all the morbid tendencies of our condition. This\ncomplaint will not receive much attention coming from this source, but\nit is finding universal utterance from the medical profession, and its\njustice will speedily appear to the most casual observer.\n\nThere is nothing in paganism, however brilliant its science or art,\nthat can restore the health of a race which is morally corrupt. The\n\u201cpositive stage of development,\u201d as it is styled by a certain class of\nmodern writers, is an age of decrepitude. If the analogy be true which\nthey hold to exist between the life of man and the development of a\nrace, we must expect death as soon as the \u201cpositive\u201d era has been\nattained. The muscular epoch has passed. The age of delusions has left\nthe mind incapable of anything but observing facts; the demand for\nartificial stimulants has exhausted the brain of the nation; and the\nbody politic, though surrounded with luxury, is moribund beyond the\npower of recovery.\n\nWhile we do not fully accept the analogy of positivism, we are\nconvinced that neither Protestantism nor paganism can raise the nation\nfrom the slough in which it seems about to settle. Nor will it be\nsaved by the infusion of fresh blood, as was the ancient world\naccording to some ingenious writers. The Hun and Vandal and Goth would\nnever have changed their originally savage state had they not met in\nthe world that they destroyed an indestructible power which, after\nsurviving the assaults of both Roman and barbarian, by its subtle\nconstructive faculty altered the face of the earth. This power was\nChristianity, whose work of universal civilization was so fatally\nmarred by the religious catastrophe of the sixteenth century.\n\nNow that the false Christianity of our forefathers has developed its\nutter worthlessness as a guide, it will be well to inquire whether the\nreligious system, which is historically identified with Christianity,\ncontains any of those elements of stability so lacking in our\ncivilization.\n\nIt is not to be expected that such a discussion, even if resulting\nfavorably to Catholicity, will be sufficient to convert the American\npeople to its faith, but it will greatly conduce to removing\nmisconceptions and ignorance on the part of many of our\nfellow-citizens with regard to the relative merits of Catholicity and\nProtestantism.\n\nNo system can ever prove efficient which is unable to maintain its own\nintegrity. No intellectual movement can hope to exert any large\npractical influence after it has lost its unity. Protestantism, having\nbegun with a denial of the need of authority, was soon forced to\ncontradict itself in practice in order to preserve its existence. But\nthe principle which had given it life could not be disregarded, and\nthe germ of discord, involved in the idea of a teaching body without\nany claim to be believed save what private conscience might be willing\nto concede to it, continued to produce disintegration without end.\n\nThe evils of our present exaggerated individualism are universally\nadmitted. Men are united upon all points except those involving moral\nresponsibility. While it is quite clear that in matters of science we\nare willing to trust to authority, on the other hand, in the more\ncomplex and easily perverted order of ideas (involving as they do the\ngravest consequences), every man is endowed with infallibility. This\nis simply an inversion of the natural order. The normal and rational\norder is preserved by Catholicity. With the Catholic Church religious\ntruth as the basis of morality is a tradition whose bearing upon human\nscience and politics always requires fresh application and is\nco-extensive with the possibility of human growth. But while this\napplication of principle is left to individual effort and furnishes\nthe proper exercise of the intellect, the excesses of individualism\nare always to be counteracted by a living authority. The ability of\nthe church to maintain her unity has been demonstrated and perfected\nin its operation by the storms which the last three centuries have\nlaunched against her. The opposition to her, on the contrary, has\nbrought about its own destruction. If the absurdities of modern\nindividualism are to be remedied, the cure lies in an earnest\nconsideration of the claims of Christianity. Protestantism, though a\ngrievous calamity, has served to settle for ever all those questions\nconcerning the supreme source of doctrinal authority which had been\nraised by the intrigues of the secular power in the middle age. Now it\nis no longer possible to confuse the sentiment of obedience to\nauthority by reference to unlawful sources. The attack of modern\ngovernments upon the church tends still further to circumscribe the\nlimits of secular power, and to define clearly that which belongs to\nC\u00e6sar and that which belongs to God.\n\nThe stability and permanence of Catholic thought are maintained in\ngreat measure by the prerogatives of the spiritual power, which\npromulgates and guards the divine tradition committed to its care. But\nthe real power which that tradition exercises is its truth and its\nconformity with facts. The divine revelation is made to reason. It\nsupposes a rational being. It is accepted on rational and convincing\nevidence, and becomes operative in virtue of divine grace. Its aim is\nto elevate and ennoble human nature and to heal its infirmities. In\nfulfilling this mission it acts in harmony with God\u2019s other works,\nalways above and with reason, but never against it. It puts no\nobstacle in the way of human science, which, as the Vatican Council\ndeclares, can only contradict revelation by being incomplete or by\nmisinterpreting divine truth. It encourages labor in its development\nof nature as a means of discipline and as furnishing the necessary\ncondition of peace and civilization. It stimulates art to search after\nbeauty as a means of showing the necessity and embellishing the truth\nof heavenly doctrine. It is true that the Catholic faith does not\npermit the intellect to repose in any one of these occupations as its\nsole end. In the light of divine truth science and art are united by a\nsynthesis; and the rest which faith forbids the soul to take in\nearthly pursuits is denied by its own nature. The synthesis which\nfaith provides is sought restlessly and eagerly by the mind. Modern\nthought, which has been turned away from Catholicity, searches vainly\nfor some principle of unity.\n\nThe faith which redeemed the ancient world and prepared the germs of\nthat degree of civilization that has not been wholly destroyed by\nProtestantism, was in no respect like the withering, soul-destroying\nhorrors of Calvinism. The doctrines which supplied matter for the\nintense intellectual life of the middle age, which corrected Aristotle\nand piled tome after tome of the close, serried reasoning of St.\nThomas Aquinas, was in accord with human reason, vindicated the\ndignity and powers of man, and stimulated him with fresh vigor in\nevery sphere of science, poetry, and art. Scholasticism was nothing\nelse than an effort of human reason to demonstrate the reasonableness\nof Christianity. The present generation is so grossly ignorant of\nthose eight hundred years of most intense life which formed\nChristendom that it is not capable of appreciating their influence and\nstill less their character. But whoever will read the _pro\u0153mium_ of\nthe _Summa Contra Gentiles_ of the \u201cAngel of the Schools\u201d will see the\ndifference between the constructive doctrine of the middle age and the\nreactionary delusions of the sixteenth century\u2014the bitter fruit of\nthat splendid revival of paganism. Protestantism, viewed as a system\nof doctrine, was simply an extravagant caricature of the\nsupernaturalism of the Catholic Church. As a system of morality it was\nnothing else than the emancipation of the passions from the restraints\nimposed by Christianity. Having destroyed the necessary conditions of\nfaith by denying authority, it presented the ideas of grace and\nsanctification in such a distorted manner as to render sacraments\nunnecessary and unmeaning, to do away with free will, merit, and\nnatural goodness\u2014in a word, to abolish human nature. Wherever the\nheirs of the so-called Reformers have revolted from the unnatural task\nof propagating their religious system they have left mankind, not\nsimply bewildered by the darkness whence it has emerged, but without\nthe heavenly guidance which genuine Christianity provides. It has\nrobbed men of the light of heavenly doctrine, and has furthermore\nstripped them of the aid of the sacramental system, the means of the\naction of divine grace and of the growth of supernatural life, without\nwhich natural virtue and natural intelligence cannot long endure in\npurity.\n\nThe present state of our people calls for what Protestantism has not.\nJustification by faith could not save its first professor from\nbreaking his vows and debauching another person equally bound; nor\nwill its influence increase by repeating his famous dictum, _Pecca\nfortiter sed crede fortius_. The evanescence of genuine fanaticism on\nthe part of evangelical religion is no guarantee of a better state of\nmorals. Our people have got beyond simply _believing_ and _feeling_;\nthey wish to _do_ right, but they are gradually coming to acknowledge\nthat man cannot _do_ right without _knowing_ what he ought to do,\nviz., what is right; and the best and wisest will confess that they do\nnot know what they ought to do, and that they can see nothing in the\nfuture from whence they may expect to learn. Whether they will be\ncontent to review the evidences of Catholicity we know not. Many are\ndoing so, but the intense worldliness of the day is not favorable to\nserious thought on the part, of the multitude. Should, however, the\nauthority of true Christianity be revealed to, and accepted by, them,\nwe may justly expect a development of the utmost significance in the\nhistory of the world.\n\nCatholicity not only preserves and restores the Christian truth of\nwhich men have been robbed by the heresies of the Reformation, but it\npreserves, sanctifies, and makes fruitful the natural goodness which\nremains in the individual, the race, and the nation. But above all\nthings it applies those principles of natural justice and purity which\nare now so seriously jeopardized.\n\nAn unjust man can console himself, when transmitting his dishonest\ngains to his descendants, by reflecting that he is to be justified by\nfaith alone. This has been done to our certain knowledge, and\ndoubtless every New Englander can recall similar cases. A man who\nadmits the injustice of his transactions can find ways of forgetting\nhis indebtedness. The fraudulent bankrupt can revel in the wealth of\nhis wife and children. Even the thief who admits in the abstract the\nobligation of restoring that which he has stolen, without the\nassistance of the confessional is too apt to cling to that which he\nhas once acquired.\n\nWe want, first, to hear the Catholic doctrine of the necessity of\nrestitution in the place of maudlin denunciation of \u201ccarnal\nrighteousness.\u201d We want to have it well understood that no amount of\nexalted emotion will relieve the guilty thief until he has handed over\nhis ill-gotten goods. We do not say that the neglect of this doctrine\nis the cause of the special cases of corruption which come before our\neyes; but we freely assert that the spread of dishonesty is due to\nnothing less than the ineptitude and fatuity of Protestantism in this\nrespect.\n\nWe further assert our conviction that no amount of preaching will\nchange the present widespread disregard of the rights of property.\nThese must be enforced in the private life of each man, backed by a\nsupernatural principle. The means which the Catholic Church has\nprovided for the support and assistance of the individual conscience\nis the confessional. This it is which has created the very sentiment\nof honesty that is now dying out among us for want of it. Antiquity\ndid not possess this sentiment. The Greeks encouraged stealing and\nmade a god of theft. The Romans acknowledged only the claims of\nhospitality and the force of law. Our barbarian ancestors grew and\nthrived upon piracy and pillage. It was no abstract or speculative\ndoctrine which overcame their savage traits and established the new\nsentiment which condemns successful villany; nor will the present\ndecay of honesty be arrested by any system which divorces it from the\ninstitution that has brought it into existence.\n\nThe most fatal symptom, however, of our lapse into paganism reveals\nitself in that department of morality in which the struggle is carried\non with the most lawless of human passions. The morality of\nProtestantism offered no assistance to the individual in this conflict\nbetween reason and the excesses of that instinct which is at once the\nmost necessary and at the same time the least governable. Developments\nsuch as Mormonism and the Oneida Community, the increasing frequency\nof divorce, and the freedom with which the maxims of the ancient\nChristian morality are questioned, are sufficient to illustrate the\ndecay of fixed principles of morality. Such results are not strange\nwhen we recall the actual conduct of the founders of Protestantism.\nNor is it unreasonable to expect a certain amount of laxity in an\nintellectual movement which constitutes each individual his own\nsupreme judge and teacher of morals; but the worst is that the very\nsource of purity is thoroughly vitiated. In ancient Christianity the\nlaws of chastity were clearly defined, peremptory, and plainly set\nbefore the intellect. Modern individualism, having begun by denying\nman\u2019s responsibility and asserting his necessary depravity, has placed\nthe rule of virtue, not in reason, but in instinct. The old morality\nwas a sentiment based upon dogmatic conviction. The modern\nNeo-protestantism has nothing upon which to depend for its purity of\nlife except the natural feelings of modesty and shame. The very idea\nof attempting to subject sexual instinct to reason is scouted as an\nabsurdity by popular writers. The license taken by those whose\noccupation is to amuse the public every day increases in\nshamelessness. Art, whether pictorial or dramatic, will not listen to\nany suggestion of restraint, and the natural sentiment upon which our\nvirtue rests is constantly being weakened.\n\nIt is foolishly supposed that this species of disorder, having gone to\ncertain lengths, will at last return to rational limits. It is with\nsome such notion that the enthusiasts, who profess to see in popular\neducation a panacea for all evils, expatiate upon the future. This,\nhowever, is mere thoughtlessness. The development of the nervous\ntemperament in the system of a nation is no remedy for this moral\nillness; on the contrary, the reverse is true. The result is the most\ndangerous form of sensuality. When an intense and excitable organism,\nquick in its intellectual movements, eager in its appreciation of\nbeauty, is left to follow its own instincts in the application of\nwealth, we have the nearest approach to the ancient classic type of\nculture. The recent development of American art is a source of\nuniversal remark. Here the successful artist finds golden\nappreciation. The diva of the lyric stage, the painter and sculptor,\nmeet with substantial welcome. The growing taste for beauty of line is\nwell known and acknowledged. Extravagance in dress is becoming a\nnational weakness. There is every indication that the next century\nwill witness in our descendants a race more elegant in its tastes,\nmore intense in its enjoyment of every form of beauty, than even the\nheirs of European refinement\u2014a generation as unlike the ungainly type\nof Brother Jonathan as an Athenian of the age of Pericles was\ndissimilar to the rude Pelasgic fisherman of the Hellespont. We think\nof Greece most commonly in her \u00e6sthetic character and influence; but\nwe must not forget that her immorality as recorded in history was\nhideously dark. The product of her sensuous and overwrought knowledge\nand enjoyment of nature spread with her literature and art. They\nbrought death to the strong and vigorous race which had overcome the\nworld. The annals of Suetonius and Tacitus, the calm records of\ncurrent facts, are too obscene to bear circulation among ordinary\nreaders of our day. The literature of their time has to be expurgated\nbefore it is fit to be perused by youthful students. The crimes which\nare charged by the apostle in his terrible invective against the\nheathen culture, which are rehearsed by Terence and Aristophanes,\nsatirized by Juvenal, laughed at by Horace, celebrated in the flowing\nmeasures of Anacreon, Ovid, and Catullus, and coldly set down by\nhistorians as the public acts of the cultivated classes\u2014these\nfrightful excesses live to-day, with all their unnatural beastliness,\nin the exquisitely-wrought marbles and frescos of Pompeii.\n\nThere was never a case in which either a nation or an individual was\ncured of this species of corruption by increasing the \u00e6sthetic\nfaculties and amplifying the temptations of wealth. But, it is urged,\neducation gives the rising generation the ability to read, and\ntherefore puts it in the way of acquiring sound instruction. Let it be\nunderstood that we believe no parent has a right to deny this\ninstruction to his children; but we bespeak on the part of all earnest\nmen the utmost attention to the practical issue of this theory, in\norder that they may see how incomplete it is as a safeguard to the\nvirtue of the youth now growing up. What is the nature of our popular\nliterature? Upon what sort of reading is the newly-acquired art\nexercised? What is the ratio of books which furnish useful instruction\nto those works whose aim is solely to amuse and excite the\nimagination? And of the latter class, what is the proportion between\nthe harmless and noxious publications? Those who receive only\nelementary instruction practically go to school in order to learn to\nread novels and the trashy and immoral periodicals whose costly\nillustrations and increasing number amply prove the increasing demand\nfor them. The influence of the press is necessary and indispensable,\nbut there is nothing in our literature which will in any degree\nrestrain the tendencies of our civilization.\n\nWe wish it were possible to use language of sufficient force to\nexpress the reality of our perilous condition; for our people have\nalready gone far enough in this direction to excite the utmost alarm.\nThe moral corruption of New England is such as to threaten with\nextinction the vigorous race which originally inhabited it. The\nmedical profession of this country is so profoundly impressed with the\nconstant decrease in the birthrate of the native stock and with its\nmarked physical decadence, that essays on these subjects are to be\nseen in every scientific periodical.\n\nTen years ago Dr. Storer called attention to the fact that, as far\nback as 1850, the natural increase of the population, or the excess of\nbirths over deaths, was by those of foreign origin, and that\nsubsequently the ratio in favor of foreign parents was constantly on\nthe increase. \u201cIn other words,\u201d he says, \u201cit is found that, in so far\nas depends upon the American and native element, and in the absence of\nthe existing immigration from abroad, the population of our older\nStates, even allowing for the loss by emigration, is stationary or\ndecreasing.\u201d Dr. Storer did not hesitate to attribute this fact to the\ncriminal destruction of human life or to the suppression of the family\nby those whose natural instincts ought to procure its conservation.\nThe evidences of this widespread evil are before us in every daily\nissue of the press.\n\nThe demands of pleasure, the numerous inducements to women to find\ntheir occupation outside of domestic life, and to shrink from the\nduties and cares of maternity\u2014none of those temptations which furnish\nthe occasion of this crime are to be met by increasing the size and\nbeauty of our public schools or by providing the children of the poor\nwith elegant accomplishments. Nor will the result be more favorable if\nthe privilege of the elective franchise is added to the other\nextra-domestic responsibilities of American women. What, then, is to\nsave us when marriage, if recognized, has ceased to be a desirable\nstate, when luxury and nervous development have subjected the chastity\nof single life to the severest temptation, and when our inherited\nmorality has vanished in the process of our growth?\n\nIf the native American race is not going to die out, it must learn\nfrom foreigners the secret of their vitality. Christianity has, in the\nconfessional, the means of applying not only sacramental grace to the\nfallen and repentant, but of securing them from further disorder. Dr.\nStorer has told the country very plainly that \u201cthe different frequency\nof the abortions depends, not upon a difference in social position or\nin fecundity, but in the religion.\u201d In other words, the cultivated\nAmerican is far below the ignorant immigrant in morality; and the\nreason of this is that the immigrant referred to is a Catholic and his\nemployer is not.\n\nDr. Storer proceeds to observe: \u201cIt is not, of course, intended to\nimply that Protestantism, as such, in any way encourages or, indeed,\npermits the practice of inducing abortion; its tenets are\nuncompromisingly hostile to all crime. So great, however, is the\npopular ignorance regarding this offence that an abstract morality is\nhere comparatively powerless.\u201d This touches the fundamental truth\ninvolved in the whole discussion\u2014\u201can abstract morality\u201d never can\nprove effective against any concrete evil. But the doctor further\nexpresses his conviction, drawing the legitimate conclusion and\nstating the fact: \u201cAnd there can be no doubt that the Romish\nordinance, flanked on the one hand by the confessional and by\ndenouncement and excommunication on the other\u201d (he has previously\nquoted from the pastoral of a Catholic prelate), \u201chas saved to the\nworld thousands of infant lives.\u201d\n\nThe American people is beginning to perceive that wealth and culture\nwithout true morality mean ruin. If it does not perceive that\nProtestantism is the cause of its present corruption, it at least\nconfesses that its inherited religion is powerless to remedy the evils\nof the day. We cannot ask it to reject its false guide much faster\nthan it is doing. We cannot tell how soon it will be able to receive\nthe divine truth of Christianity. It will be no pleasure to us to have\nthe old faith vindicated by the destruction of this people.\n\nWe beg to be allowed to preserve our Catholic population and to keep\nthem pure and faithful, at least until non-Catholics can offer\nsomething which will meet their own contingencies. If this demand be\npersistently disregarded and our honest attempt to save ourselves be\nmisconstrued into an assault upon others, we will do the best we can,\nat all events.\n\nBut, in the meantime, let all earnest men admit the reality of danger.\nDo not let attention be absorbed by particular manifestations of a\ndisease which is universal. The evils which threaten our life will not\nbe removed by retrenchment of government expenses, or by a temporary\ndestruction of party tyranny, or by an ostentatious simplicity in\nofficial circles, or by \u201cjustification by faith,\u201d or by pietistic\nfeeling, or by acting out individual crotchets, or even by sound moral\ndoctrine in an abstract form, but by the living truth of God, taught\nby him through human lips, applied by him with divine efficacy through\nthe ministry of human hands. The truth which has saved the ancient\nworld and has produced all that is desirable in modern civilization is\nalone able to preserve our nation in its future growth.\n\n\n\n\nA FRENCH NOVEL.[69]\n\n\nThis title will prove a disappointment to those who only associate the\nidea of a French novel with that typical production of vicious and\nfeverish literature to which the fiction-mongers of France have so\nlong accustomed us, and whose corrupt influence has made itself felt\nfar beyond the limits of the nation which gives it birth. Our present\npurpose is not to discuss one of those pernicious books, but to\nconsider one which rises as far above their level by its artistic\nbeauty and literary merits as by the nobler tone of its morality. A\nnovel by a Catholic writer, impregnated from first to last with the\nspirit and principle of the faith, full of noble sentiments, and yet\nas amusing and as exciting as any \u201cnaughty\u201d novel; a book where all\nthe good people, even the holy people, are as charming, witty, odd, or\nfascinating as if they were anything but holy; a book that conveys in\nthe characters and scenes it brings before us a great moral lesson,\nand which at the same time absorbs and excites us as powerfully as the\ncleverest novel of the sensational school, with its inevitable murders\nand forgeries and double marriages\u2014the appearance of a novel such as\nthis is surely an event that it behoves us to examine closely as the\ncurious literary phenomenon which it is.\n\nMrs. Augustus Craven\u2019s last work, _Le Mot de l\u2019Enigme_, which, under\nthe title of _The Veil Withdrawn_, appeared in THE CATHOLIC WORLD\nsimultaneously with its issue in the _Correspondant_ of Paris, is\nknown to most of the readers of the present article, but we would ask\nthem if, when enjoying its persual, they have sometimes stopped to\nconsider what a genuine achievement the book was, and how pregnant\nwith promise for the lighter Catholic literature of the future? Any\nbook by the author of the _R\u00e9cit d\u2019une S\u0153ur_ is sure to command a wide\naudience in Europe and America among readers of different languages\nand creeds; but there are reasons why _The Veil Withdrawn_ should meet\nwith a specially triumphant welcome from us Catholics, for it is in\ntruth a triumph over prejudices whose narrow and tyrannical rule have\nhitherto been fatal to Catholic fiction. The _R\u00e9cit d\u2019une S\u0153ur_, the\npeerless story that stands unrivalled amidst the literature of the\nworld, taught many lessons to our day, but no one, perhaps, more\nimportant, considering its possible results, than that which it\nconveyed to Catholic writers\u2014namely, that religion, in its most ardent\nform and its most rigid application, is compatible with the tenderest\nromance; that human hearts and imaginations, far from being chilled or\nfettered by the sublime truths of the faith, are kindled and enlarged\nby their influence; that human passions come into play as powerfully\nin souls ruled by the divine law as in those that reject and defy it,\nthe only difference being that to the former they are weapons used in\nnoble warfare, servants and auxiliaries, whereas to the others they\nare tyrants that strike only to destroy. The loves of Alexandrine and\nAlbert revealed this secret to the world, and this alone would have\nsufficed to immortalize the _R\u00e9cit_. No romance ever reached the skyey\nheights to which these lovers soared; and yet, while their hearts sang\ntheir sweet love-song together, their souls were fixed on God,\ndreaming of heaven, where their love was to find its perfect\nconsummation, scorning the pitiful meed of earthly happiness, unless\nit might lead them to the secure possession of the eternal bliss of\nwhich this was but the transient foretaste. \u201c_Pour la vie, c\u2019est trop\ncourt!_\u201d[70] was Alexandrine\u2019s reply when Albert asked her for the\nring on which the words were graven, _Pour la vie!_ And such should be\nthe motto of all love worthy of the name.\n\nThis pure key-note is struck and sustained with a master-hand\nthroughout the whole story of _The Veil Withdrawn_, and the success\nwith which the principle it enunciates has been forced into the\nservice of art is the point which we would invite Catholic writers in\nall countries to consider attentively. Our grand mistake, as a rule,\nis to assume that Catholic literature, in order to be true to its\nmission, must be constantly talking of holy things, bringing forward\npious maxims and practices; that the heroes and heroines of its\nstories must be pious people, or else very wicked people whose final\ncause is the glorification of the pious ones who are to convert them;\nit must never deal openly with the great problems of life, never\ngrapple with its deepest mysteries, never describe men and women as\nthey ordinarily exist around us\u2014human beings endowed at their birth\nwith the fatal inheritance of Adam, with mighty capabilities for good\nand evil, with passions and instincts that have to work out their\nissue to ruin or to endless victory; souls where all the forces are\nclashing in deadly and desperate strife\u2014these things are forbidden\nground to the Catholic novelist. He may tread timidly on the outskirts\nof the battle-field, but he must not venture into the thick of the\nfight; he must not lift the veil and let us look upon the scene where\nthis momentous combat is going forward, where nature and grace and all\nthe allied enemies of the human heart are wrestling and striving in\nfierce war. These things would not be \u201cedifying\u201d; they would not be\nfit reading for young girls; they might put ideas into their heads and\nexcite their imaginations. And why, we ask, is it invariably taken for\ngranted that Catholic writers only write for young girls? Are there no\nCatholic men in the world? It might be urged, with better show of\nreason, that young girls are not obliged to read novels at\nall\u2014stories, yes; but novels do not form any necessary part of their\neducation. These are intended for men and women\u2014people who have found\nout the \u201canswer to the riddle,\u201d learned some of the dark and painful\nlessons of life; who turn to the pages of a novel to find an hour\u2019s\nharmless recreation, if nothing more, and to forget the dull round of\ncare and vexing realities in the amusement or excitement of imaginary\ntroubles and joys. We are far from saying that the novel has no higher\npurpose than this; but if it claimed no other, this, in itself, is a\nlegitimate one. Human nature must have relaxation. The most ascetic\nsaints sought recreation of some kind from the strain of work and\ncontemplation. Still more must ordinary mortals seek it; and as\nnovel-reading has become one of the easiest and most popular forms of\nmental diversion, it is of the highest importance that it should be of\ngood and wholesome quality. Now, a novel is neither good nor wholesome\nwhen it ignores the canons of art, and eschews the true study of human\nnature, and confines itself to pretty commonplaces and pious allusions\nand exemplary sentiments exchanged between namby-pamby people who are\nrepresented as in a state of society which, practically, has no\nprototype in real life, where strong passions and conflicting\ninterests and fierce temptations have no existence, but where all\ndifficulties are adjusted by a pious suggestion offered at the right\nmoment by a friend or a book. Grown-up men and women will not be put\noff with this sort of thing, be they ever such good Catholics; when\nthey take up a novel, they do so for interest or amusement, and, for\nlack of better, they fall back on the real novels, sensational or\notherwise.\n\nThis is a lamentable state of things, and as fatal to Catholic writers\nas to their readers. It is this false idea of the character and\nrequirements of Catholic literature which has brought it to the low\nebb at which it now is among English-speaking Catholics, in spite of\nthe growing numbers of a cultivated and intelligent audience. Every\none recognizes the fact, and many deplore it, but no one has the\ncourage to attempt the remedy. It would require, indeed, something\nmore than any effort of individual influence to break down the\nprejudices and puerile traditions that fence in the authorized field\nof Catholic fiction in the present day, and it is difficult to say\nwhich calls for strongest denunciation\u2014the prohibition which excludes\ncertain subjects, or the large license given to the use of others. The\nCatholic novelist is forbidden to strike the deep, vibrating chords of\nnature and of souls, but he believes himself free to handle the most\nsacred subjects, to preach and moralize to the top of his bent. It is\nhard to speak of this folly as dispassionately as we should wish; but\nlooking at it with all possible indulgence, is there not something in\nthe stupid conceit and self-complacent audacity of it that may justly\nrouse indignation? We see grave men, who have graduated in the\nschools, give up long years to the study of sacred science, in order\nthat they may some day be competent to speak worthily on these high\nthemes, that they may learn how to balance the relations of right and\nwrong, and define the limits of temptation and sin, of cause and\neffect; and when, with knowledge ripened by study and meditation, they\nventure to write, it is in a spirit of great reverence and in fear and\ntrembling. On the other hand, we see incompetent laymen, young ladies\nand young gentlemen fresh from school, utterly inexperienced, but well\nsupplied with the boldness of inexperience and incompetence, dipping a\ndainty pen into a silver inkstand and proceeding to discourse in a\nnovel of pious subjects\u2014of prayer, and temptation, and sacraments, and\npriests and the priestly character, and controversial subjects\u2014as\nflippantly as they might discuss the merits of a new opera or a new\ncostume. And they fancy, forsooth, that this is doing good and giving\nedification! They imagine that it is enough to mention sacred subjects\nand emit pious or quasi-pious sentiments in order to reach the human\nheart and strike the _sursum corda_ on its springs! One could afford\nto laugh at the silly delusion, if the danger did not lie so close to\nthe folly of it. A moment\u2019s reflection and a little humility would\nsuffice to convince these well-meaning persons of their mistake. Many\nof them might really attain their end of edifying if they had only the\nsense to confine themselves within the range of their powers. If a\nbeginner, or one endowed with a delicate sense of music but limited\nmusical ability, should attempt to perform one of Beethoven\u2019s glorious\nsonatas, he would only irritate us by spoiling the masterpiece; but if\nthe same person wisely contented himself with playing some simple air,\nhe might afford genuine and unalloyed pleasure, touching some chord of\nfeeling in the listener\u2019s heart, evoking, mayhap, sweet memories of\nchildhood, sacred and long forgotten. Few things provoke the disgust\nof an intelligent reader, pious or not, more than to come upon\nreligious platitudes in a book ostensibly written to amuse; and the\nprospect of meeting with this kind of thing at every page is\nsufficient to prejudice him against a book which bears a Catholic name\non the title-page. Even the name of a Catholic publisher brands it at\nfirst sight as \u201cdull and silly.\u201d Here, as elsewhere, the cause and\neffect react upon each other, and the puerile tone and absence of\nartistic treatment in the author, by failing to gain the favor and\nattention of the public, paralyzes the most energetic efforts of\nCatholic publishers, and those few Catholic writers who can command a\nwider audience are unavoidably driven to the Protestant publishers in\norder to secure a hearing.\n\nIs it too much to say that a Catholic novelist who would successfully\nbreak through these narrow-minded and false theories, and courageously\ninaugurate a new reign in Catholic fiction, would be conferring a\ngreat benefit on our generation? We claim for Mrs. Augustus Craven the\nmerit of having achieved this feat. The mission which she began in the\n_R\u00e9cit d\u2019une S\u0153ur_ was successfully continued in _Fleurange_, and may\nbe said to triumph completely in _The Veil Withdrawn_. Her last novel\nis a book which appeals as strongly to the interest of the unbeliever\nand the heretic as of the most fervent Catholic. The moral lesson it\nconveys may be accepted or not, just as the reader pleases; it is\nthere, brilliantly and powerfully delivered; but, like so many\nmessages broadly written on the face of nature or faintly whispered to\nour hearts, we may hearken or we may close our ears to it, as we\nchoose; the story still remains one of enthralling interest, full of\ntenderest romance, of fiery passion, of picturesque description, of\nsparkling repartee, of gay and pathetic and thrilling situations. With\nthe skill of a real artist the author lifts the curtain and bids us\nlook into the hearts of our fellow-creatures; she touches the hidden\nsprings, reveals the dubious motives, evil sometimes blending with\ngood so closely that it requires the finest analysis to discern their\ntrue proportions, to decompose the elements, and show where and how\nfar each in turn prevails.\n\nThe two characters who stand out from the canvas as the leading\nfigures in the picture are brought face to face in the most terrible\nconflict that human hearts can know. Ginevra\u2014not a child, not a placid\nconvent maiden suspecting no life beyond her \u201cnarrowing nunnery\nwalls,\u201d but a woman with a strong, impassioned soul\u2014is first\ninebriated with the pure wine of permitted happiness; the cup is\ndashed from her, and she tries to clutch it in defiance and despair.\nIt eludes her still. She beholds her happiness wrecked, her life\nblighted, at the very outset. She does not take her rosary, and, with\nconventional propriety, accept the ruin of her young life with the\nresigned spirit and smiling countenance of a saint; far from it. The\nevil that is in her starts into activity and makes a fierce fight\nagainst her cruel lot. She plunges into the whirl of society, and\ntries to drown her misery in such consolations as excitement and\ngratified vanity can give. We follow her step by step in the perilous\ncareer, now trembling at her rashness, now rejoicing at her escape,\nbut never, in the bottom of our hearts, believing that she will prove\nunworthy of her nobler self.\n\nLet us glance over the story, not to analyze its merits as a work of\nhigh art and moral philosophy, but simply to review it in the light of\na novel characteristic of our times and full of the stir of\nnineteenth-century life.\n\nIt opens at Messina, in an old palazzo, where Ginevra, blossoming out\nin her fifteenth summer, sits watching the sea through the half-closed\nwindow, listening to the wave sobbing on the beach, unconscious and\ndreamy, but already vibrating to the \u201clow music of humanity\u201d that\nstirs the unwakened pulses of her heart. She rivets our attention at\nthe first glance as a creature whose beauty, sensitiveness, and\ndormant energy of character contain all the elements of some high\nromance. The description of her home and its inmates forms a charming\nand animated picture. Fabrizio, the learned and somewhat austere\nfather; Bianca, the mother, with her tenderly brooding love; Livia,\nthe sister, at first so misjudged, but destined to rise to such\nprestige amidst them all; Ottavia, the fussy, superstitious, devoted\nold nurse; Mario, the sombre and jealous-tempered brother\u2014they all\ncome before us with the reality of living characters whom we love,\nfear, or suspect as they gradually reveal themselves. The episode of\nthe flower flung from the window in a moment of frolic and girlish\nvanity, and which leaves so deep a mark on Ginevra\u2019s life, is cleverly\nintroduced and prepares us for the retribution which awaits the poor\nchild\u2019s innocent misdemeanor. Her life glides on peacefully in the old\nfrescoed saloon, where she cons her book and tends her nightingales,\nuntil one day, while high perched on a stool, ministering to her\nsinging bird, the old majordomo flings the door wide open and in a\nsonorous voice announces _Sua eccellenza il Duca di Valenzano_!\nGinevra starts, and so does the reader; for he knows instinctively\nthat this visitor is the fairy prince of the story, destined to make\nthe golden-haired maiden supremely happy or supremely miserable.\nGinevra\u2019s confusion, at being discovered by this illustrious intruder\nin such an awkward attitude and so childishly engaged, is charmingly\ndescribed. She knows not whether to be terrified or delighted when the\nhandsome duke goes forward and assists her to descend from her aerial\nstandpoint. But old Don Fabrizio knows what to feel about it, and\nsurveys the group in the embrasure of the window with a glance of\nstern displeasure. This high-born client of his has nothing in common\nwith Don Fabrizio\u2019s daughter, and it is with undisguised reluctance\nthat the proud lawyer obeys the duke\u2019s request to introduce him to the\n_signorina_.\n\nAnd now the story is fairly afloat, and we follow it with an interest\nthat grows in proportion as the plot advances, rising in dramatic\npower at every chapter. We know that Valenzano is not to be trusted,\nthat he has in him all the elements of a faithless lover and a cruel\nhusband; but we surrender ourselves all the same to the charm of his\nmanner, his genius, his irresistible fascinations. The love-making is\nas warm as the author dares to make it in a country where the freedom\nof Anglo-Saxon courtship is unknown, and where the course of true love\nruns smoothly between the contracting families on one side and the\nfamily lawyers on the other. Ginevra goes forth to her new life with a\nmixture of delight and fear that are like the foreshadowing of the\nflickered destiny that awaits her, and Livia\u2019s voice strikes like a\nnote of painful warning in the concert of the family joy and triumph\nand congratulation, when she reminds Ginevra that \u201cmarriage is like\ndeath\u201d\u2014a thing that we wait and watch for, but never know until we\nhave passed the gates and it is too late to turn back. The description\nof the bridal festivities, when she goes home to her husband\u2019s palace,\nand, worn out by the grandeur and the glare, takes refuge alone in the\nquiet starlight, and removes the circlet of glittering jewels from her\nbrow, that cannot bear the pressure any longer, presents one of those\npictures of life in the great Italian world that Mrs. Craven excels in\ndepicting.\n\nLife has now become like an enchanted dream to Ginevra. But the first\ntouch of the awakening reality is not long delayed. One night, when\nthe moon was high in the blue heavens and flooding earth and sea with\na mystic glory, Ginevra and Lorenzo were sitting on the terrace,\nlistening to the water lapping on the shore, to the nightingales\ntrilling in the ilex groves; the young wife, hushed into silence by\nthe ecstatic beauty of the scene, laid her hand upon her husband\u2019s arm\nand whispered to him, \u201cLet us lift up our hearts in prayer for one\nmoment, and give thanks for all this beauty.\u201d Lorenzo bent on her a\nlook of tenderest love, and then murmured with a smile, as if\nanswering the poetic folly of a child,\n\n \u201c\u2018Beatrice in suso, ed io in lei guardava.\u2019[71]\n\nThine eyes are my heaven, Ginevra. I feel no need to raise my own any\nhigher.\u201d A cold chill like the first suspicion of a great sorrow crept\nover the young wife. But Lorenzo quickly chased it away, and she tries\nto banish the memory of it. But we do not forget it. Slight as the\nincident is, it has all the import of the first growl of the distant\nthunder, the small patch of cloud, \u201cno bigger than a man\u2019s hand,\u201d upon\nthe summer sky, that are the certain forerunners of the storm.\n\nBut the storm will not burst just yet, and meantime we follow Ginevra\nin her brilliant career, first travelling here and there with her\nhusband, and finally enthroned as a queen in her delightful world at\nNaples. The first thing that makes us tremble for her is Lorenzo\u2019s\nstartled exclamation of anger\u2014was it?\u2014when he comes upon Donna\nFaustina\u2019s card amongst those that are left at the young duchess\u2019\ndoor, and the latter, in surprise, asks what it means. He turns it off\nadroitly, and Ginevra dismisses it from her mind. The interval that\nfollows is bright with incident and pictures of society in Naples and\nin Paris. We see Lorenzo at work in his studio, where Ginevra sits to\nhim as a model for his Vestal, and where his rapturous admiration of\nher beauty makes her recoil instinctively as from a homage unworthy of\nher, too much \u201cof the earth earthly.\u201d And yet this husband, who is\nalmost an unbeliever, who smiles with indulgent fondness on his wife\u2019s\nardent piety, is glad enough that she should have religion to guard\nher from the perils that beset her on all sides; he recognizes the\npower and utility of her faith, and is careful not to shock it or to\nlet her see how little he really shares it. Lando, the cousin and boon\ncompanion of the duke, now comes upon the scene, and for a time we\nside with Ginevra in her dislike and suspicion of him; but soon we\nfind out our mistake, and acknowledge that, in spite of his loose\nprinciples and wild ways, he is kind-hearted and a stanch and loyal\nfriend to Ginevra. He does his best to save both her and Lorenzo,\nthough to the last he is unable to understand why any woman in her\nright mind should care so much more for her husband\u2019s love than for\nhis fortune, and why the ruin of the latter should be as nothing to\nher compared to even a passing breach in the former. The scene at the\nconcert, where she first detects Lorenzo at a card-table, and it\nbreaks upon her that her husband is a gambler, is finely introduced,\nand the conversation of Lando with the terrified young wife is\nadmirably drawn. But we know that the real crisis in her peace and\nhappiness has yet to come, and we hurry on till Donna Faustina enters.\nLorenzo disarms us, and almost gains our sympathy for this evil genius\nof Ginevra, by the frankness with which he tells her story to the\nlatter; but the relations between all three, as he now tries to\nestablish them, are radically false, and it requires no prophetic eye\nto foresee how they must end. What barrier have either Faustina or\nLorenzo to stem the torrent of passion when it breaks loose\u2014outraged\nlove and desire of revenge on her side, and on his the embers of a\nlove that he fancies dead, but which it only needs the vanity of his\nown undisciplined nature and the spell of her guilty passion to fan\ninto a livelier flame than ever? While the storm is rapidly rising in\nthis direction, Gilbert de Kergy crosses Ginevra\u2019s path; but she is\nyet far from suspecting that he is the messenger of fate to her, the\none who is to exercise a supreme influence in her life and call out\nits energies in her soul\u2019s defence with a courage that till now has\nnever been demanded of her. We know how the battle is sure to go with\nGinevra, as we foresee the issue with Lorenzo and Faustina. We see the\nforce that will ensure the victory in the one case, just as we see how\nthe want of it must lead to slavery and surrender in the other. And\nhere again the skill and power of the author triumph and afford a\nstriking contrast to the old system we have denounced. She never\nmoralizes, or reminds us that Lorenzo, being a bad Christian, who\nnever goes to Mass or the sacraments, is certain to fall, and that\nGinevra, in spite of passions that sway her heart with such relentless\npower, will come safe out of it because of that restraining force\nwhich, like a mysterious presence, rules her even when she is\nunconscious of it\u2014the author does not say these things; she proves\nthem by making her characters demonstrate their truth and act out\ntheir conclusions. We will quote the passage where Gilbert and Ginevra\npart, only to meet again in those sweet and tempting days at Naples.\nGilbert has been lecturing on his travels with an eloquence that\ncarried away his hearers. Then Ginevra says:\n\n \u201cI remained seated near the mantelpiece, and fell into a\n dreamy silence, while Diana sat down to the piano. She began\n to execute, with consummate art, a nocturne of Chopin\u2019s,\n which sounded to me like the expression, the very language,\n of my own thoughts.\u2026 I woke up from my reverie with a\n strange thrill, and blushed to the very roots of my hair;\n for in lifting my eyes I met those of Gilbert fixed upon me,\n and mine were full of tears. I brushed them away quickly,\n and muttered something about the effect Chopin\u2019s music\n always had on my nerves, and then rose and drew near to the\n piano, where Diana continued to pass her hands in rapid\n changes over the keys.\u2026 Gilbert remained silent and pensive\n in the place where I had left him, following me with his\n eyes, and perhaps trying to guess the real cause of my\n emotion.\u2026 When the time had come for me to go, and Mme. de\n Kergy clasped me to her heart, I no longer strove to repress\n my tears.\u2026 Gilbert gave me his arm and conducted me to my\n carriage without speaking. As I was entering it, he said in\n a voice that faltered slightly:\n\n \u201c\u2018Those whom you are leaving are greatly to be pitied,\n madam.\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018I am still more to be pitied,\u2019 I replied, and my tears\n flowed freely.\n\n \u201cHe was silent for a moment, and then he said:\n\n \u201c\u2018As for me, I have the hope of seeing you again; for I\n shall come to Naples, \u2026 _if I dare_.\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018And why should you not dare? You will be received and\n welcomed as a friend.\u2019\n\n \u201cHe made no reply, but when he had placed me in the\n carriage, and I held out my hand to him to say adieu, he\n murmured in a low voice: _Au revoir!_\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd he keeps his word. He goes to Naples and meets Ginevra at a ball,\nwhither she has rushed, half mad with despair and jealousy, reckless\nof everything resolved to drown the anguish of her heart in the\nintoxication of gayety and the adulation of the world, that until now\nshe had carelessly despised. It was the night after the masked ball at\nthe Festina, where, on the impulse of the moment, she and her\nbeautiful friend Stella went as dominos to join in the fun and mystify\ntheir friends a little. Ginevra recognized Lorenzo\u2019s stately figure\nthe moment she entered the ball-room, and, terrified at finding\nherself alone in the crowd, seized hold of his arm, clinging to him in\nsilence. Lorenzo, deceived by the color of her domino, mistakes her\nfor Faustina, whom he is expecting. He stoops low and whispers a\ntender welcome in her ear. Ginevra, with a stifled cry, starts from\nhim and rushes frantically from the scene. The next night, with the\ndelirium of this discovery upon her, she goes forth in her loveliest\nattire to dispute the palm of beauty with the rest.\n\n \u201cI had my diamonds and pearls brought out, and I gave\n precise directions as to how I intended to wear them; this\n done, long before the time came I began my toilet and spent\n an endless time over it. So many women seem to take pleasure\n in making a triumphant entry into a ball-room, I said to\n myself, and in being flattered and admired, why should I not\n taste of this pleasure as well as they? I am beautiful, I\n know that\u2014very beautiful even. Why should I not attract and\n indulge my vanity and coquetry like other women?\u201d\n\nAnd she does attract, and her vanity is satisfied to overflowing. Her\nbeauty and the dazzling splendor of her jewels create a perfect furore\nthe moment she appears. She announces her intention of dancing, and\nthe noblest cavaliers in the room are at her feet in a moment,\nquarrelling for the honor of her hand. Never was the triumph of a\ncoquette more complete than Ginevra\u2019s. Her youth and its instinctive\nlove of pleasure vindicated themselves for a time, and she enjoyed her\nsuccess to the full; but as the night wore on nobler instincts\nasserted themselves, worthier voices made themselves heard above the\ndin of this ardent and puerile vanity, and Ginevra feels the cold\nchill of remorse stealing over her; a sense of vague misfortune takes\npossession of her and stills her feverish gayety like a touch of ice.\nHer last partner leads her to her seat, and she sinks into it\nexhausted and miserable.\n\n \u201cAt the same moment,\u201d she says, \u201cI heard near me a voice\n well known though well-nigh forgotten\u2014a voice at once calm,\n strong, and sweet, but which now sounded slightly sarcastic.\n \u2018Although I cannot aspire to the honor of dancing with the\n Duchess de Valenzano, may I hope that she will deign to\n recognize me?\u2019\n\n \u201cI turned around quickly. The speaker who stood there and\n thus addressed me was Gilbert de Kergy.\u201d\n\nThe ordinary French novelist had here a fine opportunity for bringing\nmatters to a crisis between Ginevra and Gilbert; but the present\nauthor uses it differently. Gilbert does not take advantage of the\ntemporary madness of Ginevra to gain influence over her and beguile\nher from her allegiance to Lorenzo, faithless and cruel as he is.\nGilbert is far too noble for this, and his first feeling, on beholding\nhis ideal in this dangerous and unworthy atmosphere, is one of censure\nand poignant regret. Neither he nor Ginevra is of the conventional\ntype of defaulters; both are good, high-principled, and brave; they\nare both practical Christians, and the idea of betraying their duty to\nGod and to their own honor would have revolted them had it presented\nitself in its naked horror. But it did not. The approach was gradual,\nimperceptible. And here we have a great truth illustrated\u2014one which it\nis customary in Catholic authors to ignore practically, if not\ntheoretically: The possession of the faith and the practice of\nreligion do not act as opiates on human beings, deadening their hearts\nand annihilating nature, and lifting them to a secure region where the\ngreat temptations of life cannot reach them, or where, if they do,\nthey glide off harmless as arrows glance from the steel cuirass of the\nsoldier. Ginevra is pure and true as ever woman was who vowed at the\naltar \u201cthat most solemn vow that a woman can utter\u201d; she was,\nmoreover, genuinely pious. Gilbert was the very ideal of manly\nchivalry and honor and goodness, an accomplished type of the Christian\ngentleman; but neither he nor she was fireproof when the time of trial\ncame. He loved Ginevra before he knew it; and she, forsaken,\nhumiliated, stung in her love and her wifely pride, is thrown into his\nconstant companionship, not by her seeking, but through one of those\naccidents to which women of her class and circumstances are liable\nevery day. She is grateful for Gilbert\u2019s brotherly regard, she admires\nhis noble life and his sentiments, so true, so different from those of\nother men; she is grateful to him for the frank rebuke which he spoke\nout at the ball when she was drifting she knew not whither. Step by\nstep the friendship grows to a tenderer feeling, and at last\nculminates in a love whose depth and power Ginevra does not even\nsuspect, so gradual has been its development. We tremble for her; but\neven when we see her tottering blindfold on the edge of the abyss, we\nfeel certain she will never take the fatal plunge. All this is\ndepicted with infinite delicacy and rare psychological skill.\n\nLivia now reappears upon the scene as one of the visible forces that\nare guarding Ginevra along the slippery road. Livia is one of the most\nstriking and carefully drawn of the subordinate characters. It is\nworth mentioning _en passant_ that here, as elsewhere, Mrs. Craven\nbreaks boldly through the time-honored traditions of the Catholic\nnovelist. The holier and more spiritual-minded her _dramatis person\u00e6_,\nthe brighter, more sympathetic and accessible they are. Stella, the\nheroic friend in days of sorrow, so gifted, so beautiful, so untainted\nwith the spirit of the world where she lives and moves\u2014Stella has the\nhigh animal spirits of a school-girl, the glad heart\u2014_le sang joyeux_,\nas she herself calls it\u2014of a happy child. Livia, who in her father\u2019s\nhome was pensive almost to melancholy, the moment she embraces the\naustere rule of the cloister, spending her days in the contemplation\nof heavenly things, grows as merry as a lark. Joy is henceforth the\nkeynote and regulator of her life; we have no trace of the downcast\nface and solemn, mournful voice that have hitherto been characteristic\nof pious people in novels. No one pulls long faces here, or whines or\nsighs, except it may be those who have forsaken the fountain where\ntrue joy has its spring, to drink of the poisoned waters of this\nworld\u2019s pleasures, of sin, ambition, or folly. How winning, too, is\nLivia\u2019s tender interest in the gay life of her brilliant young sister!\nShe has not closed her heart against the actors on the world\u2019s stage\noutside her convent gates, but keeps her sympathies wide open to all\nlife and all humanity beyond them.\n\n \u201c\u2018Gina mia, you don\u2019t tell me everything,\u2019 she says one day\n that Ginevra is conversing with her through the grating. \u2018Is\n it that you think I take no interest in your life now?\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018It is not only that, Livia, but it is difficult to talk\n about such trivial, foolish things in presence of these bars\n and looking at you as you stand behind them.\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018Nay, it is always good for me to hear you and for you to\n talk to me,\u2019 replied Livia. \u2018It is true that when Aunt\n Clelia comes here with her daughters, I put on a severe\n countenance now and then, and tell them pretty plainly what\n I think of the world; \u2026 but I must say that my aunt bears me\n no malice for it, for she counts on my vocation to get good\n husbands for Mariuccia and Teresina.\u2026 She does not look upon\n me as \u201c_jettatrice_\u201d at all now, I can tell you!\u2019\n\n \u201cShe laughed so merrily as she spoke that I could not help\n exclaiming with envy and surprise:\n\n \u201c\u2018Livia, how happy you are to be so gay!\u2019\u201d\n\nThe sense of humor, so essential to preserve the balance in true\nmental power, is not wanting in this story. Donna Clelia is lightly\nand brightly touched. She is everywhere true to herself;\nself-important, silly, and good-natured, she and her daughters are\nredeemed from hopeless vulgarity as much by their _na\u00efvet\u00e9_ and\nnaturalness as by the sheer inability of the author to depict\nvulgarity\u2014a fact which we notice without comment, leaving our readers\nto decide whether it be a merit or a fault. Donna Clelia\u2019s intense\nsatisfaction at being able to parade \u201cmy niece, the duchess\u201d is one of\nthose touches that throw a character into striking relief. Her\nenthusiasm for the \u201cview\u201d from the _baronessa\u2019s_ house, where \u201cnot a\ndonkey-boy, nor a cart, nor a horse, nor a man, nor a woman could pass\nin the narrow street but you saw them so plainly you could tell the\npattern of their clothes,\u201d gives us the measure of her artistic\nperceptions, while her raptures over the situation \u201cwith the church on\none side and the new theatre on the other \u2026 _figurateir!_ so that the\n_baronessa_ can let herself into the church on the right, and through\na passage into her box in the theatre on the left,\u201d is equally\ncharacteristic of the manners and minds of the society around her. The\ndescription of the splendid pageant of the Carnival, passing under\nDonna Clelia\u2019s balcony, is as spirited a bit of picturesque writing as\nwe have come upon for a long time. But we hurry on through these gay\nand vivid scenes, impatient for the crisis that is at hand between\nGilbert and Ginevra. Nothing, so far, had prepared our heroine for its\napproach.\n\n \u201cApparently,\u201d says Ginevra, \u201cand in reality, our intercourse\n was precisely what it had always been; every word he said to\n me might have been said before the whole world. I felt, it\n is true, that he spoke to me as he did not speak to any one\n else, and I, on my side, spoke to no one as I did to him. We\n were seldom alone, but every evening, in the drawing-room or\n on the terrace, he managed to converse with me for a moment\n or two when no one was by. He did not disguise from me that\n these stolen moments were to him the most enjoyable of the\n evening, and I knew they were the same to me. From time to\n time something indefinable in his voice, in his glance, even\n in his silence, made me shudder as at some threat of danger.\n But as he had never swerved by so much as a word from the\n position he had assumed towards me\u2014that of a friend\u2014my\n slumbering conscience did not awake!\u201d\n\nThe awakening, however, came at last. The immediate occasion of it was\nan eruption of Vesuvius, which is described with a dramatic power\nworthy, if possible, of the sublime and terrible subject. The mountain\nis on fire; the lava streams forth from a rent in its side, and,\nstrong and pitiless as fate, flows on over vineyards and villages and\nsmiling gardens, spreading desolation before it. Ginevra, with a large\nparty of friends, goes out to witness the magnificent spectacle from a\nsafe eminence. She and Gilbert are thrown together and climb to the\ntop of a hillock overlooking the scene of the conflagration. The\nflames rose on all sides as in some vengeful apocalypse, high,\nfantastic, awful. Ginevra could not take away her eyes from the sight,\nbut gazed on it as on some mysterious apparition that held her\nspell-bound. At last she exclaimed:\n\n \u201c\u2018This is truly _la citt\u00e0 dolente_! We have before our eyes\n a faithful picture of the last day!\u2019\n\n \u201cGilbert did not answer. He was a prey to some emotion more\n poignant than mine, and, in glancing towards him in the\n lurid glare of the fire, I was frightened by the change in\n his features and their strange expression. \u2018Would to\n heaven,\u2019 he muttered at last, \u2018that it were so in reality,\n and that the last day were come for me! Yes, I wish I could\n die here, on this spot, near you and worthy of you!\u2019\n\n \u201cIn spite of the appalling scene around us, in spite of the\n roar of the detonations thundering above the dull noise of\n the lava, the accent of his voice struck upon my ear, and\n his words made my heart leap up with an emotion mingled with\n terror.\n\n \u201c\u2018You are growing giddy,\u2019 I said, and my voice trembled.\n \u2018Take care; the effect of looking long at this is sometimes\n to draw one on to the abyss.\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018Yes, Donna Ginevra,\u2019 he replied in the same strange tone,\n \u2018you are right; I am giddy and I am walking on to the abyss.\n I know it. I exposed myself rashly; I presumed too much on\n my strength.\u2019\n\n \u201cThe look which he fixed upon me in pronouncing these words\n gave them a meaning which it was impossible to\n misunderstand. It was no longer Gilbert who was speaking to\n me; it was no longer the man to whom I fancied I had granted\n only the safe privileges of a friend. The bandage which I\n had wilfully placed upon my eyes fell off in an instant,\n and, in the sudden emotion which followed, the sight of the\n roaring flames that encircled us, the certain peril to which\n one step further would lead us, appeared to me as the exact\n representation of the danger to which I had madly exposed my\n honor and my soul! For one moment I covered my face with my\n hands, not daring to utter a word. At last I said in a voice\n of supplication:\n\n \u201c\u2018Monsieur de Kergy, cease to look upon the fire that\n surrounds us; lift up your head and see how, far above this\n hell, the night is calm and beautiful!\u2026\u2019\n\n Gilbert\u2019s eyes followed mine and remained for some time\n fixed upon the peaceful stars, that seemed, indeed, as far\n away from the terrible convulsion of nature as from that\n which was agitating our souls. Mine felt the need of a\n mighty help, and I murmured in a low voice, and with a\n fervor which had long been absent from my prayers: \u2018O my\n God! have pity upon me.\u2019 A long silence ensued, and then\n Gilbert said in a voice that was low and tremulous:\n\n \u201c\u2018Will you forgive me, madame? Will you trust yourself to me\n to lead you from this place?\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018Yes, I will trust you,\u2019 I replied. \u2018But let us make haste\n to leave it, for it is dangerous.\u2026\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018Do not fear,\u2019 he said in a tone that had resumed its\n wonted calmness; \u2018we must make haste, but the only danger\n would be if you were to become frightened. Give me your\n hand.\u2019\n\n \u201cHe would have taken it, but I hesitated and made an\n involuntary movement, as if I meant to descend without his\n help.\n\n \u201c\u2018In the name of Heaven,\u2019 he said quickly, and trembling\n with agitation, \u2018don\u2019t refuse my assistance in this\n extremity! You cannot do without it; you _must_ give me your\n hand!\u2019\n\n \u201cHis voice was now almost imperious; I gave him my hand,\n and, grasping his arm firmly with the other, we descended\n the hill slowly together.\u201d\n\nBut although this first victory is the sure guarantee of the ultimate\none, Ginevra has a fierce battle yet to fight. Perhaps it will be\nbetter that our cursory notice of the story should, however, end here,\nand that we should leave our readers to discover the sequel for\nthemselves: how the same strong hand which held Ginevra safe on the\nbrink of the precipice led her faithfully through the peril, and\nbrought her back, not only to the inward peace which follows every\ngenerous renunciation, every conquest over self, but how it finally\nwon back her husband\u2019s love, crowning them both with a joy such as\nthey had never known in the days of their early happiness. The fitness\nof Lorenzo\u2019s punishment, the wreck of his fortune through one passion\nand the vengeance brought upon his selfish pride by the other, is\nworked out with a constructive art of no mean order. The minor\ncharacters and their parts are carefully finished and satisfactorily\ndisposed of. Livia to the last shines like a sweet, pure star above\nthe horizon of Ginevra\u2019s stormy life, pointing onwards and upwards\nwith faithful hand, never too strong for pity or too far removed for\nsympathy, sorrowing with those who mourn, rejoicing with those who\nrejoice. Her interview with Ginevra after the fearful ordeal through\nwhich the latter has passed, when she comes like one who has been\n\u201csaved, but through fire,\u201d to seek consolation in the peaceful\natmosphere of the convent, rises to a high degree of power. We are\nstrongly tempted to quote the scene between Padre Egidio and Ginevra,\nbut it is almost too sacred to be made matter of critical comment, and\nwould lose, moreover, much in effect by being detached from the\ncomplete frame, and especially from the crucial experiences which\nprepared Ginevra\u2019s soul for that touch of the divine hand which healed\nand strengthened and uplifted her in one instant. Such an episode can\nonly be appreciated in its proper place as part of a whole which\njustifies and glorifies it. The close of the story is full of deep\npathos.\n\nIt is significant that this novel, which is recognized as the herald\nof a new era in Catholic literature, should have made its appearance\nat the same time in France and in America. May we not venture to infer\nfrom the coincidence that America, in harmony with sound Catholic\nteaching, placing greater confidence in human nature, may aid in\nredeeming Catholic English fiction, and prove to the world that the\nfaith does not paralyze the imagination, but elevates it; leaving the\nnovelist at liberty to deal with the deepest problems of life, to\ndisport himself freely in the wide realms of fancy, nature, and the\nworld, and, guided and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, to grasp\nwith a firm hand and turn to the best account all those things that\ncome within the scope and province of art?\n\n\n [69] _Le Mot de l\u2019Enigme_\u2014_The Veil Withdrawn_. By Madame\n Craven. Translated by permission. New York: The\n Catholic Publication Society. 1875.\n\n [70] \u201c_For life_, is too short!\u201d\n\n [71] \u201cBeatrice gazed upwards, and I on her did gaze.\u201d\n \u2014DANTE.\n\n\n\n\nCHARITAS PIRKHEIMER.[72]\n\n\u201cGood and evil fortune are to a brave man as his right hand and his\nleft: he uses either equally well.\u201d\u2014_Saying of S. Catherine of Sienna._\n\n\nCharitas Pirkheimer, the eldest daughter of John Pirkheimer and\nBarbara L\u00f6ffelholz, was born on the 21st of March, 1466. Her family\nwas a distinguished one in the annals of Nuremberg, her native town,\none of those old free cities of Germany whose burghers, as \u00c6neas\nSylvius, afterwards Pope Pius II., once said, were better lodged and\nmore daintily fed than the kings of Scotland. Among the citizens of\nNuremberg there was a kind of prescriptive aristocracy or patriciate\ncomposed of those families technically called \u201c_Rathsf\u00e4hig_\u201d\u2014that is,\ncapable of being elected members of the ruling body or council of the\nlittle republic. Of those whose names occur again and again in this\nhistory one of the most ancient was that of the Pirkheimer, who, for\nat least a hundred and fifty years before the birth of Charitas, had\nbeen celebrated for their learning, piety, and statesmanship. Upright\nand honorable in their private life, as well as in the execution of\ntheir public trusts, they were looked up to by all, and their women no\nless than their men were distinguished for strength of character, love\nof learning, and solid, enlightened piety.\n\nNuremberg was at that time a centre of art and letters. Her youths\nwent to Italy and studied at the old universities of Padua and\nBologna, whence they brought back the prevailing enthusiasm for\nclassical lore; the new art of printing had found in her citizens\ndiscerning patrons; the streets were full of the beautiful houses of\nthe rich merchants; churches and monasteries adorned with treasures of\nsacred art abounded, as even to this day the passing tourist can see;\nAlbert D\u00fcrer, Adam Krafft, and Peter Vischer made their native city\nknown far and wide in the world of art; while Regiomontanus drew his\nastronomical instruments from Nuremberg and published his works there,\nand his disciple, Martin Behaim, a Nuremberger by birth, discovered\nthe sea-route to the East Indies. Literature was even more firmly\nestablished, and John Pirkheimer himself instituted a sort of academy\nafter the model of those of the Italian princes. Wilibald, his only\nson and the last of his name, continued his work and became famous as\nthe friend or patron of nearly all the renowned men of learning of his\ntime.\n\nAmong these refining influences Charitas grew up, and early showed her\nenthusiasm for \u201cpolite\u201d studies. The historians of Nuremberg,\nL\u00fctzelberger and Dr. Lochner, both Protestants, have left high\ntestimony of the breadth of her intellect and the great consideration\nin which she was held by men of all parties. The latter calls her \u201ca\ngifted, enlightened, pious, and prudent woman, who has conferred\nlasting honor on the Convent of St. Clare,\u201d and who \u201cdeserves a high\ndegree of respect for the firmness and dignity with which she\nwithstood the storm of the Reformation, which to her and her community\nwas a sorrowful event.\u201d L\u00fctzelberger, in a lecture delivered at\nNuremberg, said to his Protestant audience:\n\n \u201cThe Reformation was a deep grief to her pious heart,\n accustomed as it was to the gentle amenities of convent\n life, and, if we would judge her aright, we must put\n ourselves entirely in her circumstances. But this done, she\n will appear to us peculiarly worthy of respect and\n consideration as a gifted and conscientious opponent of the\n new religion.\u2026 Both by speech and in writing did she oppose\n all attempts to convert her; and even if we differ from her,\n we cannot but admire her earnest conviction, her prudence\n and understanding, and especially the patience which she\n added to her other virtues.\u201d\n\nHer father, John, was at the time of her birth a doctor of civil law\n(the degree had been conferred at the University of Padua), and was\nshortly after called to the service of the Bishop of Eichst\u00e4dt,\nWilliam of Reichenau, as counsellor, in which capacity he also for\nsome years served the Duke of Bavaria and the Archduke of Austria at\ntheir respective courts at Munich and Innsbr\u00fcck. He was also often\nsent as envoy and representative to other courts, after which services\nhe returned to his native city and died there, a member of the\ncouncil. Of his seven daughters only one married\u2014Juliana, the\nyoungest; the rest all took the veil. Charitas and Clara were joined\nin a lifelong friendship in the Convent of St. Clare in Nuremberg. By\nall accounts the former seems to have entered the convent at the age\nof twelve, whether as a novice or a scholar we are not told. The\nconvent had existed as a Clarist institution for two hundred years,\nwhen some nuns of S\u00f6flingen, near Ulm, had introduced the Franciscan\nrule; but the building, which was several centuries old, had been\ntenanted before by a community of Sisters of St. Mary Magdalen. All\nthe nuns, with very few exceptions, were Nurembergers by birth and\ndescent (this was a condition of their admittance); and as each\ngeneration of every illustrious family was represented by one or two\nmembers, the convent had become peculiarly a cherished local\ninstitution, whose welfare was closely connected with that of the\ntown. One of the council was charged with its temporal concerns, and\ngifts and bequests were often made to it by the citizens. It was also\nthe school where the young girls of patrician family were mostly\neducated.\n\nA model of strict observance and reformed rule, it was under the\nspiritual direction of the barefooted Franciscans, who, in the middle\nof the fifteenth century, under the protection of Pope Eugenius IV.,\nhad, in a time when discipline was relaxed in many of the houses of\ntheir order, taken up their abode in Nuremberg and put things upon the\nold ascetic footing ruled by the great reforming saint, Francis of\nAssisi.\n\nApollonia Tucher was Charitas\u2019 best and dearest friend. They lived\ntogether more than fifty years, and died within a few months of each\nother. Through her Charitas also learnt to know and appreciate Sixtus\nTucher, her cousin, the provost of St. Lawrence, also a prominent man\nin those days. Apollonia was at that time prioress and Charitas a\nteacher in the convent school. The provost kept up a regular\ncorrespondence with the two nuns, of which unfortunately one part has\nbeen lost; but all _his_ letters are preserved, and were first\ntranslated into German by his nephew, Christopher Scheurl, and\ndedicated to a successor of his at St. Lawrence\u2014Provost George Behaim.\nHis advice to Charitas and her friend was a great boon, and now and\nthen he would send little presents, such as gilt lanterns for the\nchurch, which he always accompanied by some symbolical warning. Among\nother things, he once reminded them that the convent life alone was\nnot enough to save their souls. \u201cThere is no other way to deserve the\neternal Fatherland,\u201d he says, \u201cbut by industriously keeping all God\u2019s\ncommandments.\u201d He also furnished them with books, a _Commentary on the\nLiturgical Hymns and Sequences_, 1494, _and_ 1506, and the _Discourse\nof St. Augustine on the Siege of Hippo_. This was sent apropos of a\nsiege in 1502 which Nuremberg suffered at the hands of the Margrave\nCasimir, and during which three hundred brave and noted burghers, all\nheads of families, lost their lives. On the occasion of her father\u2019s\ndeath, in 1501, he writes to Charitas:\n\n \u201cTherefore we must not sorrow when a man has deserved to\n return from a strange land to his own country, from an inn\n to his own house, from work to rest, from death to life,\n from time to eternity, and especially when he has, by a\n blessed exchange, accumulated many good works; for we are\n all like unto merchants sent into this pilgrimage of earth,\n that with temporal goods we may buy and win eternal life.\u201d\n\nThis learned and holy man died at the age of forty-six, in 1507, but\nnot before he had seen his friend Charitas chosen abbess of St. Clare.\nShe was only thirty-eight, but her strength of character made the\nchoice unanimous; and if the nuns could have foreseen what a stormy\ntime they would soon have to tide over, they would have congratulated\nthemselves still more on their good sense in electing her. From\nhenceforth she was the heart and soul of the convent: the nuns looked\nto her for advice, support, and comfort; the council saw in her a\ndistinguished, learned, and enlightened countrywoman, the example not\nonly of her own community, but of those in the neighborhood who\nfollowed her lead. One of the first events that marked her rule was\nthe attack of the plague which visited Nuremberg in 1505 and laid low\none of her own spiritual family. She insisted upon nursing the sick\nnun, notwithstanding the remonstrances of her anxious sisters, and was\nrewarded by the recovery of the patient. In those years of peace and\nprosperity the convent fully vindicated its claim to being a house of\nhappy labor. Besides the instruction given to the young girls of the\ncity, the nuns were occupied in various artistic works, such as\nillumination, copying, and embroidery. Their particular industry was\nthe manufacture of carpets and tapestries for hangings. They fulfilled\norders for public and civic buildings, as well as for private\nfamilies, and once the town council gave the imperial regalia into\ntheir hands for putting in order for the coronation of Charles V. at\nAix-la-Chapelle. Nuremberg had the care of these venerated garments,\nand was jealous of its reputation; so that the nuns felt a high\nresponsibility in being allowed to handle and repair such treasures.\nThey carefully mended and re-embroidered the white dalmatic, and lined\nother pieces of the imperial dress, until they were fit to do honor to\nthe care of the city of Nuremberg. The convent had also a library of\nsome note for that time, the Scriptures and the fathers of the church\nforming the principal part of it. Charitas\u2019 favorite among the latter\nwas St. Jerome. She was solicitous concerning the daily reading of the\nScriptures, both in Latin and in German, which was done in common as\nwell as in private\u2014a fact which she brought to her own defence in the\nevil days that followed. She might truly say that she stood on\nevangelical ground; for, as she wrote to the learned but scarcely\nChristian Celtes, she saw in Scripture the \u201cfield of the Lord, whence\nlearning must draw the kernel from the shell, the spirit from the\nletter, oil from the rock, and blossoms from the thorn.\u201d\n\nShe had much to do also to manage the temporal concerns of her house.\nThe town demanded a yearly account of her stewardship; and in every\nreport made by the council on her administration there is nothing but\npraise and recognition of her business talents. She corresponded with\na circle of lettered friends whom she knew through her brother\nWilibald, and these literary friendships form one of the most\ninteresting phases of her life. Conspicuous among her friends was her\nbrother himself, the friend of Albert D\u00fcrer, who has left us a\nportrait of him, the correspondent of Erasmus, the polished man of\nletters, the scholar of two Italian universities, for some time the\nhead of the council of the republic, and the leader of the Nuremberg\ncontingent in the war with Switzerland (1499). This last office he\nheld when he was only twenty-nine, and he afterwards became the\nhistorian of the war. When the first beginnings of the Reformation\ndisturbed and excited all thoughtful minds in Germany, he looked upon\nthem as simple moral reforms, a renewal of ancient fervor and\ndiscipline. But as the true nature of the changes heralded by Luther\nbroke upon him, he separated himself from the movement and rallied to\nthe side of the church doctrines so ruthlessly attacked. He proved a\ngreat support to his sister in the days when the convent was under the\nban of the triumphant Reformers of Nuremberg, and his opinion of the\nclassical studies which some of the atheistic _literati_ would fain\nhave exalted as the _only_ learning fit for civilized men was clearly\nexpressed in these words: \u201cIt is not my belief that Christian\nknowledge is incomplete without heathen literature. God forbid! Divine\nWisdom needs no human inventions, and it is possible to attain to the\nhighest point of theology without the help of Plato and Aristotle.\u201d\nWilibald was accustomed to write to his sister in Latin, as Sixtus\nTucher also did, and Charitas\u2019 style, notwithstanding her lowly\nopinion of her own proficiency, was such as to do honor to her\neducation. He often sent her presents of books\u2014for instance, the Hymns\nof Prudentius, the Christian poet, and some writings of her favorite\ndoctor, St. Jerome. Later on he dedicated to her the works of\nFulgentius, which he had edited. Both Charitas and her sister Clara\nwere great admirers of Erasmus and diligently read his German\ntranslation of the New Testament (in 1516), as well as some works of\nthe famous scholar Reuchlin (1520). To the former Charitas excused\nherself from writing \u201con account of her bad Latin,\u201d but sent him many\ncomplimentary messages through her brother, and both he and Reuchlin\nspoke of her in high terms in their letters to Wilibald. Clara also\nwas marvellously fond of books, and playfully told her brother that\nthere was nothing she envied out of her convent except his library.\nThe women of the Pirkheimer family all seem to have been distinguished\nfor their love of art and books. Catherine, Charitas\u2019 niece, was\nalmost a transcript of her aunt and showed a wonderful strength of\ncharacter. The abbess\u2019 married nieces were earnest and generous women,\na great support to the convent in the evil days that followed; and her\nsister Sabina, the abbess of a Benedictine monastery on the Danube,\nwas a patroness of sacred art, the friend of D\u00fcrer, who sent her\ndesigns for her illuminations and took great interest in the school of\nminiature-painting established in her community.\n\nCeltes was one of Charitas\u2019 correspondents, and dedicated to her his\ncompilation of the works of Roswitha, the poet-nun of Gandersheim in\nthe tenth century. On the occasion of his being attacked by robbers\nshe writes him a letter of condolence, in which, in the style of the\nday, she alludes to \u201cthe precious treasure of true wisdom, which is\nthe noblest and only possession wherein consolation may be found\u201d; but\nat another time she thinks it due to her conscience to speak to him of\na higher wisdom, and says:\n\n \u201cYour worthiness, of which I am a humble follower, will\n pardon me for being also a lover of your salvation, and\n therefore do I beseech you from my heart, not, indeed, to\n give up worldly knowledge, but to add to it that higher one\n which will lift you from the writings of the heathen to the\n sacred books, from the earthly to the heavenly, from the\n creature to the Creator. For although no kind of knowledge\n or experience ordained of God is to be despised, yet a\n virtuous life and the study of theology is to be considered\n above everything; for man\u2019s mind is weak and may err, but\n true faith and a good conscience can never err.\u201d\n\nChristopher Scheurl, a clever jurist and called the Cicero of\nNuremberg, who had learnt letters at the University of Bologna,\ndedicated his book on \u201cThe Use of the Mass\u201d (_Utilitates Miss\u00e6_) to\nCharitas, and sent it to her from Bologna, where it was printed in\n1506, through his uncle, Sixtus Tucher. In his dedication Scheurl says\nthat in all his life he has only known two women\u2014the pious Cassandra\nof Venice and Charitas of Nuremberg\u2014who \u201cfor their gifts of mind and\nfortune, their knowledge and high station, their beauty and their\nprudence, could be compared to Cornelia, the mother of the Gracchi,\nand to the daughters of L\u00e6lius and Hortensius.\u201d He praises her that,\nfollowing the example of her illustrious ancestors, she has preferred\n\u201cthe book to the wool and the pen to the spindle,\u201d and proved her high\ndegree of mental culture by such remarkable letters as he had seen and\nreceived.\n\nAlbert D\u00fcrer was also often in communication with the sister of his\nfriend Wilibald. He, with the administrator of the convent, Kaspar\nN\u00fctzel, and another companion, had gone in 1518 to the Reichstag at\nAugsburg, where the painter was to take the old Emperor Maximilian\u2019s\nportrait. They wrote her a joint account of their doings there, which\nshe received in the same jesting spirit as it was written; for she\nsays she \u201ccried for laughing\u201d when she read it. She also touches on\nthe political questions of the day, and playfully gives them each his\nlesson to learn in Augsburg. The convent administrator was to admire\nin the Swabian Confederation \u201can example of strict observance\u201d; the\nsecretary of the council, Lazarus Spengler, was to observe \u201cthe\napostolical life in common\u201d of the members; and the painter to take\nnote of the fine buildings for which Augsburg was famous, in case they\nmight some day want good designs for the rebuilding of the convent\nchoir. She also bade them not to forget the \u201clittle gray wolf\u201d among\nthe stately black and white habits of the religious of Augsburg (her\nnuns wore a gray habit), and alluded to the three men as the captive\n\u201csand-hares\u201d\u2014a name given to the burghers of Nuremberg, first in\nscorn, but now become a mere jest.\n\nCharitas\u2019 mind was like a diamond of many facets; she was no angular,\nsour ascetic, narrow in her sympathies and petrified in her\nprejudices, but a genuine, warm-hearted woman, with as much love for\ninnocent mirth on the one hand as for the widest researches of\nlearning on the other. With her the words of her contemporary, Abbot\nTrithemius, were true\u2014\u201cTo know is to love\u201d\u2014and her affection for her\nown family, no less than her appreciation of the intellectual movement\nof the age, is shown in her voluminous correspondence. She and her\nbrother often exchanged little simple domestic presents, and she\ndelighted to send him sweetmeats, preserves, and cakes made in the\nconvent, often with her own or her nieces\u2019 hands.\n\nBut she was not destined to end her life in these pleasant and\npeaceful interchanges of friendship. The storm was brewing, and the\n\u201cnew learning,\u201d or new doctrine, as it was called, was beginning to\ntake formidable proportions and go far beyond the needed reforms which\nPope Adrian VI., one of the noblest men who ever sat in the apostolic\nchair, so anxiously recommended to the nuncio Chieregati on the\noccasion of the Reichstag at Nuremberg in 1522. Charitas grieved to\nsee holy things indiscriminately attacked, often with unworthy motives\ncloaked by the convenient plea of conscience and zeal for the Gospel,\nand grieved still more to hear no voice among her learned friends\nraised in defence of all she held dear. At last, however, Jerome\nEmser, licentiate of canon law at Leipsic, and private secretary of\nDuke George of Saxony, published a masterly defence of the old faith,\nand Charitas eagerly read it through and caused it to be read aloud to\nthe nuns during meals. The sisters and the abbess of the Convent of\nSt. Clare at Eger, who had sent her Emser\u2019s writings, begged her to\nacknowledge them in a letter to the author, which she accordingly did,\nwriting in fervent, unconstrained terms and thanking him in the name\nof her sixty sisters and all other convents of her order. But this\nletter fell into other hands, and in a distorted, mutilated shape, and\naccompanied by a malicious commentary on its sentiments and motives,\nwas published by an enemy of Emser and Charitas. Even her brother\nWilibald, who had not yet seen through the real motives of the\nReformers, was vexed at her taking part in the fray, and told her she\nhad better have held her tongue. This was the beginning of a teasing\npersecution of pin-pricks which gradually became serious and well-nigh\ninsupportable as years went on. Her brother, when he had fully rallied\nto the Catholic party, had left the council and could be of little\npractical use to his sister, while the majority of the council were\ndecidedly hostile. The convent\u2019s administrator especially used his\nstation and authority only to torment the poor nuns. Charitas at this\ntime began to keep a diary, of which her biographer has made good use.\nDr. Lochner, the historian of Nuremberg, recognizes that many evil\ndeeds were done in the name of religion; and as to the case of the\nConvent of St. Clare, he says that \u201cit was the victim of that force\nwhich at many times clothes itself in the garb of a moral and divine\nreform, without being any the less mere force, the right of the\nstrongest.\u201d\n\nIn 1524 Charitas says:\n\n \u201cThere came to the convent many strangers, men and women,\n but especially the latter, to tell the nuns the new things\n that were being taught from the pulpit, and to represent to\n them what a \u2018damnable\u2019 state was that of the religious life,\n and how impossible it was for them to be saved in the\n cloister, adding most unceremoniously that nuns were all the\n devil\u2019s creatures. Many citizens spoke threateningly of\n withdrawing their relatives from the convent, whether the\n persons in question wished it or no.\u201d\n\nAs may be supposed, these attacks made no impression on the sisters;\nbut the town council, ready enough now to seize upon any pretext,\nascribed their steadfastness to the influence of their spiritual\ndirectors, the Franciscans, and ordered the convent to be put under\nthe control of the new preachers. Charitas immediately drew up a\npetition, which was approved by the community, in which she\nrepresented to Kaspar N\u00fctzel, the administrator, that this was the\nfirst time for forty-five years that she had seen her sisterhood in\ngrief, and went on to beseech him, as he had always been her friend\nand supporter in temporal matters, so, now that she required his help\nmore than ever, he would not fail her in this spiritual distress. She\nlikewise wrote to Jerome Ebner, another of the highest dignitaries of\nthe council, whose daughter Katharine was one of her community; and to\nMartin Geuder, her brother-in-law, to whom she touchingly appealed on\nthe ground of the innocence and evangelical character of the community.\n\n \u201cI beg of you,\u201d she says, \u201cdo not allow yourself to be\n persuaded by those who untruly say that the clear word of\n God is hidden from us; for, by the grace of God, this is not\n so. We have the Old and New Testaments here as well as you\n who are out in the world; we read it day and night, at\n meals, in the choir, in Latin and in German, in common and\n in private. By God\u2019s grace we know well the holy Gospels and\n St. Paul\u2019s Epistles, but still I think he is more\n praiseworthy who fulfils the Gospel\u2019s precepts in his\n actions than he who has them always on his lips, but does\n not act up to them.\u201d She continues: \u201cWe desire to be no\n burden or offence to any one; but if any one can point out\n an abuse, let him do so, and we will gladly reform it. For\n we acknowledge ourselves to be weak creatures, who may go\n easily astray, and who do not dare to take pleasure in good\n works. We only ask that no one shall do us wrong and\n violence, and that we shall not be forced to do that which\n we consider a disgrace and against our eternal salvation.\u201d\n\nCharitas\u2019 former petition to N\u00fctzel was now supplemented by a more\nformal petition of the convent, addressed to the town council. She\nprotested against the violent change meditated, and repelled the idea\nof submitting to spiritual directors imposed by the republic; she\nasked the councillors why they should object to a few women\nvoluntarily living in common, and besought them not to root up a\ntime-honored institution which was so intimately connected with the\nannals of their native city. Part of the council was decidedly in\nfavor of less violent measures, and by the advice of these members the\nintrusion of Lutheran directors was put off for a time and affairs\nleft to take their own course; but the lull was but momentary. People\nstill besieged the convent, threatening its inmates and disseminating\nscandalous rumors in the town, and the poor nuns lived in daily fear\nof some outbreak. This was in the Advent of 1524, and in March, 1525,\nthe storm broke loose again.\n\nOne of those frequent and useless disputations on the subject of\nreligion which made such a characteristic feature of the\nsixteenth-century movement took place at Nuremberg at the beginning of\nMarch. Eight religious of the Carmelite, Franciscan, and Dominican\norders took the Catholic side against seven preachers of the Lutheran\ndoctrines (among them the famous Osiander) under the leadership of the\nprior of the Augustinians at Nuremberg. The debate lasted for eleven\ndays, or five sessions, without any shadow of an accommodation\nappearing possible, and at the sixth session the Catholic doctors gave\nin a written statement to the effect that the affair had become a\ndiscussion such as by imperial mandate was strictly forbidden, and\nthat, as there was no impartial judgment to be looked for, the\npresidents of the _colloquium_ being known adherents of the new\ndoctrines, they thought it best to retire from the useless conflict.\nThe council, however, had attained its end, and prepared an\nopportunity for formally introducing the new religion into the\nrepublic. The convents and monasteries were ordered to give up their\nrule and the members to enter the world again. Four of the male\ncommunities did as they were bid; the Dominicans and Franciscans still\nrefused to comply. The former were compelled to leave in 1543, and the\nlatter stood their ground till the last brother died. They were,\nhowever, forbidden to preach and hear confessions, and the direction\nof both convents of women, St. Clare and St. Catherine, was taken from\nthem.\n\nThe first open attack on St. Clare was made five days after the\nreligious disputation, on the 19th of March, 1525. A deputation from\nthe council demanded admittance into the interior of the convent, and,\nthough Charitas pleaded the \u201cenclosure\u201d and offered to gather the\ncommunity at the grated window through which it was customary to speak\nwith strangers and men, she was forced to accede to their demand and\nadmit the councillors into the winter refectory. The two\nrepresentatives began with a honeyed address, telling the assembled\nnuns that, now the light of the Gospel was fully manifested in the\ncity, it were a shame that they alone should be denied the privilege\nof seeing it. Therefore a learned and distinguished preacher, Herr\nPoliander, of W\u00fcrzburg, would impart to them this knowledge, and, the\nFranciscans being removed, the council would provide the nuns with\nsuitable confessors. The abbess heard them out, and then retorted that\nher nuns were well stored with Gospel knowledge, which had been\nclearly preached to them before, and that the connection between their\norder and the Franciscans was of long date and authorized by papal and\nimperial decrees, but that, if they were to suffer violence in this\nmatter, God and their conscience urged them to declare that it was so,\nand that they protested against such violence being used. The\ncouncillors said that, since they objected to secular[73] priests as\nconfessors, they might choose one of the Augustinians (who had\napostatized), since they too were \u201creligious.\u201d But Charitas answered:\n\u201cIf we are to have religious, why not leave us the Franciscans? We\nknow and honor them and have had long experience of them; but as to\nthe order you name, we also know how lax its discipline has grown.\u201d\n\n\u201cNay,\u201d said the councillors, \u201cyou will soon not have that to complain\nof; for these brothers will doff their cowls and enter into another\nstate.\u201d\n\nTo which the abbess replied: \u201cThat is no comfort to us. They could\nonly teach us to follow their example; and as they have taken to\nthemselves wives, they would have us take husbands. God forbid!\u201d\n\nThe useless conversation was carried on some time longer, and on\nCharitas asking the reason why the council so oppressed her\nsisterhood, and whether they had committed any offence, the\ncouncillors were forced to allow that the \u201ccouncil knew of no offence\nor abuse on their part, but, on the contrary, only of honor,\ndiligence, and modesty,\u201d but that in other communities it was not\nalways so, and the new laws must be enforced everywhere alike. The\nvery next day Poliander, the Lutheran preacher, came for the first\ntime to preach to the reluctant nuns, while on the 21st of March the\nFranciscans were allowed to pay their charges a farewell visit,\nadminister the sacraments, say Mass, and preach. This was the last\ntime the nuns enjoyed these holy privileges; henceforward the dying\nwere deprived of the Viaticum and Extreme Unction, and Mass was no\nlonger said in the convent chapel. On the 22nd Charitas assembled a\nchapter of her nuns, which decided on presenting a second petition to\nthe council, and the abbess sent to ask Kaspar N\u00fctzel to come in\nperson to the convent. He consented and sent her a friendly message,\nbut it was clear he expected submission. He came and set before the\ncommunity the advantages of gracefully giving way and the evil they\nwould entail on themselves by resistance; but Charitas answered to the\npoint: that, although he had spoken in friendly terms, he had not\nmentioned the real subject of the dispute\u2014_i.e._, the question of who\nshould be the convent\u2019s spiritual directors. \u201cWe see,\u201d she said, \u201cthat\nevery means is being used to drive us to accept the new doctrines, but\nuntil the whole church accepts them neither will we. Nothing will part\nus from the fellowship of the universal church nor from the vows we\nhave vowed unto God.\u201d She then offered to let the administrator ask\neach nun her opinion separately during her own absence; but N\u00fctzel saw\nthat this would be useless, and even refused to take the petition,\nwhereupon the abbess read it aloud before him. The gist of it was\ncontained in the prayer that, in the name of the Gospel-freedom which\nthe times had so extolled, no violence should be done to the\nconsciences of the nuns. They begged also that if their confessor was\ntaken from them, at least no one should be imposed upon them in his\nplace. But it was evidently in vain, although N\u00fctzel reluctantly\npledged himself to represent their case to the council. Before he left\nthe convent, however, he attempted to cajole the abbess out of her\nfirm resistance to his wishes, and, taking her aside, begged her to\nput her authority and influence on his side, telling her that she\nmight personally do much to prevent even bloodshed, and that, if he\ncould only win her over, he would think himself sure of the city and\nthe neighborhood. Indeed, many pinned their faith to her steadfastness\nand looked to her example for support in their own temptations. But\nneither flattery nor threats could win her over, nor even the hint\nthat by her obstinacy she would confirm others in contumacy, and bring\nupon her native town the vengeance of the peasants who had risen in\narms against the Catholics. To this she answered calmly that it was\nwell known that the peasants had risen because, in the midst of this\nnew preaching of fraternity and evangelical freedom, they saw a way to\nabolish the custom of vassalage, and meant forcibly to possess\nthemselves of that which their richer brethren were so glibly prating\nof in theory. As the second petition had remained without effect,\nCharitas drew up a third, a model of clearness and logic. Quoting St.\nPaul, she said, \u201cI can do all things in Him who is my strength,\u201d and\nshe again assured the council that nothing would drive the sisters out\nof the church. This paper was signed by all the nuns. She also asked\nthrough N\u00fctzel for a secular priest, a holy man of the name of\nSchr\u00f6ter, for a confessor, since the council was determined that the\nFranciscans should no longer serve the convent; but this prayer was\nalso refused.\n\nThings grew worse and worse. Poliander preached vile and opprobrious\nsermons to the poor nuns, upbraiding and accusing them; and when he\nleft W\u00fcrzburg, two others, Schleussner and Osiander, succeeded him and\npreached regularly three times a week in the chapel. A sharp and\ndegrading watch was kept over the nuns, as the council suspected them\nof stopping their ears with cotton-wool or exercising other petty\ndevices to escape the words of the distasteful sermons. This continued\nthroughout Lent, and the violence of the preachers inflaming the\npassions of the people, the nuns lived in daily fear of seeing the\nlatter put into execution their frequent threat of burning down the\nconvent. The serving-girls could hardly go out of the house in safety\nto purchase provisions, and the friends of the nuns had to use all\nmanner of subterfuges to be able to visit them in peace, while every\nknock at the door frightened the poor women as if it heralded their\ndoom. But worse was yet to come. On the 7th of June three of the\ncouncillors, F\u00fcrer, Pfinzing, and Imhof, visited the convent and laid\nbefore the nuns five propositions with which the council demanded\ninstant compliance: an inventory was to be taken of all the convent\npossessions, a laxer rule introduced, the religious dress laid aside,\nthe grated window replaced by a common one of glass, and free\npermission granted to every nun to leave if she chose, taking with her\nwhatever dowry she had brought to the convent, or a suitable\nremuneration for the services done during her stay there. Charitas\nwisely showed a disposition to yield in minor matters, in which she\nknew that the council would find means at any rate to force her\ncompliance, but on the matter of the religious vows she stood firm,\nanswering:\n\n \u201cIn so far as my sisters owe me any personal obedience and\n consideration, I am ready to forgive them the debt, but I\n cannot absolve them from vows vowed unto the Lord; for what\n are we poor creatures that we should lay hands on the things\n that are God\u2019s?\u201d\n\nThe council allowed her four weeks to make up her mind to these\nchanges, and promised, in case of compliance, to protect the convent;\nbut if these conditions were resisted, neither the house nor the nuns\nwould be either protected or supported. Charitas called a chapter\ntogether and announced her determination to have nothing to do with an\n\u201copen convent,\u201d at the same time asking the sisters\u2019 opinion on the\ncouncil\u2019s proposal. The nuns unanimously (there were nearly sixty of\nthem) declared that they did not wish to be \u201cmade free\u201d after the\ncouncil\u2019s pattern of freedom; they meant to keep to their vows and\nmaintain their rule, and begged the abbess not to forsake them. She\nthen swore to stand by them as long as they would stand by their vows,\nand exhorted them to steadfast courage and fervent prayer. Her friends\nin the council, seeing that their influence was too weak to help the\nconvent, advised her to consent to the lesser propositions, and\naccordingly the inventory was quietly made and handed over to the\nauthorities; the grating was taken down, and, at Wilibald Pirkheimer\u2019s\nsuggestion, some part of the nuns\u2019 habit was dyed black and assumed\nonly at the parlor window and in the gardens, while in the private\nparts of the house the usual gray garb was worn. But the nuns\nsteadfastly refused to change the rule or to consider themselves\nabsolved from their vows, and, unless they were to be forcibly ejected\nfrom the convent, there was no possibility of carrying out these two\nimportant changes. But the council was prepared for anything, and soon\neven this last violent act was publicly enforced.\n\nDame Ursula Tetzel had already tried some months before, with the help\nof her brothers, to get her daughter Margaret, who had been for nine\nyears in the convent, to leave it and come home; but the girl herself\nvigorously resisted the attempt, and Charitas represented it to the\nmother as an infringement of the rights of the convent. Things had\nmarched rapidly enough since then to enable Dame Tetzel to renew the\nattempt with more certainty of success; and accordingly she, with the\nwives of the two councillors, Ebner and N\u00fctzel, who had each a\ndaughter in the convent, determined to take their children home at all\nhazards. They gave the nuns a week\u2019s notice, and on the 14th of June\nappeared with a number of their male relations in two large\nconveyances or wagons. A great crowd had collected round the convent\ndoor, and a considerable excitement prevailed; the street and the\nchurchyard were full. Charitas, on her side, had requested two of the\ncouncillors, Pfinzing and Imhof, to be present as witnesses of the\ndisgraceful scene she foresaw. The young nuns, respectively nineteen,\ntwenty, and twenty-three years old, fell on their knees before the\nabbess, weeping and entreating her not to let them be taken away. They\neven wished to hide themselves; but this, of course, Charitas forbade\nand led the girls with her to the chapel where they had taken their\nvows. She prayed and wept with them, and hesitated taking them over\nthe threshold into the presence of their mothers; but the latter came\ninto the chapel and violently upbraided their children, who with tears\npiteously begged to be left alone. Katharine Ebner especially spoke in\neloquent tones for more than an hour, and, as the councillors\nafterwards said, \u201cShe spoke no word that was weak or useless, but\ntalked with such force and cogency that every word weighed a pound.\u201d\nHer mother stormed, and Held, the brother of Dame N\u00fctzel, threatened\nher \u201clike an executioner,\u201d but Katharine continued speaking in her own\nbehalf and that of her friends: \u201cHere will I stand and not move one\nstep; and if you employ force, I will complain to God in heaven and\nevery man upon earth.\u201d She was rudely dragged forward, but, stretching\nher arms towards the abbess, cried out: \u201cDear mother, do not let me be\ndriven away from you!\u201d Four persons, however, seized hold of her, and\namid loud cries on all sides she was dragged over the threshold of the\nchapel, where she and Margaret Tetzel fell over each other, the latter\nhaving her foot crushed in the crowd. Dame Ebner followed her daughter\nwith angry threats, telling her that if she did not go willingly she\nwould fling her down the stairs and break her head on the pavement\nbelow. At last poor Charitas could stand it no longer and took refuge\nin her cell, while the councillors who had witnessed the scene\ndeclared that, had they foreseen such a sad sight, they would not have\ncome for a world of money, and never again would they lend the\nsanction of their presence to such violent proceedings.\n\nThe poor young nuns were put in the wagons and driven away, but they\nstill cried out to the crowd that they were suffering violence and\ndemanded to be taken back to their convent. Dame Ebner got so incensed\nthat she struck her daughter on the mouth, and the poor girl bled all\nthe way home. There were many in the crowd who cried \u201cShame!\u201d and\nwould gladly, had they dared, have attempted a rescue, but the strong\nhand of the \u201ctrained bands\u201d of Nuremberg was not to be defied in vain.\nCharitas never saw her spiritual children again, but she heard from\ntime to time that they were still unchanged in their feelings. Clara\nN\u00fctzel ate nothing for four days after she was taken away, and day and\nnight cried to be taken back again.\n\nThis scene of violence made a great stir at the time and awakened much\nsympathy for the convent, and at least it had this good effect: that\nno more forcible abductions were attempted. Some time later one nun,\nAnna Schwarz, whose sisters had left the other convent of Nuremberg,\nSt. Catherine, left St. Clare of her own accord; she was the only one\nwho voluntarily gave up her vows. In this case, however, her mother\nwas not well pleased and by no means urged her to leave. The community\nwas now reduced to fifty-one members, and of these none henceforward\nleft the convent, unless by the call of God to a better and more\npeaceful life.\n\nIn the following autumn Melanchthon visited Nuremberg, and, though\ntheir views now differed, his friendship with Pirkheimer was not\nweakened. He inquired into the state of affairs, and, together with\nthe administrator, N\u00fctzel, visited the convent and had a long\nconversation with the abbess. She says in her diary: \u201cHe was more\ngentle and discreet in his speech than any of the new teachers I have\nmet before\u201d; and, indeed, she had long had the greatest esteem for the\nyoung and ripe Greek scholar.\n\n \u201cHe spoke much of the new doctrines,\u201d she continues; \u201cbut\n when I told him that we did not place our hope in our own\n works, but solely in the grace of God, he replied that in\n that case we might be saved in the cloister quite as well as\n in the world. Indeed, we agreed in the main on all points,\n except concerning the vows, which he holds not to be\n binding, but yet strongly disapproved of the violence that\n had been done to the nuns to force them to give up their\n vows. He took leave of us in a very friendly manner, and\n afterwards strongly reproved the administrator and the other\n councillors for having forbidden the Franciscans to\n celebrate divine service at St. Clare, and having dragged\n the children out of the convent against their will; indeed,\n he told them that, between themselves, he considered that\n therein they had committed a grievous sin.\u201d\n\nCharitas dated from his visit a quieter state of things and the\ncessation of many petty persecutions on the part of Kaspar N\u00fctzel. She\nsays of Melanchthon in her diary: \u201cI hope God sent this man to us at\nthe right time; \u2026\u201d and later in a letter she writes thus of the\nadministrator: \u201cWould to God every one were as discreet as Master\nPhilip; we might then hope to be rid of many things that are very\nvexatious.\u201d\n\nAlthough the three young nuns were not restored to the convent, their\nparents, smarting under the many insinuations made against their\nconduct, conveyed to the abbess, through Sigismund F\u00fcrer and Leonard\nTucher, a formal acknowledgment of their satisfaction at the \u201cmanner\nin which the girls had been brought up and their health cared for\u201d;\nwhile the two men added of their own accord that as to the girls they\nmust tell the truth\u2014_i.e._, that if it depended upon them, they would\nbe back at the convent before evening. Kaspar N\u00fctzel himself said the\nsame thing to the abbess, thanking her for the care bestowed on his\ndaughter\u2019s physical and moral well-being, and acknowledging himself\nindebted to the convent for this favor. But, better than this, he soon\nwrote a letter in which he distinctly stated that he regretted having\nseveral times \u201coverstepped his legitimate authority in his attempts to\nconvert her to the new doctrines,\u201d and promised that in future he\nwould attend with peculiar zeal at least to the temporal concerns of\nthe convent. Their possessions had, however, been so curtailed during\nthese troublous times that they almost literally subsisted on alms.\n\nOn All Souls\u2019 day, 1527, the same two councillors who had witnessed\nthe forcible taking away of the young nuns two years before, and two\nother associates, were commissioned to institute a domiciliary\nvisitation in the convent and to speak in private with each sister,\nwith a view to elicit their grievances and give them a chance of\nspeaking freely. The poor nuns were very much frightened at the\nproposal, but Charitas only made this remonstrance:\n\n \u201cWorthy masters,\u201d she said, \u201cyou are somewhat vehement\n confessors. It has pleased our rulers to abolish private\n confession to one man, and now you require us poor women to\n confess to four men at once, and lay open to them all our\n spiritual needs!\u201d And as the men were rather staggered, she\n continued: \u201cYou say many abuses among us have come to the\n ears of the council. We should like to hear them detailed.\n We have been driven and oppressed like worms for three\n years, and would gladly, if we could, have hidden ourselves\n under a stone like worms; but if we have offended in\n anything, let it be clearly brought home to us.\u201d\n\nThe men looked at each other, and one said: \u201cThis point is not yet\nsettled\u201d; while another asked helplessly: \u201cWhat am I to say? I do not\nunderstand the matter.\u201d At last they went through the form of\nexamining each nun alone and separately, and got tired and left off\nwhen they had examined thirty-nine. The preacher Osiander once held a\ndiscussion with Charitas for four hours without any result but both\nparties remaining stronger in their own belief; and on another\noccasion, when Dr. Link, formerly an Augustinian, and now preacher at\nthe hospital, sent her a controversial pamphlet, she answered him in\nwriting, argument for argument, and made all who saw her defence\nmarvel at the clearness of her logic and the ease of her style. He had\nput himself forward as an example (doubtless because he had been, like\nher, a religious), but she answered:\n\n \u201cForgive me if I do not care to follow the example of any\n man; our example is Christ, and, even if we were to look for\n models among men, it would be strange if we sought for them\n among living men while such men as St. Augustine, St.\n Jerome, St. Cyprian, and others are set aside and disowned.\u201d\n\nLater on she again wrote to him:\n\n \u201cIf God does not inspire us with love for your new faith, we\n cannot of ourselves force our hearts to it. We should\n deceive ourselves and do violence to our conscience (which\n is wrong) if we were to listen to the threats or persuasions\n of men. It is no luxurious life, God knows, that keeps us in\n our convent; neither is it any belief that simply to have\n taken the veil assures salvation. We do not place our hope\n in the conventual rule, but in the mercy of God and his only\n Son. I hold none of my nuns back against their will; if they\n choose to leave, they are free to do so. I only ask that\n they should not be forced to do it, as has happened already\n on one occasion.\u201d\n\nTowards the end of 1528 came a time of negative peace for the nuns,\nand, as the \u201csilver wedding\u201d or jubilee of the abbess fell about\nChristmas time, the convent prepared itself for a modest festival in\nhonor of this event. It was the first time that an abbess had held her\noffice for so many years, and the celebration was looked upon with so\nmuch the more interest that no former abbess had gone through such\nstirring and troublous times during the period of her abbess-ship. The\nfestival was put off till Easter, 1529, and was long remembered by the\nnuns as one of their few red-letter days. Their friends from the town\nsent them presents of wine, fruit, cakes, and preserves, and\nPirkheimer and Dame Ursula Kramer, his neighbor, both sent their plate\nto adorn the nuns\u2019 table on the occasion. This pleased the simple\nwomen immensely, and Katharine, Charitas\u2019 niece, wrote in glowing\nterms to her father, giving him an account of the festivities of the\nday. We will quote a few passages from her letter:\n\n \u201cIn the morning the whole community came to the mother, each\n sister bearing a torch, and the prioress put a crown upon\n her head and led her to the choir, where we said the Office\n for the day and then sang the Mass as best we could. Then\n the mother took the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle\n and exposed it, and the community knelt to adore it and make\n a spiritual communion. We comforted ourselves with the words\n of St. Augustine: _Crede et manducasti_ (Believe, and thou\n hast eaten). The mother then sat by the altar, and one by\n one we all went up to her and embraced her, \u2026 and she had\n her hands full of rings, and gave each of the sisters one as\n a pledge of their renewed espousals with their Bridegroom\n and of their resolve to be true to him; \u2026 although it has\n not been the custom hitherto with us, the mother thought\n that, considering these exceptionally sad years, it would be\n a remembrance of the obedience and earnestness with which we\n have hung together through these vicissitudes.\u2026 Then we took\n the mother to table, \u2026 and you, dear father, have proved\n yourself a generous host. The sisters said, \u2018Oh! that Master\n Pirkheimer were here to see how we are enjoying his good\n gifts\u2019; and your plate and Dame Kramer\u2019s delighted us also\n mightily.\u2026 At last, at night, we had a little dance. The old\n nuns danced as well as the young ones. Mother Apollonia\n Tucher, who has been fifty-seven years in the convent, took\n hold of me and turned me round; \u2026 and the dance was so\n hearty that the mother said, \u2018Dear children, spare my\n tables.\u2019\u201d\n\nThis was the last joyful event of Charitas\u2019 life. Three months after\nthis festival her niece Crescentia, Pirkheimer\u2019s daughter, died, and\nthe wicked tongues of the town took occasion to wag against the nuns,\naccusing them of worrying her to death; but Pirkheimer himself put\ndown these scandalous rumors by publicly thanking the community for\nthe care bestowed on his child, and by making a special gift to the\nconvent in recognition of it. He also singled out the sisters who had\nhad special care of his daughter during her illness, and sent them\ntokens of his gratitude; and, not content with this, he left the\nconvent fifty gulden in his will, which they received after his death.\n\nAnother cross befell the abbess in the loss of reason of two of her\nnuns\u2014a circumstance of which her enemies did not fail to make good\nuse; but, the two sisters being perfectly harmless, except at long\nintervals, no removal was necessary, and they went about their common\nduties peacefully until their death.\n\nIn 1530 Charitas lost her well-beloved brother Wilibald, which was a\nsad break-up to her; but before he died he published an _Apology for\nthe Convent of St. Clare_, which greatly comforted, if it did not\nhelp, the nuns. But the council contemptuously overlooked this as it\nhad done all previous petitions.\n\nTwo years after her brother\u2019s death the noble Charitas Pirkheimer\nfollowed him to a better land, and her sister Clara was chosen abbess\nin her stead. Her friend Apollonia Tucher died within a few months, on\nthe 15th of January, 1533, and the new abbess the following month,\nwhereupon her niece Katharine became abbess and ruled the community\nfor thirty years. She was the last abbess but one; for towards the end\nof the century the last nun died and the convent reverted to the\ntown.[74] But the good fight had been fought, and the noble defeat\nonly brought fresh and eternal honor on the name of the Clarist Order;\nfor, as says Montaigne, \u201cThere are defeats that dispute the palm with\nvictories,\u201d and Lacordaire comments thus on the saying: \u201cThis noble\naxiom applies no less to moral than to military defeats, and we should\nnever tire of inculcating the principle that as long as honor and\nconscience are safe, so long also is fame deserved.\u201d\n\n\n [72] _Charitas Pirkheimer, Abbess of St. Clare at\n Nuremberg._ By Franz Binder. Herder, Freiburg im\n Breisgau. The biographer, Franz Binder, has compiled\n the life of Charitas, which we have condensed in the\n present article, from trustworthy sources, the\n principal ones being the _Works of Wilibald\n Pirkheimer_, in Latin, published at Frankfort in 1610;\n MS. letters of the Pirkheimer family preserved in the\n town library at Nuremberg; Charitas\u2019 own diary,\n published at Bamberg in 1852; Dr. Lochner\u2019s _Biography\n of Celebrated Nurembergers_, published in 1861; and\n other less important and shorter works in which passing\n reference is made to the events of Charitas\u2019 life.\n\n [73] Literally _lay priests_, but, we think, referring to\n seculars.\n\n [74] The church of St. Clare at Nuremberg remained for a\n long time closed. It was then opened again and soon\n afterwards given over to Protestant worship. It was\n subsequently used for commercial purposes, as a\n magazine of wares, a market-place, and place for local\n exhibitions, and finally as a barracks. In 1854 it was\n given back to the Catholics of Nuremberg as their\n second church. In the following year its restoration\n was begun, and on May 13, 1857, the Church of St. Clare\n was publicly consecrated anew for Catholic worship.\n\n\n\n\n MYSTERIES.\n\n\n \u201cIt might have been.\u201d We say it oft,\n With aching heart, with streaming eyes;\n We grope with eager, outstretched hands\n After another\u2019s slighted prize.\n\n We call a life a wasted life.\n O mourning souls! be not too sure.\n Out of great darkness may come light,\n And, after evil, hearts grow pure.\n\n God only knows. We leave to him\n The things that are not what we would,\n And trust that in his own good time\n He will do that which he sees good.\n\n His will be done. The quivering lips\n Must say it, though with bitter tears.\n _His will!_ It is enough, enough\n To hush our murmurs, soothe our fears.\n\n He overrules all pain and sin,\n Makes dire disgrace work out his word.\n Poor souls, bow down before his might\n And trust all myst\u2019ries with the Lord.\n\n\n\n\nARE YOU MY WIFE?\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cPARIS BEFORE THE WAR,\u201d \u201cNUMBER THIRTEEN,\u201d \u201cPIUS\nVI.,\u201d ETC.\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nA TRIP SOUTHWARD.\n\n\nWhen the first overflow of emotion had subsided, Sir Simon drew a\nchair close to the sofa and wanted to hear every detail about\nRaymond\u2019s illness\u2014what the doctor had done, and, if possible,\neverything he had said about it at each visit. When Franceline had\ntold the little there was to tell beyond the one terrible central\nfact, it was Sir Simon\u2019s turn to be catechised. He submitted willingly\nto the inquisition. He went over the story of Clide de Winton\u2019s\nletter, and all the happy consequences it had entailed\u2014the\nhard-hearted Jew sent to the right-about, the rest of the duns\nquieted, all Sir Simon\u2019s difficulties happily settled. Clide\u2019s name\nwas openly mentioned in the course of the narrative, and coupled with\nepithets of enthusiastic admiration and gratitude\u2014he was a\nnoble-hearted fellow, true as steel, generous as the sun, delicate as\na woman; it was impossible which to admire most, his generous conduct\nor the delicacy with which he had done this immense service to his\nfather\u2019s old friend. Franceline said nothing while this panegyric was\nbeing sung, but she could not hide from herself the fact that it was\nsounding in her ears like the sweetest music. She had found out long\nsince why Clide\u2019s name had become a dead-letter with Sir Simon, why he\nnever even alluded to his existence in her presence; since he now\nbroke through this reticence, was it not a proof that the motive of it\nhad been removed, and that he was free to speak of Clide, and she to\nlisten, and that consequently no barrier existed any longer between\ntheir lives? The truth was that Sir Simon had come to the conclusion\nthat the barrier was of no great importance to either of them by this\ntime. He was not given much to diving into the depths of human hearts,\nanalyzing their motives and impulses; and he did not give other people\ncredit for spending their lives in such unprofitable work as brooding\nover sentimental grievances and pining after the impossible. It was\nevident that if Franceline had been in love with Clide, she must have\neither died of it by this time or got over it. She had not died,\n_ergo_ she had got over it. There was no harm, therefore, in singing\nthat fine young fellow\u2019s praises in her hearing, and it was a great\nsatisfaction to the baronet to be able to pour out his grateful\neulogies to a sympathizing audience. So they went on playing at cross\npurposes, each perfectly unconscious of what was uppermost in the\nother\u2019s thoughts; Sir Simon settling it in his own mind that Ponsonby\nAnwyll would carry the day, now that everything else had adjusted\nitself so satisfactorily, while Franceline dreamed her own little\ndream, and fancied it must be the reflection of it in her father\u2019s\nthoughts that filled his eyes with those gentle sunbeams as his glance\nmet hers.\n\nSir Simon, having emptied his budget of news, proceeded to unfold his\nprogramme, and was agreeably surprised to find that he was to be\nspared the trouble of defending it. Franceline was overjoyed at the\nprospect of seeing a new country, and Raymond acquiesced in everything\nas placid and innocently happy as an infant. So it was agreed that\nthey would start for the south without the loss of a day, if possible.\nAng\u00e9lique was called into council and ordered to begin to pack up at\nonce. To-morrow morning Dr. Blink should decide what climate was best\nsuited to Raymond, who was now the person to be chiefly considered.\nMeantime, Sir Simon took rather an unfair advantage of the medical man\nby biassing the inclinations of both patients towards a certain\nsun-girt villa on the Mediterranean, where myrtle and olive groves\nwere said to crown every hillside, where the vine and the orange and\nthe pomegranate grew like wild flowers elsewhere, mirrored in the sea\nthat is \u201cdeeply, darkly, beautifully blue.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen did you come home\u2014to England, I mean?\u201d said M. de la Bourbonais\nwhen the baronet paused in his glowing description of a Mediterranean\nsunset.\n\n\u201cThis morning. I came straight on here from Dover. The lawyer wanted\nthat deed that led to my finding the snuff-box. I must go back with it\nby the early train to-morrow; it is absolutely necessary that it\nshould be forthcoming to prove the validity of Lady Rebecca\u2019s marriage\nsettlement.\u201d\n\n\u201cMarriage settlement!\u201d exclaimed Raymond and Franceline together. \u201cDo\nyou mean that she is going to be married?\u201d\n\n\u201cGood gracious, no! Poor soul, she\u2019s gone\u2014gone to her great account,\u201d\nsaid Sir Simon, shaking his head with becoming solemnity. \u201cShe died\nthree days ago. It was a happy release, a most merciful release! She\nreally had nothing to regret, poor, dear soul.\u201d And her step-son\nheaved a dutiful sigh, and drew his hand across his forehead with a\ngesture expressive of resigned sorrow.\n\nRaymond was in no mood to laugh, even if the subject had been less\nsolemn; but he could not but remember\u2014and Sir Simon knew he must\nremember\u2014how often this mournful event had been devoutly invoked by\nboth of them in days not so long gone by. It was probably the\nrecollection of this that prompted his next question.\n\n\u201cHow did she leave her property?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! admirably; nothing could be kinder or juster,\u201d replied the\nbaronet, heaving the tribute of another sigh. \u201cShe left her \u00a350,000 to\nme unconditionally, chargeable merely with a life legacy for three old\nservants; the jointure, you know, reverts to the estate. So you see\nthe duns would not have had so long to wait even if De Winton had not\ncome to the rescue. She was an excellent woman. Of course one feels\nthe blow, but it really would be selfish to regret her; she was a\ngreat sufferer, and it was a happy release.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you did not stop in London to ask if there were any letters at\nyour bankers\u2019?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; were there any?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere was one from me\u2014or at least written at my request.\u201d\n\n\u201cHa!\u201d\n\nSir Simon looked up, full of curiosity. Franceline feared she was in\nthe way of some explanation, so made an excuse to leave the room about\nsome _tisane_ it was time for her father to take.\n\n\u201cYou must be more puzzled than ever now to know why I refused to let\nmy pockets be examined that night,\u201d said M. de la Bourbonais,\nresorting to his old trick of fixing his spectacles to hide his\nshyness.\n\n\u201cWhy was it?\u201d said Sir Simon, pulling out his cigar-case, and\ncarefully selecting one of the choice Havanas, as if he had the\nremotest intention of lighting it; it was only an excuse not to have\nto look at Raymond.\n\n\u201cYou may remember that there were little _p\u00e2t\u00e9s de foie gras_ at\ndinner; they looked like _petits pains_?\u201d\n\n\u201cI remember it perfectly; and excellent they were. I had just got the\nrecipe from the _Fr\u00e8res Proven\u00e7eaux_; it was the first time Dorel had\never made them. Well?\u201d\n\n\u201cFranceline was, you know, very ill just then; she could eat nothing.\nI fancied these might tempt her, so I slipped a couple of them into my\npockets with some bonbons. This was why I would not turn them out. I\nwas ashamed to exhibit my poverty to all those men, especially to that\nstranger who had been taunting me with it; I would not let him see\nwhat a poor devil I was, and to what straits poverty drove me to get\nfood for my sick child.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy poor Raymond!\u201d was all Sir Simon could say, and he grasped his\nhand.\n\n\u201cThen you remember I came back? I was rushing home when it occurred to\nme that I had done a mad thing; so I threw away the _p\u00e2t\u00e9s_ and the\nbonbons, and went back and made a fool of myself, as you know. I think\nI must have been mad. I know I had been taking a great deal of wine to\nkeep me up; anyhow, I did not reflect, until I saw the effect of my\npresence, what a preposterous act it was, and that you should have\nbeen all fools to see any proof of my innocence in it.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou might have trusted _me_,\u201d said Sir Simon reproachfully. \u201cI would\nhave believed you\u2014I did believe you in spite of my senses. I came to\nthe conclusion you were, as you say, either mad or drunk, and had\ntaken it unawares. Why didn\u2019t you write to me?\u201d\n\n\u201cI did. I wrote you a full account of it all; but, as ill-luck had it,\nyour letter telling me to send back the ring arrived before mine left.\nI was so incensed at your suspecting me that I tore up the letter. I\nwas a fool, of course; but you know of old that pride is my weak\npoint. It was not until I was struck down by illness, and brought face\nto face with death, and with the thought that I was going to leave my\nchild friendless in the world with a dishonored name, that I resolved\nto sacrifice it, and for her sake to write to you and ask you to take\ncharge of her and do what you could to clear my memory from the stain\nthat my own vanity and folly had fixed upon it. Father Henwick wrote\nto you to this effect in my name on Tuesday. The letter is lying at\nyour bankers\u2019.\u201d\n\n\u201cI was as much to blame as you. I ought to have known you better than\nto mistrust you; I ought to have known there _must_ be some mistake in\nit,\u201d said Sir Simon, rising and going to the window. \u201cI ought to have\nwritten to you to ask you for an explanation, and so I was always\nintending to do; but what with the excitement of Clide\u2019s finding\nhis\u2014of his finding out my difficulties and so on,\u201d he continued,\nchecking himself in time before the murder was out, \u201cand then poor,\ndear Lady Rebecca\u2019s telegraphing for me, I nearly lost my head, and\nkept putting off writing from day to day, in hopes that you would\nwrite.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs monsieur going to stay to tea? Because, if so, it is time I began\nthe omelette,\u201d said Ang\u00e9lique, following Franceline into the room,\ncarrying a tray with something on it for M. de la Bourbonais.\n\nBut Sir Simon said he must be going that very minute. How the time had\nflown, and he had so many things to see to at the Court! Raymond was\nrather exhausted when his friend left, but he slept sounder that night\nthan he had done for a long time.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe warm southern spring had burst its green bonds and flown suddenly\ninto the arms of summer; it lay disporting itself in the splendor of\nnew-clad flowers along the shores of the Mediterranean, laughing up at\nthe dazzling sky like a babe smiling into its mother\u2019s face.\nEverything was fresh, lustrous, and dewy. The sun was not too hot to\nbe enjoyable, the birds were not too tired to sing, a light breeze\ncame fluttering from the sea to cool the vines, and died away in sighs\nand whispers amidst the ilex-grove that made a background to the\nwhite-washed villa where a group of three persons were sitting out on\nthe terrace under the shade of a broad veranda. I dare say you have\nrecognized the young lady in the fleecy muslin dress. The pink tint in\nher ivory complexion is a decided improvement; but it has not so\nchanged her that you could forget her. She looks stronger now; there\nis an energetic grace in her movements that tells of improved health;\nso, too, does the warmer glow of the dark gold hair and the more\nanimated glance of the eyes. You see she has brought her doves with\nher, and seems to have many interesting things to say to them as they\nperch on her head and her finger, and utter that, to her, melodious\nchant of theirs, but which Sir Simon Harness has the bad taste to find\nwearisome and lugubrious.\n\n\u201cCould you persuade those doves of yours to cease that dismal noise\njust for ten minutes, Franceline? It\u2019s working under difficulties,\ntrying to correct proof-sheets while they keep up that dirge.\u201d\n\nFranceline, deeply offended, carries off her darlings to the other\nside of the house, without deigning any further comment than a toss of\nher pretty head at the speaker and a look of mild reproach at her\nfather, who yields a tacit consent to the insult by his silence.\nMoreover, when Franceline and \u201cthose doves of hers\u201d are out of sight,\nhe breathes an audible sigh of relief and proceeds to read the\ncontested sentence aloud again. There was a good deal of arguing and\nbickering over it; Sir Simon insisting that the epithet was too strong\nand should be modified, while M. de la Bourbonais maintained that\nwhether _he_ applied the term \u201cpatriot cast in the rough antique\nmould\u201d to Mirabeau or not signified very little, since the facts as he\nstated and construed them applied it far more forcibly. They were\nsquabbling over it still when, half an hour later, Franceline came\nback, apparently in a forgiving mood, and expressed her wonder how\npeople could go on quarrelling when everything around was so full of\npeace, in a world where all created things were steeped in beauty and\nin bliss; where life was not a struggle, but a joy; where nothing was\nneeded but the will to vibrate to the pulse of love with which the\ngreat mother\u2019s breast was heaving, to respond to the sun\u2019s wooing and\nthe wind\u2019s wafting, to the music of flowers and birds, to be a voice\nin the choir and a grain of incense on the altar, to live, to love,\nand to be happy. What were proof-sheets worth if they could not swell\nthe glad concert and sound their chime in the joy-bells of life? They\nwere sounding their little chime, though, in spite of the frequent\nclash of arms they gave rise to between the author and his pig-headed\nTory critic. The crisp little rolls of paper were an immense\nsuperadded interest to Raymond\u2014and consequently to Franceline\u2014in their\nnew life of golden sunshine. They would come to an end soon now; a few\nmore bundles of proofs, then a pause of solemn expectation, and the\ngreat work would appear immortalized between the boards.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nFOUND AT LAST!\n\n\nWhile the three inmates of the white-washed villa were watching the\ndays go by, and wondering if to-morrow could possibly be as happy as\nyesterday and to-day, Clide de Winton was living a very different life\nin his lodgings near the asylum. He had not yet been permitted to see\nthe lady whom he believed to be his wife. She had fallen ill with an\nattack on the lungs which had very nearly proved fatal, and during the\nsix weeks that it lasted it was impossible to let any one approach her\nexcept the familiar faces of the doctor and her attendant. She had\nrallied from this illness only to return to her old delusion with a\nfonder intensity than ever. Day after day she decked herself in her\nfaded flowers and ribbons, and stood or knelt at her window,\nstretching out her arms to the mid-day sun, calling to him with the\ntenderest words of endearment, and telling him her passionate\nlove-tale over and over again; then turning from this to paroxysms of\ndespair more violent than formerly, and which threatened at each\ncrisis to shatter the fragile vase and send the feeble spark flying\nupwards.\n\n \u201cAnd now she courted love; now, raving, called on hate.\u201d\n\nClide had repeatedly asked to see Mr. Percival, but the desire for an\ninterview was evidently not mutual; for, although no refusal was ever\nsent, the promises held out by the medical man were continually\nbroken; the visit of Mr. Percival was always \u201cunexpectedly prevented\u201d\nby one cause or another. Stanton arrived at the conclusion that he did\nnot wish to meet Clide, and that, moreover, he was constantly at the\nasylum unknown to them, and that the only way to see him would be to\nlie in wait and collar him, and make him speak out by main force,\nsince he would not do it otherwise. Mr. de Winton saw difficulties in\nthe way of this summary method of proceeding, but his valet entreated\nhim to leave it in his hands and not trouble himself about that. Clide\nhad small confidence in the diplomatic skill of his man, but he could\ntrust him not to do anything dangerously rash; so he asked no\nquestions, but let him follow his own devices for catching Mr.\nPercival. That gentleman, however, proved himself a match for Stanton.\nHe was not to be taken either by stratagem or force; and though\nStanton dodged about the park gates, and recruited a small police\nforce, amongst little boys on the lookout for a penny, to skulk about\nlate and early to watch the comers and goers from the asylum, and give\nhim timely warning, it led to nothing but vain hopes and frequent\ndisappointments.\n\nClide was growing sick to death of the miserable business. He had been\nmore than two months now stationed at his post. Isabel\u2019s illness had\nmade two-thirds of that time utterly useless to him; but it was now a\nfull week since the doctor had declared her convalescent, and he\nseemed no nearer the solution of her identity than when he first\ndescried her through the panel of the door. He determined at last one\nmorning to go in and speak out his mind to the medical man. He told\nhim that he insisted on an interview with Mr. Percival, or else he\nwould take steps in the matter which might be disagreeable to all\nparties. It was quite inexplicable, he said, that they should not have\nbeen able to find an opportune moment or letting him approach the\npatient all this time, and the persistent obstacles that were thrown\nin the way of an interview with the man who called himself her\nguardian led him to infer that both Mr. Percival and the doctor were\nin league to prevent her identity being tested and established.\n\nThe effect of this broadside was startling. But although it took the\ndoctor entirely by surprise, it did not throw him off his guard or\ndisturb his presence of mind. He looked at the speaker for a moment in\nsilence, and then said in a perfectly cool and collected manner:\n\n\u201cI see there is no use in playing at this game any longer. I have\nhumored you up to this, and borne with your mania, because I knew it\nwas a mania. It has been plain to me from the third time I saw you,\nMr. de Winton, that you were yourself the victim of a delusion and an\neligible candidate for a lunatic asylum. I have prevented Mr. Percival\nfrom taking steps to have you confined\u2014the law empowers us to do so\nwhen a madman threatens the security and honor of another\u2014because I\nhoped the monomania would wear itself out with patience. I find I have\nbeen mistaken. I shall interfere no farther with Mr. Percival in his\nlegitimate desire to protect the lady who is under my care from your\npersistent persecution. She is no more your wife than she is mine.\nYour story about her is as groundless as the ravings of a man in\nfever.\u201d\n\nWhile the doctor delivered himself of this attack Clide stared at him\nin stupefaction. He saw the medical man\u2019s glance fixed on him with the\nexpression of one who was versed in the art of reading the mind\nthrough that lucid and faithful interpreter\u2014the eye. But though he was\nboth shocked and indignant, he was not a whit frightened; he bore the\nscrutiny without flinching, without dropping his lid once.\n\n\u201cYou are a clever tactician, I see,\u201d he said coolly. \u201cCarrying the war\ninto the enemy\u2019s country is one of the desperate strategies of a\ndaring general, but it is sometimes more fatal to the invader than to\nthe invaded. You have now thrown off the mask and shown me exactly\nwhat manner of man I have to deal with, and I shall resort to other\nmeans than those I have hitherto employed for seeing the patient whom\nI am now absolutely and fully convinced is no other than my unhappy\nwife.\u201d\n\nHe rose, and was leaving without further parley when the doctor cried\nout:\n\n\u201cYou can see her this moment, if you choose\u2014that is, if you choose to\nbe guilty of homicide. I am prepared to state before the first men in\nthe faculty, and to stake my character on the assertion, that\u2014if she\nbe your wife\u2014the sight of you, supposing that it brings recognition,\nwill be fatal to her life by causing the rupture of a vessel on the\nbrain. Come back with any qualified witnesses you think fit, and I\nwill repeat this in their presence, and then, on your responsibility,\nI will conduct you to the patient.\u201d\n\nClide made no answer, but left the house, and was soon on his way to\nPiccadilly in a cab. The admiral had come to town the night before; it\nwas partly the desire to be able to give his uncle some definite\ninformation concerning the inmate of the mad-house that had driven him\nto burn his ships and have it out with the doctor.\n\nThe cab stopped, and as Clide alighted he was accosted by a friendly\nvoice and the grip of a heavy hand on his shoulder.\n\n\u201cHallo, De Winton! How are you? Where have you turned up from?\u201d\n\nIt was Ponsonby Anwyll\u2019s voice; he looked in the highest state of\nelation, blonder and burlier than ever, the very picture of good\ntemper, good digestion, and general prosperity.\n\nThe sight of him jarred on Clide; he had naturally a vindictive\nfeeling toward poor Ponsonby since that random shot of Sir Simon\u2019s\nabout his making Franceline a good husband by and by. He did not\nbelieve a word of it; but it made him feel savagely to the young\nsquire, nevertheless. How dare he behave so as to get his name coupled\nwith hers at all?\n\n\u201cI have been hanging about town for some time,\u201d returned Clide as\nstiffly as he could without being uncivil. \u201cI suppose you\u2019re on leave?\nOr perhaps quartered somewhere hereabouts?\u201d\n\n\u201cQuartered! No such luck! We\u2019re vegetating in Devonshire still, I\u2019m\nsorry to say; but there\u2019ll soon be an end of it for me. I mean to sell\nout and settle down one of these days. I\u2019ve come up to try and get a\nmonth\u2019s leave. I think I\u2019ll succeed, too, the colonel is such an\nawfully good fellow; and what do you think I\u2019m going to do with it?\nWhere do you think I\u2019m going to spend it?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow should I know?\u201d\n\n\u201cAt Nice! Sir Simon Harness has asked me over to stay at his villa\nthere; the De la Bourbonais are there, you know. You\u2019ll be glad to\nhear that Franceline has made a splendid recovery of it, and the count\nhas picked up wonderfully too.\u2026 Oh! I beg a thousand pardons. Pray\nallow me!\u2026\u201d This was to an old lady whose umbrella he had whisked into\nthe middle of the street with a touch of his stick, that he kept\nswinging round while he held forth to Clide. When he had picked it up\nand dusted it, and apologized three times over, he went on to say:\n\u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t you run over and see them all too, eh? You used to be\nvery friendly with the count, eh? And Sir Simon would be enchanted to\nsee you. There\u2019s nothing he likes so much as being come down on by a\nfriend unawares, you know.\u201d\n\n\u201cI never gratify my friends in that respect,\u201d said Clide freezingly;\n\u201cI always wait to be invited. Are you to be a large party at the\nvilla?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t fancy so; but I really don\u2019t know. The only invitations I\nknow of are myself and Roxham. He\u2019s a capital fellow, Roxham; I\u2019m glad\nwe are going together. I wish you\u2019d come too, though, eh? Perhaps\nyou\u2019ll think it over and pop down on us one of these days when we\nleast expect it? Have you any message for Sir Simon or any of them?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy best respects to M. de la Bourbonais and his daughter.\nGood-afternoon. A pleasant journey to you!\u201d\n\n\u201cWish me good-luck about the leave first!\u201d said the good-natured,\nobtuse dragoon as he strode on, laughing.\n\n\u201cThe lumbering idiot! How I should like to kick him! The impudence of\nthe lout calling her Franceline!\u201d This was Mr. de Winton\u2019s soliloquy\nas he stood looking after Ponsonby, giving at the same time a pull to\nthe bell as if the house were on fire.\n\nThe admiral was out. Cromer, his old valet, who had first sounded the\nsignal about Isabel, happened to be at his master\u2019s for the day, and\nsaid he believed he had gone to see Master Clide. Clide jumped back\ninto his cab and told the man to go like the wind, as he wanted to\novertake some one. His reflections on the way were none of the\npleasantest. What was bringing Ponsonby Anwyll to spend a month at Sir\nSimon\u2019s while M. de la Bourbonais and his daughter were there? What\nbut to marry Franceline? Had she, then, so completely forgotten Clide?\nWhy not? If his love for her had a tithe of the unselfishness it\nboasted, he ought to be the first to rejoice at it; to be glad that\nshe was happy and was about to become the wife of a good and honorable\nand warm-hearted man whom she loved. Did she love him? could she love\nhim?\u2014a lump of red and white clay with as much soul as a prize bull!\nShe that was such an ethereal, lily creature\u2014how could it be possible?\nWhat could any girl see in him to love? If this was an irrational and\nunfair estimate of Ponsonby\u2019s outward and inward man, it was natural\nenough on Clide\u2019s part. No man, be he ever so reasonable, is expected\nto do justice to the claims of any other man to be preferred by the\nwoman he loves. But Clide was more savage with Sir Simon even than\nwith Anwyll. What business had he to go meddling at making a match for\nFranceline? Why could he not have let her alone, and let destiny take\nits course\u2014or, to put it in a more concrete shape, let Clide de Winton\ntake his chance? Clide did not consider that his chance virtually had\nno existence whatever in Sir Simon\u2019s calculations. He believed that\nIsabel\u2019s identity was established beyond a doubt, and that this fact,\nmuch as he might regret it, excluded Clide for ever from having any\npart in Franceline\u2019s destiny. He believed, moreover, or he wished to\nbelieve\u2014which with the sanguine Sir Simon meant one and the same\nthing\u2014that Clide had quite got over his _passion malheureuse_ for\nFranceline, but, whether he had or not, it could not be helped; he\ncould not marry her, and it was preposterous to expect that she was to\nremain unmarried out of consideration for his feelings. Here was an\nadmirable settlement in life that presented itself, and it was Sir\nSimon\u2019s duty, as her self-elected guardian and her father\u2019s oldest\nfriend, to do all in his power to secure it to her.\n\nOh! but if Franceline would but wait a little longer\u2014it might be such\na very little while\u2014until Clide was free! \u201cWhat a pitiful thing a\nwoman\u2019s love is compared to a man\u2019s! If I had been in her position,\nand she in mine,\u201d he thought, \u201cI would have waited a lifetime for\nher!\u201d\n\nYou see Clide was assuming, in spite of his oft-sighed hopes to the\ncontrary, that Franceline did love him. He argued the point bitterly\nin his mind, accusing her and acquitting her and cursing his own fate\nall in the same breath, as he rattled over the stony street. But the\ncursing brought no relief. Help was nowhere at hand. In the old\nstory-books, when a man found himself at bay with difficulties, he\ncalled the devil to the rescue, and the devil came. These delightful\nlegends generally represent him in spectacles and a bottle-green coat;\nthey may sometimes differ as to the precise color of the coat, but\nthey all agree that he was the most accommodating practitioner, often\nvolunteering his services without waiting to be asked. When it came to\nstriking a bargain, no one was more liberal than he. The man in\ndifficulties made his own terms: unlimited wealth, a long life with\nthe lady of his choice, the sweet triumphs of revenge\u2014one or all of\nthese the devil would concede with the utmost generosity; all the\nclient had to do in return was to scratch his name to a bit of paper,\nsigning his soul away\u2014a sort of post-obit bill to be presented at some\nperiod that was not always even of necessity specified.\n\nIf this obliging old legendary personage had appeared at this juncture\nto Clide de Winton, I suspect he would have had little difficulty in\nstriking a bargain with him. To be free; to burst at once this odious,\ninsufferable chain that must soon be dissolved by death; to be able to\nseize the prize that was about to be snatched from him at the very\nmoment he felt sure that a little delay would have secured it to him\nfor ever\u2014to obtain this Clide would have signed away his life, ay, and\nhis soul\u2019s life too, for the asking. No evil one, it is true,\npresented himself in a bottle-green coat or any other visible attire,\nbut one, nevertheless, got close enough to the distracted lover\u2019s ear\nto whisper a proposal audibly. An invisible devil jumped into the cab\nwith him, and sat close to him all the way from Piccadilly home, and\nnever ceased urging, pleading; no tongue of flesh ever spoke more\ndistinctly:\n\n\u201cYou have the game in your own hands. The doctor is out now. You know\nyour way to her room. No one will stop you. Go straight up, and walk\nin, and address your wife; you are her husband, and have a right to do\nit. The shock will kill her; but what of that? What is life to her\nthat any merciful man should wish to prolong it? Death will be the\ncessation of mental and bodily anguish to her, poor raving maniac, and\nit will set you free\u2014free to marry Franceline. You know Franceline\nloves you. The mercy will then be for her too; if she marries Ponsonby\nAnwyll, it will be only to please her father. She will be miserable;\nit will break her heart. Go and save both her and yourself.\u201d\n\nWhen the tempter comes armed with such weapons as these, and finds us\nin the mood in which Clide was as he drove home through the noisy\nstreets into the quiet suburb, the issue of the struggle, if struggle\nthere be, is hardly doubtful. There was a struggle in this case. You\ncould see it in the feverish movements of the tempted man; he could\nnot sit still, but kept shifting his limbs as we are apt to do when\nthere is no other escape from the steady contemplation of our\nthoughts. One moment he leaned back with his hands thrust deep into\nhis pockets, and stared out of the window; the next he started forward\nand bent down on his knees, as if examining closely something at his\nfeet. He took off his hat, smoothed it with his coat-sleeve, pushed\nback his hair, and put his hat on again. This physical agitation\nseemed to bring him no relief. He drew out his pocket-book and read\nover attentively the memoranda of the day before\u2014appointments at the\nclub, with his tailor, books that he had dotted down for reading; but\nwhile he perused these commonplace items the voice of the tempter kept\non whispering, louder and louder, sweeter and sweeter. The dusty cab\nwas the temple of a vision. Franceline stood before him, with her arms\noutstretched; she drew nearer, she called him by his name; he felt her\nbreath upon his cheek, the soft touch of her hand in his. Could sin\ncome to him in such guise as this? His features for a moment were\nconvulsed, swayed by the terrible conflict. Gradually the combat\nceased, and an expression, not of calm, but of rigid determination,\nsettled on them; the dark brows drew together, making that black line\nacross the forehead which gave to Clide\u2019s face its peculiar, strong\nindividuality. He had not accepted the tempter\u2019s arguments, but he had\naccepted the issue they pointed at, twisting reasons to his own\npurpose, and adopting the sophistry of passion: \u201cI will go and accost\nher. Ten to one\u2014what do I say? a hundred to one, she is not my wife.\nThe absence of the silver tooth ought to have convinced me of that\nlong ago. It ought to have settled the non-identity from the first;\nfor Percival says he never heard of such a thing. As to its killing\nher, supposing she be my wife, it\u2019s all nonsense; the fellow is in\nPercival\u2019s pay, and that\u2019s why he has fought out so against my seeing\nher. I\u2019ll defy him once for all, and make an end of it one way or\nanother.\u201d\n\nClide did not, or would not, see the palpable paradox that there was\nin this train of reasoning; but deafen himself as he might by\nsophistry and inclination, he could not drown the voice of conscience,\nthat clamored so as to make itself heard above every other.\n\n\u201cHas the admiral been here?\u201d was his first question as he sprang out\nof the cab and rushed up-stairs.\n\n\u201cYes, sir; him and Mr. Simpson.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! Simpson. Are they long gone?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot above a good quarter of an hour. They\u2019re not gone very far;\nthey\u2019re over yonder,\u201d said Stanton, with a knowing jerk of his head in\nthe direction of the asylum.\n\nClide started.\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean? What are they gone to do there?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey\u2019re just gone to have it out with the doctor, sir. Mr. Simpson\nsays it\u2019s all gammon about your not being let see her. He\u2019s gone over\nto insist on seeing her himself\u2014him and the admiral; and if the doctor\nrefuses to let them up, Mr. Simpson\u2019ll set the law on him.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood God! they will kill her. They have done it already perhaps! I am\ntoo late to stop them!\u201d said Clide, white to the lips, and taking a\nstride towards the door. The room reeled round him. Was he going to be\nan accomplice in the murder of his wife? He would at that moment have\nrenounced Franceline for ever to prevent the act that a few minutes\nago he was bent on committing.\n\nStanton was frightened.\n\n\u201cStay you here, Master Clide,\u201d he said, taking him by both arms and\nforcing him into a chair. \u201cDon\u2019t you take on like that. I\u2019ll run\nacross and stop \u2018em. There an\u2019t no \u2018arm done; the doctor\u2019s never in\nthe \u2018ouse at this hour, and they never \u2018ud let them hup without him.\nYou stay quiet while I run after them. I\u2019ll be back in no time.\u201d\n\nClide made no resistance; he let himself drop into the chair in a kind\nof stupor. The sudden reaction, coming close upon the fierce mental\nconflict he had gone through, acted like a blow on a drunken man; it\nstunned and felled him.\n\n\u201cGo, then, and be quick, for God\u2019s sake!\u201d he muttered.\n\n * * * * *\n\nTen minutes went by, and then fifteen, and Clide began to wonder what\nwas keeping Stanton.\n\nHe could bear the suspense no longer, but took up his hat and went to\nsee what caused the delay.\n\nStanton, meantime, had not been amusing himself. In answer to his\ninquiries the porter informed him that the two gentlemen he was\nlooking for had called at the house and asked to see the doctor, and,\non hearing that he was out and not expected home for half an hour, had\ndeclined to come in, but were walking about the place waiting for him.\nStanton hesitated a moment whether he should run home at once with\nthis reassuring news to his master, or fetch the admiral and Mr.\nSimpson, and bring them back with him; he decided for the latter and\nset off to look for them. The grounds were spacious and thickly\nplanted enough to admit of two persons easily getting out of sight for\na few minutes; but when Stanton had looked all round, walking hastily\nfrom avenue to alley, and could see no trace of the two gentlemen, he\nbegan to think they must have changed their minds and gone away. He\nwent on, however, a good way behind the house until he came on a low\nbrick wall that he fancied must mark the limits of the premises. He\nwas about to turn back when he heard a loud, shrill scream proceeding\nfrom the other side of the wall. He ran along by it till he saw a door\nthat was ajar, and then, without pausing to consider where he was\ngoing or what he was doing, rushed in and ran on in the direction of\nthe scream. Presently he heard voices raised in angry strife. A few\nmore steps brought him in presence of Admiral de Winton, Mr. Simpson,\nand a third gentleman. They were disputing violently. The admiral was\nsupporting a woman who had apparently fainted; the stranger was\nexpostulating and trying to take her from him; Mr. Simpson was\nstanding between them, speaking in loud and authoritative tones:\n\n\u201cVery well, very good; we shall see if it is as you say. But we must\nsee for ourselves; we must find out if there was nothing in her crying\nout \u2018Clide! Clide!\u2019 the moment she saw this gentleman and heard his\nvoice. Stand back! Don\u2019t lay a finger on him or on her! I _do_ know\nwhat I am doing\u2014I know better than you do. Stand off, I tell you!\u201d\n\nThe stranger was, however, determined to make a fight for it, and was\nanswering in a bullying, insolent manner when Stanton came up.\n\n\u201cI know that voice! Where have I heard it?\u201d was the valet\u2019s first\nthought as the loud, harsh tones fell on his ear.\n\nThere was a garden seat close at hand. The admiral was carrying the\nfainting woman towards it. Stanton ran forward to help.\n\n\u201cGo to the house and call for proper assistance,\u201d said Mr. Simpson\nshortly to the stranger. \u201cYou know where to find it, I suppose; you\nknow the house.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know I sha\u2019n\u2019t move from this while my child is at the mercy of two\nescaped lunatics! That\u2019s what I know,\u201d retorted the other savagely.\n\nThe words were not out of his mouth when Stanton was at his throat,\ncollaring him with both hands.\n\n\u201cYou scoundrel! I\u2019ve caught you at last,\u201d he said. \u201cYou villain of\nvillains! I\u2019ll do for you! He\u2019s the fellow that called himself\nPrendergast, and that\u2019s master Clide\u2019s wife!\u201d\n\nAll this took much less time to enact than to relate. The scream which\nhad brought Stanton to the spot had been heard by an attendant; there\nwas always one on the watch in the neighborhood of the patients\u2019\ngarden, and she came hurrying up in an instant.\n\n\u201cWho are you all, and what are you doing here?\u201d she cried, casting an\nalarmed look at the three men and at the lifeless figure stretched on\nthe wooden seat.\n\n\u201cA couple of escaped lunatics!\u201d shouted Mr. Percival, struggling\nfuriously. Stanton was holding him by the collar, while Mr. Simpson\npinioned him from behind, the admiral standing meantime, bent in eager\nscrutiny, over the strange figure, decked out in faded flowers and\nribbons, that lay insensible before him.\n\n\u201cCome here!\u201d he said, beckoning to the attendant; \u201ccome and attend to\nthis poor creature, and leave those gentlemen to settle their business\nalone.\u201d\n\nThe woman evidently felt that this was what it most concerned her to\ndo; she allowed the admiral to lift the patient in his arms, while she\nguided him into the house. They had just entered by a back door when\nClide de Winton walked by in search of Stanton. The porter had\ndirected him to \u201csomewhere about the grounds,\u201d and, after looking in\nvain up and down the avenues, he was going to give it up in despair\nwhen he saw the door in the garden wall, now wide open, and heard a\nvoice which he recognized as Stanton\u2019s, \u201cCome on! You may as well give\nin and come quietly; bad language and kicks will only make it worse\nfor you, you rascal!\u201d\n\nClide was quickly on the spot, and beheld Stanton and Mr. Simpson\nwrestling desperately with a man whose fury seemed a match for their\nunited strength.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve caught him, Master Clide! We have him tight\u2014that rascal\nPrendergast! You an\u2019t he? You be choked for a \u2014\u2014 liar!\u201d\n\nClide stood for a moment confounded. There was not a trait of\nresemblance, as far as he could see, between the stout, full-bodied\nman with jet black hair, and the gray-haired, thin, miserable-looking\nmortal whom he remembered as Mr. Prendergast. His first idea was that\nStanton had made another outrageous mistake, as in the case of Miss\nEliza Jane Honey.\n\n\u201cWho are you? You are not the Mr. Prendergast I knew, are you?\u201d he\nsaid, addressing the stranger.\n\n\u201cOf course I am not! I never saw you or this madman in my life! My\nname is Mathew Percival; my daughter is unfortunately a patient in\nthis asylum, and this fellow will have it that she is his wife!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy master\u2019s wife, you scoundrel! Don\u2019t think to come over us with\nmaking believe not to understand! She\u2019s Mr. Clide de Winton\u2019s wife!\u201d\nsaid Stanton, taking a tighter grip, as if he feared the prize might\nmake a sudden dart and escape from him.\n\n\u201cYou _are_ the man who called himself Prendergast, and whose niece, as\nyou then called her, I married!\u201d said Clide. The voice and the broad\nScotch accent were unmistakable, though the speaker had made an effort\nto disguise them. \u201cYou say she is your daughter now. Speak the truth\nat once. The patient in yonder house is the Isabel Cameron whom I\nmarried. Let him go, Simpson! Stanton, let go your hold on him! Speak\nout now.\u201d\n\nMr. Prendergast, or Percival, looked down sullenly for a moment, as if\nmaking up his mind how to meet this challenge; then he looked up with\nthe dogged, defiant air of a man at bay who is resolved to die game.\nHe was going to speak, when a woman, the same attendant who had just\nleft them, came running up in breathless haste.\n\n\u201cStanton! Which of you is Stanton?\u201d she cried.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s me!\u201d\n\n\u201cThen go as fast as you can and fetch your master! His wife is calling\nfor him; run quickly, or it will be too late. She is dying!\u201d\n\n\u201cI am his master! I am her husband! Take me with you!\u201d said Clide,\nturning so white that Stanton thought he was going to faint and made a\nmovement to give him his arm; but Clide waved him away and walked on\nwith a steady step.\n\nSomething between a cry and an oath escaped from Percival; he made no\nattempt to follow them, but muttered more to himself than to his\ncompanions:\n\n\u201cThe murder is out! There is nothing more to tell. She is his wife,\nand I am the Prendergast he knew.\u201d\n\nStanton\u2019s fury had subsided in an instant, quenched by the chill which\nthose words of the attendant had thrown upon the group: \u201c_She is\ndying!_\u201d What had human passion or earthly vengeance to do now with\nIsabel or Mr. Prendergast? In the presence of the Great Avenger all\nother vengeance was silenced. The three men walked on toward the house\nwithout exchanging a word. The porter let them in. The doctor, he\nsaid, had not yet returned. It did not matter; they would wait, not\nfor him now, but for Death.\n\nWhen Clide entered the room, he beheld Admiral de Winton seated beside\nthe dying woman\u2019s bed; her face was lifted toward his with a mute\nexpression, half of yearning, half of fear, while she listened to the\nsoothing words he tried to speak to her. The moment Clide appeared her\neyes turned toward him. There was no mistaking the identity now; those\neyes, so faded and dim, were the same that had first fired his foolish\nheart with their dark young radiance. The cheeks, once round, were wan\nand hollow, the glossy, ebon hair was specked with gray, but the face\nwas that of his long-lost wife, the Isabel of his boyish love.\n\n\u201cYou have come!\u2026 You have come to say that you forgive me!\u201d she said\nin faint, low tones, fastening a wistful, trembling glance on him; for\nClide did not advance at once, but stood on the threshold, arrested by\nthe mournful spectacle.\n\n\u201cIsabel!\u201d he exclaimed, approaching softly, and he knelt down and\nleaned over her.\n\nShe looked at him so long without speaking that he began to fear she\ndid not know him after all. He raised the little hand to his lips, and\nthen stroked it caressingly; the action, the touch, seemed to strike\nsome chord long sleeping.\n\n\u201cClide, Clide!\u201d she murmured, and the tears rose and rolled in large\ndrops down her cheeks. His heart was wrung with pity; there was no\nroom for any other feeling. If she had wronged him as deeply as he had\never feared, he forgave it all. He remembered nothing but that they\nhad once loved each other, that she had suffered cruelly, and that she\nwas dying.\n\n\u201cMy poor Isabel! I forgive you with all my heart, as I hope to be\nforgiven; so help me God!\u201d\n\nHe let his head fall on the pillow beside her and wept silently.\n\nAdmiral de Winton made a sign to the attendant that they had better\nwithdraw and leave them alone; she hesitated a moment, and then\nfollowed him and closed the door softly behind her. And so they were\nonce more together\u2014those two who had been joined and parted, and\nreunited now for a moment only before the final parting. No one\ndisturbed them, no eye looked behind the curtain while that last\nsacred interview lasted. For three hours Clide knelt by the side of\nhis dying wife, her hand in his, her head resting on his breast. He\nwhispered words of tenderness and mercy to the wearied spirit; he told\nher of a Love greater than his, and of a pardon mightier and more\navailing, of which his was but the pledge and the forerunner.\n\nAt sunset she died.\n\n\nTO BE CONCLUDED NEXT MONTH.\n\n\n\n\nNAPOLEON I. AND PIUS VII.[75]\n\nIn the _Life of Pope Pius VII._ Miss Allies has given us a picture of\nrare beauty and deep interest. We think, however, that the title of\nthe book has not been well chosen. It is not a biography of Pius VII.,\nbut a history of the efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte to make the Papacy\nan appendage and support of the vast empire which he had founded with\nhis sword. The materials for the narrative have been drawn chiefly\nfrom the _M\u00e9moires_ of Cardinal Consalvi and the _Memorie Storiche_ of\nCardinal Pacca, both of whom were witnesses of the facts which they\nrelate. The author is also greatly indebted to the recent work of\nd\u2019Haussonville, _L\u2019Eglise Romaine et le Premier Empire_.\n\nThe shock of the Revolution of 1789, which unsettled everything in\nEurope\u2014ideas, customs, laws, government\u2014could not possibly have left\nthe church undisturbed. In France the goods of the clergy were\ndeclared to belong to the nation. The churches were turned into\ntemples of Reason, the convents converted into barracks, the priests\nwho remained faithful to their consciences guillotined or sent into\nexile. The new republic, \u201cone and indivisible,\u201d aspired to be also\nuniversal, and soon the clash of arms resounded throughout Europe.\nNapoleon, at the head of the army of Italy, gained those brilliant\nvictories which kindled in his heart the flame of an all-devouring\nambition. He was ordered to march upon Rome, and he wrote to Cardinal\nMattei: \u201cSave the pope from the greatest of evils; be persuaded that I\nneed only the will in order to destroy his power.\u201d Pius VI. was in\nconsequence forced to sign a treaty in which he gave up a considerable\npart of his territory, and in the following year (1798) the French\nrepublic invaded Rome. The reign of the popes was declared to be at an\nend; the Holy Father was dragged away into captivity, and in August,\n1799, died at Valence. The following November the cardinals met in\nconclave in Venice under the protection of Russia, England, and\nTurkey, and elected Barnaba Chiaramonti, who took the title of Pius\nVII., and on the 3d of July, 1800, entered Rome amidst universal\ndemonstrations of joy. Just two months before Bonaparte had led his\nvictorious troops across the Alps, and, having triumphed over Austria,\nhad a _Te Deum_ sung in the cathedral of Milan for the deliverance of\nItaly from infidels and heretics\u2014the Turks, namely, and the English.\nShortly afterwards he informed Pius VII. of his wish to open\nnegotiations for the arrangement of religious matters. The First\nConsul was preparing to assume the purple. \u201cI did not usurp the\ncrown,\u201d he said; \u201cit was lying in the mire: I picked it up. The people\nplaced it on my head.\u201d He felt, however, that an empire founded upon\n\u201cblood and iron\u201d could not dispense with the moral support of\nreligion. He therefore determined to enter into a Concordat with the\npope. This resolution, we are bound to believe, sprang purely from\npolitical and selfish motives. Whilst fortune smiled upon him Napoleon\ncared for religion only so far as it served his ambitious ends. To\nMenon, in Egypt, he wrote: \u201cI thank you for the honors you have paid\nto _our prophet_.\u201d In India he would have been for Ali, for Confucius\nin China, and in Thibet for the Dalai Lama. Consalvi was despatched to\nParis to enter into articles of agreement with the First Consul. When\nthe cardinal presented himself before Bonaparte, he turned abruptly\nupon him and said: \u201cI know what brings you to France. I wish the\nnegotiations to begin at once. I give you five days, and, if at the\nend of that time matters are not arranged, you must return to Rome;\nfor my own part, I have already provided against such a contingency.\u201d\n\nAfter many discussions the First Consul declared that he was ready to\nratify the Concordat. Joseph Bonaparte, Bernier, and Cr\u00e9tet were to\nsign for the French government, and Consalvi, Spina, and Caselli for\nthe pope. At the appointed hour and place they all met. Bernier held\nin his hand what he said was the Concordat, and, as the cardinal\nclaimed the right of signing first, he attempted to get him to affix\nhis signature without looking at the document; but a glance showed\nConsalvi that a spurious paper had been substituted, and he refused to\nsign his name. The Concordat was to be proclaimed at a public dinner\non the following day; so the discussions were reopened and continued\nthrough the whole night, but no satisfactory conclusion was reached.\nThe hour for the dinner arrived, and when the cardinal entered the\nbanquet-hall Bonaparte called out to him in a mocking tone:\n\n \u201cSo you wish to break with me, Monsieur le Cardinal? Well,\n be it so! I have no need of Rome! I have no need of the\n pope! If Henry VIII., without the twentieth part of my\n power, was able to change the religion of his subjects, how\n much more able am not I! In changing the religion of France\n I shall change it in all Europe, in all places where my\n power is felt. When will you go?\u201d\n\n\u201cAfter dinner,\u201d replied the cardinal with seeming unconcern. This\noutburst of wrath was meant to frighten Consalvi: Bonaparte had really\nno intention of breaking so suddenly with the pope. Again negotiations\nwere begun. The Concordat was signed, and Joseph was deputed to take\nit to the First Consul to obtain his _placet_; but the great man tore\nthe paper into a hundred pieces. Finally, however, he yielded, and the\npublic exercise of religious worship was again permitted in France.\n\nBut when Bonaparte published the Concordat, he added to it the\n\u201cOrganic Articles,\u201d by which many of its provisions were practically\nannulled; and he was even guilty of the falsehood of making it appear\nthat these articles were part of the convention with Pius VII. He was\nresolved to rule the consciences of men in the same absolute way in\nwhich he commanded his army. The bishops were required to submit all\ntheir official documents to the prefects of the departments. To\nprelates who were particularly zealous pastorals were sent, made to\norder by the central bureau at Paris. A bishop was not permitted to\nappoint or remove a priest without Bonaparte\u2019s permission. Public\nworship was placed under the supervision of the police.\n\nOn the 16th of May, 1804, the senate voted that Napoleon should assume\nthe title of emperor. Two months before, with premeditation and in\ncold blood, he had had the Duc d\u2019Enghien assassinated at Vincennes;\nand this stain upon his name made him the more anxious to receive the\nimperial crown from the consecrated hands of the pope. A middle course\nwas not open to Pius VII. He had either to accept Napoleon\u2019s\ninvitation or to declare himself his enemy.\n\nWith the understanding that the \u201cOrganic Articles\u201d should be repealed,\nand that the constitutional clergy should make their retractation in\nhis hands, the pope set out for Paris. In his long journey he was\npermitted to stop but twice, and upon his first meeting the new\nemperor he was treated in the most uncivil manner.\n\nOn the eve of the coronation Pius VII. received a visit from\nJosephine. She came to unburden her heart to him. The church had never\nblessed her marriage with Bonaparte, and she felt that this would\nprobably be her last opportunity to have this matter arranged. The\npope declared that he would not assist at the coronation unless the\nmarriage was first contracted according to the rite of the church. The\nduplicity of Napoleon had deeply wounded the Holy Father, and the\nemperor\u2019s wrath could not shake the pope\u2019s firm resolve. During the\nnight preceding the coronation, therefore, Cardinal Fesch performed\nthe marriage ceremony in the chapel of the Tuileries in the presence\nof two witnesses. When the moment for the coronation came, Napoleon\ntook the crown from the altar of Notre Dame, and himself placed it on\nhis head. He had given the Holy Father his word that there should be\nbut one coronation; in violation of this promise he had himself\ncrowned a second time in the Champ de Mars. He crammed for his\ninterviews with the pope, in order to astonish him by his knowledge of\nchurch history. Already he was pondering over the thought of keeping\nthe Holy Father in France. The archiepiscopal palace was to be fitted\nup for Pius VII. and reserved exclusively for the Pontifical Court.\nWhen this was intimated to the pope, he replied that it had not been\nunforeseen; before leaving Rome he had signed a formal abdication, in\ncase he should be forcibly detained in France. The document was in\nPalermo in the hands of Cardinal Pignatelli; the emperor might\nimprison Barnaba Chiaramonti, the simple monk, but not Pius VII., the\nVicar of Christ.\n\nThe subject was dropped. The petty jealousy and dread of rival power\nor popularity which was so marked a feature in Napoleon\u2019s character\ncould not be concealed whilst the Holy Father remained in Paris as an\nindependent sovereign. He was not allowed to celebrate pontifical Mass\nat Notre Dame on Christmas day; and he was hurried off to M\u00e2con before\nEaster, and thence continued his journey back to Rome, having refused\nto assist at the ceremony of Napoleon\u2019s coronation at Milan as King of\nItaly.\n\nJ\u00e9rome Bonaparte, a younger brother of Napoleon, had married a\nProtestant girl in the United States, and the emperor, who wished his\nbrothers and sisters to make matrimonial alliances with the most\npowerful families of Europe, applied to the pope to annul the\nmarriage. Pius VII. declared that he had no power in the case.\nNapoleon sought revenge by meddling still further with the affairs of\nthe church in Italy, and by taking forcible possession of Ancona, a\nportion of the papal territory. The Holy Father protested in a letter\ndated the 13th of November, 1805, which Napoleon did not find time to\nanswer till January 7, 1806. In those two months he had brought to a\nclose one of his most brilliant campaigns, had conquered the emperors\nof Austria and Russia, and dictated terms to all Europe.\n\nIn reply to the protest of the Holy Father Napoleon wrote to his\nambassador at Rome in the following style: \u201cThe pope has written me a\nmost ridiculous, a most foolish letter. These people thought I was\ndead.\u2026 Since these idiots do not object to the possibility of a\nProtestant occupying the throne of France, I will send them a\nProtestant ambassador.\u2026 I will change nothing outwardly, if people\nbehave themselves with me; but otherwise I shall reduce the pope to be\nbishop of Rome. Really, nothing is so wanting in sense as the court of\nRome.\u201d\n\nOnly the Emperor of Russia and the King of England he declared were\nmasters in their own states, because they had no pope to trouble them.\n\nA month later (February, 1806) Pius VII. received another letter from\nNapoleon.\n\n \u201cYour Holiness,\u201d he wrote, \u201cmust profess the same regard for\n me in the temporal order as I profess for you in the\n spiritual order. All my enemies must be your enemies. That\n an Englishman, a Russian, a Swede, or a minister of the\n Sardinian king should henceforth reside in Rome or in any\n part of your states is entirely unfitting. No vessel\n belonging to any of these states should enter your ports.\u201d\n\nThe Holy Father replied that he was unable to assent to demands which\nwere opposed to the character of his divine mission, \u201cwhich owns no\nenmities, not even with those who have departed from the centre of\nunity.\u201d Napoleon attributed the pope\u2019s firmness to the counsels of\nConsalvi, and he determined to drive him from office. \u201cTell him,\u201d he\nwrote to his ambassador, \u201cthat but two courses remain open to him:\nalways to do what I wish or to quit the ministry.\u201d He also informed\nthe cardinal that none of his movements were unknown to him, and that\nfor the first compromising act he should answer with his head; he\nwould have him arrested in the streets of Rome. \u201cThese priests,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201ckeep the soul for themselves and throw me the carcass.\u201d\n\nAll this storm of imperial rage had broken upon the Head of the church\nbecause he had dared defend the honor of a Protestant girl, the\ndaughter of a simple American citizen, against the attacks of the most\nterrible monarch of Europe.\n\nNapoleon\u2019s dream was to found a great western empire like that of\nCharlemagne, and for the accomplishment of this design he saw that the\nco-operation of the pope was necessary. He was therefore willing to\ndefend the pope on condition that he should become his tool and lend\nhimself as an obedient slave to his ambitious projects. But when he\nsaw that there was no hope of bringing Pius VII. to accept his views\non this subject, he began to govern the church after his own fashion.\nThe bishops and priests who did not conform to his wishes were thrown\ninto prison or forced to keep silence. He had his victories proclaimed\nfrom the pulpits; he furnished pastorals and exhortations in which it\nwas made to appear that he was the defender of the faith, fighting\nagainst infidels and heretics; he recommended that prayers should be\nsaid that \u201cour brothers, the persecuted Catholics of Ireland, might\nenjoy liberty of worship.\u201d \u201cInform M. Robert, a priest of Bourges,\u201d he\nwrote, \u201cof my displeasure. He preached a very foolish sermon on the\n15th of August. L\u2019Abb\u00e9 de Coucy is a great worry to me. He keeps up\ntoo great a correspondence. I wish him to be arrested and put into a\nmonastery.\u2026 It is really shameful that you have not yet arrested M.\nStevens. People are too sleepy; else how could a wretched priest have\nescaped?\u2026 I see from your letter that you have caused a _cur\u00e9_ of La\nVend\u00e9e to be arrested. You have acted very wisely. Keep him in\nprison.\u201d All religious newspapers\u2014save one, the _Journal des Cur\u00e9s_,\nwhose publications were strictly supervised\u2014were suppressed. \u201cNo\npriest,\u201d said Napoleon, \u201cshould bother his head about the church\nexcept in his sermons.\u201d A special Sunday each year was set aside to\ncommemorate the coronation and the victories of the _Grande Arm\u00e9e_;\nand in the sermon preached on that day particular mention was to be\nmade of those who had fallen at Austerlitz. M. Portalis was charged\nwith the preparation of a new imperial catechism, which was published\nin August, 1806. The children of France were taught that \u201cthe honor\nand the service of the emperor is one and the same thing as the honor\nand service of God\u201d; that those who were wanting in their duty to\nNapoleon rendered themselves worthy of eternal damnation; and that God\nhad given the crown not only to him, but to his family. The French\nbishops submitted in silence to this orthodox imperialism.\n\nThe next step was to deprive the pope of his temporal power. As Pius\nVII. had refused to enter into the emperor\u2019s plans for the founding of\na great western empire, he was to be imprisoned. Napoleon had just\nannihilated the wonderful troops of Frederick the Great, and from his\npalace at Berlin he once more dictated terms to the Holy Father. \u201cLet\nthe pope,\u201d he wrote, \u201cdo what I wish, and he will be repaid for the\npast and the future.\u201d\n\nAll Europe, save England, was lying helpless at the feet of the\nconqueror; and that the pope should continue to defend the interests\nof a Protestant country against the power of a second Charlemagne was\nan impossible supposition.\n\nBut Napoleon was now so great that he refused to enter into personal\ncorrespondence with Pius VII.; so he wrote to Eugene Beauharnais, the\nViceroy of Italy, with instructions that he should communicate his\nletter to the pope.\n\n \u201cThey say,\u201d wrote the emperor,\u201d that they want to publish\n all the evil that I have committed against religion. The\n idiots! They ignore, then, that there does not exist a spot\n in Italy, Germany, or Poland where I have not done more for\n religion than the pope has done evil.\u2026 What does Pius VII.\n mean by denouncing me to Christendom? Does he imagine that\n their arms will fall from the hands of my soldiers?\u2026\n Perhaps the time is not far off when, if this meddling in my\n affairs does not stop, I shall acknowledge the pope to be\n nothing more than bishop of Rome, holding a rank in all\n respects similar to my bishops.\u2026 In two words, this is the\n last time that I consent to treat with these wretched\n priests of Rome.\u201d\n\nThe pope replied to these insults in a letter full of meekness and\nhumility, in which he declared that he had refused Napoleon nothing\nwhich his conscience would permit him to grant. Napoleon gave orders\nfor the occupation of Rome by the French troops under General Miollis;\nand the army passed in through the open gates of the city on the 2d of\nFebruary, 1808. The pope was a prisoner. The Neapolitan cardinals were\ncarried off by force; and in March all who were not natives of the\nstates of the church were ordered to leave Rome. The dethronement of\nthe pope was proclaimed with the sound of the trumpet, and his\ndominions were declared irrevocably united to the kingdom of Italy.\nThe Holy Father signed the bull of excommunication, and in the night\nof the 5th of July, 1809, General Radet broke into his apartments,\narrested him and Cardinal Pacca, hurried them into a closed carriage,\nand drove out of Rome through the Porta Pia, accompanied by a\ndetachment of _gendarmes_. The pope, who was ill and weak, was driven\nin great haste through Italy to Savona, a fortified town near Genoa,\nwhere he was imprisoned.\n\nEurope was dumb, the press was silent, and people dared not even\nexpress sympathy for the Holy Father. Napoleon tried to make the world\nforget that there was a pope; but he himself was often reminded of his\nexistence. Many dioceses were without bishops, and the pope refused to\nconfirm those who had been appointed, so long as he was deprived of\nhis liberty. The emperor had some of the highest dignitaries of the\nFrench church to write to the prisoner of Savona to represent the evil\nconsequences of this refusal; but to no purpose. All the cardinals\nwere summoned to Paris to grace the Imperial Court. The\n_Penitentiaria_ and _Dataria_ were also removed thither. Napoleon sent\na circular to the bishops, ordering them \u201cto suppress the prayer to\nSt. Gregory VII., and to substitute another feast for that of this\nsaint, whom the Gallican Church cannot recognize.\u201d Everything was \u201cto\nbe organized as if no pope existed.\u201d No priest was to be ordained\nwithout the emperor\u2019s permission. \u201cGive orders,\u201d he wrote, \u201cto the\nprefect of the Taro department to choose fifty of the worst priests at\nParma and fifty of the worst at Piacenza.\u2026 Let them embark for\nCorsica.\u201d\n\nThe time had now come when Napoleon was resolved to be divorced from\nJosephine. He consulted the Archbishop of Bordeaux and his clergy on\nthe subject. Their reply was unfavorable, and he summarily dismissed\nthem and had the vicar-general and the superior of the seminary\ndeprived of their offices. One day, after a very silent repast with\nthe empress, he broached the subject to her. She fell fainting to the\nfloor; the emperor summoned the chamberlain and had her carried to her\napartments. Her adieu to sovereignty was effected under trying\ncircumstances. A grand reception took place at the Tuileries on the\nevening of her departure. She assisted at the funeral of her worldly\ngreatness, and the fate of Napoleon was decided at the same moment by\na few hurried words spoken by two courtiers as they were leaving the\nimperial presence. Negotiations for the marriage of Napoleon with the\nGrand Duchess Olga, sister of the Czar of Russia, were all but\nconcluded. That night M. Floret, the first secretary of the Austrian\nEmbassy, whispered to M. de S\u00e9monville that the emperor might easily\nhave the hand of Marie Louise of Austria. This was related to\nNapoleon; the alliance with Russia was broken off; and two years later\ncame the retreat from Moscow, when the arms fell from his soldiers\u2019\nhands. But to espouse a daughter of the Catholic house of Austria it\nwas necessary to obtain not only a civil but also a religious divorce\nfrom Josephine. No other authority than that of the pope, Cardinal\nFesch declared, would be otherwise than \u201cuncertain or dangerous\u201d on\nthe subject; but to apply to the captive of Savona would be useless.\nNapoleon therefore created an ecclesiastical tribunal for the\noccasion, over which his uncle, Cardinal Fesch, was appointed to\npreside. The emperor first attempted to make it appear that his\nmarriage with Josephine in 1804 was invalid, because it had taken\nplace without witnesses or deed; but the cardinal was able to show\nthat this was not true. He next alleged as a cause of illegality the\nabsence of the parish priest; but the faculties conferred upon Fesch\nby Pius VII. more than supplied this deficiency. As a last resort\nNapoleon declared that he had never consented to the religious\nmarriage, thus openly confessing that he had deceived Josephine,\nCardinal Fesch, and the Holy Father. This statement, however, was\nprobably an after-thought and false, which is not surprising in an\nhabitual liar like Napoleon. The tribunal was threatened with the\nanger of the emperor if it kept him waiting beyond a certain day. As\nit had been created only to do his bidding, his marriage with\nJosephine was declared null; but let us remark that the Holy Father\nhad nothing to do with this business; he was not even consulted, as he\nhad already given proof of what might be expected from him in the case\nof J\u00e9r\u00f4me Bonaparte and Miss Paterson. Nearly all the cardinals were\nat this time living in Paris. Fourteen of them gave it as their\nopinion that the divorce had been rightly granted; thirteen others\nasserted that the tribunal was incompetent, and that the case should\nhave been submitted to the pope. In consequence they determined not to\nassist at the marriage of Napoleon and Marie Louise. When Cardinal\nFesch reported this to the emperor, he got into a fit of rage. \u201cBah!\nthey will not dare,\u201d he exclaimed; and when Cardinal Consalvi, the\nleader of the thirteen, came to a public audience at the Tuileries\neight days before the ceremony, Napoleon came up to him, stopped\nbefore him, gave him a thundering look, and passed on without speaking\na word. As he entered the chapel of the Louvre for the wedding he wore\nan air of triumph; but his countenance grew dark when he perceived the\nthirteen were not there.\n\n\u201cWhere are the cardinals?\u201d he asked in an irritated tone.\n\n\u201cA great number are here,\u201d was the reply.\n\n\u201cAh! the fools; but they are _not_ here,\u201d said Napoleon with another\nglance at the empty seats. \u201cThe fools, the fools!\u201d\n\nHe declared that it was his intention to cause _the resignation of\nthese individuals_, and that henceforth they were to be deprived of\nthe Purple. In this way arose the title of Black and Red cardinals.\nThe property of the thirteen was seized and their income went to swell\nthe public treasure, whilst they were sent to different provincial\ntowns and placed under surveillance.\n\nThe difficulty as to the appointment of bishops to vacant dioceses had\nnot been settled. In May, 1810, Napoleon despatched two cardinals,\nmost favorable to his pretensions, to Pius VII., whom he still held a\nprisoner in Savona, to persuade the pope to confirm the bishops\nappointed by the emperor; but the Holy Father was immovable. Napoleon\nthereupon resolved to make his own bishops and dispense with the papal\nconfirmation. Cardinal Fesch, who had accepted the title of\nArchbishop-elect of Paris, now refused to take possession of his see\nwithout the approval of the pope.\n\n\u201cI can force you to obey me,\u201d said Napoleon to his uncle.\n\n\u201cSire, _potius mori_,\u201d replied the cardinal.\n\n\u201cAh! ah! _potius mori_\u2014rather Maury. Be it so. You shall have Maury.\u201d\nCardinal Maury accepted, and in a few days his vicar-general was\narrested and sent to the dungeon of Vincennes, where he remained till\nthe fall of the empire. About the same time Vincennes opened its\ngloomy gates to Cardinals di Pietro and Gabrielli. This was in 1811.\nPius VII. had been in prison for two years. Napoleon now ordered his\njailers to treat him with greater severity. No person was allowed to\nsee him without the emperor\u2019s permission; and for violating this\nregulation some priests from Marseilles were thrown into a filthy\ndungeon. All letters to and from the Holy Father were submitted to the\ninspection of the keeper of the prison.\n\n \u201cIt is useless for the pope to write,\u201d said Napoleon; \u201cthe\n less he does, the better it will be.\u2026 The less that which he\n writes reaches its destination, the better.\u2026 I trouble\n myself very little as to what he may do.\u2026 Let him be told\n that it is distressing for Christendom to own a pope so\n ignorant of what is due to sovereigns, but that the state\n will not be disturbed, and good will be effected without\n him.\u201d\n\nOn the 8th of January, 1811, experts sent from Paris entered the\nepiscopal palace at Savona, where the Holy Father was confined, opened\nhis doors and drawers, searched his correspondence, unsewed his\nclothes, and broke open his desk, in order to discover something that\nmight incriminate him. They even took away his breviary and the Office\nof the Blessed Virgin. He was also ordered to deliver up the Ring of\nthe Fisherman; but, justly suspecting that it would be used for\nfraudulent purposes, he broke it in two and handed the pieces to\nNapoleon\u2019s agent. A moral terrorism reigned over the religious world\nin France and Italy. The emperor\u2019s vengeance pursued even ladies who\ngave alms to the Black cardinals. The cardinals, bishops, and priests\nwho had spoken against his tyranny were in prison; the rest remained\nsilent.\n\nNapoleon now called a National Council to devise measures for\ngoverning the church without the assistance of the pope. The French\nbishops had for the most part been kept ignorant of the precise nature\nof the trouble between himself and Pius VII., and he intended by this\nnew move to impress upon the mind of the Sovereign Pontiff that he\ncould nor rely upon the support of the bishops. First, however, a\ndeputation was sent to the pope to urge upon him the pressing\nnecessity of conforming without further delay to the will of the\nemperor. Pius VII. was at this time in very feeble health, and\nNapoleon did not hesitate to bribe his physician, Dr. Porta, that he\nmight inform the members of the deputation of the most favorable\nopportunity to take advantage of the weak and suffering state of the\nHoly Father to wring from him the desired concessions. For some days\nthose who surrounded him were able to attest the presence of all the\nsymptoms of madness.\n\n \u201cYou will have seen,\u201d wrote his jailer to the Minister of\n Worship, \u201cby my last letters that the uncertainty of the\n pope when he is left to himself goes to the length of\n affecting his reason and his health. At present the mental\n alienation has passed off.\u201d\n\nStill, the bishops sent by Napoleon to Savona were obliged to return\nwithout the pope\u2019s signature to the document of concessions. The\nNational Council was opened on the 17th of June, in the Cathedral of\nNotre Dame, under the nominal presidency of Cardinal Fesch. The\nopening discourse was delivered by Mgr. de Boulogne, Bishop of Troyes,\nwho spoke in eloquent and burning words \u201cof the Supreme Head of the\nepiscopate, without whom it resembles a branch separated from the tree\nand withered, or a vessel tossed by the waves without rudder or\nsteersman.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis see may be removed,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it cannot be destroyed. Its\nmagnificence may be taken away, but never its strength. Wherever this\nsee shall establish itself it shall draw all others around it.\u201d These\nwords fell like burning coals in the midst of the assembly and\nproduced great emotion. The effect had not died away when the Bishop\nof Nantes arose to comply with the formality of asking each prelate\nwhether it pleased him that the council should be opened. \u201cYes,\u201d\nanswered the Archbishop of Bordeaux, \u201csaving the obedience due to the\nSovereign Pontiff, to whom I bind myself and whom I swear to obey.\u201d\nThen Cardinal Fesch in a loud voice read the oath as prescribed by a\nbull of Pius IV.: \u201cI acknowledge the Holy Catholic, Apostolic, and\nRoman Church to be the mother and mistress of all other churches; I\npromise and swear perfect obedience to the Roman pontiff, the\nsuccessor of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and Vicar of Jesus\nChrist on earth.\u201d One by one the bishops bound themselves irrevocably\nto the cause of Pius VII. Napoleon was furious and berated his uncle\nfor \u201cgetting up one of his scenes.\u201d Two laymen were appointed to be\npresent in his name at all future meetings of the bishops.\n\nSome of the courtier prelates drew up a fulsome address to Napoleon, a\nkind of treatise on state theology, which they presented to the\nmembers of the council for their signature. Mgr. de Broglie, Bishop of\nGhent, declared he would never sign it. Another bishop proposed that\n\u201cthe liberty of the pope\u201d should be demanded. This was received with a\nconfused murmur of applause; but Cardinal Fesch, who dreaded the wrath\nof his nephew, declared that the time was inopportune for such a\nrequest. Napoleon, unable longer to restrain himself, ordered the\ncouncil to put an end to its \u201cidle debates.\u201d He gave the members eight\ndays to devise an expedient for providing bishops for the vacant sees.\nAs a sign of his displeasure he refused to receive the council\nofficially at the Tuileries. The bishops, he said, had \u201cacted as\ncowards.\u201d In answer to the demand to find an expedient for providing\nbishops for the vacant sees without the confirmation of the pope, the\ncouncil declared that it would first be necessary to send a deputation\nto consult Pius VII. This declaration was carried by Fesch to his\nimperial nephew. He was received with an outburst of anger. Napoleon\nwould soon show the bishops their place. When the cardinal attempted\nto reason with him, he rudely stopped him: \u201cWhat! theology again!\nWhere did you learn it? Be quiet; you are an ignoramus.\u201d He threatened\nto dissolve the council and organize a system of state religion, but\nfinally drew up a decree himself, in which he falsely asserted that\nthe pope had made the desired concessions. The bishops were deceived,\nand, with two exceptions, voted in favor of the decree. A little\nreflection, however, convinced many of them of the fraud which had\nbeen practised upon them, and they recalled their votes. Suddenly, on\nthe 11th of July, Napoleon dissolved the council. The following day,\nat three o\u2019clock in the morning, Mgr. de Broglie, Mgr. de Boulogne,\nand Mgr. Hirn, who had taken a prominent part in opposing the decree,\nwere arrested in their beds and carried off to the prison of\nVincennes. In August five cardinals and eight bishops, partisans of\nthe emperor, were sent to Savona to make still another effort to win\nover Pius VII. to Napoleon\u2019s plans. The Holy Father, who was so\nclosely guarded that no one was allowed to see him except his bribed\ndoctor and the jailer, was in total ignorance of all that had passed\nin the National Council. For five months, from September, 1811, to\nFebruary, 1812, these cardinals and bishops used every argument and\nartifice to induce the pope to sign the decree of the council.\n\nTheir efforts were successful. Pius VII., worn out with importunities,\nfeeble in body and in mind, wrote the brief of adhesion. But Napoleon\nwas not satisfied. He was already organizing his army for the fatal\nRussian campaign, and he wrote to his Minister of Worship the\nfollowing instructions: \u201cI send you the original papal brief. Keep it\nand communicate its contents to nobody. I wish to find the bishops in\nRome on my return, to see what we can do.\u2026 The truth is, the church is\nexperiencing a crisis.\u201d His victory over Russia was, in his\nimagination, already an accomplished fact; he would return the\nundisputed sovereign of all Europe, would gather the bishops in Rome,\nand would give to the church, as he had given to the state, a _Code\nNapol\u00e9on_.\n\nOn the 24th of January, 1812, the Holy Father wrote to him in the most\nunaffected and simple manner, and begged to be permitted to consult\ndisinterested counsellors and to have free communication with the\nfaithful. Napoleon disdained to answer this letter, but sent through\nhis Minister of Worship the following notification to the deputation\nat Savona: \u201cHis majesty deems that it is unfitting to his dignity to\nanswer the letter of the pope.\u2026 His majesty pities the ignorance of\nthe pope, and compassionates a pontiff who could have played so great\na part, but who has become the calamity of the church.\u2026 His majesty\nunderstands these matters of ecclesiastical jurisdiction better than\nthe Holy Father.\u2026 If the pope cannot make a distinction which is\nsimple enough to be grasped by the most uncultivated seminarian, why\ndoes he not voluntarily descend from the papal chair and leave it to a\nman who is less feeble in mind and better principled than he?\u201d And\nnow, just as he was setting out on the Russian campaign, he ordered\nthat Pius VII. should be transferred from Savona to Fontainebleau.\n\nThe Holy Father was unwell, but to this no attention was paid. Just\nbefore reaching the Mont Cenis he fell dangerously ill. The journey\nwas not interrupted. A bed was fitted up in the carriage and a surgeon\nprocured, who, with the instruments that might be needed, accompanied\nhim. When they reached Fontainebleau nothing was prepared, and the\npope had to pass the first night in the porter\u2019s lodge. A _Guide-book\nof Paris_, published at this time, informed the French that they\npossessed a \u201cpapal palace\u201d in their capital. But the end was drawing\nnear. On the 24th of June, 1812, Napoleon crossed the Niemen at the\nhead of an army of five hundred thousand men. As he reached the\nopposite bank his horse stumbled and fell. His fatalism led him to\nconsider this a bad omen. The Russians fled before him, and, after the\nvictories of Smolensk and Borodino, he rode into Moscow on the 15th of\nSeptember. It was silent as a desert, and the Kremlin, where he took\nup his residence, was like a tomb. At midnight from a hundred quarters\nthe flames burst forth, and in the lurid light of the burning city the\narmy began the fatal retreat. The weather, which had been fine,\nsuddenly grew cold; sleet and snow and rain beat with merciless fury\nupon the men, from their benumbed hands their arms fell, and by the\nroadside they laid down to die. On the 18th of December Napoleon\narrived, a fugitive, in Paris. In this one campaign he had lost\n250,000 men, half of whom had died of cold and hunger.\n\nWith the beginning of the year 1813 he wrote to Pius VII. and begged\nhim to believe that his feelings of respect and veneration were\nindependent of circumstances. Shortly afterwards he went to visit the\nHoly Father at Fontainebleau, and upon their first meeting for eight\nyears he embraced him with every mark of affection. The health of the\npope was wretched, and advantage was taken of his weak condition to\nobtain still further concessions.\n\nUpon the promise of Napoleon to liberate the imprisoned cardinals,\nbishops, and priests, Pius VII. signed the Concordat of\nFontainebleau\u2014an act which he almost immediately recalled, and which\nhe never ceased to regret. When the faithful Pacca, after so long a\nseparation, was at length admitted to his presence, he expressed his\nadmiration for the pope\u2019s heroic constancy.\n\n \u201cBut finally,\u201d cried out the Holy Father in anguish, \u201cwe\n have sullied our conscience. Those cardinals dragged me to\n the table and made me sign.\u201d\n\nPius VII. was still held a prisoner, and Napoleon acted as though the\nConcordat of Fontainebleau still existed. He appointed bishops,\nimprisoned priests, and drafted seminarians to fill up his decimated\nregiments.\n\nThe victories of Lutzen and Bautzen were more brilliant than\nimportant. In August, 1813, the Emperor of Austria declared against\nhis son-in-law. Then came the crushing defeat of Leipsic, and Napoleon\nwas slowly driven back upon France, closely followed by the allied\narmies. Orders were sent to remove Pius VII. from Fontainebleau, and a\nfew days later the war was raging at the very gates of the palace\nwhich he had so recently occupied. Finally, on the 10th of March,\n1814, when all hope was lost, Napoleon signed a decree which restored\nhis dominions to the pope. Since his removal from Fontainebleau Pius\nVII. had been driven about through various parts of France, closely\nguarded; but now that he turned his face toward Rome, his journey\nassumed the appearance of a triumphal procession, and at length, on\nthe 24th of May, 1814, the Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians, he\nre-entered the Holy City amid the universal enthusiasm of his people.\nJust one month before, in the palace of Fontainebleau, Napoleon signed\nthe decree which declared his empire at an end; and, a fallen\nsovereign, he passed out in silence through the ranks of the men whom\nhe had so often led to victory.\n\nIn his last meeting with Josephine he took her hand and said:\n\u201cJosephine, I have been as fortunate as any man upon earth. But in\nthis hour, when a storm is gathering over me, I have in the wide world\nnone but you upon whom I can repose.\u201d And in St. Helena he said to\nCaulaincourt: \u201cIf I live a hundred years, I shall never forget those\nscenes; they are the fixed ideas of my sleepless nights. I have had\nenough of sovereignty. I want no more of it; I want no more of it.\u201d\n\nIt is not easy to form a just estimate of the character of Napoleon.\nWe have heard veterans who had fought at Austerlitz and Lutzen declare\nthat when he rode along the line his glance did so blind the eye that\nthey could not look upon him; and they thought so. This light of glory\nstill enshrines his memory and dazzles us, to prevent us from seeing\nhim as he was. No one has ever doubted his surprising strength; his\nalmost incredible power to bear labor, whether of body or mind; his\nwonderful intellect, which grasped things with equal ease, in general\nand in detail; his unequalled ability to organize an army, a nation,\nor a continent; his courage, which rose superior to the most crushing\ndefeat.\n\nBut with these great endowments he had a coarse and selfish nature. He\nwas as ready to lie as to tell the truth. No act that was expedient\nwas bad. His ambitious ends sanctified all means by which they could\nbe attained. Dissimulation, deceit, hypocrisy, betrayal of friends,\nimprisonment, murder, assassination, he was ready to use indifferently\nas his purposes demanded. Without moral convictions himself, he\nbelieved others equally devoid of them. To assign conscience as a\nreason for anything was in his eyes pretence and hypocrisy. The\nreligious scruples of the pope and cardinals he held to be mere\nobstinacy and ill-will. When Pius VII. declared he had not the power\nto annul the marriage of Jerome with Miss Patterson, Napoleon saw in\nthis only a desire to take revenge for the way in which he had been\ninsulted at the coronation. After having persecuted bishops and\npriests, keeping many of them in prison, during his whole reign, he\nhad the impudence to declare in St. Helena that the priests were all\nfor him as soon as he allowed them to wear violet-colored stockings.\nHe was the coarsest reviler and insulted all whom he feared or hated.\nThe pope and the cardinals were \u201cidiots and fools\u201d; the republicans\nwere \u201cmad dogs and brigands\u201d; the King of Prussia was \u201cthe most\ncomplete fool of all the kings on earth\u201d; the Spanish Bourbons were \u201ca\nflock of sheep\u201d; De Broglie, the Bishop of Ghent, was \u201ca reptile\u201d; the\npriests who disapproved of the Concordat were \u201cthe scum of the earth\u201d;\nand of the philosophers he said: \u201cJe les ai comme une vermine sur mes\nhabits.\u201d His conduct towards women was coarse and contemptuous. They\nought to know nothing and were not fit to have opinions. He told\nMadame de Sta\u00ebl to go home and knit her stockings; the greatest woman\nwas she who had the most children\u2014he wanted soldiers. He did not\nconceal his contempt for men. \u201cEvery year of my reign,\u201d he said in St.\nHelena, \u201cI saw more and more plainly that the harsher the treatment\nmen received, the greater was their submission and devotion. My\ndespotism then increased in proportion to my contempt for mankind.\u201d\nFrom 1804 to 1815 he sacrificed to his mad ambition not less than five\nmillions of men. Several thousand French subjects were shot merely for\ndesertion. Each principal town had its _place aux fusillades_. The\nprisons of France were filled with his victims. A more thorough tyrant\nthan he never lived. Liberty of all kinds was odious to him. He hated\nall whom he could not enslave. To be free was to be his enemy. While\nhe reigned men spoke with bated breath, the press was fettered, and\nthe church was in chains. In his own family he was a despot; he gave\nhis brothers crowns, but only on condition that they would become his\nslaves; and when Lucien thought that even royal honors might be bought\nat too dear a price, he was forced to leave France.\n\nHis jealousy was surpassed only by his vanity. \u201cGo,\u201d said he to his\nsoldiers, \u201ckill and be killed; the emperor beholds you.\u201d\n\nHe had a barbaric love of vulgar display, and this was one of the\npassions which impelled him to his bloody wars. No man ever had less\nheart. If he loved any one, it was Josephine, and her he sacrificed\nwithout a pang. Remorseless as destiny, which was his god, he trod out\nwith the iron hoof of war right and life, and where he passed there\nwas wailing and desolation as after pestilence. In his last illness on\nthe desolate rock of St. Helena he spoke with reverence and feeling of\nreligion. From the hands of the priest sent to him by Pius VII. he\nreceived the sacraments of the church. For six years he had held in\ncruel confinement Christ\u2019s vicar, the gentlest of men; for six years\nhe himself pined in living death on the barren island of St. Helena.\nIt was the 5th of March, 1821, that he died. On the tomb of St. Peter\nPius VII. offered up the divine Sacrifice for the repose of the soul\nof Napoleon.\n\n\n [75] _The Life of Pope Pius VII._ By Mary H. Allies. London:\n Burns & Oates. 1875.\n\n\n\n\nMODERN ENGLISH POETRY.\n\n\nMr. Stedman, the author of _The Victorian Poets_, appears to be a\npainstaking and conscientious writer. He has read with extraordinary\nindustry all the poetry of the period to which his criticism is\nlimited, including not a little which, if he deemed it his duty to\nstudy, it was not worth his while to name. He has brought to this\nstudy a highly, although we think not methodically, cultivated mind\nand a retentive memory. He has a remarkable fluency of diction,\nbordering occasionally on volubility, and a certain fecundity of\nillustration; but his words have at times a vagueness, not to say\ninaptness, of application which is not suggestive of clearness or\ndepth of thought. His work, he will pardon us for thinking, is rather\nan \u201cessay in\u201d technical than \u201cphilosophical criticism.\u201d He himself\nappears to be conscious of this; for he writes in his preface: \u201cIf my\ncriticism seems more technical than is usual in a work of this kind,\nit is due, I think, to the fact that the technical refinement of the\nperiod has been so marked as to demand full recognition and analysis.\u201d\nFurthermore, he informs us that he \u201chas no theory of poetry\u201d; and we\nmust own that, in the absence of any theory of poetry, a philosophical\ncriticism of it seems to us to be out of the question. The qualities\nhe requires of it \u201care simplicity and freshness in work of all kinds,\nand, as the basis of persistent growth and of greatness in a\nmasterpiece, simplicity and spontaneity, refined by art, exalted by\nimagination, and sustained by intellectual power\u201d; but does he\nunderstand what he means by this? We do not. Are we to understand that\nthe only inseparable qualities, the only properties, of poetry which\nmust characterize \u201cwork of all kinds\u201d\u2014by which we presume he means\nevery real poetical production\u2014are simplicity and freshness? What does\nhe mean by simplicity? what by freshness? Does he refer these\nqualities to expression only? If so, what does he mean by \u201csimplicity\nnot being excluded from the Miltonic canon of poetry\u201d?\n\nIn the higher efforts of poetry, he tells us, we must still have\nsimplicity; but instead of freshness we are there to look for\n\u201cspontaneity.\u201d Are, then, \u201csimplicity and spontaneity\u201d the basis of\npersistent growth (we must own that even the meaning of this\nexpression is hidden from us) and of \u201cgreatness in a masterpiece\u201d? No;\nit must be \u201csimplicity and spontaneity refined by art, exalted by\nimagination, and sustained by intellectual power.\u201d But will not the\nsimplicity, and most assuredly the spontaneity, disappear in the\n\u201cartistic refinement\u201d? Still more difficult is the idea of \u201csimplicity\nand spontaneity exalted by imagination\u201d being the \u201cbasis\u201d of a\npoetical \u201cmasterpiece.\u201d Poetry is the offspring of the imagination.\nIts excellence depends absolutely on the force and vigor of that\nintellectual power. There can be no poetry in its absence. And what\nother is imagination than intellectual power?\n\nThe poetic feeling we believe to be the echo of the soul to God in the\npresence of all his works. It is the emotion\u2014really rapture\u2014which\nwells up within it at the contemplation of the sensible images in\nwhich he reveals portions of his beauty in every variety and\ncombination of form, proportion, color, touch, scent, and sound. Let\nthe poet stand alone by the long margin of the sea on a still summer\nday. What but it is that profound emotion of which he is so intensely\nconscious as he looks out upon the immense ocean in its still unrest,\nwhich the blue heavens only seem to limit because his power of vision\ncan reach no further, and when he hears the mellow murmur of the\nwavelets as, rearing themselves in graceful curves, they fall in low\nwhispers along the yellow sands, as if depositing some message from\ninfinitude, and then rapidly withdraw?\n\nWhat else is that indefinable transport, resembling, only in an\ninfinitely inferior degree, the ecstasy of a saint, which holds in\nsuspense all our faculties as, in the languid heat of summer-tide, we\nstand at the foot of craggy heights between which in distant ages some\nriver has found for itself a channel; and, as we gaze into the\nimpenetrable shade of the dense thickets which cover their sides, hear\nthe distant sound of falling waters, and scent the fresh perfume of\nthe breathing foliage, the river flowing past us at our feet, to be\nalmost immediately hidden from our view by projecting headlands,\ncovered, they too, with the living darkness of foliage crowding upon\nfoliage, trees on trees?\n\nThe delightful trance into which the poetic soul is lulled by the\nbeauty and truth of God speaking through even the least of his works\ndefies analysis; but we may say of it with some confidence that the\nobjects that provoke it never weary of their charm. And wherefore?\nBecause they do not obstruct the instinct of immortality, the yearning\nfor infinitude, which is a passion within the soul of the poet, but is\nwholly absent from no one in whom God\u2019s image is not quite effaced. On\nthe contrary, their apparent endlessness, their want of boundary and\ndefinite outline, suggest infinitude, and awake the echoes of\nimmortality from their profoundest depths, and minister to the deep\nyearning of the soul for something more lovely than aught of which it\nhas been hitherto cognizant.\n\nThis it is which accounts for the immense superiority of Gothic to\nGrecian architecture\u2014a superiority so complete as to elevate it into\nquite another sphere of beauty. The pleasure we experience at the\nsight of the highest efforts of a Greek architect is almost\nexclusively \u00e6sthetic, sensible, artistic. It is occasioned by\nsharpness of outline, grace of form, beauty of proportion. In these is\nthe only poetry it can express; which can never, consequently, mount\nto sublimity. It can only be beautiful at best. It pleases the sense,\nbut the soul\u2014of the poet, at all events\u2014soon wearies of them.\n\nBut the Gothic cathedral, with its soaring arches interlacing one\nanother, its many naves, aisles, chapels, and recesses, its endless\nwealth of tracery and sculpture, its clustering pinnacles and spires\npointing heavenwards, the deep shadows of its buttresses, and its many\nmounting roofs\u2014in short, the utter absence of definiteness of outline,\nand its grandeur as well as grace of form and beauty of\nproportion\u2014respond, and powerfully, to the soul\u2019s craving for\ninfinitude, impatience of limitation, and heart-yearning for the\ninfinitely Beautiful and True.\n\nThis poetic sense it is which causes all mere human pleasures so soon\nto pall upon us. For it is impossible for the human soul to experience\nany save a transient pleasure from aught less than the infinite and\neternal. Life itself is not a pleasure, because we know it is passing\naway. If we believed we should be annihilated at death, the pain of\nlife would be intolerable.\n\nWe hold, therefore, that this suggestiveness\u2014which must not be\nconfused with obscurity, an element antagonistic to poetry\u2014must\nunderlie every expression of poetry, whatever form it may take. A\ndidactic poem is a contradiction in terms, although such a production\nmay abound in poetical passages. It reminds one of the pictures one\nsees sometimes in which the painter represents with great accuracy a\nmelon or grapes, a glass with wine in it, knives and forks, a loaf of\nbread, a cheese sometimes, not omitting the maggots, or a lobster\ntempts his brush\u2014in short, anything which goes into the human mouth\nfor bodily sustenance. Ordinary folk gape with wonder at the\ncleverness of the imitation; but there is no one so dull as to suppose\nthat there is in it any of the poetry of art.\n\nThe visible creation is the expression of the divine Idea in it. It is\nimpossible, consequently, that it should not express, in all its\ninfinitude of forms, modes, color, scent, sound, etc., the truth and\nbeauty of Him who conceived it. It would be contrary to reason to\nsuppose that he sent it forth into objective existence as a mere toy\nfor the amusement of his august creature, as we throw dissolving views\nof grotesque figures upon a white surface for the amusement of\nchildren. It was to convey to us intimations of himself, as well as\nsnatches of his happiness. The spherical form of the unnumbered\nworlds; the limited power of our visual organ, which can only see the\nbeginnings of things; perpetual motion; sound and scent, which fail\nnot when they are no longer within the reach of our senses; the\nrevolution, in never-ending cycles, of years, seasons, weeks, and\ndays; renewed life never failing to come forth from rest and\nrepose\u2014ay, even from death and corruption; imaginary horizons,\nvanishing distances, light prevailing over darkness; the thrill of\nawful pleasure with which the created soul of man apprehends this deep\nmeaning of things\u2014that spiritual instinct to which time is a pain,\neternity a rapture\u2014in all are mirrored, in every variety and form of\ngrace and loveliness, as well as of unsightliness and horror,\nInfinitude, Immortality, God the infinitely lovable, because he is the\ninfinitely Beautiful and True.\n\nIn proportion to the strength of this instinct is the excellence or\ninferiority of the poetic gift. From this must it draw all its highest\ninspirations. Poetry is, in fact, its advertent expression; and thus\nthe poet is, like God\u2014only, of course, after a secondary and imitative\nfashion\u2014a creator (\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03b7\u03c4\u1f74\u03c2). He avails himself of some of the\nillimitable wealth of imagery in which God has expressed, or given\nobjective existence to, his own one but infinitely varied idea, and,\nby fresh combinations, throws them into really new forms or creations.\nOut of many examples that come to mind\u2014for excellence in this is less\nuncommon than in the higher order of poetry, of which the crown and\nlord of nature form the material\u2014may be quoted the following creation\nof a midsummer noon in the _Earthly Paradise_, by Morris:\n\n \u201cWithin the gardens once again they met,\n That now the roses did well-nigh forget;\n For hot July was drawing to an end,\n And August came the fainting year to mend\n With fruit and grain; so \u2018neath the trellises,\n Nigh blossomless, did they lie well at ease,\n And watched the poppies burn across the grass,\n And o\u2019er the bindweed\u2019s bell the brown bee pass,\n Still murmuring of his gains. Windless and bright\n The morn had been, to help their dear delight;\n But heavy clouds, ere noon, grew round the sun,\n And, half-way to the zenith, wild and dun\n The sky grew, and the thunder growled afar;\n But, ere the steely[76] clouds began their war,\n A change there came, and, as by some great hand,\n The clouds that hung in threatening o\u2019er the land\n Were drawn away; then a light wind arose\n That shook the light stems of that flowery close,\n And made men sigh for pleasure.\u201d\n\nThis brings us to another, and an important, point in which it is our\nmisfortune to differ from Mr. Stedman. He regards poetry as an art. He\ntreats it as such throughout this work; and as such he criticises it.\nHence his criticism is almost exclusively technical; hence, too, it\nexhibits frequent inconsistencies. For example, amongst the properties\nhe assigns to the highest poetry, which we have already quoted, he\nplaces spontaneity. By this term he means, we presume, a freedom from\neffort, the unbidden outflow of imagination, not the labored product\nof teaching and practice. But this is utterly inapplicable to art,\nwhich supposes instruction, clumsy first efforts, and perfection\nacquired only by years of toil. What there is of art in poetry is\nlimited, or nearly so, to its expression; and even here the less there\nis of art, and the more of what Mr. Stedman means by spontaneity, the\nloftier and the more genuine the poetry. It is no praise but a\ndepreciation of Matthew Arnold\u2019s or Tennyson\u2019s poetry to trace the\ninspiration of one to Bion and Moschus and of the other to Theocritus.\nIn good sooth, he does the laureate injustice in the far-fetched\nexamples of imitation of Theocritus he ascribes to him. It is the\nblemish of nearly all our modern poetry that its expression is so\nlabored, so technical. For this it is that, in the highest poetry,\nnearly all who have tried it have failed; none more signally than\nTennyson in _Queen Mary_. One only has succeeded\u2014Sir Aubrey de Vere.\nAnother\u2014whom, because he has so foully outraged the moral sense of all\nmankind, we prefer not to name until he has made reparation, and who,\nif he had not cast from him all sense of the beautiful and the true,\nmight have been perhaps the greatest poet of the age\u2014is as remarkable\nfor the originality and unstudiedness of his expression as for the\nbrilliance and fecundity of his imagination.\n\nMr. Stedman literally limits poetry to expression. In a passage at the\nside of which is the marginal index, \u201cWhat constitutes a poet,\u201d he\nwrites: \u201cAgain, the grammarian\u2019s statement is true, that poetry is a\nmeans of expression. A poet may differ from other men in having\nprofounder emotions and clearer perceptions; but this is not for him\nto assume, nor a claim which they are swift to grant. The lines,\n\n \u201cOh! many are the poets that are sown\n By nature\u2014men endowed with highest gifts,\n The vision and the faculty divine,\n Yet wanting the accomplishment of verse,\u201d\n\nimply that the recognized poet is one who gives voice, in expressive\nlanguage, to the common thought and feeling which lie deeper than\nordinary speech. He is the interpreter; moreover, he is the maker\u2014an\nartist of the beautiful, the inventor of harmonious numbers which\nshall be a lure and a repose.\u201d\n\nIt is clear from this unintelligible and self-contradicting passage\nthat the writer has no theory of poetry. Yet in it he makes a very\ndefinite attempt to sketch such theory, although he before told us\nthat he has none. What he means by it being \u201ca grammarian\u2019s statement\u201d\nthat \u201cpoetry is a means of expression\u201d we know not. Had he asserted\nthat poetry is the poet\u2019s means of expression, we could have\nunderstood him without agreeing with him; but he identifies poetry\nwith its expression. Say they must co-exist; but they are not\nidentical. There is not a human soul without a body, nor a leaf\nwithout the sap of the tree; but great confusion would ensue from\nidentifying the one with the other. He goes, however, even further\nthan this. It seems to be his idea that no one can be a poet who does\nnot write poetry. It is true he uses the term \u201crecognized,\u201d but he\ngoes on to describe the poet as \u201can artist of the beautiful, the\ninventor of harmonious numbers.\u201d But it is not necessary, for any one\nto be a poet, that he should be recognized as such. There are those\nwho \u201cwant the acomplishment of verse\u201d through the very intensity of\nthe poetic gift. Their intuitions are so profound that language sinks\nunder the task of conveying them; expression is overwhelmed. People\nnever write more feebly than when under the influence of strong\nemotion. For this reason it is, too, that poetry may sometimes be\nimproved by the travail of art, the less, however, in proportion to\nthe inspiration of the poet. There are those, pre-eminently Shakspere,\nin whom the expression is nearly as inspired as the poetry.\n\n Ingenium miser\u00e2 fortunatius arte\n Credit, et excludit sanos Helicone Po\u00ebtas\n Democritus.\n\nIn more than one passage Mr. Stedman approaches the truth about\npoetry, as when he says that \u201cpoets differ from other men in having\nprofounder emotions and clearer perceptions\u201d; and again when he\nwrites: \u201cCertain effects are suggested by nature; the poet discovers\nnew combinations within the ground which these afford.\u201d If for\n\u201ceffects\u201d had been substituted \u201cconceptions of the beautiful,\u201d it\nwould have been very near a sufficiently accurate description of the\ncreative power of the poet; but he is hampered by his identification\nof poetry with its expression, and so, even here, substitutes\n\u201ceffects\u201d\u2014which really has no meaning in the context\u2014for ideas. Poetry\nis the intuition of the Beautiful and True as expressed in nature and\nin man, not an analysis of its causes and effects. Not the least\ninspired of modern poets, Rossetti, has very exquisitely sung this\ntheory of poetry in a sonnet on \u201cSt. Luke the Painter\u201d:\n\n \u201cScarcely at once she [Art] dared to rend the mist\n Of devious symbols: but soon having wist\n How sky-breadth and field-silence and this day\n Are symbols also in some deeper way,\n She looked through these to God, and was God\u2019s priest.\u201d\n\nThe fault of almost all the modern English poets is that they are too\nartistic. Certainly their poetry cannot be blamed as _carmen quod non_.\n\n Multa dies et multa litura coercuit, atque\n Perfectum decies non castigavit ad unguem.\n\nBut it makes too much display of labor. We admire its artistic skill,\nand that is its principal attraction. We feel that it is not nature\nwhich is hymning amidst so much art. The result of such obvious effort\nbetrays the handicraft of the artisan rather than the inspiration of\nthe poet. It is the Versailles fountains instead of Niagara. It cannot\nbe too much insisted on that poetry is not one of the fine arts. The\ngreater number of modern English poets, however, treat it as such, as\nmuch as is possible with only the imagery of words for their material.\nThey are disciples rather of Horace than of Democritus. There is\nplenty of _labor_ and _litura_, and of verse _perfectum decies ad\nunguem_; of _ingenium miser\u00e2 fortunatius arte_ but little. They\nsurpass in mountain-labor the forgotten Lucilius, who _in versu\nfaciendo s\u00e6pe caput scabunt, vivos et rodunt ungues_; but they have\ntoo little of \u201cthe sacred madness of the bards\u201d for admission into\nHelicon. The reason is not far to seek. We notice a similar phenomenon\nin Greece when religious belief was forced to retire before scepticism\nand the prating sophists. To the sceptical temper of the age is\nundoubtedly owing the labor devoted to expression, which has done all\nit could to reduce poetry to an art. It has also occasioned a certain\nsubjectivity, if we may use the word\u2014a painful mental analysis\u2014which\nis fatal to poetry.\n\nRobert Browning is the greatest offender in this regard. So painfully\nintense, in truth, is his introspection that he pays far less\nattention to expression than his contemporaries. Cut off from the\ndivine suggestiveness of nature by his hard materialism, he does\nnothing but think; and thinking poetically rather than syllogistically\nis an unamalgamation. Thought and expression are alike confused,\nrugged, and difficult. The reader, without even melody of rhythm to\nhelp him on, stumbles and gropes through intricate sentences,\nparentheses in parentheses, a startling image here and there; anon a\nwhirring flight of poetry, or what resembles it; but the wings soon\ndroop, and the poet is on the earth again, or lower than the\nearth\u2014anywhere but soaring heavenwards. He has in him the making of a\npoet. Had he the Catholic faith, his imagination would carry him to\ngreat heights and keep him there. He might have soared nigh to\nShakspere. His talent is dramatic\u2014which is to say, his poetic gift is\nof the highest order; but nature has no divine suggestiveness to him,\nthe hollow shell whispers no eternity in his dull ear; for him man has\nno end, events no purpose; and inasmuch as man has a definite end, and\na sublime one, to which events definitely contribute, he is not able\nto create men and women, a destiny, or destinies, in any of which\nshould there be a living verisimilitude. A plot in which men, women,\nand children talk and act as men, women, and children do talk and act\nis out of his reach. His highest effort is the dramatic poem, in\nwhich, however, occur at times passages of great dramatic power,\nshowing what he could have done had he not been a heathen.\n\nMr. Tennyson has been the subject of various articles in THE CATHOLIC\nWORLD; but so markedly does he contrast with Browning, and so\nnoteworthy is the different bias given to the poetry of each by the\nmaterialistic spirit of the age, that we cannot afford to pass him by\nhere in complete silence.\n\nWe may look in vain in the poetry of the laureate for passages of\ndramatic force such as now and then light up the creaking, groaning\npoetry of Browning; but he never grovels, as the latter does very\noften indeed.\n\nTennyson has strong sympathy with the one faith, and, as one may\nthink, a kind of supernatural bias in its favor, or he too, like the\nauthor of _Paracelsus_ and _Bishop Blosegram\u2019s Apology_, might have\nused his poetry as a fantastic costume for crude psychological\nproblems and for the mind-darkness of doubt. The distinguishing\ncharacteristic of his poetry is the exquisitely artistic finish of its\nexpression. Every line shows signs of careful toil. His genius has\nbeen without doubt hampered by it. He is more artist than poet; and,\nas though conscious of this, he seems to claim inspiration by an\naffectation of oracular obscurity. Yet not unseldom the refined\nsimplicity of word and phrase, the grace of imagery, and all the\nartistic brilliance of choicest ornament express poetry, although\nnever of a very high order. An elegiac poem such as _In Memoriam_, of\nnearly seven hundred quatrains, however beautiful in expression, has\n\u201cunreal\u201d on the face of it; and that is fatal to its pretensions as a\npoem. Yet are there indications here and there of true poetic feeling.\n\nPainful is it, and not without shame, to have a difference with all\nthe world of criticism. But if we have reason, our fellow-critics will\nnot disdain us; and if we have not, we throw the blame on our theory\nof poetry. But there is a modern poet\u2014Rossetti\u2014whom, on the whole, we\nmust place on a higher pedestal than Tennyson. With an equal\nsimplicity of word and phrase, a refinement of expression not\ninferior, he has the art, if it be the result of art, to conceal his\nart. It is true he has all the artistic finish of Tennyson\u2014so much so\nthat we cannot but feel that it is an artist who is singing to us; but\nthe artist disappears in the poet. We must disenchant ourselves of the\nthrall of his poetry before we can criticise the artistic perfectness\nof its expression. It is not only that, as Tennyson, he paints scenes\nof nature and human doings with consummate art; but, true poet that he\nis, he catches the very life of nature and it throbs within his verse.\nHis soul echoes to the Beautiful and the True imaged in nature through\nall her modes and forms of color, scent, and sound; he reads their\nmeaning; and when he reproduces them, as Mr. Stedman has it, \u201cin\ndifferent combinations,\u201d they are as suggestive of those ideas of God\nas the very images of nature herself. Take, for example, the eleventh\nsong in _The House of Life\u2014The Sea Limits_:\n\n \u201cConsider the sea\u2019s listless chime:\n Time\u2019s self it is made audible\u2014\n The murmur of the earth\u2019s own shell.\n Secret continuance sublime\n Is the sea\u2019s end: our sight may pass\n No furlong further. Since time was\n This sound hath told the lapse of time.\n\n \u201cNo quiet, which is death\u2019s\u2014it hath\n The mournfulness of ancient life\n Enduring always at dull strife.\n As the world\u2019s heart of rest and wrath\n Its painful pulse is in the sands\n Lost utterly, the whole sky stands,\n Gray and not known, along its path.\n\n \u201cListen alone beside the sea,\n Listen alone among the woods;\n Those voices of twin solitudes\n Shall have one sound alike to thee.\n Hark where the murmurs of thronged men\n Surge and sink back and surge again\u2014\n Still the one voice of wave and tree.\n\n \u201cGather a shell from the strown beach\n And listen at its lips: they sigh\n The same desire and mystery,\n The echo of the whole sea\u2019s speech.\n And all mankind is thus at heart\n Not anything but what thou art:\n And earth, sea, man, are all in each.\u201d\n\nThis is poetry of the loftiest kind.\n\nWe cannot forbear quoting one more example of his \u201cquality.\u201d It is\npoetry which reaches near to Shakspere. \u201cThe poet of the world\u201d\nhimself might have thus grandly imaged lust\u2014with more nervous\nterseness, may be; but the structure of dramatic numbers exacts that,\nand we do not yet know that Mr. Rossetti is not equal to the drama.\n\n \u201cLike a toad within a stone\n Seated while time crumbles on;\n Which sits there since the earth was cursed\n For man\u2019s transgression at the first;\n Which, living through all centuries,\n Not once has seen the sun arise;\n Whose life, to its cold circle charmed,\n The earth\u2019s whole summers have not warmed;\n Which always, whitherso the stone\n Be flung, sits there, deaf, blind, alone\u2014\n Ay, and shall not be driven out\n Till that which shuts him round about\n Break at the very Master\u2019s stroke,\n And the dust thereof vanish as smoke,\n And the seed of man vanish as dust:\n Even so within this world is lust.\u201d\n\nThus much we have quoted in support of a criticism which will not be\nreadily assented to by all. Our space does not admit of our quoting\nmore. But we refer the reader to _The Blessed Damozel_ as a gem not to\nbe outshone; and, for dramatic power joined to the loftiest poetry, to\n_A Last Confession_.\n\nNext after Rossetti, if at all after, comes William Morris. In the\nform and sound and bias of their numbers there is a close resemblance.\nThe imaginings of the latter flow more profusely, perhaps because he\ndoes not tarry to spend so much care upon his art. Indeed, whilst the\n_art_ of Rossetti is faultless in its way, a seldom blemish, like a\nminute blur in a diamond of the best water, may be detected in that of\nMorris, as the word \u201cnow\u201d thrice in three successive quatrains, the\nword \u201cgolden\u201d in five successive lines, in a scene, of almost tragic\npathos, of _Sir Galahad, a Christmas Mystery_\u2014the finest music he has\nsmitten from the chords of no feeble instrument:\n\n \u201cWhy not, O _twisting_ knight, now he is dead?\u201d\n\nBut amidst so much finish and faultlessness slight fallibilities like\nthese are, as it were, a relief. The truth is, the artistic spirit in\nboth, which (and no wonder) is all enamored of medi\u00e6val art\u2014art in\nthose ages of faith when she appeared in forms of beauty as sublime as\nfaultless\u2014is too forgetful of the living, breathing, moving present.\nThat they should drink in inspirations of the Beautiful and the True\nfrom the forms in which that most poetic age embodied them, is well;\nbut the art\u2014the poetic expression\u2014was _natural_ to that epoch; it is\nnot natural to this. If this is made too conspicuous, as we think it\nis in both these poets, there is a risk of mannerism; and mannerism is\nan artistic blemish. The attempt to entice men away from the turbid\nand muddy torrent of sounding hap-hazard words, which, setting in from\nJohnson and Gibbon, has swollen into an inundation of all but sheer\nnonsense from the babbling tributaries of the cheap press, to the\nnervous grace of simple words and simple sentences and the suggestive\nimagery of pure nature, is a service to letters as well as art, for\nwhich alone they and Tennyson, and all the poets of that school,\ndeserve to be crowned. But aught by which so profoundly artistic a\nrenaissance is needlessly dissociated from the present should have\nbeen carefully eschewed. In the matter of words we do not think that\nsuch as \u201cjapes,\u201d \u201cdromond,\u201d \u201cwhatso,\u201d the substitution of the ending\n\u201chead\u201d for \u201chood\u201d in words for which universal custom has decreed the\nformer, and so on, are a needed revival of the obsolete. We think,\ntoo, that simplicity of grammatical construction has been pushed to\nthe verge of affectation. Still, it is so artistically done, is so\nbeautiful in itself, and evidences such a return of leal homage from\nhideousness to the rightful Beautiful and the True, that it goes\nagainst us to complain.\n\nIt is time that the appointment of a poet-laureate should cease in\nEngland. It is an anachronism. It is almost an insult to the world of\nletters. These are not times in which people are likely to accept the\ncriticism of the British crown or of the crown\u2019s advisers as decisive\nof a poet\u2019s merits. So, too, there is such a dearth of independent,\ntrustworthy criticism, it has become such a follow-the-leader kind of\nbusiness, that if the crown merely caps the opinion of the\ncontemporary public, there is every chance of the wrong man being put\nin the wrong place. At any rate the appointment should not be limited\nto one. There should be \u201cpower to add to their number.\u201d We have no\nhesitation in assigning a higher niche to either Rossetti or Morris\nthan to Tennyson. In two respects Morris surpasses Rossetti. We have\nas yet from the latter no sustained efforts such as _The Earthly\nParadise_ of the former, and the poetic fire appears to be kindled in\nhim with less effort. We are quite sure that it is in no spirit of\nchallenge or rivalry that he takes Tennyson\u2019s very own theme in _The\nDefence of Guenevere_, _King Arthur\u2019s Tomb_, _Sir Galahad_, _a\nChristmas Mystery_, and _The Chapel in Lyoness_; but it is an\ninvoluntary expression of conscious power. In all the _Idyls of the\nKing_ there is not a passage of such vivid poetry as the following in\n_The Defence of Guenevere_:\n\n \u201c\u2018All I have said is truth, by Christ\u2019s dear tears.\u2019\n She would not speak another word, but stood\n Turned sideways, listening like a man who hears\n\n \u201cHis brother\u2019s trumpet sounding through the wood\n Of his foe\u2019s lances. She leaned eagerly,\n And gave a slight spring sometimes, as she could\n\n \u201cAt last hear something really; joyfully\n Her cheek grew crimson, as the headlong speed\n Of the roan charger drew all men to see.\n The knight who came was Launcelot at good need.\u201d\n\nThe poetry of the _Idyls_, glittering and charming as it may be, is\ncold and pulseless by the side of _King Arthur\u2019s Tomb_, a poem which\nrises to the utmost height of tragic pathos. The description of the\nremorse of Guenevere for merely ideas of disloyalty to her kingly\nhusband which she had permitted herself to entertain, as well as of\nthe satisfaction she made, is poetry in its noblest form, short of the\ndrama. But we should never meet throughout all the poetry of Tennyson\nsuch blemishes as those we have already quoted, nor such as\n\n \u201cI tell myself a tale\n That will not last beyond the whitewashed wall\u201d\n\n\u2014an image which is beneath the dignity of poetry, whilst it rather\ndulls than quickens our idea of the fleeting nature of his tale; or\n\n \u201c\u2026 till the bell\n Of her mouth on my cheek sent a delight\n Through all my ways of being.\u2026\u201d\n\nBut for a poetry so lofty and so inspiring we can well afford to pay\nthe penalty of a few blemishes.\n\nWe think that he shares with Tennyson, to a certain extent, the fault\nof obscurity\u2014never, as Tennyson, in single passages, but in the design\nand end of entire pieces. We cannot suppose, for example, that he has\nnot a definite end and purpose in _The Earthly Paradise_; but it is an\nimmense defect that it must be very carefully studied in order even to\nconjecture one; that it does not readily occur, and still more that,\nstudy it as one may, he cannot feel quite sure he has conjectured\nrightly. And we feel this very serious defect the more keenly because\nin several of the separate portions of that poem we are afraid to\ntrust ourselves implicitly to the poet; we dare not throw ourselves\ninto his imagination, fearful whither it is to bear us. This is\nspecially remarkable in _Cupid_ _and Psyche_. The subject startles us\nfrom the first. Gods and goddesses whose memory only remains as the\nlong-passed-away images of falsehood instead of the Beautiful and the\nTrue, especially sensuous impersonations of impurity, are a subject\nwhich is calculated to scare rather than attract us. But we gain\nconfidence as we read on. Had Byron sung of it, we should have\nluscious and sensuous imagery of base suggestiveness. Had it been the\ntheme of a living poet, we should have had shameless obscenity. Our\npoet transfigures it into purity itself. Not an unchaste image shocks\nthe soul. The whole subject is etherealized\u2014we would say, if we felt\nquite sure of its purpose, even spiritualized. As we interpret it, the\nheathen myth, although used without stint, is, by the inimitable\ngenius of the poet, stripped of all impure suggestiveness, and is even\nmade a vehicle of exquisite beautifulness for conveying one of the\nmost touching revelations of the great poem of humanity. Psyche (the\nsoul) is represented to us undergoing by the power of divine love all\nsorrow, overcoming superhuman difficulties, succored always, when hope\nwas well-nigh gone, by guardian angels, until,\n\n \u201cLed by the hand of Love, she took her way\n Unto a vale beset with heavenly trees,\n Where all the gathered gods and goddesses\n Abode her coming; but when Psyche saw\n The Father\u2019s face, she, fainting with her awe,\n Had fallen, but that Love\u2019s arm held her up.\n\n \u201cThen brought the cup-bearer a golden cup\n And gently set it in her slender hand,\n And while in dread and wonder she did stand\n The Father\u2019s awful voice smote on her ear:\n \u2018Drink now, O beautiful! and have no fear;\n For with this draught shalt thou be born again,\n And live for ever free from care and pain.\u2019\n\n \u201cThen, pale as privet, took she heart to drink,\n And therewithal most strange new thoughts did think,\n And unknown feelings seized her, and there came\n Sudden remembrance, vivid as a flame,\n Of everything that she had done on earth,\n Although it all seemed changed in weight and worth,\n\n \u201cSmall things becoming great, and great things small;\n And godlike pity touched her therewithal\n For her old self, for sons of men that die;\n And that sweet new-born immortality\n Now with full love her rested spirit fed.\n Then in that concourse did she lift her head,\n And stood at last a very goddess there,\n And all cried out at seeing her grown so fair.\u201d\n\nThis is the inspiration of true poetry. Nothing at all approaching it\ncan be found throughout the poetry of Tennyson.\n\nIn contrast to the soul led by divine love, the poet depicts her\nsisters devoured by envy and hatred, until, deceiving themselves the\nwhile with the dream that they too were objects of delight to divine\nlove, the one having reached \u201cthe bare cliff\u2019s rugged brow,\u201d her end\nof life,\n\n \u201cShe cried aloud, \u2018O Love! receive me now,\n Who am not all unworthy to be thine.\u2019\n And with that word her jewelled arms did shine\n Outstretched beneath the moon, and with one breath\n She sprang to meet the outstretched arms of Death,\n The only god that waited for her there,\n And in a gathered moment of despair\n A hideous thing her trait\u2019rous life did seem\u201d;\n\nand the other\n\n \u201c\u2026 rose, and, as she might,\n Arrayed herself alone in that still night,\n And so stole forth, and, making no delay,\n Came to the rock a-nigh the dawn of day;\n No warning there her sister\u2019s spirit gave,\n No doubt came nigh her the doomed soul to save,\n But with a fever burning in her blood,\n With glittering eyes and crimson cheeks, she stood\n One moment on the brow, the while she cried,\n \u2018Receive me, Love, chosen to be thy bride\n From all the million women of the world!\u2019\n Then o\u2019er the cliff her wicked limbs were hurled,\n Nor has the language of the earth a name\n For that surprise of terror and of shame.\u201d\n\nCan anything be grander than this imaged suicide of the evil human\nsoul? And the glowing description of Psyche content to forget her\nfather and her father\u2019s house, and finding the fondest delight in\nsequestering herself alone with her divine Lover, whom she never sees,\nonly whose voice she hears, is the most exquisite piece of poetic\nimagining to be met with anywhere. But the poem deserves a criticism\nto itself.\n\nWe have here to pause. We had hoped to apply similar canons of\ncriticism to others of our modern poets. We had selected Buchanan,\nAdelaide Procter, Matthew Arnold, Aubrey de Vere, and especially his\nfather, whose mantle has descended on him. Sir Aubrey de Vere is the\nonly one of the modern poets who has written a poem belonging to the\nhighest order of poetry\u2014_Mary Tudor_, a historical drama\u2014which,\nalthough at a long distance from the dramas of \u201cthe poet of the\nworld,\u201d is the nearest to them that has been written since his day.\n\n\n [76] This epithet, to our mind, is a blemish in a very\n beautiful creation. In the midst of lofty and\n suggestive natural imagery it abruptly sinks us to a\n vulgar matter-of-fact struggle of men at fisticuffs\n armed in the product of the blacksmith\u2019s shop.\n\n\nON THE FIRST OCCASION OF THE FORTY HOURS\u2019 DEVOTION IN THE NEW\nCATHEDRAL OF BOSTON.\n\n\u201c_No word shall be impossible with God._\u201d\n\n\n O blessed bells! ring joyfully to-day;\n O incense clouds! float gladly up to heaven;\n All glory, honor, power, and praise be given\n To Him whom earth and sea and sky obey.\n Behold, the conqueror doth assert his sway\n Here where men once would fain have died unshriven,\n Proclaimed the Holy Faith unholy leaven,\n And drove its followers out as Satan\u2019s prey.\n But now, beneath a great cathedral\u2019s dome,\n The Sacred Heart doth beat, and men adore;\n Our Lord hath found at last a glorious home,\n In spite of unbelief that rages still.\n \u201cThy kingdom come,\u201d pray we as ne\u2019er before,\n Whose eyes have seen his power to work his will.\n\nMARCH, 1876.\n\n\n\n\nSIR THOMAS MORE.\n\n_A HISTORICAL ROMANCE._ FROM THE FRENCH OF THE PRINCESSE DE CRAON.\n\n\nVII.\n\n\n\u201cThis is very singular!\u201d cried Sir Roger Lassels, master of the earl\u2019s\nhousehold, as they passed the edge of the wood. \u201cI had made a bet with\nmyself that we would follow the road on the bank of the river. At all\nevents, the expedition will not be a very long one, since they have\ngiven me no order for provisions. It is true, however, that our poor\nyoung lord\u2019s head is not as sound as it might be. Ah! well, in the\ntime of the late duke things were not managed in this fashion. When\nthey were going into the country, the duke would send for me eight\ndays in advance. \u2018Lassels,\u2019 he would say\u2014\u2018my dear Lassels,\u2019 slapping\nme on the shoulder, \u2018above all take great care that we shall want for\nnothing. Prepare everything in advance; because in matters of cooking,\nyou know, I hate nothing so much as the uncertainty of the \u2018fortune of\nthe pot.\u2019 He was right, very right, was the duke. The duchess used\nalways to say on seeing our wagons passing by: \u2018With Roger Lassels\nthey carry everything with them.\u2019\u201d\n\nIn the meantime the first rays of the sun were not slow in dissipating\nthe heavy mists of morning; the air became pure and exhilarating, and\nthe northern pines, which grew in great profusion in that portion of\nthe forest, imparted to the atmosphere a sweet, pungent odor. Myriads\nof dewdrops, more brilliant than diamonds, were suspended from the\npoints of the leaves, which the slightest breath of air was sufficient\nto call down in a laughing shower. Creeping vines, thickly laden with\nblossoms, crossed and recrossed the road, almost hidden by the thick\nverdure with which it was overgrown. The birds saluted the return of\nday with a thousand joyous songs; the deer and young fawns bounded\nbeneath the heavy shade of the forest. All nature wore an air of\nmajestic beauty, calm and tranquil; the heart of man is alone found to\nremain always in a state of agitation and unrest.\n\n\u201cOh! what a beautiful shot,\u201d cried a voice from the crowd, on seeing a\nlarge grouse, its wings dripping with the dew, flying slowly above\ntheir heads.\n\n\u201cTake it, then!\u201d cried another.\n\n\u201cFor what purpose?\u201d exclaimed Northumberland.\n\nSir Walsh, hearing the voice of Lord Percy, took advantage of that\nmoment to urge his horse beside him, and declare the pain it caused\nhim to see his friend so deeply depressed.\n\n\u201cWhat could you expect?\u201d replied Percy. \u201cAll is ended with me. I have\nrenounced everything. I am detached from everything earthly. A single\nmoment has dissipated all the illusions of my short and miserable\nlife\u2014illusions in which so many others remain for ever enveloped. I\nbelieved that henceforth a word would be sufficient to answer my every\nthought; to suffer alone, while awaiting death, which is only the\nbeginning of life. Might I not thus believe myself to be almost\nshielded by evils, since I was determined to endure them all? One evil\nonly I had not foreseen\u2014that of being made the cause of suffering to\nothers; of becoming, in the hands of an unjust and barbarous ruler, an\ninstrument destined to destroy my friends! Ah! it is this that makes\nme rebel, that bows me to the earth and surpasses everything that I\nhave yet been made to suffer. I go at this moment to arrest the\nArchbishop of York\u2014to conduct him, doubtless, on the road to\nexecution; and the day will come when those who loved him will\nexclaim, while they point the finger of scorn at my abode: \u2018There\nlives the man who arrested the great Wolsey, the venerable friend who\nhad reared and educated him in his own house!\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cThe great Wolsey!\u201d replied Walsh, astonished.\n\n\u201cYes, _great_,\u201d said Northumberland. \u201cWhen he will be no more, then\nwill they forget his faults and appreciate his great qualities. He has\nknown how to keep the lion chained, so that you have only seen him\nlap; but you will know him better if he ever gets the chance to use\nhis teeth.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho is this lion?\u201d asked Walsh.\n\n\u201cI cannot name his name,\u201d replied Northumberland angrily; \u201che is one\nwhose claws tear the heart and destroy the innocent; one who is\u2014But\nnever mind!\u201d And he abruptly ceased speaking.\n\nAfter riding for some time through the forest, they at last emerged\ninto a vast plain, in the midst of which appeared several villages;\nand very soon they found themselves near a church, whose ringing\nchimes announced the beginning of the divine Office.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Sir Roger Lassels to himself, \u201cthere is to be Mass at the\nchapel of Sir William Harrington.\u201d\n\nAt that moment the Earl of Northumberland turned to Sir Walsh. \u201cIf\nagreeable to you,\u201d he said, \u201cwe will stop and hear Mass. We shall, at\nany rate, arrive soon enough at Cawood. You will have an opportunity,\nif you are curious, of visiting the monuments Sir William Harrington\nhas had erected to the memory of his parents in this chapel, founded\nby him in order that prayers may every day be offered for the repose\nof their souls.\u201d[77]\n\n\u201cI ask nothing better,\u201d replied Sir Walsh.\n\nThey all entered the chapel, where Mass had already begun. A great\nnumber of the inhabitants of the surrounding country were assembled,\nand Lord Percy found himself close beside a woman, still very young,\nbut whose features seemed to have been entirely changed by misery and\nsuffering. Two small children knelt beside her and held to her coarse,\nblack woollen gown.\n\n\u201cMother, I am very hungry yet!\u201d said the eldest in a voice as sweet as\nthat of a young dove. \u201cBrother has eaten up all the bread.\u201d And he\nlaid his head against her shoulder.\n\nThe young woman looked at the child, and her eyes filled with tears.\n\n\u201cMy dear child,\u201d she replied in a low, choking voice, \u201cI have nothing\nmore to give you; this evening, may be, I shall find something to buy\nbread with. If your father were living, we would be very happy; but,\nmy son, a poor widow is cast off by all the world, even though she is\ntoo feeble to work for bread for her children.\u201d\n\nTears streamed from her eyes as she pressed the starving child close\nto her bosom.\n\nNorthumberland listened to the woman\u2019s mournful complaint, observing\nespecially that she did not murmur; she only wept. The expression of\nher pale and suffering face, as well as the feeling she had expressed\nof entire abandonment, filled his soul with pity.\n\n\u201cSuch as these,\u201d he said to himself\u2014\u201csuch as these indeed have a right\nto complain of life and its miseries. I have ignored them. Shut up in\nmy castle, I have even forgotten the orphan. Of no possible service to\nmy kind, the earth supports me like an arid, sterile plant. Cruel\nselfishness! Is it, then, essential for all to smile around me before\nI can think of those who are crushed by poverty and misfortune? My\ntears, my sighs, my regrets, have all been in vain, have vanished into\nthin air; there remains for me nothing but duty to my neighbor, and\nthat I have not done!\u201d\n\nGreatly agitated, he remained for an instant motionless, then, leaning\nover toward the woman, he requested her to leave the chapel for a\nmoment.\n\nSurprised that any one should think of speaking to her, she raised her\neyes, all streaming with tears, to his face, while astonishment was\npainted on her emaciated features.\n\nShe arose, however, and followed him out, and they stopped a short\ndistance from the chapel.\n\n\u201cYou weep!\u201d said Northumberland compassionately. \u201cYou are a widow, it\nseems. Are you not able to support your children?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas! sir,\u201d replied the young woman without hesitation, \u201cmy husband\ndied in a strange land while on a voyage which would have secured us a\nliving; and I, a stranger in this country where he has left me, and\nwhere I have no relations, no friends, to assist me, have been brought\ndown to extreme poverty. My work has scarcely sufficed to keep us\nalive, and to-day it has failed entirely.\u201d\n\n\u201cPoor woman!\u201d said Northumberland, putting some pieces of gold in her\nhand, \u201chereafter have no fears; I will take care of you and your young\nchildren.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy God!\u201d cried the woman, falling on her knees\u2014\u201cbread, bread for my\nchildren! Are you an angel sent from heaven to save us? O sir! who\nwill thank you for me? Ah! it shall be my poor children and your own!\nMay they love and bless you as I do this moment.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d replied Lord Percy, \u201cI have no children; I shall never have\nany! But you, poor mother, can at least rejoice in the happiness of\npossessing children to love and cherish you.\u201d\n\nIn spite of the painful recollections awakened in his soul, when Percy\nreturned to the chapel his heart was overflowing with a secret and\nsweet consolation; he felt that henceforth he would find brothers and\nfriends in these unfortunates, whose father he would replace by taking\nupon himself their support.\n\nWhen the Mass was ended, they all remounted their horses to continue\ntheir journey. They had scarcely started when they were joined by a\ntroop of horsemen as numerous as it was brilliant, being composed of a\ngreat number of the most distinguished gentlemen in the province, who\nwere proceeding to York to assist at the installation of their\narchbishop. At their head rode old Robert Ughtred, chief of one of the\noldest Yorkshire families, whose valor and merit had been admired by\nall his contemporaries. Six of his sons accompanied him. At his side\nrode Clifton, Lord d\u2019Humanby, his friend and relative; Thomas\nWentworth, of Nettlestead; Sir Arthur Ingram de Temple, Lord of\nNewsam; Walter Vavassour; John de Hothum, Lord of Cramwick and of\nBierly; William Aytoun, Swillington; Meynill, Lord of Semer and\nDuerteton, together with a crowd of others. They recognized with\nastonishment the Earl of Northumberland, and eagerly approached to\nsalute him.\n\nThis meeting, but little agreeable at first, became still less so when\ninformed of the object of their journey. Percy, however, deemed it\ninexpedient to let this opportunity pass of creating for himself a\nsort of justification for the future. On being told, therefore, that\nthey would spend two days at the little village of Cawood before going\nto salute the archbishop, he assured them he would be most happy to do\nthe same and not separate from their company; but he was forced to go\nwhere he had been ordered, and that it was a mission on which he\nproceeded with the greatest reluctance and sorrow.\n\nThe travellers, astonished at his singular explanation, looked\ninquiringly at each other; but as they regarded the Earl of\nNorthumberland with great deference because of his rank, his\nwell-known worth, and the affection they cherished for the memory of\nhis father, they held their peace, and continued their journey until\nwithin a very short distance of Cawood.\n\n * * * * *\n\nNotwithstanding the resolution taken by Cardinal Wolsey that the\nceremony of his installation should be attended by the least possible\n_\u00e9clat_, he could not prevent the entire nobility of the province from\nassembling to do him honor and to express on this solemn occasion\ntheir affection and joy. The little village of Cawood and the castles\naround it were crowded with visitors. The archbishop\u2019s courtyard was\nconstantly filled with carts laden with game, fruits, and all kinds of\nprovisions, sent to him from every direction to assist in doing honor\nto the entertainment it was customary to give on these occasions.\n\nWolsey felt touched to the heart by these testimonials of friendship\nand esteem, in which there was no reason to suspect that self-interest\nmingled its destructive poison. Nevertheless, he felt more than ever\ndepressed, and his spirit was overshadowed by dark and terrible\npresentiments, in spite of all his efforts to dispel them.\n\nIt was the hour for the repast taken by our fathers at noon, and\nWolsey found himself seated opposite the salt-cellar which divided the\ntable, and served also to designate the rank of the guests. In those\nremote times a common expression prevailed: \u201cIt takes place above or\nbelow the salt.\u201d\n\nThe chaplains were seated around him, quietly discussing the\nfoundation of the cathedral of York. Some of them stated that the\nVenerable Bede alleged in his writings that it was Edwin the Saxon,\nKing of Northumberland, who, having embraced the Christian faith in\nthe year 627, was the first to build a wooden church, which he\nafterwards rebuilt of stone. But the others contended, the monument\nhaving been pillaged and devastated by the Danes, then burned by the\nNormans, together with a portion of the city, the title of founder\ncould only be accorded to Archbishop Roger, who commenced the erection\nof the superb edifice in 1171, and to his successors, John of Romagna\nand William of Melton, who had the honor of completing it after forty\nyears\u2019 labor. They insisted that it would assuredly be just to include\namong them Robert Percy, Lord of Bolton, who had all the wood cut\nemployed in the construction, and Robert Vavassour, who had furnished\nthe stone.\n\nThe archbishop for a long while had finished eating. He had listened\npatiently to their lengthy discussions. When he saw at last they had\nnearly concluded, he arose to say grace; but at the moment they were\nstanding with bowed heads awaiting the act of thanksgiving, the black\nvelvet robe of Dr. Augustine, his physician, became entangled in the\nfoot of the large silver cross that was carried before the archbishop.\nThis cross was standing in one corner, resting against the tapestry,\nand the robe made it fall with its entire weight on the head of Dr.\nBonner, who sat on the opposite side of the table. He uttered a\npiercing cry.\n\nThey all rushed toward him.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter with him?\u201d demanded the archbishop, who had seen\nnothing of the accident.\n\n\u201cThe cross,\u201d explained Cavendish, his master of the horse\u2014\u201cthe cross,\nwhich was leaning against the wall, has fallen in Dr. Bonner\u2019s face.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn his face! Is he bleeding?\u201d cried Wolsey.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d replied several of those who surrounded the wounded man, \u201cbut\nit is nothing serious; the skin only is broken.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Wolsey, and he stood motionless; his head sank on his\nbreast, as though he had suddenly fallen into a profound reverie.\n\n\u201cWoe is me!\u201d he at length exclaimed, \u201cwoe is me!\u201d And the tears\ncoursed down his cheeks. He quickly wiped them away and retired\nimmediately to his bedroom, where no one dared follow him without\nbeing summoned.\n\nThe attendants of the cardinal, however, were extremely apprehensive,\nhaving remarked the sudden change in his manner and the extreme pallor\nwhich had overspread his countenance. Dr. Bonner especially earnestly\ninsisted that Cavendish should go to him at once.\n\nHe finally resolved to do so. On entering the apartment he found the\narchbishop on his knees, and remarked that the floor of his chamber\nwas wet with tears.\n\nWolsey made a sign for him to retire; but the faithful servitor stood\nnear the door and hesitated to obey him. The cardinal then called him\nto assist him in rising to his feet, feeling, he said, extremely\nfeeble.\n\n\u201cAlas! my dear lord,\u201d said Cavendish, \u201cwhat is it that so deeply\ngrieves you? and why will you withdraw from your trusty servitors, if\nit is in their power to assist you?\u201d\n\n\u201cI thank you, Cavendish,\u201d replied the cardinal, inclining his head,\n\u201cbut listen to me. My poor friend, I am going to die very soon\u2014I have\na presentiment of it; and God, in his mercy, often sends us these\nwarnings, in order that we may not be surprised by death. The cross of\nYork has fallen: it represents myself.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy think you so?\u201d asked Cavendish earnestly. \u201cThis cross fell\nbecause it was struck; nothing could have been more natural than such\nan accident.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! no!\u201d exclaimed Wolsey, \u201cit was not at all natural, but it is only\ntoo true. York is overthrown! Augustine is my accuser; he makes my own\nblood flow in making Bonner bleed, the master of my faculties and\nspiritual jurisdiction. My destiny is accomplished. My doom is sealed.\nCavendish, if you doubt it, you will soon be convinced. My shadow, the\nsound of my name alone, is sufficient to alarm them; already I am no\nmore, and yet this remnant of life makes them tremble, even in the\nmidst of their triumphs. It is necessary for their peace that my last\nbreath be extinguished; they have resolved and they will accomplish\nit!\u201d\n\n\u201cNo! no!\u201d cried Cavendish, deeply moved. \u201cThe king loves you; he will\ndefend you! All love you,\u201d he continued warmly. \u201cSee with what\neagerness they hasten hither to give you the most earnest assurances\nof their devotion.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true,\u201d replied Wolsey, who was becoming more calm, and was\ngreatly relieved by the presence of Cavendish. \u201cIt is the only feeling\nof joy I have experienced in a long time; but I am grieved not to have\nreceived any token of remembrance from the young Earl of\nNorthumberland. His intellect, goodness, and his many amiable\nqualities have always made me regard him with the greatest esteem and\naffection. They say he loves solitude, and I am well assured that he\nreceives no visitors; but I very much fear he cherishes bitter\nrecollections of the court and Anne Boleyn. However, he should not\ntake it ill that I have helped to prevent him from marrying such a\nwoman!\u201d\n\nWhilst Wolsey was speaking a great noise was heard in the courtyard.\nCavendish, at the cardinal\u2019s request, immediately went out to\nascertain the cause.\n\nHe had advanced but a few steps when he encountered another equerry,\ncoming in all haste to announce the arrival of the Earl of\nNorthumberland.\n\nOverjoyed at hearing the name, Cavendish at once returned to inform\nthe archbishop.\n\n\u201cHere is Lord Percy himself, who also comes to congratulate your\ngrace!\u201d he exclaimed the instant he came in sight of Wolsey.\n\n\u201cThe dear child!\u201d cried the cardinal, his heart overflowing with a\ngush of tenderness. \u201cCavendish, you are not mistaken. Eh? Ah! I shall\nnever forget him! Let us go and receive him, Cavendish.\u201d\n\nHe advanced with a tottering step, and more rapidly than he was able,\ntoward the staircase which Northumberland had just ascended. On seeing\nthe archbishop approaching to meet him Lord Percy felt his heart\nsuddenly throb with a sensation of inexpressible wretchedness.\n\n\u201cHe comes to meet me!\u201d he exclaimed.\n\nHe found him so much changed, so old and worn, that without his\nvestments he would scarcely have recognized him.\n\n\u201cHe also has found the cup of life embittered!\u201d said Northumberland.\n\u201cSorrow carves deep furrows on the brow, and with her haggard finger\nimpresses every feature.\u201d\n\nHe turned anxiously to look for Walsh, but found he was no longer near\nhim. In the meantime Wolsey advanced rapidly toward him, and, taking\nhim in his arms, pressed him closely to his heart.\n\n\u201cYou are most welcome, my dear lord! How happy I am to see you!\u201d he\nexclaimed. \u201cBut why have I not been informed of your coming? I should,\nat least, have been prepared to give you a better reception; for you\nmust know that what formerly required but a moment to effect I am now\nscarcely able to execute at all. But you will, I hope, appreciate my\ngood intentions; and if I am ever so happy as to be re-established in\nmy fortune, I shall then be able to express more worthily the joy I\nfeel at receiving you in my house.\u201d\n\n\u201cI thank your lordship,\u201d answered Northumberland.\n\nBut he was unable to utter another word. However, he embraced Wolsey,\nthough with great excitement of manner, his hands trembling visibly in\nthose of the archbishop.\n\n\u201cLet us go,\u201d continued Wolsey glancing at the followers of Lord Percy.\n\u201cI am glad to see you have remembered the advice I gave you in your\nyouth, to love and take care of all your father\u2019s old domestics; that\nis why, I suppose, you have brought so many of them with you.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, I prefer them,\u201d replied Northumberland. And Wolsey went and took\nthem each by the hand, praising their fidelity and recommending them\nto love their young master as he himself had always done.\n\nThe more Wolsey exerted himself to assure Northumberland of the\ngratification he experienced at his coming, the less strength Percy\nfelt to thank him. However, the cardinal begged to be allowed to\naccompany him to his bed-chamber, where they might be alone, except\nCavendish, who remained near the door, as his duty required him.\n\nFor a moment they sat in silence. Wolsey regarded Lord Percy with\nastonishment on observing the latter change color and become every\ninstant more and more embarrassed. At length, arousing himself\nsuddenly to a determined degree of resolution, he approached, and,\nlaying his hand gently on the arm of the archbishop, said in a voice\ntremulous with emotion: \u201cMy lord, I arrest you on the charge of high\ntreason!\u201d\n\nWolsey sat so completely stupefied that he was incapable of uttering a\nword; they gazed at each other in mournful silence.\n\n\u201cWho has induced you to do this?\u201d the cardinal at length exclaimed,\n\u201cand by what authority do you it?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d replied Northumberland coldly, \u201cI have a commission that\nauthorizes me; or that compels me, rather,\u201d he continued in a low\nvoice.\n\n\u201cWhere is this commission? Let me see it?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my lord, I cannot.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d cried Wolsey, \u201cI will not submit to your authority.\u201d\n\nAs he said this, Sir Walsh pushed Dr. Augustine, whom he had arrested,\nrudely into the apartment. \u201cGo in there, traitor,\u201d he cried; but\nperceiving the cardinal, he fell on his knees before him, and,\nremoving his cap, bowed almost to the floor.\n\nWolsey turned pale on seeing Walsh; he at once recognized him as being\nan officer of the king\u2019s palace, and knew he would not be there\nwithout an express order.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d he exclaimed, \u201crise, I implore you! My Lord of Northumberland\ncomes to arrest me! If he has a commission, and you are with him for\nthat purpose, you will be pleased to let me see it.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d answered Walsh, \u201cif it please your grace, it is true that I\nhave one; but we cannot permit you to see it. They have added to the\npaper on which it is written some instructions that we are bound not\nto make known.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d cried Wolsey, melting into tears, \u201call is over with me! They\ndeprive me even of the means of defending myself, and my cruel enemies\nbehold all their schemes accomplished. It is well, sir,\u201d continued the\narchbishop, turning his back on the Earl of Northumberland; \u201cI consent\nto surrender myself to you, but not to my Lord of Northumberland, who\ncomes here only to enjoy my discomfiture. As to you, I know you; your\nname is Walsh, and you are one of the officers of the king, my master.\nTherefore I do not demand your commission; his will is sufficient. I\nam perfectly aware that the greatest peer in the realm is liable to be\narrested by the lowest subject, if such be his majesty\u2019s good\npleasure. This is why I shall obey you without delay. Begin, then, to\nput your orders into execution. If I had known them, I would have\nassisted you myself; but, at least, I submit.\u201d\n\nSaying this, the archbishop seated himself in silence; but the tears\ncontinued to flow rapidly down his cheeks.\n\nMeanwhile, Lord Percy felt so deeply wounded by the suspicion\nmanifested by the archbishop, and his believing him to be actuated by\na principle of low revenge and cruelty in coming to arrest him, that\nhe was about to withdraw without offering him a solitary word of\nconsolation, as he had intended; but a sudden feeling of compassion\ninduced him to return and take a seat by his side.\n\nWolsey was deeply moved by this.\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d he exclaimed, \u201cI swear before God I am innocent of all the\ncrimes my enemies impute to me, beyond doubt, for the purpose of\nsecuring my death! I have committed many errors, I know; but it has\nbeen against God and against myself that I have committed them, and\nnot against my king, whom I have always served with an inviolable\nfidelity. I have possessed great riches; but I employed them in\nfounding great and useful establishments. I have held correspondence\nwith foreign princes, and have acquired great influence in their\ncouncils, but I have always used it in the interests of my king and\nthe state. And now he has abandoned me to the malice of my enemies,\nand does not hesitate an instant to believe all the calumnies they\nhave heaped upon my head! No, I shall indulge in vain illusions no\nlonger. I go now to my death; and it is my king who strikes the fatal\nblow! Ah!\u201d continued Wolsey, transported by his feelings, \u201cwould I\nmight appear before him, that I might justify myself in the face of\nheaven and earth! Then I should fear no man living under the sun. But,\nno; it will not be thus. I shall die without vindication, in the\ndepths of some obscure prison, some noisome dungeon! Not a friend has\nremained faithful; not a single voice has been raised in my defence!\u201d\n\n\u201cFriendship,\u201d replied Northumberland, \u201cis but a vain word, a beautiful\nsound that dissolves in the air, a shifting sand requiring the one who\nreposes on it always to remain on his guard, to beware; for one-half\nof the world is too frivolous and the other half too selfish for any\nconfidence ever to be placed in them.\u201d\n\n\u201cTherefore you yourself feel no compassion for me?\u201d said Wolsey,\nlooking at him.\n\n\u201cYou are unjust!\u201d replied Lord Percy. \u201cGod is my judge how deeply I\nhave suffered in being forced before you in my present capacity. But\ntell me, how am I to arrest the destroying tempest or turn aside the\nfalling thunderbolt? Have they not crushed me also?\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nAfter two long days had passed, during which the archbishop was\nentirely deprived of all communication with those around him,\nNorthumberland came to inform him that everything was arranged for the\njourney and it was time to depart.\n\n\u201cAlas! where are you going to take me?\u201d cried Wolsey, to whom this\ndeparture seemed the first step toward condemnation and death.\n\nIn that fatal moment he felt an attachment for every stone and every\nspot connected with the abode which, until this time, he had regarded\nas the most gloomy place of exile.\n\n\u201cNot to be able to die in peace!\u201d he mournfully exclaimed. \u201cWhere are\nyou going to take me, Lord Percy?\u201d\n\n\u201cI cannot accompany you,\u201d sadly replied Northumberland, who had\nendeavored during the preceding days to make him regard his condition\nwith less terror; \u201cbut I know that Sir Walsh has orders to deliver you\nat Sheffield Park, and place you in the hands of my father-in-law, the\nEarl of Shrewsbury; and you need suffer no anxiety, nor doubt but that\nhe will gladly exert himself to have you well treated as far as\ndepends on him. To-night you will sleep at Pomfret.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt the castle?\u201d demanded Wolsey.\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d replied Lord Percy: \u201cat the abbey. I am certain of it. I\nswear it! I have myself sent the order for you to be received there. O\nmy father!\u201d continued Percy, who felt more and more deeply grieved, \u201cI\nmust now leave you.\u201d (And he fell on his knees before the archbishop.)\n\u201cMay God be with you! But first give me your blessing. I indeed have\nneed of it! I have never forgotten the care you bestowed on me in my\nchildhood.\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear son,\u201d said the archbishop, \u201cmay the Lord Almighty, the God of\nIsrael and of Jacob, for ever bless you! We shall meet no more but in\nhim.\u201d\n\nAs the archbishop extended his hands and laid them on the head of\nPercy, and while he bent affectionately over him, Walsh entered,\nfollowed by a number of armed men; and the sound of smothered sighs\nand stifled cries was heard.\n\n\u201cWhat is that?\u201d exclaimed Wolsey in alarm.\n\n\u201cNothing, my lord,\u201d answered Walsh in an imperious tone. \u201cAs you could\nonly take four of your men with you, I feared the others would make\ntoo much disturbance at your departure; consequently, I had them shut\nup in the chapel.\u201d\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d cried Wolsey indignantly, \u201cI will not leave this place until I\nhave seen and bade farewell to all my servants. You cannot have been\nauthorized to treat me with such a degree of cruelty. My Lord\nNorthumberland, since you have seized for the king\u2019s benefit the\nlittle money I possessed, and have left me nothing to give them, at\nleast permit me to thank them for their services and mingle my tears\nwith theirs.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe thought it would be painful for you to witness their grief,\u201d\nreplied Northumberland, \u201cand wished to spare you the infliction. But\nthey shall be summoned.\u201d\n\nAs soon as the door of the chapel was opened they gathered in a crowd\naround Wolsey, kissing his hands and his vestments. \u201cMy children,\u201d he\nsaid to them, \u201cweep not; we shall meet again very soon, I hope. My\nLord Northumberland, I recommend them to you! You will take care of\nthem\u2014I feel assured of it.\u201d\n\nHe then hastened to depart, feeling his courage ready to desert him.\nAt every step he took his anguish redoubled; and when he reached the\ngreat courtyard, he turned his eyes for a moment toward the high,\nblack walls of the castle he was leaving, then glanced at the mule\nassigned him to ride. Cavendish followed with his almoner and two of\nhis valets. But a new grief awaited Wolsey, already overwhelmed with\nsorrow. Scarcely had they opened the outer gate of the castle, when\nthey perceived without a crowd of gentlemen of the province, whom\nWalsh had summoned, in the king\u2019s name, to come and secure the arrest\nof the archbishop; because the whole country was in a state of\ncommotion, and more than three thousand men had gathered along the\nroute, in the plain, and as far as the moats of the castle, around\nwhich they assembled as soon as they were informed of his arrest. They\nwere powerless to oppose his departure, but followed him for several\nmiles, shouting incessantly: \u201cGod save his grace, and perish his\nenemies who have forced him from us!\u201d They regarded the noblemen who\nsurrounded him with wrathful scowls, without reflecting that, while\nfeeling it necessary to obey the king, the lords were as deeply\ndisaffected as themselves, and in their turn accused the Earl of\nNorthumberland of having seconded Walsh in this enterprise.\n\nDuring the journey they unceasingly manifested the greatest regard for\nthe archbishop, and only left him after seeing him committed into the\nhands of the Earl of Shrewsbury, whose castle was situated near the\nconfines of Yorkshire, a short distance from the town of Doncaster.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n [77] The son has now ceased to invoke in this once\n hallowed spot the divine mercy on the souls of his\n fathers; the bells no more announce the vows nor the\n regrets of the heart; the august Sacrifice is never\n offered up but in the gloomy silence imposed by\n persecution.\n\n\n\n\nSENNUCCIO MIO, BENCHE DOGLIOSO E SOLO.\n\nFROM PETRARCH.\n\n\n My own Sennuccio, though bereft of thee,\n Weeping and lonely, me this thought sustains:\n That from this breathing tomb, these fleshly chains,\n Thy soaring spirit nobly set thee free.\n Now the twin poles by thee discovered are,\n The wheeling lights, and all the starry ways:\n Thou seest our seeing falter from afar;\n So thy delight the pain of loss allays.\n But I beseech thee in that far third sphere\n Greet Franceshino and the bard divine,\n Cino, Guitton, and all thy comrades there;\n And tell my Love, tell her what tears are mine,\n And what dark moods of wilder sorrow breeds\n The thought of her sweet face and saintly deeds.\n\n\n\n\nSCANDERBEG.\n\n \u201cOh! how comely it is, and how reviving\n To the spirits of just men long oppressed,\n When God into the hands of their deliverer\n Puts invincible might\n To quell the mighty of the earth, th\u2019 oppressor,\n The brute and boist\u2019rous force of violent men,\n Hardy and industrious to support\n Tyrannic power, but raging to pursue\n The righteous and all such as honor Truth.\u201d\n \u2014_Samson Agonistes._\n\n\nThe Turks, from their first appearance upon European soil, have been a\ndanger to the peace and civilization of Christendom. When their fierce\nhordes crossed the Bosporus, bearing aloft the standard of the\ncrescent, it was a boast among them that the sign was but a temporary\nemblem of their power, and that when she had waxed to the fulness of\nher orb\u2014_donec Lun\u00e6 totus impleatur orbis_, as was insolently said to\nan ambassador of the West\u2014her silvery sheen would change to the golden\nglory of the sun, and blaze from an eastern sky over prostrate and\nMohammedan Europe.\n\nWith one foot upon Constantinople and the other on Rome,[78] the\ncolossus of Islam would have projected an awful shadow over the\nChristian world. Efforts tremendous and long sustained were made to\nlift itself up; but this it could never do, and it has fallen and is\nbroken, but in its fall covers fair provinces and crushes a multitude\nof unfortunate Christians. If the Turks have ceased to be a stirring\nmenace to the nations, we must ascribe the curbing of their power to\ndivine Providence, which brought forward at critical times a number of\nmen mighty by the sword or through the word\u2014Huniades, Matthias\nCorvinus, Ladislas of Hungary, St. John Capistran, Cardinal Julian\nCesarini, Scanderbeg, St. Pius V., Don John of Austria, Mark Anthony\nColonna, Sobieski, and others\u2014who fought their advance towards the\nAdriatic and along the Danube. As this great Ottoman inundation rose\nhigher and higher, until it seemed as though the work of the church\nfor a thousand years would be swept away in fewer days, God spoke: \u201cI\nset my bounds around it, and made it bars and doors; and I said:\nHitherto thou shalt come, and shalt go no further: and here thou shalt\nbreak thy swelling waves.\u201d (Job xxxviii.)\n\nIn the fifteenth century several independent princelings, called\n_despots_ by the Greeks, were in possession of the rich and populous\ndistrict of Albania, which stretches along the coast of the Adriatic\nand Mediterranean Seas, and corresponds geographically to the Epirus\nof the ancients. One of the noblest of these chiefs was John Castriot,\nwho came of an ancient family in Lower Macedonia. His wife, Wo\u00efzava,\npresented him with nine children, and among them that George, born in\n1404, who was destined to become the defender of his persecuted race,\nthe Christian Gideon, as he was hailed by Pope Paul II., and the hero\nof his native country against the Turks. Several omens are reported to\nhave accompanied his birth and signified his future greatness. Without\ndenying that these may have been something more than mere accidents or\nfreaks of the imagination, we only certify that as the child grew up\nhe developed a strength of character and an aptitude for arms which\nhis after-successes amply justified and the inherent nobility of his\nparents had prepared.\n\n \u201c_Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis;\n \u2026 nec imbellem feroces\n Progenerant aquil\u00e6 cotlumbam._\u201d[79]\n \u2014_Horace._\n\nSultan Mohammed I. had invaded Albania in 1413, and obliged John\nCastriot to deliver up his four young sons to him as hostages. He\nimmediately, and against the solemn promise made to their father,\ncaused them to be circumcised and educated in the Mussulman religion.\nGeorge, our hero, was the youngest. He was endowed with a prodigious\nmemory, and soon learned to speak the Greek, Turkish, Arab, Illyrian,\nand Italian languages. A handsome person, unusual bodily strength, and\nvigorous mental qualities won for him the warm affection of the\nnext sovereign, Amurath II., who changed George\u2019s name to\n_Scanderbeg_\u2014_i.e._, Beg or Lord Alexander\u2014and at the early age of\neighteen gave him the rank of sangiac and command of five thousand\nhorsemen on the confines of Anatolia. His personal prowess and\nmilitary skill in Asia Minor brought him into considerable notice, and\nhe was given a command in the European provinces of the empire. This\nwas a difficult position to be placed in; for he had not forgotten\nthat he was born a Christian and had been impressed into his present\nservice. He felt a great dislike to turn his arms against\nco-religionists and countrymen. His brothers were dead, and now his\nfather died in 1432. At this juncture the sultan very unjustly took\npossession of his hereditary dominion, and, sending his mother and\nsister Mamisa into exile, put a pasha over the country. Scanderbeg did\nnot immediately pronounce himself against this act of treacherous\nspoliation, although several Albanian noblemen, proud of his renown\nand convinced that he was not at heart attached to his new creed,\ncorresponded with him secretly, urging him to come and put himself at\nthe head of the Christian population to free the country from the\ninfidel. The Albanians have always been distinguished for their spirit\nof nationality, and, like the inhabitants of all mountainous regions\nare remarkable for independence and love of home.\n\nThe favorable moment to declare himself had not arrived but his plans\nwere maturing. At last, after a great battle lost by the Turks at\nMorava on the 10th of November, 1443, he concerted with his nephew\nHamza and a few trusty friends of Christian origin, forced, like\nhimself, to serve the foreign tyrant, and by a skilful ruse and very\nsudden irruption at the head of six hundred Albanians, who hastened to\njoin him as soon as his defection was known, he obtained possession of\nCroia, the capital of his paternal dominions. The Turkish garrison,\nnot so much by his orders as from an uncontrollable impulse of\noutraged feelings in the populace, was put to the sword. Scanderbeg\nwas just twenty-nine years old. He publicly renounced Mohammedanism\nand renewed his profession of the Catholic faith. The chiefs of\nAlbania were then invited to meet him. When they came together at\nCroia, they called him their deliverer, unanimously proclaimed him\nPrince of Epirus, and soon collected an army of about twelve thousand\nmen. While the troops were being raised, the civil service and\nrevenues of the state were reorganized. Besides a large immediate\ncontribution from his own countrymen, he obtained two hundred thousand\nducats from his neighbors, the Venetians, and had a large source of\nincome in the salt-mines near Durazzo.\n\nPetralba was next taken, and this success brought new accessions of\nmen and means to prosecute the war. Within a month after the first\nblow had been struck every fortress except one was captured, and every\nTurk either killed, a prisoner, or in flight. Sfetigrad could not be\nsurprised, and, leaving a force of three thousand men to watch it and\ncut off supplies, Scanderbeg retired with the rest of the army to\nCroia for the winter, and occupied himself in making an alliance with\nthe republic of Venice, which held several towns along the coast of\nDalmatia, and in preparing for the inevitable struggle the sultan\nwould make to recover the country. Amurath did not dissemble his anger\nat the revolt of one whom he had treated, he said, with so much\nkindness and taught the use of the arms he was now turning against\nhim. Being engaged at the time against the Hungarians, he put off\nrevenge until the spring, thinking that he could at any moment easily\nsubdue the undisciplined bands of Albania; but when a truce was\nconcluded and spring opened with fair weather for an imposing\ncampaign, he sent Ali Pasha in command of forty thousand men, his\norders being to crush the insurrection at a single blow. Scanderbeg\nhad by this time reduced Sfetigrad and strongly fortified and\ngarrisoned the more important towns. He now took the field with only\nfifteen thousand troops, knowing that in such a country as the one he\nwas to defend a very large force would be difficult to handle and\nimpossible to feed. His tactics were generally those of partisan\nwarfare. His little army was composed partly of cavalry from the\nnorthern, and partly of a hardy and active infantry from the southern\nsection of the country. His object was to wear out the enemy by a\nstout resistance at every point, and harass the retreats which the\nvery vastness of the Turkish armies would necessitate by the\nimpossibility, if for no other reason, of providing for so many\nmouths. Only occasional raids were made in force upon the fertile\nplains of Thessaly and Macedonia to capture horses, cattle, sheep, and\nto gather in grain to be stored in the fortified towns. During the war\nof Albanian independence, which lasted a quarter of a century, the\nTurks always, except towards the end, repeated the fatal blunder of\nsending immense armies, consisting in some cases of two hundred\nthousand men, into a country where they could be maintained only for a\nsingle and brief campaign, and to fight a general who was sure, from\nhis bravery, skill, and thorough knowledge of every torrent, mountain\npass, road, and valley, to turn defeat into overwhelming disaster. It\nwas thus that the army of Ali Pasha was drawn by wily man\u0153uvres into a\nnarrow district only ninety miles from Croia and opening into the very\nheart of Albania. The upper end was very contracted, and here\nScanderbeg drew up his main body of troops, to the number of ten\nthousand, which were posted in three divisions _en \u00e9chelon_. As soon\nas the enemy was well engaged in the valley three thousand horsemen,\nwho had been watching their slow advance, came down at its lower end,\nwhich had been left quite unguarded, while fifteen hundred irregular\ninfantry lay in ambush on either side amidst the woody acclivities. As\nsoon as the Turks came up to the Albanians they halted, tried to\ndeploy, but could not, repeatedly charged and swept up in heavy\ncolumns against the small but solid masses who evenly filled the gap\nand made it impossible to flank them. The Turks after a while began to\nwaver and fall into still greater disorder. Ali Pasha had blundered.\n\nThe Albanians now took the offensive. The signal-clarions sounded,\nand, while the Turks were attacked in front, the cavalry from the\nlower end of the valley charged them in the rear, and the infantry\nthat lay in ambush came rushing down on both sides with terrific cries\nand sword in hand to complete their discomfiture. It was now a\nslaughter; and although the battle lasted only four hours altogether,\nover twenty thousand infidels were killed or wounded. Few\nprisoners\u2014not more than two thousand\u2014were taken. The rest of the\nenemy, under cover of darkness and from sheer exhaustion on the part\nof the victors, escaped through the now open passage at the lower end\nof the valley.\n\nWhen Scanderbeg had entered Croia in triumph, he announced the victory\nby letters to Pope Eugenius IV. and several Christian princes; and\nwhile some of the twenty-five captured battle-flags were distributed\namong the confederate chiefs, others were suspended in the principal\nchurch of the capital.\n\nAmurath was so alarmed by this defeat\u2014not, perhaps, so much from what\nhe had to fear on the side of the immediate victors, but from the\nencouraging effects it might have in leaguing the Christian princes\nagainst him\u2014that he wrote a letter from Adrianople, offering\nScanderbeg peace on certain conditions. But when these were discussed\nin the council at Croia, they were declared unjust and humiliating,\nand Scanderbeg was advised to reject every sort of condition and\ninsist on the complete independence of Albania. The answer to this\nletter announced his intention of holding out to the last extremity,\nand began with these valiant words: \u201cFrom our camp near Croia, August\n12, 1445. George Castriot, surnamed Scanderbeg, soldier of Jesus\nChrist and Prince of the Epirotes, to Othman, Prince of the Turks,\ngreeting.\u201d A second army under Fizour, and a third and larger one\nunder Mustapha, were successively defeated, but not without\nconsiderable loss in men and damage to the country. During the inroads\nof these fierce barbarians into Albania they perpetrated the most\nhorrible massacres without regard to age or sex, and heaped the most\nbrutal outrages upon the inhabitants. The handsomest girls were seized\nfor the seraglios of the sultan and his wealthy minions, the prettiest\nboys were kept to minister to their unnatural lusts, while youths of a\nmaturer age or less attractive appearance were circumcised, educated\nin the Mohammedan religion, and drafted into the Janizaries. Others\nwho were not butchered on the smoking ruins of their homes were driven\nin chains to the slave markets, while many were made eunuchs and set\nto guard the harems of their masters in Asia Minor.\n\nMustapha Pasha, although he had been defeated, was entrusted with\nanother army, but with a similar result, and even worse; for he\nhimself was taken prisoner. Twenty-five thousand golden ducats were\npaid for his ransom. Scanderbeg now made a _razzia_ on a large scale\ninto Macedonia and returned laden with an immense booty of every\ndescription. His fame was so solidly established by these victories\nthat the republic of Venice sent a magnificent embassy to compliment\nhim and convey to him the news of his appointment as governor-general\nof all the Italian possessions along the Adriatic and in the interior,\nwhere the important cities of Scutari and Alessio were situated. His\nname was enrolled in the Golden Book at the head of the list of\nVenetian nobles.\n\nThe revolt of the Janizaries having obliged Amurath to leave his\nluxurious retreat at Magnesia and once more resume the management of\npublic affairs, he determined to conduct in person the war against\nScanderbeg. He soon appeared at the head of a formidable army before\nSfetigrad, which surrendered after a gallant resistance. During the\nsiege the Turks lost in one of the assaults six thousand men.\nSatisfied, apparently, with this single victory, the slothful sultan\nretired into Macedonia after leaving a strong garrison in the captured\nfortress. Scanderbeg hovered on his flanks and rear, making many\nprisoners and taking a large amount of stores and war material; then,\nafter seeing him well out of the country, he turned towards Sfetigrad\nand sat down before it on September 20, 1445, with eighteen thousand\nmen, among whom were adventurers from almost every country in Europe,\nGermans, French, and Italians being the most numerous. For want of\nartillery no regular siege could be conducted, and Scanderbeg was\nrepulsed with heavy loss in his attacks on the place. Hearing that\nAmurath was preparing to return, he hastily concentrated his available\ntroops around Croia, which was provisioned for a long resistance. Some\nlarge, unwieldy pieces of cannon, directed by Frenchmen, added to the\nstrength of the capital. The sultan was slow in his movements, and did\nnot appear as soon as was expected. In the meanwhile Scanderbeg was\nencouraged by receiving congratulatory letters from Pope Nicholas V.,\nwhich were brought to him by two Franciscans, one of whom was a\nbishop. The winter of 1449-50 had been passed by him in the saddle\ninspecting every fortress, going into every part of his dominions to\nencourage the people and hasten the levy of troops. The coming tempest\nwas naturally expected to assail the capital; and to make its\nneighborhood a howling wilderness, the whole country around Croia was\nravaged by his order, for a distance of from fifteen to eighteen\nmiles, so completely that not a house or a bridge was left standing,\nand not a road passable; every growing and living thing was either\ndestroyed or removed. The enemy could find no shelter there.\n\nOn April 15, 1450, the sultan appeared before the city with an army of\none hundred and sixty thousand fighting men and a host of\ncamp-followers. Uranocontes commanded inside and repelled numerous\nassaults, while Scanderbeg, with a force of five thousand picked\ncavalry, hovered about the outskirts of the enemy, inflicting\nconsiderable loss in men and stores, but above all annoying the long\nline of communications by which the army drew its daily supplies.\nAmurath finally tired of the siege, and, being convinced that the\nmountains and valleys of Epirus were not worth his time, his trouble,\nor his money while richer conquests awaited him, charged a certain\nYousouf to leave the camp and seek Scanderbeg, to try and induce him\nto accept the single condition of an annual tribute of only ten\nthousand ducats. After a two days\u2019 search he was found, but instantly\nrejected even this almost nominal condition attached to the\nindependence of his country. Knowing that he could not take Croia by\nassault or maintain his army any longer in such a country, the sultan\nslowly retreated and died soon afterwards at Adrianople, on February\n5, 1451. He was succeeded by his son, Mohammed II., who renewed his\nfather\u2019s offer, but with no better result.\n\nThe news of Amurath\u2019s ill-success before Croia made a great noise in\nItaly, and even beyond. The kings of Hungary and Aragon, and Philip,\nDuke of Burgundy, sent complimentary missions to the Albanian hero,\nand presents of money and provisions. King Alphonsus of Aragon, who\nwas also King of Sicily and Naples, sent him four hundred thousand\nbushels of grain. Among other rich presents that he received from this\nmagnificent monarch was a helmet or casque of the finest Spanish\nsteel, lined on the inside with Cordovan leather and soft silk, and\ncovered on the outside with the purest gold artistically chased and\nembossed by an Italian jeweller and studded with precious stones.\nScanderbeg was very proud of this really regal headgear, and ranked it\nalong with his famous sword, a veritable _Excalibur_, the blade of\nwhich was of perfect Damascus workmanship, and the handle a blaze of\nOriental gems set with exquisite skill by a Persian lapidary. This\nweapon was a present from Amurath on giving him his first command.\nWith it he killed at least two thousand Turks in his war of\nindependence, and it was looked upon by his enemies with a species of\nsuperstitious awe. During one of the informal truces between the Turks\nand Christians Sultan Mohammed begged to see the blade of which he had\nheard so much. It was sent to him and tried by the best swordsmen of\nhis army, but not one of them could perform the feats that its owner\nhad been seen to do with it; and when it was returned, the sultan told\nhim this and asked the reason. \u201cI sent your highness the sword,\u201d said\nScanderbeg, \u201cbut not the limb that wields it!\u201d When he went into\nbattle, it was always with his right arm bare and his shoulder\nperfectly free. He was so tall and strong that a few years later, when\nhe went over to Italy to assist King Ferdinand, and had occasion to\nmeet the commander of the enemy\u2019s troops\u2014the famous _condotti\u00e9re_\nCount Piccinino, whose stature, it is true, was small, but still that\nof a grown person\u2014he took him by the belt with one hand, and, slowly\nraising him up, impressed a courtly kiss upon the forehead and as\ngently set him down again. He looked so brave and handsome that even\nhis foes applauded.\n\n \u201cHis haughtie helmet, horrid all with gold,\n Both glorious brightnesse and great terrour bredd:\n For all the crest a dragon did enfold\n With greedie pawes, and over all did spredd\n His golden winges; his dreadfull hideous hedd,\n\n Close couch\u00e8d on the bever, seemed to throw\n From flaming mouth bright sparcles fiery redd,\n That suddeine horrour to faint hartes did show;\n And scaly tayle was stretcht adowne his back full low.\u201d\n \u2014_Spenser._\n\nIn May, 1451, Scanderbeg married the Princess Donica, daughter of\nArrianites Thopia, one of the most influential lords of Albania, and\nconnected on his mother\u2019s side with the imperial family of the\nComneni. He received at this time from King Alphonsus five hundred\narquebusiers, the same number of expert crossbow-men, and a few pieces\nof artillery with their cannoniers. We have only space to mention the\nevents of the next years: how successive armies of Turks were\ndefeated; how Scanderbeg himself was repulsed with a loss of five\nthousand men in an attack on Belgrade; and how, during a lull in the\nwar, he was invited over to Italy by Pope Pius II. to the assistance\nof King Ferdinand, son of his old friend Alphonsus, who was hard\npressed by his rival, John of Anjou. (_Raynald. Annales Eccl. ad an._\n1460, num. lx.) He contributed greatly to the victory won at Troja on\nAug. 18, 1462, and for his services was created Duke of San Pietro, in\nthe kingdom of Naples. He remained in Italy a little over a year.\nRecalled to Albania by the appearance of the Turks, he repulsed Sultan\nMohammed from Croia; but his own losses and the new plans of the\nenemy, which consisted in sending only small armies under experienced\ngenerals\u2014one of whom, Balaban Badera, was an Albanian renegade\u2014with\norders to avoid battle if possible, but to remain in the country at\nall hazards, made him feel that his cause was failing, and that,\nunless relieved from the west, he must sooner or later succumb. In\nthis emergency he went to Rome and appealed to the pope and cardinals\nto preach a new crusade. The example of the broken-hearted Pius II.\nshowed how fruitless it would have been for them to do so. Paul,\nindeed, wrote to all the Christian princes, but he got nothing but\nfair words in return. The great schism had lamentably diminished the\nprestige of the Papacy, and a multitude of heretics more or less\nopenly preluded that Reformation which would soon divide Christendom\nitself into hostile camps. The pope gave him three thousand golden\nflorins and conferred upon him the insignia of the cap and sword which\nis annually blessed by the pontiff on the vigil of Christmas for\npresentation to the prince who has deserved best of the church.\nScanderbeg lodged while in Rome in a house which, although rebuilt in\n1843, still retains over the door his portrait in fresco and the\nlaudatory inscription set up soon after his death. The street and an\nadjoining little _piazza_ under the Quirinal gardens have long\nperpetuated his name as the _Via di Scanderbeg_. He left Rome in\ndisappointment and sorrow.\n\n \u201cAh! what though no succor advances,\n Nor Christendom\u2019s chivalrous lances\n Are stretched in our aid? Be the combat our own!\n And we\u2019ll perish or conquer more proudly alone;\n For we\u2019ve sworn by our country\u2019s assaulters,\n By the virgins they\u2019ve dragged from our altars,\n By our massacred patriots, our children in chains,\n By our heroes of old, and their blood in our veins,\n That, living, we shall be victorious,\n Or that, dying, our deaths shall be glorious.\u201d\n \u2014_Campbell._\n\nOn his way back to Albania he was allowed to recruit in the Venetian\nterritories a force of thirteen thousand men, which he commanded in\nperson. His former little army in the field was captained by his\nfaithful friend Tanusios, and after planning together the two generals\nattacked the Turks around Croia on two different points, while a\nvigorous sortie was made by the besieged, during which Balaban, the\nTurkish commander, was killed. His death and the suddenness and vigor\nof the triple attack threw the enemy into confusion, and they were\ncompletely routed. We pass over other battles and victories, by which\nScanderbeg\u2019s resources were finally exhausted. The end had come.\nDuring the winter of 1466-7 he was making a tour of inspection, and\nwhile in the city of Alessio, or Lissa, as it is sometimes called,\nwhere the ambassador of Venice and the confederate chiefs of Albania\nhad convened to meet him and combine for one last and desperate\neffort, he was seized by a fever which proved fatal. After addressing\na solemn and pathetic discourse to his principal officers, he embraced\nthem one by one, and gave orders to his only son John to cross over to\nhis Neapolitan fiefs with his mother, and there wait until some\nfavorable occasion might present itself to return and put himself at\nthe head of his countrymen as his father had done. He died during the\nnight of January 17, 1467, after having received the Viaticum and\nExtreme Unction, and was buried in the cathedral church of Alessio.\nHis death caused a profound sensation throughout Europe. Mohammed\nexulted over the loss of one whom he called the sword and buckler of\nthe Christians, and immediately poured his troops into Albania; but it\nwas not until the year 1478, when Croia surrendered on conditions\nwhich were afterwards basely violated, that the war ended. Since that\ntime the infamous Turks have lorded it over the land made glorious in\nlegendary lore by the son of Achilles, in history by King Pyrrhus, and\nin modern times by Scanderbeg. The presence of those barbarous\nAsiatics in any part of Europe is one of the foulest stains upon the\nmoral sense and the politics of Christian governments.\n\nWhen Alessio was captured the infidels dug up the remains of the great\nwarrior and divided his bones among the soldiers, to be worn in rich\nreliquaries as amulets of courage. His countrymen still sing of him as\ntheir national hero, and the Turks frighten naughty children with his\nterrible name.\n\nAfter Scanderbeg\u2019s death many Albanians emigrated to Italy, either in\nthe suite of his son or independently. The most remarkable colony was\nin Calabria, where as late as 1780 their descendants, numbering about\none hundred thousand, retained the dress, manners, and language of\ntheir ancestors. Another colony, not so numerous, is scattered about\nthe Abruzzi. The last lineal descendant of the hero was the Marquis of\nSant\u2019Angelo, who was killed at the battle of Pavia by the hand (as\nPaulus Jovius says) of Francis I.\n\nMost of the Albanians remained Christians until the middle of the\nseventeenth century, when the majority conformed, outwardly at least,\nto the Mohammedan religion. The popes have tried hard to keep alive\nthe Catholic faith among the population, and, under the circumstances,\nwith considerable success. Pope Clement XI., of the (now) princely\nfamily of Albani which emigrated from Albania in the sixteenth\ncentury, and settled at Urbino, established a purse of four thousand\nscudi in 1708 for the support of three students from that country in\nthe Propaganda College. The Catholics there do not now number more\nthan ninety thousand. There are two archbishoprics, Antivari united\nwith Scutari, and Durazzo, and three bishoprics, Alessio, Pulati, and\nSappa. These sees are usually filled by Franciscans, who, with a few\nPropagandists (with one of whom, now bishop of Alessio, we have the\nhonor of being acquainted), are the only missionaries in the country.\nWe conclude our article with a bibliographical notice of the subject,\nbecause, as Dr. Johnson used to say, a great part of knowledge\nconsists in knowing _where_ knowledge is to be found.\n\nThe original source of information upon which all subsequent writers,\nwhether with or without acknowledgment, have drawn is a work by Marino\nBarlezio, a priest of Scutari, who, besides being a native of the\ncountry about which he wrote, was an almost constant companion of\nScanderbeg and an eye-witness of most of the events which he relates.\nHe was a scholar and penned very excellent Latin, which greatly adds\nto the charm of his narrative. We give the full title: _De Vita et\nMoribus ac Rebus pr\u00e6cipu\u00e8 adversus Turcas gestis Georgii Castrioti\nclarissimi Epirotarum Principis, qui propter celeberrima facinora\nScanderbegus, hoc est Alexander Magnus, cognominatus fuit. Libri\nxiii._ It is not certain where this curious book was first published.\nSome say at Rome as early as 1506, but this is extremely doubtful;\nothers at Frankfort in 1537 (in folio). A German translation by\nPinicianus was published in 1561 in 4to, with woodcuts; and a French\none, the language of which is quaint and racy, by Jacques de Lavardin,\nin 1597. Independent biographies have been written in Latin by an\nanonymous author at Rome in 1537 or earlier, in folio; in Italian by\nT. M. Monardo, Venice, 1591, and almost immediately translated into\nSpanish and Portuguese; in French by Du Poncet (Paris, 1709, in 12mo),\na Jesuit, who took upon himself to refute the calumny of Machiavelli\nand Helvetius, that Christian principles and practices can never\ndevelop the qualities of a perfect soldier, a hero. Other French\nbiographies are those of Chevilly (Paris, 1732, 2 vols. 12mo), and\nCamille Paganel (_ibid._ 1855, 1 vol. 8vo), which is the best we have\nread. In English there is one by Clement C. Moore, an American (New\nYork, 1850), and another by Robert Bigsby, an Englishman (London,\n1866); while we have also, from the graceful pen of Benjamin Disraeli,\n_The Rise of Iskander_, a tale founded on Scanderbeg\u2019s revolt against\nthe Turks (London, 1833). A _Summarium_ or epitome of his life is\npreserved among the MSS. of the Royal Library at Turin; and the Grand\nDucal one at Weimar treasures among its rarities a MS. parchment\ncalled _The Book of Scanderbeg_, composed of three hundred and\ntwenty-five leaves, each of which is beautifully illustrated with\nfigures in india-ink representing scenes from civil and military life\nin the fifteenth century. It was a present to the Albanian hero from\nFerdinand of Aragon. Two Latin poems have been published about him,\none by a German named K\u00f6kert at Lubec, 1643, and the other by a French\nJesuit, Jean de Bussi\u00e8res, at Lyons, 1662, in eight books; finally,\none in Italian, called _La Scanderbeide_, by a lady named Margherita\nSarrocchi, without date or place of publication; but it sometimes\nturns up in book-sales at Rome.\n\nScanderbeg\u2019s large gilt cuirass, damaskeened with designs of Eastern\npattern, is found in the Belvedere collection at Vienna. It is\nsupposed to have been one of his trophies captured in Anatolia.\n\n\n [78] It was a common boast of the more ambitious\n sultans that they would some day feed their horses at\n the tomb of St. Peter.\n\n [79]\n The good and brave beget the brave;\n \u2026 Fierce eagles breed not harmless doves.\n\n The family standard of the Castriots, which Scanderbeg\n carried in his battles, was a black, double-headed eagle\n on a red field.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHURCH AND LIBERTY.\n\n\nMen are governed more by their sympathies than by reason. Weak\narguments are strong enough when supported by prejudice which is able\nto withstand even the most conclusive proofs. We do not pretend to say\nthat this is wholly wrong. Our feelings are in general sincerer than\nour thoughts; spring more truly from our real selves; are less the\nproduct of artificial culture and more of those common principles of\nour nature which make the whole world akin. But since in rational\nbeings the feelings cannot be purely instinctive, it follows that they\nare more or less modifiable by the action of the intellect, which in\nturn is also subject to their influence. Prejudice, therefore, may be\neither intellectual or moral, or the one and the other; the most\nobstinate, however, is that which is enrooted in feeling and springs\nfrom sympathies and antipathies; and this is usually the character of\nreligious prejudice. The tendency to make religion national, which is\na remarkable feature in the history of mankind, together with the fact\nthat states have always been founded and peoples welded into unity by\na common faith, has as a rule thrown upon the side of religion the\nwhole force of national prejudice, which, though it does not touch the\ndeep fountains of immortal life and of the infinite, revealed by\nfaith, is yet an immense power, more than any other aggressive and\ndefiant. As the Catholic Church is non-national, it is not surprising\nthat she should often be brought into conflict with the spirit of\nnationalism.\n\nChrist was himself opposed by this spirit; on the one side he was\nattacked by the religious nationalism of the Jews, and on the other by\nthat of the Romans. These enemies surrounded the early church. There\nwas the internal struggle to free herself from the bonds of Judaism, a\npurely national faith; and there was the open battle with the Roman\nEmpire for the liberty of the soul and her right to exist as a\nCatholic and non-national religion. Heresies and schisms have\ninvariably been successful in proportion as they have been able to\nrouse national prejudice against the universal church. To pass over\nthose of more ancient date, we may safely affirm that but for this\nLuther\u2019s quarrel with Tetzel would never have given birth to\nProtestantism. The conflicts during the middle ages between popes and\nemperors and kings, together with schisms and scandals, had accustomed\nthe public mind, especially in Germany and England, to look upon the\nsuccessor of St. Peter as a foreign potentate; nor was it easy, in the\nstate of things which then existed, to draw the line between his\nspiritual and his temporal authority. He came more and more to be\nconsidered an Italian sovereign who had usurped undue power, and thus\nin Germany and England Italians grew to be both hated and despised;\nand this more, probably, than kings and parliaments helped on the\ncause of Protestantism.\n\nThe Catholic faith was made to appear, not as the religion of Christ,\nbut as popery, a foreign idolatrous superstition, which had by artful\nmeans insinuated itself amongst the various nations of German blood;\nand to throw off the yoke of Italian despotism was held to be both\npolitical and religious disenthralment. The specific doctrines of\nLuther and the other heresiarchs had merely an incidental influence.\nIn England, where the separation from the church was more complete\nthan elsewhere, there was the least doctrinal departure from Catholic\nteaching; which is of itself proof how little any desire for a\nso-called purer faith had to do with the movement. The appeal to the\nScriptures was popular because it was an appeal from the pope. That\nthe Reformation was not an intellectual revolt, at least primarily,\nthere is abundant evidence in the indisputable fact that the most\nenlightened and learned people of that age\u2014the Italians\u2014remained firm\nin their attachment to the old faith; and even in Germany, which was\ncomparatively rude and barbarous, the cultivators of the new classical\nlearning, which had been revived in Italy, were for the most part\nrepelled by the coarseness and ignorance of the preachers of\nProtestantism, who in England found no favor with men like More and\nWolsey, scholars, both of them, and patrons of letters.\n\nAs Protestantism did not spring from intellectual convictions, but\nfrom passion and prejudice\u2014national antagonisms, which had been\nintensified by ages of conflict and strife, and which became the\npotent allies of the ambition and rapacity of kings and princes\u2014it is\nbut natural that Protestants, continuing the traditions of their\nfathers, should still be influenced in their opinions of the Catholic\nChurch more by their antipathies than by reason, and that these\nantipathies should invariably run with the current of national\nprejudice. Hence the objections to the church which really influence\nmen are not religious but social. A Protestant who accepts the Bible\nas the word of God, and receives in the literal sense all that is\nthere narrated, could not with any show of reason make difficulty\nabout believing the teachings of the church; nor can one who trusts to\nhimself alone for his creed feel great confidence that those who are\nsupported by the almost unanimous consent of all Christians for\nfifteen hundred years, and of the great majority even down to the\npresent day, are less certain of salvation than himself. But when he\ncomes to consider the social influence of the church, he finds it less\ndifficult to justify his dislike of Catholic institutions; for in this\ndirection he is upheld most strongly by traditional prejudice. That\nthe church fosters ignorance and immorality is to his mind axiomatic.\nHe still thinks that the darkness, the scandals, and crimes of the\nmiddle ages, which he always exaggerates, are to be ascribed to her\nand not to the barbarians. The labors of the learned have long since\nshown the old Protestant theory, that the church sought to keep the\npeople in ignorance, to be not only groundless, but the reverse to be\ntrue; and that not less false is the charge that she encouraged\nimmorality, however corrupt some who have held high ecclesiastical\npositions may have been. But as we have quite recently discussed these\nquestions,[80] we turn to the subject of the relative influence of the\nchurch and of Protestantism upon civil liberty. Discussions of this\nkind, though not new, are nevertheless full of actual interest. The\nsubject of social liberty profoundly influences the practical\ncontroversies of the age, and bids fair to become of still more vital\nmoment in the future. The adversaries of the Catholic Church never\nfeel so secure as when they attack her in the name of freedom. She is\nsupposed to be the fatal foe of all liberty, intellectual, religious,\nand social.\n\nFor the present we shall put aside the controversies concerning\nliberty of thought and discussion, and confine ourselves to the\nexamination of the relation of the church to social freedom. And it\nwill be necessary, in order to institute a comparison between her\naction and that of Protestantism, to go back to the first ages to\nstudy her early efforts in behalf of human rights.\n\nThose great battles for human liberty were fought, not by\nChristianity, but by the Christian Church. The religion of Christ was\nfrom the beginning corporate and organized; and it was through its\norganization that it exerted its influence upon individuals and upon\nsociety. To understand, therefore, the true relation of the church to\nliberty, we must study her history in the past as well as in the\npresent. In fact, it is only in the light of the past that the present\ncan be understood. The clear perception of her spirit and action\nduring the centuries which preceded the advent of Protestantism will\nenable us to see how far and in what respect the politico-religious\nrevolution of the sixteenth century was favorable to social freedom.\n\nHuman society, like the heavenly bodies, is guided by two forces, the\nnatural tendencies of which are antagonistic, but whose combined\naction, when properly harmonized, produces order. Authority and\nLiberty are the centripetal and centrifugal forces of the social\nworld; but, unlike those which govern the motions of the planets, they\nare indefinitely modifiable by free human agency. To regulate these\ntwo powers is the eternal political problem, which is never solved\nbecause the factors of the equation are ever varying and consequently\nnever known. The exaggeration of the principle of authority is\ntyranny; of that of liberty, anarchy; and the excess of the one is\nfollowed by a reaction of the other, so that, whichever preponderates,\nthe resulting evils are substantially the same. Tyranny is anarchical,\nand anarchy is tyrannical; and both are equally destructive of\nauthority and liberty.\n\nThough authority and liberty, as applied to human society, are\nrelative terms, they presuppose the absolute, and therefore have as\ntheir only rational basis the existence of a personal God; and hence\nthe social order is, in its very constitutive elements, religious. In\nview of this fact it is not surprising that the state, which is the\nsymbol of secular society, should be drawn to usurp the functions of\nthe church, the symbol of the spiritual order. As a result of this\ntendency, pre-christian history shows us a universal subordination of\nreligion to the temporal government, or, what is practically the same,\nthe identification of the two powers; since, where both are united,\nthat which regards man\u2019s present, visible, and urgent wants will\nalways preponderate.\n\nThe direct consequence of this was the destruction of liberty;\nindirectly it also undermined authority. The state was absolute, and\nunder the most favorable circumstances, as in the Gr\u00e6co-Roman\ncivilization, recognized the rights of the citizen, but not those of\nman; and even the citizen had rights only in so far as the state saw\nfit to grant them. The logical development of the absorption of all\npower by the state may be seen in imperial Rome, in which the ruler\nwas at once emperor, supreme pontiff, and God.\n\nWhen the Christian, though willing to obey C\u00e6sar in temporal matters,\nreserved to himself a whole world upon which he would permit no human\nauthority to trespass, he asserted, together with the supremacy of his\nspiritual nature, the principle to which modern nations owe their\nliberties. It would indeed be difficult to exaggerate the influence of\nthis assertion of the sovereign rights of the individual conscience.\nIt contains the principles of all rights and the essential elements of\nprogress and civilization; it is the necessary preamble to every\ndeclaration of human liberties; the logical justification of all\nresistance to tyranny, and of every reaction against brute force and\nconsecrated wrong. It is the impregnable stronghold of freedom,\nwithout which the sentiment of personal independence which the\nbarbarians brought with them into European life would have been\npowerless to found free institutions. That sentiment was as strong in\nthe North American Indians; in the Tartar and Turkish hordes which\nswept down from the table-lands of Asia upon fairer and more fertile\nregions; and yet with them it only subserved the cause of despotism.\nIt is, indeed, inherent in human nature. To be self-conscious is to\nwish to be free and to take delight in the possession of liberty. This\nfeeling finds a sanctuary in the heart of every boy who roams the\nforest, or plunges through the stream, or beholds the eagle cleave the\nblue heavens. It was as active in the breasts of the early Greeks and\nRomans as in the barbarians who rushed headlong upon a falling empire.\nThe love of liberty was, in fact, with them a sublime passion, and yet\nthey were unable to found free institutions because the state,\nabsorbing the whole man, made itself absolute.\n\nThey lacked, moreover, that of which the barbarians were also\ndeprived\u2014the knowledge of the worth and dignity of human nature. Man,\nas man, was not honored; to have any rights did not come of our common\nnature, but of the accident of citizenship. Slavery was consecrated as\nbeing not only just but necessary; and the slave was outside the pale\nof the law. Woman was degraded and infant life was not held sacred. In\nnothing is the contrast between modern and ancient civilizations more\nstriking than in their manner of regarding human life. With us the\nlife of the unborn child is under the protection of conscience, of\npublic opinion, and of the law equally with that of the highest and\nnoblest. Its value to the state, to society, to the world, is not\nconsidered; we think of it only as a creature of God, endowed by him\nwith rights which men may not violate. But this doctrine is unknown to\npaganism. In Rome the father was free either to bring up his child or\nto murder it; even the laws of Romulus grant him this privilege, with\nthe nominal restriction of obtaining the consent of the nearest of\nkin; but under the empire his right to kill his newly-born infant was\nfully recognized. The abandonment of children by their parents was a\nuniversal custom, and one of which the Emperor Augustus approved in\nthe case of the infant of his niece Julia. If child-murder was not a\ncrime, abortion, of course, was no offence at all, and was universally\npractised, especially among the rich. The contempt in which human life\nwas held is seen also in the public games\u2014in which hundreds of men\nwere made to butcher one another merely for the amusement of the\nspectators\u2014as well as in the power of life and death of the master\nover his slave.\n\nIt has been maintained quite recently that those who gave their\napproval and lent the countenance of their presence to these\ninhumanities were not therefore cruel; that, on the contrary, many of\nthem were kind-hearted and benevolent; but this, if we grant it, makes\nour argument all the stronger, since it proves that the system was\nmore vicious than the men. A social state which does not respect life\nis incompatible with liberty. It would be vain to seek for the origin\nof our free institutions in any supposed peculiarities of our\nbarbarous ancestors. Nothing short of a radical revolution of thought\nas to what man is could have made civil liberty possible. It was\nnecessary to re-endow the individual with absolute and inviolable\nrights in the presence of the state. Man had to be taught that he is\nmore than the state; that to be man is godlike, to be a citizen is\nhuman; but this he could not learn so long as he remained helplessly\nunder the absolute power of the state; nor could he, with the\nconviction that the state is the highest and that he exists for it,\nmake any effort to break the bonds of his servitude. Before this could\nbe possible he had to be received into a society distinct from, and\nindependent of, the state; he had to be made fully conscious that he\nis a child of God, in whose sight slaves have equal rights with kings.\nIt was necessary to bring out man\u2019s personal destiny in strong\ncontrast to the pagan view, which took in only his social mission, and\nthis narrowly and imperfectly.\n\nThis is what the Christian religion did: it created a personal\nself-consciousness which made heroes of the commonest natures. The\nRoman died for his country; the Christian died for God and for his own\nsoul\u2019s sake. He was not led to brave death by the majesty of the city,\nof the empire, or by the memory of the victories which had borne his\ncountry\u2019s arms in triumph through the world, but by his own individual\nfaith and duty as a man with a personal and immortal destiny. When the\nChristian appealed from emperors and senates and armies, from the\npower and force of the whole world, to God, it was the single human\nsoul asserting itself as something above and beyond this visible\nuniverse. Never before had the eternal and the infinite come so near\nto man; never before had he so felt his own immortal strength. He was\nlifted up into the heaven of heavens, stood face to face with the\neverlasting verities of God, became a dweller in the world that is,\nand the garments of space and time fell from his new-born soul. He was\nfree; strong in the liberty with which Christ had clothed him, he\ndefied all tyrannies. \u201cAs we have not placed our hope,\u201d said Justin to\nthe Emperor Antoninus, \u201con things which are seen, we fear not those\nwho take away our lives; death being, moreover, unavoidable.\u201d The\npagan Roman knew, indeed, how to die; but his death, though full of\ngrandeur and dignity, was sombre and hopeless; he died as the victim\nof fate. To the Christian death came as the messenger of life; he died\nas one who is certain of eternity, as one whose soul is free and\nbelongs to himself and God. This sense of a personal destiny which is\neternal, of infinite responsibility, gave to the individual a strength\nand independence of character for which we will seek in vain among the\nreligions of paganism. It is a feeling wholly distinct from the\nbarbarian\u2019s dislike of restraint. The love of wild and adventurous\nlife neither fits men for the enjoyment of liberty nor predisposes\nthem to grant it to others.\n\nThe more we study the history of Christian nations, the more profound\nis our conviction that without their religion they could never have\nwon their liberties, which even now without this divine support could\nnot be maintained. It is to our religion that we are indebted for the\ncreation of popular free speech. Before Christ gave the divine\ncommission to the apostles, philosophers had discoursed to their\nchosen disciples, and orators had declaimed to citizens, on the\ninterests of the state; but no one had spoken to the people as moral\nbeings with duties and responsibilities which lift them into the world\nof the infinite and eternal. There were priesthoods, but they were\nmute before the people, intent upon hiding from them all knowledge of\ntheir mysteries. Religious eloquence did not exist; it first received\na voice on the shores of the Lake of Genesareth and on the hills of\nJudea, in the preaching of Jesus, who remains for ever its highest\nexponent, speaking as one who had authority with godlike liberty on\nwhatever most nearly touches the dearest interests of men; speaking\nchiefly to the people, bringing back to their minds the long-forgotten\ntruths which prove them the royal race of God. The preaching of God\u2019s\nword with the liberty of Heaven, which no earthly authority might\nlessen, became the great school of the human race; it was the first\npopular teaching, and like an electric thrill it ran through the\nearth. It belongs exclusively to the religion of Christ. Mahomet, who\nsought to borrow it, was able to catch only its feeble echo. This free\nChristian public speech is unlike all other oratory; it possesses an\nincommunicable characteristic, through which it has exercised the most\nbeneficent influence upon the destinies of mankind. It is essentially\nspiritual, lifts the soul above the flesh, and creates new ideals of\nlife; inspiring contempt for whatever is low and passing, it begets\nenthusiasm for the divine and eternal. It is a voice whose soul-thrill\nis love, the boundless love of God and of men, who are the children of\nthis love, and therefore brothers. This voice cannot be bought, it\ncannot be silenced. _Currit verbum_, said St. Paul, and again from his\nprison-cell: \u201cBut the word of God is not fettered.\u201d On innumerable\nlips it is born ever anew; and always and everywhere it is a protest\nagainst the brutality of power, an appeal in the name of God, our\nFather in heaven, in behalf of the poor, the oppressed, the\ndisinherited of humanity. Men may still be tyrants, may still crush\nthe weak and sacrifice truth and justice to their lustful appetites;\nbut the voice of God, threatening, commanding, rebuking, shall be\nsilent nevermore.\n\nFestus will tremble before Paul; at the bidding of Ambrose Theodosius\nwill repent; and before Hildebrand the brutal Henry will bow his head.\nAt the sound of this voice all Europe shall rouse itself, shall rush,\nimpelled by some divine instinct, into the heart of Asia, to strike\nthe mighty power which threatened to blight the budding hope of the\nworld. If we would understand the relations of the church to liberty,\nwe must consider the influence of this free speech, which, without\nasking the permission of king or people, impelled by a divine\nnecessity, made itself heard of the whole earth. Over the door of his\nAcademy Plato had inscribed: \u201cNone but geometers enter here\u201d; over the\nportals of the church was written the word of Christ: \u201cCome to me, all\nye who labor and are heavy laden.\u201d \u201cAll you,\u201d exclaimed St. Augustine,\n\u201cwho labor, who dig the earth, who fish in the sea, who carry burdens,\nor slowly and painfully construct the barks in which your brothers\nwill dare the waves\u2014all enter here, and I will explain to you not only\nthe \u03b3\u03bd\u1ff6\u03b8\u03b9 \u03c3\u03b5\u03b1\u03c5\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd of Socrates, but the most hidden of mysteries\u2014the\nTrinity.\u201d This new eloquence was as large as the human race; it was\nfor all, and first of all for the poor and the oppressed. It was not\nartistic, in the technical meaning; it did not captivate the senses;\nit was not polished. There was no showy marshalling of words and\nphrases, no sweet and varied modulation of voice, no graceful and\ncommanding gesture. Around the altar were gathered the slave, the\nbeggar, the halt, and the blind\u2014the oppressed and suffering race of\nmen. If with them were found the rich and high-born, they were there\nas brothers\u2014their wealth and noble birth entered not into the church\nof Christ. Here there was neither freeman nor slave\u2014all were one. Thus\nin every Christian assembly was typed the humanity which was to be\nwhen all men would be brothers and free. To this new race the apostle\nof Christ spoke: \u201cMy brothers,\u201d he said, or \u201cMy children\u201d; and though\nall history and all society shrieked out against him, his hearers felt\nand knew that his words were God\u2019s truth. The heart is not deceived in\nlove. \u201cI seek not yours,\u201d he said, \u201cbut you; for God is my witness how\nI long after you all in the heart of Jesus Christ.\u2026 I could wish that\nmyself were accursed, if only my brethren be saved.\u201d And then, with\nthe liberty which love alone can inspire, he threatened, rebuked,\nimplored, laid bare the hidden wounds of the soul, nor feared to\nbecome an enemy for speaking the truth. To the great and rich he spoke\nin the plainest and strongest manner, reminding them of their duties,\ndenouncing their indifference, their cruelty, their injustice; and\nthen, in words soft as oil, he breathed hope and courage into the\nhearts of those who suffer, showing them beyond this short and\ndelusive life the certain reward of their struggles and sorrows. He\ntaught them that the soul is the highest, that purity is the best,\nthat only the clean of heart see God; that man\u2019s chief worth lies in\nthat which is common to all, derived from God and for him created.\nHuman life was perishing, wastefully poured through the senses on\nevery carnal thing. No love of beauty or truth or justice was left.\nThe mind was darkened, the heart was paralyzed. The great, strong\nhuman passions that bore the people of Rome in triumph through the\nearth were dead; everywhere, in religion, in art, in manners, was the\ndeadly blight of materialism; a kind of delirium hurried all men into\nanimal indulgences fatal alike to soul and body. To a race thus glued\nto the earth by carnal appetites came the voice of the apostle,\npreaching Christ and him crucified; telling of the divine love that\nhad bowed the heavens and brought down to men God\u2019s own Son to suffer,\nto labor, to die for them. He was poor, he was meek and humble, he\nfasted, he prayed; he comforted the sorrowful, gave hope to the\ndespairing; he offered up his life for men. Such as he was those who\nbelieve in him must be. To serve the lusts of the flesh, to be\nheartless, to be cruel, to be unjust, is to have no part with him. The\ngreed of gold and of pleasure had reduced the masses of men to slavery\nand beggary; those who would follow God\u2019s Son in the perfect way were\nto sell what they had, to give to the poor. The whole race of men was\nfallen, sunk in sin; the disciples of Christ were bidden to separate\nthemselves from a world which had denied God, that, having received\nfaith, hope, and love through union with him, they might bring to the\ndying peoples a new life.\n\nThe Christian religion turned the mind\u2019s eye from the contemplation of\nbeauty of form to the inner life of the soul; from thoughts of power\nand success to principles of right and justice. All the forces of\nsociety had been brought together to develop in its highest potency\nthe passion of patriotism, which, bending to its purpose all the\npowers of individual life, had created mighty states, embellished them\nwith art, crowned them with victory, made them eternal in literature\nthat cannot die; but on the altar of all this glory man had been\nsacrificed. Patriotism had failed, hopelessly failed, to satisfy the\nunutterable longings of an immortal race. It was based upon false\nprinciples and perverted instincts. Man\u2019s end is not more fulfilled in\ncitizenship in a great and prosperous state than in the possession of\nvast wealth. The religion of patriotism was a low and material creed\nwithout eternal verities upon which to rest. Power was its divinity,\nand it was therefore without mercy; success was its justification, and\nit consequently trampled upon right. It is not surprising that such\nprinciples should have created states whose chief business was to prey\nupon the human race, and which, when conquest was no longer possible,\nwere brought to ruin by the viciousness of their essential\nconstitutions. In fact, patriotism, as understood by the pre-christian\nstates, was a denial of the principles out of which the common law of\nChristendom has grown. It placed the interests of the nation above\nthose of the race, and thereby justified all inhumanity if only it\ntended to the particular good of the state.\n\nIn contradiction of this unjust and narrow spirit, the Christian\npreacher declared that man\u2019s first duty is to God, as his first aim\nshould be to seek God\u2019s kingdom by purifying and developing his own\nmoral nature. He declared that man is more than the state, as God is\nmore than the world; inspiring in another form those views of the\nparamount worth of the individual soul without which there could be no\nsuccessful reaction against the slavery and degradation of paganism.\n\u201cThe world,\u201d said Tertullian, \u201cis the common country and republic of\nall men.\u201d\n\nThese principles gradually worked their way, through \u201cthe foolishness\nof preaching,\u201d into the minds and hearts of the masses and became the\nleaven of a new society. Let us examine their action more specially.\nIn the church the brotherhood of the race was from the earliest day\nnot only taught but recognized as a fact. \u201cThere is neither Jew nor\nGreek,\u201d said St. Paul, \u201cneither bond nor free, neither male nor\nfemale; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.\u201d This doctrine is stated\nin various places in the New Testament with such emphasis as to leave\nno doubt of its true meaning. It is equally certain, however, that the\napostles did not proclaim the emancipation of the slaves. \u201cLet those\nwho are servants under the yoke,\u201d said the same apostle who declared\nthat in Christ there was neither bond nor free, \u201ccount their masters\nworthy of all honor, lest the name of the Lord and his doctrines be\nblasphemed.\u201d\n\nIt was not the spirit of the Christian faith to encourage visionary\nschemes or to awaken wild dreams of liberty; but rather to subdue and\nchasten the heart, to make men content to bear worthily the ills of\nlife by giving to suffering a meaning and a blessing.\n\nThe misery of the pagan slave was extreme, but it was also hopeless.\nHe believed himself the victim of relentless fate, from whose power\ndeath was the only deliverance, and he therefore rushed wildly into\nall excess, giving little thought to whether he should live to see the\nmorrow. Suffering for him was without meaning\u2014a remediless evil, a\nblind punishment inflicted by remorseless destiny. For this reason\nalso his wretchedness excited no pity. Even as late as the time of St.\nAmbrose the pagans were accustomed to say: \u201cWe care not to give to\npeople whom the gods must have cursed, since they have left them in\nsorrow and want.\u201d\n\nBut with the preaching of Christ, and him crucified, came the divine\ndoctrine of expiatory suffering\u2014of suffering that purifies,\nregenerates, ennobles, begets the unselfish temper and the heroic\nmood. When the Christian suffered he was but filling up the measure of\nthe sufferings of Christ. The slave, laboring for his master, was not\nseeking to please men; he was \u201cthe servant of Christ, doing the will\nof God from the heart\u201d; \u201cknowing that whatsoever good any man shall\ndo, the same shall he receive from the Lord, whether he be bond or\nfree.\u201d Masters in turn were taught to treat their slaves kindly and\ngently, even as brothers; \u201cknowing that the Lord both of them and of\nyou is in heaven, and with him there is no respect of persons.\u201d\n\nThus, without attempting to destroy slavery by schemes that must have\nbeen premature, the Christian religion changed its nature by diffusing\ncorrect notions concerning the mutual rights and duties implied in the\nrelations of master and slave. The slave as a brother in Christ is\nseparated by a whole world from the slave who is a tool or chattel.\nWho can read St. Paul\u2019s Epistle to Philemon, written in behalf of the\nfugitive slave Onesimus, without perceiving the radical revolution\nwhich Christianity was destined to make in regard to slavery? \u201cI\nbeseech thee for my son, Onesimus: \u2026 receive him as my own heart; no\nlonger as a slave, but as a most dear brother. If he hath wronged thee\nin anything, or is in thy debt, put it to my account.\u201d\n\nThis is after all but the application of the teaching of Christ: I was\nhungry, I was thirsty, I was sick, I was a captive, and ye fed me, ye\ngave me to drink, ye visited me; for inasmuch as ye have done this for\nthe least of my brethren, ye have done it for me. In every suffering\nand wronged human being there is the Christ to be honored, to be\nloved, to be served. Whosoever refuses to take part in this ministry\nplaces himself outside the kingdom of God.\n\nSlavery, from the Christian point of view, is but one of the thousand\nills entailed upon the human race by the transgression of Adam; it is\nenrooted, not in nature, but in sin; and as Christ died to destroy\nsin, his religion must tend to diminish and gradually abolish its\nmoral results. The freedom of all men in Christ which the great\napostle so boldly proclaims must in time find its counterpart in the\nequality of all men before the law. Indeed, the admission of the slave\ninto the Christian brotherhood logically implied the abolition of\nslavery. It so raised the individual by giving him the knowledge of\nhis true dignity, and so softened the master\u2019s treatment, that the\nmoral elevation of the whole class was the inevitable result. In this\nway the church made the slave worthy to be free, and from this to\nliberty there is but a step. \u201cWe teach the slaves,\u201d said Origen, \u201chow\nthey may beget in themselves a noble spirit, and so become free\u201d; and\nit need not surprise us, therefore, when Lactantius testifies that\namong Christians already in his day the difference between master and\nslave was but formal; in spirit both were brothers and fellow-servants\nof Christ. Nor is it remarkable that as evidence of this moral\nregeneration we should find the slaves among the early martyrs. There\nis an example of the sentiments which Christians entertained for their\nslaves in the self-reproaches of St. Paulinus in his letter to\nSulpicius Severus: \u201cHe has served me,\u201d he wrote; \u201che has been my\nslave. Woe to me, who have suffered that he who has never been a slave\nto sin should serve a sinner. Every day he washed my feet, and, had I\npermitted it, would have cleansed my sandals; eager to render every\nservice to the body, that he might gain dominion over the soul. It is\nJesus Christ himself whom I venerate in this youth; for every faithful\nsoul comes from God, and every one who is humble of heart proceeds\nfrom the very heart of Christ.\u201d Men who felt so lovingly and so deeply\nfor their fellows could not long consent to hold them in bondage. \u201cWe\nhave known,\u201d wrote Pope Clement to the Corinthians, \u201cmany of the\nfaithful to become bondsmen that they might ransom their brethren.\u201d\n\nPagan masters, such as Hermes and Chromatius, on the occasion of their\nbaptism gave freedom to their slaves; and holy women, like St.\nMelania, induced their husbands to follow this example. \u201cEvery day,\u201d\nwrote Salvian in the fifth century, \u201cslaves receive the right of\ncitizenship and are permitted to carry with them whatever they have\nsaved in the house of their master.\u201d And we know, upon the authority\nof St. Gregory of Nyssa, that these manumissions frequently took place\nat Easter and other solemn festivals of the church. After the\nconversion of Constantine the influence of the church induced the\ncivil authority to relax the severity of its legal enactments\nconcerning slaves. Their manumission, especially from religious\nmotives, was facilitated and the cruelty of masters was restrained.\nThe successors of Constantine, particularly Justinian, continued to\nact in the same generous spirit, until finally, in the sixth century,\nall the harsher pagan laws were abolished, and men who had been slaves\nwere even admitted to holy orders. This wonderful change in the policy\nof the Roman state had been wrought by the pressure of Christian\ninfluences. The voices of the great preachers, St. Chrysostom, St.\nAmbrose, St. Augustine, never wearied in pleading the cause of the\nslave; the councils of the church placed them under the protection of\nthe ecclesiastical law; the bishops and priests defended them against\nthe cruelty of their masters; and when once they were free, the church\nclothed their liberty with an inviolable sanctity. In other ways, too,\nreligious influences were at work to destroy slavery. The universal\ncustom of the ancient pagan nations, which deprived captives of war of\ntheir freedom, was an unfailing source of supply to the slave markets.\nThough the church was unable at once to erase from the battle-flags of\nthe ancient world the _V\u00e6 victis_, she found means to alleviate the\nlot of the captive.\n\nWe have quoted the words of St. Clement to show that in his day\nalready Christians not unfrequently took upon themselves voluntary\nservitude in order to redeem their brethren. The property of the\nchurch was considered best employed when used for the redemption of\ncaptives. For this purpose the bishops were permitted to sell even the\nsacred vessels of the altar. \u201cSince our Redeemer, the Creator of all\nthings,\u201d wrote Pope St. Gregory, \u201chas vouchsafed in his goodness to\nbecome man, in order to restore to us our first liberty by breaking,\nthrough his divine grace, the bonds of servitude by which we were held\ncaptive, it is a holy deed to give to men, by enfranchisement, their\nnative freedom; for in the beginning nature made them all free, and\nthey have been subjected to the yoke of slavery only by the law of\nnations.\u201d\n\nA council held at Rome under this great pope (A.D. 595) decreed that\nslaves who wished to enter the monastic life should receive their\nliberty; and so great was the number of those who availed themselves\nof this privilege that the masters on all sides loudly complained of\nit as an intolerable abuse. The church of the middle ages went still\nfurther in the warfare for human liberty. Slavery existed among the\nGermanic races which overran the Roman Empire and took possession of\nits territory; and with them, too, the slave was the property of the\nmaster, who had the right to exchange, to sell, or even to put him to\ndeath.\n\nThe struggle which had been but begun amidst the corruptions of\nancient Rome with an effete and dying race was renewed with the wild\nand rugged children of the forest. In this great battle for the rights\nof man the monks came forward as the leaders. In many convents it was\nforbidden to have slaves, and when the wealthy took the monastic habit\nthey were required to emancipate their slaves.\n\nA council held in England in 816 ordained that at the death of a\nbishop all his English slaves should be given their freedom; and at\nthe Council of Armagh, in 1172, all English slaves in Ireland were\nemancipated. The Council of Coblentz, held in 922, declares that he\nwho sells a Christian into slavery is guilty of murder.\n\nNumerous decrees of ecclesiastical synods condemned the slave-trade,\nand with such efficacy that by the end of the tenth century slaves\nwere no longer sold in the kingdom of the Franks.\n\nIn the British Islands this abuse was not eradicated till towards the\nclose of the twelfth century. In Bohemia it was abolished in the\ntenth, and in Sweden in the thirteenth century. The church continued\nto buy slaves in order to give them their liberty. The right of asylum\nwas given to those who fled from the cruelty of their masters. The\nhistorical records of manumission in the middle ages, as preserved in\ntestamentary acts, almost universally assign religious motives for the\nemancipation of slaves.\n\nThe efforts of the church in the first centuries of Christianity, and\nlater too, in behalf of the weak and the oppressed\u2014woman, the child,\nand the slave\u2014are intimately connected with the progress of civil\nliberty. It is impossible for us, who are the children of two thousand\nyears of Christian influences, to realize the full significance of her\nenthusiastic devotion to the people, poor, suffering, and degraded, in\nan age in which no other voice than hers pleaded for them. In order to\ndo this we should be able to place ourselves in the midst of the old\npagan world, so as to contemplate the abject condition to which the\nmasses of men had been reduced\u2014a state so pitiable that possibly\nnothing short of the appearance of God himself, in poverty and sorrow,\ncould have inspired the courage even to hope for better things.\n\nThe history of heathenism, in the past as in the present, is marked by\ncontempt for man, by the degradation of the multitude. In this respect\nthe civilization of Greece and Rome was not different from that of\nIndia and China in our own day. If in Christian nations, after long\nstruggles and terrible conflicts, a better state of social existence\nhas been brought about, we owe it to Christ working in and through his\nchurch. To render liberty possible an intellectual and moral\nrevolution had to take place. New ideas as to what man is in himself\nsimply, new sentiments as to what is due him by virtue of his very\nnature, new doctrines as to what all men owe to all men, had to be\npreached and accepted before there could be any question of civil\nreform in the direction of larger and more universal liberty.\nInstitutions, laws, constitutions are mechanical, the surfaces of\nthings, social garments which, unless they cover and protect some\ninner life and divine truth, are merely useless forms. Liberty,\nindividual and social, is inseparable from self-control, which is born\nof self-denial. Good men cannot be made by good laws any more than by\ngood clothes. Man, of course, is influenced, in part educated, by what\nhe wears as by what he eats; but it does not follow that the wisest\ncourse would be to hand over the children, body and soul, to cooks and\ntailors. Not less unreasonable is it to surrender them to politicians\nto be drilled and fashioned by the mechanical appliances of\ngovernment.\n\nLiberty is of the soul; it is from this sanctuary that it passes into\nthe laws and customs of society. Men who are slaves in heart cannot be\nmade free by legislative enactments. The church of Christ taught men\nhow to be worthy to be free by showing them liberty\u2019s great\nlaw\u2014self-denial; by restoring to the soul the sovereignty of which it\nhad been deprived since the gates of Paradise were barred; by clothing\nhuman nature with inviolable sacredness and inalienable rights; by\nproclaiming that man, for being simply man, is worthy of all love and\nrespect.\n\nWhen Christ came, the slave, without honor and without hope, was\neverywhere. The master was like his slave. Surrounded by human herds,\nto whom vice in its most degrading forms had become a necessity, he\nbreathed in an atmosphere of corruption against whose deadly poison he\nwas powerless to contend. His life was a fever alternating between\nlust and blood. The debauched are always cruel, and as men sank deeper\ninto the slough of sensual indulgence the cry for carnage grew\nfiercer. Nothing but the hacking and mangling of human bodies could\nrouse the senses, deadened by the gratification of brutish passions.\nHere and there a stray voice protested, but only in the sad tones of\ndespair. Hope had fled; the world was prostrate; in the mephitic air\nof sensuous indulgence the soul was stifled; the poor were starving\nand the rich were glutted; a thousand slaves could hardly feed the\nstomach of Dives; and Jesus Christ took Lazarus in his arms, and in a\nvoice from heaven called upon all who believed in God and in man to\nfollow him in the service of outraged humanity; and his voice was\nre-echoed through the earth and through the ages. At its sound the\ndespairing took heart, the dead lived, the poor heard the new gospel\nof glad tidings, and the slave, crushed and ignored by human society,\nfound citizenship and liberty in the kingdom of God.\n\n\n [80] \u201cA Sequel of the Gladstone Controversy.\u201d THE CATHOLIC\n WORLD, February, March, and April.\n\n\n\n\nEASTER IN ST. PETER\u2019S, ROME, 1875.\n\n\nThe glorious sun of Easter morning, 1875, arose in splendor, gilding\nthe domes and turrets of the Eternal City with burnished gold,\npicturing to the mind the gates of Paradise this day opened by the Sun\nof Righteousness. The Roman people were early astir, though no cannon\nsounded from Mount St. Angelo to usher in the great festival, nor\npapal banner flung its folds to the breeze from that old citadel this\nbright spring day to speak to Christians of him whom our Lord\nappointed to watch over his sheep.\n\nAfter early Masses at the church of Sant Andrea delle Fratte, so much\nbeloved and sought after by English and American Catholics in Rome as\nthe place where Ratisbon the Jew received the great gift of faith, we\ntook our way to the Basilica of St. Peter. Multitudes filled the\nstreets, men and women in holiday attire, but not with the old-time\nlife and exhilaration of a great _festa_. Loss does not sit lightly on\nthe Roman; and everywhere there seemed to be something wanting to make\nthis day what it should have been; no grand processions, no public\nsolemn High Mass celebrated with august ceremonies by his Holiness, no\nprecious benedictions from his paternal hand. A veil hung over the\nface of our Easter joys; for the Bride of Christ sat in sackcloth.\n\nWhen we entered on the pavement of St. Peter\u2019s, far-off sounds of\njoyous music came from the canon\u2019s chapel, scarcely reaching the\nhallowed arches without; but a wail of sadness, a chord of grief, ran\nthrough it all, for wicked men had made it impossible that our Holy\nFather should present himself at the altar where he alone officiates,\nlest his presence should excite tumult and bloodshed among his dear\nchildren. High Mass was being celebrated in the canon\u2019s chapel, which\ncontains one of the forty or more altars of St. Peter\u2019s, and is shut\noff from the aisle by a glass partition. Crowds had pressed in among\nthe dignitaries of the church, and far out into the nave hundreds were\nuniting themselves to the Holy Sacrifice there offered.\n\nThere is perhaps no place on earth where a person can be so entirely\nalone among a multitude as at St. Peter\u2019s. Each one seems bent upon\nthe particular purpose that brought him there. The church on this day\ncontained twelve thousand people at least (we heard the number rated\nmuch higher), but no noise was heard save the constant footfall on the\nmarble pavement and the faint echo of the voices from the choir, while\nof room there was no lack. Low Masses were being celebrated at many of\nthe altars, around which gathered groups of attentive worshippers; and\nwhen the tinkling of the small bell hung at the door of the sacristy\ngave notice of another Mass, from every quarter persons were seen\nmoving rapidly forward following the priest to the altar where he was\nto celebrate.\n\nMany there were in that privileged place on that holy day who had come\nfrom motives of curiosity, to see what it was all like\u2014gazers who\nlooked upon Catholics with cool contempt as but a step removed from\nthe heathen to whom they send missionaries; the industrious\nsight-seeker, the tourist, whom no solemn function can hold more than\na few minutes, coming even on Easter day with their red-covered\n\u2018B\u00e4deker,\u2019 and sometimes with their opera-glasses levelled at the\naltar where the priest was saying Mass, and walking with perfect\nnonchalance over and among the people kneeling in devotion. They spoke\nto each other in undertones (intelligible to one of their own tongue),\nand with visible sneers, of the subjection and superstition of \u201cthese\nRomanists.\u201d A few of them were Americans, while more were English;\nbut, it is needless to say, none of them persons of good breeding.\n\nLong lines of students from the various colleges in Rome passed and\nrepassed, each in their distinctive color, pausing a moment on bended\nknee to speak to our dear Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, then going\nonward toward the hundred lamps that burn continually before the tomb\nof the Prince of the Apostles, and passing quietly out again to visit\nsome other temple. There were schools of boys and schools of girls in\npicturesque costumes, charity children and children of princes, all\nkneeling together before their common Lord, all seeking their share in\nhis Easter benedictions. Streams of people flowed in from the\nCampagna, often rough, ragged, unkempt\u2014the women in their harlequin\nholiday clothes, the men in goat-skin breeches and brilliant vests.\nThese, like the others, had come _home_; for St. Peter\u2019s is a home for\nall, and the poorest beggar feels that he has a right within those\nconsecrated walls. Soldiers and officers in the varied uniform of the\nItalian army walked about listlessly, sometimes haughtily, only a few\nbending their knee as they recognized the divine Presence. We pitied\nthem greatly; to be an earnest Catholic in Victor Emanuel\u2019s army must\nbe a great trial to one\u2019s faith.\n\nThe numerous confessionals, for many different languages, were the\nresort of wayfarers that day, while the confessors sat quietly at\ntheir posts hour after hour listening to the tale of sin and\nrepentance. Almost every Catholic paused to touch and kiss the foot of\nthe bronze statue of St. Peter, worn by centuries of devout kisses.\nThe statue had this day a new attraction; for over it was hung a\ngorgeous drapery of scarlet and gold. We found that these rich\nhangings, so graceful and beautiful, were in mosaic from the famous\nworkshop of the Vatican. A fine portrait of the Holy Father crowned\nthe whole, wrought from the same material, and a very satisfactory\nlikeness.\n\nThis calls to mind an incident which took place in the Vatican\nBasilica a short time before the Easter day of which we are writing.\nWe had gone to St. Peter\u2019s for Lenten rest and refreshment, and,\nhaving visited the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, were directing our\nsteps to the altar of our Blessed Mother, when a sacristan politely\nrequested us to leave the church. We were inclined to rebel for a\nmoment, till we observed the whole assembly, priests as well as\npeople, moving towards the entrance; we followed, of course, and the\ndoors were closed. So surprising a movement in the middle of the day\nwas the cause of much questioning, and it was discovered that his\nHoliness wished to see the decorations put over the statue of St.\nPeter by his orders. He could not appear before the congregation, lest\nthe zeal of his Catholic children might get the better of their\nprudence, and cries of _Viva il Papa!_ might bring upon innocent\nfriends the indignation of the Italian government, as they had done on\na former occasion.\n\nThis day we were to see no illuminations of the grand fa\u00e7ade and the\nbroad portico; no brilliantly-lighted cupola, visible to the furthest\ncorner of Rome; none of the imposing ceremonies that have been so much\nsought after and admired by Protestants. These latter go away from the\nEaster celebrations dissatisfied, sometimes annoyed and angry, that\nthey should be deprived of the fine sights \u201cjust for a whim of the\nPope.\u201d We heard them utter these words as we passed down the massive\nsteps leading to the piazza. They seemed to forget that holy church\nputs not forth her beauties solely for the delectation of Protestants\nwho come to Rome at Christmas and Easter \u201cto see sights.\u201d They might\nknow that when her Head is bowed with sorrow, all true children of the\nchurch carry the same cross, the whole body suffering with the head.\nThere was joy tempered with much sadness in our hearts as we went from\nthe noble basilica and wandered away to the Coliseum, fit emblem of\nthe church in the Rome of to-day. Ruthless hands\u2014hands of those who\nwould make Rome like any modern city\u2014have shorn this sacred spot of\nhalf its beauties; hard hearts have stripped it of its hallowed\nstations and forbidden the people to pray where the martyrs shed their\nblood.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ETERNAL YEARS.\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE DIVINE SEQUENCE.\u201d\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD\u2019S GOVERNMENT\u2014LONGANIMITY\n\n\nAs a lavish and yet unwasteful abundance was the first condition and\neminent characteristic of the creation, so is longanimity, or\npatience, the special quality which marks the dealings of God with his\ncreatures, in the gradual and long-enduring developments of his\ngovernment. It is the quality to which we are most indebted, and yet\nwhich, as regards the history of mankind, we value and understand the\nleast. Possibly the fact of our own brevity of life, as compared with\nthe multitude of thoughts, efforts, and emotions which the immortality\nof our being crowds across the narrow limit of time, leaving an\nimpression of breathlessness and haste, may put it almost out of our\npower\u2014save as all things are possible by the grace of God\u2014to raise\nourselves to any approximate appreciation of God\u2019s long-enduring\npatience. And this is increased in the minds of those who are zealous\nfor God\u2019s glory. They chafe at the outrages committed against his law;\nthey sicken before the long, dreary aspect of man\u2019s incredulity and\nhardness of heart; and the rise of a new heresy, the advent of an\nantipope, or the horrors of a French Revolution lead them hastily to\nconclude, and impatiently to wish, that the last day may be at hand.\nExperience is a slow process. At fifty a man only begins to learn the\ngreat value of life and to look back with marvel at the lavish waste\nof his earlier years. But if to the individual the convictions\nresulting from experience are of slow and laborious growth, they are\nstill more so to the multitude. Consequently, though more than\neighteen hundred years have come and gone since St. John wrote to his\ndisciples, \u201cLittle children, it is the last hour,\u201d nevertheless the\npious of all shades of opinion in all ages have not been afraid to\nutter random guesses that the end of the world cannot be far off\nbecause of the wickedness of men. It is indeed true, as the Holy Ghost\nspoke by St. John, that it is the \u201clast hour.\u201d But what does that\n\u201clast hour\u201d mean? Not surely a literal last hour or last day, but a\nlast epoch. The epoch in the history of the cosmos before the coming\nof the Redeemer\u2014that is, before the hypostatic union in a visible,\ntangible, and real human body of the second Person of the Triune\nGodhead\u2014was the first hour, or the first epoch. The period since the\nIncarnation is the last hour, or the last epoch; because nothing\nmightier or greater can take place than the fact of God taking flesh\nin the womb of the Blessed Virgin. It is the consummation; it is the\none great end of all creation. This last epoch will have its eras,\nevolving themselves within the bosom of the Catholic Church, just as\nthe first epoch had its eras in the diverse revelations which God made\nof himself to man; and which were, if we may use the term without\nseeming to derogate from their unspeakable importance and their divine\norigin, of a more desultory nature than those which are, and shall be,\naccorded to God\u2019s spouse, the infallible church. What is this but to\nsay again what we are endeavoring to express in every page, namely,\nthat \u201cHe who sitteth on the white horse went forth conquering, that he\n_might conquer_\u201d;[81] and that God\u2019s work ever has been, is now, and\never will be a progressive work. \u201cGird thy sword upon thy thigh, O\nThou most mighty. With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out,\n_proceed_ prosperously and reign.\u201d[82] When the whole of Scripture is\nteeming with promises of future more glorious eras of which we now\nonly see the germ, developed here and there in some favored soul, in\nsome special corner of God\u2019s vast vineyard, the church (for the saints\nhave always been men of the future, in advance of their own time), is\nit not a marvel to hear desponding men talking as though there were\nnothing better to be hoped for than the end of the world, coming, as\nthey seem to expect it, like a terrific frost which shall nip in the\nbud all the, as yet, unfulfilled promises, and drown the wicked in a\ndeluge of flame! And this we expect and almost desire, hoping we\nourselves may be saved, but without a second thought for God\u2019s\nbeautiful earth, which he has blessed a thousand fold by his own\ndivine footprints on its surface; and where he now makes his\ntabernacle in ten thousand churches, waiting, nay watching, with that\nineffable patience of his, whose cycles of longanimity we are\nincapable of appreciating!\n\nBut it is cruel to speak harshly of a few words of discouragement\nfalling from the lips of those who are weary with vigils waiting for\nnew daylight. Only let us learn that the Sun of Righteousness to our\nperceptions, as it were, sets and rises again. We are like children\nwho think when the glorious golden disc has sunk beneath the horizon\nthat it is utterly gone and is perhaps extinct, while on the contrary\nthe children of another hemisphere are playing in the warmth of its\nbeams; so we see the dark clouds of evil hiding from us the light of\ngrace, first in one spot, then in another, and we grow downcast and\nimpatient. We forget that \u201cnot one jot or one tittle shall pass of the\nlaw till all be fulfilled\u201d;[83] and that our Lord tells us he \u201cdid not\ncome to destroy either the law or the prophets, but to fulfil them.\u201d\nBearing this in mind, let our readers take up the Psalms and the\nProphets, and study, with a deliberate faith in the inspired words,\nthe promises which concern the future of the world under the tent of\nthe church, the place of which tent shall be enlarged that she may\n\u201cpass on to the right hand and to the left; and inhabit the [now]\ndesolate cities.\u201d[84]\n\nIt is a want of hope\u2014and let us ever remember that hope is a virtue,\nand not a mere quality or faculty of the mind\u2014which leads us to read\nthe stupendously sublime promises of God to the whole earth in the\nfuture of the church, as so much beautiful imagery of which a limited\napplication manifests itself, from time to time, in the partial\nconversion of some thousands here and there over the vast face of the\nsemi-civilized world, while millions upon millions remain heathens,\nHindoos, Jews, and Mussulmans. We read these glorious utterances of\nthe Scriptures with the restrained admiration of one who, while\nadmiring a poem, makes allowances for the \u201cfine frenzy\u201d of the poet.\nWe take it _cum grano salis_, and forget that it is the trumpet voice\nof absolute truth; and that whether or no it point to a millennium\nupon earth\u2014a question left open by the church, and so little discussed\nas yet by her modern theologians that we will not dwell upon it\u2014it\nmust mean all it says; and, after the fashion of God\u2019s gifts, more\nthan we can conceive. This, then, is what the patience and longanimity\nof God is leading us to. These glories, which have exhausted the\ntenderest as well as the most powerful utterance of language to\ndepict, are the future of the church, when the spouse of Christ shall\nbe the mistress of the world. St. Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews,\nquoting the eighth Psalm on the high destinies of man, says, \u201cThou\nhast subjected all things under his feet,\u201d and adds, \u201cbut we see not\nas yet all things subject to him.\u201d Nevertheless the delay gave no\nplace for doubt that the promise should have an ultimate and complete\nfulfilment; while he unfolds to us the wherefore of these sublime\npredictions, the only adequate reason why the human race should be\ncrowned with glory and honor\u2014the one, sole emphatic cause, namely,\nthat all creation is in and for the Incarnation; that the Incarnation\nis the basement, and the sublime architrave and final coping-stone of\nthe whole edifice; that the creation is for him as entirely as it is\nby him, and that man is the younger brother of his Redeemer, and\nshares in his inheritance.\n\nWe have already spoken of the indirect and adaptive government of God;\nof \u201cthe government which he condescends to administer in his world\nthrough the moral and physical activity with which he has endowed\nmankind.\u201d We have shown that the representative law of creation is\n\u201cincrease and multiply.\u201d We now come to the fact that since the fall\nthe corollary of that law is labor and toil. The earth from\nhenceforward brought forth thorns and thistles; in other words, on all\nsides obstacles and difficulties met the advancing steps of the\ndiscrowned lord of creation. Speaking according to the eternal decrees\nof God, and not according to their manifestation through time, we\nshould say that the younger and fallen sons of God had to reconquer\nthe world they were given to reign over, as the elder Son of God, he\nwho is from all eternity, has, in consequence of the same fall, to\nreconquer the reign of grace in the souls of men, step by step,\nvanquishing the thorns and thistles with which our unbelief and\niniquity tear and rend his bleeding feet! There is God\u2019s work going on\nin the material world, and there is God\u2019s work going on in the\nspiritual world. And what we want to do is to persuade our readers not\nso constantly to put the two in opposition, as though, while the\nprogress of grace is exclusively God\u2019s work, material progress were\nquite as exclusively man\u2019s work\u2014to say nothing of those who hold it to\nbe the devil\u2019s work.\n\nWhen the three Persons of the ever blessed Trinity said, \u201cLet us make\nman,\u201d it was with the expressed intention that he should have dominion\nover the whole earth\u2014\u201c_univers\u00e6 terr\u00e6_.\u201d That constitution of man as\nthe lord of creation was not annulled when man fell. It is true that\nit became a dominion he had to contest with the beasts of the forest,\nwho were originally to have been his willing slaves; with the thorns\nand thistles that ever since bar his passage; and with the convulsions\nof nature, to the secret harmonies of which he had lost the key; while\nthe angelic guardians of the cosmos could not hold intercourse with\nhim in his degraded state, who, although they be \u201cministering\nspirits,\u201d are so in secret only, until the time shall come for their\npromised mission upon earth. Nevertheless man was a monarch still,\nthough a fallen monarch. Or rather we should say that, as redeemed\nman, he is God\u2019s viceroy; and in that character is reconquering the\nmaterial world, that as the ages roll on the church, the spouse of\nJesus, may \u201clengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes.\u201d[85]\n\nMaterialism is no necessary consequence of material progress.\nScientific discovery, whether as regards the solar system, the dynamic\nforces, chemical affinities, or the properties of the world\u2019s flora,\nthe habits of its fauna and the uses to which all these may be put,\nis\u2014next to the development of theological truth, of which in a certain\nsense, as will one day be proved, it is the correlative\u2014the highest\ngift of God. It is simply man\u2019s fulfilment of his second and inferior\nmission upon earth. His first mission, or rather his vocation, is to\nsave his soul from sin, and to live in union with his God. His second\nis to fill the one spot, be it wide or narrow, which God has assigned\nhim in the creation with all the faculties of his mind and intellect.\nIt may be a very small, a scarcely discernible spot that he occupies;\nbut in his degree he too has to conquer his territorial inch and\ngovern in the creation, though he do so but as a shepherd or a\nploughman. We are conscious as we write this of all that may be said\nin detriment of material progress, of the luxury it leads to, of the\nrapid propagation of false opinions, evil literature, and irreligious\nthought; or of the increased facilities for the wholesale slaughter of\nmankind in modern warfare. No wonder the pure-minded shrink in dismay\nfrom much that material progress appears to be producing in the world,\nand that timid souls are led to believe that such progress not only is\nnot God\u2019s work, but (if we may make this distinction) is also not his\nintention. We would entreat all such to take courage from a few\nconsiderations which will lay before them their error in principle,\nand also give them a wider view of God\u2019s merciful designs in his own\ncreation.\n\nFirst, it may be assumed that, as the Almighty has not abdicated his\nprovidential government of the world in favor of the powers of\ndarkness, therefore no great and wide-spread movement takes place\namongst the children of men without its having an ultimate end for\ngood. We do not believe that evil is to win the day. We utterly refuse\nto give credit to those who look upon the Lord of Hosts as vanquished\nin the end, and upon the personal Lucifer, and the principle of evil\nwhich he embodies and represents, as going off the field with a crowd\nof prisoners who will far outnumber the armies of the Lord. This\ndesponding about the triumphs of grace is the residuum of\nProtestantism. It is the melancholy of sectarianism. It is not in\naccordance with the teaching of the church; she who is forever lifting\nup her eyes unto the hills from whence cometh her help. The church\nwhich is built on the Incarnation, which is fed with the Eucharistic\nSacrifice, and which owns as her queen the woman \u201cclothed with the\nsun,\u201d \u201cterrible as an army with banners,\u201d does not limit her hopes to\na few sheep scattered in the wilderness, but knows that the \u201ccattle on\na thousand hills\u201d also belong to her Lord and Master.\n\nWe have no wish to palliate the evil which dogs the footsteps of\nmodern progress. We see that, like the huge behemoth, it tears down\nmany a sacred barrier, many a hallowed landmark, with its gigantic\nstrides, and we mourn with our mother the church, and with all the\nbody of the faithful, over the souls that perish in the fray. But not\neven for this is it possible to doubt the ultimate designs of God\u2019s\nprovidence in making all work together for good.\n\nGood works through evil, not as its instrument but as its vanquished\nenemy; and material and scientific progress is so certainly a good in\nitself that it arises from and forms part of the development of man\u2019s\noriginal destination, as being lord over the creation. It is the\nnecessary result of that; consequently it is a fulfilment of God\u2019s\nwill. As to its fatal, or at least deleterious, moral effects on\nindividuals, or even for a time on the multitude, this is but the\nweaving of the dark woof into the web of man\u2019s existence, which is the\nresult of man\u2019s estrangement from God, but which, neither in this nor\nin any other form, will be allowed ultimately to defraud the Almighty\nof his glory, by turning a relative, and much less a positive, good\ninto positive evil. We see the beginning; we do not see the end, save\nby the eyes of faith, and trust in the goodness of God. We are looking\nout on the world through the small aperture of time, our own limited\ntime, our own individual brief life, and thus we see all the present\nevil, and but little, and occasionally nothing, of the future good.\nBut surely as Christians we are bound to believe that no waves of\nthought or sentiment, and no sustained and wide-spread effort of _any\nkind_, take possession of mankind without a special beneficial\nintention of God\u2019s providence, and without a distinct and absolute\ngood being their ultimate result. We bow our heads to the storm of the\nelements; we accept the flood and the hurricane, and even the\npestilence, as coming by the permission of our heavenly Father, and as\nin some way working for good. And shall we behold the moral and\nintellectual activity of man scanning the high heavens, searching the\ndeep bosom of the earth, snatching from nature her most hidden\nsecrets; seeking the principles of life, and the occult laws of\ndevelopment and progression; shall we watch wonderingly the strange,\nnew, and pathetic tenderness with which men are beginning to\nappreciate and investigate the whole world of creation inferior to\nthemselves, but holding perchance in its silent and patient existence\nsecrets important to us\u2014shall we behold all this, while our hearts\nburn within us, and not intimately and intently believe that God is\ncarrying on his work, while man seems only to be following his own\nfree will in the exercise of his intellect? Let us be larger hearted\nand more trusting with our God; nor for a moment suppose that the\nreins of government have fallen from his hands, or that passing evil\nwill not terminate in greater good. The darkest hour is ever the one\nbefore the dawn. Doubtless when the eagles of Rome sped victorious\nover the vast and crowded plains of the Gaul and the Frank there were\ngentle spirits left at home who, having kept themselves pure by the\nundiscerned aid of the grace which our heavenly Father never refuses\nto men of good will, grieved that the corruption of Roman luxury\nshould infiltrate its poison into the simple lives of the\nsemi-barbarous and valorous nations. And yet, but for these victorious\neagles what would the world be now?\n\nGod brings good out of evil; and though material progress is seldom a\nreal advantage at its first advent, yet when the moral excitement of\nits early possession has subsided, when the ever living, ever\npenetrating spirit of God has gradually, through the poor human\ninstruments he condescends to use, claimed all that man can know, do,\nor acquire, as belonging to himself in the great scheme of creation\nand redemption, then, by slow degrees perhaps, but by sure ones, the\nevil gives way to good. It rests with us to hasten the appropriation\nof all that men call progress, gathering into Peter\u2019s net the large\nand the small fishes; for it is all ours. As children of the church,\nto us alone does the world belong in the ultimate and supreme sense.\nIt is our fault if we are not more rapidly converting the raw material\nwhich is swept to our feet into increments of God\u2019s glory. It rests\nwith the church in her children to make what the world calls progress\nbecome a real progress.\n\nThere is no real progress without a fixed principle as its basis and\nstarting point. And that Christianity alone can give; and chiefly\nChristianity in its only full and perfect form, the Catholic Church.\nBy Christianity we mean the fear and the love of God, with all the\npure moral results which flow therefrom. The moral law is the first\nlaw, and material progress is not a real gain until it is married to\nthe moral law. The immediate consequence of material progress is to\nincrease wealth; and the immediate result of increased wealth is a\ndoubtful benefit. While the wealth remains in the hands of the few,\nthe gulf between rich and poor is widened and animosities increased.\nWhen first it percolates into the lower strata of society, for the\ntime it exercises thereon a demoralizing effect; for the tendency of a\nvast deal of material progress, and of its resulting modern\ninstitutions and modern customs, is to sap real happiness, and\nsubstitute a fictitious excitement based on wealth and luxury. We are\nthus forever eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and\nevil. The bitter and the sweet will grow together till God shall part\nthem. But the evolutions of the eternal years gradually reconquer the\ncrude materials to the cause which must ultimately triumph; and as the\nspirit of God moves over the face of the troubled waters the\ndiscordant social elements fall into place, and a further degree of\nthe real, true, moral progress of mankind is found to harmonize with\nthe material progress that man was so proud to have gained, and which\nwhen he did so was but the coarse though precious ore which waited to\nbe purified in the crucible of the divine law.\n\nIs there any sane man now living who really regrets the invention of\nprinting? We have heard the project of a railroad in China deprecated\nby a zealous friend to truth. It will carry our merchandise; but will\nit not also carry our priests? We remember when men said murders would\nincrease because London was to be lit with gas! Do these\nsincere-hearted men really think that man is working out solely his\nown will, and that an evil will, in all this heavy tramp of material\nprogress through God\u2019s world? Is not man fulfilling his destiny of\nconquering the world; and when he has done his part, albeit done too\noften in blind and arrogant ignorance, will not the rightful owner of\nthe vineyard come and claim the whole?\n\nIt is impossible for us to be slack in the exercise of any one virtue\nwithout the omission affecting the whole of our inner and spiritual\nlife. If we allow our hopes to sink low it is certain to affect our\nfaith; and if our faith, then also our love. Nor should we forget that\nit is \u201c_according_ to our faith that it shall be done unto us.\u201d We are\nnot seconding God\u2019s precious intentions towards us so long as we are\ntaking a desponding, narrow, and unaspiring view of what are likely to\nbe his intentions as regards the future of his creation; and all\ndespising of that creation, all holding cheap the law, the order, the\nbeauty, and the uses of the material creation, arises from an\ninadequate sense of the mystery of the incarnation, of the _Verbum\ncaro factum est_ which is the one sole efficient reason of all we see\nand of all that exists. Once raise the inferior questions of nature,\nof science, and of art up to that level, and we shall find that it\nimparts a certain balance to all our thoughts, and diffuses a peaceful\nlooking forward and a calm endurance of present ills which are morally\nwhat the even pulse and the vigorous strength are physically to the\nman in perfect health. He is as free from the excitability of fever as\nfrom the lassitude of debility; he is a sane man.\n\nThere is another point from which we can view the material progress of\nthe world with hopefulness, as helping to work out the future in a\nsense favorable to the church; and this point comes under the head of\nwhat we have called God\u2019s adaptive government of his creation. It is\nthe fact that the progress of civilization develops the natural\ncharacteristics of the various races of mankind, and that the history\nof the church reveals how the providence of God makes use of the\ncharacteristics of race\u2014as he does of everything else\u2014for the building\nup and development of the church, and of truth by her. The life and\ndeath of our Lord having been accomplished in the chosen land, among\nthe chosen people, the infant church was speedily transplanted from\nthe shadow of Mount Calvary to the City on the Seven Hills. Judea was\nher cradle, but Rome was to witness her adolescence. The two leading\ncharacteristics of the Latin race were necessary to her growth; for\nthe Latins were the conquerors and the lawgivers of the world, and the\npioneers of the future. She was borne on the wings of the Roman\neagles. She followed in the footsteps of the victorious legions, and\nas Rome and time went on with devouring steps, she caught the\nconqueror and the conquered both in her mystic net, and reigned among\nthe Latin-Celtic races. Rome was the world\u2019s lawgiver. The Latin\ngenius is essentially legislative and authoritative. Subtlety,\naccuracy, and lucidity were the necessary human elements for the\noutward expression of the divine truth which the church carried in her\nbosom; for Catholic theology is a _certain_ science, admitting of\nfuller developments as \u201cthings new and old\u201d are brought forth from her\ntreasured store, but never making one step too far in advance of\nanother throughout her rhythmical progress. These human elements\nresided essentially in the Latin mind; and in the Latin tongue, which\nhas ever been the language of the church, and which, the church having\nconsecrated it to her own purposes, became what we popularly call a\ndead language so far as concerns the shifting scenes and fluid states\nof man\u2019s mortal life; she laid her hand upon it, and it sublimated\nbeneath her touch, and was consecrated to her use, beyond all changing\nfashion or wavering sense. The dying Roman Empire involuntarily\nbequeathed it to her; and the language of the great lawgivers of the\nworld became that of the church, and only on her lips is a living\nlanguage to this hour. The Latin people were the fountain of law;\ntheir code to the present day forms the common law, or the base of the\ncommon law, of all Christian nations except where the retrogradations\nof the Napoleonic code have been flung in the face of humanity and the\nchurch as an insult to both. The principle of law, the love of law,\nlay in them as an hereditary gift. Thus were they as a race specially\nadapted to become the framers of the church\u2019s canon law, of her\ndiscipline, and of her glorious ritual, each phrase of which is the\ncrystallization of a theological truth, a fragment from the Rock of\nPeter, but perfect in itself and concomitant with all the rest.\n\nThus also she wrote in letters of red and gold her marvellous ritual,\nthe least part of which embodies a symbolic act relating to the things\nthat are eternal. There is not a touch that is not significative,\nthere is not a line that does not seem caught from the traditions of\nthe nine choirs of angelic ministers. As full of mystery as of\npracticality, beautiful, graceful, and complete, it runs through all\nthe life of the church like the veins through the living body, and\ncarries order and harmony through every low Mass in the village\nchurch, through high pontifical ceremonials and within the silent\ngates of cloistered orders where men and women daily and hourly enact\nand represent the drama of the church.\n\nThe same genus runs through all the component parts; and that genus\nbelonged to the race to whom was consigned the laying of the church\u2019s\nfoundations, and the raising of the edifice. And thus there exists,\nbesides the divine integrity of the whole, a certain human consistency\nwhich, humanly speaking, is the consequence of the work having been\nput into the hands of the race that was naturally adapted to effect\nit. Now, as the ways of God are necessarily always consequent\u2014that is,\nconsistent with each other, moving in harmony and working through\nlaw\u2014it is not a vain presumption to imagine that as he has constituted\ndifferent races with different characteristics, so it is his intention\nto make use of each and all in the fuller developments of his church.\n\n\u201cOther sheep I have that are not of this fold; them also must I\nbring.\u201d The words were spoken in Jerusalem while the Latin race was\nlying in the blind pride of paganism, and the Celtic races were only\nrecently being hewn out of the darkness of their far-off life by the\nswords of the conquering nation. Surely it is one of those words the\nfulfilment of which is not complete. There are other races waiting to\nbring into the vineyard the tools that their native genius has put\ninto their hands. As the church through the Latin race has formed her\nexternal, congregational, hierarchical, and authoritative condition,\nand has crowned the whole in the last Vatican Council by the dogma of\nthe infallibility, laying thereby the keystone that locks the perfect\narch, so now the Teutonic Saxon races, the people of individuality, of\ncomplete inner life, combined with vast exterior activity and\nresistless energy, will be brought forth in God\u2019s providence to carry\nout the law of liberty which is the correlative of the law of\nindividuality.\n\nGod speaks to the individual soul through his organ the church,\nthrough her sacraments, down to her least ceremony, and through her\nauthority. Nor have we any absolute test and security that it is his\nvoice we hear and no delusion of our own, _except as we are in harmony\nwith her authority_. All may be a mistake save what is in accordance\nwith the one infallible voice. But nevertheless it is to the\n_individual_ soul that God speaks, and not to the masses as such. God\nleads each soul separately, and individually apart, and there is no\nreal religion that is not the secret intercourse, the hidden\ncommunion, of the solitary soul, alone with God. Every human soul has\nits secret with God, a secret of love, or a secret of hatred, or of\navoidance. God penetrates our souls through the sacraments of the\nchurch; but past the sacraments, and as the result of the sacraments,\nthere must grow up the continued, sustained, and ever more and more\nhabitual presence of God in the soul, before we arrive at that state\nfor which the church and the sacraments are but the means to an\nend\u2014though a divine means. \u201cWe will come to him and make our abode\nwith him.\u201d[86]\n\nNothing less than this is the promise of God, and should be the object\nof man. The church in her sacraments and ordinances is the one\nauthorized and infallible way to bring about this blessed union. But\nunless that be accomplished, all the outward devotions that saints, or\nconfraternities, that individuals or congregations, ever devised and\npoured into the church\u2019s lap like handfuls of flowers, will be to\nthose who rest in them as fading as flowers, and as sure to be swept\naway and burned when the fire shall try of what sort the work is. The\ndying to self\u2014not as man\u2019s restrictions can produce its outward\nsemblance, but as God\u2019s working in the soul joined to our good will\ncan alone effect it\u2014and the consequent union with him whose divine\nspirit rushes in wherever we make room for him to come, is the one\nsole object of all that the church gives us and does for us; of all\nthe barriers she erects, of all the gardens she plants, of all her\ndiscipline and her ceremonial. It is the only living reality. It was\nso with the saints of all ages and nations. They valued all in\nproportion as by its use they killed self and put the living God\ninstead; and they valued it no more. Low down in the soul the deep\npulsation of the thought of God, ruling all our actions from the least\nto the greatest, this is what our dear Lord demands of us in every\ncommunion we make; this is what his church intends in all her\nteaching. This alone will hasten the reign of the Holy Ghost, when God\n\u201cwill pour his spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters\nshall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men\nshall see visions.\u201d[87] In other words, the gates of the supernatural\nworld shall be thrown open, not to a rare and scanty few, but to all\nto whom \u201cit is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God.\u201d[88]\n\nWe seem to have wandered from our subject; but it is not so. We were\nwriting of the future development of the church through the different\ncharacteristics of different races, as instruments in God\u2019s hands in\nthe working of his adaptive government; and this has led us to\ndescribe the necessity of the inner life of the soul with God, because\nthe Teutonic and Saxon races are the people with whom the tendency to\na deep inner life is a natural peculiarity. They are more\nself-contained, self-reliant, reserved, and recollected than the\nversatile Latin races; and though none of these characteristics\nnecessarily lead to a spiritual inner life of any form\u2014that being a\nfree grace from God\u2014they are the apt instruments for grace to make use\nof in producing a certain form. They are, therefore, those to whom we\nmay look for the next important era in the church\u2019s history; when all\nthe vast and complicated edifice of her hierarchy being complete she\nhas now to expand the fuller development and deeper utterance of her\ninner life in individual souls; and that no longer as an occasional\nglorious phenomenon of grace, but as spread over a vast area, as\ninfluencing whole peoples, and as becoming the sustained life of\nChristianity. Law and liberty in one; the \u201cfreedom wherewith Christ\nhath made us free.\u201d\n\nWe were also speaking of material progress; and these same Teutonic\nSaxon races are the races who are specially extending it throughout\nthe world. We have endeavored to show that in material progress man is\nachieving his secondary mission of exercising dominion over the whole\ncreation. Thus we find that, having in his wonderful providence united\nthe two characteristics of strong individuality and vehement activity\nin certain races, God has prepared for the future of the church, when\ninner spiritual life shall be more diffused, an era when the spirit of\nGod will take possession of all that man can know, do, or acquire as\nbelonging to himself, \u201cand through him to his church, in the great\nscheme of creation and redemption.\u201d And thus material progress will be\nassimilated to the welfare of the church; and the stones will be\nturned into bread\u2014not in the sense of the arch deceiver, who claims\nall material progress as his own region, but united with \u201cthe word\nthat proceedeth from the mouth of God\u201d;[89] the material sanctified by\nthe spiritual, when all shall be \u201choly to the Lord.\u201d\n\nThe inaccuracy of the popular, as distinguished equally from the\nCatholic and the rationalistic view of the importance of matter, and\nof material progress which is the march of man\u2019s conquest over matter,\narises chiefly from the imperfect manner in which we realize the\nuniversal presence of God. Many among us can look back with a distinct\nrecollection to the time when a mother first announced to us the great\ntruth that God is everywhere. With the unfailing practical sense of\nchildren, we probably began to individualize certain familiar objects\nwith the query was he there\u2014in this table, in that flower, in my\nliving hand, in the pen I hold? And the bewilderment of immensity\ncrept over us as we tried to grasp the thought of the great universal\npresence.\n\nAs in later years theological questions opened upon us\u2014the mysteries\nof our faith, the angelic choirs, the army of saints and martyrs, the\nIncarnation, and the localization of the eucharistic presence in the\nBlessed Sacrament\u2014many of us have gradually dropped the more intense\nsense of God\u2019s omnipresence. It probably was more accurately felt by\nthe Old Testament saints than by any, except saints, under the new\nlaw. It is not that we have lost sight of the truth that he sees,\nhears, and knows each one of us, always and everywhere; but we forget\nthat he fills all space, and that he is in all things. It is a\nremarkable fact that the very lowest, the least theological and\ndogmatic, of all heathen beliefs, where all are a jargon of error, is\nnevertheless the faint reflection of this truth. We allude once more\nto the animism of the lower savage races, which lends a spiritual\npresence even to inanimate and inorganic matter. To them God is\neverywhere and in every thing; so that to them no _thing_ exists\ndisconnected from a spiritual presence as abiding in it, and that not\nin the pantheistic form of many gods, but as all matter holding an\noccult spirit, which is the same spirit in each substance. But there\nit ends; a blind creed, which does not even go the length of\nacknowledging a personal deity or a divine providence. None the less\nis it founded on a truth which often slips out of our consciousness,\nwhile we are occupied with the more familiar articles of our faith.\nLet us examine how this great truth, as we hold it in its fulness and\ncompleteness, may be brought to bear on the question now before us of\nthe value of the cosmos, of the status of matter, and of the fact that\nit is the indirect revelation, even as the Incarnation is the direct\nrevelation of God\u2014Jesus Christ the God-Man being the mediator between\nthe creature and his creator.\n\nFirst let us bear in mind that no cause can act where it is not\nvirtually present by its power, even if not actually present by its\nmatter. And this law has its correlative in the spiritual world. I\ninfluence you only so far as I touch you. I shall have written in vain\nunless these pages touch your sight. If I were speaking to you with my\nliving voice I could only reach the hearts of those who heard me. To\nall the rest I am dead; and they are dead to me. This is the moral\nside of the question, as between man and man. As regards the material\nside, let us suppose I push forward a ball. It is force emanating from\nmy touch which sets it in motion; but my force has not ceased with my\ndirect touch. It is still my force propelling it as absolutely, though\nnot so powerfully, as at the moment I touched it; and the ball only\nstops when my force is expended, or when a counter force arrests it.\nBut whence comes my force? Solely from him in \u201cwhom we live, and move,\nand are.\u201d He is our motive power; every act of ours is formed out of\nhis force, equally whether we are acting according to his will or\nagainst it.\n\nWe have said that causes can only act where they are actually or\nvirtually present. But it is a great fact in the material world that\nthere is no such thing as material contact. No matter what substance\nor what fluid we select, the limpid air or the hard iron, in all each\ninfinitesimal molecule dwells solitary and apart, and crush them\ntogether as we may there is still a space between.\n\nNow, theology teaches us that God is nearer to us than we are to\nourselves. His divine contact with us is closer on our bodies and our\nsouls than the molecules of our bodies are to each other. The only\nreal contact is the presence of God; whether through ourselves or in\nthe vast cosmos around us, the action of forces is God making himself\nfelt. Force is the contact of God, the touch of the divine being on\nthe material world. He is not in us, nor in the worlds around us, as\nhe is in his own essential essence, as he is in himself; but he is\nthere in the effects of his concurrence, and the moment he were to\ncease to be there (were such a thing possible) in all, or in any one\npart, the whole or the part would fall away into chaos, quite as\ncertainly as the ball which I have set in motion will cease to roll\nthe instant my force has exhausted itself and ceases to act on the\nball. My force diminishes gradually; it is a limited and a borrowed\nforce. The ball goes slower and slower; but so long as it moves, my\nforce is upon it in a stronger or weaker degree. But the force of the\ndivine Being is almighty, is always absolute, is always infinite, is\nalways under his own control; and consequently it never fails, it\nnever waxes less at any one moment, in any one direction.\n\nIn every act of our existence we are using God\u2019s force, for him or\nagainst him. The whole universe is doing the same. His presence is the\nsole real contact; the contact of the _Qui Est_, of pure absolute\nbeing with his own creation.\n\nAnd all around us we hear a vain clamor about an immutable law that\ngoverns nature, while the great primary cause has withdrawn himself\nfrom all interference.\n\nWe hear of blind forces which spring from nowhere, and hurry us on\nwithout any guide save themselves. We repeat it\u2014Law and force are not\nGod; but God is both law and force. There is no motion without a\nmotive power; and there is no motive power at an actual distance from\nthe object set in motion. And thus God, who is law and force, is upon\nus, within us, around us; and within all, always, and throughout\nspace. There are mutations and diversities in the exhibitions of God\u2019s\nforce, according to his divine will; but there is never anywhere any\ncessation of it. And there never will be; for if there were, he would\ncontradict himself, and that is impossible.\n\nThis, then, is what matter is. It is the exponent of the being of God\nto the angels and to us. It is not the exponent of himself to himself.\n_That_ is the eternal generation of the Son in his own bosom; the\nsecond person of the Trinity, the divine Logos. And the Incarnation of\nthe eternally-begotten Son in the womb of the ever blessed Virgin\nMother is the blending of this double exponent of his being; for it is\nthe Word made flesh; it is God clothing himself in the matter of his\nown creation, and dwelling amongst men.\n\nCould matter be more beautiful than this? Can we say more in its\npraise? And could any reflections lead us further from the notions of\nmaterialism, or draw us nearer to God?\n\n [81] Apocalypse vi. 2.\n\n [82] Psalm xliv.\n\n [83] Luke v. 18.\n\n [84] See the whole of the 54th chapter of Isaias, as\n well as numerous other passages.\n\n [85] Isaias liv. 2.\n\n [86] John xiv. 23.\n\n [87] Joel ii. 28.\n\n [88] Mark iv. 11.\n\n [89] Matt. iv. 3, 4.\n\n\n\n\nSACRED EPIGRAPHY AND THE INVOCATION OF THE MARTYRS IN BEHALF OF THE\nDEAD.\n\n\nThe church is once more in the Catacombs. She has not fled thither\nfrom persecution, albeit she is suffering sorely at present; but she\nhas gone down there to live over again the memories of the past. With\nthe lamp of research held aloft, she paces reverently through those\ndark and tortuous passage-ways where erst she lived in her saints and\nmartyrs. Many a precious relic of her primitive existence is delved\nout of the accumulated masses of tufa and _d\u00e9bris_, all more or less\nshowing forth the usages of the early times, and she experiences no\nsmall consolation in beholding that what she was then, in all those\nusages which are founded in dogma, she is now. She has not changed.\nShe is consistent throughout\u2014the beautiful Spouse of Christ,\nyesterday, to-day, and for ever. Every new discovery in those\nlimitless necropolises is a vindication of the maxim of St. Augustine:\n_Ecclesia orat, ergo credit_\u2014The church prays, therefore she believes.\nThe chapels, the altars, the rude frescos, the sarcophagi, the very\ninscriptions on the tombs, bear evidence to the great truth couched in\nthe words of the inspired Doctor of Hippo. To prove, therefore, that\nthe church prays is identical with proving that she believes; and what\nshe believes must be true, else she is no church, not the spouse of\nChrist, but an unworthy and intruding handmaid. But we are not going\nto dogmatize. We would only show on arch\u00e6ological authority, that, as\nthe church, in her liturgy, at this day commends the dead and the\ndying to the intercessory influence of the saints, so did she in the\nbeginning, when not her dogmas, but her very existence, was called in\nquestion; when, had she been a human institution, she must have made a\nfalse step, for then there were no critical rationalists or fribbling\nlogicians to take her to task. Sophists there were many, even in those\ndays. But they had good faith enough to acknowledge that, if she were\na church at all, she could not err; so they consistently confined\nthemselves to an attack upon her existence.\n\nAmong the many important discoveries made of late in the cemetery of\nSt. Domitilla, outside of the gate of St. Sebastian at Rome, by the\nillustrious Chevalier de Rossi (to whose _Bulletin_ we are indebted\nfor the inscriptions given below), that of the tomb of Veneranda, a\nRoman matron, is not the least important, since it constitutes a\nstrong link in the chain of arch\u00e6ological evidence on the antiquity of\nintercessory prayers for the dead. The tomb lies in a chamber which\nbranches off from one of the subterraneous galleries, entered from the\napsis of the old basilica. On the wall over the sarcophagus is a\nfresco in a good state of preservation and of a style anterior to the\nByzantine. It represents a matron in the act of praying in the garden\nof Paradise, which is symbolized by a flower plant springing up at her\nfeet. She is dressed in a loose dalmatic, and veiled like other\nChristian matrons who are represented as praying in various cemeterial\npictures of the third and fourth centuries. There is none of that\nstiffness in the style and coloring which indicates the graceless\nByzantine school, but such an ease and elegance mark the figure as\nhave induced De Rossi to compare it with that of the \u201cFive Saints\u201d\n(St. Dionysias and her companions) in the crypt of St. Eusebius in the\nadjoining catacombs of St. Calixtus. Over the right arm is the\ninscription, VENERANDA DET. VII. IDVS IANVARIAS. On the left is the\nfigure of a maiden, without any veil, dressed in a long double tunic\nand pallium. The right hand of the figure is extended as if in the act\nof welcoming or receiving Veneranda. She points with the left to an\nopen box or casket full of volumes, a symbol of the salutary faith\ncontained in the Holy Scriptures. An open volume is suspended on the\nwall, and on the pages are the names of the four Evangelists. Beside\nthis figure are the words PETRONELLA MARTyr. Of the title of martyr\napplied to St. Petronilla we will say a few words presently. On the\nwhole, the style of the fresco, the fashion of the dress, the form of\nthe letters, and the ancient laconism \u201cPetronella Martyr,\u201d without the\nepithet saint, pronounce the picture to be as ancient as the middle of\nthe fourth century. The purpose of the picture is unmistakable, being\nin form like many which represent some of the characters in an\nattitude of prayer, while others are in the act of receiving them into\nheaven or inviting them to go in as they draw aside the curtains. This\npicture, however, has the additional worth of declaring explicitly the\nnames of the intercessor and the advocate. The prayers used by the\nchurch from time immemorial in behalf of the dying invite the saints\nand martyrs to come and meet the departing soul and conduct her to a\n\u201cplace of refreshment, light, and peace.\u201d In the same manner the\nacclamations which we read in the epitaphs of the early ages call upon\nthe spirits of the blessed to receive the soul of the departed. Here\nis a beautiful epitaph, discovered in one of the cemeteries of Rome\ntowards the end of the last century:\n\n PAVLOFILIO MERENTI IN PA\n CEM TE SVSCIPIAN OMNIVM ISPIRI\n TA SANCTORVM.\n\nThe acclamation reads: _Paulo Filio merenti_: _in pacem te\nsuscipian_(t) _omnium ispirita sanctorum_\u2014To the worthy son Paul: May\nthe spirits of all the saints receive thee in peace. The strange\nplural form, _ispirita_ or _spirita_, need not be wondered at. The\nCatacombs abound in similar inscriptions. Here are a few of the most\nnoteworthy: _Leopardum cum spirita sancta_ [that is, _Cum spiritibus\nsanctis_] _acceptum_\u2014Leopard received with the blessed spirits.\nAnother inscription, bearing the date 291, reads: _Refrigera cum\nspirita sancta_\u2014Grant him refreshment with the blessed spirits. From\nwhat has been said a clue may be had to the understanding of many more\nor less laconic acclamations which the visitor meets with in the Roman\nCatacombs; such as, CVM SANCTIS\u2014INTER SANCTOS. They are to be taken in\nthe sense explained above, because they allude clearly to the soul of\nthe departed, and not to the body, which is buried close to the tomb\nof the saint appealed to. The prayers and acclamations of the faithful\nto the saints in behalf of the dead were not simply the outpourings of\ntender hearts moved by a pious fancy, but the result of a strong\nbelief, confirmed by the authority of the church speaking in her\nliturgies. In an ancient Sacramentary of Gaul we read, in the Mass of\na martyr: _Tribue (Domine) tuorum intercessione sanctorum martyrum\ncaris nostris, qui in Christo dormiunt, refrigerium in regione\nvivorum_\u2014Grant, O Lord! through the intercession of thy holy martyrs,\nto our beloved who sleep in Christ, refreshment in the land of the\nliving; and in the Mass of SS. Cornelius and Cyprian: _Beatorum\nmartyrum, Cornili_ [_sic_] _et Cypriani \u2026 nos tibi Domine commendet\noratio, ut caris nostris, qui in Christo dormiunt, refrigeria \u00e6terna\nconcedas_\u2014Let the prayer of thy blessed martyrs, Cornelius and\nCyprian, commend us to thee, O Lord! that thou grant eternal\nrefreshment to our beloved who sleep in Christ.[90] In an ancient\nMass, discovered by More, express mention is made of the times of\npersecution\u2014a proof that the invocation of the saints for the repose\nof the faithful departed was an established usage in the very earliest\ndays of the church. Before the reading of the diptychs the priest\nprayed in these words: _Deus, pr\u00e6sta, si quies adridat te colere, si\ntemptatio ingruat, non negare_\u2014God, grant that if peace smile upon us,\nwe may continue to worship thee; if temptation assail us, we may not\ndeny thee. Here there is an evident allusion to the intervals of peace\nwhich the early Christians enjoyed between different persecutions.\nAfter the recitation of the diptychs the priest continued: _Sanctorum\ntuorum nos gloriosa merita, ne in p\u0153na_(m) _veniamus, excusent;\ndefunctorum fidelium anim\u00e6, qu\u00e6 beatitudinem_ [_sic_] _gaudent nobis\nopitulentur; qu\u00e6 consolatione indigent ecclesi\u00e6 precibus\nabsolvantur_\u2014May the glorious merits of thy saints excuse us, that we\nmay not be brought to punishment; may the souls of the faithful\ndeparted that enjoy blessedness assist us; may those [souls] that need\nconsolation be pardoned through the prayers of the church. The\ndistinction in this prayer between the commemoration of the living, of\nthe blessed, and of those souls that have need of the prayers of the\nchurch could not be more evident.\n\nThe faith of the early Christians in the efficacy of the prayers of\nthe martyrs especially, was the reason why they had such a strong\ndesire, and regarded it as a great privilege, to be buried near the\ntombs of the martyrs. St. Gregory Nazianzen, in his funeral epigrams,\nmakes frequent allusions to proximity with the tombs of the martyrs,\nand takes occasion thence to apostrophize them in behalf of the dead.\nIn an epigram which he wrote on the death of his mother, Nonna, whose\nbody was laid close to the martyrs, he says: \u201cReceive, O martyrs! this\ngreat victim, this mortified flesh, joined to your blood.\u201d The words\n\u201cjoined to your blood\u201d have a spiritual signification. By her life of\nmortification and sacrifice she had assimilated herself to the\nmartyrs; but they have also a literal meaning, and allude to the\nmaterial contiguity of her tomb with that of the martyrs; for he\npremises with the words, \u201cHer body we have placed near the martyrs.\u201d\nThe idea that the blood of the martyrs penetrated into the neighboring\ntombs, and its spiritual signification, that the merits of their\nsufferings, and their intercession, invoked by the living, would be\nsalutary to the dead, are beautifully shown forth in the epigram of\nSt. Ambrose on the tomb of his brother Satirus, who was buried in\nMilan, side by side with the martyr St. Victor:\n\n \u201cH\u00e6c meriti merces ut sacri sanguinis humor\n Finitimas penetrans abluat exuvias.\u201d[91]\n\nThis distich was quoted by the Irish monk Dungal, in the eighth\ncentury, as a powerful argument in favor of intercessory prayer,\nagainst Claudius of Turin, who was opposed to the invocation of the\nsaints in behalf of the dead. The same thought is expressed in the\ntouching verses of Paulinus of Nola, wherein he narrates the sepulture\nof his little child near the last resting-place of the martyrs. And as\nthe little innocent (he died at the age of eight days) had no\nshort-comings of his own to atone for, the father beseeches him, and\nhis cousin Celsus, who died at the age of eight years, that the\nintercession of the martyrs, near whose holy remains they slept, might\nbe turned to the benefit of their parents.\n\n \u201cInnocuisque pares meritis, peccata parentum\n Infantes castis vincite suffragiis.\u201d[92]\n\nThis was in the time of St. Augustine. We find him interrogated by the\nsame Paulinus, who had granted permission to a widow to bury her son,\nCynesius, near the tomb of St. Felix of Nola: _Utrum prosit cuique\npost mortem quod corpus ejus apud sancti alicujus memoriam\nsepeliatur_\u2014Whether it might benefit one after death to have his body\nburied near the tomb of some saint. The answer was St. Augustine\u2019s\ncelebrated work entitled _De cura pro mortuis_. The ultimate\nconclusion of the book is this: that being buried in proximity to the\ntomb of the martyrs is beneficial to the dead in this much only: that\nthe remembrance of the place invites the living to commend them to the\nintercession of the martyrs whose holy remains repose near by. It is\nin this sense that we must understand Maximus of Turin when he writes:\n_Fratres, veneremur eos [martyres] in s\u00e6culo, quos defensores habere\npossumus in futuro; et sicut eis ossibus parentum nostrorum jungimur,\nita et eis fidei imitatione jungamur; \u2026 sociemur illis tam religione\nquam corpore_\u2014Brethren, let us venerate them [the martyrs] in this\nlife, that we may have them as our defenders in the next; and as we\nare united with them through the bones of our parents, so also let us\nbe joined to them by imitating their faith; let us be associated with\nthem in religion as well as in the body. Nor did the archdeacon\nSabinus depart from the spirit of the church and the old fathers when\nhe censured the indiscreet desire and the material devotion of many of\nthe faithful, in wishing to be buried near the tombs of the martyrs.\nHe himself chose the last place, near the door, in the Church of St.\nLawrence outside the walls of Rome, and on his tomb is the following\ninscription, written at his own dictation:\n\n \u201cNil juvat, immo gravat, tumulis h\u00e6rere piorum;\n Sanctorum meritis optima vita prope est.\n Corpore non opus est, anima tendamus ad illos,\n Qu\u00e6 bene salva potest corporis esse salus.\u201d[93]\n\nIn the first part of the epitaph he\nalludes to the difficulty of finding a\nplace vacant near the tombs of the\nmartyrs, and in the end he writes that\nthe efficacy is not in being joined to\nthem in body, but in the soul, which,\nbeing saved, will ensure the salvation\nof the body. Maximus, whose\nwords we cited above, and who\nwas bishop of Turin after the year\n412, insinuates the same when he\nsays: _Et sic ut eis ossibus parentum_\n_nostrorum jungimur_. Hence we conclude\nthat the usage of burying\nthe dead near the bodies of the\nmartyrs was regarded as an ancient\ntradition even in the fifth century.\nIt is not the fact of the material\nburying-place to which we would\ninvite the reader\u2019s attention, but to\nthe spirit of faith in the efficacy\nof the martyrs\u2019 intercession. The\nchamber which contains the tomb\nof Veneranda is filled with _loculi_,\nmost of which date back as far as\nthe year 356. A Roman epitaph of\nthe year 382 testifies that even at\nthat date they were very few who\nobtained the privilege of being buried\n_intra limina sanctorum_\u2014within\nthe threshold of the saints. The\nprivilege was only granted to those\nwhose merits during life had been\neminent, and who had signalized\nthemselves in the service of God,\nand especially in their charity towards\nthe poor. Thus we read of\na Roman by the name of Verus,\n_qui post mortem meruit in Petri limina\nsancta jacere_\u2014who after his death\nmerited that he should repose within\nthe sacred threshold of Peter.\nWe are far, however, from asserting\nthat the formula _sociatus sanctis_ always\nalludes to the proximity of a\nmartyr\u2019s tomb. Very often the formula\nrefers to the soul, which is already\nsupposed to be in Paradise.\nHere is a fragment of a beautiful\nepitaph found in the cemetery of\nSt. Commodilla:\n\n _BIVS INFANS PER AETATEM SENE PECCA\n EDENS AD SANCTORVM LOCVM IN PA\n ESCVT_ [Illustration]\n\nThe ingenious De Rossi makes of this fragment the following\ninscription: (Euse)_bius_ _infans per \u00e6tatem sene_ (sine) _pecca_(to)\n(acc)_edens_ _ad sanctorum locum in_ _pa_(ce) (qui)_escit_\u2014The infant\nEusebius, going to the place [abode] of the saints without sin,\nbecause of his age, rests in peace.\n\nTo remove all doubt regarding the spirit which prompted the early\nChristians to desire burial near the tombs of the martyrs, we will\ncite a passage from one of the homilies of Maximus, Bishop of Turin:\n\u201cTherefore the martyrs are to be honored most devoutly; but we must\nvenerate those especially whose relics we possess. With these we have\n_familiarity_; \u2026 they receive us when we go out from this body.\u201d This\nspecial devotion of _familiarity_ with the martyrs, whose relics the\nfaithful possessed, as it inspired the pious trust that the spirits of\nthe martyrs would welcome them into the realms of bliss, so did it\ninduce the faithful living to invoke the intercession of the martyrs\nfor those who were already gone from this life. But we have yet some\nof the most beautiful epigraphs to cite\u2014those touching, deprecatory\nappeals to the saint or martyr by name, near whose tomb the remains of\nthe departed are placed: SANCTE LAVRENTI, SVSCEPA(m) (h)ABETO ANIMA(m)\n(ejus)[94]\u2014St. Lawrence, receive his soul!\n\nIn the cemetery of St. Hippolytus Bosius read the following:\nREFRIGERI TIBI DOMNVS IPOLITVS _refriger_(et) _tibi dom_(i)_nus_\n_Hippolytus_\u2014May the lord Hippolytus refresh thee. Here is an\ninvocation, in a fragmentary state, of St. Basilla: SERENVS FLENS\nDEPRECOR IPSE deum\u2026ET BEATA(m) BASILLA(m) VT VOBIS PRO M(eritis).\nAnother appeal to St. Basilla may be seen in an epigraph now exposed\nin the Lateran museum. It is that of a bereaved father and mother who\ncommend their departed daughter to the protection of the saint:\n_Domina Basilla, commandamus tibi Crescentinus et Micina Filia_(m)\n_nostra_(m) _Crescen_(tiam)\u2014St. Basilla, we, Crescentius and Micina,\nrecommend our daughter Crescentia to thee. Side by side with this is\nthe epitaph of Aurelius Gemelli, a child of four years of age. It was\nwritten by his mother, of whose tender affection a more moving\nexpression cannot be found than those four words: _Commando Basilla\nInnocentia_(m) _Gemelli_\u2014Basilla, I recommend [to thee] Innocence\nGemelli. She calls him not only _innocent_, but innocence itself.\nSince we have mentioned the above as a specimen of the tender\naffection of the Romans for their dead, and how they gave expression\nto it in their epitaphs, it may not be out of place to mention\nanother, to be seen to-day in the _hypogeum_ of the Church of St.\nPraxedes. It is in this form: _Sancti Petre, Marcelline, suscipite\nvostrum alumnum!_\u2014Sts. Peter and Marcellinus, receive your pupil. The\nChevalier de Rossi is of the opinion that this inscription belongs to\nthe cemetery of St. Helen, on the Labican Way. As a sort of\ncounterpart to it he gives another, of the same tenderness of tone,\nwhich he read in Carpentras: MARTER BAVDELI S PER PASSIONIS DIE DNO\nDVLCEM SVVM COMMENDAT ALMVNVM\u2014_Martyr Baudelius per passionis_ [_su\u00e6_]\n_die_(m) _Domino dulcem suum commendat alumnum_\u2014The martyr Baudelius,\nthrough the day of his passion, commends his sweet pupil to the Lord.\nHence we may conclude with the illustrious arch\u00e6ologist, whose\nerudition has borne us out so far, that the custom of burying the dead\nnear the tombs of the martyrs, and of asking, as it were, their local\nprotection for the dead, was universal in the first five or six\ncenturies. He cites the only exception to this usage that has come\nwithin his extensive observation. It is a Greek epitaph, in which the\nthree divine Persons, the archangels Michael and Gabriel, the prophets\nJeremias and Henoch, the Blessed Virgin, and, finally, the sibyl are\nbesought in behalf of the departed.\n\nThus far we have appealed almost exclusively to the testimony afforded\nus by inscriptions discovered in the Roman Catacombs. In conclusion we\nwould transcribe entire two epitaphs which, though not Roman, are of\nthe greatest importance in the matter we have been treating. One is\nthe epitaph on the tomb of Cynesius, in the Church of St. Felix of\nNola, the same of whom Paulinus wrote to St. Augustine, asking\n\u201cwhether it were efficacious to bury the dead near the tomb of the\nmartyrs.\u201d The inscription was probably dictated by Paulinus himself.\nWe give it with the restorations:\n\n ilium nuNC FELICIS HABET DOMVS ALMA BEATI\n atque ita per loNGOS SVSCEPTVM POSSIDET ANNOS\n patronus plACITO LAETATVR IN HOSPITE FELIX\n sic protectVS ERIT IVVENIS SVB IVDICE CHRISTO\n cum tuba terriBILIS SONITV CONCVSSERIT ORBEM\n excit\u00e6que aniMAE RVRSVM IN SVA VASA REDIBVNT\n Felici merito HIC SOCIABITVR ANTE TRIRVNAL[95]\n\nHere there is a thought expressed rarely to be met with in sacred\nepigraphy\u2014that the martyr Felix will, on the day of general\nresurrection, accompany his \u201cguest\u201d before the tribunal of the Great\nJudge, and that \u201cthe youth shall be protected before the judge,\nChrist.\u201d As a general rule the patronage of the martyrs is invoked for\nthe souls of the faithful departed as they are now. We will give\nanother epigraph in conclusion which confirms the conception we have\njust been speaking of. It is read upon the tombstone of a priest in\nVercelli, by name Sarmata. It is metrical, and the illustrious Father\nBruzzi is inclined to attribute its authorship to St. Flavian, the\npoet, who was bishop of Vercelli about the end of the fifth century.\nThis is the Flavian who was styled by his contemporaries the \u201cDamasus\nof Liguria.\u201d Sarmata was buried in the _loculi_ between the martyrs\nNazarius and Victor. The chronicles speak of this privilege in the\nfollowing terms: _Sedes proxima sanctis martyribus concessa est ad\nmercedem meritis_\u2014The nearest place to the martyrs was given as a\nreward of his merits. Here is the epitaph:\n\n NAZARIVS NAMQVE PARITER VICTORQVE BEATI\n LATERIBVS TVTVM REDDVNT MERITISQ CORONANT\n O FELIX GEMINO MERVIT QVI MARTYRE DVCI\n AD DOMINVM MELIORE VIA REQVIEMQVE MERERI.[96]\n\nNazarius and Victor are here spoken of as the ushers of Sarmata into\nthe presence of the Lord\u2014_ad Dominum_\u2014and to eternal rest. In the same\nmanner St. Petronilla is represented, in the fresco of which we spoke\nin the beginning, as introducing the matron Veneranda into Paradise.\nThe epigraphical, liturgical, and patristic testimonies hitherto\nquoted place in a clear and unmistakable light the deep religious\nsignificance and the topographical worth of the representation on the\ntomb of Veneranda. St. Petronilla, the patroness of the departed, and\nwhose holy ashes reposed not far distant, _familiarly_ (the expression\nof Maximus of Turin) receives her into heaven, and the painter gave\nexpression to the holy trust of her relatives that St. Petronilla\nwould intercede for her, while the picture itself would invite them to\npray more fervently to the saint whose holy \u201cmemories\u201d (St. Augustine)\nwere near at hand.\n\nNow that the signification of the picture has been fairly determined,\nit may not be an unfitting conclusion to our paper to inquire into the\naccuracy of the title of _martyr_ applied to St. Petronilla in this\nfresco. In the first place, it is certain that no other saint or\nmartyr is alluded to but the veritable St. Petronilla whose remains\nreposed in the _hypogeum_ of the basilica of SS. Nereus and Achilleus.\nStill, it is also certain from the Acts of the two martyrs, in which\nmention is made of St. Petronilla, that she was not a martyr in any\nsense whatever. The martyrology of Ado speaks of her thus: \u201cWhen\nFlaccus, a knight, desired to be united with her in marriage, she\nasked for a delay of three days, and, together with her foster-sister,\nFelicula, giving herself up to continual fasting and prayer, and the\ndivine Mysteries being celebrated on the third day, as soon as she had\nreceived the Sacrament of Christ she lay down upon her bed and gave up\nthe ghost.\u201d In other codices of her life the opening chapter is\nentitled, _De obitu Petronill\u00e6 et passione Felicul\u00e6_\u2014On the death of\nPetronilla and the martyrdom of Felicula. Hence there is a formal\ncontradiction between her Acts and this fresco. Without entering into\na critical examination of the authenticity of the Acts of Nereus and\nAchilleus\u2014which, by the way, receive new confirmation from every fresh\ndiscovery in the cemetery\u2014we will merely say that, were they\napocryphal, the supposition would be that they would rather magnify\nher glory, by giving her the title of martyr, than diminish it.\nSetting aside the inscription, the appearance of the picture confirms\nher Acts. She is said to have been a virgin of extraordinary beauty,\nand that she belonged to a noble family. The picture coincides\nperfectly with this belief; for she is represented as being beautiful;\nshe wears her hair in plaited tresses, wound into a knot on the top of\nthe head, according to the custom of virgins in those days; while the\nmake of her dress proclaims her as belonging to noble rank. For the\nrest, there is not a single authentic document which gives her the\ntitle of martyr, but all speak of her as _Sancta Petronilla_, or\nsimply _Virgo Petronilla_. Hence there is no reason in the world why\nwe should give credence to the inscription of the painter. The title\nof _martyr_ accorded to her by him does not become an inexplicable\nmystery to us when we recall to mind the many and obvious examples of\nthe title of _martyr_ being given, especially by private individuals,\nwithout due regard for historical facts. For instance, St. Pudentiana,\nSt. Cyriaca, and others have been styled martyrs, when we have\npositive evidence that they were not. Thus popes who lived after the\npersecutions\u2014Mark, Julius, and Damasus\u2014are called martyrs. Nay,\nPetronilla herself is named _martyr_ in the _Liber Pontificalis_, at\nthe life of Leo III. (816), when the history of her life, as given by\nAdo, was universally accepted. However, if we recall to mind what has\nalready been said on the special confidence of the primitive\nChristians in the intercession of the martyrs for the dead; if we\nreflect that they were regarded as the principal citizens in the\nkingdom of God, to whom the heavens were opened, as St. Stephen said\n(_martyribus patent c\u0153li_), and hence that to them was attributed,\nequally with the angels, the office of introducing departed souls into\nthe divine Presence, it is easy to understand why the artist, in\nportraying Petronilla as receiving Veneranda into Paradise, either\nbelieved her a martyr or deliberately wished to make her equal to one.\n_Pictoribus atque poetis \u00e6qua est licentia._\n\nBut in this matter we must not observe the material form as it is\npresented to us, accurately or inaccurately as the case may be. That\nis merely relative and secondary. It is the spirit of the work which\nwe must contemplate\u2014that great faith in the intercessory prayers of\nthose who had fought the good fight, and whose happiness was complete\nin the Beatific Vision. Some of the epigraphs may be very inaccurate,\neven exaggerated; yet they bear, in their way, testimony to a sublime\ndogma of the church\u2014the communion of saints, not only for the good of\nthe living, but for the happy repose of the dead. In fine, they are\nthe embodiment of the loving counsel: \u201cIt is a holy and a wholesome\nthought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins.\u201d\n\n\n [90] Mabillon, _Liturgia Gallicana vetus_, pp. 278, 289.\n\n [91] Such the reward of his merit that his sacred blood\n should penetrate and lave [spiritually] adjacent\n remains.\n\n [92] And being alike in the merits of innocence, children,\n cover the sins of your parents by your pure\n Intercession.\n\n [93] It availeth nothing, nay it oppresseth rather, to\n lie near the tombs of the blessed. The best life\n approacheth the merits of the saints. In body it is not\n necessary; let us cleave to them in soul, which, being\n saved, can be the salvation of the body.\n\n [94] The inscription is one carried from Rome to\n the museum in Naples.\n\n [95] The holy house of Blessed Felix now holds him,\n and so possesses him for long years. Felix his patron\n is glad in his happy guest; thus when the awful trumpet\n shall shake the world with its sound, and resuscitated\n souls shall return to their bodies, the youth shall be\n protected before Christ, the Judge; he will stand near\n Felix before the tribunal.\n\n [96] For Blessed Nazarius and Victor alike protect\n him at their side and crown him with merits. Oh! happy\n he who was worthy to be led to the Lord through a\n happier path by the two martyrs, and to obtain repose.\n\n\n\n\n SUNSHINE.\n\n Over the glad earth, with her robe of beauty,\n Glideth the Spring;\n Pouring out perfume from a thousand censers\n The peach-wands swing.\n\n Down through the sunny vista of the orchard\n Tender green glows,\n Gnarled apple-boughs arrayed in robes of splendor\n Pearl tint and rose.\n\n Out from the dead leaves and the soft green mosses,\n Like joy from pain,\n Trailing arbutus, the sweet May evangel,\n Bloometh again.\n\n Who can remember, in this wealth of beauty,\n How April came?\n Crowned with a frost wreath on her pallid forehead,\n And snow-star rain.\n\n Yet \u2018neath the shadow of the wing of winter\n Nature\u2019s heart beat,\n Golden wine surging through each rugged column\n Like dancing feet.\n\n Thus, my belov\u00e8d! though upon us shadows\n Coldly may fall,\n God worketh slowly with the germs of beauty\n Given to all.\n\n Out from the shadow of our solemn parting\n Shall sweet hope spring;\n Faith, to an altar where the fire is hallowed,\n Her gifts will bring.\n\n Grace hath not left thee; it but sleeps, belov\u00e8d.\n Through wintry hours,\n Waiting the footsteps of the soul\u2019s glad spring-time\n To wake the flow\u2019rs.\n\n What though the sadness of an earthly parting\n On us be laid?\n In the bright sunshine of the blest hereafter\n Shadows shall fade.\n\n\n\n\nNEW PUBLICATIONS.\n\n\n ALZOG\u2019S UNIVERSAL CHURCH HISTORY. Pabisch and Byrne. Vol. II.\n Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. 1876. (For sale by The\n Catholic Publication Society.)\n\nThe time included in this second volume of the great work edited by\nDr. Pabisch and Father Byrne extends from the beginning of the fourth\ncentury to the beginning of the sixteenth. We have already said all\nthat is requisite on the excellence of the work in general in our\nnotice of the first volume. At present we have no criticisms to make,\nexcept on a very few special points. A condensed summary of this kind\nis always liable to the fault of ambiguity in some of its general\nstatements from the very fact of its extreme conciseness, and thus may\ngive occasion to false impressions on the mind of an ordinary reader.\nThere is a notable instance of this on page 22, where a short notice\nis given of the famous Ulfila. He was, as is well known, an Arian. The\nhistorian tells us that he \u201caccepted it [viz., Christianity] with\nsimple and earnest faith, just as he found it, putting aside all the\nidle and speculative questions that distracted the religious mind of\nthe age.\u201d We are inclined to agree with the opinion, which the author\nevidently intended to express, that Ulfila was not culpably in error\nrespecting the faith, and that to his simple, untutored mind the\ndisputes between Catholics and Arians were unintelligible.\nNevertheless, the language we have quoted, taken in connection with a\nprevious sentence in which the Gothic bishop is called a \u201cgreat\napostle and bishop,\u201d and another in which it is curtly stated that the\nChristianity to which the Goths were converted \u201cmeant simply the\n_Arian heresy_,\u201d is so extremely awkward and inaccurate that one would\nnaturally understand it to imply that Catholic faith only differed\nfrom Arian heresy in respect to _idle and speculative questions_. A\ncareful and instructed reader would, of course, judge that Dr. Alzog\ncould not have intended such a grossly absurd and heterodox sense;\nnevertheless, his translators would have done well to add an\nexplanatory note showing what he really did intend, but signally\nfailed to express in a suitable way.\n\nOn page 972 the author speaks of the \u201cpantheistic language of\n_Tauler_.\u201d In this instance he seems to have followed closely the\nopinion of Dr. St\u00f6ckl, an author for whom we have a sincere respect,\nbut whose estimate of Tauler we regard as altogether wrong. We have no\nfault to find with the censure pronounced upon the _Theologia\nGermanica_, and pass over what is said of the writings of Master\nEckhart, since, although we incline to the opinion that his subjective\nsense was orthodox, the objective sense of many of his propositions is\npantheistic and deserved the condemnation of the Holy See. In regard\nto Tauler, however, of whom the author speaks in another place in the\nhighest terms, Dr. Alzog has made, as it seems to us, an inconsiderate\nstatement by a blind following of St\u00f6ckl and other authors who condemn\nall the German mystics without discrimination. We have never observed\na single expression in Tauler which has any more semblance of\npantheism than the language of St. Bonaventure or any other approved\nmystical writer. We cannot perceive any difference between the\ndoctrine of Tauler and that of St. John of the Cross, except that the\nlatter states more distinctly the precise theological and\nphilosophical sense of several important propositions.\n\nThe learned editor-in-chief of the present translation, Dr. Pabisch,\nsustains his reputation as a scholar who has a vast knowledge _de\nomnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis_, perhaps on a par with that of Dr.\nAlzog himself. With the exception of occasional infelicities of\ndiction of not much importance, and the frequent use of italics, which\ngives us the sensation of jouncing on a road with many ruts in it, the\nstyle and manner of the translation, which are chiefly due to the\ndiligent care of the Rev. Mr. Byrne, are satisfactory, and the various\ntables at the end are extremely serviceable to the student. One more\nvolume will complete this exceedingly valuable compendium of the\nhistory of the church.\n\n\n BURNING QUESTIONS. By William Molitor. London: Burns &\n Oates. 1876. (For sale by The Catholic Publication Society.)\n\nBurning pretty briskly they have been, these questions, for some time\npast; the fire seems to be spreading, and not a very speedy prospect\nof putting it out! Mr. Molitor has a very agreeable and skilful way of\nhandling this kind of fire. A gentleman once went to lecture on\nnitro-glycerine. Proceeding coolly and with an unembarrassed air to\nthe platform, one of the committee who surrounded him and were\npleasantly chatting on the subject of the lecture having casually\nasked him if he would exhibit any specimens, he replied: \u201cOh!\ncertainly; my pockets are full of them.\u201d Several gentlemen of the\ncommittee retired to the back seats on hearing this announcement,\nawaiting in fear and trembling the dreaded explosion in the safest\nplace they could find. The application of Catholic principles to\npolitics has long and widely been dreaded as explosive and incendiary.\nOf late politics have been brought into pretty smart collision with\nCatholic principles. Of course it makes no particular difference\nwhether you throw nitro-glycerine on a rock or throw a rock on\nnitro-glycerine. An explosion has certainly resulted in Europe which\nis likely to be followed by more explosions. If any damage is done, it\nwill not be suffered by the church. The anticipated destruction of\nHell Gate by General Newton next July is a figure of what must take\nplace in that quarter after which a certain locality in the East River\nwas facetiously named by our Dutch ancestors. We have said that Mr.\nMolitor, although in a similar position with the gentleman who\nlectured on nitro-glycerine, handles his themes very agreeably and\npleasantly. He is not only good-tempered and humorous, but he makes\nhis somewhat abstruse topics quite intelligible and interesting. The\nform adopted by the author, who is a German priest of high rank in the\nchurch and of considerable note as a writer, is that of a series of\nconversational discussions. The interlocutors are educated men of\nseveral nationalities, one of them an American, who are passing a\nvacation together on the borders of Lake Como. Several little episodes\nand descriptions of scenery are introduced, making a pretty and\nenlivening _mise en sc\u00e8ne_ for the talkers and their very intelligent\nand learned talk. We have not seen the book in its original language,\nwhich is German, but the English translation reads well, and the book\nis a masterpiece in its way, both in respect to its matter and form.\nThe intelligent reader will already have perceived that its subject is\nthe relation of the church to the state. In substance it is a popular\nexposition of one part of ethics which is treated of scientifically in\nevery Catholic text-book or treatise on morals\u2014such, for instance, as\nLiberatore\u2019s _Philosophical Prelections_. We cannot too strongly\nrecommend its careful perusal to all those of our readers who wish to\nunderstand what Catholic principles and doctrines really are, in\nopposition to the popular errors condemned in the Syllabus. We are\nglad to see that a more extensive and formal treatise on the same\ntopics by Hergenr\u00f6ther has been translated and is advertised in the\nEnglish papers, although we have not yet received a copy.\n\n\n CATECHISM FOR CONFESSION AND FIRST COMMUNION. By a Priest of\n the Diocese of Springfield. Springfield: Philip J. Ryan.\n 1876.\n\nWe never take up a new catechism without distrust. It is easy to find\nobjections, real or imaginary, to any and every abridgment of the\nChristian doctrine, and consequently there is little difficulty in\ncoming to the conclusion that a new catechism is needed; but it is\nrare that even tolerable success rewards the compilers of text-books\nof this kind. We are of the opinion that it is not so important that\nwe should have the best possible catechism as that one which is good\nshould be adopted throughout the whole country. Many of our wisest and\nmost learned prelates have insisted upon this point, and in the first\nPlenary Council of Baltimore (1852) a catechism was approved of and\nrecommended to the clergy of the United States; and this is still\nto-day, we think, the best to be found in this country.\n\nThe catechism by a priest of the Diocese of Springfield, which we have\ncarefully examined, has not changed our opinion upon this subject. It\nis not free from errors and inaccuracies which are of themselves\nsufficient to deprive it of any value as a text-book of religious\ninstruction. In the \u201cAct of Hope,\u201d p. 4, we come upon the following\nungrammatical sentence: \u201cO my God! who _has_ promised every blessing.\u201d\n\u201cWhat is God?\u201d is asked at the very outset, and the answer given is:\n\u201cGod is a spirit.\u201d This is no more a definition of God than it is of\nan angel or a soul. \u201cWhat was the Garden of Paradise? Answer\u2014A place\nof pleasure.\u201d This is a poor, not to say false, rendering of the\nScriptural phrase. \u201cWho is the devil? Answer\u2014One of the fallen\nangels.\u201d Is he not the prince of fallen angels? \u201cWho are the angels?\nAnswer\u2014Pure spirits without a body.\u201d Is it, then, possible for pure\nspirits to have a body? Hell, we are informed, is \u201ca place of eternal\ntorments, where there is all evil and no good.\u201d This is theologically\ninaccurate. It is impossible that a place where there is _no_ good\nshould exist, since existence itself is a good.\n\n\u201cWhat are the chief things we must believe? Answer\u2014The chief things we\nmust believe are contained in the Apostles\u2019 Creed.\u201d Question and\nanswer do not agree. The one is _what_ and the other is _where_.\n\n\u201cWhy did he establish but _one_ church? Answer\u2014Because God being\n_one_, he could have but _one_ church.\u201d To affirm that God\u2019s nature\nrenders more than one church impossible is, we think, unwarranted.\n\n\u201cCan the church err? Answer\u2014She cannot.\u201d The catechism approved by the\nFirst Plenary Council says: \u201cShe cannot err in matters of faith.\u201d The\npriest of the Diocese of Springfield fails to give the four marks of\nthe church; and this is certainly a very grave omission. He, moreover,\nsays not a word about the infallibility of the pope, which is equally\ninexcusable.\n\n\u201cHow many kinds of sin are there? Answer\u2014Two kinds: original sin and\nactual sin.\u201d We were under the impression that the kinds of sin were\nvery numerous.\n\n\u201cWhat sins are mortal? Answer\u2014Grievous sins.\u201d And what sins, then, are\ngrievous? Mortal sins, we suppose.\n\n\u201cIs tale bearing a great sin? Answer\u2014Yes; supported by a text of\nScripture.\u201d Now, we cannot think that tale-bearing is necessarily a\ngreat sin, or even that it is generally so.\n\n\u201cWhat is the Eucharist made from? Answer\u2014From wheaten bread and the\nwine of the grape.\u201d This, in our eyes, as a matter of taste, if for no\nother reason, is very objectionable.\n\nWe confess that much of what we have found fault with is not of great\nmoment, but in a work of this kind we have the right to demand the\nstrictest care and accuracy. We have no desire to be severe in our\ncriticism, and gladly bear testimony to evidences of talent in the\nauthor, who, with greater pains, would have given us, we doubt not, a\nvery excellent catechetical text-book.\n\n\n OUTLINES OF THE RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY OF SWEDENBORG. By\n Theophilus Parsons. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1876.\n\nPhilosophy of Swedenborg! That is a desideratum which we have looked\nfor in vain some twenty years or more. We have read a considerable\nnumber of volumes of the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg and much that\nhas been written on their contents, conversed with not a few of his\nprominent followers, and yet we have failed to obtain from them all a\nclear and philosophical statement of the doctrines which he taught.\nHere, however, is a volume written expressly to give to the world such\na statement.\n\nBut, alas! we are again doomed to disappointment; for nowhere do we\nfind in it, in precise terms, the nature of this new revelation. The\nnearest we come to it is in the following passage: \u201cIf a new\nrevelation was to be made through him, if it was to be made by his\nstatement of spiritual truths, they should be not merely new, but so\nentirely distinct from all that was ever before known, so well adapted\nto send the mind forward on a new path and from a new beginning, so\nable to supply new motives and incentives to a new moral and\naffectional as well as intellectual progress, and new instruction to\nguide this progress, as to justify and authorize this large claim.\u201d\n\nThe first pretension made in this paragraph for the new church is \u201cnew\nmotives and incentives to a new moral and affectional progress.\u201d\nNeither Swedenborg in his life nor his followers in theirs have yet\nmade this title good. Nowhere have they shown the signs of a higher\nspiritual life or of a greater self-sacrifice. When they shall have\ngiven us a St. Charles Borromeo, or a St. Vincent de Paul, or the\nheroism displayed by a Sister of Charity, then, and not till then,\nwill there be reason to investigate their claim of a revelation which\nis superior to that given by Christ himself.\n\nThe next assertion in this paragraph is that this \u201cnew revelation\u201d is\na source of \u201cnew intellectual progress.\u201d Swedenborg revolted at some\nof the grossest errors of Protestantism, and, in repudiating them,\nseems to have been entirely ignorant of Catholic theology. The author\nsupposes Swedenborg\u2019s opposition to the errors of Calvinism is the\ncause of its decline; seemingly, he is unaware of its refutation\ncenturies before Swedenborg lived, and the statements of the truths\nopposed to it, by the Council of Trent. What is true in\nSwedenborgianism is not new, and what is new is not true.\n\nAs a specimen of \u201cintellectual progress\u201d we take the very first\nsentence of this book: \u201cA church,\u201d the author says, \u201cmay be defined as\nthe collective body of those who agree together in faith and in\nworship.\u201d This is the same as if he had said: \u201cA man may be defined as\nthe collective body of those members which agree together in physical\naction.\u201d This is the play of _Hamlet_ with Hamlet left out. Had Mr.\nParsons the true conception of the church, this would have started the\nquestion of the mission of his master!\u2014a point upon which his evidence\nwould have proven very unsatisfactory.\n\nAgain he says \u201cthat it is of the very essence of this revelation that\nit is given to man\u2019s reason\u201d (page 22).\n\nIs the author ignorant of the fact that Christianity from the\nbeginning made, and has always made, appeal to man\u2019s reason? By\nChristianity we mean the Catholic, the Roman Catholic, Church, outside\nof which Christianity never had, and has not now, a real, separate\nexistence. Have we to tell Mr. Parsons that the Catholic Church has\nalways upheld the value of human reason and defended its rights? Has\nhe ever looked into any work of Catholic theology? Has he ever opened\nthe _Summa_ of St. Thomas, or his volume _Contra Gentiles_? Does the\nauthor not know that it was Martin Luther who asserted against the\nchurch that \u201ca man becomes all the better a Christian by throttling\nhis reason\u201d? It seems that this new revelation, instead of being an\nincentive to intellectual progress, acts upon the intellectual\nfaculties like a poison, leaving them without tone, vigor, or logical\nperception, rapt in a dreamy self-sufficiency.\n\nThe author says \u201che agrees with Professor Tyndall in saying that to\nyield to the religious sentiment reasonable satisfaction is the\nproblem of problems at the present hour,\u201d and adds: \u201cWe believe also\nthat the system of thought and belief introduced by Swedenborg will\nlead to the solution of this \u2018problem of problems\u2019\u201d (page 30). This is\nequivalent to saying that the Creator has made man for a destiny which\nhe has carefully concealed from him these six thousand years or more!\n\nThe same Creator did not fail to satisfy every appetite with its\nproper food, except the highest of all\u2014the thirst of the soul to know\nits true destiny and the means of attaining it. This he allowed to\ntantalize man up to the date of this new revelation! Pity poor\nProfessor Tyndall could not be made to see it! Happy Professor\nTheophilus Parsons, who has found it at the feet of Emanuel\nSwedenborg, whose words, he tells us, \u201cwere not God\u2019s words, but his\nown; full, as we believe, of truth and wisdom, but limited in their\nscope and _liable to error_\u201d (page 31).\n\nSwedenborgianism is a product of a mind given to the pursuit of\nnatural sciences, ignorant of theology, and transported into the\ndream-world\u2014a sublimated materialism. There runs through all the\nwritings of the followers of Swedenborg the assumption of a superior\nknowledge of spiritual truths, which allies it closely to the old\nheresy of Gnosticism. In kind, Swedenborgianism does not differ from\nmodern Spiritism, only it assumes an air of greater respectability.\n\n\n HYMNS. By Frederick William Faber, D.D. New York: E. P.\n Dutton & Co. 1876.\n\nThe title \u201cFaber\u2019s Hymns\u201d gleams in golden letters from the back of\nthis handsome little volume, \u201cHymns by Frederick Wm. Faber, D.D.\u201d (in\nchoice medi\u00e6val characters) on either cover. \u201cFaber\u2019s Hymns\u201d\nconsequently they must be. It is impossible to doubt their\nauthenticity, surrounded as they are by all that wealth of adornment\nin which our ritualistic friends delight. Here are the thorns, and the\nhammer and nails, and a chaste border of what may be taken at will for\nthe passion flower or forget-me-not, and over the title a gorgeous\ncross and beneath it I. H. S. One would be shocked not to meet with\nthe softest-toned paper inside\u2014paper full almost of that \u201cdim\nreligious light\u201d that Milton sang. He lingers over these externals,\nfor they are very lovely, and very characteristic; so lovely that a\nsentimental person would weep to find they are only the adornments of\na wilful and systematic mutilation of the hymns of the gentle and\nsaintly man whose name the volume bears.\n\nA complete collection of Father Faber\u2019s Hymns was published in London\nin 1861 with the approval of the author and under his direct\nsupervision. He wrote a preface to it in which he complained of the\nliberties that had been taken with his hymns. He added that \u201che was\nonly too glad that his compositions should be of any service, and he\nhas in no instance refused either to Catholics or Protestants the free\nuse of them: _only in the case of Protestants he has made it a title\nto stipulate, wherever an opportunity has been given him, that, while\nomissions might be made, no direct alterations should be attempted_.\nHence he wishes to say that he is not responsible for any of the Hymns\nin any other form, literary or doctrinal, than that in which they\nappear in this edition.\u201d\n\nThat edition bore and bears the same title as the one now under\nnotice. The difference in size, however, between the two volumes is\nrather startling. This difference is accounted for by the fact that in\nthe ritualistic version fifty-eight hymns have disappeared. There are\none hundred and fifty in the original, there are ninety-two in the\nnew, and what the editor and publishers would doubtless consider\nimproved edition. Nor is the list of omissions complete even with\nthese fifty-eight absent.\n\nBut, to do what justice may be done to the ritualistic editor and\npublishers\u2014we should be delighted to give the editor\u2019s name as well as\nthe publishers\u2019, only that a judicious modesty has concealed it from\nus\u2014we quote from the preface: \u201cThis book of selections from Faber\u2019s\nHymns contains all of the Author\u2019s latest revised edition, except the\nHymns written for the use of Roman Catholics, such as those for the\nfestivals of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph and the Holy Family, and for\nthe Devotions in honor of them, and the Hymns addressed to the Angels\nand Saints.\u201d\n\nIn other words, it contains \u201c_all_ of the author\u2019s latest revised\nedition\u201d with the insignificant omission of very nearly one-half. How\nmany hymns \u201cof the author\u2019s latest revised edition\u201d were _not_\n\u201cwritten for the use of Roman Catholics\u201d were an investigation worth\nmaking, which the reader may take up at his choice. Leaving those\npoints, however, it is to be supposed that so honest a confession\namply atones for everything, especially after Father Faber\u2019s\npermission to Protestants to use his hymns. But there was a solemn\nstipulation attached to that permission, and to inquire into how far\nthat stipulation has been observed is the purpose of the present\nnotice.\n\nFrom the hymn entitled \u201cGod,\u201d which is only the fourth in the volume,\nverses 7 and 9 are left out. Those verses have the name of Mary in\nthem and sing of her beauty. The beauty of the angels and saints,\nwhich is sung in the same hymn, is allowed to pass, but for the queen\nof angels and saints of course there is no room.\n\nIn the hymn \u201cMy Father,\u201d a few pages on, the same thing is observable.\nThe tender conscience of the editor revolted from and consequently\nstruck out such a verse as this:\n\n \u201cMary, herself a sea of grace,\n Hath all been drawn from Thine;\n And thou couldst fill a thousand more\n From out those depths divine.\u201d\n\nIn the rendering of the _Veni Sancte Spiritus_ the last verse, which\nprays for the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, is struck out, the editor\nprobably objecting to those gifts for some reason of his own. In\n\u201cChristmas Night\u201d the pretty chorus is mutilated for the purpose of\nthrowing out the name of Mary. The original reads:\n\n \u201cAll hail, Eternal Child!\n Dear Mary\u2019s little Flower\n God hardly born an hour,\n Sweet Babe of Bethlehem!\n Hail Mary\u2019s Little One,\n Hail God\u2019s Eternal Son,\n Sweet Babe of Bethlehem,\n Sweet Babe of Bethlehem!\u201d\n\nThis the critical editor improves as\nfollows:\n\n \u201cAll hail, Eternal Child!\n Sweet Babe of Bethlehem!\n Hail God\u2019s Eternal Son,\n Sweet Babe of Bethlehem!\u201d\n\nThe fine hymn \u201cThe Three Kings\u201d is shortened by two verses\u20144 and 12.\nTo be sure those two verses bear rather hardly on Protestants, but in\nthat case, and in many others, why not leave the hymn out altogether?\nIn the hymn immediately following it, \u201cThe Purification,\u201d the last\nverse, which claims \u201call rightful worship\u201d for the Mother of Christ,\nis thrown out\u2014of course by Father Faber\u2019s express desire. In \u201cLent,\u201d\non the very next page, verse 3, which celebrates \u201cthe feast of\npenance,\u201d does not appear. Two pages on, in that most touching of\nplaints, \u201cJesus Crucified,\u201d such verses as these are found unworthy a\nplace:\n\n \u201cHis mother cannot reach His face;\n She stands in helplessness beside;\n Her heart is martyred with her Son\u2019s;\n Jesus, our Love, is crucified!\n\n * * * * *\n\n \u201cDeath came, and Jesus meekly bowed;\n His failing eyes He strove to guide\n With mindful love to Mary\u2019s face;\n Jesus, our Love, is crucified!\u201d\n\nWhat a starved religion it must be that cannot stomach such lines as\nthose! And what justice to Father Faber! Yet the editor allows the\nnext hymn to open with the lines:\n\n \u201cHail, Jesus! hail! who for my sake\n Sweet blood from Mary\u2019s veins didst take.\u201d\n\nIt is to be supposed that he could not well deny the physical fact,\nthough he would seem to have strong doubts about it, for presently we\nfind him in \u201cWe come to thee, Sweet Saviour,\u201d changing the last line\nof the chorus,\n\n \u201cO blood of Mary\u2019s son,\u201d\n\nto\n\n \u201cO blood of God\u2019s dear son.\u201d\n\nJust one-half the hymn to \u201cJesus Risen\u201d is thrown out, from verses 2\nto 6 inclusively. These verses treat of the sacred humanity. \u201cThe\nApparition of Jesus to Our Blessed Lady,\u201d \u201cThe Ascension,\u201d and\n\u201cPentecost,\u201d which immediately follow, are among those struck out, as\nare also the first eight verses of \u201cThe Descent of the Holy Ghost.\u201d\nThe reason of course is that they eulogize the Mother of God. For the\nsame reason verses 13 and 14 are omitted. Indeed this hymn alone must\nhave caused the pious soul of the editor much trouble; for we find in\nhis fourth verse (the twelfth in the original) the lines:\n\n \u201cOne moment\u2014and the Spirit hung\n O\u2019er _them_ with dread desire\u201d;\n\n \u201cO\u2019er _her_ with dread desire\u201d\n\nis the original. Again in his sixth verse, which in the original reads:\n\n \u201cThose tongues still speak within the Church,\n That Fire is undecayed;\n Its well-spring was that Upper Room\n Where Mary sat and prayed.\u201d\n\nOf course Mary cannot be tolerated in such company. Her name is\naccordingly stricken from the roll and \u201cthe disciples\u201d substituted for\nit, so that the last line reads:\n\n \u201cWhere the disciples sat and prayed.\u201d\n\nIt is too much to look to this man for respect for the Mother of God;\nbut at least he might have some respect for Father Faber, and at the\nvery least for the laws of rhythm.\n\nIt is useless to multiply instances of this kind. They run through the\nbook. A few other gross liberties taken with the text cannot pass\nunnoticed.\n\nIn \u201cThe Wages of Sin\u201d the second verse of the author reads:\n\n \u201cWe gave away all things for him,\n And in truth it was much that was given\u2014\n The love of the angels and saints,\n And the chance of our getting to heaven.\u201d\n\nThe Protestant editor objects to\n\n \u201cThe love of the angels and saints,\u201d\n\nfor which he substitutes\n\n \u201cWe gave away Jesus and God,\u201d\n\na line that belongs to the third verse. This third verse of course\ndisappears, because it sings of \u201cMary and grace\u201d and \u201cprayer and\nconfession and Mass.\u201d\n\nWhy the last verse of \u201cConversion\u201d is condemned, even by so tender a\nconscience as that of our editor, it is impossible to conceive.\n\n \u201cJesus, Mary, love, and peace\u201d\n\nsang Father Faber in \u201cThe Work of Grace\u201d;\n\n \u201cJesus, _mercy_, love, and peace\u201d\n\nsings his self-appointed editor.\n\nIn \u201cForgiveness of Injuries,\u201d the very title of which might have\ncaused him to pause, a happy specimen of his peculiar art and animus\nis given. Father Faber\u2019s first verse read\n\n \u201cOh! do you hear that voice from heaven\u2014\n Forgive and you shall be forgiven?\n No angel hath a voice like this;\n Not even Mary\u2019s song of bliss\n From off her throne can waft to earth\n A promise of such priceless worth.\u201d\n\nIn the Protestant version only the first two lines appear; the other\nfour are taken from the second verse; the remainder of which, with the\nrejected four of the first verse, are thrown away altogether.\n\nHere an examination which might be prolonged indefinitely may as well\nend. The reader may judge for himself whether the word \u201cmutilation\u201d\u2014a\ngrave word to use\u2014is misapplied in this instance. Selections, of\ncourse, may be taken from a man\u2019s works in these days, though we\nshould say not without permission from the author or from those\nempowered to grant it. But that such permission should be extended to\nhacking a man right and left, distorting his words, spoiling his\nverses, studiously making him say just what he does not say,\npersistently making him dishonor those whom he most honors\u2014strange\nindeed must be the conscience which can interpret the widest\npermission thus! We need not refer to the glowing love of Father Faber\nfor the Blessed Virgin. It was no vague aspiration after some ideal\nbeing, existing or not existing in a remote state. It was a vital\nreality to him. The Blessed Virgin was near him always. To her he\nturned with the love and confidence of a child, as to no imaginary\nmother, at all times. Her name was ever on his lips, as her love was\nin his heart. It was natural, then, that all his writings, but above\nall his hymns, should bubble over with the love that was ever welling\nupwards from the very depths of his being. Yet this man, pursued\napparently by hatred of the Mother of Jesus, and thinking to honor the\nSon by dishonoring the Mother, follows her up and hunts her from the\npages of one so devoted to her, wherever it was possible to do so.\nFurther comment on a man who can commit so dishonest an act, in the\nname too of religion, is unnecessary. As for the publishers who can\nlend themselves to such unworthy work, we leave them to their own\nreflections.\n\nWe have no desire to take this as characteristic of our Protestant\nfriends generally, particularly of the Protestant Episcopal section of\nthem. But there is too much of such dishonest practice. _The Following\nof Christ_; the _Devout Life_, by St. Francis de Sales; the _Memorial\nof a Christian Life_, by Father Lewis of Granada; the _Spiritual\nCombat_, and all Father Avrillon\u2019s works, have been tampered with in\nthe same manner and by the same set of zealous Christians. Is it too\nmuch to detect in this the old spirit that gave us what is known as\nthe King James version of the Bible, and that is content to let\ncenturies of great Christian faith go by, for the purpose of claiming\na fancied union with that of the earlier centuries, basing the claim\non distorted extracts from the works of a few great writers?\n\n\n GERTRUDE MANNERING: A Tale of Sacrifice. By Frances Noble.\n London: Burns & Oates. 1875. (For sale by The Catholic\n Publication Society.)\n\nOne begins to grow shy of \u201ctales of sacrifice\u201d written by Catholic\nauthors. They are so very like one another that the maxim _Ex uno\ndisce omnes_ is nowhere more applicable than to them. Given the\ncharacters and their relations one to another, and a very limited\namount of experience will enable the reader to sketch out the story\nfaithfully enough for himself without going to the trouble of reading\nthe book. _Gertrude Mannering_, though bearing a strong family\nlikeness to her sisters, and beginning in the orthodox fashion\u2014in the\nconvent, of course\u2014improves upon acquaintance, and leaves the reader\nwith the impression that the hand which fashioned her is capable of\nmuch better work. It is useless to sketch the story, which is a short\none and of simple enough construction. Its defects are of the usual\norder, though in a less degree than ordinarily. There is too much\npious \u201ctalk,\u201d in season and out of season. When will our Catholic\nstory-writers learn this first lesson of fiction: that a little of\nsuch talk goes a very long way? Even inquiring Protestants are not\nlikely to be moved profoundly by the tremendous arguments of a girl of\nsixteen or seventeen just out of a convent, while Catholics yawn as\nsoon as they appear, and either skip the pages that contain them or\nclose the book. Then, again, Gerty blushes a little too often, even\nfor a convent girl. The color rises in her cheeks more or less deeply\nat almost every other page. One grows rather tired, too, of the\nfrequent mention of \u201cthe pale, proud face\u201d of the \u201chaughty Stanley\u201d\nand his \u201csplendid intellect.\u201d These, to be sure, are the ordinary\nattributes of lady novelists\u2019 heroes, but, at least, the last quality\nmight be judiciously omitted, unless excellent grounds are given for\nit. A \u201csplendid intellect\u201d is no doubt a very good thing to have, as\nis also a \u201cpale, proud face\u201d in its way; but when the \u201csplendid\nintellect\u201d only shows itself in rather commonplace observations, such\nas persons with no pretension at all to so rare a gift would use, the\neffect is not quite satisfactory.\n\nOne more objection we must make, and a serious one. The sacrifice\naround which the story turns is by no means to be commended and would\nhave been better omitted. Young ladies, even young ladies whose love\nhas been crossed, can easily find something far better to do with\ntheir lives than to offer them to God for the soul of some young\ngentleman whom they are particularly anxious to convert. Martyrdom for\nthe faith is one thing; but the picture of a young lady, who cannot\nconscientiously marry a young infidel, offering her life to God for\nhis conversion, is quite another thing. One is tempted to ask how much\nthe \u201cpale, proud face\u201d and the \u201csplendid intellect\u201d of the \u201chaughty\nStanley\u201d had to do with so tremendous a sacrifice in the present\ninstance. Gerty might have done him, and herself, and her reader much\nmore good by living than by dying for him, as did that practical\npatriot when the cause of his country seemed lost.\n\nWe have noticed this story at some length because the writer, whose\nname meets us for the first time, seems, as already hinted, to give\npromise of much better work. Lady Hunter is a well-drawn character.\nSo, apart from the excessive tendency to blush and \u201ctalk pious,\u201d is\nGerty. The \u201chaughty Stanley\u201d is rather a conventional hero, which,\nperhaps, is only natural in days when so many young men lay claim to\n\u201csplendid intellects.\u201d The scene between Gerty and Stanley, where love\nand duty on the one side, and love and pride on the other, contend for\nmastery, is drawn with genuine power, while the end is indeed touching.\n\n\n THE SCHOOL QUESTION: CATHOLICS AND EDUCATION. 1 vol. 8vo,\n pp. 200. New York: The Catholic Publication Society.\n\nThe republication of the various essays on education which have from\ntime to time appeared in THE CATHOLIC WORLD, treating this\nall-important subject from widely different points of view, presenting\na great variety of style and method as well as of authorship, will, we\nare confident, be welcomed by the reading Catholic public as\nespecially opportune at the present moment, when the questions here\ndiscussed enter so largely into all our social, theological, and\npolitical controversies.\n\nThough the subject of education is much talked of and written about,\nit is rarely carefully examined or seriously studied. We have\nourselves been made to blush more than once by the ignorance on this\npoint of even intelligent Catholics. Self-respect, one would think,\nshould suffice to make us acquaint ourselves with the arguments upon\nwhich our dissent from the theories of education commonly received in\nthis country is based. At the expense of very little time and labor\nany ordinarily intelligent Catholic might be in a position to defend\nhimself against the attacks of the advocates of a purely secular\nschool system. To those who feel the need of informing themselves more\nthoroughly on this subject we heartily commend these essays. The\nquestions with which they deal have been discussed, not without\nability and sound reason, in pamphlets and lectures; but before the\npublication of this volume we should have been unable to refer to any\none book as giving a fair and satisfactory statement of Catholic\nprinciples on the subject of education. This collection supplies a\nwant which many besides ourselves must have felt.\n\n\n THE ACOLYTE; OR, A CHRISTIAN SCHOLAR. A story for Catholic\n youth. Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham & Son. 1876.\n\nStories for Catholic youth, which are at once interesting and safe,\nare greatly to be desired. Every honest attempt to satisfy this want\nis consequently to be, in a certain sense, commended. Our boys,\nhowever, fare rather badly at the hands of writers. The books written\nfor them are, as a class, either slow and uninteresting or so\ngoody-goody that a boy yawns before he has finished half a dozen\npages. The author of _The Acolyte_, though animated with the best\nintentions, has fallen into the common mistake. His book is too\n\u201cgood.\u201d His hero, whom he evidently looks upon as the beau-ideal of a\nCatholic student, is, it must be confessed, rather a tiresome young\nperson, having a dreadful propensity to indulge in disquisitions of\nclassroom philosophy with his young sister and others. In fact, the\natmosphere of the classroom pervades the book, and the result is not\nagreeable. When boys read a story, they want to be out of school.\nThere are excellent things in this book, but such as would appear to\nbetter advantage in one of a purely spiritual character, where they\nwould probably find more readers, even among boys, than they are\nlikely to do in their present form. The volume is dedicated to the\n\u201cAcolythical Society\u201d of a church in Cincinnati. If such a society\nexist, we recommend it to change its name. \u201cAcolythical\u201d is a\nbarbarism which should not be tolerated.\n\n\n LITERATURE FOR LITTLE FOLKS. SELECTIONS FROM STANDARD\n AUTHORS, AND EASY LESSONS IN COMPOSITION. By Elizabeth\n Lloyd. Philadelphia: Sower, Potts & Co. 1876.\n\nThe object of this little book is to make even the \u201cLittle Folks\u201d so\nfamiliar with good English as habitually to speak and write it\ncorrectly. They will, it is claimed by the author, thus acquire a\nknowledge of correct English without going through the regular but\nslow process of first committing the rules of syntax to memory. The\nobject is praiseworthy, and the plan of the work seems well adapted to\nmake it easy of accomplishment.\n\n\n HOW TO WRITE LETTERS. A Manual of Correspondence, etc. By J.\n Willis Westlake, A.M. 1 vol. 16mo, pp. 264. Philadelphia:\n Sower, Potts & Co. 1876.\n\nThis is no mere compilation in the usual style of manuals, but an\nelaborate and interesting little work, showing the proper structure,\ncomposition, punctuation, formalities, and uses of the various kinds\nof letters, notes, and cards. It also contains a considerable amount\nof miscellaneous information about _epistolography_ in general, and an\narticle on \u201cRoman Catholic Titles and Forms,\u201d with particular\nreference to this country. The appearance of such a complete work of\nthis nature is a proof of that more careful attention now paid by\nAmericans to the written forms and etiquette of social intercourse,\nwhich, whatever may be ranted about republicanism and democratic\nhabits, are as necessary, or at least as desirable, in the United\nStates as in Europe. We would say of them, as of the devices of\nheraldry, if used at all, they should be used correctly; and this book\nwill show people how to use them.\n\n\n EXPLANATIO PSALMORUM. Studio F. X. Schouppe, S.J.\n Prolegomena in S Scripturam. Auctore F. X. Schouppe, S.J.\n Bruxellis. 1875. Benziger Brothers, New York.\n\nThese two treatises from the pen of Father Schouppe, the learned\nBelgian Jesuit, who has labored so indefatigably to enrich Catholic\nliterature, form part of the author\u2019s \u201cCourse of Sacred Scripture,\u201d\nbut have been published separately in order to give them a wider\ncirculation. In the \u201cExplanatio Psalmorum\u201d Father Schouppe has chosen\nfor elucidation the psalms which are appointed to be recited in the\ncommon offices of the Roman Breviary and his commentaries are made\nwith special reference to this official devotion of the priesthood.\nEach psalm is accompanied by a paraphrase; a short but satisfactory\ncommentary follows; and, finally, the _sensus liturgus_ is given,\nshowing its special appropriateness to the various offices of the\nBreviary in which it is found.\n\nThe \u201cProlegomena\u201d is a brief introduction to the study of Holy\nScripture, in which the various subjects comprised under the head of\nhermeneutics are discussed.\n\nBoth these treatises are characterized by the solid learning and lucid\nstyle which distinguish all the works of Father Schouppe.\n\n\n LES PRINCIPES DE LA SAGESSE. Par Fran\u00e7ois de Salazar, S.J.\n Traduits de l\u2019Espagnol. Gand. Benziger Brothers, New York.\n\nThis work of Father Salazar, a Spanish Jesuit, was discovered in 1628\nby Dom Geronimo Perez, a doctor of the University of Alcala, who, in\nhis _Summa_ _Theologi\u00e6_, speaks of it in the following terms: \u201cI have\nread with attention all that the most weighty authors have written on\nsubjects proper to effect the conversion of the soul; but I have met\nwith no one who has treated these matters with a force equal to that\nwhich is found in a manuscript of Francis de Salazar, a religious of\nthe Society of Jesus.\u201d\n\nThe success of the book has more than justified this estimate of Dr.\nPerez. It has passed through innumerable editions in the original\nSpanish, and has been translated into nearly all the languages of\nEurope. The French translation now before us has reached a fifteenth\nedition.\n\n\n BREVIARIUM ROMANUM, CUM OFFICIIS SANCTORUM NOVISSIME PER\n SUMMOS PONTIFICES USQUE AD HANC DIEM CONCESSIS. Turonibus,\n 1875. Benziger Brothers, New York and Cincinnati.\n\nThis is a new and elegant edition of the Roman Breviary, to which have\nbeen added the offices of St. Boniface and St. Paul of the Cross, the\nrecitation of which has recently been made obligatory upon all priests\nby a decree of the Holy Father. It is printed in large and clear type\non delicately-tinted paper of a shade peculiarly grateful to the eye,\nstrongly bound in morocco, and of convenient size. We have rarely seen\na finer edition of the Breviary.\n\n\n PIUS IX. AND HIS TIMES. By Thomas O\u2019Dwyer, M.D., M.R.C.S.\n (late English Physician at Rome). London: Burns, Oates & Co.\n 1876.\n\nThis volume is made up of a series of entertaining sketches of travel\nand letters from Rome, where the author resided many years, during\nwhich he was correspondent to the London _Weekly Register_. His\nletters to that journal make up the bulk of the book. At a time when\nso much that is false issues from the capital of Christendom and finds\na welcome place in the columns of non-Catholic journals, the letters\nfrom the same city of an observant and intelligent Catholic would\npossess a special value quite apart from their intrinsic literary\nmerit.\n\n\n AUTHORITY AND ANARCHY; OR, THE BIBLE ON THE CHURCH. London:\n Burns & Oates. 1876.\n\nThe author of this pamphlet presents the argument for the church from\nthe Scriptures with very considerable skill and ability.\n\n CHARACTERISTICS FROM THE WRITINGS OF JOHN HENRY NEWMAN.\n Being Selections, Personal, Historical, Philosophical, and\n Religious, from his Various Works. Arranged by William\n Samuel Lilly, of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. With\n the author\u2019s approval. New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 1876.\n\nThis is an American reprint of the London edition. The latter has\nalready been noticed in THE CATHOLIC WORLD. The praise given to the\noriginal edition cannot be accorded to the present volume. The type is\ntoo small for general use, and the book lacks what we characterized at\nthe time as \u201cone of the best portraits of Dr. Newman which we have\nseen.\u201d\n\n\n THE LITTLE BOOK OF THE HOLY CHILD JESUS: A Prayer-Book for\n His Children. By Canon Warmoll. London: Burns & Oates.\n\nThis useful little book is intended for very young children. It\ncontains short prayers, acts, meditations, and instructions for Mass,\nconfession, communion, and daily conduct. The meditations are\nadmirable, being just adapted to catch the attention of children. The\ninstructions also are excellent. Only here and there are to be found\npassages that strike us as a little too ponderous for very young\nchildren.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\nPUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.\n\nLives of the Saints. Rev. F. X. Weninger, D.D. Part VI. P. O\u2019Shea.\n\n\u201cMessenger Series.\u201d No. 6. The Acts of the Early Martyrs. By J. A. M.\nFastr\u00e9, S.J. Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham & Son. 1876.\n\nA Study of Freemasonry. Translated from the French of Monseigneur\nDupanloup, Bishop of Orleans. New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co.\n\nPax Anim\u00e6: A Short Treatise declaring how necessary the tranquillity\nand peace of the soul is, and how it may be obtained. By St. Peter of\nAlcantara. From an old English translation of 1665. Edited by Canon\nVaughan. London: Burns & Oates. 1876.\n\nMajor John Andre: An Historical Drama in Five Acts. By P. Leo Haid,\nOSB. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. New York: The Cathol. Publication\nSociety. 1876.\n\nThe Martyrdom of St. Cecily: A Drama in Three Acts. By the Rev. Albany\nChristie, S.J. London: Burns & Oates. 1876.\n\nChristianity the Law of the Land. A discourse delivered in the Church\nof the Saviour, Brooklyn, N. Y. By the Pastor. A. P. Putnam. With an\nAppendix; or, Voices of American History. Brooklyn, N. Y.\n\nReport of the Xavier Union of the City of New York. 1875.\n\nReport of the City Superintendent of Schools to the Board of Education\nof the City of New York, for the Year ending December 31, 1875.\n\nAddresses at the Inauguration of Daniel C. Gilman, as President of the\nJohns Hopkins University, Baltimore, February 22, 1876.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC WORLD.\n\nVOL. XXIII., No. 135.\u2014JUNE, 1876.\n\nCopyright: Rev. I. T. HECKER. 1876.\n\n\n\n\nGERMAN JOURNALISM.[97]\n\n\nThe universal hymn of journalistic praise, sung throughout the\ncivilized world with hardly a discordant note, is of itself no mean\nevidence of the power of the press. \u201cGreat is journalism,\u201d says\nCarlyle. \u201cIs not every able editor a ruler of the world, being a\npersuader of it?\u201d From France M. Thiers declares that the liberty of\nthe press is theoretically and practically the most necessary of all;\nand was it not our own Jefferson who solemnly affirmed that he would\nrather live in a country with newspapers and without a government than\nin a country with a government but without newspapers? Did not the\ngreat Napoleon himself stand in greater awe of a newspaper than of a\nhundred thousand bayonets? \u201cGive me but the liberty of the press,\u201d\ncried Sheridan, \u201cand I will give to the minister a venal House of\nPeers; I will give him a corrupt and servile House of Commons; I will\ngive him the full sway of the patronage of office; I will give him the\nwhole host of ministerial influence; I will give him all the power\nthat place can confer upon him to purchase up submission and overcome\nresistance; and yet, armed with the liberty of the press, I will go\nforth to meet him undismayed; I will attack the mighty fabric he has\nreared with that mightier engine; I will shake down from its height\ncorruption and bury it amidst the ruins of the abuses it was meant to\nshelter.\u201d\n\nBut we do not propose to treat our readers to a dissertation written\nin the style of him who declared that, were the starry heavens\ndeficient of one constellation, the vacuum could not be better\nsupplied than by the introduction of a printing-press. We fully\nrecognize, however, the very great power of the press which controls\npublic opinion, and indeed often makes it. Nothing is unimportant\nwhich throws light upon the constitution and workings of this \u201cFourth\nEstate,\u201d into whose hands the destinies of modern nations and\ncivilization seem to have been delivered; and it is for this reason\nthat we take pleasure in bringing to the notice of the readers of THE\nCATHOLIC WORLD the work of Professor Wuttke on _German Journalism and\nthe Origin of Public Opinion_.\n\nIt would be difficult to find a more curious or instructive book. For\nyears connected with the press himself, a leader of the \u201cgreat German\nparty,\u201d and the author of several valuable historical and\nphilosophical works, Herr Wuttke has brought to his present task the\nthoroughgoing and painstaking conscientiousness of a German professor.\nHe is wholly in earnest; neither smiles nor laughs; does not even stop\nto give smoothness and polish to his phrase, but without remorse or\nfear invades the editorial sanctum, and pours upon its most hidden\nmysteries the profane light; holds them up before vulgar eyes, and\nleaves not the suspicion of a doubt but that he is resolved to tell\nall he knows. His courage no one can deny. The enterprise to which he\nhas devoted himself was full of perils, none of which were hidden from\nhim.\n\nGerman newspapers before the revolution of 1848 were chiefly of a\nliterary character. Their columns were filled with criticisms of\nbooks, philosophical and theological discussions, \u00e6sthetic treatises,\naccounts of travel, entertaining stories, and theatrical notices.\nScarcely any attention was paid to events of the day, and least of all\nto those of a political character. The explanation of this anomaly is\nsimple. The governments of Germany exercised a rigorous censorship\nover the press, and allowed nothing to be published which might set\npeople to thinking about what their rulers were doing. But the storm\nof 1848 blew the pen from the hand of the official censor, and opened\nthe columns of the newspaper to all kinds of political theories and\ndiscussions. The governments were at sea, borne helpless by the\npopular wave which had broken them loose from their ancient moorings\nand was carrying them they knew not whither. Their official organs,\nwith unlimited financial support from the state, were powerless,\nbecause people refused to read them whilst independent journals were\nwithin their reach. The revolutionary outburst was soon followed by a\nreaction, partly brought on by its own excesses; and with the aid of\nthe military the former governments were restored. Restrictions were\nagain placed upon the liberty of the press; but so universal had the\npolitical agitation been that to think of carrying through a policy of\nrigorous repression was manifestly out of the question. It became\nnecessary, therefore, to devise some expedient by which the press\nmight be controlled without being muzzled.\n\nWith this view Von Manteuffel, the Prussian minister, established in\nBerlin a \u201cCentral Bureau of the Press,\u201d which stood in intimate\nrelations with the government and received from the \u201cSecret Fund\u201d a\nyearly support of from forty to fifty thousand thalers. With this\nmoney the pens of a crowd of needy scribes were bought, who for twenty\nor thirty thalers a month agreed to write articles in support of the\nviews which the director of the Bureau should inspire. The next step\nwas to make an opening for these articles in the columns of journals\nin different parts of the kingdom. This was not difficult, as the\ncontributions were well written, by persons evidently thoroughly\ninformed, and were offered at a nominal price, or even without pay. On\nthe 9th of March, 1851, the director of the Bureau sent a circular to\n\u201cthose editors and publishers of the conservative party with whom he\nhas not at present the honor of holding personal relations,\u201d in which\nhe promised, with special reference to his connection with the\nMinistry of State, to send them from time to time communications\nconcerning the real condition of political affairs, in order to\nfurnish them indispensable materials for the successful prosecution of\ntheir labors. This assistance was to be given free of cost, and many\neditors were eager to avail themselves of it without inquiring with\nmuch care into its special significance. In this way the \u201cCentral\nPress-Bureau\u201d wove a network of lines of communication over the whole\nkingdom, which, however, was carefully hidden from public view. It\nalso kept up constant intercourse with the representatives of Prussia\nat the various European courts, which enabled it to give tone to\npublic opinion on foreign affairs as well as on matters at home.\nThrough the influence of the government, and by spending money, the\nBureau gradually succeeded in introducing its agents into the offices\nof many newspapers, and occasionally in getting entire control of this\nor that journal. By this cunning policy the Prussian government was\nable to lead the unsuspecting public by the nose.\n\nWhilst confiding readers throughout the land were receiving the views\nof their favorite journals as the honest expression of public opinion,\nthese newspapers were in fact only the whispering-galleries of the\nBerlin ministry. The editors themselves were often ignorant of the\nfact that the pens of their co-laborers had been bought and sold. Even\nforeign journals, in England and France, did not escape the meshes of\nthe \u201cPress-Bureau,\u201d but were entrapped and made to do service for\nPrussia.\n\nAnother contrivance for working up public opinion was the\n\u201cLithographic Correspondence-Bureau,\u201d which is a French invention.\nThis is an agency for the manufacture of correspondence from all parts\nof the world, at home and abroad, which is lithographed and sent to\njournals that are willing to pay for it; and nearly all of them find\nthis the cheapest and easiest method of keeping abreast of the times.\n\nAs the men who found these Bureaus are chiefly intent upon making\nmoney, and live, moreover, in salutary awe of the government, they\ngenerally find it advisable to place themselves at its disposition.\nThe correspondence-agency of Havas-B\u00fcllier in Paris was Orleanistic\nunder Louis Philippe, and Napoleonic under the Empire. In return it\nobtained the monopoly of \u201clithographic correspondence\u201d; so that,\nduring the reign of Louis Napoleon, France received its knowledge of\nthe foreign world through the single channel of this Bureau, which was\ncarefully supervised by the government. This was too excellent a\ndevice not to find ready acceptance in Berlin, and in the most natural\nway in the world the \u201cLithographic Correspondence-Bureau\u201d was placed\nalongside the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d; the journals which had already fallen\nunder the influence of the latter yielded without resistance to the\nseductions of the new ally, and thus became to a still greater extent\nthe tools of the government. In this way the \u201ceunuchs of the court and\npress\u201d were in position deliberately and with malice to falsify and\npervert public opinion, which soon came to mean the utterances of the\nherd of venal scribes in Berlin who had sold themselves, body and\nsoul, to the \u201cPress-Bureau.\u201d One of the five sins which, according to\nConfucius, is unpardonable, is from under the mantle of truth to\nscatter broadcast lies which are hurtful to the people; and this is\nthe charge which Professor Wuttke brings against the crowd of German\nnewspaper-writers.\n\nTelegraphy, which was first introduced into Germany in 1849, led to\nfurther improvements in the art of manipulating the press. The\n\u201cCorrespondence-Bureau\u201d of Havas-B\u00fcllier became a telegraphic agency\nand furnished despatches free of charge to the Parisian journals, in\norder to prevent the starting of a rival business; and when,\nnotwithstanding, the _Agence Continentale_ was organized, it was\nsuppressed by Persigny, the Minister of State, who by this means was\nenabled to control the publication of telegrams in all the leading\njournals of France. In Italy the Stefani Agency, at Turin, rendered\nsimilar services to the government of Victor Emanuel; sending out the\nmost shameless falsehoods to the four corners of the earth, and\ncarefully suppressing whatever the authorities wished to conceal from\nthe public. These despatches were printed in the leading journals of\nEurope and America as coming from unsuspected sources, when they were\nin fact the \u201ccooked\u201d telegrams of the secret agents of Cavour and the\nRevolution.\n\nIn 1850 Reuter established his telegraphic Agency in Aix-la-Chapelle,\nbut removed it in the following year to Berlin; and a few months\nlater, when the cable between Calais and Dover was laid, he made\nLondon the central point of his operations. In Berlin a similar\nbusiness was opened by Dr. Wolf, a Jew. In 1855 he sold out\nto a number of capitalists, who organized the _Continentale\nTelegrafenkompagnie_, and then entered into a combination with Reuter\nand Havas, through which they controlled the telegraphic despatches\nfurnished to the press of all Europe. To have the latest news was a\njournalistic necessity; and yet to maintain special agents in the\ngreat centres, and to pay the high rates for sending special\ntelegrams, would have been too heavy a burden. Nothing remained,\ntherefore, but to take the despatches of the Agencies which were now\nin league with one another.\n\nIn Prussia nearly all the telegraphic lines, most of which were put up\nduring the reaction after the revolution of 1848, were in the hands of\nthe government; and this, of itself, was sufficient to place the\nAgencies at its disposal. And in point of fact, it is no secret that\nin Prussia there exists a censorship of the telegraph, and that the\ngovernment decides as to the despatches which the newspapers shall\nreceive. Whoever will take the trouble to weigh this matter will see\nwhat a terrible instrument for the perversion of public opinion is\nthus placed in the hands of the state. A despatch has always in its\nfavor the force of first impressions. When, after days or weeks,\nexplanations follow, they are passed over, new events having already\npreoccupied public attention. All the world reads the telegram;\ncomparatively few pay any attention to the later-coming corrections of\ninaccurate or false statements.\n\nPrussia, then, through her \u201cCentral Press-Bureau,\u201d her\n\u201cCorrespondence-Bureau,\u201d and her \u201cTelegram-Bureau,\u201d succeeded in\ngetting control of the leading German journals, which, while keeping\nup the appearance of independence and honesty, were either in her pay\nor under the influence of her agents. Public opinion in Germany was at\nher mercy; so that, after she had made the most thorough preparations\nfor the war of 1866, she found no difficulty in having it proclaimed\nthroughout the fatherland that Austria had been arming and was ready\nto fall upon her in order to rob her of Silesia. The newspapers even\nlent themselves, when the war had begun, to the publication of a\nspurious address to the army by Benedek, the Austrian leader, in which\nthere was not one word of truth, but in which he was made to speak in\na way that could not fail to arouse the indignation of the Prussian\nsoldiers. This forged document was circulated by the press and read by\nthe captains to their men as soon as they had entered Bohemia.\n\nThe creation of the new empire has not improved German journalism. The\n\u201cPress-Bureau\u201d has enlarged the circle of its activity, while the\ngovernment has invented other means not less effective for controlling\nthe newspapers. \u201cWe care not for public opinion,\u201d said a high official\nin Berlin some months ago; \u201cfor the entire press belongs to us.\u201d\nPrussia has German public opinion, in so far as it is allowed to find\nexpression, in her keeping. After the war with Austria the annual\nsecret fund of the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d was increased to 70,000 thalers; but\nthis is in reality a very inconsiderable portion of the money at its\ndisposition. The incorporation of Hanover and Hesse with Prussia threw\ninto the hands of the government very large resources. From George of\nHanover King William exacted 19,000,000 thalers, and from the Prince\nElector of Hesse property with an annual rental of 400,000 thalers.\nBoth these sums were placed at the disposal of Bismarck by the\nLandtag, that he might use them to defeat the \u201cintrigues\u201d of the\nenemies of Prussia. It was on the occasion of this grant that Bismarck\nused the words which have given to the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d fund a name\nwhich it can never lose. \u201cI follow,\u201d he said, \u201cmalignant reptiles into\ntheir very holes, in order to watch their doings.\u201d The money which he\nreceived to carry on this dark underground business was appropriately\ndesignated by the Berlin wits the \u201cReptile-fund\u201d (_Reptilienfond_). A\nvocabulary of slang has been invented to designate the hired scribes\nof the Bureau and their operations. Bismarck calls them \u201cmy\nswine-herds\u201d (_meine Sauhirten_). To write for the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d is\nto take mud-baths (_Schlammb\u00e4der nehmen_); and the writers themselves,\nwho are classified as \u201cofficious,\u201d \u201chigh-officious,\u201d \u201chalf-officious,\u201d\nand \u201cover-officious,\u201d are called \u201cmud-bathers\u201d (_Schlammb\u00e4der_), and\nthey devour the \u201cReptile-fund.\u201d The instructions issued by the\ndirectors for the preparation of articles for the different journals\nare styled \u201cwash-tickets\u201d (_Waschzettel_). The directors who are not\nimmediately connected with the Bureau are known by the name of \u201cPiper\u201d\n(_Pfeifer_), which, in the jargon of Berlin, has a peculiar and by no\nmeans flattering signification.\n\nAs the buzzards fly to the carcass, so gathered the hungry German\nscribes around the \u201cReptile-fund\u201d; but their pens were cheap and the\n\u201cPress-Bureau\u201d was able to feed a whole army of them, and yet have\nabundant means to devote to other methods for influencing public\nopinion. Its machinations are, of course, conducted with the greatest\nsecrecy. All manner of blinds are used. Its agents assume in their\narticles a style of great independence, deal largely in loud and\ncaptious epithets, occasionally even criticise this or that measure of\nthe government, and ape the ways of honest and patriotic men. The\n\u201cCentral Press-Bureau\u201d itself is pushed as far out of sight as\npossible; stalking horses and scarecrows are put forward; and the\ninstitution is made to appear as only a myth. But the Cave of \u00c6olus is\nin Berlin, and the winds which are let loose there blow to and fro,\nhither and yon, through all Germany, starting currents in other parts\nof the world. In this cave the old snake-worship of so many ages and\npeoples still exists, and the god is the \u201cReptile-fund.\u201d Out of this\ncavern are blown the double-leaded leaders which fall thick all over\nthe land, and always, as if by magic, just in the right place. False\nreports eddy through the air; stubborn facts are pulled and bent and\nbeaten until they get into the proper shape. The light which is\npermitted to fall upon them is managed as skilfully as in an\nart-gallery or a lady\u2019s drawing-room. With the aid of the\n\u201cReptile-fund\u201d the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d found little difficulty in extending\nits business of buying up journals, paying sometimes as high as a\nhundred thousand thalers for a single newspaper; and where this could\nnot be done money was freely spent to start an opposition sheet.\nWhenever a journal was found to be growing weak, aid was proffered on\ncondition that it should open its columns to the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d;\nsometimes with the understanding that one of its agents should be\nplaced in the editorial chair. So thoroughly has this system of\nbribery taken possession of Prussian journalism that the court decided\n(October, 1873), in a suit against the _Germania_ newspaper, that to\naccuse an editor of being in the pay of the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d is not a\ncriminal offence, since it does not in the public estimation tend to\nlower his character.\n\nOccasionally, in spite of the greatest care, the secrets of the Bureau\nare betrayed. Thus in February, 1874, a circular was sent to various\njournals, and amongst others to the _Neue Wormser-Zeitung_, with the\noffer to furnish from the capital, first, a tri-weekly original\narticle on the political situation; second, original political and\ndiplomatic advice from all the departments of the government, also\nthree times a week; third, a short but exhaustive parliamentary\nreport; fourth, special correspondence from other capitals (written in\nBerlin); fifth, original accounts of foreign affairs, drawn from the\nspecial sources of the Bureau; and, sixth, a short daily, as well as a\nmore lengthy weekly, exhibit of the Berlin Bourse. For these services\nnothing was demanded; but, that the thing might not appear too bald,\nit was stated that the editor should fix his own price. Now, it so\nhappened that when this circular was received by the _Neue\nWormser-Zeitung_ that paper was in the hands of Herr Westerburg, a\nSocial Democrat, who straightway took the public into his confidence.\n\nThe newly-acquired provinces of Prussia were a favorite field for the\noperations of the Berlin Bureau. General Manteuffel, in 1866,\nsuppressed the _Schleswig-Holsteinische Zeitung_, and handed the\ncountry over to the reptile-press. In Alsace and Lorraine also\njournals were suppressed, and others established, by the government.\nIn these provinces the independent press has wholly disappeared, with\nthe exception of two tame and unimportant sheets. In fact, if we\nexcept the Catholic and a few Social Democratic newspapers, there is\nhardly a journal of any weight in the German Empire in which the\npress-reptile is not found. \u201cI know,\u201d wrote to Professor Wuttke an\nauthor well acquainted with the circumstances\u2014\u201cI know few German\nnewspapers in which there is not a mud-bather.\u201d For even passing\nservices the Bureau is ready to pay cash. Chaplain Miarka, the editor\nof the _Katholik_, has declared publicly that he was offered 7,500\nthalers on condition of consenting to write in a milder manner during\nthe elections.\n\nThe working up of public opinion through the press extends far beyond\nthe boundaries of the German Empire. The proceedings of the court in\nthe trial of Von Arnim in 1874 developed the fact that he, whilst\nrepresenting Prussia at the Tuileries, had entered into relations with\nvarious journals of Paris, Vienna, and Brussels; and it is generally\nunderstood that 50,000 thalers were placed at the disposition of Herr\nRudolf Lindau for the purpose of manipulating the Parisian press.\nThrough these and similar means an opening for the articles of the\n\u201cPress-Bureau\u201d was made in English, French, and Belgian newspapers;\nand these articles, which had been first written in German, were\ntranslated back into German and published by the reptile-press as the\nexpression of public opinion in foreign countries on Prussian affairs.\n\u201cI could give the names,\u201d says Professor Wuttke, \u201cof the\npress-reptiles who write for the _Ind\u00e9pendance Belge_, of those who\ntake care of the _Hour_, and of others whose duty it is to furnish\narticles to the Italian and Scandinavian newspapers.\u201d[98] To hold the\nEnglish in leading strings, Berlin had, in 1869, a _North Germany\nCorrespondence_, and then, under the supervision of Aegidi, the\ndirector of the \u201cPress-Bureau,\u201d a _Norddeutsche Correspondenz_, which\nis still the chief source from which both English and American\njournals draw their information on German affairs. The attempt made\nfrom Berlin to buy Katkoff\u2019s _Journal of Moscow_ was defeated by the\nincorruptibility of the proprietor.\n\nThe reptile-press, of course, ignores and strives to hush whatever may\nthrow light upon the dark workings and intrigues of the \u201cPress\nBureau\u201d; and no better instance of its power in this respect can be\ngiven than the history of Professor Wuttke\u2019s book on German\njournalism. Its existence was not recognized by the press-reptiles;\nits startling revelations were ignored or received in profound\nsilence; and so successful was this policy that a year after the\npublication of the work only three hundred copies had been sold; and\nit is chiefly through the efforts of a Catholic newspaper\u2014the\n_Germania_\u2014and of Windthorst, a leader of the party of the _Centrum_,\nthat it has finally been brought to public notice and has now reached\na third edition. In the German Parliament, on the 18th of December,\n1874, Windthorst took Professor Wuttke\u2019s book with him to the\nspeaker\u2019s stand, and, in a powerful address against any further grant\nof the \u201cSecret Fund\u201d (_Reptilien-fond_), made special reference to\nthis work, which he characterized as \u201cconscientious\u201d and full of\nstartling revelations which leave room to suspect even worse things. A\nyear before (December 3, 1873) the same speaker declared in the\nPrussian Landtag that in Germany the government had nearly succeeded\nin getting entire control of the press; that the influence of the\n\u201cReptile-fund\u201d was already noticeable in foreign countries,\nparticularly in the newspapers of Vienna; and that the attempt had\nbeen made to establish a \u201cReptile-Bureau\u201d in connection with the\nLondon embassy; and when this was found not to work well, a\n\u201cPress-Bureau\u201d for England, France, and Italy was organized in Berlin.\nThese charges, made in public parliamentary debate, were allowed to\npass without contradiction, although Aegidi, the director of the\nCentral Bureau, was a member of the Assembly and present during the\ndiscussion.\n\nEugen Richter, the member for Hagen, brought forward other accusations\nof like import on the 20th of January, 1874. We have already given an\nexample of the uses to which the Prussian government puts the\nreptile-press, in the instance of the forged army address attributed\nto Benedek, and published throughout Germany at the outbreak of the\nwar with Austria in 1866.[99] Similar services were rendered by the\n\u201cmud-bathers\u201d at the time of the crisis with France in 1870. A false\ntelegram, purporting to come from Ems, dated July 13, 1870, in which\nthe French minister, Count Benedetti, was said to have grossly\ninsulted King William, was eagerly taken up by the venal press and\ncommented upon in a way which excited the greatest indignation in the\nminds of the Germans against Napoleon, who, they firmly believed, was\nbent upon humiliating Prussia. In this way public feeling in both\ncountries was fanned into a heat which could be cooled only by blood.\nThe account of the interview at Ems was a fabrication, as Benedetti\nhas since clearly shown; but Bismarck\u2019s \u201cswineherds\u201d had faithfully\ndone their unholy work.[100]\n\nWhen, just at the beginning of the war, the French army made an attack\non Saarbr\u00fccken, the reptile-press spread the report that they had\nreduced the city to ashes; and this infamous falsehood made a deep\nimpression throughout Germany. A similar lie had been propagated at\nthe commencement of the Austrian war. On the 27th of June, 1866, the\nPrussians were driven from Trautenau by General Gablenz, and forthwith\nthe reptile-press raised the cry that the citizens of Trautenau had\npoured from their houses hot water and boiling oil on the retreating\nsoldiers; and the government lent itself to the spreading of this\ndetestable calumny by dragging off the mayor of Trautenau, Dr. Roth,\nto prison, where he was detained in close confinement nearly three\nmonths.[101]\n\nThere is no subject on which the organs of the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d are more\nunited or more eloquent than the necessity of keeping up the full\nstrength of the standing army; nay, they have gone so far as to demand\nthat the Reichstag shall consent to take from the representatives of\nthe people the right to legislate on military affairs during the next\nseven years. But before taking this step, hitherto unheard of in the\nhistory of constitutional government, it was necessary to manipulate\npublic opinion, so that the members of parliament might seem to be\ncompelled to this decision by the will of the people themselves. With\nthis view packed meetings were gotten up in various parts of the\nempire which the telegraph lyingly announced to the world as very\nnumerously attended and unanimous in demanding the seven-year\nenactment; but the popular gatherings which were held to protest\nagainst this violation of constitutional rights were passed over in\ndead silence, and their action, consequently, did not become known\noutside of their own immediate neighborhood. The reptile-press acted\nin full harmony with the \u201cTelegraph-Bureau.\u201d The _Spener\u2019sche\nZeitung_, in Berlin, went so far as to declare that no protests had\nbeen heard, whereupon the _Provinzial-korrespondenz_ exclaimed that\nthe movement, which had proceeded from the depths of the nation\u2019s\nheart with unexpected power, should force the Reichstag to yield to\nthe demand of the government.\n\nAs a part of the same programme, the \u201cPress-Bureau\u201d just a year ago\nraised the cry that France was buying horses, and that in less than\nthree months she would declare war on Germany. On the same day and at\nthe same hour this startling announcement was made in Frankfort, in\nLeipzig, in Stuttgart, and other cities. The following day hundreds of\nnewspapers throughout the fatherland took up the chorus and began to\nshout that the empire was threatened. Now, all the world knows that\nFrance at that time was as little thinking of making war on Germany as\nof tunnelling the Atlantic Ocean; but this piece of journalistic\nlegerdemain roused the Teutonic mind to the necessity of strengthening\nthe army and increasing the military resources of a country which was\nalready a camp of soldiers.\n\nNo figure of rhetoric is more forcible than repetition, and we may\ncalculate with mathematical precision just how many leading articles,\nall saying the same thing in fifty different localities, are required\nin order to fabricate a public opinion on a given subject.\n\nAnother trick of the reptile-press is employed to prevent the people\nfrom getting a knowledge of the speeches of the opposition in\nparliament. The arguments of these orators are either excluded from\nits columns or caricatured so as to appear childish or ridiculous.\nWhen, for instance, Sonnemann, the member for Frankfort, made an\nappeal in behalf of the Alsacians, who had themselves been reduced to\ndead silence, and showed from authentic documents the pitiable\ncondition to which that province had been brought, the organs of the\n\u201cPress-Bureau\u201d declared that \u201cto answer such utterances would be\nbeneath the dignity of a chancellor of the empire; such want of\npolitical honor had no claim to pass as the honest views of an\nindividual\u201d; and when Mallinckrodt placed his hand on Lamarmora\u2019s book\nto prove his charges against Bismarck, the _Spener\u2019sche Zeitung_\nannounced that \u201cthe national parties were filled with deepest disgust\nat the conduct of the _Centrum\u2019s_ faction, and were not able to\nconceal their regret that Prince Bismarck should deign to answer these\nUltramontane brawlers, since, by consenting to notice the tricks of\nWindthorst, Mallinckrodt, and Schorlemer, he was giving prominence to\nwhat ought to be completely ignored\u201d; and then closed with the phrase\nof Frederick the Great, \u201cShall we play at fisticuffs with the rabble?\u201d\nThe _Norddeutsche Allgemeine_ and _National Zeitung_ indulged in\nsimilar strains, and these articles were then republished by nearly\nthe entire German press. When an opponent is especially troublesome\nthe press-reptiles raise the cry that he has been bought up by foreign\ngold; and in this they are probably sincere, since it must be\ndifficult for them to understand how any man could refuse to sell\nhimself for a proper consideration.\n\nFor five years now Bismarck\u2019s venal press has poured the full tide of\nits wrath upon the bishops and priests of Germany. Here was a subject\nupon which the reptiles could distil their venom to their hearts\u2019\ncontent. What magnificent opportunities were here offered to the\n\u201cmud-bathers\u201d to hunt through the sewers of the centuries and to\nwallow in the mire of the ages; to revive Luther\u2019s vocabulary and\nrefurbish the rusty weapons that for hundreds of years had lain idle\nand hurtless! What an open field was here in which to ventilate\nhistorical calumnies, to produce startling effects by the dramatic\ngrouping of striking figures; to bring out the light of the golden\npresent by causing it to fall upon the dark and bloody background of\nthe past! And what divine occasions for indignation, wrath, horror,\nword-painting to cause the hair to stand on end and the eyes to start!\nHere was place for withering scorn, patriotic thunder, lurid lightning\nto sear the Jesuitic head bent upon the ruin of the new empire. And\nwith what demoniac delight the hired crew ring the changes on each\npopular catch-word\u2014progress, liberty, culture, free thought; and how\nthey foam and rage when a bishop or a priest has the \u201cboundless\nimpudence\u201d to speak in defence of the church! \u201cIt has come to this,\u201d\nsays the _Dresdener Volksbote_ (April 17, 1873): \u201cMinorities must keep\nsilence.\u201d\n\n\u201cGone,\u201d exclaims a former German Minister of State,\u2014\u201cgone is the reign\nof noble ideas; the power of the love of country and of freedom; the\nworth and honor of the national character! Money alone is loved, and\nall means by which it is acquired seem natural and praiseworthy.\u201d The\nvery foundations of the moral order are attacked by this vile press.\nThe events of 1866 and 1870 are now spoken of as \u201can historical\nphenomenon, which cannot be judged by the current notions of morality,\nbut in accordance with which these moral principles themselves must be\nwidened and corrected.\u201d This is the low and degrading philosophy to\nwhich the idolatry of success fatally leads.\n\nBut, for the honor of journalism, a portion of the German press has\nremained closed against the insidious power of the \u201cReptile-fund.\u201d No\nCatholic newspaper has lent itself even covertly to this conspiracy\nagainst truth and liberty; and it must be admitted, too, that the\nsocialistic journals have refused the government bribes; their\ncirculation, however, which is not large, is confined almost\nexclusively to the laboring classes, and their influence is but little\nfelt. The power of the Catholic press in Germany is of recent growth.\nIn the early part of the present century the only periodical of any\nweight devoted to the defence of the interests of the church in\nGermany was the _Theologische Quartalschrift_, founded in 1819 as the\norgan of the T\u00fcbingen professors. Twenty years later Joseph G\u00f6rres\nestablished in Munich the _Historisch-politischen Bl\u00e4tter_, which soon\ncaused the influence of his powerful mind to be felt throughout the\nfatherland, and which, under the editorial management of the historian\nJ\u00f6rg, is still to-day one of the ablest reviews in Germany. The\ncensorship of the press which, prior to the revolution of 1848, was\nmaintained in all the German governments, was exercised in a way that\nrendered Catholic journalism impossible. No sooner, however, had the\nParliament of Frankfort proclaimed the liberty of the press than the\nCatholics hastened to take advantage of it by creating newspapers to\nadvocate their religious interests. The bishops and priests, in\nobedience to the earnest exhortations of Pius IX., threw themselves\ninto the work with a will; the people followed their example;\npress-unions were formed and a large number of Catholic newspapers\nsprang into life. Bismarck\u2019s persecution of the church gave yet\ngreater force to this movement and increased both the number and the\ncirculation of Catholic journals. In the new German Empire there are\nto-day two hundred and thirty newspapers devoted to the interests of\nthe church. The _Augsburger Wochenblatt_ has a subscription list of\nthirty-two thousand; the _Mainzer Volksblatt_, one of thirty thousand.\nTwelve thousand copies of the _Germania_ (in Berlin) are sold daily,\nand many other Catholic journals have a circulation of from five to\nten thousand copies. As this powerful Catholic press could not be\nbought, nothing remained to be done but to silence it.\n\nAt the close of the year 1872 all Prussian journals were warned, under\npain of confiscation, not to publish the Christmas Allocution of Pope\nPius IX. Mallinckrodt, the vigilant Catholic leader, raised his voice\nin protest against this attempt upon the liberty of the press; but the\nReichstag was silent, and the newspapers which had not heeded the\nwarning were seized. The _Mainzer Journal_ was brought into court for\nhaving presumed to print an open letter to the emperor, in which was\nfound the following sentence: \u201cThe emperor is bound by the laws of the\nmoral order just like the least of his subjects.\u201d The government\nprocurator (Sch\u00f6n, in Mainz, on the 19th of December, 1873) declared\nthat the emperor is a \u201csanctified\u201d person, whose majesty is \u201cabove the\nlaws of the state,\u201d and the bare address \u201cto the emperor\u201d is a\npunishable offence. For republishing this open letter the editors of\nthe _K\u00f6lner Volkszeitung_ and the _M\u00fchlheimer Anzeiger_ were condemned\nto prison for two months. Siegbert, the managing editor of the\n_Deutscher Reichszeitung_ (Catholic), was called upon to give the name\nof the writer of a certain article which he had published; and upon\nhis declaration that this would be a breach of honor he was thrown\ninto prison.\n\nOn the 1st of July, 1874, a new law came into force, by which still\nfurther restrictions were placed upon the liberty of the press; and on\nthe 15th of the same month the Minister of Justice enjoined upon the\ngovernment officials to keep sharp watch upon the newspapers. Within\nsix months from this date the _Germania_ newspaper in Berlin had been\ncondemned thirty-nine times; and there were besides twenty-four\nuntried charges against it in court. In January, February, March, and\nApril, 1875\u2014four months\u2014one hundred and thirty-six editors were\ncondemned either to prison or to pay a fine. The most of these were\nCatholics, though some of them belonged to the democratic and\nsocialistic press. It is not necessary to say that the \u201cpress-reptiles\u201d\nwere not represented among them. These editors were thrust into the\ncells of common criminals, were refused books and writing material,\nand were forced to live upon \u201cprison fare,\u201d which many found so\nunpalatable that they could eat nothing but rye-bread.\n\nThe reptile-press alone is tolerated. If a man wishes to be honest,\nand has, notwithstanding, no desire to go to jail, the most unwise\nthing which he could do would be to become a journalist in the new\nGerman Empire. To refuse to eat of the \u201cReptile-fund\u201d is to condemn\none\u2019s self to Bismarck\u2019s \u201cprison fare\u201d of beans and cold water.\n\nTo poison the wells is not held to be lawful, even in war; but to\ntaint the fountain-sources of knowledge, and to corrupt the channels\nthrough which alone the public receives its general information, is\nnot thought to be unworthy of a great hero, if we may judge from the\nPrussian chancellor\u2019s popularity with Englishmen and Americans, which\nis not diminished even by his determined efforts to crush all who\nrefuse to sell their souls or renounce their manhood.\n\n\u201cThe only man,\u201d said Carlyle of Bismarck\u2014\u201cthe only man appointed by\nGod to be his vicegerent here on earth in these days, and knowing he\nwas so appointed, and bent with his whole soul on doing and able to do\nGod\u2019s work.\u201d And our great centennial celebration of the reign of\npopular government is to be desecrated by a colossal statue of the man\nwho is its deadliest enemy.\n\nWe have not, in this country, wholly escaped the evil effects of the\nvast European conspiracy against truth and honor which is carried on\nthrough the agency of \u201cPress-Bureaus,\u201d \u201cTelegram-Bureaus,\u201d\n\u201cCorrespondence-Bureaus,\u201d and \u201cReptile-funds.\u201d One may, for instance,\nreadily detect the \u201ctrail of the serpent\u201d in many of the cable\ndespatches to the Associated Press, and not less evidently in the\nEuropean correspondence of some of our leading journals. Is it not\nworthy of remark that so few of our great newspapers should have taken\nup the defence of the persecuted and imprisoned German editors? The\nAmerican press, which can, upon such slight compulsion, be blatant and\nloud-mouthed, has been most reserved in its treatment of Bismarck;\nhas, indeed, hardly attempted to veil its sympathy with his despotic\nand arbitrary measures. If this approval of tyranny went merely the\nlength of applauding his persecution of the Catholic Church, it might\nbe explained by the desire to pander to popular Protestant prejudice.\nBut how shall we account for it when there is question of the\ndegradation and enslavement of the press itself; of the violation of\nevery principle of liberty; and of the systematic consolidation of the\nmost complete military despotism which the world has ever seen? Might\nit not be possible, even, to trace to the _Reptilien-fond_ the recent\nattempts to rekindle in the United States the flame of religious hate\nand fanaticism? However this may be, it is unfortunately true that\nmoney is the controlling power in American as in German journalism.\nIts influence is as discernible in the columns of our own\n\u201cindependent\u201d press as in a genuine Berlin \u201cmud-bather\u2019s\u201d\ndouble-leaded leader.\n\n\u201cHow can we help it?\u201d said a well-known editor of Vienna. \u201cA newspaper\noffice is a shop where publicity is bought and sold.\u201d \u201cI will be\nfrank,\u201d said another journalist. \u201cI am like a woman of the town (_Ich\nbin die Hure von Berlin_): if you wish to have this and that written,\npay your money.\u201d Praise and blame, approval and condemnation, are the\narticles of merchandise of the press, and they are offered to the\nhighest bidder.\n\n\u201cWhen the proprietor of a journal,\u201d says Sacher-Mosach, a widely-known\nand conscientious writer, who was for some time connected with the\nVienna newspaper, the _Presse_, and afterwards with the _Neue Freie\nPresse_\u2014\u201cwhen the proprietor of a journal has entered into lucrative\nrelations with a bank, he is not content with placing his sheet at its\ndisposition in whatever relates to financial matters; but if the\ndirector of the bank, as sometimes happens, is a man of fancy who\npatronizes an actress who has beauty but not talent, he will order his\ntheatrical critic to praise this lady without stint; and the critic\nwill reserve all his squibs for some old _com\u00e9dienne_ who is not\nprotected by a bank director or by any one else. If a great publisher\nhas all the works which appear in his house advertised in the journal,\nthe proprietor will direct his book critic to find them all admirably\nwritten, profound, and full of the freshest and most delightful\nthoughts; and the author is just as certain to be praised in this\nsheet as he is to be torn to pieces by the newspapers in which his\nbook has not been advertised. The first principle of journalistic\nindustry and of the criticism at its command is to recognize merit\nonly when and so far as it is financially profitable to do so.\u201d[102]\n\nIt is far from our thought to wish to deny the vast power for good\nexercised by the press; but this is its own constant theme, and we\nhave deemed it a more worthy, even though a less pleasant, task to\npoint out at least some of the ways in which its power may be turned\nagainst the highest interests of truth and the dearest liberties of\nthe people. A thoughtful and fearless work on the influence of\njournalism on our American civilization would be a fitting\ncontribution to the centennial literature, and at the same time a most\ninstructive chapter in the history of the country. The only attempt of\nthis kind which so far has been made does not rise above the dignity\nof a compilation, and is without value as a philosophical discussion\nof the subject.\n\n\n [97] _Die deutsche Zeitschriften und die Entstehung\n der \u00f6ffentlichen Meinung. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte\n des Zeitungswesens._ Von Heinrich Wuttke.\u2014The German\n newspapers and the origin of public opinion: a\n contribution to the history of journalism. Leipzig:\n 1875.\n\n [98] _Die deutsche Zeitschriften_, p. 309.\n\n [99] This spurious document has got into many\n books; _e.g._, into Hahn\u2019s _Geschichte des preussischen\n Vaterlandes_.\n\n [100] See _Ma Mission en Prusse_, by Benedetti, Paris,\n 1871, p. 372 et seq.\n\n [101] Roth, _Achtzig Tage in preussischen Gefangenschaft_,\n p. 13.\n\n [102] Sacher-Mosach, _Ueber den Werth der Kritik_,\n Leipzig, 1873, p. 55.\n\n\n\n\nSOME FORGOTTEN CATHOLIC POETS.\n\n \u201c\u2026 Illacrimabiles\n Urgentur, ignotique longa\n Nocte carent quia vate sacro.\u201d\n\n\nWhen we speak of Catholic poets, three of the foremost names in\nEnglish literature come up at once\u2014Dryden, Pope, and Moore. The two\nlatter are more eminent, perhaps, as poets than as Catholics, but of\nDryden\u2019s sincerity and steadfastness in the change of faith which\n\u201cmoralized his song\u201d and gave a masterpiece to English poetry there\nis, happily, no doubt. Many later names are familiar to the general\nreader as those of Catholics whose genius has lent lustre to our own\nepoch. Some, like Newman, Faber, De Vere, and Adelaide Procter, claim\nfellowship with the most famous and are known wherever English poetry\nis read. Others, like Caswall, Coventry Patmore, and D. F. MacCarthy,\nare favorites of a narrower circle. All are known as Catholic poets to\nmany by no means intimate with their works. Even poor Clarence Mangan\nhas not been denied his place and his crust of praise on the doorsteps\nof the \u201cVictorian Era\u201d\u2014he was never a very importunate suppliant: no\nact of Parliament could have made that minstrel a \u201csturdye begger\u201d\u2014and\nis scarcely yet forgotten, although he added to the (\u00e6sthetic) crime\nof being a Catholic and the weakness of being an Irishman the\nunpardonable sin of living and dying in utter poverty and\nwretchedness.\n\nOur present business, however, is not with these or with any who,\nbeing dead, have friends and followers to sound their praises, or,\nliving, whose books may still be read and admired, if only by\nthemselves. We shall take leave to introduce the reader into an\nobscurer company, where he will yet, we are assured, find those who\nare not unworthy of his friendship and esteem. They themselves and\ntheir memories even are ghosts; but they will gladly take form and\nsubstance to receive our sympathetic greeting and unbosom themselves\nof their sorrows. Fate has pressed hardly on them; they have felt the\n\u201ciniquity of oblivion\u201d; forgetfulness has been for most of them their\nonly mourner; upon their trembling little rushlight of glory that each\nfondly hoped was to be a beacon for eternity that sardonic jester,\nTime, has clapped his grim extinguisher and they are incontinently\nsnuffed out. Posterity, their court of last appeal, is bribed to cast\nthem, and their scanty heritage of immortality is parcelled out among\na younger and greedier generation. Instead of the trophies and\nmausoleums they looked to so confidently, the monuments more lasting\nthan brass, they are fain to put up with a broken urn in an\nantiquarian\u2019s cabinet, a half-obliterated headstone in Sexton\nAllibone\u2019s deserted graveyard.\n\nWe own to a weakness for neglected poets. The reigning favorite of\nthat whimsical tyrant, Fame, ruffling in all the bravery of new\neditions and costly bindings, worldly-minded critics may cringe to and\nflatter; we shall seek him out when he is humbled and in disgrace,\nvery likely out at elbows and banished to the Tomos of the bookstall\nor the Siberia of the auction-room. We are shy indeed of those great\npersonages who throng the council-chambers of King Apollo, and are ill\nat ease in their society. A bowing acquaintance with them we crave at\nmost, to brag of among our friends, and, for the rest, are much more\nat home with the little poets who cool their heels in the gracious\nsovereign\u2019s anteroom. These we can take to our bosoms and our\nfiresides; but imagine having Dante every day to dinner, leaving hope\nat the door as he comes scowling in, or Milton for ever discoursing\n\u201cman\u2019s first disobedience\u201d over the tea and muffins! Don Juan\u2019s\nCommander were a more cheerful guest.\n\nIt is pleasant, we take it, to turn aside now and then from the\ncrowded highway where these great folks air their splendors, and lose\nourselves in the dewy woods where the lesser muses hide, tracing some\nslender by-path where few have strayed.\u2014_secretum iter et fallentes\nsemita vit\u00e6_. The flowers that grow by the roadside may be more\nradiant or of rarer scent; but what delight to explore for ourselves\nthe shy violet hidden from other eyes, to stumble by untrodden ways\nupon the freshness of secret springs, and perhaps of a sudden to\nemerge in the graveyard aforesaid, where the air is full of elegies\nmore touching than Gray\u2019s, and our good sexton is at hand to wipe the\ndust from this or the other sunken tombstone of some world-famous bard\nand help us to decipher his meagre record. The tombstone is the folio\ncontaining his immortal works; it is heavier than most tombstones, and\nhis world-famous memory moulders quietly beneath it. Surely there is\nsomething pathetic in such a destiny; something which touches a human\nchord. We may pity the fate of many a forgotten poet whose poems we\nshould not greatly care to read. With their keen self-consciousness,\nwhich is not vanity, and their sensitiveness to outward impressions,\npoets more than most men cling to that hollow semblance of earthly\nlife beyond the grave, that mirage of true immortality, we call\nposthumous fame. More than most they dread and shrink from the callous\nindifference, the cynical disrespect, of the mighty _sans-culotte_,\nDeath. To die is little; but to die and be forgotten, to vanish from\nthe scene of one\u2019s daily walks and talks and countless cheerful\nactivities, as utterly and as silently as a snow-flake melts in the\nsea; to be blotted out of the book of life as carelessly as a\nschoolboy would sponge a cipher from his slate\u2014this jars upon us, this\nmakes us wince. From that fate, at least, the poet feels himself\nsecure; he leaves behind him the Beloved Book. With that faithful\nhenchman to guard it, the pale phantom of his fame cannot be jostled\naside from the places that knew him by the hurrying, selfish crowds.\nIt will remain, the better part of himself, \u201cthe heir of his\ninvention,\u201d but kinder than most heirs, to jog the world\u2019s elbow from\ntime to time and buy him a brief furlough from oblivion. Through that\nloyal interpreter he may still hold converse with his fellows, who\nmight ill understand the speech of that remote, mysterious realm\nwherein he has been naturalized a citizen; he will keep up a certain\nshadowy correspondence with the cosey firesides, the merry gatherings,\nhe has left that may serve to warm and cheer him in the chilly company\nof ghosts; perhaps\u2014who knows?\u2014may even lend him dignity and\nconsequence among that thin fraternity. He will not wholly have\nresigned his voice in mundane matters; his memory, as it were a\nspiritual shadow, will continue to fall across the familiar ways; he\nwill have his portion still, a place reserved for him, in the\nbustling, merry world. Very likely at this stage of his reflections he\nwill whisper to himself, _Non omnis moriar_; in his enthusiasm he may\ngo further, and with gay, vain, prattling Herrick share immortality,\nas though it were a school-boy\u2019s plum-cake, among his friends. Hugging\nthis smiling illusion, he resigns himself to the grave, and the\ndaisies have not had time to bloom thereon before the Beloved Book,\nthe loyal interpreter, the faithful henchman, the wonder-worker of his\ndream, is as dead and utterly forgotten as\u2014well, let us say as the\npromises our friend the new Congressman made us when he expressed such\nfriendly anxiety about our health just previous to the late election.\n\nSo utter, even ludicrous, a _bouleversement_ of hopes so\npassionate\u2014and there is nothing a poet longs for so passionately as\nremembrance after death, unless it be recognition in life\u2014may touch\nthe sourest cynic. It may be as Milton says in his proudly conscious\nway: _Si quid meremur, sana posteritas sciet_. But what comfort is it\nto our undeserving to know that a sane posterity is justified in\nforgetting it? Good poetry, like virtue, is its own reward. But the\nbad poet, outcast of gods and men, and of every bookseller who owns\nnot and publishes a popular magazine; the Pariah of Parnassus, the\nIshmael of letters, with every critic\u2019s hand against him, haunted\nthrough life by the dim, appalling spectre of his own badness,\nhelplessly prescient in lucid intervals of the quaintly cruel doom\nwhich is to consign him after death to the paper-mill, there to be\nmade over\u2014_heu! fides mutatosque deos!_\u2014for the base uses of other bad\npoets, his rivals\u2014if to this martyr we cannot give consolation, we\nsurely need not grudge compassion.\n\nThe discerning reader may have gathered from these remarks that the\nbards we are about to usher back from endless night into his\nworshipful presence are not all of the first order, or indeed of any\nuniform order, of excellence. They are not all Miltons or Shaksperes:\n_si quid meremur_ would be for some of them an idle boast, and their\nposterity can hardly be convicted of insanity for having sedulously\nlet them be. But neither must we argue rashly from this neglect of\nthem that they deserved to be neglected. Neglect was for a time the\nportion of the greatest names in English letters. Up to the middle of\nthe last century it was practically the common lot of all the writers\nwho came before the Restoration. Literary gentlemen, the wits of the\ncoffee-house, the Aristarchuses of Dick\u2019s or Button\u2019s, knew about them\nin a vague way as a set of queer old fellows who wrote uncouth verses\nin an outlandish dialect about the time of Shakspere and Milton. The\nmore enterprising poets stole from them; but English literature as a\nliving body knew them not. They were no longer members of the guild or\nmade free of its mysteries; they were foreigners among their own\npeople, speaking a strange tongue, shrewdly suspected of unwholesome\ndealings in such forbidden practices as fancy and imagination, and on\nthe whole best excluded from the commonwealth of letters. Even\nShakspere and Milton were little more than names. To the patched and\nperiwigged taste of Queen Anne\u2019s and the Georgian era they made no\nappeal; the critics of the quadrille-table and the tea-gardens, the\n\u201cpretty fellows\u201d of the Wells, voted them low and insipid. Milton was\na wild fanatic with heterodox notions of regicide, who wrote a dull\nepic which the ingenious Mr. Addison saw fit to praise in his\n_Spectator_ for a novelty, of course, though his papers upon it were\ncertainly far less amusing than those devoted to Sir Roger and his\nwidow or the diversions of the Amorous Club; while Shakspere was a\ncurious old playwright whom the great Mr. Pope stooped to admire with\nqualifications, and even to edit\u2014with notes, and some of whose rude\nproductions, notably _King Lear_, when polished and made presentable\nby the elegant Mr. Tate, were really not so bad, though of course not\nfor a moment to be compared to such superlative flights of genius as\n_The Distressed Mother_ or _The Mourning Bride_. Does anybody nowadays\nread the elegant Mr. Tate, King William\u2019s laureate of pious and\nimmortal memory? Besides his labors in civilizing _King Lear_ and his\ncelebrated _Poems upon Tea_, perhaps also upon toast, a grateful\ncountry owed to him, in conjunction with Dr. Brady, its rescue from\nSternhold and Hopkins, \u201carch-botchers of a psalm or prayer,\u201d of whom\nwe read, with a subdued but mighty joy, that they\n\n \u201c\u2026 had great qualms\n When they translated David\u2019s Psalms,\u201d\n\nas well they might. Yet, despite this notable achievement, Nahum\n(Nahum, O Ph\u0153bus! was his name) has long since ceased to fill the\nspeaking trump. But for his impertinences to the \u201cpoor despised\u201d Lear\nhe would be quite forgotten. He is a fly like many another preserved\nin Shakspere\u2019s amber.\n\nOne reads with a sort of dumb rage of these essays of smirking\nmediocrity to \u201cimprove on\u201d that colossal genius. It was Gulliver\ntricked out by the Liliputians. Tate was not the only \u2018prentice hand\nthat tried its skill at \u201cpainting the lily.\u201d Cibber and Shadwell were\nindustrious at it, and to this day many of us know Shakspere\u2019s\n\u201crefined gold\u201d only as it comes to us electroplated from the Cibberian\ncrucible. Lord Lansdowne prepared a _Jew of Venice_, which was acted\nwith a prologue by Mr. Bevill Higgins\u2014another Ph\u0153bean title which the\ngreat trumpeter has unaccountably dropped. Mr. Higgins brings forward\nShakspere telling Dryden:\n\n \u201cThese scenes in their rough native dress weremine,\n But now, improved, with nobler lustre shine;\n The first rude sketches Shakspere\u2019s pencil drew,\n But all the shining master-strokes are new.\n This play, ye critics, shall your fury stand,\n Adorn\u2019d and rescu\u00e9d by a faultless hand.\u201d\n\nHere are two of the shining master-strokes:\n\n\n \u201cAs who should say, I am, sir, _an_ oracle\u201d;\n\n \u201cStill quiring to the _blue-eyed_ cherubim\u201d!\n\nAnd this was Pope\u2019s \u201cGranville the polite,\u201d the \u201cMuses\u2019 glory and\ndelight\u201d of Young, who informs us, moreover\u2014he had certainly a very\npretty taste and boundless generosity in praising a person of\nquality\u2014that, though long may we hope brave Talbot\u2019s blood will run In\ngreat descendants, Shakspere has but one, And him my Lord (he begs\nwill) permit him not to name, But in kind silence spare his rival\u2019s\nshame. The generous reserve is vain, however. Each reader will defeat\nhis useless aim, And to himself great Agamemnon name. Great Agamemnon\nis Granville:\n\n \u201cEurope sheathed the sword\n When this great man was first saluted lord,\u201d\n\napparently that he might give his whole time to filling Shakspere with\nshining new master-strokes like those above.\n\nAll this sounds ridiculous enough. But even genius was bitten by the\nsame tarantula. We all know how Johnson treated _Lycidas_. Dryden\nfound the rhyme in Milton\u2019s juvenile poems \u201cstrained and forced\u201d (this\nof _L\u2019Allegro_ and _Il Penseroso_, for example!), and confessed that\nShakspere\u2019s diction was almost as difficult to him as Chaucer. How\ndifficult Chaucer was much nearer his own time may be inferred from\nthe leonine Latin version of the _Troilus and Cresscide_ which Francis\nKinaston, an Oxford scholar, published in 1635, with the avowed object\nof rescuing Chaucer \u201cfrom the neglect to which his obsolete language\nhad condemned him by rendering him generally intelligible.\u201d And\nCartwright, \u201cthe florid and seraphicall preacher,\u201d approves his pious\nlabor, telling him:\n\n \u201c\u2018Tis to your happy cares we owe that we\n Read Chaucer now without a dictionary.\u201d\n\nWhat a commentary on the educational system of the time that in\nEngland such English as this\u2014\n\n \u201cThis Troilus, as he was wont to guide\n His yonge knights, he lad hem up and doune\n In thilke large temple, on every side\n Beholding aie the ladies of the toune,\u201d\n\nshould be less generally intelligible than such Latin as this:\n\n \u201cHic Troilus pro more (ut solebat)\n Juveniles equites pone se sequentes\n Per fani spatia ampla perducebat\n Assidue urbis dominas intuentes.\u201d\n\nBut so it was, and so it was to be long after. In 1718 Bysshe, in his\n_Art of Poetry_, \u201cpassed by Spenser and the poets of his age, because\ntheir language has become so obsolete that most readers of our age\nhave no ear for them, and therefore Shakspere is quoted so rarely in\nthis collection.\u201d And Thomas Warton says of Pope\u2019s obligations to\nMilton, \u201cIt is strange that Pope, by no means of a congenial spirit,\nshould be the first who copied _Comus_ or _Il Penseroso_. But Pope was\na gleaner of the old English poets; and he was here pilfering from\nobsolete English poetry without the least fear or danger of being\ndetected.\u201d Pope certainly was a proficient in his own \u201cart of stealing\nwisely.\u201d \u201cWho now reads Cowley?\u201d he asks, and answers his own question\nin the lines he borrowed from him.\n\nWhat an anomalous period in our literature was this!\u2014polished, witty,\nbrilliant to the highest degree, displaying in its own productions\nincomparable taste and art, yet so incapable, seemingly, of \u201ctasting\u201d\nthe great writers who had gone before it! Fancy a time when people\nwent about\u2014people of cultivation, too\u2014asking who was that fellow\nShakspere! To us he seems as real and as large a figure in his dim\nperspective as the largest and most alive that swaggers in the\nforeground of to-day. Do we not feel something weird and uncanny,\nsomething ghostly, on opening the _Retrospective Review_ so late as\n1825, and finding Robert Herrick gravely paraded as a new discovery?\nFifty years ago that was by the dates; as we read it seems five\nhundred. The critic antedates by centuries his subject\u2014like his own\ngod Ly\u00e6us, \u201cever fresh and ever young\u201d\u2014and is infinitely older,\nquainter, more remote from us. Is it our turn next to be forgotten?\nShall we not all be asking at our next Centennial if Tennyson ever\nlived, debating whether Master Farquhar was really the author of the\npoems attributed to Browning, finding Longfellow difficult and\nobscure, and wondering in our antiquarian societies if Thackeray was a\nreligious symbol or something to eat? Shall we\u2014but if we keep on in\nthis wise, one thing plainly we shall not do, and that is get back to\nour neglected Catholic poets\u2014now twice neglected. Let us leave our\nfuture to bury its own dead, and betake ourselves once more to the\npoetic past.\n\nWe have seen that our Catholic poets, if forgotten, were at least\nforgotten in good company; in the ample recognition which came at last\nto the latter they did not so fully share. In that Renaissance of our\nearly literature which marked the close of the last century, and\nwhich, pioneered by Percy, Ritson, Wright, Nichols, Warton, Brydges,\nand others, restored to the Elizabethan poets, with Chaucer and\nMilton, their \u201ccomates in exile,\u201d a pre-eminence from which they will\nscarcely be dislodged, many of our particular friends came to the\nsurface. But most of them did not long remain there, dropping quickly\nout of sight, either from intrinsic weight or the indifference of the\nliterary fishers who had netted them. How far any such indifference\nmay have been due to their faith we will not venture to say. We should\nbe sorry to believe that the hateful spirit of religious bigotry had\ninvaded the muse\u2019s peaceful realm, scaring nymph and faun from the\nsides of Helicon with strange and hideous clamor. For our own part, we\nlike a poet none the worse for being a Protestant, though we may like\nhim a trifle the better for being a Catholic. We have a vague notion\nthat all good poets ought to be Catholics, and a secret persuasion\nthat some day they will be; that the Tennysons, the Holmeses, the\nLongfellows and Lowells and Brownings of the future will be gathered\ninto the fold, and only the \u2014\u2014s or the \u2014\u2014s (the reader will kindly\nfill up these blank spaces with his pet poetical aversions) be left to\nraise the hymns of heterodoxy on the outside in melancholy and\ndiscordant chorus,\n\n \u201cTheir lean and flashy songs\n Grating on scrannel pipes of wretched straw.\u201d\n\nAwaiting that blissful time, however, we are content to enjoy the\n\u201cmusic of Apollo\u2019s lute\u201d as it comes to us, without inspecting too\ncuriously the fingers that touch it, so long as they be clean. And we\nare willing to believe that if our Catholic poets have had less than\ntheir fair share of attention, it has been their misfortune or their\nfault, and not because of any sectarian cabal to crowd them from the\nthrones which may belong to them of right among \u201cthe inheritors of\nunfulfilled renown.\u201d\n\nTo tell the truth, indeed, such of them as we find prior to the time\nof Elizabeth have few claims on our regret. We count, of course, from\nthe Reformation; when all poets were Catholics, there was nothing\npeculiarly distinctive in being a _Catholic_ poet. _The Shyp of Folys\nof the Worlde, translated out of Latin, Frenche and Doche into\nEnglyshe tonge by Alexander Barclay, preste_, is too well known to\ncome fairly into our category. But the _Shyp of Folys_ belongs, after\nall, at least as much to Sylvester Brandt as to Barclay, and the more\noriginal works of the good monk of Ely\u2014his _Eglogues_ (though these,\ntoo, were based on Mantuanus and \u00c6neas Sylvius, afterwards pope), his\n_Figure of our Mother_ _Holy Church oppressed by the French King_\u2014even\nthose trenchant satires, in which he demolished Master Skelton, the\nheretical champion, are sufficiently forgotten to be his passport.\nAnother of his translations, _The Castle of Labour_, from the French,\nmay have suggested to Thomson his _Castle of Indolence_\u2014to the latter\nbard a more congenial mansion.\n\nThe \u201cmad, mery wit\u201d which won for Heywood, the epigrammatist, the\nfavor of Henry VIII. and his daughter Mary seems vapid enough to us.\nPerhaps it was like champagne, which must be drunk at once, and, being\nkept for a century or two, grows flat and insipid. _The Play called\nthe four P\u2019s, being a new and merry Enterlude of a Palmer, Pardoner,\nPoticary, and Pedlar_, would scarcely run for a hundred nights on the\nmetropolitan stage. His _Epigrams, six hundred in Number_, which were\nthought uproariously funny by his own generation, ours finds rather\ndismal reading. We somehow miss the snap of even that wonderful\ndesign, his _Dialogue containing in effect the number of al the\nProverbes in the English tongue_, which all England was shaking its\nsides over long after Shakspere had flung his rarest pearls at its\nfeet. Heywood\u2019s great work is an allegory entitled, _The Spider and\nthe Flie_, \u201cwherein,\u201d says a polite contemporary, \u201che dealeth so\nprofoundly and beyond all measure of skill that neither he himself\nthat made it, neither any one that readeth it, can reach to the\nmeaning thereof.\u201d It is a sort of religious parable, the flies\nrepresenting the Catholics, and the spiders the Protestants, to whom\nenter presently, _dea ex machin\u00e2_, Queen Mary with a broom. Heywood\n\u201cwas inflexibly attached to the Catholic cause,\u201d and when, the\nbroom-wielder having gone to another sphere, the spiders got the\nascendant, he betook himself to Mechlin, where he died in exile for\nconscience\u2019 sake. Therein Chaucer could have done no better.\n\nCan we enroll Sir Thomas More among our tuneful company? Brave old Sir\nThomas was a Catholic certainly\u2014a Catholic of the Catholics\u2014and he\nwrote poetry, too, or what passed for such. It is one of the many\nheinous charges brought against him by worthy Master Skelton in his\n_Pithie, Pleasaunt and Profitable Workes_\u2014his going about\n\n \u201cWith his poetry\n And his sophistry\n To mock and make a lie.\u201d\n\nBut if poetry were a crime, and no other had been laid to his charge,\nthe good chancellor might have stood his trial freely on such evidence\nas is found in his works. His _Mery Jest, how a Sergeant would learn\nto play the Freere_, is thought by Ellis to have furnished the hint\nfor Cowper\u2019s _John Gilpin_. _A Rufull Lamentation on the death of\nQueen Elizabeth_, Henry VIII.\u2019s mother, has touches of pathos. The\ndying queen soliloquizes:\n\n \u201cWhere are our castels now, where are our towers?\n Godely Rychemonde, sone art thou gone from me!\n At Westminster that costly worke of yours,[103]\n Myne owne dere Lorde, now shall I never see!\n Almighty God vouchsafe to grant that ye\n For you and your children well may edify;\n My palace byldyd is, and lo! now here I ly.\u201d\n\nThese, however, were the pastimes of his early youth, and even so were\ngreatly, and doubtless justly, esteemed in his own time for their\npurity and elegance of style. For this reason also they are freely\nquoted by Dr. Johnson in the preface to his dictionary. More\u2019s fame\ndoes not rest on these achievements, but on the greatness of mind\nwhich baffled the tyrant, and \u201cthe erudition which overthrew the\nfabric of false learning and civilized his country.\u201d If not a poet, he\nwas better than a poet, a great and good man, and his memory not\nCatholics only, but all good men, must ever hold in affectionate\nreverence.\n\nSurrey, the gallant and the ill-fated, exactly reverses our doubt\nabout Sir Thomas. A poet beyond question, is he to be reckoned a\nCatholic? His father was, and his son would have been had he had the\ncourage of his opinions. The former, imprisoned at the same time with\nSurrey, \u201cthough a strong Papist,\u201d says Lord Herbert, \u201cpretended to ask\nfor Sabellicus as the most vehement detecter of the usurpations of the\nBishop of Rome.\u201d And Surrey\u2019s sister, the Duchess of Richmond, who\nswore away his life, \u201cinclined to the Protestants,\u201d says Walpole, \u201cand\nhated her brother.\u201d We need not dwell upon the doubt, however, since\nSurrey is otherwise ruled out of our small society. A poet included in\nall the regular collections, called by his admirers the first of\nEnglish classics, and by Pope accorded the final glory of being \u201cthe\nGranville (!) of a former age,\u201d can scarcely be held one of the\nneglected to whom alone our suffrages are due. There, too, is Nicholas\nGrimoald, also of dubious orthodoxy, though undoubted genius. Nicholas\nwas Ridley\u2019s chaplain and suspected of being tainted with his patron\u2019s\nheresy, but cleared himself by a formal recantation. Let us trust it\nwas sincere. Grimoald\u2019s verses are often of remarkable elegance, and\nto the \u201cstrange metre\u201d or blank verse, which he adopted from Lord\nSurrey, he lent renewed grace and vigor.\n\n \u201cRight over stood in snow-white armour brave\n The Memphite Zoroas, a cunning clerk,\n To whom the heavens lay open as his book,\n And in celestial bodies he could tell\n The moving, meeting, light, aspect, eclipse,\n And influence and constellations all.\u201d\n\nThe eighteenth century might own these lines, the product of the first\nhalf of the sixteenth.\n\nEdward Parker, Lord Morley, was a \u201crigid Catholic\u201d and a prodigious\nauthor. He lived to be near a hundred, and left at least as many\nvolumes as he had years. Besides translations of countless Latin and\nGreek authors from Plutarch and Seneca to St. Thomas Aquinas and\nErasmus, he wrote \u201cseveral tragedies and comedies the very titles of\nwhich are lost,\u201d and \u201ccertain rhimes,\u201d says Bale with a sniff of\ndisdain. All alike are \u201cdark oblivion\u2019s prey,\u201d but history has\npreserved the important fact that \u201cthis lord having a quarrel for\nprecedence with the Lord Dacre of Gillesland, he had his pretensions\nconfirmed by Parliament.\u201d What a sermon on human ambition! Genius\ntoils incessantly for a century or so, turning off tragedies and\ncomedies, rhymes and commentaries, without number, to be its monument\nthrough all time, and presently along comes that uncivil master of\nceremonies, that insufferable flunky, Fame, kicks these immortal works\nwithout ceremony into the dust-heap, and introduces Genius to\nposterity as the person who \u201chad the quarrel for precedence with my\nLord Dacre of Gillesland.\u201d No distinction here, you see; not even a\ndecent observance of those pretensions which Parliament confirmed.\nLord Dacre, who never wrote, perhaps never knew how to write, a line,\nhas his name bawled as loudly to the company as the author of all\nthese tragedies and comedies and rhymes. Poor Lord Morley! may he rest\nas soundly as his books! His pretensions to oblivion, at least, no one\nis likely to dispute.\n\nAnother poet and scholar not less scurvily treated, and to whom we\nhave somehow taken a wonderful fancy, was George Etheridge, a fellow\nof Oxford and Regius Professor of Greek there under Mary. Persecuted\nfor Popery by Queen Elizabeth, he lost his university preferments, but\n\u201cestablished a private seminary at Oxford for the instruction of\nCatholic youth in the classics, music, and logic.\u201d He also \u201cpractised\nphysic with much reputation,\u201d greatly, no doubt, to the joy of his\npupils. A friend of Leland, the antiquarian, his accomplishments were\nvaried and his learning profound. \u201cHe was an able mathematician,\u201d says\na contemporary, \u201cand one of the most excellent vocal and instrumental\nmusicians in England, but he chiefly delighted in the lute and lyre; a\nmost elegant poet, and a most exact composer of English, Latin, Greek,\nand Hebrew verses, which he used to set to the harp with the greatest\nskill.\u201d Of all these elegant productions one only survives\u2014a Greek\nencomium, we are sorry to say, on that royal reprobate, Henry VIII.;\nand the memory of this pious scholar of the sixteenth century has\nsuffered the slight of being confounded with the graceless dramatist\nof the seventeenth.\n\nA cockle-shell weathers the storm that wrecks a frigate, and a nursery\nrhyme has outlived Etheridge\u2019s poetry and Morley\u2019s erudition. If\nwidespread renown be a test of merit, _The Merry Tales of the Madman\nof Gotham_ must be a work of genius. \u201cScholars and gentlemen\u201d _temp._\nHenry VIII. \u201caccounted it a book full of wit and mirth,\u201d and the\nscholars and babies of three centuries later approve that judgment.\nThe author of this famous poem was Dr. Andrew Borde, or Andreas\nPerforatus, as he preferred to call himself, \u201cesteemed in his time a\nnoted poet, a witty and ingenious person, and an excellent physician,\u201d\nserving in the latter capacity, it is said, to Henry VIII. He was the\noriginal of the stage Merry-andrew, \u201cgoing to fairs and the like,\nwhere he would gather a crowd, to whom he prescribed by humorous\nspeeches couched in such language as caused mirth and wonderfully\npropagated his fame.\u201d He wrote, besides the _Merry Tales_, _The Mylner\nof Abington_, a satire called the _Introduction of Knowledge_, and\nvarious medical works giving curious details of the domestic life of\nthe time.\n\nMany others we might catalogue who were better churchmen\nthan poets\u2014William Forrest, Queen Mary\u2019s chaplain, whose\ngorgeously-illuminated MSS. show that he, at least, had a due\nappreciation of his _Saincted Griseilde_ and his _Blessed Joseph_; or\nRichard Stonyhurst, who, like Heywood, died in exile for his faith,\nand who merits immortality for having written probably the worst\ntranslation of Virgil ever achieved by mortal man. It was in the\namazing hexameter of the time, that \u201cfoul, lumbering, boisterous,\nwallowing measure,\u201d as Nashe calls it, which represented to Sir Philip\nSidney and his coterie the grace and melody of Virgil\u2019s line. The wits\nlaughed it to death, and we read its epitaph in Hall\u2019s parody:\n\n \u201c_Manhood and Garboiles shall he chaunt_ with changed feet.\u201d\n\nOn names like these, however, we have not space to dwell. Not even\nneglect can sanctify them. We are at the dawning of that glorious\noutburst of creative genius which made the Elizabethan era a splendor\nto all times and lands, and worthier subjects await us.\n\nAt the outset we must prepare for something like a disappointment in\nthe scanty list of Catholic poets which even this prolific period\ncould furnish. Looking back on it, all England seems to have been\nfuriously bent on making poetry enough to last it for all years to\ncome. Englishmen, we know, in those days did other things\u2014circumnavigated\nthe globe once or twice, and conquered a continent or so\u2014in the\nintervals of rhyming; but the wonder is how they found leisure for\nsuch trifles from the absorbing business of the hour. Poetry, in that\nelectric century of song, appears to have been the Englishman\u2019s\nbirthright; Apollo possessed the nation. The judge scribbled odes upon\nthe bench; the soldier turned a sonnet and a battery together; the\nsailor made a song as he brought his ship into action; the bishop\npreached indifferently in sermons and satires\u2014it was hard at times to\ntell which; the office-seeker preferred his claims in rhyme, and his\ncomplaints were \u201cmarried to immortal verse\u201d\u2014it is lucky our own age is\nmore given to office-seeking than to poetry; the bricklayer dropped\nhis trowel and was a mighty dramatist; the condemned, like Andr\u00e9\nCh\u00e9nier at a later day\u2014\u201cthe ruling passion strong in death\u201d\u2014strung\ncouplets on the very steps of the scaffold. Even princes were smitten\nwith the general madness, and, catching something of the general\ninspiration, made verses which were no worse than a prince\u2019s verses\nought to be, and were often better than their laws. Were we\npoet-haters like Carlyle, we should have ample food for disgust in\nexploring that fiddling age. At every step in the most unlikely\ncorners we stumble upon the inevitable rhymer.\n\nIn the Mermaid, where we drop in for a quiet cup of canary, and\nperhaps a glimpse of that rising dramatist, William Shakspere, we find\nhim bawling madrigals over his sack; we overhear him muttering of\n\u201chearts\u201d and \u201cdarts\u201d as we take our constitutional in Powle\u2019s Walk;\nthe very boatman who wherries us across the Thames is a Water-Poet, as\nthough poets were classified like rats, and will importune us before\nwe land to buy one of his four-score volumes; like black care, Rhyme\nsits behind the horseman and climbs the brazen galley. We fly from him\nto the camp; and there is that terrible fellow, Walter Devereux, Earl\nof Essex, whom we heard of anon slaughtering \u201cvulgar Irishry,\u201d men,\nwomen, and children, like so many rabbits\u2014there is that martial hero,\nfresh from his last battue of unarmed peasants, simpering over the\ncomposition of \u201cgodly and virtuous hymns.\u201d We ship with Drake for a\ntrip to the Azores \u201cto do God\u2019s work,\u201d and incidentally to fill our\npockets, perhaps, as somehow or other \u201cGod\u2019s work\u201d usually did for\nthat pious and lucky mariner. _Scandit \u00e6ratas vitiosa naves_\u2014the rogue\nApollo is there before us. We have scarce got over our sea-sickness\nbefore our ingenuous skipper will be asking our opinion of the\ncommendatory verses which \u201che hath writ,\u201d he explains\u2014a fine blush\nmantling under his bronze\u2014\u201cfor his very good friend, Sir Gervase\nPeckham\u2019s _Report of the Late Discoveries_.\u201d We peep over my Lord of\nPembroke\u2019s shoulder as he sits writing in his cabinet\u2014it is a liberty\nthat by virtue of his privilege a well-bred chronicler may take. By\nhis knit brows and preoccupied air it is some weighty state paper he\nis drafting\u2014a minute, perhaps, of her majesty\u2019s revenues from fines of\npopish recusants, and how the same may be increased.\n\n \u201cDry those fair, those crystal eyes,\u201d\n\nthe state paper begins, and it is a minute of the perfections of the\nLady Christiana Bruce.\n\nEven the queen\u2019s majesty, between hangings of priests and virginal\ncoquettings with princely wooers, finds time for the making of royal\n\u201cditties passing sweet and harmonicall.\u201d When next we seek her\nbeauteous presence, worthy Master Puttenham will buttonhole us in the\nante-chamber and launch out into loyal praises of her \u201clearned,\ndelicate, and noble muse.\u201d \u201cOf any in our time that I know of,\u201d he\nasseverates, \u201cshe is the most excellent poet, easily surmounting all\nthe rest that have written, before or since, for sense, sweetness, or\nsubtilltie, be it in Ode, Elegie, Epigram, or any other kinde of\nPoeme, Heroick or Lyrick.\u201d Master Puttenham is known to be writing a\nbook on the _Arte of Poesie_. We think as we listen to him of another\nRoyal Poet singing yonder at Fotheringay behind prison-bars, whose\nstrains sound sweeter to us, though we shall do well to hide our\npreference here\u2014sweeter, but infinitely sad:\n\n \u201cO Domine Deus, speravi in te!\n O care mi Jesu, nunc libera me!\n In dura catena, in misera p\u0153na, desidero te!\n Languendo, gemendo, et genuflectendo,\n Adoro, imploro, ut liberes me!\u201d\n\nLiberty is the burden of this captive\u2019s song, and her royal sister\nlends a gracious ear to her prayer. The headsman is already sharpening\nhis axe to break her fetters. And still another princely genius up\nthere in Edinburgh is so busy with his Divine Sonnets, and his _Rules\nand Cautelis_ for the fashioning of the same, he has no time to\nobserve that his mother is being led to death. But what is a mother\u2019s\nlife to those imperishable works?\n\n \u201cHow, best of poets, dost thou laurel wear!\u201d\n\nroars lusty Ben Jonson, brimful of sack and loyalty.\n\n \u201cThou best of poets more than man dost prove,\u201d\n\nechoes the faithful Stirling. Yet, strange as it may seem, we can\nnever read these superhuman productions with any comfort. The Divine\nSonnets fade, and instead we see the gloomy stage at Fotheringay, the\nhapless but heroic victim, the frowning earls, the gleaming axe, the\nfair head dabbled with gore. Let us turn to merely human geniuses.\n\nIn this time of inspiration, with all England, from prince to peasant,\nbursting into song and three-fourths Catholic, we find from Spenser to\nCowley a scant dozen, or, counting Shakspere, at most a baker\u2019s dozen,\nof Catholic poets worth naming. And Shakspere, in spite of Charles\nButler\u2019s ingenious theory and its spirited revival by Mr. George\nWilkes, we can scarcely claim. That great poet\u2019s religious creed, like\nother important features of his life, must no doubt remain always\nmatter of conjecture. If he was a Catholic, his creed was probably no\nmore than a tradition, strong enough to keep his pages free from the\npictures of dissolute monks and nuns in which most of his contemporary\nplaywrights delighted, but far from the fervor which sent Southwell to\nthe scaffold, or the sincerity which, in a milder age, made Sherburne\nwelcome poverty and disgrace. Omitting Shakspere, then, our\nmuster-roll is but short. For this there were many reasons. In those\ndays there was other work for Catholics than verse-making; the church\nneeded martyrs, not minstrels, and the blood-stained record of the\nEnglish mission tells how intrepidly the need was met. Southwell and\nCampian are only two of a brilliant band almost equally gifted,\nequally heroic. The life they led promised little for polite letters.\nHunted like wild beasts, in hourly danger of the most cruel and\nignominious death; sleeping, when they slept, in hayricks or the open\nfields; studying, when they caught a breathing-spell for study, in\ncaves and thickets\u2014many of these noble youths have left behind them\nproofs of a genius which, under happier auspices, would have borne\nabundant fruit. Southwell\u2019s poems, composed in the intervals of\nthirteen rackings, reveal a spirit of uncommon force and beauty.\nCampian is known to have written at least one tragedy, _Nectar and\nAmbrosia_, performed at Vienna before the Emperor Rodolph. It must be\nremembered, too, that both of these dauntless missionaries were cut\noff in the very flower of their age, Southwell being thirty-two and\nCampian forty when executed. Francis Beaumont, cousin and namesake of\nthe dramatist, was a Jesuit and a poet. So was Jasper Heywood, son of\nthe epigrammatist. He translated several tragedies of Seneca, and is\nsaid by some to have been one of the one hundred and twenty-eight\npriests executed by the clement Elizabeth. He is one of Cibber\u2019s\nPoets. Ellis Heywood, his brother, also a Jesuit, though he left\nbehind him a prose work in Italian, is not known to have written in\nverse. Of Crashaw, whose fortune it was to live at a time when the\nstorm of persecution had spent its fiercest fury, when Catholics were\nsubject no longer to be murdered, but only to be robbed\u2014of Crashaw,\nwhose \u201cpower and opulence of invention\u201d Coleridge has remarked,\nanother critic has said that, with more taste and judgment,\u201d he would\nhave outstripped most of his contemporaries, even Cowley.\u201d\n\nThese were all priests. But outside of the priesthood Catholics found\nwork in other directions which left little leisure for literary\npursuits. Chidiock Titchbourne, whose talents and unhappy fate the\nelder Disraeli has feelingly commemorated, was one of \u201can association\nin London of young Catholic gentlemen of family who met at the house\nof Mr. Gilbert, in Fetter Lane, and took care of Jesuits.\u201d Thomas\nHabington, an associate of Titchbourne in this enterprise, and who, if\nnot a poet himself, was at least the father of a poet, narrowly\nescaped hanging for concealing in his house the Jesuits Garnett and\nOldcome, accused of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. Dymoke, the\nchampion of England, apparently the same who translated _Il Pastor\nFido_, won the title to a more glorious championship by dying (1610)\nin the Tower, where he had been imprisoned for his resolute refusal to\nconform. Dr. Lodge, a most charming poet as well as an eminent\nphysician, we find in \u201cthe list of popish recusants indicted at the\nsessions holden for London and Middlesex, February 15, 1604.\u201d It is of\ninterest to note _en passant_ that with Dr. Lodge was indicted for the\nsame cause \u201cAmbrose Rookwood, of the army.\u201d Twenty months later\nAmbrose Rookwood, of the army, expressed his opinion of this treatment\nby engaging in the Gunpowder Treason. At a later period we have Sir\nEdward Sherburne, a scholar and poet of no mean pretensions, resigning\noffices of large emolument rather than betray his faith. Certainly,\nunder the last of the Tudors and the first of the Stuarts a Catholic\npoet may be said to have cultivated his art under difficulties.\n\nThe obstacles in the way of Catholics, then and long after, not only\nfor obtaining culture but the rudiments of learning, were indeed\nenormous. Classed by legislative enactment with \u201cforgers, perjurers,\nand outlaws,\u201d they were denied education for themselves or their\nchildren, except at the cost of conscience or of ruinous penalties.\nTheir liberty they held at twenty days\u2019 notice; their lives at a\nmoment\u2019s purchase. At any hour of the day or night their houses were\nopen to the invasion of ruffianly pursuivants, searching ostensibly\nfor \u201cMass-books\u201d and other \u201cpopish mummeries,\u201d but prone to confound\nrecusant jewels or broad gold pieces with the relics of superstition;\nand for such robberies they had absolutely no redress. In the courts\nof justice they found not only no protection, but renewed oppression.\nTo use a phrase often misused, they had really no rights which a\nconforming subject was bound to respect, and their freedom, their\nfortunes, nay, their lives, were at the mercy of the rapacity or the\nmalice of their Protestant neighbors. Much of their time they spent in\ngoing to and from prison; they crowded the common jails in such\nmultitudes that many new ones had to be opened for the sole\naccommodation of these hardened malefactors; and their estates were\nimpoverished to pay for the privilege, not of going to their own\nchurch\u2014that was denied them in any event\u2014but of staying away from one\nthey could not conscientiously enter. Men so occupied doubtless found\nample employment for their leisure without making acrostics to\nElizabeth Regina or panegyrics on the \u201cbest of poets.\u201d\n\nYet even this untoward time and chilling air yielded blossoms of\nCatholic poetry which we need not disdain to gather. Some of the\ndaintiest of them have been culled by careful gleaners like Headley\nand Ellis and Southey, and a stray flower here and there salutes us in\nthe more tasteful modern collections, such as Mr. De Vere\u2019s\n_Selections_, Mr. Palgrave\u2019s _Golden Treasury_, or Mr. Stoddard\u2019s\n_Melodies and Madrigals_, the latter a gem among its kind. But the\nbulk of the Catholic poetry of this period is practically unknown.\nMassinger, luckier than any of his great rivals (for Shakspere was\nabove rivalry), still keeps the stage with a single comedy, _A New Way\nto pay Old Debts_. But Shirley, little his inferior in dramatic\nability, is, in spite of Dyce\u2019s elegant edition, utterly neglected. He\nmay be said to owe his rescue from oblivion to that one noble song in\n_The Contention of Achilles and Agamemnon_, \u201cThe Glories of our Blood\nand State\u201d\u2014a song which alone is worth a library of modern ballads,\nand which might be called truly Horatian but for a moral elevation\nwhich Horace never reached. And even this song, almost his sole\nslender hold on immortality, Shirley came near losing; for in a\nspurious compilation of Butler\u2019s posthumous works it is given to the\nauthor of _Hudibras_, and there entitled _A Thought upon Death upon\nhearing of the Murder of Charles I._, though anything further from\nButler\u2019s style can scarcely be imagined. Ben Jonson\u2014if, in virtue of\nhis twelve years spent in the church and the period of his best work,\nhe may be considered as a Catholic poet at all\u2014\u201crare old Ben,\u201d in\nspite of his weighty thought, his pungent humor, his fertile fancy,\nremains among the authors who are widely talked of and little read.\nLodge again, who may dispute with Bishop Hall the honor of being the\nearliest English satirist, and who, \u201cthough subject to a critic\u2019s\nmarginal,\u201d gives evidence of a glow and richness of imagination not\ncommon even in that opulent time\u2014Lodge has no literary existence\nexcept as one of the wistful shades that flit through the Hades of the\ncyclop\u00e6dias. Sir William Davenant has from Southey the distinguished\ncompliment that, avoiding equally the opposite faults of too\nartificial and too careless a style, he wrote in numbers which, for\nprecision and clearness and felicity and strength, have never been\nsurpassed. Yet who now reads _Gondibert_, or its notable preface,\nwhich inspired Dryden with the germ of dramatic criticism? Sir Edward\nSherburne, whom Mr. Dyce calls \u201can accomplished versifier,\u201d whose\ntranslations may even now be read with pleasure, and whose learning\nwas above the average of his learned time, is equally forgotten.\nCrashaw is remembered less for himself than as the friend of Cowley,\nwhose monody on his death, in Johnson\u2019s opinion, has \u201cbeauties which\ncommon authors may justly think not only above their attainments, but\nabove their ambition.\u201d Southwell we think of as the martyr rather than\nas the poet. The verses of Sir Aston Cokayn and his friend Sir Kenelm\nDigby are not, perhaps, of the sort which the world does not willingly\nlet die; yet the plays of the former are not without merit, especially\n_Frappolin creduto principe_, an adaptation of the same Italian\noriginal whence Shakspere took the hint for his prologue to the\n_Taming of the Shrew_. His minor poems, too, if they have no other\nmerit, throw some curious side lights on the literary history of the\ntime. The life of Sir Kenelm Digby, \u201cof whose acquaintance,\u201d says\nDryden, \u201call his contemporaries seem to have been proud,\u201d was itself a\npoem, and certainly one more worthy of being told than that of many of\nthe gentlemen whom Johnson\u2019s vigorous pen has thrust into uneasy and\nunnatural immortality.\n\n \u201cSweet Constable, who takes the wond\u2019ring ear\n And lays it up in willing prisonment,\u201d\n\nwho was rated as the first sonneteer of his time, is as little known\nas the pure and pensive Habington, the only love-poet of the reign of\nCharles I. whose pages are without stain. The two last-named writers,\nhowever, we may expect to see more noticed, both having been lately\nreprinted\u2014Constable\u2019s _Diana_ by Pickering, and Habington\u2019s _Castara_\nbeing included in the admirable and wonderfully cheap series of\nEnglish reprints edited by Mr. Edward Arber.\n\nWe had thought to give a few specimens of at least the more obscure of\nthe writers last mentioned. But we have already overstepped our limits\nand must bring this ramble to an end. The reader who may be tempted\nfor himself to loiter in these unfamiliar ways will meet with much to\nreward him. \u201cOld-fashioned poetry, but choicely good\u201d he will find in\nabundance:\n\n \u201c\u2026 rich in fit epithets,\n Blest in the lovely marriage of pure words.\u201d\n\n\n [103] Henry VII.\u2019s chapel.\n\n\n\n\nARE YOU MY WIFE?\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cPARIS BEFORE THE WAR,\u201d \u201cNUMBER THIRTEEN,\u201d \u201cPIUS\nVI.,\u201d ETC.\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nTHE END.\n\n\nThe admiral telegraphed at once to Sir Simon, informing him of what\nhad happened. It was no surprise, therefore, when, on the morning of\nthe funeral, the baronet walked into Clide\u2019s room. The meeting was\naffectionate but sad. Clide had no heart to give a joyous welcome to\nhis old friend. Even Franceline for the time was forgotten. The shock\nof the tragic death he had just witnessed had shattered his airy\ncastles to pieces. He was, as yet, too much under the solemn spell of\nthat event to turn his mind to the brightness that it might have made\nan opening for in the future.\n\nMrs. de Winton had come up from Wales, and was for taking Clide with\nher to a more suitable residence than his dingy lodgings; but he\nrefused to stir until all was over, and she knew, as did all who knew\nClide, that when he made up his mind to do or not to do a thing, he\nwas immovable as fate. When the little band who had followed Isabel to\nthe grave returned, they went by appointment to see the medical man\nunder whose care she had spent the last months of her life. Mr.\nPercival, who, strangely enough, had not been at the funeral, was to\nbe there to meet them. He was in the room when they entered. Sir Simon\nHarness started on perceiving him. \u201cMr. Plover! I hardly expected to\nmeet you here.\u201d\n\n\u201cPlover!\u201d echoed Clide and Mr. Simpson.\n\n\u201cThe same, at your service,\u201d replied the other with cool effrontery.\nThen, turning to Clide, he said:\n\n\u201cCan I see you alone? What we have got to say had better be said\nprivately.\u201d\n\nClide made a gesture of assent, and the doctor showed them into an\nadjoining room.\n\nThe outline of Mr. Prendergast\u2019s confession is already known; it is\nonly necessary to fill it up with a few details of interest. Isabel\nwas not his own niece, but the step-niece of his wife by her first\nhusband, an Italian singer, from whom the girl inherited her gift of\nsong. She was thrown on the care of Mr. Prendergast when quite a\nchild. He was a needy adventurer, and determined to make her voice\nuseful; for this end he cultivated it to the highest degree. But there\nwas madness in her family. Just as her musical education was complete,\nand she was preparing to come out on a provincial stage in Italy, her\nmind became deranged, and he was obliged to place her in an obscure\nlunatic asylum near Milan. Meanwhile, he travelled as agent to a large\nLondon firm, and saw a great deal of life, chiefly in the West Indies.\nOn his return he found Isabel recovered and in splendid voice.\nComplete change and travelling were advised as the best means of\nstrengthening her against the danger of a relapse. He took her to\nAmerica; then followed her marriage and her flight. Whether the fraud\nthat she had practised on Clide was entirely a deliberate falsehood,\nprompted by that strange cunning which is one of the characteristics\nof madness, or whether it was the delusion of a disordered brain, it\nsignified little now to him; it was certain that she had become fully\nalive to the fact that she had grossly deceived her husband, and that\ndiscovery would ruin her. Rather than face it, she fled and threw\nherself on her uncle for pity and protection. Then followed the\ncheckered life: now the glare of the footlights, now the obscurity of\na lunatic asylum. It had been her own passionate desire to go on the\nstage\u2014so Mr. Prendergast said\u2014and he had only yielded to it because he\nsaw there was no other course open to her. Her terror of her husband\u2019s\nanger was so great that the idea of being discovered by him threw her\ninto a state of despair which threatened to unsettle her brain beyond\nall chance of recovery. She had caught a glimpse of him from her\nwindow at Dieppe, and insisted on her uncle\u2019s carrying her off that\nvery night, or else she would commit suicide. The excitement of the\nstage soon brought on a return of madness. Prendergast locked her up\nand went abroad again on a commission; fell in with Russian Jews on\nthe borders of China, bought valuable stones from them, and returned\nto fulfil the dream of his life: to buy a country place and live \u201clike\na gentleman.\u201d He found Isabel again recovered, and with her voice in\ngreater power than ever. The offer of a fabulous sum for one season\nfrom a manager who had long had his eye on the beautiful young soprano\ntempted her uncle; he accepted an engagement for her at St.\nPetersburg. A London milliner who knew her slightly and had business\nof her own there accompanied them as a sort of chaperon for Isabel.\nStanton had recognized her at the hotel, and she him. The rest of the\nstory was already known to Clide. Mr. Prendergast was very emphatic,\nhowever, in declaring that he never intended to keep the poor child on\nthe stage; this one season was so magnificently paid for that the sum,\nadded to his own means, would make them both wealthy for the remainder\nof their lives.\n\n\u201cAnd now I have made a clean breast of it; you know everything,\u201d he\nsaid, bringing his narrative to a close.\n\n\u201cNo, not everything,\u201d replied Mr. de Winton, fixing a searching look\non him. \u201cYou have not explained the motives of your own conduct\nthroughout. You changed your name twice; you persistently avoided me;\nyou had recourse to unworthy subterfuges to escape detection.\nAdmitting that my poor wife was, as you say, too frightened to trust\nme or to let me know what she was doing, it was your duty to\ncommunicate with me, and to give me at least the option of providing\nfor her, instead of compelling her to foster the disease that was\ndestroying her by adopting the career of an actress. What motive had\nyou for not doing this? I give you the choice of telling the truth\nyourself; if you refuse, I must take other means of finding it out.\u201d\n\nMr. Prendergast hesitated. There was evidently something yet to be\ntold which he shrank from avowing; but, as Clide intimated, he must\neither confess it of his own accord or be driven to do so.\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a motive in avoiding you; in keeping\nout of the way, not only of you, but of everybody. You may have heard\nof a great speculation started ten years ago in Canada, called the\nRamason Company?\u201d\n\n\u201cI remember hearing of it; it was a disreputable affair. My uncle,\nAdmiral de Winton, took shares in it and lost heavily by the\ntransaction.\u201d\n\n\u201cI was the man who started that company, and I ruined many by inducing\nthem to take shares in it. I was obliged to keep out of the way for\nseveral years, lest I should be seized and made amenable for felony.\nAbout a year ago the one man who swore to bring me to the hulks for it\ndied. I don\u2019t think there is any one now who would be at the trouble\nof prosecuting me; but I am in your power. You can hand me over to the\nlaw, if you choose; vengeance is sweet and it is within your grasp.\nOnly remember,\u201d he cried, with a sudden change from dogged\nindifference to a more appealing tone\u2014\u201cremember that as we judge we\nshall be judged; remember that we are standing both of us by a\nnew-made grave, and that, if I have sinned, I have already eaten the\nbitter fruit of my misdoing. I was a poor man, struggling to live;\nfighting for the bread I ate. If I had been born to estates and a\nfortune, I should have been no worse than others who have done no evil\nbecause they have never been tempted. Think of this, Mr. de Winton,\nand for the sake of her who bore your name, and who, in the midst of\nher poor mad wanderings, brought no dishonor on it, be merciful!\u201d\n\nThere was nothing abject in the way the wretched man thus threw\nhimself on Clide\u2019s clemency. He did not cringe or whine; he threw down\nhis arms and appealed to the generosity of his conqueror. Clide was\ngenerous, and a generous nature is easily moved to pardon.\n\n\u201cWhat mercy is it that you ask of me?\u201d he answered. \u201cThe mercy that\nyou need most it is in no man\u2019s power to give or to withhold. You have\nlent yourself for years to a course of cruelty and falsehood\u2014cruelty\nto the unhappy child whose friendlessness and terrible misfortune\nshould have claimed your pity and protecting care; falsehood to me,\nwhom you well-nigh led into committing a great crime and involuntarily\ncausing the shame and ruin of another. But I will take no vengeance on\nyou. Go and ask for mercy where you have most sinned.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nSir Simon had started without an hour\u2019s delay on receiving the\nadmiral\u2019s telegram announcing Isabel\u2019s death. If he had waited for the\nfirst post, it would have brought him a line from Ponsonby Anwyll to\nsay that he was setting off the next day, and hoped to be at the Villa\ndes Olives nearly as soon as his letter. Roxham would join him at\nMarseilles, and thence they would go on together.\n\nSo while Simon was rushing to London Ponsonby was rushing out of it;\nhe presented himself with Lord Roxham at the villa the day after his\nhost\u2019s departure. Their surprise was very great when they were\ninformed that Sir Simon was not there, and that M. de la Bourbonais\nand his daughter were the only occupants of the house. They asked to\nsee them, and were very cordially received, but it was quite clear\nthey were not expected. All the explanation Raymond could give of Sir\nSimon\u2019s extraordinary conduct was that he had received a telegram the\nday before which obliged him to set out for London immediately; he had\nnot entered into any explanation, but the intelligence was apparently\nrather exciting than painful, for he had gone away in very good\nspirits. The travellers looked at each other in perplexity. What were\nthey to do? To come and install themselves at the villa was\nimpossible, not so much on account of the host\u2019s absence as because of\nFranceline\u2019s presence. Raymond was discussing the same difficulty in\nhis own mind, and was sorely puzzled as to what he was expected to do.\nLord Roxham came to his assistance:\n\n\u201cThe fact is, we have been too precipitate; we ought to have waited\nfor another letter from Harness. However, it really does not much\nmatter as far as the journey is concerned. I was on my way to these\nparts, and Anwyll is very lucky in getting a month\u2019s leave and the\nchance of exploring this pretty place with a cicerone like myself. We\nshall have no difficulty, I dare say, in getting some tolerably\ncomfortable quarters at a hotel in the town. You, count, will perhaps\nkindly put us in the way of that. What is the best hotel here?\u201d\n\nGiacomo, the odd man and general out-door factotum, runner-of-errands,\nand finder-out-of-everything, was called and despatched to the hotel\nwith the gentlemen\u2019s luggage and proper instructions about their\nrequirements. This essential point once settled, all restraint was at\nan end. M. de la Bourbonais felt free to allow his courtesy full play\nand to offer all the hospitality that he wished to the two Englishmen.\nHe insisted on their remaining to dinner; they had just half an hour\nto refresh themselves before it would be ready. Franceline joined her\nfather so graciously in urging the request that they yielded a not\nunwilling assent.\n\nRaymond had never met with Lord Roxham or Ponsonby since that\nmemorable dinner at the Court, but he had received letters from both\nimmediately on Sir Simon\u2019s return and discovery of the ring. These\nletters were written in a frank, manly tone that it would have been\ndifficult to resist if Raymond had been far more deeply incensed\nagainst the writers than he was. Both assured him of their unshaken\nesteem and their conviction all along that the mistake\u2014for mistake\nthey felt certain it was\u2014would sooner or later be cleared up; if they\nhad given any pain by not sooner expressing this opinion to M. de la\nBourbonais himself, they sincerely regretted and apologized for it.\nRaymond had replied graciously to both, and so the old kind feeling\nwas restored. He retained a grateful recollection, too, of Ponsonby\u2019s\nprompt though formal salutation when Mr. Charlton had passed on,\ncutting him dead.\n\nThe evening passed pleasantly as the party sat chatting away on the\nterrace, with the young May moon shining down on the blue waves that\nbeat against the pebbly beach with a murmurous plash. Franceline had\nall sorts of questions to ask about Dullerton after nearly three\nmonths\u2019 absence\u2014a long time at her age. She seemed astonished that\nthere was nothing remarkable to tell about the place and the people\nduring that interval, and I am afraid that Sir Ponsonby Anwyll drew on\nhis imagination now and then, rather than acknowledge the humiliating\nfact that he knew nothing concerning the thing he was catechised\nabout. He talked of probable plans and contemplated movements of the\nvarious persons, as if plans and movements entered into the lives of\nthe homespun natives of Dullerton at all.\n\nIt was late when the two young men took leave, with the promise to\nreturn early next morning for a drive by the sea. Sir Simon had\ncontrived a wonderful nondescript vehicle, a cross between a\n_char-\u00e0-banc_ and a wagonette, with an awning supported by iron rods,\nso as to obviate the necessity for umbrellas or parasols. Franceline\nwas to do the honors of this and show them the beauties of the coast.\n\nThey were punctual to their appointment, and everybody enjoyed the\ndrive exceedingly. They dined at the Villa des Olives again that day,\nand there was more sitting out on the terrace and endless\nconversations.\n\n * * * * *\n\nClide, meantime, was waking up as from a bad dream. As soon as the\ncloud of those few hurried days was dispelled, he seemed suddenly to\ncast off the chill of awe that had fallen on him by his wife\u2019s\ndying-bed, and clung to him until the grave had closed on her and shut\nout that chapter of his life for ever. Then youth vindicated itself,\nthe elastic spring rebounded, and the future that yesterday was out of\nsight began to dawn brightly on him once more. The yearning to see\nFranceline, to claim her for his own, asserted itself with a force\nthat was only the greater for being so long repressed. But now that\nall obstacles were removed on his side, it remained to be seen whether\nshe was still free\u2014free at heart, and willing to be his; it was\npossible\u2014nay, did not his better sense add probable\u2014that the seed of\nlove he had sown in her heart had perished there before this, chilled\nby his neglect, crushed to death by his seeming faithlessness and\ndesertion.\n\nHe must know first from Sir Simon how matters stood between her and\nAnwyll. Sir Simon told him the truth. He had left Franceline\nheart-whole, as far as he knew; but here was the irrepressible\nPonsonby as good as installed under the same roof with her, walking,\nriding, making _parties_ by sunrise and conversations by moonlight;\npassionately in love with her, and Raymond most anxious for the\nsuccess of his suit. Sir Simon had sounded him before he invited\nAnwyll to Nice. Was Franceline made of different stuff from every\nother woman in every other country that she could remain proof to all\nthis, and not ignite at the contact of this faithful flame, not yield\nto this unyielding perseverance? Sir Simon thought not. Clide thought\ndifferently; but the wish, with him, might too easily engender the\nbelief.\n\nStrange to say, neither he nor Sir Simon felt the least alarm\nconcerning Lord Roxham. Yet there could be no doubt as to which would\nbe pronounced the more dangerous rival of the two by any competent\njury of young ladies. He was far better-looking than Ponsonby Anwyll,\nmore intelligent and agreeable, and he was the son of a peer to boot.\nThis last attraction would no doubt constitute a much less dangerous\nman a formidable rival in the eyes of most English young ladies. But\nFranceline de la Bourbonais was not English, nor endowed with that\nfine native faculty which enables a woman to look at a man through the\ncrystallizing medium of a peerage and discern its magically\nbeautifying power. Still, considering that she did not love Ponsonby\nAnwyll when he presented himself at the Villa des Olives, there is no\ndenying that Lord Roxham was a rival of whom the young squire of Rydal\nmight justly have been afraid. Sir Simon had no deeply-laid plot or\ncounterplot in his mind when he asked him; he did not mean to play him\noff against Ponsonby, as he had once played him off against Clide; he\nmerely thought it would make it pleasanter to have him. It would throw\nFranceline more off her guard, too, perhaps. He was roving about the\nPyrenees, and he might just as well come on and spend a little while\nwith them at Nice.\n\nClide said very little while Sir Simon ran on about the contents of\nFranceline\u2019s letter, and proceeded to expound his views on the\npossible state of affairs at the villa since he had left.\n\n\u201cYes; I see the danger,\u201d he said at length: \u201cAnwyll has had the field\nso far to himself with all odds on his side; her father, who could\nmake her do almost anything short of a sin to please him, is backing\nhim up. Well, _\u00e0 la gr\u00e2ce de Dieu_! I will start with you for Nice by\nthis night\u2019s mail.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nIt was an hour after sunrise\u2014the sweetest hour of the day. Franceline\nwas an early riser, and seldom missed the enjoyment of a short walk by\nthe sea in the freshness of the early morning. To-day, however, she\nwas not walking; she was sitting on the beach at the foot of the\ngarden that sloped down to the water\u2019s edge, sitting with her\nmilk-white hands in her lap, without book or work, gazing vacantly at\nthe advancing tide and at the sunlight dancing on the waves. She was\ntired; she had slept badly\u2014hardly slept at all, indeed\u2014and she wanted\nthe fresh sea-breeze to revive her, and the solitude of the silent\nbeach to help her to come to a decision that she had spent the night\nvainly trying to arrive at. After a while she drew a letter from her\npocket, opened it, and spread it on her knee. She had read it so often\nalready that she might have repeated it word for word by heart; but\nshe read it again, as if expecting to find some new light in it now.\nThings look different sometimes by daylight, just as faces do, and she\nhad only read this letter by the light of her bedroom candle. But the\nsunbeams did not alter one line or modify the force of one word in the\nfour pages covered with a large, straggling, but bold, legible\nhandwriting. The letter was from Ponsonby Anwyll, asking her to be his\nwife. Her father had put it into her hand last evening when he kissed\nher and bade her good-night.\n\n\u201cMy child, here is a message that I have been charged with for thee;\nthou wilt read it alone and give me thy answer to-morrow.\u201d\n\nHe did not add one word as to what he hoped the answer might be, but\nthe sigh, the close embrace with which he held her to him, told\nFranceline plainly enough what his longing desire was. She returned\nhis embrace in silence and carried the letter to her room. She had\nthought over it all night; but the night had brought her no counsel.\nShe was still hesitating, undecided. Yet she must make up her mind one\nway or the other within a very short time\u2014oh! how short a time. Why\ncould she not yield? Her father desired this marriage ardently, and\nthere was everything to recommend it. Ponsonby loved her so sincerely,\nwith such a humble, honest, manly love. It was no light thing to fling\naway such a gift as this. A faithful heart is not an offering to be\ncast aside as if it were a \u201ccommon thing with more behind,\u201d to be\npicked up at any moment. It was in all probability the turning point\nof her life that she was now called upon to decide; if she let the\ntide go by, it might never flow towards her again. Franceline would\nhave made small account of this if she had had only herself to\nconsider. She was happy as she was, and would gladly have renounced\nall hope or chance of changing her present lot; she had no ambition,\nand she did not realize the future keenly enough to forecast\nprobabilities and take precautions against them. She knew her father\nwas an old man, but she never let her mind dwell on the consequences\nof that fact. If he were taken away first, it seemed as if life must\ncome to an end for her; she did not want to look beyond so remote and\ndreaded a possibility. But she knew that he looked beyond it, during\nhis illness especially he had said things occasionally that showed he\nwas painfully preoccupied about her future, about what was to become\nof her if he went and left her alone in the world with no one to love\nher or take care of her. She knew that nothing could sweeten his\nremaining years more than to see her happily married; that, in fact,\nsuch an event would, humanly speaking, be very likely to prolong his\nlife. This it was that kept her trembling on the verge of surrender\nand pleaded loudly in favor of Ponsonby\u2019s suit. Why was it so hard to\nyield? There was nothing to hinder her now. If she had cared for any\none else.\u2026 A bright crimson suffused her cheeks; she covered her face\nwith her hands with an involuntary movement, as if to hide that blush\nof exquisite shame from the roses that were its only witnesses.\n\nBut this emotion passed away and sober reflections presented\nthemselves. The idea, once so firmly rejected as a presumptuous\ntemptation, that she might convert Ponsonby by marrying him, appealed\nto her suddenly with a force altogether new. It would be no doubt a\nglorious thing to sacrifice her own personal feelings and wishes for\nsuch an object, and it seemed to Franceline, as she contemplated it\nfor the first time calmly, that the generosity of the motive must\nensure the reward of the sacrifice. If she could but consult Father\nHenwick! But that was impossible. The distance was too great. In those\ndays railroads were few and far between. It took four days for a\nletter to reach Dullerton, and as many for the answer to return; and\nit was imperative that she should make up her mind at once. She drew\nfrom her pocket a little book in which she had written down some\nstriking passages from various authors, and some words of advice that\nFather Henwick had given her from time to time. The words that had\nsounded so sustaining when uttered spoke to her now with even a more\npointed significance: \u201cBe sure of one thing: so long as we are\nsincerely seeking to do what is right God will guide us to it.\u2026 The\ndanger is that sometimes we are all the time hankering after our own\nwill when we say, and even fancy, that we are seeking the will of\nGod.\u201d Then later, in answer to some question about the mode of\ndiscerning between these two wills, the writer said: \u201cThings that are\nnot of our seeking or wishing are mostly of his ordering.\u2026 Obedience\nand circumstances are our safest guides.\u201d Here Franceline closed the\nlittle book, murmuring to herself: \u201cIt is quite certain that this\nmarriage is not of my seeking\u2014nor of my inclination; if that be a\nsign, I am safe in doing God\u2019s will in consenting to it.\u201d Then she\nremembered how she had read somewhere that God would send an angel\nfrom heaven rather than let a faithful soul go astray when striving to\ndo his will. No angel had come to forbid her yielding, and the time\npressed for her decision. Franceline buried her face in her hands, and\nfor the next few minutes a fierce struggle went on within her. She\ntrembled from head to foot, her pulses beat fast, a sharp pang shot\nthrough her whole being and seemed to tear it asunder for one moment,\nthen gradually recoiled upon her will, stimulating it to a firm,\nirrevocable impulse. All that she had hitherto known of energy or\ncourage was as nothing compared to what she was feeling now. She\nlooked up and pushed back her hair, as if to see a vision more\nclearly. A light had gathered in her eye, a high resolve shone upon\nher brow. The vision was vanishing, but she saw it still: angels were\nbeckoning. The spirit of Renunciation pointed with golden palm-branch\nto that hour when every sacrifice receives its crown, when every\nselfish denial is avenged. She stood by her father\u2019s death-bed; life\nwas fading away like a dream; the hour of real awakening was at hand.\nConscience spoke out: \u201cProve thy love,\u201d said the clear, stern voice,\n\u201caccept the reality which the kind will of Heaven has appointed for\nyou, and cast from your heart once and for ever the vain dream that it\nhas cherished too long. Make your father happy; become the wife of\nthis good and faithful man who loves you. Go forth, immolate yourself,\nand lead him to the light of truth.\u201d\n\nWhen Franceline rose to her feet, Ponsonby\u2019s cause was won. She folded\nhis letter, and went in and sat down at once and answered it. Her hand\ndid not falter; there was no trace of reluctance or hesitation visible\nin her countenance. As soon as the letter was finished she went\ndown-stairs to meet her father, and handed it to him open.\n\n\u201cAm I to read it?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, father; it is you who have written it,\u201d she said, kissing him.\n\nBefore M. de la Bourbonais could reply, Ang\u00e9lique and the major-domo\ncame in with the breakfast, and kept fussing in and out of the room\nwhile it lasted; so it was some little time before he was able to go\nout on the terrace and read the letter alone.\n\nFranceline did not wait to see its effect upon him. She escaped to her\nroom, and sat there until he should call for her; but instead of this\nRaymond took up his straw hat and went straight out of the house. She\nsaw him walk with a quick, buoyant step down the garden and disappear\ninto the road. He was gone with her answer to Ponsonby, guessing\nrightly that until he received it the young man would not venture to\nreturn to the villa, and that her father was impatient to make the\nlover happy. Franceline saw him go forth bearing the _fiat_ that\ndecided her destiny, that placed a stranger henceforth between them,\ndividing with another the duty and the life that had hitherto been all\nhis own. Oh! if she had but loved the other as it was in her to love\nthe man who was to be her husband. A cry that was almost a shriek\nescaped from her, and she threw herself upon the ground in a paroxysm\nof tears. But this weakness was soon over; she arose and hurried out\nof the house, so as to avoid meeting Ang\u00e9lique or any of the servants,\nand went down to the beach.\n\nThe tide was in; she seated herself in the crevice of a rock\u2014a\nfavorite seat, where she was sheltered from the sun and surrounded by\nthe beautiful blue sea on every side. She had taken a book with her,\ndutifully opened it where the marker was, and then leaned her head\nagainst the side of the rock and began to dream. How pleasant it would\nbe if she could drift away in one of those white fishing-boats,\nherself and her father, to some \u201cfair isle of the blest\u201d where there\nis no marrying or giving in marriage, where no winged angels come with\ncruel messages of duty to weak, reluctant hearts! Was that steamer\nwhose smoke was curling like a dark snake in the pure blue atmosphere\nbound for one of these happy isles? Oh! would that she were on it and\nmaking for that haven of rest. She must have sat a long time dreaming\nher dreams, for the steamer was a long while out of sight and the\nwater had risen almost to her feet, when she heard Ang\u00e9lique\u2019s voice\ncalling her up and down the garden. She did not move. It was Ponsonby\ncome back with her father, no doubt, to salute her as his bride. Let\nhim wait; there was time enough. Ang\u00e9lique went on calling for some\nminutes, and then ceased. Franceline thought she had given it up, and\nwas congratulating herself on the reprieve, when she heard the sound\nof footsteps falling heavily on the pebbles close behind the rock.\nThere was no use resisting; she must go to this impatient lover at\nonce, it seemed. She rose with a weary, resigned sigh, and was\nstepping over the ledge of the rock to gain the terrace, when, looking\nup, she beheld, not Ang\u00e9lique, but Clide de Winton. Franceline\nscreamed as if a sword had been driven through her heart, fell\nforward, and was caught in Clide\u2019s arms.\n\n\u201cFranceline! my darling! my own!\u201d he murmured, straining her\npassionately to him.\n\nShe had not fainted; she was only stunned. Rallying in an instant, she\nstruggled to free herself, and looking at him with a frightened,\nbewildered glance, \u201cHow is this? What do you mean? Are you free?\u201d she\nexclaimed.\n\n\u201cShould I dare to come to you, to speak to you thus, to clasp you to\nmy heart, if I were not free? O Franceline, Franceline! have you known\nme so little all this time?\u201d\n\nHer head drooped upon his shoulder, and she struggled no more; he\ngathered her to his heart, and she did not draw away her face from the\nwarm kisses that he pressed on it.\n\nAng\u00e9lique\u2019s voice breaking in upon this moment of rapture roused her\nto the remembrance of other things: her father\u2019s errand, the letter,\nshe had written engaging herself as Ponsonby Anwyll\u2019s wife.\n\n\u201cO Clide, Clide!\u201d she cried, putting her hand to her forehead with a\nlook of agonized distress.\n\n\u201cMy darling! what is it?\u201d\n\nBut Ang\u00e9lique was down on them now, and began to scold the young girl\nfor letting her shout herself hoarse calling to her this hour past\nwithout an answer, until she thought Mam\u2019selle must have fallen asleep\nand dropped into the sea; that\u2019s what would happen some of these days,\nand then her body would be carried off by the tide to the north pole,\nand M. le Comte would die of grief, and the only thing for Ang\u00e9lique\nto do would be to drown herself. Clide tried to divert the vials of\nthe old woman\u2019s wrath towards him, and so cut her short in this dismal\nhoroscopic view of the family history. M. de la Bourbonais, meanwhile,\nwas hastening to meet them; the sight of his smiling countenance sent\na dagger through Franceline. She embraced Sir Simon, hurriedly, and\nthen ran to her father.\n\n\u201cYou went with that letter?\u201d she whispered.\n\n\u201cYes, my little one; I went straight off with it.\u201d\n\n\u201cHa! Then he knows already? You have given it to him?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo; unluckily, he was not at home. They had just gone out when I got\nto the hotel.\u201d\n\n\u201cO father! thank God! Then give it to me quick!\u201d She flung her arms\nround his neck, and kissed him with an energy that nearly sent his\nspectacles flying into the Mediterranean.\n\n\u201cEh, eh? What is the matter? What is this?\u201d said Raymond, rescuing the\nprecious _lunettes_ and refixing them on his nose.\n\n\u201cFather, I will not marry him. I am engaged to Clide de Winton!\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe sun was not long risen\u2014for the dew was still glistening on the\ndeep-bladed grass, and the birds were babbling in their nests as they\ndo in the fresh dawn before men are astir to drown the delicious\nconcert\u2014when three figures might be seen wending towards the little\ngray church, where Father Henwick was awaiting them. They found the\ndoor open and the candles lighted on the altar, although there was not\na soul in the church but themselves.\n\nI dare say you recognize the three at a glance, though it may surprise\nyou to see Clide de Winton there and at so unwonted an hour.\n\nThe church was beautifully arrayed in flowers and evergreens and\nbanners of every hue. For this is to be Franceline\u2019s wedding-day, and\nshe has come with her _fianc\u00e9_ and her father to ask a blessing on it.\n\nThere was something peculiarly sweet and thrilling in the sound of the\nbell through the almost empty church, and the voice of the priest\nreverberating in the solemn silence, tender and tremulous as a throb\nthat broke from his inmost heart.\n\nThe walk home was silent; only, when they entered the park, M. de la\nBourbonais stood a moment and, looking down on the little cottage\nwhere he and his child had suffered so much and known so many happy\ndays, he said with an emotion which he made no effort to conceal: \u201cMy\nchildren, God has been very good to us; to me especially\u2014for I have\ndeserved it least. I shall not live long to prove that I am grateful;\nbut you who are young\u2014you will both of you love him and thank him for\nme all your lives.\u201d\n\nClide\u2019s only answer was a silent pressure of the hand, while\nFranceline fell upon her father\u2019s breast and wept a few sweet tears.\n\n * * * * *\n\nYes, the wedding-day had arrived; the sun shone brightly, everything\nwas bright, everybody seemed happy. Miss Merrywig sported a splendid\nnew gown for the occasion\u2014pale blue silk, with rosebuds and\nforget-me-nots on a broad, white satin stripe, most appropriate for a\nwedding; and _such_ a bargain! She was entreating Lady Anwyll to make\na guess\u2014just one guess\u2014at what it had cost; but Lady Anwyll fought\noff, declaring it would only make her envious if she knew, and,\nbesides, she wanted Miss Merrywig to keep her bargain as fresh as\npossible for another episode like the present which would be taking\nplace soon, she hoped, in the neighborhood. She would not say more; it\nwas rash to speak of these matters until everything was _quite_\nsettled; but it had long been suspected by the whole county that that\nsweet little Lady Lucy B\u2014\u2014 and Ponce were planning some mischief\ntogether. Then followed whisperings and squeezing of hands between the\ntwo old ladies, which were presently interrupted by a loud,\npremonitory buzz through the great Gothic hall where the guests were\nfast assembling from the adjoining rooms. Sir Simon appeared,\nmarshalling the twelve pink and white bridemaids into ranks on the\nbroad landing at the top of the stairs. Down they came gliding as\nsoftly as a sunset cloud, and stood below awaiting the bride.\nEverybody whose acquaintance you have made ever so slightly at\nDullerton is present, I think\u2014everybody except Sir Ponsonby Anwyll,\nwho sent his good wishes and regrets by his mother, explaining that he\nhad not been able to get home just at present.\n\nAnd now a murmur, deep and prolonged, runs through the gay crowd. The\nbride is coming; stately she steps down the grand oak stairs, leaning\non her father\u2019s arm. To my mind, she is the sweetest, loveliest bride\nthat ever \u201cthe sun shone on.\u201d But then, to be sure, I may be\nprejudiced. I wish I could describe her dress to you; but it would be\nvery much like trying to describe the texture of a moonbeam. I can\nonly certify that it was white, diaphanous, and fleecy as a cloud, and\nthat, in some mysterious way, eucharista lilies floated here and there\nover the soft, snowy foam. The graceful head, too, bowed modestly\nunder its golden weight of hair, was crowned by the same lovely\nflowers, and a cloud-like veil of gossamer tissue encircled her like a\nmorning mist.\n\nM. de la Bourbonais looked very happy as he passed through the\nsympathetic groups with his clair-de-lune on his arm; there was\nsubdued joy on his venerable face that smoothed away all painful\ntraces of his late illness, and almost obliterated the lines of age\nand the deeper furrows of care on his thoughtful brow.\n\nAs to Clide de Winton, everybody declared that he bore himself\nadmirably on this most trying occasion, presenting a model of what a\nbridegroom ought to be\u2014manly, dignified, and simple; he made a speech\nat the wedding breakfast, and it was pronounced capital. I don\u2019t think\nthe effort proved such a very severe trial to him, either, as he had\nonce expected, for when Mrs. de Winton, who had expanded like a\nsunflower in cordiality that day, asked him with an arch smile whether\nhe found the ordeal very dreadful, Clide answered frankly that it was\nnot so trying as he had anticipated, and that, even when the worst was\nsaid, a wedding ceremony, with all its fuss, was not an unmitigated\nevil.\n\n\n\n\nTHOMISTIC PHILOSOPHY.[104]\n\n\nThere is some evidence of the undue conceit which the present age has\nof its learning and culture in the fact that the works of the great\nwriters of the middle ages indefinitely surpass our best literary\nproductions in intellectual acumen and in the depth and width of real\nphilosophical science. St. Thomas commences his _Summa Theologica_ by\ntelling us that it is to be an elementary work for the use of\nbeginners in the study of sacred doctrine, according as the apostle\nsays, _Tam parvulis in Christo, lac vobis potum dedi, non escam_. This\nbook for junior students, this \u201cmilk for babes\u201d of the medi\u00e6val times,\nis nowadays somewhat strong for the mental digestion of full-grown\nmen, not excepting those whose minds have been carefully trained under\nthe tuition of judicious preceptors. It was no doubt the modesty of\nthe saint which prompted him to speak in this manner of that most\nwonderful work. Had he lived in such days as ours, so remarkable for\nfeebleness of intellect, so conspicuous for contemptuousness, for\nself-confidence and self-sufficiency, such language would not have\nbeen possible with him; for he could only have used it in the\nbitterest sarcasm, which is utterly foreign to his meek and gentle\ncharacter.\n\nSince the days of the Angelic Doctor, it has become necessary to\ndispose the minds of those who would drink of this source of science\nby previous instruction in the first elements of his philosophy. Of\nall the elementary philosophies of the strictly Thomistic school, the\nmost universally esteemed has been that of Father Goudin, who gave\nlectures in the Dominican College of Paris towards the end of the\nseventeenth century. The great aim of this faithful professor of\nThomism is to be true to his master in every point, not only in the\nhigher principles of philosophy, but even in the details of physics.\nHe wrote at a time when a great revolution was taking place in men\u2019s\nminds with regard to science, and he saw with concern that the new\ndoctrines would prove in their results subversive of all that was\nChristian. He therefore set about opposing the doctrinal novelties of\nDescartes and his school by an uncompromising reassertion of the\nteaching of St. Thomas. In the judgment of posterity Goudin has erred\nsomewhat, but not so much, certainly, as the school which he opposed;\nfor the Cartesian doctrines have proved the source of many subsequent\nerrors, as scepticism, rationalism, pantheism, atheism. The mistakes\nof Goudin simply regard some of the details of physical science which,\nwhether correctly or erroneously explained, tend little to the benefit\nof our fellow-beings, although interesting enough to the minds of the\nwell educated.\n\nWe are assured that the strictest Thomists are not bound to adhere to\nthe details of the physics of their master. The Angelic Doctor, in\nmatters of this kind (which, we submit, concern little the theologian,\nor the metaphysician, or the moralist), adopted the prevailing\nopinions of the time. We do not read that he ever showed much\nenthusiasm for natural or experimental science, and in this respect he\ndiffered from his friend and quondam preceptor, Albertus Magnus. But\nin those fundamental questions of philosophy which are intimately\nconnected with our moral conduct and with natural or positive\nreligion, and indeed in all questions where St. Thomas is bound to\nthink for himself, we do not find that he simply endorses the teaching\nof another. When it is objected by knowing people that Aquinas teaches\ndoctrines which are exploded or puerile\u2014as, for instance, that the\nearth is stationary, or that the east is the right hand of the\nheavens\u2014it would be well for them to reflect that these are rather the\ndoctrines of the universally-admired Aristotle than of his Christian\ndisciple.[105]\n\nFather Gonzales (since created Bishop of Cordova) has given to the\nchurch an excellent manual of Thomistic doctrine. At the outset, he\nseeks to determine the sense of the word _philosophy_. This is no easy\nmatter, as the definitions given by different authors are many and\nvarious. Cousin declares it to be\u2014_reflection completely emancipated\nand freed from the trammels of authority, so that reason depends\nsolely upon itself for the acquisition of truth_. By the subjectivists\nof Germany it is defined\u2014_the Ego as it places and offers itself by\nthesis and antithesis_. According to Kant, it is _the necessary\nscience of the laws and causes of spontaneous reason_. Cicero says\nthat philosophy is _rerum divinarum et humanarum causarumque, quibus\nh\u00e6 res continentur, scientia_; and this is, perhaps, the popular\nnotion of the word, so that all scientific studies are included in the\ngeneral term of philosophy. Thus we speak of the philosophy of\nhistory, the philosophy of language, the philosophy of manufactures,\nof laws, and so forth. A writer of the name of Mr. Robert Hooke tries\nto impress upon his readers the vast extent of philosophy in the\nfollowing curious dissertation:\n\n \u201cThe history of potters, tobacco-pipe makers,\n glass-grinders, looking-glass makers or foilers,\n spectacle-makers and optic-glass makers, makers of\n counterfeit pearl and precious stones, bugle-makers,\n lamp-blowers, color-makers, color-grinders, glass-painters,\n enamellers, varnishers, color-sellers, painters, limners,\n picture-drawers, makers of babies\u2019 heads, of little bowling\n stones or marbles, fustian-makers, music-masters, tinsey\n makers and taggers; the history of school-masters,\n writing-masters, printers, bookbinders, stage-players,\n dancing masters and vaulters, apothecaries, chirurgeons,\n seamsters, butchers, barbers, laundresses, and cosmetics,\n etc., etc. (the true nature of each of which being exactly\n determined), will hugely facilitate our inquiries in\n philosophy.\u201d\n\nBy most scholastics philosophy is defined as a _cognitio certa et\nevidens_. These are the words of Goudin, and we observe that they are\nadopted by Father Lepidi in the first volume of his new work.\nGonzales, however, demurs to assent to this, for the reason that in\nphilosophy many questions are discussed of which we have neither\nevidence nor certainty. The objection is inserted and responded to in\nFather Lepidi\u2019s book, and also in the works of Goudin. The proper and\nprimary object of philosophy is certain and evident; it treats of\nquestions that are obscure only secondarily and _consequenter_.\nNevertheless, Gonzales prefers to define philosophy as _cognitio\nscientifica et rationalis Dei, mundi et hominis, quo viribus\nnaturalibus per altiores causas seu principia habetur_. In the latter\nwords of the definition he is in conformity with the rest of his\nschool, but in the first part\u2014that is, in the genus of the\ndefinition\u2014he differs from them.\n\nThe essence of philosophy being determined, at least in the sense in\nwhich the author is going to treat of it, we are next invited to\ndecide upon a suitable division. The older scholastics had divided it\ninto four parts: logic; physics, whose object was _ens mobile_, or all\nchangeable nature; metaphysics, which treated of being in the\nabstract, and all concrete objects which transcend the powers of the\nsenses; and ethics. Some added a fifth part\u2014namely, mathematics.\nGoudin\u2019s definition of philosophy seems capable of embracing this\nscience also; however, he disposes of it, whether consistently or not\nwe need not stop to inquire.\n\nLater Christian writers, who have adhered in the main to the doctrines\nof the scholastics, have somewhat varied their division. Physics in\nits details is excluded from philosophy strictly so called, while in\nits more universal relations it is considered as belonging to\nmetaphysics. Thus the science of the laws of the world is called\ncosmology, and the science of the soul, its essence, its faculties,\nand its operations, is called psychology. Cosmology and psychology,\ntogether with theodicy or natural theology, are the subdivisions of\n_special_ metaphysics, while the science of being is called ontology\nor _general_ metaphysics.\n\nHowever, Gonzales refuses to grant that psychology belongs properly to\nmetaphysics, because, although the soul of which it treats is beyond\nthe ken of the senses, yet the operations of the soul depend upon them\nand are recognized by them. He determines, therefore, that this\nscience belongs as much to ethics and to logic as to metaphysics: to\nmetaphysics, inasmuch as it treats of the essence of the soul; to\nlogic, as it regards the faculties of cognition; to ethics, as far as\nit concerns the moral power. Later on, when Gonzales comes to treat of\npsychology _ex professo_, he suggests that it should be either reduced\nagain to physics or made a distinct and special portion of philosophy.\nSuch is the unsatisfactory consideration of the question by men\neminent for their science. We see in the newly-issued volume of Father\nLepidi\u2019s philosophy that in his division he leaves out altogether the\nwords physics and metaphysics, and proposes the following heads:\nlogic, general ontology, cosmology, anthropology, natural theology,\nand ethics. This mode of division seems to us, with all due deference\nto Bishop Gonzales and other writers, the most satisfactory. Moreover,\nit is explained by Father Lepidi in a most logical manner, based as it\nis upon two incontrovertible philosophical maxims. Before we leave\nthis subject of the division, we will mention that proposed by the\nlate Canon Sanseverino in his great work, which, unfortunately, was\nnever completed. He considers philosophy under a twofold aspect,\nsubjective and objective. _Subjective_ philosophy is divided into four\nbranches\u2014_logica_, _dynamilogia_, _idealogia_, and _criteriologia_.\n_Objective_ philosophy has also four parts\u2014_naturalis theologia_,\n_cosmologia_, _anthropologia_, _ethica_. We observe that he is one\nwith Father Lepidi in discarding the use of those vague terms of which\nwe have spoken.\n\nFather Gonzales has published his work in three volumes, the first of\nwhich comprises the tractates of Logic and Psychology. In the Logic we\nhave noticed nothing particular to be mentioned, excepting its\ncompleteness and the exceeding clearness with which the subjects are\ntreated. The treatise of Psychology, however, has greatly interested\nus, and is the best we have seen. It is divided into two parts,\n_empiric_ and _rational_. _Psychologia empirica_ treats of the powers\nof the soul, and we notice in a few instances a deviation from the\nexplicit doctrine of Goudin. For instance, those _species_ or\nrepresentations of objects which are received in the cognitive senses,\nare stated by Gonzales to be immaterial and spiritual, while Goudin\nhas said that they are material. It might, perhaps, be suggested that\nthese _species_ may be called _immateriales negative_. This epithet is\nallowed by the author to be applied to the _anima_ of brutes; and as\nthe _species_ we speak of belong to animal life, they must be of the\nsame nature. Cognition is a vital act, and all vitality is above the\ncondition of that which is merely material. A very recent writer has\nimplied that St. Thomas distinguishes immaterial and spiritual\nexistences. We do not remember to have noticed such a distinction in\nhis works. Perhaps the writer makes allusion to the doctrine that some\noperations of material beings transcend the qualities of\nmatter\u2014_v.g._, sensitive cognition. Yet these operations are not\ncalled immaterial by St. Thomas, at least not usually. This subject of\ncognition is well treated of by Gonzales. In another part of this\ntreatise he endeavors to prove the necessity of an _intellectus agens_\nas distinguished from the _intellectus possibilis_, the passive\nintellect, the faculty of understanding.\n\nIn the second part of Psychology, the simplicity of the soul, its\nspirituality and immateriality, are clearly demonstrated. Its unity\nalso is stoutly maintained, and the opposite errors, both ancient and\nmodern, are stated with admirable terseness and pertinence, and then\nput aside as wanting in scientific consistency. With the hypothesis of\none soul, all vital operations can be accounted for; with that of more\nthan one principle of life, various phenomena could not be explained;\ntherefore the doctrine of one principle is to be admitted.\n\nAppended to the tractate of Psychology is a special chapter on\nIdeology. The various systems of Democritus, Plato, Aristotle, Locke,\nLeibnitz, Bonald, Malebranche, Gioberti, Kant, Schelling, Fichte, and\nCousin are set aside one after another as insufficient or absurd. Then\nwe have an exposition of the subject according to the principles of\nthe Angelic Doctor; and this portion of the work is of unusual\noriginality, specially interesting and instructive to many readers.\nThe reality of ideas, as distinct intellectual representations of\nobjects, it first established in opposition to the doctrines of those\nphilosophers who maintain that the understanding perceives objects\nwithout the intervention of ideas or the need of an _intellectus\nagens_. The doctrine of _impressed_ ideas as distinct from those that\nare _expressed_ is insisted upon.\n\nThe origin of our ideas is thus explained: There are four kinds of\nideas, _ide\u00e6 primari\u00e6 abstractionis_, _ide\u00e6 pure intelligibiles_,\n_ide\u00e6 pure spirituales_, and _idea entis_, and this division is\napplicable to both impressed and expressed ideas. We must ask pardon\nfor our attempt to Anglicize the scholastic terms. Now, as to\nexpressed ideas, all these have their origin from the passive\nintellect. The difficulty, therefore, of explaining the origin of\nideas regards only those which we call _ide\u00e6 impress\u00e6_, and of these\nonly we have now to speak.\n\nIdeas of primary abstraction, which refer to corporeal or sensible\nobjects\u2014as, for instance, a man, a horse, the sun\u2014come from the active\nintellect, which draws them out of the _species_ contained in the\nimagination. Ideas purely intellectual\u2014as those of substance, cause,\neffect, good, evil\u2014have their origin from both the active and the\npassive intellect: from the former, because in the ideas of primary\nabstraction it discovers other more universal relations, as those of\ngood, bad, etc.; from the latter, as far as it works out and develops\nthose germs of higher knowledge imperfectly manifested by the active\nintellect. As to purely spiritual ideas\u2014those of God, of the angels,\nof our own souls\u2014these have not all the same origin. If the idea of\nGod is obtained by reasoning from that which is contingent to the\nconclusion that a necessary being must exist, such an idea is the\nproduct of the passive intellect, which has worked it out of\nimpressions previously received. But if the idea of God be conceived\nas of the first cause of all things, then it is acquired in the same\nway as the ideas of causes in general, and belongs in reality to that\nclass of ideas which are called purely intellectual. The idea of an\nangel is acquired from the analogy of our own soul; hence the _idea\nexpressa_ of our soul may become the _idea impressa_ of an angel. As\nto our own soul, there is no impressed idea of it, but its operations\nare sufficient for the acquisition of an expressed idea of it, without\nany need of an abstraction of the active intellect. As to the idea of\nbeing, it is an abstraction of the active intellect, but natural and\nspontaneous; indeed, it is its first perception, as the expressed idea\nof being is the first conception of the passive intellect. And the\nreason of this is, that our intellectual faculties are reflections of\nthe mind of God.\n\nFather Gonzales next proceeds to explain in what sense scholastics\nunderstand the axiom of the Stagirite, _Nihil est in intellectu, quin\nprius fuerit in sensu_. All ideas depend upon the senses so far forth\nthat sensible cognition must always precede that which is\nintellectual, and because all intellectual cognition requires an\naccompanying exercise of the imagination. Ideas of primary abstraction\ndepend upon sensible representations directly and immediately; ideas\npurely intellectual, remotely and inadequately; ideas purely\nspiritual, especially of angels and of our own souls, depend upon the\nsenses only indirectly and _occasionaliter_. Hence the senses are\nnever the efficient causes of our intellectual ideas; the most that\ncan be said is, that they are the material causes of some of them. In\nthis sense only can we accept the maxim of the great pagan philosopher\nwithout becoming implicated in the sensism of Locke and Condillac.\nGonzales next warns his students not to consider ideas as the object\nof intellectual knowledge; an idea is not _id_ QUOD _cognoscitur_, but\n_id_ QUO _cognoscitur_. These are the words of St. Thomas, and it is\nof the greatest importance to realize the doctrine, if we would avoid\nthe Charybdis of idealism as well as the Scylla of sensism.\n\nIn the second volume we have the tractates of Ontology, Cosmology, and\nNatural Theology. In ontology the real distinction of essence and\nexistence is affirmed and ably advocated, as, indeed, it usually is in\nworks emanating from the Dominican Order. We have known personally\nmore than one professor of that order who have differed from Gonzales\nand Goudin in this point, and who have taught their doctrines in the\nlecture rooms without scruple as the veritable teaching of St. Thomas.\nOur province is not to attempt to decide the question, either on its\nown independent merits or according to the authority of the Angelic\nDoctor. There are difficulties in the subject which seem to increase\non examination. Father Liberatore, in the later editions of his\n_Institutiones Philosophic\u00e6_, has passed from the ranks of those who\ndeny the real distinction to join those who teach it, and he gives\nweighty reasons for doing so. We do not just now remember a conversion\nso conspicuous in the reverse direction; but we know of one or two\nsuch conversions, which, however, have attracted little notice.\n\nIn the treatise of Ontology there is an interesting dissertation on\nthe principles of \u00e6sthetics. We are afraid to attempt a synopsis of\nit, as it would not be appreciated. Gonzales\u2019 definition of beauty is\nworthy of a disciple of St. Thomas: _Splendor harmonicus veri et\ninfiniti_.\n\nThe doctrine of St. Thomas, according to which he explains the mystery\nof the unchanged appearance of the elements of the Eucharist after\nconsecration, is well sustained. Gonzales argues that substance and\naccidents are really distinct in essence, consequently the idea of\ntheir real separation involves no contradiction of terms; and the\nProtestant philosopher Leibnitz is quoted in support of this doctrine.\nAccordingly, after the words of consecration, when the substance of\nbread and wine is converted into the substance of the body and blood\nof Christ, all the accidents remain unchanged, both in appearance and\nin reality, except that extension subsists of itself after the manner\nof a substance. Cartesians, on the contrary, deny that the accidents\nof the elements really remain, and consider that the appearances of\nbread and wine are only phenomenal. Many modern philosophers who are\nscholastic in most points agree with the Cartesians in this; among\nothers, Father Tongiorgi, S.J. This subject is worthy of the attentive\nstudy of all who believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation.\n\nIn the tractate of Cosmology the different systems of pantheism are\nexplained and disposed of, and the doctrine of the creation of the\nworld by a Being supreme, independent, and free is demonstrated. Then\nfollows a discourse upon that interesting subject, the principles of\nbodies. Gonzales, as a staunch Thomist, upholds the doctrine of matter\nand form, and insists that it is the only system which is capable of\nsatisfying the mind. Modern philosophers generally reject this system,\nand some of them in very contemptuous language. Cudworth, for\ninstance, calls it _genus quoddam metaphysic\u00e6 stultiti\u00e6_. Father\nTongiorgi does not accept this doctrine, and seems to be persuaded\nthat his arguments in favor of chemical atomism are unanswerable and\ndestructive of the ancient theory. Gonzales discusses successively the\nsystems of the atomists and the dynamists, and those go-betweens whom\nhe calls atomistico-dynamists; and they are successively dismissed as\nincomplete or erroneous. Then the old scholastic or Aristotelian\nsystem is clearly and beautifully represented. There are changes going\non in nature which are observed by all. Substances are corrupted and\nsubstances are generated; the corruption of one is the generation of\nanother. These changes are called substantial mutations. And yet, in\nspite of all these changes, something remains ever the same. When wood\nis turned into fire, fire into ashes, these into earth, earth into\nvegetable or mineral substances, there is always something that\nremains unaltered in its essence. What is this thing? It is primary\nmatter (_materia prima_). What is it that makes the change when wood\nbecomes fire, or earth, or a stone? It is the new substantial form\nwhich succeeds the one that has departed by corruption. In scholastic\nlanguage, the matter has changed its form.\n\nAs matter is something not knowable of itself, and could not exist,\neven by a miracle, without being actuated or perfected by substantial\nforms, it follows that its essence can be but vaguely understood. For\nthe same reason, a scientific definition of it is not possible. Hence\nAristotle thought it profitable to give a negative definition of it:\n_Nec quid, nec quale, nec quantum, nec aliquid eorum per qu\u00e6 ens\ndeterminatur_. We have known this definition to excite the\nirrepressible merriment of several. Some people have the faculty of\nbeing able to laugh at will, even when they understand nothing of the\nsubject that tickles them; and such a faculty is sometimes of great\nconvenience. Gonzales defines primary matter as\u2014_realitas\nsubstantialis et incompleta, nullum actum aut formam ex se habens, sed\nqu\u00e6 capacitatem et potentiam habet ad universas formas substantiales_.\nHe defines substantial form. _Realitas substantialis et incompleta,\nmateriam primo actuans ac determinans ad constituendam simul cum ipsa\nsubstantiam complete subsistentem._ Matter is the subject of the form;\nform is the perfection or actuality of matter. It is worth while to\nobserve that Father Liberatore is a firm supporter of this theory.\n\nTo the principal objections, so cleverly put by Father Tongiorgi,\nagainst the Peripatetic system, Gonzales has always a suitable\nrejoinder. After a categoric _respondeo_ to each one severally, he\nmakes some general reflections upon them all which we will try to do\ninto English:\n\n \u201cAlthough no answer were forthcoming to the famous\n objections of Tongiorgi, the scholastic system would\n continue to hold its own in respect of the first principles\n of bodies. Our system regards chiefly bodies which are\n simple, and bodies endowed with life. Now, none of the\n arguments of the Italian philosopher have any reference to\n either of these kinds of bodies. Consequently, they not only\n do not overturn the Peripatetic system of matter and form\n and of substantial generation, but they do not even touch\n the question. The most that can be inferred from his\n arguments is, that substantial generation does not take\n place in respect of inanimate bodies which are compound.\n Now, these compound bodies can be considered merely as\n bodies which are imperfect in unity of nature and substance,\n and as such they belong to that class of bodies which were\n styled by the old scholastics _mixta imperfecta_.\u201d\n\nThe rest of the treatise of Ontology is well handled, especially that\nwhich regards the principle and manifestations of life. It is here\nthat we observed a distinction we have before mentioned. The _anima_\nof the brute creation is immaterial _negative_ and _similitudinarie_,\nfor its operations transcend the conditions of matter; it is material\n_positive_, because it exists and acts only in dependence on matter.\n\nThe tractate of Theodicy is good, and contains in a short compass all\nthat is necessary for the course of the young philosopher. As was to\nbe expected of a Dominican author, the questions which have come to be\nregarded as distinctive of the schools of the order\u2014_v.g._, _pr\u00e6motio\nphysica_ and predestination _ante pr\u00e6visa merita_\u2014are taught and\ndefended with the most able of available arguments.\n\nIn the third volume we have first of all a treatise of Ethics, which\nis interesting and contains much that is of importance for our own\ndays. The duty of regulating our conduct according to the law of\nreason and of God, by the commands of the church, of our civil rulers,\nof society, is well set forth, and the superiority of Christian\nmorality to all others is proved. We only regret that the treatise is\nnot longer.\n\nThe latter part of the third volume gives an excellent epitome of the\nhistory of philosophy. This history is divided into two periods. The\nfirst starts with the beginnings of philosophy and continues to the\ntime of Christ, _in quo instaurata sunt omnia_. It is subdivided into\nthree epochs: the first from the beginning of philosophy to its\nintroduction into Greece; the second, from that time to the days of\nSocrates; the third, from Socrates to Christ. The second period is\nfrom the time of Christ to our days, and has likewise three epochs:\nthe first, from the early ages of Christianity to the time of\nCharlemagne; the second, from Charlemagne to the Renaissance of the\nfifteenth century; the third, from thence to our own time. For a\nliterary student this short history is very valuable. All the systems\nof philosophy that can be thought of are sketched in their principal\ncharacters, with a short notice of their originators and champions.\nFather Gonzales does not weary his readers with a special refutation\nof each particular system; this is unnecessary after having taught his\nprinciples so well in the didactic essays. About fifty systems of the\nperiod before Christ are briefly stated, and above a hundred and fifty\nof those which have appeared since. This short history is evidently\nthe result of very extensive reading.\n\nAs a student\u2019s manual, we know of nothing more complete than the\n_Philosophia Elementaria_ of Bishop Gonzales. It is an excellent\ncourse, both for the young cleric who is preparing for the study of\nthe scholastics, and for the secular youth about to take his place in\nthe world. The style of writing is simple, but by no means devoid of\nelegance. Spanish writers who have been trained in the schools of\nMelchior Cano have never been at a loss to express their thoughts in a\nbecoming form.\n\nWe have heard many regrets that there was no modern text-book of\nphilosophy of the school of Goudin. This want is now fully supplied by\nGonzales, and it will be doubly satisfied when the rest of the volumes\nof Lepidi\u2019s _Elementa Philosophi\u00e6 Christian\u00e6_ have appeared. We do not\nsay that Goudin will become unnecessary; the serious student will\nstill continue to consult him. But there can be no doubt that\nGonzales\u2019 work is more adapted to the times. It is also more terse,\nmore interesting, more suitable to captivate the minds of youthful\nstudents. We hope that what we have said may help to make Bishop\nGonzales more known among us. He has published a remarkable work in\nhis own mother tongue, _Estudios sobre la Filosofia de Santo Tomas_,\nwhich would be productive of good if it were translated into English.\n\n\n [104] _Philosophia Elementaria ad usum Academic\u00e6\n ac pr\u00e6sertim Ecclesiastic\u00e6 Juventutis._ Opera et\n studio R. P. Fr. Zephyrini Gonzales, Ordinis\n Pr\u00e6dicatorum. Matriti apud Polycarpum Lopez,\n Cava-Baja, 19. MDCCCLXVIII.\n\n _Philosophia juxta inconcussa tutissimaque D. Thom\u00e6\n Dogmata._ Auctore P. F. Antonio Goudin, Ordinis\n Pr\u00e6dicatorum. Editio novissima. Urbevetere: Pr\u00e6lis\n speraindeo pompei. 1859.\n\n [105] The writer was talking recently with a clergyman\n of the Anglican Establishment, who gave it as his\n opinion that the _Summa Theologica_ was not worth\n studying, \u201cbecause it was based on the false decretals\n of Isidore.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE DEVOUT CHAPEL OF NOTRE DAME DE B\u00c9THARRAM.\n\n \u201cTu mihi, Virgo parens, in carmine suggere vires\n Audacesque animos et grandibus annue coeptis.\u201d\n \u2014_Pierre de la Bastide._\n\n\n_La d\u00e9vote chapelle de Notre Dame de B\u00e9tharram_, about ten miles from\nLourdes on the way to Pau, has been for eight hundred years the most\nrenowned sanctuary in B\u00e9arn, and, to quote St. Vincent of Paul, \u201cthe\nsecond, or at least the third, most frequented in the kingdom.\u201d\nFounded by the Crusaders, endowed by kings and nobles, favored by\nsupernatural graces, the favorite resort of the poor and afflicted,\nsung by poets, and its history written by learned men, it has every\nclaim on the interest of the pious heart.\n\nWe left Lourdes one pleasant morning in September in advance of a\nlarge pilgrimage from Marseilles, that we might have an opportunity of\nexamining the church of B\u00e9tharram at our leisure. The railway runs\nalong the valley of the Gave, leaving at the left the sacred grotto of\nMassabielle and the fair church of the Immaculate Conception, which\nstand in full view on the further shore. We passed the forest of\nLourdes at the right, and in fifteen minutes came to the little\nvillage of St. P\u00e9\u2014_Sanctus Petrus de Generoso_, as the old chronicles\ncall it\u2014on a bend of the river, shut in by the mountains. Keeping\nalong in sight of the clear, green current of the Gave, everywhere the\nmost wayward, the most picturesque, and most fascinating of rivers, we\ncame, in ten minutes after leaving the narrow gorge of St. P\u00e9, to the\nstation of Montaut-B\u00e9tharram, where, away to the left, we could see\nthe cross on the Calvary, and the domes of the white oratories of the\nPassion gleaming among the trees on its sides. The _Devout Chapel of\nNotre Dame de B\u00e9tharram_ is at the foot of the mount, on the further\nbank of the Gave, and wholly shut out of sight. A straight road leads\nto it from the station, which is about half a mile distant. The bridge\nthat spans the river with a bold arch is extremely picturesque, the\nsides of the arch being completely covered with ivy, which trails to\nthe very water and lines the steep banks. Nothing could be more\nromantic. Trees lean pensively over the limpid stream, and flowers\nbloom along the shore. The Gave, as the poet of B\u00e9tharram remarks,\nafter rushing through the broad valley with impetuous haste,\nthreatening to overflow the meadows with its swelling current,\nsuddenly slackens its speed as it approaches the chapel of the Virgin,\nand flows gently by with a murmur of softest homage. Opposite the\nbridge is a long range of monastic-looking buildings with narrow\nwindows and thick walls, the asylum of meditation and prayer.\nConnected therewith is the church, which stands with its side to the\nriver, facing the west. The front, of Pyrenean marble, is adorned with\nwhite marble statues of the Evangelists with their emblems\u2014two each\nside of the mild-eyed Virgin who stands above the open door treading\nthe serpent beneath her feet.\n\nIt being early in the afternoon, we found the church delightfully\nquiet. There were only a few persons at prayer, and, having paid our\nvows at the altar of Our Lady, we proceeded to examine the building\nand recall its varied history. The interior of the church consists of\na nave and two aisles. The latter are literally lined with\nconfessionals. The clerestory walls are covered with paintings\nsupported by gigantic caryatides amid a profusion of gilding and\nornament somewhat Spanish in character. The whole effect is imposing,\nand there is an impressive air of antiquity and gloom about the\nchurch, though it was rebuilt only two centuries ago. The Madonna, a\nmodern production, by Renoir, a pupil of Pradier, is over the high\naltar in the centre of a reredos, rich with gilding and carving, which\nextends to the very arches. At the end of the right aisle is the\nchapel of the _Pastoure_, so called from the bas-relief depicting the\nlegend of the shepherds who discovered the Virgin of B\u00e9tharram.\n\nThe devotion to _Notre Dame de B\u00e9tharram_, so popular all through the\nPyrenees, is supposed to have arisen in the eleventh century\u2014an age of\nsimple faith, when God loved to manifest the wonders of his grace. The\nchurch is fondly believed by many to have been founded by the\nCrusaders, who perhaps gave it its pleasing Oriental name. Gaston IV.,\na prince of the Merovingian race, noted for his devotion to the\nBlessed Virgin, then reigned in B\u00e9arn. One of the bravest warriors who\nwent to the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, he directed the construction\nof the war-machines before the walls of Jerusalem, and was one of the\nfirst to commence the assault at the side of Godfrey of Bouillon.\n\nWe are chiefly dependent on the ancient traditions of the province for\nthe early history of B\u00e9tharram, as the old church was burned down by\nthe Huguenots. One of the legends attributes the name of B\u00e9tharram to\na miraculous occurrence. A young girl, who was one day gathering\nflowers on the banks of the Gave, accidentally fell into the stream\nand was carried away by the current. She instinctively cried to the\nVirgin for assistance, who instantly appeared, holding out a leafy\nbranch, by which she was drawn to the shore. The girl gratefully\noffered her celestial protectress a _beautiful branch_\u2014or, to use the\nlanguage of B\u00e9arn, a _beth arram_\u2014of gold.\n\n \u201c\u2018Youb\u2019 offri dounc ma b\u00e8re arrame;\n Qu\u00e9 l\u2019ab\u2019 d\u00e9palisi s\u00f9s l\u2019a\u00fcta;\n Y-mey que hey bot en moun ame\n Qu\u2019aci daban bous, Nouste Dame,\n Gna\u00fct _beth arram_ que lusira.\u201d\n\nThat is to say, literally:\n\n \u201cI offer you, then, my golden bough,\n Which I lay on the altar divine;\n Furthermore, in my inmost soul I vow,\n In this blest place, O Mother of Grace!\n For ever a _beautiful branch_ shall shine.\u201d\n\nLa Bastide, the poet-priest of B\u00e9tharram in the time of the Fronde, is\nthe first writer to mention this derivation, which furnishes him with\na comparison to illustrate the mysterious effects of divine grace:\n\u201cThis name signifies, in the language of the country, a _beau\nrameau_\u2014a beautiful branch\u2014planted on the shore of the Gave by the\naugust Virgin, yielding fruit of a delicious savor that serves for the\nnourishment of souls.\u201d[106]\n\nThe old legends say a girl of the neighboring village of Lestelle,\nnamed Raymonde, predicted the erection of a church on this spot in\nhonor of _Nouste Dame_, but her prophecy was scoffed at, even by her\nown parents. Not long after, some children, who were amusing\nthemselves at the foot of the hill of B\u00e9tharram while tending their\nflocks, saw a bright flame among the sharp rocks on the banks of the\nriver, in the very place where now stands the high altar of the Devout\nChapel. Like the mysterious bush on Mount Horeb, it burned intensely\nwithout consuming the thicket around. After a moment of stupefaction\nthe little shepherds timidly approached, and what was their\nastonishment to behold in the midst of the flames a beautiful statue\nof the Virgin and Child! They fell down before it in pious reverence,\nand then hurried away to Lestelle to relate the wonderful event. The\ninhabitants ran in crowds to the place, followed by the priest in his\nwhite surplice, who fell on his knees amid the prostrate throng and\nbent his face to the ground before the marvellous image.\n\nAs the place was rocky and apparently unsuitable for a chapel, the\npeople proceeded to construct a small niche at the further end of the\nbridge, to which the priest carried the statue amid the joyous shouts\nof the people. But it was not there that Mary chose to be honored, and\nthe following day the niche was discovered to be vacant, and the\nmiraculous Virgin standing on the rocks where she originally appeared.\nShe was taken back, but, mysteriously returning again and again, the\npeople of Lestelle concluded to transport her to their village church,\nwhich they did with great pomp, and carefully fastened her in, that\nthey might ascertain whether she had been moved by human agency or\nsome higher power. In spite of this precaution, the statue was again\nfound at dawn on the rocks of B\u00e9tharram. Then Raymonde took courage\nonce more, and declared this was the spot the _Reyne de\u00fc Ce\u00fc_ had\nchosen for her sanctuary. Again the people began to laugh at her\nrevelations, but she now spoke with authority, and, moved by divine\ninspiration, threatened them with a terrible chastisement if they\nrefused to obey the command. And, as if to give force to her words,\nwhile they stood hesitating a sudden cloud appeared in the sky, from\nwhich fell a torrent of hailstones. The people cried to heaven for\npardon and mercy, and immediately vowed to erect the chapel.\n\nThe learned Abb\u00e9 Menjoulet of Bayonne thinks the church of B\u00e9tharram\nwas built in the eleventh or early in the twelfth century, from the\nstyle of the portions still to be found here and there in the modern\nbuilding. It certainly existed long before the ascendancy of the\nHuguenot party in B\u00e9arn, and had been for ages regarded as the holiest\nspot in the land. Pierre de Marca says its remote origin is lost in\nobscurity. The distinguished Jesuit, P\u00e8re Poir\u00e9, in his _Triple\nCouronne de la M\u00e8re de Dieu_, thinks it of a later date, but he had\nnever visited it in person. His account was derived from a magistrate\nof Pau. He says the ancient pilgrims, as soon as they came in sight of\nthe Devout Chapel, fell on their knees, and completed their pilgrimage\nin this way with a lighted torch in their hands. Cures without number\nwere wrought, the divine anger stayed, and whole armies put to flight\nat the intercession of the _Boune Bierge_ of B\u00e9tharram. The walls were\nhung with the crutches of the paralytic, the chains of liberated\nprisoners, and the wax limbs given by those who had been healed, many\nof which offerings resisted the flames, and were found after the\ndestruction of the church by the emissaries of Jeanne d\u2019Albret.\n\nThis princess cherished a lively resentment against the Holy See on\naccount of the alliance of Julius II. with Ferdinand the Catholic,\nwhich she thought led to the conquest of Navarre, to the injury of the\nhouse of Albret. After dissimulating her sentiments for some time, she\nthrew off the mask and subjected the Catholics of B\u00e9arn to a violent\npersecution. Montgomery was the agent of her vengeance, and he was\nwell fitted for the work. It was in 1569 that, on his destructive\nround through the country, he came to the sanctuary of B\u00e9tharram,\nwhich he laid waste. The miraculous Virgin, however, was saved, and,\nafter being hidden for some time at Lestelle, was carried to Spain,\nwhere it became an object of veneration under the name of _Nuestra\nSe\u00f1ora la Gasconne_.\n\nDuring this sad time, in which Mary\u2019s altar lay desolate, there were\nmarked instances of divine manifestation. By night the ruins were\noften seen lit up with a wonderful light, as of many torches, and the\nsound of angelic music was heard. The crumbling walls preserved their\nmiraculous virtues, and unhappy mothers came with their sick children\nin the night-watches to pray among the ruins, and returned joyfully in\nthe morning bearing the evidence of their answered petitions with\nthem.\n\nAs soon as it was safe to do so, the inhabitants of Lestelle, in spite\nof their poverty, hastened to restore the church of their _Bonne\nVierge_, who, for more than half a century, had preserved them from\nthe contagion of heresy. Not a person in the place had joined the\nHuguenots, and it was the only village in B\u00e9arn where Catholic\nservices had been maintained.\n\nLeonard de Trappes was at this time archbishop of Auch, the\nmetropolitan see. He was one of the most distinguished prelates of\nFrance, and honored with the confidence of Henry IV. A man of ardent\npiety, and solicitous for the spiritual welfare of his flock, he\nfounded a congregation of missionaries for the wants of his diocese,\nand established them at _Notre Dame de Garaison_ under the charge of\nPierre Geoffroy, who devoted his whole fortune to the work. Louis\nXIII. having granted permission for rebuilding the church of\nB\u00e9tharram, Geoffroy resolved to celebrate the event by a grand\npilgrimage to this ancient shrine. He had trained a choir of\nmountaineers, whose superb voices greatly added to the solemnities of\nGaraison. Taking these men with him, Geoffroy set out with six priests\nfor B\u00e9arn, in those days a fatiguing journey. Every one represented to\nhim the danger of venturing into a country still in a state of\nagitation, but, in spite of some insults and threats on the part of\nthe Calvinists, he pressed on, joined here and there by a band of\nCatholics, who at last numbered several thousand. Among them were the\nBaron and Baroness de Miossens from the Ch\u00e2teau de Coarraze, and many\nnobles.\n\nIt was a fine spring morning when this grand procession appeared on\nthe banks of the Gave. The valley resounded with the glad hymns of the\nmountaineers of Garaison, in which the vast multitude joined with the\nutmost enthusiasm. The hill of B\u00e9tharram was literally covered with\npeople from the neighboring towns, who, when they caught sight of the\nimmense procession coming to reopen the church of their beloved\nVirgin, burst into tears and acclamations of joy. Geoffroy celebrated\nMass in the church, and afterwards preached to five thousand people on\nthe public square of Lestelle. This was forty-six years after the\ndestruction of the sanctuary.\n\nThe niche of the Virgin was still empty. Mgr. de Trappes resolved to\nsupply the deficiency, and had a new statue carved out of wood in the\nstyle of the old one, which he took to B\u00e9tharram himself. It was in\nJuly, 1616, he set out from Garaison with a numerous escort of\npriests. Passing through Lourdes, he stopped at St. P\u00e9, whence he\ncontinued on foot, followed by all the monks, a vast number of priests\nfrom Bigorre and B\u00e9arn, all the nobility of the country, and an\ninnumerable crowd of people with crosses and banners, carrying the new\nstatue of the Virgin and filling the air with their hymns in her\nhonor. Among them was Pierre de Marca.\n\nThe archbishop set up the votive Madonna over the high altar, and\ncelebrated Mass in the presence of six thousand persons.[107] He\nremained several days at B\u00e9tharram, administered the sacrament of\nconfirmation, received several Huguenots into the fold, and erected an\nimmense wooden cross on the summit of the mount, as if he had a\nforesight of its future consecration to the divine Passion. He always\ncherished a delightful recollection of his pilgrimage, and when he\ndied he bequeathed to the church a silver lamp, with a fund to supply\nit with oil to burn continually before the Virgin he had given to\nB\u00e9tharram.\n\nPierre de Marca, whom we find here with the Archbishop of Auch, was\nthe learned author of the _Antiquities of B\u00e9arn_. He was made\ncounsellor of state under Richelieu, and conceived so great a devotion\nto _Notre Dame de B\u00e9tharram_ that he became the historian of the\nchapel. He studied its past traditions, and recorded a vast number of\nmiracles that occurred here, with the names, dates, and other\nparticulars, often taken from the lips of the persons themselves, many\nof whom belonged to the nobility of B\u00e9arn, Guienne, and Languedoc, and\nsworn to by reliable witnesses in the presence of the chaplains and\nmagistrates. He relates that not long after the visit of Mgr. de\nTrappes, five villagers of Montaut, while eating their noontide meal\non a little hillock in the valley, struck by a noise, as of a furious\nwind, looked towards the Mount of B\u00e9tharram, and saw the cross planted\non its summit suddenly wrenched from its place and thrown on the\nground, and then, as if by its own might, rise again to its former\nposition, crowned with a mysterious light.[108]\n\nThis miraculous occurrence merits the more particular attention\nbecause it led to the construction of the famous Calvary, which\ncontinues to attract pilgrims to this day. It happened about the time\nLouis XIII. re-established the Catholic religion in B\u00e9arn, and was,\nsays Marca, one of the causes that determined him to go in person to\nPau, from which time he cherished a special affection for B\u00e9tharram\nand became one of its benefactors.\n\nA month after the facts of the case were established, the town of\nLestelle gave the hill of B\u00e9tharram to the church. The bishop of the\ndiocese now induced Hubert Charpentier to take charge of the Devout\nChapel. He was a licentiate of the Sorbonne, for some time a professor\nof philosophy at Bordeaux, then a missionary at _Notre Dame de\nGaraison_, where he distinguished himself by his zeal and eloquence in\nthe pulpit, and afterwards, devoted to charitable works, director of\nthe city hospital at Bordeaux. He was appointed grand chaplain of\nB\u00e9tharram in 1621, and had six minor chaplains given him to aid in the\nwork. The first sight of the holy sanctuary and the mountain above\nmade a particular impression on his mind. Studying the traditions and\nfeatures of the place, he was struck with the miracle of the Cross and\nthe general resemblance of the neighborhood to the environs of\nJerusalem. The mountain of B\u00e9tharram was higher than that of Olives;\nthe valley at the foot more extensive than that of Josaphat; and the\nGave a more abundant stream than the Cedron. He conceived the idea of\nbuilding a succession of oratories along the side of the hill, in\nwhich should be depicted the principal scenes of the Passion, and\ncrowning the summit with three crosses and a chapel of the Holy\nSepulchre. To every one the project seemed like a divine inspiration,\nwhich he afterwards modestly confessed was the fact. About this time\nan abbess of St. Clare related to him that, when she first entered the\nconvent at Mont-de-Marsan, she found an old nun of eighty years of\nage, a native of the vicinity of B\u00e9tharram, who was fond of describing\nthe glories of the miraculous chapel before the rise of heresy in\nB\u00e9arn, and said the place was called the Holy Land.\n\nCharpentier\u2019s proposition was received with so much enthusiasm that,\non Good Friday, 1623, a Christ on the Cross was solemnly set up,\nbetween the two thieves, on the summit of the mount, and the oratories\nof the Passion were at once begun. Louis XIII. built the Chapel of St.\nLouis, with two cells and a gallery looking off over the beautiful\nvalley to the gorge of St. P\u00e9. To ensure the quiet solitude of\nB\u00e9tharram, he forbade the building of any inn or public-house in the\nneighborhood, and at his death bequeathed three thousand livres to the\nchurch.\n\nMarie de Medicis and Anne of Austria also became its benefactors, as\nwell as Louis XIV., who took pleasure in his youth in reading Marca\u2019s\n_Trait\u00e9 des Merveilles op\u00e9r\u00e9es en la Chapelle Notre Dame du Calvaire\nde B\u00e9tharram_. Charpentier himself gave all he possessed. Madame de\nGramont, Madame de Lauzun, and the Countess de Brienne also brought\ntheir offerings. La Bastide writes: \u201cI have seen the great ones of the\nearth rivalling each other in the magnificence of their offerings to\nthis august sanctuary.\u201d\n\nIt is time we should speak of the poet of B\u00e9tharram\u2014Pierre de La\nBastide, a native of the diocese of Auch, who now became associated\nwith the labors of Charpentier. His poems are in Latin. He is a\ngraceful writer, with a pleasing cadence in his lines. His poem on\n_Notre Dame de B\u00e9tharram_ is at once historic and descriptive. It is\ndivided into four parts, giving the history of the foundation, a\ndescription of the Calvary and surrounding region, a _r\u00e9sum\u00e9_ of the\nmiracles in the Devout Chapel, and a picture of the life of the\nchaplains. The poem is at once brilliant, pleasing, and picturesque,\nand of great value to all who would study the history and spirit of\nthe place.\n\nIt was at B\u00e9tharram La Bastide translated into Latin verse the French\npoem of Arnauld d\u2019Andilly on the life of Christ, which was such an\nevent in the literary world when it first appeared in 1634. At that\ntime the graver part of society thought nothing serious could be\nexpressed in the form of French poetry, and the religious held it in\nhorror. D\u2019Andilly broke loose from this prejudice, and, as he says in\nhis preface, \u201cabandoned the illusory praises of profane love to use\nthe charms of poesy in depicting the life of Christ, in order to\nattract pious hearts by placing before their eyes a picture of the\nwonderful things wrought for our redemption.\u201d[109]\n\nLa Bastide is not the only poet to sing the praises of Our Lady of the\nBeautiful Branch. M. Bataille, a few years since, received from the\nArch\u00e6ological Society of B\u00e9arn a silver bough for his charming\npoetical version of the legend in the B\u00e9arnais language, which he hung\nup over the altar of the Virgin.\n\nThe Calvary of B\u00e9tharram became dear to all who loved to retrace the\noverwhelming mysteries of the Redemption. The sorrowful way up the\nmount\u2019s steep sides seemed to them\n\n \u201cA road where aiding angels came.\u201d\n\nEvery station was marked by some memory of God\u2019s special grace. It was\nin the dim, shadowy oratory of the Garden of Olives a merchant from\nGrenade-sur-Adour was delivered from the adversary of souls. Further\non, where Christ was represented blindfolded, a poor woman recovered\nher sight after seven years\u2019 blindness. At the Holy Tomb where lay the\nsacred Body embalmed\n\n \u201cIn spices from the golden shore,\u201d\n\nthe sick obtained renewed life and the grace to give out henceforth\nthe sweet odor of piety and good works. And so on. The very shadow of\nChrist Suffering seemed to have power. Fifteen thousand pilgrims often\ncame here in a year\u2014a great number for a remote mountain chapel, less\naccessible in former days. Marca relates that M. de Gassion, a zealous\nCalvinist of Pau, came to B\u00e9tharram to behold the superstitions he\nsupposed practised on the mount, but he was so touched by the devotion\nhe witnessed that he was impelled to pray at every station, and thank\nGod he had inspired his ministers with so pious and praiseworthy a\nproject.\n\nThe chaplains established a confraternity of the Holy Cross, composed\nof laymen animated with a special love for our crucified Lord, which\nbecame so numerous that Pope Urban VIII. accorded many indulgences to\nall who belonged to it. Several of its members retired wholly from\nsecular pursuits to the solemn gloom of this Mount of the Passion as\nto \u201ca holy tower against the world,\u201d that, by self-chastening rod,\nvigil, and fast, they might subdue the baser instincts of their nature\nand put on Christ and him crucified. What ineffable nights they must\nhave spent beneath the oaks of B\u00e9tharram watching with tearful eyes\nthe Divine Sufferer in the Garden or treading with bleeding feet the\nrough Way of the Cross!\n\nThere were many of these hermits\u2019 cells on the shaggy sides of the\nmount. First, there was St. Bernard\u2019s cell, built by the Baron de\nPoyane, a brave soldier who was governor of Navarrenx under Louis\nXIII., who had the holy life of the Abbot of Clairvaux painted on its\nwalls. A little higher was St. Cyprian\u2019s cell, the favorite retreat of\nLa Bastide, with a little terrace and stone steps leading down to the\nchurch. Then came the cell of St. Francis de Paul, for persons of rank\nwho wished to pass a limited time in solitude on the mount. It stood\nbelow the chapel of St. Louis and commanded a lovely view of the plain\nof Montaut. Its foundations are still to be seen supporting a pretty\nhanging garden. St. Anthony\u2019s cell was encrusted among the sharp rocks\nthat served as a foundation to the chapel of Louis XIII.\u2014a formidable\ncliff, bare in winter, but in summer covered with vines that surpassed\nthe most beautiful tapestry. On its top was suspended the royal chapel\namong the verdant trees. Behind the church was St. Joseph\u2019s hermitage,\nfor a long time the only dwelling of the chaplains, where also were\nlodged the infirm who came for succor to the Virgin of B\u00e9tharram. Near\nthe oratory of the Garden of Olives were the cells of St. Stephen, St.\nAnne, and St. Francis. A little above was the votive cell of St. Roch,\nbuilt by the citizens of Mont-de-Marsan at the time of a great plague.\nHere was a little spring which still supplies the pretty fount of St.\nRoch near the entrance of the church. On the summit of the mountain\nwas a small cell, beside the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, where for\nmore than two hundred years lived a succession of hermits who, buried\nwith their Lord, gave themselves up to a life of contemplation. The\nlast one died in 1857.\n\nLouis XIII., in authorizing the Calvary of B\u00e9tharram, wished there\nwere many others like it in his kingdom, and requested Charpentier to\nestablish one on Mount Valerian, near Paris. This holy priest, whose\nsoul was devoured with longing to extend the devotion to the\nsufferings of Christ, was struck with the grand idea of setting up the\ncross over the splendors of the capital and displaying the emblems of\nthe Passion in sight of the gay city, as a constant reproach to its\npleasure-loving people. Charpentier tore himself away from his beloved\nB\u00e9tharram. At Paris he was hospitably welcomed to the house of the\npious Countess de Brienne, who took pleasure in conversing with him on\nthe things of eternity, and said she had no greater enjoyment than\nthis holy intercourse.\n\nThe devotion to Calvary took root in Paris. Richelieu favored the\nwork. Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld lent his aid. Louis XIV. authorized\nthe consecration of the mount; and the Archbishop of Paris approved of\nthe congregation of the _Pr\u00eatres du Calvaire_, similar to that in\nB\u00e9arn.\n\nAs soon as Charpentier arrived at Paris, in 1633, he became the object\nof the most flattering attentions on the part of the Port-Royalists,\nthen under the direction of a priest from Bayonne\u2014the famous Abb\u00e9 St.\nCyran, a man of an ardent, austere nature, who at that time seemed\ndevoted to the revival of Christian and ecclesiastical discipline.\nNothing must be inferred against the orthodoxy of Charpentier or La\nBastide on account of their innocent relations with Port Royal. Not\nthe least suspicion ever rested on their orthodoxy. Charpentier was\noccupied in good works rather than controversy. He died on Mount\nValerian, with a reputation for extraordinary sanctity, December 10,\n1650, three years before the _Augustinus_ was condemned by the Holy\nSee. His body was found, without any trace of corruption, in 1802. His\nheart, at his own request, was sent to the church of _Notre Dame de\nB\u00e9tharram_, where it is enclosed in the wall on the epistle side of\nthe chancel. The place is marked by a tablet of black marble, on which\nis the inscription: \u201c_Ici est le c\u0153ur de Hubert Charpentier, fondateur\ndu Calvaire_.\u201d\n\nThe most distinguished chaplain of B\u00e9tharram in the eighteenth century\nwas the Abb\u00e9 Cassiet, for several years connected with the Canadian\nmission. It seemed strange in this distant mountain chapel of B\u00e9arn to\ncome upon the traces of an old American missionary, and a natural\ncuriosity was felt to know something of his history. We cannot forbear\nthe pleasure of giving it pretty nearly as related by M. l\u2019Abb\u00e9 S\u00e9bie,\nthe _cur\u00e9_ of Montaut, from details given by the nephews of M.\nCassiet, now living at an advanced age in that place.\n\nM. Pierre Cassiet was born at Montaut, in the Landes, in 1727. He made\nhis preparatory studies at the seminary of Agen, and, feeling a strong\ndesire to devote himself to the work of foreign missions, entered the\n_S\u00e9minaire des Missions Etrang\u00e8res_ at Paris, the superior of which\nwas also from the diocese of Aire. He was at first destined for the\nmission of Cochin China, but a few days before the time fixed for his\ndeparture a missionary intended for Canada falling ill, it was\nproposed that the Abb\u00e9 Cassiet should take his place. He consented and\nwent to Canada, where he remained nine years, till the country was\nceded to the English by the treaty of Versailles, February, 1763. At\nthe time of his arrival the see of Quebec was vacant, and the diocese\nwas governed by M. de Lalanne, likewise a native of Montaut, who,\nafter sixteen years of useful labor, returned to France and died\nsuperior of the seminary at Dax, about the year 1775, beloved and\nhonored by every one.[110]\n\nIn Canada M. Cassiet had charge of the parish of St. Louis, where the\nfestivals of the church were celebrated with as much splendor as in\nEurope. He was successful in winning the confidence of his\nparishioners. He mingled among them, interested himself in their\npursuits, taught the natives the culture of many useful vegetables and\nthe raising of domestic animals. As there was regular commercial\nintercourse with Bordeaux and Bayonne, he was able to procure many\nserviceable things from his native land.\n\nWhen the English took possession of Canada they called together all\nthe French priests in the country, wishing, they said, to regulate\ntheir relations with the new authorities. Several of them had a\npresentiment of evil, among whom was Abb\u00e9 Cassiet, who buried the\nsacred vessels in the ground, packed his trunk, and took a faithful\nservant with him. The treaty of Versailles stipulated the maintenance\nand protection of the Catholic religion, that the French priests\nshould receive an annual salary from the English government, and be\nallowed to continue the exercise of their ministry under the direction\nof the bishop of Quebec. This treaty, according to the French\naccounts, was kept with Punic faith, though the English deny, or at\nleast greatly extenuate, the atrocious _coup de main_ so contrary to\nthe law of nations, to say nothing of humanity and religion. One\nhundred and sixty-six French priests assembled at Quebec, according to\norders. They were surrounded by troops, seized, and put on board a\nship, which was instantly ordered to set sail for Europe. Nothing\ncould exceed the inhumanity with which these martyr-priests were\ntreated during the voyage by the brutal and fanatic Englishmen who had\ncharge of them. Anchoring at Plymouth, England, they kept their\nprisoners on board for three months. They did not massacre them, but,\nwith the most refined barbarism, subjected them to all the tortures of\nhunger and thirst. Their rations were reduced to an insufficient\nquantity to sustain life, and the distribution of water was delayed\nevery day, till they were extenuated by the privation. Thirst killed\nmore than hunger, and, when the ship at last touched at Morlaix in\nBrittany, of the one hundred and sixty-six priests who left Canada,\nonly five remained, and these were barely alive. M. Cassiet was of the\nnumber. He had the sorrow of losing his faithful Canadian on the way,\nand was himself so low that he lost his senses and was speechless. He\nwas taken charge of by a lady at Morlaix, who, for some days, only\nsustained his life under horrible sufferings by infusing a few drops\nof honey from time to time into his mouth.\n\nHis health re-established in a measure, he proceeded to Paris to\nreport himself at the _Missions Etrang\u00e8res_, where his condition\nexcited general sympathy. The government, though too weak to demand\nsatisfaction from the English, promised him a pension of six hundred\nlivres a year. Thence he went to Rome, where he was received with the\nrespect due to his sufferings for the faith.\n\nAfter his return to Montaut, finding his pension not forthcoming, he\nresolved to go to Paris again to claim it. Accordingly he bought one\nof the small horses of the Landes for twenty crowns, and proceeded by\nshort stages to the capital. He put up at the _Missions Etrang\u00e8res_ as\nusual, but was disappointed to find the court at Versailles, as well\nas the Abb\u00e9 de Jarente, who had the portfolio of benefices and\npensions, and formed part of the king\u2019s household. M. Cassiet,\nundiscouraged, set out again the next morning on his way for\nVersailles. He little suspected the dramatic manner in which he was to\npresent himself at the palace. Crossing a bridge, his horse,\nfrightened at meeting a carriage, took the bit between his teeth and\nsprang forward like lightning. Our cavalier lost his hat, _calotte_,\nwhip, and everything not secured to his person. In short, it was a\nrepetition of the famous race of John Gilpin. In this way he was borne\nfull tilt up to the palace gates. M. l\u2019Abb\u00e9 de Jarente, by some\nsingular coincidence, happened to be there, and at once conceived a\nlively interest in the ecclesiastic who arrived at court in so queer a\nplight. M. Cassiet, as soon as his natural excitement was somewhat\nover, explained the cause of his unclerical appearance, and made known\nhis object in coming. His pension was assured; and the Abb\u00e9 de Jarente\nwas so taken with such a feat of horsemanship that he offered a\nhundred crowns for the spirited steed. M. Cassiet, courteous and\ngenerous by nature, at once presented him to the minister, refusing\nany return.\n\nOur Abb\u00e9 was afterwards given a small benefice near Montaut, called\n_Las Prabendes_, but he resigned it in favor of a young priest who\nsubsequently became a Carthusian at Bordeaux. He was then appointed\ncanon of St. Girons de Hagetmau, but he found the life too calm and\nmonotonous after so varied a career, and about the year 1772 he\noffered his services to the community of the _Pr\u00eatres du Calvaire_ at\nB\u00e9tharram. Here he so distinguished himself by his piety, zeal, and\nability that he was soon appointed superior. The house became very\nprosperous under his rule. He put to account the practical knowledge\nof agriculture he had gained in Canada, laid out gardens, orchards,\nand vineyards on the banks of the Gave, and in the course of a few\nyears increased the revenues five-fold. At the same time he infused a\nmissionary spirit among the chaplains, and much of his own zeal in\nwinning souls to Christ.\n\nAbout this time the Abb\u00e9 de Jarente, afterwards Bishop of Orl\u00e9ans,\ncoming to the Pyrenees to breathe the mountain air and try the mineral\nwaters, visited the Devout Chapel of B\u00e9tharram. He was delighted to\nfind here the Abb\u00e9 Cassiet, whom it was impossible to forget. No doubt\nthe story of the horse came up, and the comical way in which he\npresented himself at Versailles. M. de Jarente offered M. Cassiet a\nbenefice of six thousand livres a year without any obligation of\nresidence or service. It was declined, though M. Cassiet no longer\nreceived his pension; but he was finally prevailed upon to accept a\nsmall benefice of one hundred and sixty livres a year in the Vicomt\u00e9\nof Orthez. He was glad, he said, to have wherewith to shoe and clothe\nhimself without being at any expense to his congregation. His brother\npresented B\u00e9tharram with ten thousand livres, on condition that the\nchaplains should give a mission every ten years at Montaut.\n\nThe Revolution brought mourning to this peaceful mountain chapel, and\nM. Cassiet, after trying in vain to propitiate the authorities, became\nfor the second time a confessor of the faith and sought refuge in\nSpain. Somewhere in Biscay he met the Abb\u00e9 St. Marc, a young _cur\u00e9_\nfrom Grenade-sur-l\u2019Adour, also in exile, and persuaded him to go to\nthe Canadian mission, where he remained several years, but finally\ndied in 1845, at the age of ninety-one, at Mont-de-Marsan, where his\nmemory is still honored.\n\nWhen the Catholic religion was re-established in France, the Abb\u00e9\nCassiet returned to his homestead at Montaut, being then too old and\ninfirm to undertake the restoration of B\u00e9tharram. Of the twelve\npriests of Calvary in 1793, only two were living, and they were\nadvanced in years.\n\nM. Cassiet\u2019s last days were quietly spent in his native place. The\nbishop of Bayonne allowed him to say Mass in his own apartments, on\naccount of his infirmities. He died in 1809, aged eighty-two years,\nsurrounded with the love and veneration of all, and was buried at the\nfoot of the cross in the public cemetery of Montaut.\n\nThe church of _Notre Dame de B\u00e9tharram_ was saved from destruction at\nthe time of the Revolution by the efforts of the mayor of the faithful\ntown of Lestelle; but he was obliged to abandon the Calvary to its\nfury. The oratories were demolished, the statues broken to pieces, the\npaintings torn up, and the holy Way of the Cross rendered a _Via\nDolorosa_ indeed. When the sacred image of Christ on the Cross was\noverthrown, a swarm of bees issued from the opening in the side, and\none of hornets from that of the impenitent thief. An unhappy\nindividual who had the audacity to knock off the head of the Virgin at\nthe chapel of the Holy Sepulchre became from that moment the object of\ndivine malediction, and some time after was beheaded.\n\nThe sacraments of the church were administered at Lestelle during this\nsad period by P\u00e8re Joseph, a Franciscan friar, who sought in anything\nbut \u201cFranciscan weeds to pass disguised.\u201d His various escapes from\ndanger have become almost legendary. Wherever there was a person in\ndanger of death or a child to be baptized, he suddenly made his\nappearance, and then as mysteriously disappeared\u2014concealed, no doubt,\nby the good people of the village. Nine of the citizens purchased the\nhill of B\u00e9tharram, and some others the church. They were redeemed by\nthe ecclesiastical authorities as soon as better days arrived, and a\n_Petit S\u00e9minaire_ was established in the residence and hospice. Here\nwas educated Bertrand Lawrence, the restorer of _Notre Dame de\nGaraison_, afterwards bishop of Tarbes. The devout chapel was now\nreopened for public devotion; the oratories on the mount were hastily\nrestored and once more frequented, in spite of the rude scenes of the\nPassion painted by the P\u00e8re Joseph.\n\nIn 1823 the Duchess of Angoul\u00eame, accompanied by the bishop of the\ndiocese and a numerous procession of clergy, came here to make the Way\nof the Cross and pray for a blessing on the royal army under the duke\nin Spain. The duchess presented the church with a monstrance of rich\nworkmanship. Four years after her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Berry,\nalso came to B\u00e9tharram, and was received with the same demonstrations\nof joy.\n\nThe most noted chaplain of B\u00e9tharram in this century was a holy Basque\npriest of great austerity\u2014the Abb\u00e9 Garico\u00efts, a genuine Cantabrian, to\nwhom his fellow-priests loved to apply the words of Sidonius\nApollinaris:\n\n \u201cCantaber ante omnes hiemisque, \u00e6tusque, famisque,\n Invictus.\u2026\u201d\n\nHe founded the _Pr\u00eatres du Sacr\u00e9 C\u0153ur_, who continue to serve the\nchurch. He restored the Calvary to its ancient beauty, and repeopled\nits cells. While he was superior of the house the sanctuary was\nvisited by the Abb\u00e9 de Salinis, a distinguished B\u00e9arnais priest, who\nhad inherited a special devotion to _Notre Dame de B\u00e9tharram_. He\nafterwards received the pallium, as archbishop of Auch, at her feet,\nand thenceforth came here regularly to make his annual retreat. It was\nhe who sent Alexander Renoir, a Christian artist imbued with the love\nand spirit of the middle ages, to design the bas-reliefs that now\nadorn the Stations of the Cross. This sculptor spent five years at the\nwork, after passing whole days on the sacred mount looking down on the\nenchanting valley of the Gave and meditating on the scenes he has so\nably depicted in the first eight oratories. His figures are dignified,\nthe faces full of character, and the draperies graceful. The Saviour\nhas everywhere the same superhuman expression. In the Garden of Olives\nhe is supported by an angel whose outspread wings surround him like a\nglory. It is evidently by his own will he suffers himself to be\nsustained. In the Flagellation his face wears a wonderful expression\nof patience; in the Crowning with Thorns, of inexpressible suffering\nand divine submission. He stands in all the majesty of innocence and\nsorrow before Pilate, whose thoughtful, anxious face as he looks at\nhim reveals the struggle within. Perhaps the most touching scene is\nwhen Christ meets his Blessed Mother. The Virgin is kneeling with arms\nyearningly stretched up towards him, with a look of ineffable\ntenderness and pity, and he for an instant seems to forget the weight\nof the overwhelming cross in the sense of his filial love. The\nCrucifixion is terribly real. The sacred Body visibly palpitates with\nsuffering; the feet and hands quiver with agony; the face is filled\nwith a divine woe. Mary, at the foot of the cross, is sustained by a\nform of enchanting youth and beauty.\n\nThe fourteen oratories of the _Via Crucis_ are of various styles of\narchitecture, and built, with an artistic eye to effect, on admirable\npoints of view. Visible at a great distance, they seem to sanctify the\nwhole valley. Some of them are surmounted with a dome, others with\nturrets. The royal chapel of St. Louis, built between two cells, has\nthree Oriental domes that swell out on the tops of slender,\nminaret-like towers and are extremely striking from the railway.\nTwenty-eight stone steps\u2014a _Scala Santa_\u2014lead up to the sixth oratory,\nthat of the _Ecce Homo_. The seventh looks like a castle with its\ncrenellated towers. The eighth has a hexagonal tower flanked by four\nturrets. The ninth is of the Roman style.\n\nThe three crosses on the summit of the mount were cast at Paris and\nexhibited with success at the _Exposition Universelle_ of 1867. In the\nDoric chapel beyond is a fine painting of the Descent from the Cross,\nsaved from the revolutionists of \u201993. It is intensely realistic. The\n_Piet\u00e0_ of Carrara marble opposite is the work of M. Dumontet, of\nBourges\u2014an _ex voto_ from the Marquis d\u2019Angosse and his wife. Our\nSaviour\u2019s form is of marvellous beauty. The fourteenth oratory is of\nthe Doric style. There is a touching grief in the faces of the\ndisciples bearing the dead body of Christ to the tomb. Mary stands in\nspeechless sorrow. Magdalen is a prey to violent grief.\n\nThe top of the hill is a long plateau. The Crucifixion is at the east\nend, so that the Christ, according to ancient tradition, may face the\nwest. At the left is the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, where lies the\nholy Abb\u00e9 Garico\u00efts, who died on the Festival of the Ascension, 1863.\n\nAt the west end of the esplanade, facing the Crucifixion, is the most\nimposing of all the chapels\u2014that of the Resurrection. Two fine towers\nrise on each side of the gable on which stands the rapt form of our\nSaviour ascending to heaven, the work of M. Fabisch, the sculptor who\nexecuted the Virgin in the grotto at Lourdes.\n\nSince the admirable restoration of the hill new devotion has sprung up\namong the people. Pilgrims to the grotto of _Marie Immacul\u00e9e_, in the\ncliff of Massabielle, come to end their pilgrimage by weeping with\n_Marie d\u00e9sol\u00e9e_ on the solemn heights of B\u00e9tharram. On great festivals\ncrowds may be seen coming from all the neighboring villages in festive\narray, with a joyful air, singing psalms on the way. They carry their\nshoes in their hands, but put them on on their arrival at church. The\nwomen carefully lift their dresses with characteristic eye to economy.\nDuring Holy Week thousands often ascend the mount, group after group,\nchanting old B\u00e9arnais hymns of the Passion, the men wrapped in their\nmountain cloaks, and the women veiled in their long black _capuchons_,\nlooking like Maries at the Sepulchre.\n\nOn the 21st of October, 1870, his Holiness Pius IX. granted the\nCalvary of B\u00e9tharram all the indulgences attached to the Holy Places\nat Jerusalem, as well as special ones to all who visit the devout\nchapel. Pope Gregory XVI. also paid his tribute of homage to Our Lady\nof B\u00e9tharram.\n\nThe royal family of France seems to consider devotion to this\nvenerable shrine as hereditary. In 1843 the Countess of Chambord\npresented her wedding-dress and veil to the Virgin of B\u00e9tharram; and\nthe Duchess of Angoul\u00eame, in memory of her pilgrimage here in 1823,\nsent the communion-veil of her mother, the unfortunate Marie\nAntoinette.\n\nThe statue of Mary by Renoir, over the high altar of the church,\nrepresents her seated, looking at the divine Child on her knee, who\nleans forward to point out the _beth arram_\u2014the beautiful branch\u2014of\ngold at her feet. It is a statue full of grace. We were once more\npraying at this favored altar when we heard the sound of a chant, and,\ngoing to the door of the church, saw the long procession of six\nhundred pilgrims from Marseilles coming with silver crosses glittering\nin the sun and gay banners wrought with many a holy device. The\npriests wore their surplices and stoles. The pilgrims were evidently\npeople of very respectable condition, and the utmost order and decorum\nprevailed. They were singing the litany of the Virgin, and seemed\nimpressed with the religious nature of the act they were performing.\nAs they entered the church the organ, given by Napoleon III. and\nEug\u00e9nie at their visit in 1859, solemnly joined in their salutation to\nMary, and, after a short exercise of devotion, they began the ascent\nof the Calvary. We followed them up the winding path to the top of the\nmount, stopping at every turn before the beautiful chapels. Nothing\ncould be more solemn, more affecting, and at the same time more\nfatiguing than climbing this steep, rough Way of the Cross in the hot\nsun and amid the dense crowd of pilgrims. We went from one oratory to\nanother, chanting the _Stabat Mater_, and at each station a _cur\u00e9_\nfrom Marseilles, with a powerful voice, made a short meditation on the\nsufferings of Christ, every word of which could be heard far down the\nhill where wound the long train. He identified these sufferings with\nthe actual crucifixion of the church: \u201cTo-day also there are\nPilates\u2014sovereigns of Europe who wash their hands of the woes they\nmight have prevented. Herod has set a guard at the very door of the\nVatican. Rulers and learned men scoff at the church and give\nperfidious counsel to its members; and Christ is again raised on the\ncross in the person of his Vicar, whose heart is bleeding for the\niniquities of the world. But faithful disciples rally around him.\nDevoted women pray. Yes, a sinner clings to the foot of the\ncross\u2014France, the poor Magdalen of nations, wrapped in immeasurable\nwoe, her head buried in her hands, bewailing her guilt, and destined\nto become the invincible heroine of the church!\u201d\n\nNothing could be more impressive than this long file of pilgrims\nslowly winding up the sad way; the chants in the open air, the\nmournful plaint of the Virgin, which always goes to the heart, the\nstirring appeal of the priest calling on us to mourn over the divine\nSufferer. The woods were odorous, the ground purple with heather,\nlovely ferns nodded, and harebells and herb-Robert bloomed by the\nwayside, giving out sweet inspirations to those who know how to find\nGod in everything he has made. Clouds had gathered in the west by the\ntime we reached the top of this Mount of Sorrows, and the sight of the\nimmense cross with its pale Christ against the wild, stormy sky was\nsomething never to be forgotten, reminding us of Guido Reni\u2019s\nCrucifixion in the church of San Lorenzo-in-Lucina at Rome. No one\ncould behold it without being startled. It seemed to strike terror\ninto the soul, and we gathered around it with tearful eyes and, let us\ntrust, with contrite hearts.\n\nWe could hardly give a glance at the superb view unrolled before\nus\u2014the immense plain with the beautiful Gave winding through it, the\nPyrenees lost in the clouds, white villages scattered on every side,\nand Pau on a distant height.\n\nO sacred hill of B\u00e9tharram! which has so often seen the cross\noverthrown and set up again in the land; mountain of perfumes, which\nso many generations have ascended on their knees with streaming eyes;\npredestined land, so beloved of Mary that on the shore of the same\nriver, in the side of the same range of hills, she has opened two\nmarvellous sanctuaries, how good it is to pray, to meditate, to hope,\non thy heights!\n\n\n [106] Others think it one of the numerous names left\n in the country by the Moors, the Arabic word _Beit\n Haram_ signifying the Sacred Abode. But the old\n chroniclers of B\u00e9arn, who attribute the foundation of\n the church to Gaston IV., believe the name brought\n from the Holy Land, the Hebrew words _Beth Aram_\n meaning the House of the Most High.\n\n [107] The statue remained in its niche until 1841,\n when it was replaced by the more beautiful one of\n Renoir. The gilt Virgin of Mgr. de Trappes is still to\n be seen on the wall of the left aisle near the chapel\n of the _Pastoure_.\n\n [108] Marca enters into a long dissertation to establish\n the truth of this wonderful event, which may be thus\n summed up: There were five persons to witness it, four\n of whom were still alive when he wrote. They were\n cultivators of the soil\u2014an innocent occupation that\n has often led divine Providence to make choice of\n those who pursue it to publish the wonders of his\n grace, as when shepherds were chosen to announce the\n Nativity. They were natives of B\u00e9arn, where the people\n are free from any undue credulousness, and where the\n Catholic religion had been proscribed for more than\n forty years, so that of course they had not been\n brought up with the care that would have rendered them\n particularly susceptible of religious impressions.\n Moreover, they knew a statement of this kind would be\n sifted to the bottom by Protestants as well as\n Catholics. They could have no interest in the matter,\n as B\u00e9tharram belonged to Lestelle, with which Montaut\n was often at rivalry. The chaplains were absent, and\n wholly ignorant of the affair. And these five men were\n people of probity, who swore to the truth of their\n statements on the Holy Gospels before the magistrates\n of Lestelle and Montaut.\n\n [109] Arnauld d\u2019Andilly was the eldest son of the\n Antoine Arnauld who, under Henry IV., pleaded for the\n University against the Jesuits, and whose twentieth\n and youngest child was the second Antoine Arnauld\u2014the\n oracle of Jansenism. D\u2019Andilly is looked upon as\n belonging to the first generation of Jansenists,\n though he had nothing of the austerity and\n repulsiveness of that sect. He scarcely broaches\n polemics. He celebrates in elegant verse the praises\n of the Blessed Virgin and the prerogatives of St.\n Peter, and after translating all that is grandest and\n sweetest in Christian literature\u2014such as the works of\n St. Augustine, St. John Climacus, St. Teresa,\n etc.\u2014reposed from his labors by tending the\n _espaliers_ of Port Royal, of which the beautiful and\n pious Anne of Austria always had the first fruits.\n\n [110] M. de Beyries, a nephew of the Abb\u00e9 de Lalanne,\n and a prominent citizen of Montaut, has many precious\n memorials of his uncle.\n\n\n\n\nSIR THOMAS MORE.\n\n_A HISTORICAL ROMANCE._ FROM THE FRENCH OF THE PRINCESSE DE CRAON.\n\n\nVIII.\n\n\nMeanwhile, a great agitation prevailed in the heart of the kingdom, at\nthe court, and in every mind. The new favor of the new favorite; the\ndiscontent, ever growing but more and more repressed, of the queen\u2019s\npartisans; the restless and shifting humor of those who in secret held\nfast to the new religious opinions; the uncertainty of events, new\nfears, new hopes, seemed to have communicated to the intriguing and\nambitious of every degree a boldness and activity hitherto unknown.\nDelivered from the yoke imposed on him for so long a time by a man at\nonce adroit and yielding, Henry VIII. had at last encountered a vile\nand abject creature who would gradually encourage him to display all\nthe natural ferocity of his character. Already he was no longer able\nto separate himself from Cromwell, who, artfully flattering each one\nof his passions, constantly said to him: \u201cTo please you, to obey\nyou\u2014that is the sole end toward which all should aim, or they should\nfall!\u201d\n\nEvery day, in consequence of their determined efforts, new complaints\nagainst the clergy were reported to the House of Commons. The time had\ncome, they said, to distribute among the truly poor the treasures\naccumulated by the priests, and to destroy the abuses they had made of\ntheir power. These accusations, together with calumnies of a blacker\ncharacter, emanating from sources always scrupulously concealed, were\nartfully disseminated among the people, circulated from mouth to\nmouth, and served wonderfully to irritate the stupid and ignorant\nmasses; while in the House of Lords nothing was left undone to secure\nthe influence and suffrages of the most influential members of that\nbody.\n\nConfident of success in all their designs, Henry VIII. and his\nfavorite decided that it was time to strike the first blow; and while\nthe attorney-general was in receipt of the order to carry to the\nKing\u2019s Bench an accusation which included the entire clergy of the\nkingdom as having become amenable to the penalties attached to the\n_Pr\u00e6munire_ statutes, a measure and petition were presented to\nParliament to prohibit every bishop from paying dues to the see of\nRome; secondly, that for the future their body should neither\npromulgate nor execute any of its laws without the co-operation of the\nroyal authority; and, finally, that all those laws which had been in\nforce until that time should be re-examined by a committee whose\nmembers would be named and chosen by the king, in order that he might\nabolish them if he deemed expedient.\n\nThese measures at first excited universal murmurs of dissatisfaction;\nbut people were not slow to perceive that such expressions could not\nbe indulged in without danger, for it was no longer a matter of doubt\nthat Parliament would yield to the slightest wish of the king. The\nfear inspired by this prince, together with his incessant threats and\nmenaces, secured him the submission of those even whom avarice had not\nbeen able to corrupt.\n\nHenry triumphantly congratulated himself on his success. The\ncourageous firmness of one single man, however, sufficed to embitter\nall his pleasure; for, since the king had openly and boldly announced\nhis intention of compelling the divorce to be granted, no matter by\nwhat means, More had scrupulously held himself aloof, no longer\nappearing at court, except when summoned by the king or when the\nduties of his office obliged him to be formally present. This was a\nsource of deep chagrin and displeasure to Henry VIII., and the cold\nand reserved manner of the lord chancellor kept him, when in his\npresence, in a state of painful restraint.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d he said to himself, \u201ceverything goes according to my wishes,\nand yet the silent reproaches of this man alone annoy me unceasingly.\nIt would be better for him to yield,\u201d he cried in his frenzy, \u201cor I\nshall be compelled to force him into submission!\u201d\n\nBut when More again appeared before him, he listened to the report of\naffairs which he had to submit, no longer knowing what to say to him,\nand he dared not even pronounce the name of Anne Boleyn in his\npresence. This day, however, he had summoned Cromwell at a very early\nhour, and appeared to be in an exceedingly joyful mood; he laughed\naloud, then, suddenly resuming a serious expression, he exclaimed,\nslapping the head of a superb greyhound that held his black nose\nextended across his knees:\n\n\u201cYou will see, Cromwell, what a good effect this will produce on the\npeople; because it is useless to conceal that More is a man of such\nexalted character and brilliant worth that all the eyes of my kingdom\nare fixed upon his conduct.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Cromwell, whom this very just opinion of the king\ndispleased mightily,\u201d I do not believe it will be thus when your\nmajesty has spoken.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes,\u201d replied the king; \u201cand that is why I congratulate myself\non the expedient which suggested itself last night. How can you\nimagine, after he has read in open Parliament the decisions of the\nuniversities in my favor, that the people will believe he does not\nfavor the divorce? And it is most necessary to counteract by this\nmeans the effect produced by the promulgation of the papal bull.\u201d\n\n\u201cBah! that bull,\u201d said Cromwell, \u201cis no more than a scrap of waste\npaper. The pope forbids any of the clergy from celebrating your\nmarriage before the queen\u2019s suit is decided. Now, marry Lady Anne\nto-morrow!\u201d\n\n\u201cTo-morrow!\u201d exclaimed the king.\n\nAt that moment the curtain of scarlet silk which hung in heavy folds\nbefore the entrance of the royal apartment was drawn aside, and Sir\nThomas More appeared.\n\nThe king paused surprised; his fingers were entwined among the links\nof the gold chain suspended around the neck of Cromwell, and he was\nfamiliarly patting the breast of that base-born creature, now seated\nclose beside him.\n\n\u201cAh! it is you, Sir Thomas,\u201d said Henry, affecting an air of\nunconcern; \u201cyou are always most welcome here. I believe this is one of\nyour friends,\u201d he added, pointing to Cromwell.\n\nMore made no reply; he simply inclined his head in response to the\nking\u2019s salutation.\n\n\u201cYes, yes, you understand each other very well,\u201d continued the king,\nwithout appearing to remark that More made no reply. \u201cIs it not so,\nCromwell?\u201d\n\n\u201cI hope so,\u201d replied Cromwell, casting a furtive glance around him.\nFor he was not able to encounter the penetrating gaze of More, whom he\nsecretly feared and detested; and from the time he believed that More\ncould no longer be of use to him he had ceased to overwhelm him with\nvisits and continual solicitations, as he had formerly been in the\nhabit of doing.\n\n\u201cWell, good Sir Thomas,\u201d continued Henry, always indulging in\nbadinage, \u201cwhat would you have with us?\u201d\n\n\u201cI would speak with your majesty alone for a few moments,\u201d replied\nMore.\n\n\u201cA reasonable request,\u201d answered the king; \u201cand you know we always\ngrant anything you ask.\u201d\n\nHe made a sign to Cromwell, who immediately withdrew, his heart fired\nwith rage at the welcome always extended by the king to More.\n\n\u201cIf ever I come into power,\u201d murmured he in his heart, \u201cMore, thou\nshalt know me!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat, then, is it, More?\u201d asked the king, and he regarded him with an\nimpatient expression.\n\n\u201cYour majesty,\u201d replied More, \u201cthis morning sent me an order to\npresent myself in the House of Commons, and carry thither the\ndecisions of the universities. Up to this time I have been loath to\nspeak; but to-day, at the moment of giving such authenticity to these\ndocuments, I consider it my duty to make known to your majesty that\nthey have been extorted by force and are far from being regular; a\ngreat many of the signatures are wanting, while others are\ncounterfeit.\u201d\n\n\u201cCounterfeit!\u201d exclaimed the king angrily.\u201d Who has told you that?\u201d\n\n\u201cI am sure of it,\u201d replied Sir Thomas quietly and in the calmest of\ntones; \u201cand I have thought it my duty to inform the king of the fact\nbefore asking his permission to retire.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou retire!\u201d cried Henry VIII.\n\n\u201cI had already requested the Duke of Norfolk,\u201d continued More, \u201cto\nexpress to your majesty how painful it was to me to quit your service\nand to find myself obliged to cease from fulfilling the office with\nwhich you have honored me; but my health is so feeble as not to permit\nme to hold it longer.\u201d And he was silent.\n\nThe king sat stupefied. But surprise very soon changed into extreme\ndispleasure; for he saw perfectly well why More retired, and felt that\nhe had nothing to hope from a man so firm and as inaccessible to fear\nas to self-interest. It was for this he dissembled and evinced none of\nthe vexation he felt.\n\n\u201cI am sorry,\u201d he said coldly, \u201cthat you should leave me; because you\nwere that one of my servants whom I have most esteemed and loved. But,\nnevertheless, since you wish it, I will not oppose your going. I shall\nalways remember the services you have rendered me, and be assured that\nany request you may make shall certainly be granted.\u201d\n\nMore made no reply, but the tears came into his eyes; he loved the\nking sincerely, and would have made any sacrifice to have saved him\nfrom the unhappy passion that had enchained him.\n\n\u201cYou weep, More,\u201d said the king. \u201cIf it gives you pain, why do you\nleave me?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause I cannot do otherwise.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs you please,\u201d replied the king curtly. \u201cI force nobody to remain in\nmy service. You will one day, perhaps, repent this step. You are rich\nnow, I suppose?\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty knows very well to the contrary,\u201d replied More. \u201cIn\nlosing the salary of the office I now resign, I am not sure that I\nshall have sufficient means remaining to provide becomingly for the\nwants of my many children. During the time I filled a lucrative\nemployment at the bar, I saved enough to purchase a small tract of\nland which I now own; but when your majesty called me into your\nservice, I was naturally obliged to abandon my profession, and since\nthen I have saved nothing.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d said the king, \u201cyou have nothing remaining from the income of\nyour office?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot so much as one hundred gold crowns,\u201d replied Sir Thomas.\n\n\u201cMore,\u201d said the king thoughtfully, \u201cyou are an honest man.\u201d\n\n\u201cI endeavor to be so, sire.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt grieves me that you leave me. Why approve not of my marriage?\u201d\n\n\u201cBecause, sire, you may not have two wives at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cBegone!\u201d said Henry VIII.\u2026\n\nAnd Cromwell found the king in a state of excitement impossible to\ndescribe.\n\n\u201cI regret it! I regret it!\u201d he exclaimed. \u201cThis will work me evil! A\nman of such integrity, such worth! No one can doubt it. I have done\nwrong in sending him to the Parliament; it was plain that he would\nrefuse me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat says he?\u201d thought Cromwell to himself, surprised and anxious.\n\n\u201cCromwell,\u201d said the king, \u201che leaves me!\u201d\n\n\u201cWho?\u201d\n\n\u201cMore.\u201d\n\n\u201cMore!\u201d cried Cromwell, scarcely able to conceal his delight. \u201cWell,\nis it only that that troubles you? It is a happiness rather. The\nhypocrite unmasks himself at last; it has been long since the\nhappiness of his sovereign was that for which he cared the least.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are mistaken, Cromwell; he loved me sincerely.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d cried Cromwell, \u201cthis is the way in which your majesty\u2019s\ngoodness of heart unceasingly opposes itself to your own interests.\nSir Thomas More has never lost an occasion of sustaining the\nridiculous pretensions of Queen Catherine. I heard him myself exclaim\naloud in the presence of the legates assembled to try her: \u201cMay the\nqueen triumph over all her enemies!\u201d Would he have done this had he\nnot presumed (if I may dare to say it) upon your majesty\u2019s weakness?\nThis is the opinion expressed to me by the illustrious Machiavelli:\n\u2018It is always safer for a prince to inspire his subjects with fear\nthan with love\u2019; love holds men by that very feeble link called\ngratitude, while the bond of fear it is almost impossible to sunder.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd where has the fuller\u2019s son known Machiavelli?\u201d asked Henry VIII.\ndisdainfully. \u201cTruly,\u201d he continued, with that ironical smile which\nwas habitual with him, and that haughty and scornful tone with which\nhe often chose to crush those who believed they stood high in his\nfavor, \u201cI was not aware that you had studied politics under\nMachiavelli.\u201d\n\n\u201cI knew him in Italy,\u201d replied Cromwell, profoundly humiliated. The\nrecollection of the lowliness of his origin was a continual torment to\nthe soul of this parvenu; nevertheless, without permitting the\nslightest emotion to appear in his countenance, he continued the\nconversation. \u201cWe often,\u201d he said, \u201cwalked together in the gardens of\nthe Oricellari Palace, which Machiavelli was in the habit of\nfrequenting, and where multitudes of young men of the most\ndistinguished families of the city eagerly came to listen to the words\nof this celebrated man. He had the kindness to notice me among them\nall, and received me with particular affection. He sometimes spoke\nsuccessively of all the princes of Europe; but in mentioning the name\nof your majesty he could not conceal his admiration. \u2018I do not know,\u2019\nhe said, \u2018any prince of our day who can be compared to him, either for\ncourage or exalted ability.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cI feel flattered,\u201d replied the king; \u201cfor he was a man of great\ndiscernment and superior judgment.\u201d\n\nAnd Henry\u2019s gratified vanity brought to his features an expression of\npleasure that did not escape the notice of the adroit liar. There was\nno truth in the statement he had made to Henry VIII. of having met the\nFlorentine secretary, at least in his own society, as he wished to\ninsinuate to the king, but in a public drinking-house where\nMachiavelli (whose tastes were not always the most elevated or\nrefined) went to enjoy the amusements of the common people, in order\nto be relieved of the _ennui_ that devoured him when at his country\nseat and not absorbed in business.\n\n\u201cThese gardens of the Oricellari Palace have a great reputation,\u201d said\nHenry VIII. carelessly, after a considerable silence.\n\n\u201cVery great and very justly,\u201d replied Cromwell with enthusiasm, \u201csince\nthey have been embellished by the famous Alberti\u2014he who introduced\nagain into Europe a taste for the pure and beautiful Grecian\narchitecture. The celebrated Bernard Rucellai, to whom they belong,\nhas collected there besides a great quantity of the precious fragments\nof antiquity\u2014\u201d\n\nCromwell paused\u2014he thought the king was going to speak; but, finding\nhe said nothing, he continued:\n\n\u201cYour majesty has seen, in the beginning of Machiavelli\u2019s book on the\nart of war, the portrait he has drawn and his eulogies on the young\nCount Rucellai, the same to whom he has dedicated his discourse on\nLivy.\u201d\n\n\u201cPossibly,\u201d said Henry VIII. He turned his head and slightly yawned.\n\nCromwell was silent immediately and racked his brain for another\nsubject of conversation, regretting that the one he had already\nintroduced had been so speedily exhausted.\n\n * * * * *\n\nAfter leaving the king Sir Thomas More returned to the bank of the\nThames, wishing, as soon as possible, to reach his home at Chelsea. In\ngoing down to his barge, which awaited him above Westminster bridge,\nhe saw a crowd collected on the quay inspecting the boat, which,\nglittering gorgeously in the rays of the sun, seemed in every respect\nworthy of the exalted rank of her illustrious owner. Eight rowers\ndressed in uniform managed her with great dexterity; a large pavilion\nof purple silk protected the interior against injury from light and\nair; the bottom was covered with a heavy tapestry carpet; and the\nspacious seats, capable of accommodating a large number of persons,\nwere supplied with rich crimson velvet cushions. The exterior was not\nless rich, and the ivory and little bands of gold with which the stern\nwas encrusted gave it the appearance of being enveloped in a delicate\nnetwork, each mesh of which seemed to sparkle with gems and gold. The\nheavens were serene and cloudless, and a multitude of small boats,\npainted green, darted rapidly over the river, propelled by their light\nsails of gleaming white. It was a festival day, and they were filled\nwith citizens enjoying the revivifying country air, and resting from\ntheir labors to refresh themselves on the verdant and flowery lawns of\nRichmond, Twickenham, or Greenwich. Arrayed in their most elegant\nrobes of worsted and silk, the women waved their handkerchiefs or sang\nto amuse their children, while groups of sailors in varied costumes\nrepresenting different nations were engaged in playing boisterous\ngames, or, gathering around one of their older companions, listened\neagerly to the stories he told of expeditions he had joined or\nshipwrecks he had escaped.\n\n\u201cTo-day these people are happy!\u201d thought More, saddened by the\ncontrast presented by their joy and the interior oppression he himself\nexperienced. \u201cLet me return to a life of peaceful obscurity like\ntheirs, find again my plain wooden boat, take my seat on the straw\nmatting which covers the bottom, and row in my turn without a fear of\nto-morrow; always sure of seeing my Margaret and my other children\ncoming along the bank to give me a joyous reception, and hear them\nexclaim, \u2018Here is our father!\u2019 But why all these apprehensions?\u201d he\ncontinued, passing his hand across his brow, as if to dispel some sad\nand painful reflection. \u201cGod reigns in heaven; and have I not this day\nexperienced his divine protection? The king has given me a kinder\nreception than I had hoped to receive; he has, at least, not permitted\nhis wrath to break forth in all its violence. Perhaps in the end it\nwill only be more terrible; but never mind, the will of the Lord be\ndone! Nothing can happen on the earth without his permission. I\nabandon myself to him; and when man, his creature, casts himself into\nhis arms, he will not withdraw nor permit him to fall.\u201d\n\nIn the meantime the tide began to rise, and the waves of the sea,\nflowing into the great bed of the river, very soon extended it to the\nsurrounding banks. Carried along by the waves, More\u2019s barge no longer\nrequired other care than the slight attention necessary to guide it.\nThe tired sailors rested on their oars, while their eyes wandered over\nthe charming borders of the Thames.\n\n\u201cMy lord,\u201d said one of the sailors, turning towards Sir Thomas, \u201chere\nwe are in front of Seat-House Gardens. We are passing the village of\nNine Elms.\u201d\n\nBut More heard them not; he seemed entirely absorbed in his own\nreflections.\n\nThe men were astonished, because ordinarily he conversed with them\nwhen he was alone in the boat, and questioned them about such subjects\nas interested them. Sir Thomas More thought it was his duty as a\nmaster and a Christian to take especial care not only of the bodies\nbut also of the souls of his servants, in enlightening their minds by\ngood advice and wise exhortations. Consequently, they were astonished\nat his silence, and, loving him as a father, they were fearful some\nmisfortune had befallen him of which they were not apprised.\n\n\u201cThere is the little point of Chelsea spire,\u201d said the pilot,\nobserving him with an anxious eye.\n\n\u201cMy lord, here is Chelsea,\u201d they exclaimed all together.\n\n\u201cWell, my children,\u201d he replied, \u201cland me at the foot of the\ncrossroad.\u201d\n\nSir Thomas thought, as it was the hour for evening devotion, his\nfamily would surely be at the parish church, and he would take his\nchildren back in the boat with him. He landed, therefore, and,\nordering the sailors to wait, slowly ascended the beach by a rugged\nroad, beyond which he encountered a worthy old peasant woman driving a\nnumber of cows to the river. On perceiving Sir Thomas an expression of\nsatisfaction overspread her features, tanned and furrowed by age and\nhard labor. She stopped to salute him as usual.\n\n\u201cMy good lord,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cI am very glad to see you. We every\nday pray to the Lord to preserve you. Since you have been in this\ncountry everything has prospered with us. We have not lost a single\ncalf nor had a bad crop since you rebuilt our barn, which was burnt at\nthe same time as your own; and the other day we were talking among\nourselves, and we said that you must be very rich to be able to make\nso many around you happy.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe barn is a strong and substantial one, at least,\u201d said More, who\ncould not avoid smiling at the idea of his reputed wealth.\n\n\u201cOh! as to that, yes,\u201d replied the simple woman; \u201cit is of good stone,\nand very much stronger and better than it was before. It will outlast\nus all a long time.\u201d\n\nHaving said this, she passed on, as she saw Sir Thomas wished to be\ndetained no longer, and the cows had wandered from the road to graze\non the surrounding pasture.\n\n\u201cHere comes the good lord chancellor,\u201d said the village children in a\nsuppressed tone. The crowd kneeling without on the pavement of the\nchurch, too small to accommodate the entire congregation on festival\ndays, opened respectfully, and Sir Thomas proceeded down the aisle of\nthe church to his pew, where he found all his family seated.\n\nHe remained standing near, as the service was almost over, and he did\nnot wish to make any disturbance by opening the door of the pew; but\nMargaret soon discovered the presence of her father, and heard his\nvoice mingling with those of the other faithful who sang the praises\nof God. Her heart throbbed with joy, and she looked around to try and\nget sight of him.\n\n\u201cWilliam,\u201d she said immediately to young Roper, \u201cmy father is here;\ngive him your seat.\u201d\n\nBut Sir Thomas motioned him to sit still; and when the devotion was\nended, and the priests had left the altar, he approached, and, opening\nthe door of the pew where Lady More was seated, presented his hand to\nlead her out, and said:\n\n\u201cMadam, my lord is gone.\u201d\n\nThis woman, as disagreeable as she was coarse, raised her dull eyes to\nher husband\u2019s face.\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d she asked sharply.\n\nShe always received in this ungracious manner the pleasantries More\nwas so fond of indulging in, and it was customary for one of her\nhusband\u2019s retinue to open the pew door in his absence and say: \u201cMadam,\nmy lord is gone.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome with me, nevertheless,\u201d replied More, with imperturbable\ngentleness; \u201cI will explain to you now my lord is gone.\u201d\n\nLady More followed him, still, however, murmuring between her teeth\nbecause of this unusual mode of departure; and when they had passed\nthrough the crowd, and More had returned the salutations with which\nall greeted him, he called Margaret to his side.\n\n\u201cListen, my child,\u201d he said. \u201cYour mother here cannot understand how\nmy lord can be absent. Explain to her that I have conducted him this\nmorning to London, where I have left him for ever; in a word, that I\nam no longer lord chancellor, having resigned my office into the hands\nof the king. Do you understand now, my good Alice?\u201d he added, turning\ntoward his wife.\n\nMargaret, on hearing this explanation, looked at her father in dismay.\nShe immediately understood there was something behind that she did not\nknow, and her penetrating mind was filled with alarm; but Lady More\nflew into an ungovernable passion.\n\n\u201cWhat is this you say?\u201d she cried,\u201d and what have you done? More of\nyour scruples, I warrant me. That tender conscience of yours will land\nus all in the ashes yet. Is it not better to rule than to be ruled? We\nare ten times worse off now than we have ever been before, and here\nare you about to strip us of everything.\u201d\n\n\u201cDear heart,\u201d said Sir Thomas, without being moved in the least, \u201cit\nwould be impossible, I think, for me to strip you of your possessions;\nbecause, when I married you, you brought me no other dowry than your\nvirtues and the qualities of your heart. Of this dowry I hope, indeed,\nnever to see you deprived by any means in the world, much less by\nmyself.\u201d\n\n\u201cAt least,\u201d cried Lady More between her sobs and tears, \u201cI was\nbeautiful and young, and certain it is I might have easily found a\nhusband more interested in his own affairs, and who would have\nprofited more by his learning and the favor of the king.\u201d\n\nOn hearing her express herself in this manner Margaret was unable to\nrestrain a gesture of indignation; she idolized her father, and could\nnot tolerate the coarse manners and selfish motives of her\nstep-mother. This woman, narrow of mind and filled with vanity, had\nsucceeded, singularly enough, by man\u0153uvring and flattery, in winning\nthe esteem of More at a time when, having had the misfortune to lose\nhis wife, he saw with great sorrow his daughters deprived of the good\nexample and tender care of a mother. It then seemed to him he could\nnot better replace her than by selecting a widow lady of mature age\nwhose beauty, if it had ever existed, was more than faded, and could\nno longer be (so, at least, he supposed) a subject of pretension or\ndistraction. But, unfortunately, Lady More, he found, was one of those\nindifferent, selfish beings who only feel what touches themselves, who\nconsider nothing but their own interests, and fear nothing but what\nmay deprive them of the high social position to which they have been\nfortunate enough to attain. She could not endure, therefore, the\nthought of being deprived of the honor she was accustomed to receive\nas the wife of the lord chancellor. She never for an instant reflected\non the possible difficulties experienced by her husband, or the\nreasons that might have determined him to resign his office. She at\nonce divined, from the knowledge she possessed of his extreme\nscrupulousness, that his conscience had been the first cause of this\nstep, and the thought only served to irritate her more, because she\ninsisted that such a difficulty ought to have been avoided.\n\nShe continued to utter the most piercing cries, refusing to listen to\nanything More could say. At length, despairing of bringing her to\nreason, he began to ridicule her on her absurd conduct.\n\n\u201cMy daughters,\u201d he said, calling Elizabeth and Cecilia, \u201csee to your\nmother\u2019s dress; something has probably stung her under her garments,\ncausing her to cry out in this manner.\u201d\n\nWhen the silly woman found her husband assume this tone of raillery,\nshe immediately became silent; but, full of anger and spite, she\nseated herself in a corner of the boat and took no notice of anything\naround her.\n\nMargaret then took her place beside her father; she drew close to him,\nand, seizing his hand, pressed it to her lips, without being able to\nutter a word; her heart was full, and her soul alone silently\ninterrogated that of her father.\n\nEndowed with an extraordinary superabundance of feeling and sentiment,\nMargaret was enthusiastic in doing good, and repelled evil, when she\nencountered it, with a degree of inflexibility amounting to severity.\nBeautiful beyond all expression, her beauty was never for a moment\nmade the subject of her thoughts. Possessed by nature of a very strong\nmind, she felt unceasingly, and endured with restless impatience, and\nalmost without being able to submit, the disadvantages which weakness\nand conventionalities imposed upon her sex. She possessed all the\ngreat qualities of her father, but none of his bright cheerfulness and\nadmirable resignation\u2014fruits of the long-continued exercise of the\nmost exemplary virtue. The poor were always sure of finding in her an\nearnest and faithful friend; the afflicted, a comforter full of\neloquence and sympathy; the vain and presumptuous man, a frigid scorn\nand piquant irony which concealed from him entirely the knowledge of\nher true character, replete with integrity, frankness, and simplicity.\nScarcely emerged from childhood, Margaret felt she had arrived at\nmature age. The accuracy and loftiness of her judgment, united to that\ndelicacy and exquisite tact which belong naturally to some women,\nrendered her worthy of becoming the most intimate and reliable friend\nof her father, whose entire joy and happiness centred in her alone.\nEducated by him with extreme care, she was familiar with all the\nsciences, and several works written by her in Greek and Latin of great\npurity have come down to us from that period.\n\n\u201cMy daughter,\u201d said More, \u201cwhy distress yourself about me, since I am\nto remain with you?\u201d\n\n\u201cFather,\u201d answered Margaret, fixing her beautiful dark eyes on his\nface, \u201cthere is something behind all this that you have not told. Why\nconceal it from me?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, dear daughter, nothing. Your father is old; he desires to leave\nyou no more, to see you always, until the Lord shall call him to\nhimself.\u201d\n\nSeeing Margaret\u2019s eyes fill with tears, Sir Thomas repented\nimmediately of what he had said, fearing to excite in her the nervous\nsensibility he had always vainly attempted to moderate.\n\n\u201cFather,\u201d she answered, \u201clet it be as you wish; I ask nothing more.\u201d\n\n\u201cOn the contrary, you shall know everything, dear child. God has\nblessed us; be assured of that. And see how green and fresh our garden\nlooks from here.\u201d\n\nThey were coming in view of their house at Chelsea, and soon found\nthemselves opposite the small green gate opening, at the end of the\ngarden, upon a path descending to the river. One of the men, taking a\nlarge silver whistle from his belt, blew several shrill notes as a\nsignal to those in the house to come and open the gate for their\nmaster. Nobody appeared, however, and the family began to feel\nsurprised, when at length they perceived some short and deformed\ncreature advancing with irregular bounds, breaking the bushes and\noverturning the pots of flowers that he encountered in his passage.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d exclaimed Sir Thomas, \u201cthere is my poor jester playing his\npranks and spoiling all my garden.\u201d\n\n\u201cHenry Pattison!\u201d cried the children, laughing.\n\n\u201cHimself,\u201d said Sir Thomas.\n\nAt that moment the little fool, dressed in a scarlet coat all covered\nwith gold lace, opened the gate, and, putting out his great, flat\nhead, made a thousand grimaces, accompanied by roars of laughter and\nsavage cries, which he endeavored to render agreeable, in order to\nexpress the gratification he felt at the return of his master.\n\n\u201cAh! well, what news do you bring us?\u201d said More, looking at him.\n\n\u201cMaster,\u201d replied the fool, opening a mouth so wide that it might have\nbetter fitted a giant than a dwarf, \u201cfather is sick.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! my father sick?\u201d cried More, greatly alarmed.\n\n\u201cYes, my lord,\u201d replied the jester.\n\nBut Sir Thomas, without awaiting his response, rushed into the house\nand disappeared.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOn learning the accusation brought against them in the court of king\u2019s\nbench, the members of the convocation were seized with consternation,\nfor they understood by the very mention of _Pr\u00e6munire_ that the king\nhad resolved to make them feel the weight of his authority, and to\navenge himself for the opposition he had encountered in the affair of\nthe divorce. They assembled, therefore, in all haste, and from the\nhour of prime[111] remained deliberating in one of the upper chambers\nof Westminster Abbey. After a lengthy discussion, they had sent, with\nunanimous accord, to offer the king the sum of one hundred thousand\npounds in return for the pardon they solicited, never having doubted,\nthey said in their petition, that Cardinal Wolsey had received the\nnecessary letters-patent for exercising the authority of legate in the\nkingdom.\n\nHours passed away, and no response arrived from the king. Many became\nalarmed, and the greatest excitement prevailed in that venerable\nassembly, composed of all the archbishops, bishops, and abbots of the\nmonasteries, who formed, by right of their ecclesiastical rank, part\nof the House of Lords or, by election, of the Commons.\n\nConspicuous in the midst of them was the learned and celebrated\nWarham, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of England. His head,\nentirely bald, was bowed on his breast. He seemed to take no part or\ninterest in the numerous discussions which were carried on around him,\nand no one knew whether a gloomy sadness had overshadowed his soul, or\nif his advanced age had weakened the faculties of his mind together\nwith those of the body. The Bishop of Lincoln, the king\u2019s confessor,\nwho sat beside him, vainly endeavored to attract his attention.\nFurther on, arranged around him, were the Bishops of Durham,\nWorcester, Norwich, Salisbury, St. David\u2019s, Hereford, Carlisle, Bath,\nBangor, and others; the Archbishop of Armagh, near whom was observed\nthe mild and noble physiognomy of the Dean of Exeter, young Reginald\nPole, born of the royal blood of the house of York, and descended by\nMargaret, his mother, from the illustrious family of Plantagenets. The\nking, his relative, had tried in every way to bring him to approve of\nthe divorce; but neither supplications nor reproaches, nor the fear\ninspired by Henry VIII., could induce him to act contrary to the voice\nof his conscience. Later on Henry VIII. taught him, by making the two\nbrothers and the aged mother of Reginald Pole mount the scaffold, how\nfar the excess of his revenge could carry him.\n\nAlready had the young Dean of Exeter fallen into disfavor with the\nking, who closed the door of his palace against him, at the same time\nthat he was forced by the manifest respect of Pole, and the proofs he\ngave of his devotion, to acknowledge secretly the integrity of his\nheart and the rectitude of his intentions. At this moment he was\ntalking to a man whose character was precisely the opposite of his\nown\u2014the Abbot of Westminster, intriguing, active, and ambitious, well\nknown to Henry VIII., whose spy he was, and to whose will he was\nentirely submissive.\n\nWith them also conversed Roland, chaplain to his majesty, and the poor\nsecretary, Gardiner, whose simplicity and small aptitude for business\nhad been alone sufficient to make his selfish master regret the\nindefatigable perseverance and the strong mind of Cardinal Wolsey. At\nthis moment he wearied his colleagues with a lengthy recital of all\nthe apprehensions which the violence of the king\u2019s character caused\nhim.\n\nAnd now a sudden commotion made itself felt throughout the hall. They\nstood up, they leaned forward; the folding doors were thrown open. \u201cIn\nthe name of the king!\u201d cried the usher who guarded the entrance.\n\nCromwell stood on the threshold. He paused to salute the assembly.\n\nThey scarcely dared breathe!\n\n\u201cMy lords,\u201d he said in a loud voice, looking slowly around him, and\nendeavoring to give his sardonic features an expression of benignant\npersuasion, \u201cthe king, our master, always full of clemency and\nbenevolence toward his unworthy subjects, deigns to accept your gift.\nHe makes but one, and that a very slight, condition; which is, that\nyou acknowledge him, in the act of donation, as the supreme and only\nhead of the church and clergy of England.\u201d\n\nHe paused to observe, with a malignant joy, similar to that of the\ndemon when he dragged the first man into sin, the effect of these\nwords on the assembly. But a gloomy silence was the only response they\ngave him. He again looked slowly around him, and proceeded in a lower\ntone:\n\n\u201cMy lords, let not this either trouble or alarm you; the church, our\nmother, has not a child more faithful or submissive than our most\ngracious sovereign. Does he not prove himself such each day by the\ncare he takes to choke up the seeds of heresy which the malice of the\ndevil is trying to sow among us? You also know very well, and even\nbetter than I, that he devotes his nights to writing in defence of our\nholy faith, and nothing could ever induce him to deviate from it. Why\nshould you feel any scruples about honoring a prince so virtuous by\nplacing him at your head as your defender and most firm supporter?\nRemember, moreover, honored lords, that he who should refuse this\ntitle to the king will be regarded by him as a traitor and disloyal\nsubject.\u201d\n\nHe then seated himself in their midst, in order to take in the words\nof the first who should dare raise his voice in opposition to the will\nof the king.\n\nAll the bishops sat in silent consternation. Several wished to speak,\nbut the presence of Cromwell seemed to freeze them with terror; for\nthey were beginning to understand the base man\u0153uvres of this man, and\neach one felt as though he was on the point of being seized by that\nwicked wretch, ready to spring upon the first unhappy victim who might\npresent himself.\n\nThey looked from one to another, while a profound silence reigned\namong them.\n\nArchbishop Warham seemed to be seized with a lively grief, but his\nvoice was no more audible, and his pale lips remained silent and\nmotionless.\n\nCromwell felt his heart thrill with malicious delight; beneath the\nfrigid expression of a profound and calculating indifference this\nobscure intriguer exulted in seeing these men, the most learned and\nhonored in all England, trembling and recoiling before him as before\nthe genius of evil.\n\nBut suddenly a man whom nothing could intimidate, a saintly man, whose\nheart knew no fear except the fear of God, arose in the midst of them.\nAn involuntary shudder ran through the assembly. All eyes were\ndirected alternately toward Cromwell and him, as though to defend the\none from the malice of the other. It was the Bishop of Rochester, the\nfriend of Thomas More, who was about to speak; and all knew that no\ncowardly consideration of prudence could stop him.\n\n\u201cMy lords,\u201d he cried, as he stood up in their midst, \u201cwhat impious\nvoice is this that is raised in your presence to propose to us a thing\nwhich has never been heard of since the foundation of human society?\nWhat is it they wish to exact from us at this moment, if it be not to\nraise ourselves to the level of God himself by conferring the\nsupremacy of his church on a temporal prince, a man who can have no\npossible right thereto? Shall we, then, say to-day, as our Lord Jesus\nChrist said to St. Peter: \u2018I give you the keys of the kingdom of\nheaven; and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in\nheaven; and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in\nheaven\u2019? And if we should have the pride and audacity to say it, where\nwould be our power to execute it? Listen,\u201d continued the holy bishop,\ninflamed with zeal, and turning toward Cromwell. \u201cGo, and say to the\nking, our master, that he has been led into error; that he should\nremember the words of the Holy Scriptures: \u2018As my Father hath sent me,\nso I send you,\u2019 and ask him if he has been ordained one of the pastors\nof the church; if he has chosen her for his only spouse; if he is an\napostle, if he is a doctor, or if he can build up with us the body of\nChrist; and say to him, moreover, that even though he should possess\nall these qualifications, yet, before he could be appointed supreme\nhead of the Catholic Church, it would be necessary for her to\nacknowledge him as such, and that we cannot\u2014we, a feeble fraction of\nthe Christian world\u2014impose a chief on the universe! Go, and let not\nthe king\u2019s majesty be compromised; for he has suggested a desire that\ncannot be accomplished.\u201d\n\nCromwell, subdued by the power of this exhortation, arose and\nimmediately withdrew. The Bishop of Rochester, turning toward the\nassembled prelates, continued:\n\n\u201cMy lords, let not the fear of men blind us. Let us reflect well on\nwhat they demand of us to-day; for we are not only called on to\nrenounce Clement VII., but also to cast ourselves out of Peter\u2019s bark,\nonly to be submerged in the waves of these countless divisions, sects,\nschisms, and heresies which it has pleased the mind of man to invent.\nYes, I hesitate not to say to you that, in order to give the king the\ntitle he demands, it would be necessary to abandon all laws, canonical\nand ecclesiastical, the authority of the holy councils, the unity of\nthe world and of Christian princes, the traditions of the church, by\nwhich we would at the same time acknowledge that we have never yet\nreceived the true faith or the veritable Gospel of Christ, since we\nopenly revolt against the immutable doctrine which it teaches, and\nturn aside voluntarily and for ever from the one and only true way of\nsalvation which it has marked out for us. During the fifteen hundred\nand thirty years that the Gospel has been preached throughout the\nworld, have we seen a single prince make such a pretension? And when,\nin the fourth century, Constantine the Great assembled in his own\npalace, in the city of Nice, and for the first time since the\napostles, the entire body of the universal Church, did he establish\nhimself in the midst of them as their head and sovereign\u2014he who\nwished, in spite of their deference and their request, to remain,\nwithout guards and without the pomp befitting his rank, in the meanest\nplace of the hall wherein they were assembled? \u2018No,\u2019 said he, \u2018I will\nnot sit in judgment where I have no authority either to absolve or to\ncondemn.\u2019 \u2026 And who, my lords, were the men composing that illustrious\nassembly, if not the flower of all the saintly and learned who\nflourished among the nations of the earth? The patriarchs of\nConstantinople, of Antioch, of Alexandria, of Jerusalem, and of\nCarthage; the bishops of Africa, of Spain, of the Gauls, of the land\nof the Scythians and Persians\u2014in a word, of the East and West\u2014who\ngathered there in crowds, almost all had confessed the faith before\ntyrants, and bore on their mutilated bodies the glorious marks of the\ncruel tortures they had endured rather than renounce it. Well, you\nbehold these holy pontiffs place at their head Vincent and Vitus, two\nsimple priests, because they recognized them as the representatives of\ntheir chief, the Bishop of Rome, whose advanced age prevented him from\nbeing among them. And this regulation has been invariably followed\nthrough all ages even until the present day, and through all the\nstorms and heresies which would have been sufficient to annihilate the\nchurch had she not been born of God himself. Far from us, then, be\nthis culpable cowardice! To renounce his laws is to renounce Jesus\nChrist. We renounce his laws? No, my lords, we cannot! Nay, we will\nnot.\u2026 Again, what would become of this sublime doctrine, if a temporal\nprince had power to make it yield to the whim of his vices and\npassions? To-day it is, to-morrow it is not; it changes with him, with\nhis creeds, his opinions, and his wishes. His caprices would become\nour only laws, and vice and virtue be no longer but words which he\nwould be at liberty to change at will. No, again and again no! If we\nlove our king, we will never concede what he demands; because it is\nfor us to enlighten him with regard to his duties, and, on the\ncontrary, we should only be dragging him down with us in our unhappy\nfall.\u201d\n\nA murmur of applause rose from all parts of the hall, drowning the\nvoice of the speaker. The Abbot of Westminster alone maintained a\nsilence of disapproval. Many, however, while they acknowledged the\ntruth of what the Bishop of Rochester had proclaimed, could not but\nreflect with dread on the terrible consequences of the king\u2019s\ndispleasure if they openly resisted him; while others, with less\nforesight and sound judgment, thought Fisher\u2019s zeal carried him too\nfar, and that it would be possible, without at all compromising their\nconsciences, to grant their prince something which would be sufficient\nto satisfy him. Among this number was the Bishop of Bath, who\nimmediately arose. After rendering public testimony to the esteem and\ndeference due the Bishop of Rochester, he added that it appeared to\nhim impossible that the king could think seriously of having himself\nacknowledged as the one and only head of the church \u201cAnd, as for me, I\nbelieve,\u201d he said, at the conclusion of his discourse, \u201cthis is only a\nsnare that has been set in order to afford a pretext for punishing and\ndespoiling us of all we possess. The king is always in need of money;\nhis confidants have suggested this means for him to procure it, and\nmake him distribute the greater part of it among themselves.\u201d\n\n\u201cI agree with my lord of Bath,\u201d cried the Bishop of Bangor, \u201cthe more\nespecially as the king knows how absurd the accusation is of offence\nagainst the _Pr\u00e6munire_, since he has compromised himself by appearing\nbefore the legate in the eyes of the whole kingdom. It was impossible\nto have acknowledged the legate\u2019s authority by an act more authentic,\nand which surpassed in importance all the letters-patent that could\nhave been demanded.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is just and true,\u201d exclaimed several voices: \u201cand yet, although\nwe may be able to prove it, if the king presses the accusation, we\nshall be most unjustly though most certainly condemned.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! yes, most certainly,\u201d said Gardiner in a low voice. He was\ncruelly frightened, being aware of the measures the king had taken, in\nconjunction with Cromwell, to secure for himself the influence of the\njudges of the court of king\u2019s bench.\n\n\u201cWell, my lords,\u201d said the Abbot of Westminster, who had used every\neffort to induce them to yield to the king, \u201cconsider also if our most\ngracious sovereign is wrong in making this demand, he will be\nresponsible before God, and I do not see in what manner we could be\nconsidered guilty. In reality this title will be illusory, since he\ncannot ordain the humblest priest. When the Roman emperors had\nthemselves declared gods, think you it ever entered the minds of the\npeople that they were such? Just the same in this case: no one will\never consider the king as head of the church.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is most sure,\u201d exclaimed several other ecclesiastics, struck by\nthis reasoning, and to whom this pretension began to appear more\nridiculous than criminal.\n\n\u201cI assure you positively,\u201d replied the Abbot of Westminster, \u201cthat\nthis is an absurd humor which will fall through of itself.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou deceive yourselves, my lords; you deceive yourselves,\u201d cried the\nBishop of Rochester. \u201cWhen the king shall have received from us the\ntitle he demands, it will be confirmed by Parliament, and afterwards\nhe will believe himself invested with the right of deciding everything\nand making any innovation. Will there then be time left us to repent\nof our pusillanimous submission? Will you then command this supreme\nhead to be so no longer, and to obey after having been invested with\nsupreme authority?\u201d\n\nNew tokens of assent were breaking out, when they were suddenly\ninterrupted by the entrance of Cromwell, who returned, accompanied by\nViscount Rochford and Thomas Audley.\n\nWith an air of the coolest effrontery he advanced to the centre of the\nhall and stood in the midst of the bishops. He then said in a loud and\narrogant tone, pointing to the two men who followed him:\n\n\u201cMy lords, here are the king\u2019s commissioners; they come to hear your\nreply. But the personal devotion I feel for the interest of our holy\nmother church and the safety of your reverend lordships induces me to\nwarn you that the king has resolved to punish with all the severity of\nthe statutes of _Pr\u00e6munire_ those among you who shall not have signed\nby to-morrow the act acknowledging him as supreme head of the church.\u201d\n\nOn hearing these last words all grew pale and consternation seized on\nall hearts.\n\nMeanwhile, the Archbishop of Canterbury seemed to be making a\ndesperate effort; a convulsive movement contracted the furrowed brow\nof the old man. He fixed his eyes on Cromwell, and, rising, stood\nbefore him.\n\n\u201cKnave!\u201d he exclaimed.\n\nThe advanced age of Warham, and still more his learning and the high\nreputation he enjoyed, surrounded him with respect and strength; but a\nsecret sorrow was gnawing at his heart, and hastening the destruction\nof a life that time had respected. He arose fiercely, although\ntottering, to his feet. \u201cMy brethren,\u201d he cried, \u201cmy brethren!\u2014no, I\nam not worthy to be seated in the midst of you, and yet you have\naccorded me the first place. I know not if the weight of years may not\nhave partially unsettled my reason; but I have to reproach myself with\nhaving inclined to favor the king\u2019s divorce. To-day I foresee all the\nevils that will fall upon my country because of the discord and\nheresies that will spring up and multiply among us. How far, then,\nhave I been from anticipating the fatal consequences of the opinion I\nexpressed in good faith! Meanwhile, I trust that God, before whom I\nmust very soon appear, will pardon me for what I have done. My dear\nbrethren, number me no more among you; for the anguish I feel\noppresses me to such a degree that I can no longer endure it! Alas!\nwhy is it a man must feel his life extinguished before death has\nentirely benumbed his enfeebled members? I vainly seek within my soul\nthe life and strength that have abandoned it; that energy I would wish\nto recover, if but for a single moment, to use it in opposing the ruin\nof religion, and repairing in an open and fearless manner the scandal\nI have given. But the time for action has passed for me. It is to your\nhands, young prelates, that the care of the flock is committed. Be\nfirm; die rather than let it be decimated! The most violent\npersecution is about to burst upon the English Church; yes, but you\nwill resist it, even unto death! Death is glorious when we suffer it\nfor God! But, O my brethren! it is not death I fear for you; it is\nfalsehood and treachery, the silent and hidden influence which\nundermines in the dark; far more dangerous than tortures or\nimprisonment, it destroys all, even the last germ of good which might\nexpand in the soul! No, it is not death that kills, but sinful deeds.\nMy brethren, pardon me all and pray for me!\u201d The aged prelate, as if\nexhausted by the last effort he had made, fell back in his chair,\nentirely deprived of consciousness. He was immediately carried out,\nbut the anxiety and excitement redoubled in the assembly.\n\n\u201cWe are all lost!\u201d\u2026 cried the Abbot of Westminster. \u201cMy lords, let us\nobey the king, if we would not see all our goods confiscated!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d cried the Bishop of Rochester, with an indignation he was\nunable to restrain, \u201cis that the only argument you pretend to bring\nforward? What benefit will it be to keep our houses, our cloisters and\nconvents\u2014in a word, to preserve our entire possessions\u2014if we must\nsacrifice our consciences? What will it profit a man to gain the whole\nworld, if he lose his own soul? Yes, it is but too true: we are all\nunder the rod of the king, we have all need of his clemency, but he\nrefuses it to us! Well, then, let him strike; we shall be able to\nendure it!\u201d\n\nElectrified by these words, and still more by the wisdom and\ncommanding presence of him who uttered them, the assembly arose and\nunanimously exclaimed:\n\n\u201cNo, we will not sign it. Let the king do as he will. Go, Cromwell,\nsay to his majesty that we are all devoted to him, but we cannot do\nwhat he asks.\u201d\n\nA wrathful light gleamed in Cromwell\u2019s eyes, the while an ironical\nsmile played upon his lips. Two ideas prevailed in the mind of this\nman; the one encouraged and supported the other.\n\n\u201cMy lords,\u201d he replied in a loud voice, \u201cjust as you please. The king,\nyour lord and master, convokes you to-morrow at the same hour, and you\nwill consider the subject in a new conference.\u201d\n\nHe then turned on his heel and hastily withdrew.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n [111] Eight o\u2019clock in the morning.\n\n\n\n\nDR. BROWNSON.\n\n\nSome three or four years ago a little daughter of one of Dr.\nBrownson\u2019s intimate friends, who was visiting his family, after gazing\nintently at him for some minutes, exclaimed: \u201cIs he not just like a\ngreat lion\u201d! Nothing could be more graphic or accurate than this\nsudden and happy stroke of a child\u2019s wit. We never saw Dr. Brownson or\nread one of his great articles without thinking of the mien or the\nroar of a majestic lion; we have never seen a remarkably fine old lion\nwithout thinking of Dr. Brownson. His physique was entirely\ncorrespondent to his intellectual and moral power, and his great head,\ncrowning like a dome his massive figure, and surrounded in old age\nwith a mass of white hair and beard like a snowy Alp, made him a grand\nand reverend object to look at, such as we might picture to ourselves\nZoroaster or Plato, St. Jerome or St. Bruno. The marks of infirmity\nwhich time had imprinted upon him, with the expression of loneliness\nand childlike longing for sympathy, added a touch of the pathetic to\nthe picture, fitted to awaken a sentiment of compassion, tempering to\na more gentle mood the awe and admiration excited by his venerable\nappearance. Mr. Healey has painted a remarkably good portrait of him\nas he was at about the age of sixty, in which his full maturity of\nstrength is alone represented. The most perfect one, however, is a\nmere photograph, taken in haste and by accident by Mr. Wallace, an\nartist of great promise, who died at a very early age, leaving\nunfinished a marble bust of Dr. Brownson which he had commenced. The\nyoung artist met the doctor by chance in the studio of a photographer,\nwho happened at the moment to be absent. Asking him to sit down, he\nplaced him in position for a profile and took the photograph, one of\nthe most successful specimens of this kind of art we have ever seen,\nand much superior to any other photographic likeness of Dr.\nBrownson\u2014indeed, as we have said, the best likeness which exists, and\nthe one above all others from which an engraver should copy.\n\nThe lion is dead; his thunderous voice is for ever hushed. The\nfarewell utterance which closed his career as an editor with so much\ndignity and pathos was his valedictory to life and to the world. It is\npleasant to think that, before he died, a response full of veneration\nand affection came back to him from the organs of Catholic opinion and\nfeeling in America and Europe, and that he has gone to his grave in\nhonor and peace, where his works will be his monument, and his repose\nbe asked for by countless prayers offered up throughout all parts of\nthe Catholic Church, in whose battles he had been a tried warrior and\nvaliant leader for thirty years.\n\nIt is not an easy task to give a perfectly just and impartial estimate\nof such a man and such a career. The intimate relations between Dr.\nBrownson and those who have been the chief conductors of this\nmagazine, together with the very active and extensive share which he\nhad in their efforts to establish it and raise it to its present\nposition, impose an obligation of personal friendship and gratitude\nsomewhat like that which affects the relatives and family friends of a\ngreat man in the memorials which they prepare for the honor and fame\nof one whom they regard with a veneration and affection precluding the\nfree exercise of critical judgment. On the other hand, the difference\nof opinion which afterwards severed the connection between Dr.\nBrownson and THE CATHOLIC WORLD, and the controversy we have had with\nhim on some important theological and philosophical questions, may\ngive to the expression of anything like a discriminating judgment the\nappearance of an adverse plea against an opposing advocate in favor of\nour own cause. Nevertheless, as the motive of our friendship was\nchiefly sympathy in the great common cause of the Catholic Church,\nwhich was not essentially altered by a disagreement that produced no\nbitterness or animosity, we trust that our mood of mind is not\ninfluenced by any partial and personal bias, so as to produce either\nexaggeration or diminution of the just claims the great deceased\npublicist possesses on the admiration of his fellow-men. We may fail\nfrom want of capability, but we cannot avoid making the attempt to\nsatisfy in part the desire which all Catholics everywhere must feel to\nknow what those who have been near to Dr. Brownson during his public\nlife have seen, and what they think, of his character and his career,\nmore especially since his conversion.\n\nDr. Brownson has told the world a great deal about his own history in\nthe book which he published in 1857, entitled _The Convert_. The\nsalient facts of his life are generally known to the public, and have\nbeen summarily stated in the obituary notices of the leading\nnewspapers, so that we have no need to take up much of our limited\nspace in recounting them. The principal interest they possess is in\ntheir relation to the formation of his mind, his character, his faith,\nand his opinions. He was not baptized in his infancy, but was\nnevertheless brought up strictly and religiously according to the\nold-fashioned Puritan method, in their simple, humble cottage at\nRoyalton, Vermont, by an elderly couple, distant relatives of his\nfamily, who adopted the fatherless boy when he was six years old.[112]\nA wonderful child he must have been, and we can see in his brief\nnarrative of his early years, as in the instances of St. Thomas of\nAquin and Chateaubriand, though under circumstances as different as\npossible from theirs, a most interesting example of Wordsworth\u2019s\naphorism, \u201cThe child is father of the man.\u201d From the dawn of reason he\nwas a philosopher, never a child, thinking, dreaming in an ideal\nworld, reading the few books he could find\u2014especially King James\u2019\nEnglish Bible, which he almost learned by heart\u2014never playing with\nother children, and enjoying very scanty advantages of schooling.\nAfter his fourteenth year he lived near Saratoga, in New York State,\nand worked hard for his own maintenance. At nineteen we find him at an\nacademy in the town of Ballston\u2014a privilege which we believe he\npurchased with the hard earnings of his industry. At this time, from\nan impulse of religious sentiment, he sought for baptism and admission\ninto the Presbyterian church, which he very soon found an uncongenial\nhome and exchanged for another sect at the opposite pole of\nProtestantism, that of the Universalists, among whom he became a\npreacher at the age of twenty-one. The subsequent period of his life\nuntil he had passed somewhat beyond his fortieth year\u2014that is, until\n1844\u2014was marked by various phases of rationalism, and filled with\nactive labors in preaching, lecturing, writing, and editing various\nperiodicals, all carried on with restless energy and untiring\nindustry. He was married early in life to an amiable and intelligent\nlady who was a perfect wife and mother, and after her conversion a\nperfect Christian; and the six children who lived to grow up, five of\nwhom were sons, all received an excellent education. The eldest son,\nhis namesake, has passed his life as a teacher and farmer in a remote\nState, living the life of a good Catholic with the spirit of a\nrecluse, altogether uninterested in the great affairs of the world.\nTwo others were lawyers and died young. The fourth, after passing some\nyears with the Jesuits, entered the army of the United States at the\nbreaking out of the war as a captain of artillery, was severely\nwounded, and after the close of the war was admitted to the bar,\nmarried, and began the practice of law at Detroit. He is known to the\nliterary world as the translator of Balmes\u2019 _Fundamental Philosophy_.\nThe youngest son also served gallantly as an officer of the army of\nthe republic during the civil war, and died on the field of battle in\nthe flower of his youth. The only daughter, who is the wife of a most\nworthy and respectable gentleman, before her marriage published\nseveral works, and particularly the _Life of Prince Gallitzin_, a\nbiography of very considerable merit. All the fruits of the\nintellectual labors of Dr. Brownson were absorbed in the support and\neducation of his family and some dependent female relatives, and\nbeyond these simple means of keeping up his plain and unostentatious\nhousehold, the great and patriarchal philosopher received no pecuniary\nrecompense from his long and severe labors in the field of literature.\nHis true profession was that of an editor and reviewer. The exercise\nof the functions of the Protestant ministry was not to his taste, and\nfive years before his conversion to the Catholic Church, which took\nplace in 1844, he founded a _Review_ at Boston, which was, with a\nchange of title, continued during his residence in that city, then\ntransferred to New York and sustained until 1864, revived once more by\na kind of dying effort in 1873, and finally closed a few months before\nthe end of Dr. Brownson\u2019s mortal career. An active part in politics\nwas taken by Dr. Brownson during several years of his earlier public\ncareer, but his restless, impetuous, independent spirit made it\nimpossible for him to remain long within the ranks of any political\nparty. Until his conversion he was an agitator, a reformer,\nassociating by turns with Fanny Wright, Robert Dale Owen, the leaders\nof the working-men\u2019s party, Channing, Parker, and the Boston clique of\nworld-reformers, captivated by the theories of Leroux and St. Simon,\nand even fancying himself the providential precursor of a new Messias\nwho was to do away with all old things and renovate the world. At last\nhe became convinced that Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church as\nthe perpetual teacher, guide, and ruler of men and nations, and\nsettled himself in his only true vocation as an exponent and advocate\nof her doctrines and order by the means of his written works. It was\nonly as a Catholic publicist that he became a truly great man, and\nachieved a great work for which he deserves to be held in lasting\nremembrance. To this work the last thirty years of his life were\ndevoted with a gigantic energy, which diminished toward the end under\nthe influence of advancing age and enfeebled health, but never wholly\nflagged until the approach of death gradually quenched and at last\nextinguished the vital flame of his physical existence. During the\nlast seventeen years of his life his residence was at Elizabeth, New\nJersey, with the exception of a few months which he passed with his\nson, Henry F. Brownson, Esq., of Detroit, in whose house he died, and\nfrom which he was carried to his last resting-place in the Catholic\ncemetery of that town. His last years were filled with sufferings from\nsevere physical infirmities, the sudden deaths of several of his\nchildren, above all from the death of his tenderly-loved and devoted\nwife, and from the desolation and loneliness which is usually the\ncloud in which the setting sun of genius goes down, especially when\none survives the period of his great activity, and finds himself, as\nit were, walking among the graves of friends and past works, drawing\nalways nearer to his own sepulchral resting-place. His death occurred\non the morning of Easter Monday, April 17, 1876, when he was in the\nmiddle of his seventy-third year, and his obsequies were celebrated on\nthe following Wednesday. From the time of his conversion he was not\nonly a loyal but a pious and practical Catholic, constantly receiving\nthe sacraments, and making his own salvation the chief object to be\nattained in life. There can be no doubt that he lived and died a just\nand good man, full of merit, and sure of a high place in heaven, as\nwell as on the scroll of honor where the names of the great men of the\nage are inscribed by the verdict of their fellows.\n\nIf we were allowed to stop here, our task would not have any of that\ndifficulty or delicacy which we said at the outset must necessarily\nbelong to an effort at estimating Dr. Brownson\u2019s character and career\nas a Catholic publicist. That he built on the true foundation as a\nwise master-builder, with gold, silver, and precious stones, much\nsolid and fine work able to stand the fire and deserving a reward both\non earth and in heaven, we can affirm with conscientious fidelity to\nour own conviction, and without fear of contradiction. That there was\nno wood, hay, or stubble in the great mass of materials which he used\nin his many and extensive works we dare not assert. The difficulty\nlies in discrimination, and in the relative estimate of a man\ncertainly great and good, in comparison with other great champions of\nthe Catholic faith, and with the standard of perfection. It must be\nremembered that Dr. Brownson was a self-made man, and, until he was\npast thirty, was in circumstances most unfavorable to his intellectual\nculture. He received in his youth only the rudiments of an education,\nwas associated during his early manhood with vulgar sectaries and\ndemagogues, engaged in a rude, turbulent struggle for a living and a\nposition as a religious and political leader, as well as in a\nperpetual search after truth, without adequate means of satisfying the\ncravings of his restless intellect and passionate heart. He came into\ncontact with intellectual and cultivated men for the first time in\nBoston after he joined the Unitarians. His efforts to educate himself\nwere certainly strenuous. He acquired the Latin, French, German, and\nItalian languages sufficiently well to read books written in all those\nlanguages, and his knowledge of English authors was, of course, very\nwide and extensive. Nevertheless, the want of a systematic education\nin his early youth, and of regular, symmetrical intellectual training,\nwas always a great disadvantage, as it necessarily must be to every\nself-made man. Moreover, the necessity of perpetually speaking and\nwriting on the most important subjects as a teacher and guide of\nothers, before he had thoroughly learned what he had to teach, made\nhim liable to hasty and crude statements, to inaccuracies and errors,\nto changes and modifications in his views and opinions, and to a\ncertain tentative, erratic course of thought. He was like a great ship\nmaking its way by waring and tacking, often changing its course, and\nfrequently stopping for soundings, but on the whole making steady\nheadway towards one definite point, escaping many dangers, and at last\narriving on open sailing ground by the genius of its pilot,\nnotwithstanding insufficient charts and an unknown coast. In certain\nfavorite branches of study\u2014as, for instance, in history, the history\nof philosophy, political ethics, and English philology\u2014his knowledge\nwas not only extensive, but extremely accurate. Of scholastic\nmetaphysics and theology he had a considerable but by no means a\nminutely precise and complete knowledge; and with the physical\nsciences he was still less acquainted. In the _belles-lettres_ he was\nextremely well versed, and of works of fiction he was an omnivorous\nreader. For a number of years before his death he was prevented by the\nweakness of his eyes from reading very much, and was therefore, in the\nlast series of his _Review_, thrown back on his old resources. On the\nwhole, the mass of knowledge acquired by study which is displayed in\nhis written works is more like a grand, complex structure, imposing in\nmagnitude of outline, sublimity of design, variety of details, yet\nirregular in plan and incomplete in many of its parts, than like a\nfinished, scientifically-constructed, and elaborately-completed\nedifice.\n\nIn his calibre of mind we think Dr. Brownson may be classed with those\nmen whose capacity is only exceeded by a very small number of minds of\nthe highest order of genius. Intellect, reason, imagination, and\nmemory were alike powerful faculties of his mind, and his great weight\nof brain, with a corresponding nervous and muscular strength, made him\ncapable of the most concentrated, vigorous, and sustained intellectual\nlabor. Within the scope of his genius there was no work, however\ncolossal, which he was not naturally capable of accomplishing. His\ngift of language, and ability of giving expression to his thoughts and\nsentiments, whether original or borrowed, was even greater than his\npower of abstraction and conception; and his style has a magnificent,\nDoric beauty seldom surpassed, rarely even equalled. Although Dr.\nBrownson was not an orator, and Mr. Webster was not a philosopher,\nthere is, nevertheless, a striking similarity in the style of the two\nmen, who mutually admired each other\u2019s productions with the sympathy\nof cognate minds. In argument, but especially in controversial\nargument and philippics, Dr. Brownson wielded the hammer of Thor. His\ndefect was in subtlety of thought, fineness of discrimination,\ncompleteness of induction, and minute, accurate analysis. In the\ncapacity of grasping a first principle and following it out on the\nsynthetic method lay his great power. Whenever he had these great\nfirst principles and fundamental ideas, either from reason or faith,\nhe was unrivalled in the grand and mighty exposition of the truth,\nirresistible in the demolition of sophistical, inconsequent, and false\ntheories and their advocates, many of whom he laid low with the ease\nand force of the blow of Richard C\u0153ur de Lion on the cheek of the\nunlucky clerk of Companhurst. Humor, wit, and sarcasm were also at his\ncommand, as well as serious argument; nor were they always sparingly\nused, although generally with the good-humor of a giant conscious of\nhis strength.\n\nWhen we consider the absolute and permanent value of Dr. Brownson\u2019s\nwritings as a contribution to Catholic literature, not merely in\nrespect to their quality as the productions of a great mind, but as to\ntheir substance; and estimate the effective worth of his efforts as a\npublicist in the promotion of Catholic truth and law, we cannot avoid\ntaking into view the moral characteristics of the man and of his\ncareer. He was a man of great passions as well as of great intellect.\nHe lacked a wholesome, sound moral and religious discipline during\nmore than half his life, and was under the influence of ideas,\nassociates, circumstances, most dangerous and injurious, but\nespecially hostile to the fundamental virtues of humility, reverence\nfor authority, intellectual and moral self-control, submission to a\nfixed, unvarying rule of conscientious obligation. After a stormy and\nturbulent life, he submitted himself to the authority of the Catholic\nChurch over his mind and conscience, when he was more than forty years\nof age. He was always true in his allegiance, and in many respects\nmorally heroic in the practice of the Christian virtues. His previous\nlife was not wanting in nobility, and in his subsequent life as a\nCatholic there is a magnanimity, a generosity, a superiority to petty,\nselfish motives and considerations, such as wealth and popularity; a\npatient endurance of toil, privation, and suffering; a steady loyalty\nto the Holy See; a royal scorn of baseness and wrong, and sympathy\nwith the things which are good, just, true, and honorable, worthy of a\nCatholic of the best medi\u00e6val type. He remained, however, as many of\nthe old, heroic Christians who were converted from heathenism did,\nmore or less, the lion of the forest, with many of the idiosyncrasies\nand other characteristics, the product of his past history, but\npartially subdued and modified. He was _sui generis_, and his works\nare like himself. To describe him we ought to borrow, if we may hint\nat such an impossible supposition, the pen with which Carlyle has\ndescribed his heroes. The pen being unattainable, we decline the\nattempt. A few things we must say, in order to prepare the way for the\nestimate we are striving to make of his career and works.\n\nDr. Brownson was liable to be fascinated by some great writer, and for\na time to surrender his mind almost completely to his influence with\nan impetuous enthusiasm which hindered calm deliberation. When this\nfirst fervor had passed, he would reconsider the matter, and sometimes\nend by a severe castigation of his late master. Like St. Christopher,\nhe went in search of the strongest man to serve, whereas those whom he\nsuccessively tried and abandoned were really weaker than himself.\nCousin, Leroux, and last of all Gioberti were those to whom he was\nmost specially devoted, and the influence of the last-named author was\nso strong over him that he never wholly freed himself from its\ndetrimental effects. In many other ways the judgment of Dr. Brownson\nwas liable to bias from prejudice, passion, and moods of feeling. In\nhis judgment of men, and also of books, he was hasty, partial,\ncapricious, swayed by accidental influences, and variable. It was the\nsame in regard to theories, opinions, and doctrines which he regarded\nas open questions. Where his faith, his conscience, or his matured,\ndeliberate reason were firmly settled he was steady and immovable. If\nhe was thoroughly convinced that he had made a mistake or fallen into\nerror, he would retract. But his old habit of roving all over the\nworld of thought, and the lack of the regular, consistent intellectual\nand moral discipline of a systematic Catholic culture and education,\nmade him restless of keeping steadily in one course of thought, fond\nof novelty, and ready to adopt or abandon ideas without due\ndeliberation. This variability and want of steady balance in his\nintellectual operations detracted very much from his influence as a\nwriter, and counteracted to a great extent the effect which his solid\nand weighty arguments might have otherwise produced. He has himself\nmade a frank though not a contrite acknowledgment of his one great\nmoral fault in _The Convert_: \u201cI am no saint, never was, and never\nshall be a saint. I am not and never shall be a great man; but I\nalways had, and I trust I always shall have, the honor of being\nregarded by my friends and associates as impolitic, as rash,\nimprudent, and impracticable. I was and am in my natural disposition\nfrank, truthful, straightforward, and earnest, and therefore have had,\nand I doubt not shall carry to the grave with me, the reputation of\nbeing reckless, ultra, a well-meaning man, perhaps an able man, but so\nfond of paradoxes and extremes that he cannot be relied on, and is\nmore likely to injure than serve the cause he espouses.\u201d[113] To the\nlast statement we must, to a great extent, demur. It is so far true,\nhowever, that it was extremely difficult to act in concert with Dr.\nBrownson, and impossible to count with security upon his movements.\nLike the lions described so vividly by Jules G\u00e9rard, who would be\nheard by him roaring in the night at distant points within a circuit\nof twenty miles, you could not foresee from what quarter the thunder\nof his voice would be next heard, or calculate his range. Many\nCatholics were alarmed at one time, lest he should stray beyond the\nboundaries of the faith. He had even so far lost the confidence of the\nhierarchy and the Catholic public, in the year 1864, that he was\nunable to keep up his _Review_. Complaints were lodged against him\nbefore one of the Roman tribunals, and the celebrated theologian\nCardinal Franzelin, then professor in the Roman College, was deputed\nto examine his writings. The result was that they were not found\nworthy of censure, and the case was dismissed with a kind admonition\nto be guarded in his language on one or two points, conveyed through a\nwell-known priest and Roman doctor of New York, who was at the same\ntime directed to console him in his afflictions and encourage him to\npersevere in his labors. Like Montalembert, Lacordaire, De Broglie,\nand many other illustrious Catholic priests as well as laymen, and\neven a few bishops, Dr. Brownson was for a time dazzled by the\nspecious phantom of liberalism; but he soon freed himself from this\nillusion, and no one has more thoroughly and heartily defended the\ndecisions of the Council of the Vatican, and of the Encyclical and\nSyllabus of 1864, than he has done, especially in the last series of\nhis _Review_. He wavered for a time respecting the necessity of an\nuncompromising defence and maintenance of the temporal princedom of\nthe Sovereign Pontiff, and an unfortunate expression to that effect\neven slipped into THE CATHOLIC WORLD from his pen through an oversight\nof the editor. But in this and every other respect in which he had\nbeen led astray for a time, he never failed in a right intention; and\nfor all errors into which he was misled he made full and ample amends,\neven far beyond what could justly have been expected.\n\nIn regard to some points of Catholic doctrine he was rigoristic and\nexaggerated, sometimes censuring the most orthodox theologians as lax\nin their interpretation of dogmas. A satisfactory and systematic\nexposition of the complete theology of the Catholic Church cannot,\ntherefore, be said to have been accomplished by Dr. Brownson. Nor,\nindeed, can we award to him the meed of success in constructing a\nsystem of metaphysics. That he made valuable contributions both to\ntheology and metaphysics we are very glad to admit; and, moreover, we\nascribe his imperfect achievement, not to the want of intellectual\nability, but to other causes which we have sufficiently explained\nalready. In point of fact, the great scheme always before his mind of\nthe synthetic exposition of faith and science, reason and revelation,\ndogma and philosophy, was too vast even for his capacious mind and\ngigantic powers, without a preparation and a possession of materials\nwhich he did not and could not have at command. In our opinion, some\nparts of this great work have been much better done in our own time by\nother men than by Dr. Brownson. Whether any man will arise who will\naccomplish the complete work and produce another _Summa Theologi\u00e6_, we\ncannot say; but such a man, if he appears, will be a second Angelic\nDoctor. On this head Dr. Ward, in the _Dublin Review_, has already\nwritten so well that we need not add anything more. He has also, in\nthe number for January, 1876, while paying a most cordial and generous\ntribute to the genius and virtue of Dr. Brownson, pointed out in very\nclear, explicit terms the great defect in his method of metaphysical\nreasoning. This defect is traceable to the influence of Kant, and\nfound expression in his perpetual criticism of the analytic method of\nthe schoolmen, and insistance for the substitution of a synthetic\nprocess beginning from an _\u00e0 priori_ synthetic judgment. Dr.\nBrownson\u2019s great mistake lay in his attempting to reconstruct\nphilosophy and theology from the foundation, instead of applying\nhimself to learn both from the traditional scholastic system, which\nneeds to be reconstructed and completed only where certain portions\nhave been proved by real scientific discoveries to be weak or have\nbeen left unfinished. But we will not weary our readers with any\nfurther remarks on such abstruse topics. We have said enough to\nindicate to those who are familiar with them the grounds of our\njudgment on certain portions of Dr. Brownson\u2019s writings, and for\nothers the requisite explanation would occupy far more space than we\nare at liberty to appropriate.\n\nWhile a considerable part of these writings belonging to domestic\ncontroversy will, in our opinion, be forgotten except as literary\ncuriosities, there are others which deserve to remain as a portion of\nour standard Catholic literature, and to be studied while the English\nlanguage itself endures. We are disposed to consider the various\nessays on subjects belonging to the department of political ethics as\nthe most consummate productions of the great publicist. His work\nentitled _The Great Republic_ is the most extensive and complete of\nthese essays, but there are numerous other single pieces, making\ntogether a great collection, to be found in various parts of his own\n_Review_ and of this magazine. The articles on the controversy with\nProtestants and various kinds of free-thinkers, those on\ntranscendentalism, the autobiography entitled _The Convert_, and the\nwhole series of articles contributed to THE CATHOLIC WORLD, with the\nexception of a few of minor importance, may be placed in the same\ncategory of excellence and permanent value. The quantity of literary\nlabor accomplished by Dr. Brownson was literally astounding,\nespecially for our day. A great part of that which he published during\nhis fifty years of active life was necessarily ephemeral. But there\nmight be selected from his extant publications as a Catholic reviewer\na mass considerable enough to fill several volumes of the best quality\nof matter in the most excellent, admirable, and enduring form. Such\ncompetent judges as Lord Brougham, Cardinal Wiseman, Mr. Webster, Mr.\nRipley, and the editors of the principal reviews in England, France,\nand Germany, have pronounced the highest eulogiums upon the\nmasterpieces of Dr. Brownson\u2019s pen, either in respect to the power of\nthought and beauty of style which are their characteristics, or the\nintrinsic value of their argument as an exposition or defence of great\ntruths and principles. The terse logic of Tertullian, the polemic\ncrash of St. Jerome, the sublime eloquence of Bossuet, are all to be\nfound there in combination or alternation, with many sweet strains of\ntenderness and playful flashes of humor. There are numerous passages\nin his writings not to be surpassed by the finest portions of the\nworks of the great masters of thought and style, whether in the\nEnglish or any other language, in the present or in any past age. They\nrender certain and immortal the just and hard-earned fame of their\nauthor, who labored not, however, at least not principally, for fame\nand honor, but for the love of truth, the welfare of mankind, and the\napprobation of heaven.\n\nDr. Brownson is the most remarkable of all the converts to the\nCatholic Church in the United States, and among the most remarkable in\nthe group of illustrious men who have paid homage to her authority in\nthe present age. His conversion was a great event and made an epoch.\nWhat the amount of good which has been and will be effected by his\nworks may be, it is utterly impossible to estimate; for such things\nhave no statistics, no criterion of measurement, no data for\ncalculation. The weight of his testimony and the conclusiveness of his\narguments have been slightingly treated, and represented as not worthy\nto be considered, on the plea that he was capricious, changeable, and\npossessed of a kind of marvellous art, a sort of intellectual magic,\nby which he could persuade himself, and make a plausible show of\nproving to others, that any theory, doctrine, or scheme which took his\nfancy was solid truth; somewhat as Kant attributes an illusory power\nto nature, by which all sorts of paralogisms are made to seem equally\ntrue and real to reason, whereas they are only phenomenal forms. To a\ngreat number of persons Dr. Brownson was an intellectual phenomenon, a\nsort of philosophical comet of the most eccentric orbit, a\nprestidigitator with magical formulas, a Prospero having a magic wand,\na being such as the popular superstition of old represented Albertus\nMagnus. That a mind which is searching for the truth which it does not\npossess, and after a supreme good which it knows not except as an\nobject of vague longing, should wander, is not strange. It is the\nprinciple of Protestantism, and of the rationalistic, sceptical\nphilosophy which it has produced, to be always doubting, questioning;\n\u201cever seeking and never coming to the knowledge of the truth,\u201d unless\nby the substitution of another, higher principle. That there was a law\nin his mental aberrations, a progressive movement in his eccentric\norbit, a \u201cmethod in his madness,\u201d even in its utmost extravagance, a\ncareful perusal of his autobiography will show. It requires\nintelligence and patience, however, to read that book. His intellect\nwas one always _qu\u00e6rens causas altissimas_. When he became once\nconvinced of the truth of the Catholic religion, and surrendered his\nmind to the supernatural light of faith, although his faith was _fides\nqu\u00e6rens intellectum_, he never changed or wavered in his belief of the\ngrand dogmas of Catholic Christianity. That such a mind and\ndisposition as his could be firmly held under the dominion of\nauthority with the full assent of the understanding and the joyful\nsubmission of the will, is no weak proof that the authority is divine\nwhich subdued so restive a spirit. Pegasus in the yoke with his wings\ntied was an unruly, troublesome steed; but when Apollo mounted on his\nback and cut his cords, he was docile to his rein, while with all the\njoy of liberty he flew through the air, proud to obey such a master.\n\nDr. Brownson\u2019s demonstration of the divine institution and authority\nof the church is unanswered and unanswerable. It is childish trifling,\nunworthy of rational men, to ignore his arguments and escape from his\nlogic by petty criticisms on his person. Reason is objective and real;\nthe subjective qualities of the reasoner have nothing to do with its\nauthority. Several years before Dr. Brownson\u2019s conversion, the writer\nheard several of the professors of Princeton express their opinion\nthat he was the ablest and most dangerous antagonist of Christianity\nin this country. Like Saul of Tarsus, he was changed from an enemy to\na champion of the cause of Christ and his church. Though somewhat\nsudden, his conversion was from rational conviction and the purest\nmotives. It is impossible to deprive it of its significance or deny\nits importance. It is one of many instances proving that now, as ever,\nthe Catholic Church has power to win and master the strongest and most\nfearless minds, the most generous and disinterested hearts. Dr.\nBrownson was generous and disinterested. He obeyed his conscience,\ndevoted himself to truth and justice, served God and his fellow-men,\nwithout price, in poverty, and with a total neglect of popularity and\nworldly honor, comfort, enjoyment, and every sort of earthly pomp and\nostentation. In a merely natural point of view he was like the simple\nold men of the Greek and Roman heroic age, and the early fathers of\nour degenerate commonwealth. His austere figure is an example and a\nreproach to a frivolous, luxurious, sceptical, perfidious generation.\nWhat a contrast between his incorruptible integrity and unpurchasable\nallegiance to truth and right, to virtue and honesty, to order and\nliberty, and the venal trafficking of our so-called statesmen, who\nswindle soldiers and artisans, rob the country and the poor, barter\nand trade in votes and offices, renounce their faith for political\npreferment, bid for honors by appeals to sectarian animosity, sell the\nmost sacred rights and interests for their own selfish advantage,\nflaunt in a vulgar magnificence which is maintained by theft, and\nabscond to escape the punishment due to their felonies! Amid this mean\ncrowd he stands out like Aristides among the demagogues of Athens; and\ncompared with that other brood which has settled down on the domain of\nthe press and the lecture-hall, the professors of atheistic\nmaterialism, he is like Socrates among the sophists. Detected\nswindlers, defaulters and robbers are despised and denounced,\ndisgraced and punished, if it is money and material goods which they\nadminister fraudulently or appropriate unjustly. They are the small\ncattle-thieves of _Waverley_, but the great _lifters_ escape\nunpunished and are honored. Tyrants who rob their subjects of their\nrights or neighboring states of their possessions; defaulters to\nfaith, conscience, and God, who abuse their gifts and power to debauch\nand degrade the minds of their fellow-men; swindlers in the priceless\ngoods of the soul and eternity; the prophets of falsehood and\nlicentiousness; are enriched and applauded. Neglect, aversion,\nmartyrdom, are the portion of the genuine heroes, sages, patriots,\nlovers and benefactors of the race; and whatever homage they receive\nis extorted, reluctant, scanty in proportion to their worth and merit.\nEven when they are admired and praised, their teaching is not heeded\nor their example followed by the fickle, frivolous crowd. Morally,\nwhen not literally, exile and the cup of hemlock are their portion.\nThose who literally encounter death and receive the palm of martrydom\nare the happiest and most favored among them. But these are the men\nwho redeem the race, and are the only lasting glory of the age in\nwhich their task of labor and suffering is fulfilled. Among these\ncrusaders Dr. Brownson enlisted when he abandoned the camp of\ninfidelity and revolution to receive the cross. The _corps d\u2019\u00e9lite_ of\nCatholic laymen distinguished by their eminent superiority and\nillustrious services to the church, in this century, is a\nconfraternity even more chivalrous and honorable than the Order of the\nTemple in its purest, brightest days. G\u00f6rres, O\u2019Connell, De Gerlache,\nRossi, Lamorici\u00e8re, Montalembert, Veuillot, Dechamps, Marshall, Ward,\nGarcia Moreno, Mallinkrodt\u2014these are names which represent a great\nbattalion of more or less renowned warriors in the sacred cause of\nChrist, of his Vicar, of true religion, science, civilization, and\nman\u2019s eternal welfare. The unshaken, loyal fidelity of Abdiel among\nthe innumerable hosts of revolted angels shines forth, not with\nsolitary lustre, but like the splendor of the cohort seen in the\nvision recorded in the Machabees: _Peraera equites discurrentes,\nauratas stolas habentes, et aureorum splendorem armorum_. The Catholic\nlaity of the United States have furnished one illustrious champion to\nthis band. He loved the church first of all, and next his country. He\ndeserved well of both, for Christian and civic virtues, sacrifices on\nthe altar of God and the battle-field of the republic, wise and\neloquent pleadings for Catholic law in the Christian commonwealth, and\nconstitutional right, freedom, and order in the American state. We\ntrust that his instructions and example will always be a light and an\nencouragement, a glory and a model, to the Catholic laymen of the\nUnited States, and especially to the young men of education who aspire\nto intellectual culture and feel the impulse to act valiantly and\nusefully their part as citizens of this republic and Christian\ngentlemen.\n\n\n [112] It is but a few years since the death of Dr.\n Brownson\u2019s mother, and his twin-sister still survives.\n\n [113] The Convert, p. 96\n\n\n\n\nTHE ASCENSION.\n\n\u201cThou art gone up on high.\u201d\u2014Ps. lxvii. 18.\n\n\n Gone up! But whither? To a star?\n Some orb that seems a point of light?\n Or one too infinitely far\n For our fond gaze beneath the night?\n\n Some fairer world, to which our own,\n With all its vastness, is a grain?\n Is\u2019t there the God-Man sets His throne\u2014\n Fit centre of a boundless reign?\n\n Let science coldly sweep away\n A fancied Eden here and there\n From out the starry space, and say\n \u2018Tis _all_ brute matter\u2014crude and bare\n\n Or stern philosophy demand.\n May not yon myriad orbs we ken\n Be but a pinch of golden sand,\n To stretch the narrow minds of men?\n\n Yet Faith makes answer, meekly bold\n Narrow to me your widest lore\u2014\n Without the blessed truth I hold\n That God is man for evermore.\n\n He came to wed our life to His:\n As man was born, and died, and rose:\n And in His victor Flesh it is\n Our hopes of Paradise repose.\n\n He wore it through the sweet delay\n That kept him with His dear ones yet;\n Nor put it from Him on the day\n He passed from topmost Olivet.\n\n Then still He wears it in the skies\u2014\n Matter in place. And when the cloud\n Received Him from the gazers\u2019 eyes\u2014\n Before their brimming hearts allowed\n\n That they had lost Him\u2014swift as thought,\n He reached the bright Elysian home\n His own primeval word had wrought\u2014\n New Eden for the race to come.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WILD ROSE OF ST. REGIS.\n\n\nAn earnest consideration of the \u201cIndian question\u201d must impress every\nlover of our country with the most serious conviction of its\nimportance and the fearful accounting which awaits us before the\nsolemn tribunal of the future, if we follow the policy which has\nunhappily been hitherto adopted in relation to it.\n\nLeaving out all thought of the principles of eternal justice, and\nconsulting only the promotion of our temporal interests, the course we\nhave pursued could not have been more fatal if projected for the sole\npurpose of defeat and ruin.\n\nHow much more wisely did France deal with the aborigines from the\nstart than England! With what untiring patience did her colonial\ngovernments meet each successive savage outbreak, subduing the\nferocious foe with weapons of Christian forbearance and clemency! They\nwaged no war of retaliation and extermination against these \u201cchildren\nof larger growth,\u201d whom they found roaming through the forests of New\nFrance. They made no treaties with them, as we have done from the\nfirst, with the sole purpose, as it would seem, of breaking them. In\ntheir traffic with the Indians they forced no worthless rubbish upon\nthem at prices far exceeding the value of the very best, and in\nexchange for their wares at a rate much below the half of their real\nworth. The dealings of traders with them were not only jealously\nwatched and guarded by every possible check to the greed for gain, but\na breach of justice and equity in those dealings was sure to meet its\nprovided penalty.\n\nFrance bequeathed to England with the cession of her Canadian\nprovinces, in 1763, the wisest system\u2014wisest because based upon an\nimmutable foundation of Christian equity\u2014which could have been adopted\nin regard to her Indian tribes; and England, though not always so\nscrupulously watchful of the transactions of her traders, was\nsagacious enough to perceive its wisdom and to uphold and continue it,\nin all its leading features, throughout her American dependencies.\n\nHerein, as we apprehend, lies the secret of her success in this\nmatter, which contrasts so strikingly with our miserable\nfailure\u2014herein, and not, as has been asserted, in any essential\ndifference between these aboriginal races; for the savage is, after\nall, much the same through all his nations and tribes, and has a vast\namount of human nature in his unsubdued bosom, which is as easily\nmelted by kindness as exasperated by cruelty and oppression.\n\nCircumstances recently brought to our notice have served to confirm\nand illustrate convictions we had long entertained on this subject,\nand we have thought the relation of them might not prove inappropriate\nor without interest at this time.\n\nIn the autumn of 1874 we went with a party of friends to the railroad\ndepot at St. Albans, Vermont, to take leave of a portion of our number\nwho were about to depart for Florida to pass the winter. While we were\nawaiting the arrival of the train from the north our notice was\nattracted by a group of Indian children who passed among the crowd\nassembled there, in quest of purchasers for their toilet articles and\nIndian knick-knacks.\n\nAn old lady of our party\u2014whose father left Vermont with his family\nearly in this century, when she was very young, to settle in\nnorthwestern New York, and who was now visiting the home and friends\nof her childhood for the first time\u2014seemed to take a particular\ninterest in these children. Calling a little girl to her, she asked\nwhat place they were from. \u201cFrom St. Regis,\u201d was the reply. \u201cAnd did\nyou ever hear of Margaret La Lune?\u201d she asked. \u201cShe is our\ngrandmother,\u201d they answered, \u201cand is in this village now.\u201d\n\nAt that moment a very old squaw, dressed in a remarkably neat Indian\ncostume, with a blanket of snowy whiteness thrown loosely around her\naged form, entered the room. To our astonishment, our friend no sooner\nsaw her than she ran to her with open arms, embraced her, and kissed\neach of her wrinkled and swarthy cheeks!\n\nThis sudden demonstration was evidently no surprise to the Indian\nwoman; for when, after a moment of silence, our friend asked, \u201cWhy,\nMargaret! how does it happen that you remember me after so many\nyears?\u201d she simply replied: \u201cMy daughter should know that our people\nnever forget!\u201d finishing the sentence with some expressions in her own\nlanguage which fell upon our ears more like vibrations produced by the\nwind passing over the chords of some musical instrument, than like any\narticulate utterance. Our amazement was not diminished when we heard\nour friend reply in the same tone and language.\n\nBefore we could express our surprise the train arrived. The bustle of\ndeparture and last words were hardly over when we found that the\nIndian party had also gone on to Burlington in the same train.\n\nUpon our return home we beset our visitor with questions as to this\nsingular interview and the warm affection which seemed to exist\nbetween her and the old squaw.\n\n\u201cI became acquainted with her, for a brief space, long ago, when I was\na little child,\u201d she replied, \u201cand, though I have never seen her\nsince, incidents occurred some years later which revived my\nrecollections of her and fixed them in my memory.\u201d\n\nWhen we insisted upon hearing all about it, she related the following\nstory of\n\n\nTHE WILD ROSE OF ST. REGIS.\n\nWhen my father removed in 1815 to the new settlement at Rossie, on the\nwestern confines of St. Lawrence County, N. Y., the forests covering\nthe territory lying on Black Lake, and the borders of the Indian\nRiver\u2014which empties into that lake a few miles below Rossie\u2014had\nscarcely yet been disturbed by the axe of the settler. Hordes of wild\nbeasts held almost undisputed sway over regions now occupied by\ncultivated farms and smiling villages.\n\nA place of more weird and savage aspect than Rossie presented,\nsituated on both sides of that dark stream, can hardly be conceived.\nRich beds of iron ore of a superior quality abounding among its rugged\nhills, and extensive lead-mines, furnished material for the operation\nof numerous furnaces, which, with the necessary habitations for their\noperatives, formed the little village. The largest Indian encampment\nin the county was also pitched upon its border, a short distance down\nthe river.\n\nThe young squaws of the encampment mingled with the little girls of\nthe settlement, and often became strongly attached to them. I was\nfascinated from the first with the manner of life in a wigwam, and\nsoon became a special favorite with the Indian women. They frequently\npersuaded my mother to let me pass day after day in their wigwams,\nwhere I was carefully guarded and taught many of the simple arts in\nwhich they excel, and, as an unusual mark of their high regard,\ninstructed in some of the secrets of those arts\u2014such as the process\nfor dyeing the quills of the porcupine with brilliant, unfading colors\nof every hue, in which they are so skilful; the mode of embroidering\nwith them; the use of the moose-hair in such embroidery, and the\nmanner of preparing it. I entered upon these pursuits with\nenthusiastic ardor and diligence, acquiring also\u2014as a necessary\nconsequence of this intercourse and training\u2014with the facility of a\nyouthful tongue, a sufficient knowledge of their language to\ncommunicate readily with them on all ordinary matters.\n\nMy mother was so fully engrossed with cares attendant upon the\nmanagement of a large household, required in my father\u2019s extensive\nbusiness, that she had little time to devote to me beyond assuring\nherself of my safety. I recall with vivid distinctness, after the\nlapse of so many years, the startled surprise, not to say horror, with\nwhich she met my triumphant exhibition of a superb pair of moccasins\nfor herself, lined with the soft, snow-white fur of the weasel, the\nwork of my own hands. I had dressed and dyed the skins of which they\nwere made, colored the brilliant quills and moose-hair profusely\nwrought into them, and finally cut, stitched, and embroidered them,\nunder the direction of a pious old squaw who always watched over me\nduring my visits to the wigwams.\n\nMy mother examined them in great surprise, her countenance expressing\nmingled pride and pity as she exclaimed: \u201cPoor child! we _must_ send\nyou away somewhere to school; for I am afraid you will become a\nthorough little squaw if we keep you in this wild place among such\nsavage companions.\u201d\n\nI felt deeply wounded by the want of respect for my dear friends which\nher remarks implied, and insisted warmly that the squaws were better,\nmore gentle, and a great deal more pious than the civilized women of\nthe place; that they were never guilty of backbiting or quarrelling\namong themselves; never raised their voices above the soft tones of\ntheir ordinary conversation, but lived in peace and harmony, saying\ntheir prayers devoutly morning and night, and requiring their children\nto do the same. I enumerated eagerly all the good qualities for which\nI admired them, to which she cordially assented, but insisted,\nnevertheless, that, as I was destined to live among civilized people,\nit was not desirable for me to acquire the habits and tastes of these\nchildren of the wilderness.\n\nOne morning not long after this occurrence, as I was playing with the\nIndian children near an untenanted house on the bank of the river,\nthey told me in their own language that we must not make much noise;\n\u201cfor there was a fading flower in that house, and the medicine-women\nfeared it had been chilled by the breath of the destroyer.\u201d I\nunderstood their meaning and asked one of them to go in with me to see\nthe young invalid.\n\nWhen we entered, an elderly squaw, the fine texture and snowy\nwhiteness of whose blanket marked her as one of the best of her race,\nwas bending over the slight form of a beautiful young girl who was\nlying on a bed of hemlock boughs which had been prepared in one corner\nof the room, and wrapping a blanket around her, while she lavished\nupon her those tender epithets and pet names with which the Indian\ndialects abound. As she turned and saw me, she said: \u201cSee, here is the\nlittle pale-face of whom Loiska told us, come to see my Rose of the\nwoods! Will not the sweet flower lift its head to the sunshine of the\npale-face?\u201d\n\nThe maiden smiled and extended her wasted hand to take mine. I\nshuddered at its clammy coldness.\n\n\u201cSee, dear mother,\u201d she said plaintively, \u201cthe White Lily shrinks from\nthe touch of the dews that lie upon your Rose! You must not be false\nto yourself or to me; for it is an angel who whispers to the little\none that these are the dews of death. Your best skill cannot stay\nthem, and they will cease only at the call of the great messenger, who\nwill remove your flower to the garden of that \u2018Mystical Rose\u2019 whose\nfragrance we love so well.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! let not my blossom say so. The journey was long and the bed was\nhard. The rays of the sun upon the water were too strong for our\ntender bud, and it wilted, but will soon revive in these pleasant\nshades. The pale-face will procure from her mother, who is passing\nkind to our people, strengthening food and refreshment for the Wild\nRose!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! yes!\u201d I cried, \u201cshe will and we will not let it droop. I will go\ndirectly to my mother, and I know she will help you!\u201d\n\nI was thrilled by their look of grateful surprise when they found I\ncould understand their language, and their softly-ejaculated\nbenedictions followed me as I bounded away in quest of my mother. I\nfound her busily engaged in household matters, and, seizing her with\nirresistible energy, literally dragged her into the presence of my new\nfriends, telling her what I knew of them by the way.\n\nWhen we arrived she inquired tenderly as to the symptoms of the lovely\ninvalid. Finding they had come from St. Regis by water, and had\nbrought her on a bed of boughs in their canoe to Ogdensburg, thence up\nthe Oswegatchie to Black Lake, and thus far up the Indian River, she\nalso was of the opinion that the frail child was exhausted by fatigue,\nand that rest would revive her.\n\nThey had undertaken the journey in the hope that a change would be a\nbenefit to her health. Her father came with them and was at the camp,\nbut the mother preferred a place where her charge could be better\nsheltered than in a wigwam.\n\nMy mother went home, and, gathering comfortable furniture for their\nroom, despatched a man with it; then, preparing some hot wine negus\nwith toasted crackers, she sent them by me to refresh the sufferer\nwhile some nourishing broth could be made ready.\n\nFrom that time I forsook the wigwams and devoted myself to my Wild\nRose; who became so fond of me that she could scarcely consent to my\nleaving her for the nights. Each morning found me at her bedside\nbefore sunrise, with my own breakfast as well as hers, that we might\npartake of it together, and with a profusion of fresh flowers from the\nabundance of my mother\u2019s flower-garden wherewith to adorn her room.\nThe Indian children had helped me to festoon it with wreaths of ground\npine and boughs, until it was an evergreen bower in which we took\ngreat satisfaction.\n\nMy mother gathered from her her little history. She had been betrothed\nto a young son of their chief, and they were to have been married the\nprevious fall. The time for the nuptials had been appointed and her\nbridal dress prepared. The young man was sent by his father on some\nbusiness to Montreal a few days before the time thus appointed. On the\nway his canoe was drawn suddenly into a whirlpool in the rapids,\ndashed to fragments upon the rocks, and he perished. The shock of this\nterrible calamity was fatal to her health, which had never been\nrobust. From that moment she drooped, and, though quite calm, even\ncheerful, had been gradually wasting and sinking. They improved the\nfirst mild days of spring to try the effect of a change of air and\nscene, after she had received the last sacraments from their priest in\npreparation for the worst.\n\nFor a few weeks she seemed to revive, and even walked with me once as\nfar as my own home. Her appetite improved, and she relished all that\nmy mother\u2019s care provided for her food.\n\nAs I remember her at this distant day, I know she must have been a\nbeing of superior beauty and loveliness; but there was nothing about\nher which so fascinated and impressed my young heart as the spirit of\npiety that governed all her words and actions, and seemed to flow from\nthe depths of her pure soul like transparent waters from a fountain,\nrefreshing every one who came within their influence.\n\nOne warm evening in the early summer we sat together for a long time\nin silence and alone, watching a beautiful sunset over the wild\n\u201cRossie Hills,\u201d when her soft voice breathed in her own musical\nlanguage expressions which subsequent events fixed indelibly in my\nmemory.\n\n\u201cMy sweet Lily,\u201d she said, \u201cwill often uplift her pale face to the\nsmiles of the glorious sunset when the Rose, who loved to bask with\nher in their golden gleam, will be blooming in gardens which need them\nnot; for the \u2018Sun of Righteousness\u2019 will be their light, and will fill\nthem with glories unknown to earthly bowers, and his Blessed Virgin\nMother will smile upon them. But the incense of prayer, like the\nbreath of its own perfume, will ever float from the Rose to the throne\nof the Eternal that her Lily may be transplanted at last to a place by\nher side in that happy home where sighing, and parting, and sorrow\nshall cease for ever! Oh! will she not strive for admittance to the\ngarden of our Lord here, that she may rejoice in the light of his\ncountenance hereafter?\u201d\n\nIn a voice broken by my sobs I promised all she asked, and I doubt not\nher prayers helped me long afterwards in obtaining the grace to fulfil\nthe promise.\n\nThe next morning I found her much exhausted, and that she had passed a\nrestless night. Her mother raised her in her arms while she took the\nbroth I brought for her breakfast, of which she was very fond. She\nseemed weary, and, as her mother lowered her gently to the pillow, she\nsuddenly lifted her eyes to heaven, while a smile of celestial rapture\nstole over her beautiful face, and exclaimed, \u201cPray for me, my own\nmother; for, behold! the bright angel is spreading his wings to bear\nyour Rose to the presence of her Redeemer!\u201d\u2014and was gone. The Indian\nmother and myself were alone with the lifeless form of our beloved\none.\n\nThe change, the shock, was so sudden and unlooked for that I stood\nhorror-struck and paralyzed, for the first time, before the dread\nmessenger who had stolen the breath of my sweet Rose. The whole scene\nwas so incomprehensible to me that I could not believe the tones of\nher dear voice were hushed for ever, but persuaded myself that she had\nonly fallen asleep.\n\nAmazed, I watched the poor mother as she calmly recited the prayers\nfor the departing spirit over her child for some time, the only\noutward sign of her anguish being the tears which flowed in torrents\ndown her cheeks, while every line of her wan features expressed\nunquestioning resignation to the will of Him who had given and taken\nher treasure.\n\nThe prayers concluded, she tenderly closed the dear eyes, adjusted the\nslender form, folded the delicate hands over a crucifix on her breast,\nand entwined the beads, which had so seldom been laid aside by them in\nlife, closely around them in death. When she sat down at length, and,\nopening her blanket, extended her arms towards me, the first glimpse\nof the dread reality burst upon me in a flood of crushing agony, and,\nspringing to the open arms which drew me in a close embrace to her\nbosom, I wept aloud in a paroxysm of frantic, uncontrollable grief.\nShe fondly soothed and caressed me, bestowing upon me those\nexpressions of tender affection which she had been wont to pour into\nthe ears now closed for ever, and uttering fervent prayers to heaven\nthat its choicest dews might descend upon the Lily which had cheered\nthe last hours of her sweet Rose.\n\nI was inconsolable, and told her vehemently that, since Heaven had\ntaken the Rose, the Lily would go too, and that it would never lift up\nits head again; and, indeed, my grief was so violent as to injure my\nhealth, and I was soon sent away to new scenes.\n\nMy mother assisted in preparing the frail form of the Indian maiden\nfor the grave. Her mother had brought with her the bridal dress of her\nchild, and in that they arrayed the beautiful departed for the bridal\nof death. Then, enfolding her in a linen sheet, they wrapped her\nblanket about her and gently laid her down upon the bed of boughs her\nfather had prepared in the canoe for her removal to the graves of\ntheir kindred at St. Regis. Then followed the sad leave-taking and the\ndeparture.\n\nThe dismal forests which clothed each margin of the Indian River\nseemed to bend over that sombre stream in reverential sympathy as the\nIndian father and mother, with their faded Rose, floated silently down\nits dark waters and out of our sight for ever!\n\n * * * * *\n\nSome years had elapsed since this event, and during the interval\nmisfortunes had overwhelmed our family. At the very time of severe\nreverses in his business my father was taken with a malignant fever\nand died. My mother, my young brother, and myself were thus left in\ndesolate affliction to battle with adversity as best we might. Our\npleasant home was surrendered to creditors, and we sought the forests\nof Upper Canada, whither a family who had long been tenants on our\nfarm had gone several years before. They had taken up a tract of land\nunder a government grant to settlers, and, when they heard of our\ngreat calamity, wrote, urging us to do the same, as they could render\ngreat assistance to us if we were near them.\n\nThe land we took was covered with very valuable timber, and the first\nobject was to get a portion of it to the Quebec market, that its\navails might pay for clearing the land and preparing our new home.\n\nMy brother\u2014hitherto the pet of the family, and in danger of being the\nspoiled child of fortune\u2014set about the task with an energy that\nsurprised every one. He was greatly beloved by the Indian hunters, who\nknew my father and had received many favors from him in the days of\nour prosperity. They assisted us in our removal, and remained to help\nand encourage my brother in the lumbering business, so new to him,\nunder the direction of \u201cCaptain Tom,\u201d an old Indian who was very\nskilful in such operations. We removed late in the fall, taking with\nus a supply of provisions more than sufficient for the winter, and but\nlittle else of worldly gear.\n\nWhen the spring opened, thanks to our kind neighbors with their oxen,\nand the good Indians, a quantity of lumber of various kinds had been\ndrawn to the river bank, and as soon as the ice went out they put it\ninto rafts for transportation. These were constructed in separate\nsections, each with its rude little _caboose_ to shelter the two men\nwho went with it. The sections were then firmly united in one long\nraft by means of strong withes, in such a manner that they could be\nreadily detached by cutting the withes, if necessary, in making the\ndangerous descent of the rapids above Montreal.\n\nA few days before they set out a vicious, drunken Indian called\n\u201cMalfait,\u201d who had been loitering around all winter, quarrelling with\nthe men and giving no assistance, applied to Captain Tom for whiskey\nand for permission to go down on the rafts, both which requests were\nrefused. He went away muttering threats, and the old Indian feared he\nwas meditating mischief.\n\nMy brother wished to go with Captain Tom on the forward section, as\nwas the custom for the one who conducted the navigation. We gave a\nvery reluctant consent, and our parting with him was saddened by many\nmisgivings.\n\nThey proceeded prosperously on their voyage as far as the \u201cLong\nSault,\u201d so called, the first dangerous rapid, the chief difficulty in\npassing which, for experienced navigators, was to avoid being drawn,\nby an almost irresistible current at one point, into a furious\nmaelstrom called the \u201cLost Channel,\u201d from which few had ever escaped\nwho once entered it.\n\nThey reached the head of the Long Sault late in the afternoon, and\nanchored there for the night, with the roar of the tumbling waters in\ntheir ears. The moon was shining brightly, and they betook themselves\nto rest early, that they might start betimes in the morning. Very late\nin the night my brother was awakened from a sound sleep by the old\nIndian, who laid his hand heavily upon him and told him to keep very\ncalm and not to struggle or make the least effort to shield himself.\n\u201cFor,\u201d said he, \u201cwe are entering the Lost Channel; our part of the\nraft has been cut loose. I have bound you firmly to the same stick of\ntimber to which I am now binding myself. We can only leave ourselves\nin the hands of the Great Spirit; for no other arm can help us.\u201d\n\nMy brother was paralyzed with terror as the maddened waters seized the\nraft as if it had been a child\u2019s plaything, tore the heavy timbers\napart, and bent and shivered many of them like saplings. The one to\nwhich he and the Indian were attached was often uplifted, by the force\nof the raging torrent, its full length, to be thrown violently down\nand swallowed in the depths of the foaming flood. The shock of these\nconcussions soon benumbed his faculties, and his last conscious act\nwas to recommend his soul to the mercy of God, before whose awful\ntribunal he supposed he was about to appear.\n\nWhen he began to recover his senses, it was like waking from some\nfrightful dream. He was too much bewildered to realize for some time\nthat he was in a comfortable Indian lodge, with a kind old squaw in\nattendance upon him. She would not allow him to ask any questions or\nagitate himself, assuring him that all was well, and he should know\nthe whole at a proper time. As soon as he was able to hear it she gave\nhim the history.\n\nOn the day before their arrival at the Long Sault her son, with a\nparty of Indian hunters who had been up the St. Lawrence and were\nreturning to St. Regis, had fallen in with Malfait, and, from\ninquiries made by him, suspected that he was watching, with no good\npurpose, for rafts that he expected would come down the river. He\nsuddenly disappeared, and they did not know in what direction. When\nher son told her the circumstance and their suspicions\u2014for the bad\ncharacter of Malfait was well known, and they had heard that Captain\nTom was coming down with rafts-she set out at once with men and canoes\nup Lake St. Louis to the foot of the rapids, to give aid if it should\nbe needed.\n\nThey discovered the timber to which my brother and his faithful friend\nwere lashed, and, releasing them, brought their insensible forms as\nspeedily as possible to her lodge on the shore of that lake, with very\nlittle hope that they would ever revive. The old Indian, however, soon\nbegan to show signs of life, and, when he was able, recounted what had\nhappened. He had no doubt that Malfait came in the night, detached the\nraft, and steered it into the rapids to satisfy his malice against\nhim.\n\nAs soon as he was strong enough to go, her son went with him down the\nriver to look after the remainder of the raft, leaving his young\nfriend in good hands, though still unconscious of the tender care he\nwas receiving.\n\nThey found the rafts in Lake St. Peter below Montreal, and her son\nreturned. She then sent him with some others to gather the timber of\nthe wrecked raft. They collected all that could be found on the shore\nof the lake, to be taken when the rafts should come down next year.\n\n\u201cAnd now, my son,\u201d she continued, when she had brought the narrative\nto this point, \u201cI am known here as Margaret La Lune, but to your\nmother and sister as the mother of the Wild Rose of St. Regis. You may\nhave heard them speak of her, though you were too young at the time of\ntheir acquaintance to know about it yourself. It was to her care the\nGreat Spirit committed you in your extremity, that she might be\nallowed to make some return for their kindness to her and her sweet\nchild, which she has never forgotten, and has ever since endeavored to\nrepay by giving all the help in her power to navigators on these\nperilous waters. It was in one of these attempts that my husband lost\nhis life some years ago. Great was my joy when I learned from your\nIndian friend that I had rescued one so dear to them from a grave in\nthe rushing flood.\u201d\n\nMy brother remained with her until the return of Captain Tom. He\ndelivered the lumber to the merchant in Quebec to whom it was\nconsigned\u2014who had long known the sterling qualities of the faithful\nold Indian\u2014and informed him of the situation in which he left his\nyoung employer. The merchant advanced money to him to pay off the men\nand to bear his own and my brother\u2019s expenses home, sending by him a\nstatement of the balance left and subject to my brother\u2019s order. The\nmoney for their expenses was all that Captain Tom or his Indians could\never be persuaded to accept for their valuable services at that time\nand in after-years. Their only reply to my brother\u2019s persuasions was,\n\u201cWe remember your father. He good to his Indian brothers.\u201d\n\nYou may well imagine our surprise and gratitude when we heard from my\nbrother\u2019s own lips the story of all that had befallen him, and of the\ndevotion of our excellent Margaret. She was absent when he went down\nthe next year for the last time, and he did not see her.\n\nOur affairs prospered beyond our expectation. We brought willing hands\nand courageous hearts to the strife with adverse fortunes, and, by the\nblessing of God upon our efforts, did not fail in time to retrieve\nthem. My mother died a few years after my marriage with a son of our\nformer tenant, whose sister my brother afterwards married. She divided\nher time between the two homes, tenderly beloved and cared for by her\nchildren and grandchildren, and honored by all who knew her.\n\nYou now understand the reason for my great surprise and affectionate\nmeeting with Margaret at the depot, which must have seemed strange\nindeed to the witnesses. In our short chat I promised to go to pass\nsome time with her upon my return home, and am not without hope that I\nshall persuade her to go with me to see the children and grandchildren\nwho have often heard of her and of the fidelity with which her people\ntreasure up the memory of kind acts.\n\n\n\n\nHAMMOND ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM.[114]\n\n\nThe wonderful relativity of psychology to the purely somatic phenomena\ncomprised under the term physiology, while not having altogether\nescaped the observation of earlier thinkers, did not assume the\nsignificance it now possesses till modern science compelled mere\npsychicists to recognize the invaluable services this new handmaiden\nbestowed on their favorite pursuit. It had been too much the vogue to\nfrown down attempts at chemical explanations of vital processes as\nverging towards materialism, and thus materialism was in reality\nstrengthened, since the opponents of modern physiology had shut their\neyes to facts as stubborn and undeniable as the soul itself whose\ncause they were championing. This antagonism was unfortunate; for,\nthough of short duration, it gave rise to the impression in the\npopular mind that the old science dreaded the new light, and that\nrecent discoveries tended rapidly to overthrow the time-honored belief\nin the distinct substantiality of the soul. To this same arrogant\nrejection by pedantic orthodoxists of facts that seemingly conflicted\nwith accepted views, may be ascribed the sneering and triumphant\nmanner of many scientists who fail to take account of the slowness\nwith which men reconcile themselves to truths not hitherto suspected.\nHad, however, the data of modern science been at first fully\nconsidered, it would have become evident that theories and assumptions\nalone ran counter to the doctrine of a spiritual soul, and that\nscientific facts, startling and numerous as they were, did not, when\nviewed by the light of a just interpretation, conflict with any prior\ntruth. The hasty and groundless character of the assumptions which\ntend to materialism may be inferred from the claim not long since put\nforward in the _Ecole de M\u00e9decine_ at Paris, to the effect that the\nscience of physiology demands in advance the rejection of any\nprinciple of activity in man not amenable to its methods and\ninstruments of research, on the ground that man in his totality is the\ntrue objective point of this science, and the admission of aught in\nhim which it cannot determine is equivalent to stating that man is\nmore than he is. According to this authority, therefore, the notion of\na soul, viewed as a spiritual substance, distinct and different from\nthe body, hampers science and circumscribes the field of its inquiry.\nBut if the vast strides made by physiology within the last decade have\nbeen the occasion of some pernicious speculation, and have seemed to\ngive countenance to materialism, this has been the case only when the\nscience transcended its own data and soared into the region of\nconjecture. Its legitimate fruits are manifest in the flood of light\nit has thrown on the most intricate questions of psychology, and the\nelucidation of points which, but for it, would have remained for ever\nin obscurity. Indeed, it may be said to have created a new branch of\npsychical science, and to have brushed away many cobwebs that clouded\nthe psychology of the schools. The volume before us represents the\nlatest expression of the physiology and pathology of the nervous\nsystem, and is characterized by unusual closeness of observation and\naccuracy of expression, while evincing a proneness to theorize on\npoints concerning which the author is least at home. Dr. Hammond has\nbeen a close student at the bedside and an indefatigable worker with\nthose instruments of research which have almost built up his science,\nbut for all an indifferent thinker, as we shall shortly endeavor to\nprove. It is true that no authority is more frequently invoked, and\nwith good reason, to determine questions relative to mental aberration\nand unusual conditions of the nervous system; but when he abandons the\nophthalmoscope, the cephaloh\u0153mometer, the \u0153sthesiometer, and assumes\nthe _abolla_ of the philosopher, he evidently misses his _r\u00f4le_. He is\nundoubtedly a physiologist of the first rank and a respectable\nauthority on minute nervous histology, but as a theorist he is a\nfailure. Accustomed to dogmatize on facts coming within the scope of\nthe senses, he applies the same procrustean rule of reasoning to\npurely intellectual processes, and speedily flounders in a quagmire.\nHis mind has tipped the balance in the direction of material things,\nand has not been able to regain its equilibrium.\n\nAs a repertory of interesting facts, gleaned in the course of a long\nand varied experience, his book is invaluable. It bristles with\ninformation and is replete with comments which prove Dr. Hammond to be\nan accurate, close, and painstaking observer, as well as an\naccomplished anatomist. His chapter on Aphasia is intensely\ninteresting, and constitutes a valuable contribution to the theory of\nlocalized function. Aphasia is that inability to use language which\nproceeds, not from paralysis of the labial muscles, nor from hysteria,\nnor from injury of the vocal chords (_aphonia_), but from a lesion of\nthat portion of the brain which presides over the memory of words and\nthe co-ordination of speech. Many instances are adduced in proof that\nthis inability results from the impairment of a given portion of the\ncerebral substance; and from the constant recurrence of the same\neffects from the same lesion the inference is drawn that a very\nrestricted portion of the brain is concerned in connecting thoughts\nwith words, co-ordinating these, and arranging them in articulate\nsounds. Authorities, indeed, are not agreed as to what special brain\nlobe this faculty is to be ascribed, but the fact is borne out by\nunquestionable evidence that some portion of the anterior convolutions\ncontrols and regulates the power of speech. The point of interest is\nthat the function is localized and depends on the minute physical\ntexture of the nerve substance through which it is carried on. Dr.\nHammond justly claims the credit of having first observed that the\nform of aphasia called amnesic (forgetfulness of words) depends on\nsome lesion of the vesicular or gray matter of the brain, since it is\nunaccompanied by paralysis, while the form called ataxic (inability to\nco-ordinate articulate sounds) is connected with the _corpus striatum_\nwhich presides over motion, and so we find this latter form always\nassociated with paralysis.\n\nNo summary of this chapter can do it justice, so pregnant is it with\nfacts and abounding with varied suggestion. We would remark, however,\nthat Dr. Hammond has failed to call attention to the remarkable\nconfirmation which the condition of amnesic aphasia offers in support\nof the inseparable connection between thought and some symbol of\nexpression\u2014a circumstance which Trousseau, in his learned work on\n_Clinical Medicine_, has noted at length. Trousseau says: \u201cA great\nthinker as well as a great mathematician cannot devote himself to\ntranscendental speculations unless he uses formul\u00e6 and a thousand\nmaterial accessories which aid his mind, relieve his memory, and\nimpart greater strength to thought by giving it greater precision.\nNow, an aphasic individual suffers from verbal amnesia so that he has\nlost the formul\u00e6 of thought.\u201d This fact of aphasia curiously coincides\nwith Vicomte de Bonald\u2019s theory of the divine origin of language,\nwhich is based on the supposed impossibility of having a purely\nintellectual conception without an accompanying formula or word to\ncircumscribe and differentiate it, and that accordingly language, in\nsuch relation, must have been communicated.\n\nIt is likewise corroborative of the view taken by Max M\u00fcller, who says\n(_Science of Language_, 79): \u201cWithout speech, no reason; without\nreason, no speech.\u201d And again: \u201cI therefore declare my conviction,\nwhether right or wrong, as explicitly as possible, that thought, in\none sense of the word\u2014_i.e._, in the sense of reasoning\u2014is impossible\nwithout language.\u201d\n\nThe latest disclosure of science, therefore, so far from conflicting\non this important point with the philosophy of the Scholastics,\nendorses and sustains it, and is opposed rather to the rationalist\nview of the question.\n\nIt is in the chapter on Insanity that Dr. Hammond first betrays the\ncrudeness and shallowness of his philosophy. On page 310 he says: \u201cBy\nmind we understand a force developed by nervous action, and especially\nthe action of the brain.\u201d And again: \u201cThe brain is the chief organ\nfrom which the force called mind is evolved.\u201d\n\nIn this definition the author is guilty of having used a term more\nobscure and ambiguous than the _definiendium_ itself; for no two\nscientific men agree in their view of force. Dr. Mayer, of Heilbronn,\nsays: \u201cThe term force conveys the idea of something unknown and\nhypothetical.\u201d \u201cForces are indestructible, convertible, and\nimponderable objects.\u201d Dr. Bray, in his _Anthropology_, says: \u201cForce\nis everything; it is a noumenal integer phenomenally differentiated\ninto the glittering universe of things.\u201d Faraday says: \u201cWhat I mean by\nthe term force is the cause of a physical action,\u201d and elsewhere,\n\u201cMatter is force.\u201d Dr. Bastian, on _Force and Matter_, declares force\nto be \u201ca mode of motion.\u201d Herbert Spencer says of it: \u201cForce, as we\nknow it, can be regarded only as a conditioned effect of the\nunconditioned cause, as the relative reality, indicating to us an\nabsolute reality by which it is immediately produced.\u201d Another writer\n(Grove) calls forces the \u201caffections of matter.\u201d Now, the word mind\nconveys, even to the most illiterate, a precise and definite notion.\nEvery one knows that it is the principle within him which thinks and\nunderlies all intellectual processes; but when Dr. Hammond informs him\nthat it is a \u201cforce,\u201d and he finds that a bewildering confusion of\nopinions, expressed in the obscurest terms, prevails concerning the\nnature and essence of \u201cforce,\u201d he finds that he has derived \u201c_Fumum ex\nfulgore_.\u201d Even the term \u201cevolves\u201d is unfortunate; for the word occurs\nin a great variety of connections. If force is an entity, it cannot be\nevolved; it is produced. Of thought, indeed, it might be said that it\nis evolved from the mind, since it represents the latter in a state of\nactive operation, and has no separate entity of its own; but mind,\nbeing known to us as something in all respects distinct and diverse\nfrom matter, cannot, except by a lapse into the grossest materialism,\nbe said to be evolved from the brain. Had Dr. Hammond present to his\nmind a definite idea when he penned the word, he might have easily\nfound a clearer substitute. Carl Vogt knew well what meaning he\nintended to convey when he said: \u201cJust as the liver secretes bile, so\nthe brain secretes thought.\u201d There is candor, at least, in this\nstatement, and none of that shuffling timorousness which shame-facedly\nglozes materialism in the formula: \u201cMind is a force evolved from the\nbrain.\u201d\n\nHaving satisfied himself that there can be no question as to the\naccuracy of this definition, our author places mind in contrast with\n\u201cforces in general\u201d by designating it a compound force. What he means\nby \u201cforces in general\u201d it is hard to say; for if mind is a force, it\npossesses the generic properties which ally it with other forces, and\nmust therefore be one of the \u201cforces in general,\u201d since that is a\nveritable condition of its being a force at all. But this is a minor\nerror. The expression \u201ccompound force,\u201d used as Dr. Hammond uses it,\nimplies a far graver mistake, and all but stultifies its author.\nEither mind is a force (and be it remembered the author has not\nenlightened us as to the sense in which we ought to understand the\nterm), having a special function to perform, from which, and from its\nmode of performance, its character is inferred, in which case it is a\nsimple force, no matter how great may be the number and variety of the\nobjects on which it is expended; or, it is a combination of forces,\neach proceeding from its proper source or _principium_, and each\ndirected to its proper object-term or class of object-terms, in which\ncase it is not one force merely, however much Dr. Hammond may insist\nupon calling it compound, but a series of forces, each possessed of a\ndistinct entity and an individual identity. The doctor evidently did\nnot study the scope and import of the word when he thus loosely\nemployed it, else he would have perceived that whatever is compound is\nsome one and the same thing made up of parts, and not a collection of\nindividuals.\n\nWe will now see in what manner he distributes and assigns to duty the\n_sub-forces_ comprised under the general term \u201ccompound force.\u201d For\naught we know, Dr. Hammond may have once been familiar with the\nresearches of Stewart, Reid, Brown, and Hamilton, not to mention\nLocke, Descartes, Leibnitz, and Malebranche; but he certainly labored\nunder some form of amnesia when he devised the following scheme of\npsychology: He declares that the sub-forces into which the compound\nforce called mind is divisible are fourfold, viz.: perception,\nintellect, emotion, and will. He defines perception to be \u201cthat _part_\nof the mind whose office it is to place the individual in relation\nwith external objects.\u201d This definition supposes that the whole mind\nis not concerned in the act of perception, but that, while one part of\nit is quiescent, another may be engaged in perceiving. This view of\nperception has the questionable merit of originality, differing as it\ndoes from the definition given by every author from Aristotle to Mill,\nwho all regard perception as an act of the mind, and the faculty of\nperceiving nothing else than the mind itself viewed with reference to\nits perceptive ability. Further on he says: \u201cFor the evolution of this\nforce [viz., part of the mind] the brain is in intimate relation with\ncertain special organs, which serve the purpose of receiving\nimpressions of objects. Thus an image is formed upon the retina, and\nthe optic nerve transmits the excitation to its ganglion or part of\nthe brain. This at once functionates [_Anglice_, acts.\u2014C. W.], the\nforce called perception is evolved, and the image is perceived.\u201d\n\nWe have quoted this passage at some length, not only for the purpose\nof exhibiting Dr. Hammond\u2019s theory of perception, but to show how\nadmirably the _argot_ of science serves to hide all meaning and to\nleave the reader dazed and disappointed. No one yet, till Dr.\nHammond\u2019s appearance on the psychological stage, ventured to call a\nmere impression on an organ of sense perception; indeed, the whole\ndifficulty consists in explaining how the mind is placed in relation\nwith this image. It was with a view to elucidate this much-vexed\nmatter that the peripatetics invented their system concerning the\norigin of ideas. It is all plain sailing till the image or phantasm in\nthe sensitive faculty is reached; so that at the point where the\nScholastics commenced their subtle and elaborate system Dr. Hammond\ncomplacently dismisses the question by saying: \u201cAnd the image is\nperceived.\u201d What need we trouble ourselves about general concepts,\nreflex universal ideas, intelligible species, the acting and the\npossible intellect, when there is so easy a mode of emergence from the\ndifficulty as Dr. Hammond suggests? No doubt he would, like hundreds\nof others who do not understand Suarez or St. Thomas, regard the\nwritings of these doctors on this subject as a tissue of jargon,\noverloading and obscuring a question which is so plain that it needs\nbut to be enunciated in order to be understood. Then the long and warm\nconflicts which have torn the camp of philosophy, and separated her\nvotaries into opposite schools, would all be happily ended; it would\nsuffice to say: \u201cGentlemen, your toilsome webwork of thought is no\nbetter than the product of Penelope\u2019s distaff; the whole affair may be\nsummed up in these words: A ganglion functionates, the force called\nperception is evolved, and the image is perceived.\u201d _Mirabile dictu!_\nIt is not, therefore, necessary to discuss the question of ideal\nintuition to find out whether the idea is a representative and\nsubjective form or objective and absolute; whether we are to agree\nwith Reid and the school of experimental psychologists, or do battle\nunder the colors of Gioberti and Rosmini, or the learned and lamented\nBrownson? All these things are no doubt beneath the consideration of\nthe materialist\u2019s psychology.\n\nBut we have still more to learn concerning perception at the feet of\nthis new Gamaliel. He says (page 312): \u201cPerception may be exercised\nwithout any superior intellectual act, without any ideation whatever.\nThus if the cerebrum of a pigeon be removed, the animal is still\ncapable of seeing and of hearing, but it obtains no idea from those\nsenses. The mind, with the exception of perception, is lost!\u201d\nPerception is not, therefore, connected with consciousness; for,\naccording to Dr. Hammond, we may hear and see without knowing it. We\ndo not deny that impressions may be made on the organs of sense\nwithout eliciting an act of consciousness, for which reason, indeed,\nordinary language has reserved the use of words designating the\nfunction of organs for those cases where consciousness is elicited;\nfor no one would dream of saying that he feels the prick of a pin or\nhears another speak without knowing it. A cadaver can perceive as well\nas a living subject, if we are to accept Dr. Hammond\u2019s view; for we\nknow that an image may be formed and retained by the retina after\ndeath, and this is all that is needed for perception. To explain all\nintercurrent difficulties, we have but to fall back on ganglia and\nevolution. At each step of the intellectual process a convenient\nganglion exists which evolves just the sort of force requisite to\nproduce the desired result, and thus we have a perfect system of\npsychology. Of the intellect he says: \u201cIn the normal condition of the\nbrain the excitation of a sense, and the consequent perception, do not\nstop at the special ganglion of that sense, but are transmitted to a\nmore complex part of the brain, where the perception is resolved into\nan idea.\u201d Thus is the brain made the sole organ of thought. We have\nbut to say, \u201cA perception is resolved into an idea,\u201d and in so many\nwords we bound over difficulties which made Plato, after much deep\npondering, invent a theory of thought, yet regarded as a matchless\nmonument of subtlety and sublimity, which taxed the subtle intellects\nof St. Augustine, St. Thomas, Leibnitz, and Kant, and which will, in\nall probability, continue to be an object of curious research to the\nend of time. If a child, beholding the changeful images of a\nkaleidoscope, should, prompted by the curiosity of youthful age,\ninquire the reason of this beautiful play of colors, surely no one\nwould cynically answer him that one figure is resolved into another.\nDr. Hammond slurs over the difficulty; for the vexing question is, How\ndoes the mind form an idea?\u2014not, whether a ganglion is excited and\nevolves force, but how, on the occasion of such excitation, an idea,\nwhich is something altogether different from the excitation, is\nproduced in the mind.\n\nThis question he not only fails to answer, but exhibits a woeful\ndepreciation of its scope and gravity. He continues: \u201cThus the image\nimpressed upon the retina, the perception of which has been formed by\na sensory ganglion, ultimately causes the evolution of another force\nby which all its attributes capable of being represented upon the\nretina are more or less perfectly appreciated according to the\nstructural qualities of the ideational centre.\u201d This sentence\nfurnishes the keynote to the whole theory of material psychics, and\nleads us to inquire into its growth and history. When Bichat in France\nand Sir Charles Bell in England simultaneously discovered that a\nseparate function was assignable to the anterior and posterior\nnerve-fibres projected from each intervertebral foramen; that the\nanterior possess the power of causing muscular contraction, the\nposterior that of giving rise to sensation, they laid the foundation\nof the wonderful and beautiful though much-perverted doctrine of the\nlocalization of function. The experiments of Flourens, Claude Bernard,\nBeaumont, Virchow, and Kolliker multiplied similar discoveries and\nenlarged the significance of Bell\u2019s and Bichat\u2019s conclusions. To every\nganglion its separate function is now sought to be assigned, and we\nhave already alluded to the interesting facts which ataxic and amnesic\naphasia have lately developed. The intimate relation thus manifested\nbetween particular portions of the brain-substance and the\ncorresponding mental function, aroused and quickened curiosity to find\nout the nature and reason of this dependence. The materialist\nperceived in this doctrine of the localization of function a new\nweapon for attacking the spirituality of the soul, and was not slow to\nbring it into requisition. It was assumed that a reason for the\ndifference of function in the different portions of the nervous\nstructure would be found in the intimate texture of the nerve-tissues\nthemselves; and the assumption, in so far as it is logical to suppose,\nthat a difference in organization can alone account for a difference\nin the manifestation of power, was fair and plausible. All efforts\nwere now directed towards such discoveries in the minute histology of\nthe nervous system as would point to a connection between special\nganglia and the functions performed by them. The microscope, indeed,\nbrought to light many wonderful differences, but none sufficient to\njustify what is, therefore, but a mere assumption\u2014the conclusion that\nthe peculiar organization of certain portions of the nervous system is\nas much the efficient cause of the functions with which they are\nconnected as the sun is the cause of heat and light, and the summer\nbreeze of the ripple on the harvest field. It was deemed unnecessary\nto look for an explanation of intellection and volition beyond the\nknown or knowable properties of those portions of the nervous\nsubstance with which the processes in question are connected. If, it\nwas argued, certain varying states of the inner coat of minute\nblood-vessels fitted them to select, some arterial blood, and others\nvenous blood, and no one thought to invoke any other agency in\ndetermining the cause of the difference or of the function, why should\nwe admit the existence of a distinct substance in accounting for\nmental phenomena, when structural differences just as palpable and\nobvious are at hand to explain them? In a word, not only difference of\nfunction was attributed to difference of structure, but this latter\ndifference was held to be the sole cause and chief origin of the\nfunction itself. Dazzled by the brilliancy of their discoveries, and\nmisled by a false analogy, many physiologists confounded condition\nwith cause, and, having perceived that the manifestations of the mind\nare profoundly modified by the character of the medium through which\nthey are transmitted, inferred that the medium generated the function.\nThis confusion of condition with cause was further aided by the\ncurrent false notion of cause. Following Hume and Brown, most modern\nmen of science behold nothing else in the relation of cause to effect\nthan a mere invariable antecedence and subsequence of events, which,\nof course, nullifies the distinction proper between indispensable\ncondition and cause. With them that is cause on the occurrence of\nwhich something else invariably follows; nor need we look for any\nother relation between the two. This doctrine, applied to the\nphenomena of the mind, could not but lead the discoverers of localized\nfunctions to downright materialism. They perceived that certain\nphenomena invariably proceeded in the same manner from certain\nportions of the nervous organism, and that any disturbance of the\nlatter was attended by a marked change in the character of the\nphenomena with which it was connected. This invariability of\nantecedence and fluctuating difference of effect pointed unerringly,\nthey thought, to structural differences in the nervous system as the\nefficient cause of all its functions. Applying this doctrine of\ncausation to the process of intellection, we find how logically it\nsustains Dr. Hammond\u2019s assertion that mind is an evolution of force\nfrom a special ganglion, since an excitation of the same ganglion is\nalways followed by the same result\u2014viz., a mental apprehension.\n\nThe invariability of sequence is all that is needed to establish\nganglion in the category of causes, and ideation in that of effects.\n\nWe will now apply the same method of reasoning to a case in which the\nobvious distinction between cause and condition cannot fail to strike\nthe most inattentive, and make manifest the sophistry of materialistic\nphysiology. Should we stray into a minster filled with a grand\nreligious light, and find chancel, nave, and pillar all radiant with\npurple and violet, soft amber and regal red, we would naturally look\nto the stained-glass window to discover the source of those warm tints\nand brilliant hues, and would seek to determine what in those\nparty-colored panes gives rise to the effects we admire. We first\ndiscover in each colored glass a peculiarity of structure which\nespecially adapts it to the emission of its proper ray, and then note\nthat the difference in the color of the rays depends on this same\npeculiarity of structure. The problem is solved. Since a structural\npeculiarity in the violet pane, for instance, fits it for the emission\nof its own ray, and so on with respect to red, yellow, and purple, why\nneed we look for any other source of those colors? As we discover in\neach party-colored pane the cause of the difference in the color of\nthe ray, we mistake the cause of the difference for the cause of the\nray, and assume not only the difference of the ray to depend on the\ncolor of the transmitting medium, but deem that medium to be itself\nthe sole source of the light. In like manner the speculative and\ntranscendental physiologist finds in the adaptation of certain\nportions of the nerve-tissue to the production of specific functions a\nreason for referring the highest order of mental phenomena to the\nnervous system as their cause, forgetting that the adaptation in\nquestion may be but a mere condition modifying the manifesting power\nof the substance which is the true source of the phenomena. The\nobserver who regards colored glass as the source of light, because he\nhas been able to trace a connection and establish a relation between\nthe color of the ray and the minute structure of the glass, differs in\nnaught from theorists of Dr. Hammond\u2019s stripe, who make nervous\nganglia centres or sources of ideation because of the invariable\nproduction of the latter on the occasion of some excitation in the\nformer. In both instances is committed the error of confounding\ncondition with cause, of mistaking the cause of a difference between\ntwo occurrences for the cause of the occurrences themselves.\n\nWe have dwelt at this length on Dr. Hammond\u2019s theory of the Intellect,\nas it embodies an error so pernicious that the callow mind of the\nmedical student, awed by the authority of a name, is likely, on\nreading this chapter, to imbibe principles which, slowly elaborated,\nwill lead him in process of time to the chilling tenets of\nmaterialism.\n\nThe third sub-force enumerated by Dr. Hammond is Emotion, which, like\nperception and intellect, is a force evolved on the occasion of an\nexcitation in some other portion of the brain. Thus the emotions of\njoy, sorrow, hope, and love can be excited by making an impression on\nthis portion of the nervous substance, just as we elicit different\nsounds from a piano by striking different keys in succession.\n\u201c\u2018Sblood! do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?\u201d Yet\nDr. Hammond would of man make a _Hamlet\u2019s_ pipe, with its ventages and\nstops, to be sounded from the lowest note to the top of the compass at\nthe pleasure of a skilled performer. The physiological signs of\nemotion he has truthfully described, such as blushing, palpitation,\nincrease of the salivary secretion, and other bodily changes, the\nconnection of which with the emotions themselves will, we fear, so far\nas there is any hope of a satisfactory explanation from physiology,\nremain a dead secret for ever. The fourth and last of the sub-forces\nevolved by the brain is Will, with respect to which the doctor has not\nmuch to say, though it is easy to understand that it owes its origin,\naccording to him, to the same ganglionic changes as the three\npreceding. He has not even defined this force, but merely says that by\nvolition acts are performed. The ordinary idea of will exhibits it as\na power which the soul exercises at discretion, even at times in the\nabsence of any motive, except caprice, and often against a strong\nexcitement of passion, so that it can be connected with no organic\nchanges which are necessary and subject to law. This idea Dr.\nHammond\u2019s doctrine entirely overthrows; for if will be the result of\nganglionic excitation, it must surely follow the latter, and can\nconsequently be in no manner connected with its causation. Whatever\ncause, then, may have produced the excitation, it must have been\nnecessary\u2014_i.e._, have necessarily produced volition. Volition,\ntherefore, being the result of changes necessarily produced, must\nitself be necessary, and we then have the anomaly of necessary will,\nwhich is a sheer contradiction. There is no such thing, therefore, as\nvolition, in the true and accepted sense of the word, and what we deem\nto be the free acts of the soul are brought about as necessarily as\npain or pleasure when the exciting agents of those emotions are in\noperation. It is not difficult to estimate the practical consequences\nof this doctrine. Man, thus made to act by organic changes and the\nnecessary determination of his nature, not being answerable for these,\ncannot be made answerable for their consequences; so that the good and\nevil he performs resemble, the former the changes which the bodily\nsystem undergoes in a state of health, the latter the morbid changes\nof disease. The good he does is as much the necessary outcome of his\nnature as the golden fruit is of the tree, while his bad actions are\nas the tempest that wrecks or the breath of a pestilence.\n\nThis is the self-same doctrine of Broussais dressed in the garb which\nthe latest researches in neurological science have prepared for it,\nand much more covertly and insidiously presented.\n\nBroussais says: \u201cL\u2019ivrogne et le gourmand sont ceux dont le cerveau\nob\u00e9it aux irradiations des appareils digestifs; les hommes sobres\ndoivent leur vertu \u00e0 un enc\u00e9phale dont les stimulations propres sont\nsup\u00e9rieures \u00e0 celles de ces appareils\u201d (_Irritation et Folie_, p.\n823).\u2014\u201cThe drunkard and the glutton are those whose brain obeys the\nsummons issued by the digestive organs; sober men owe their virtue to\nthe possession of a brain which rises superior to such orders.\u201d Surely\nin this, as in countless other instances, history continues to repeat\nitself.\n\nThe definition of Insanity given by Dr. Hammond surpasses in clearness\nand comprehensiveness all those which he has collected from other\nsources, and is such, we consider, as will with difficulty be improved\nupon in the respects mentioned. He calls it \u201ca manifestation of\ndisease of the brain, characterized by a general or partial\nderangement of one or more faculties of the mind, and in which, while\nconsciousness is not abolished, mental freedom is perverted, weakened,\nor destroyed.\u201d This definition more closely applies to all occurring\ncases of insanity than any hitherto given, though it is a pity the\ndoctor has robbed its latter portion of all meaning by having\nvirtually denied mental freedom in his foregoing theory of volition.\nThe remainder of the chapter on insanity is exceedingly instructive\nand interesting. The author has clearly exhibited the difference\nbetween illusion, hallucination, and delusion, nor has he permitted\nhimself once, in his application of the terms to individual cases, to\ninterchange or confound them. Indeed, it is a matter of regret that so\nacute an observer and so diligent a collector of facts was ever\ntempted to betake himself beyond their legitimate domain, and to\nlaunch himself on the troubled sea of speculation. But it has been\never thus:\n\n \u201cLaudet diversa sequentes.\u201d\n\nThe great bulk of the work\u2014and it is a volume of nearly nine hundred\npages\u2014is taken up with the discussion of those nervous diseases which,\nfor the most part obscure in their origin and of infrequent\noccurrence, have been brought to light for the first time in this\nmonograph, so that the medical profession owes a deep debt of\ngratitude to the laborious researches of Dr. Hammond in a very\npartially explored field. To the general reader the chapter on\nHydrophobia cannot fail to prove interesting, presenting as it does a\ngraphic description of the symptoms which usher in this terrible\ndisease, and suggesting remedies which are within the reach of every\none, and are calculated to avert the awful consequences of a bite by a\nrabid dog, provided they be employed without delay. The interval\nbetween the reception of the wound and the outbreak of the symptoms is\nvery variable, but the majority of cases occur within seven months.\nThis interval is called the period of incubation, and is usually not\ncharacterized by any other signs than a certain amount of mental\ndepression, often the result of a nervous apprehension of\nconsequences. The sleep especially is apt to be disturbed by such\nforebodings, so that the animal which inflicted the wound is\nfrequently dreamt of. The prognosis of the disease is most\ndiscouraging, since our author says: \u201cThere is no authentic instance\non record of a cure of hydrophobia.\u201d The _post-mortem_ signs of\ndisease are shrouded in obscurity; for, though Dr. Hammond details at\ngreat length certain altered conditions of the brain and spinal cord,\nas well as of the arteries supplying them, those changes are by no\nmeans pathognomonic\u2014_i.e._, peculiar to the disease in question. The\npoint of greatest practical interest to those who have so far escaped\nthe death-dealing fang of Blanche, Tray, or Sweetheart is that, should\nso sad an occurrence befall them, they must hasten at once to a\nsurgeon, and see that, after having tightly bound the limb above the\ninjury, he use the knife with an un-sparing hand, till every part with\nwhich the teeth of the animal may have come in contact has been\nentirely removed. Cauterization, either by fire, or nitrate of silver,\nor some of the mineral acids, is preferred by some physicians, and has\nproved quite as successful as excision. A Mr. Youatt employed\ncauterization four hundred times on persons who had been bitten by\nrabid animals, and every time with success. Dr. Hammond employed\ncauterization seven times\u2014four with nitrate of silver and three with\nthe actual cautery\u2014and always with success. This proceeding should be\nadopted, even though several weeks, or even months, may have elapsed\nsince the infliction of the wound; in which case, however, excision is\ndeemed preferable to cauterization. The importance of this knowledge\nto persons residing in a city overrun with mongrels is very great; and\nwhile we hope our readers may never have occasion to put it into\npractice, we would recommend them to treasure it up for an emergency\nwhich, however sad, is always possible.\n\nFollowing the chapter on hydrophobia are some very interesting\nstatements concerning Epilepsy\u2014a disease which, in a light form,\nprevails more extensively than most people imagine. The most\nremarkable precursory symptom to an attack of epilepsy is what is\ncalled an _aura_, or breeze. This usually begins in some lower part of\nthe body and shoots towards the head. It resembles at times an\nelectric shock, and again a sharp stab or blow. The strangest _aur\u00e6_\nare hallucinations of vision which lead the patient to believe he sees\na rapid succession of colors. The experiments of Dr. Hughlings Jackson\nwith regard to those colored _aur\u00e6_ are full of interest.\n\nHe finds that a vision of red ushers in the phenomenon, and that the\nwhole prism is exhibited to the sight till the violet end of the\nspectrum is reached. The approach of the _aura_ is often felt, and\ngives admonition to the patient of the speedy approach of a seizure,\nso that he is thereby enabled to seek a place of security and\nretirement before the actual advent of an attack. Many interesting\ncases, exhibiting the freaks and peculiarities of this strange\ndisease, are recorded by Dr. Hammond. Convulsion, tremor, chorea or\nSt. Vitus\u2019 dance, and hysteria are next treated of in succession, and\nmuch valuable information might be derived from a perusal of these\nchapters.\n\nCatalepsy, one of the strangest of nervous disorders, receives a due\nshare of attention, though much that is authoritative cannot be\naffirmed concerning it, since the data of the disease are neither\nnumerous nor reliable. When the cataleptic seizure is at its height,\nthere is complete suspension of consciousness, and a muscular rigidity\nsupervenes, which causes the limbs to retain for a long time any\nposition, no matter how awkward or irksome, in which they may be\nplaced.\n\nThis condition so closely simulates death that in former times\nmistakes were frequently made which were not discovered till life had\nreally become extinct in the grave. Another strange feature of this\ndisease is the magnetic influence a female subject exercises over her\nunattainted sisters during a paroxysm. It has been observed that, if\none female in a ward fall into a cataleptic fit, those immediately\naround her are seized in the same manner, the attack lasting for a\nperiod of variable duration. The description of these nervous maladies\ngradually leads to Dr. Hammond\u2019s views on Ecstasy, which are all the\nmore interesting as the chapter is chiefly taken up with the\ndiscussion of the wonderful and perplexing case of Louise Lateau. The\nchapter should have followed the one on hydrophobia, and been entitled\nThaumatophobia rather than Ecstasy, since the doctor exhibits a most\ncontemptuous estimate of the intelligence of those who hold that there\ncan be anything not explicable by the known laws of physiology in the\nmost wonderful cases of ecstasia. He ranks among ecstatics of a former\nperiod St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine of Sienna, St. Teresa,\nJoan of Arc, and Madame Guyon, all of whom, he says, \u201cexhibited\nmanifestations of this disorder.\u201d With respect to those celebrated\npersonages there is no sort of medical testimony giving evidence of\nthe existence of disease, or in any way furnishing an adequate\nscientific explanation of the facts revealed by their historians. It\nis as illogical and presumptuous for Dr. Hammond to qualify their\ncases in the manner he does as it would be for a believer in the\nsupernatural to assert the miraculous character of a mere feat of\nlegerdemain. The only difference is that Dr. Hammond\u2019s disregard for\nthe rules of evidence is applauded by the world as indicating a\nvigorous and healthy intelligence, whilst the equally illogical\nassertor of the supernatural character of what is not proven to be\nsuch would be at once, and with justice indeed, put down as an\nimbecile and a slave to superstition. The burden of proof is ever\nthrust on other shoulders by our author, and never borne by his own.\nLet but Dr. Warlomont devise a pathophysiological explanation of\nLouise Lateau\u2019s stigmata, not only gratuitous from beginning to end,\nbut even at variance with the facts of science, and Dr. Hammond gives\nin a blind adhesion to his conclusions without a single inquiry into\nthe weight of proof on the other side. Even Dr. Warlomont acknowledged\nthe difficulties with which Dr. Lefebvre\u2019s work bristles in the way of\na physiological explanation, and it is evident, from the\nintensely-labored character of his report, that he entered into the\ncontroversy as an _ex parte_ disputant. We do not intend to reopen the\ndiscussion of this famous case, since enough concerning it has already\nappeared in these pages.[115] It is sufficient that we note the\nrecusant spirit of some modern scientists whenever there is question\nof the supernatural. They will not believe, no matter how overwhelming\nthe evidence, lest they be suspected of weakness, or of bartering\ntheir intellectual freedom for the formul\u00e6 of an effete authority.\nThese gentlemen consult their prejudices rather than truth, and,\nprovided they tickle the ears of radicals and non-believers, they\nconsider themselves lifted into the proud position of supreme arbiters\nbetween reason and authority. Dr. Hammond says ecstasy was \u201cformerly\nquite common among the inmates of convents.\u201d We would inform him that\nits frequency was never greater than now, and the widespread attention\nwhich one or two cases have attracted is proof how rare is that\nfrequency. Indeed, it has been the invariable policy of the church to\ndiscourage tendencies in this direction, and spiritual advisers often\nremind their penitents that an unbidden and unwelcome guest not rarely\npresents himself in the garb of an angel of light. It is related of\nSt. Francis of Sales that a nun having declared to him that the\nBlessed Virgin had appeared to her, he inquired how much _vin\nordinaire_ she had taken that day; and, upon her answering, \u201cOne\nglass,\u201d he told her to drink two the following day, and she might have\ntwo apparitions. In view of this disinclination of ecclesiastics to\nencourage ecstasia, especially among women, whose nervous system is so\nimpressionable, it ill becomes Dr. Hammond, having the mass of\ntestimony at his command in support of the genuineness of the two\ncases to which reference is made, to use the following language: \u201cBut\nthe effort was in vain, just as is the attempt now to convince the\ncredulous and ignorant of the real nature of the seizures of Louise\nLateau, Bernadette Soubirous\u2014who evoked Our Lady of Lourdes\u2014and of the\nhundreds of mediums, ecstatics, and hysterics who pervade the world.\u201d\nThe frankness with which the church authorities demanded the closest\nand most searching scientific investigation of the case of Louise\nLateau, and their expressed determination to accept its legitimate\nresults, should be to all reasonable men a guarantee of their good\nfaith and of their abhorrence of impostures. It is consoling to think\nthat the intelligence of some scientific men is still unfettered, and\nthat, though in the absence of a prominent member\u2014Dr. Lefebvre\u2014the\nfriends and abettors of Dr. Warlomont endeavored to spring on the\nBelgian Royal Academy of Medicine a resolution declaring the case of\nLouise Lateau fully explored and closed, the Academy refused to adopt\nit, thereby admitting that so far science has failed to account for\nthe marvellous phenomena of which this girl is the subject. The\ninherent defect of Dr. Hammond\u2019s reasoning is that it identifies cases\nwhich are merely analogous. It is true that the majority of\npseudo-ecstasies resembling the inspired ecstasy of holy personages\nare dependent on a disordered condition of the nervous system, but\nthis resemblance does not necessarily tend to classify the latter\nunder the same head. Yet this is what Dr. Hammond and his school do.\nThey seize general traits of resemblance, shut their eyes to essential\ndifferences, and, finding that the greater number of cases obey\nthroughout certain known definite laws, they conclude that all cases\ndo likewise. History abounds with instances of disordered imagination\ndepending on a morbid condition of the nervous system, but in all the\nimpartial observer can discern well-marked differences, separating\nthem essentially from authentic cases of true ecstasy. Baron von\nFeuchtersleben[116] relates many extraordinary cases of this sort.\nHerodotus (ix. 33) speaks of the Argive women who, under a morbid\ninspiration, rushed into the woods and murdered their own children.\nPlutarch relates the story of a monomania among the Milesian girls to\nhang themselves. We have all read of the _convulsionnaires_ at the\ntomb of Mathieu of Paris. Dr. Maffei describes a similar epidemic,\nwhich received the name of \u201cP\u00f6schlianism\u201d from a religious, fixed\ndelusion which originated with one P\u00f6schl. These cases were usually\naccompanied by convulsions and terminated in suicide. Besides the\ndisorders alluded to, we read of sycanthropy among the natives of\nArcadia, a somewhat similar aberration among the aborigines of Brazil,\nand the delusion of the Scythians that they were women. Dr. Hammond\nrelates a case as wonderful as any of these\u2014viz., that of the noted\nLer, an inmate of the Salp\u00eatri\u00e8re, whose contortions and antics\nresemble the hysteria of the \u201cJerkers\u201d in Methodist camp-meetings. The\nattempt to identify all occurring cases with these is a flagrant\nviolation of the inductive method by which scientific men, above all\nothers, claim that they are guided. If observation and experience are\nto be our guides in determining the truth, then let us admit nothing\nbut what these criteria verify. This is precisely what these gentlemen\ndo not do; and because they perceive a general resemblance between a\ngroup of facts, they identify all possessing this resemblance, and\npredicate thereon a general law. We cannot hope for a discontinuance\nof this baneful and short-sighted procedure until men who profess to\nbe votaries of science shall become truly rational, instead of making\nan empty and futile boast of being rationalists.\n\n\n [114] _A Treatise on the Diseases of the Nervous System._\n By William A. Hammond, M.D., Professor of Diseases of\n the Mind and Nervous System in the Medical Department\n of the University of the City of New York, etc. New\n York: D. Appleton & Co. 1876.\n\n [115] _Vide_ THE CATHOLIC WORLD, November, 1875 - March,\n 1876.\n\n [116] _The Principles of Medical Psychology._ By Baron\n Ernst von Feuchtersleben, M.D., Sydenham Society, p.\n 252.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ETERNAL YEARS.\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE DIVINE SEQUENCE.\u201d\n\n\nTHE CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD\u2019S GOVERNMENT\u2014PROGRESSION.\n\n\nIf the preceding considerations have at all succeeded in imparting to\nour minds a right view of the importance of matter, not solely in its\nown nature, but in the spiritual world, and in the developments which\nthe spiritual world only arrives at through the medium of matter, we\nshall find we hold the key to many mysteries, and are walking at\nliberty in a world of marvels.\n\nSo far as we are able to judge, and aided by all that science can\ndiscover, we have every reason to believe that the act of creation is\ncomplete, and that no more material is needed to work out the ultimate\nintentions of the divine Being. Certain races of animals have become\nextinct, and all races are modified more or less by external\ninfluences of climate and food. Probably many have all but changed\ntheir nature since they first sprang into being; as they will do once\nmore when the lion and the lamb shall lie down together. But whether\nor no this be so, it would be rash to imagine that new creations of\nhitherto unexisting fauna or flora are ever to be given to the great\ncosmos. There is nothing to prove that such is the case; and there is\na vast amount of facts pointing to the opposite conclusion. Moreover,\nthe completeness of creation is the grander idea of the two, and the\nmost like the ways of God, especially when we consider that the\nexistence of matter is only as a means to an end; and that end\naccomplished, why should there be any further increase of what makes\nup the material world? We will therefore put aside all idea of its\nbeing subject to either increase or decrease, while we dwell upon the\nfact that it is subject to mutations of the most diverse and subtle\nnature. It is true we are told there shall be new heavens and a new\nearth. But everything, even the preliminary fact that the \u201celements\nwill melt with heat\u201d and all things be dissolved, points to renewal,\nbut not to extinction; for we know practically that dissolution,\nwhether by heat or any other force, is not extinction in any case, but\nonly change of form. The new earth is to be one in which \u201cjustice\ndwelleth.\u201d[117] But even on this earth we have evidences of the\nsanctification of matter by its contact with spiritual things.\n\nWe have it first in the relics of the saints, to which not only a\nsacred memory is attached, but actual supernatural gifts emanate from\nthem, because they have become holy to the Lord; because they had,\nwhile still in life, so frequently, or rather so effectively, come in\ndirect contact with the Eucharistic Sacrifice, with the Body and Blood\nof Him who, in taking flesh and feeding us thereon, brought God to us\nand dwelt within us. But the saints are rare; and the example,\ntherefore, derived from their relics is an exceptional one. There are\nother examples of the way in which the living influence of the faith\nhas changed mankind, through the ages of history, by hereditary\ntransmission.\n\nIt has been remarked that while Rome still remained pagan there\nnevertheless existed other sentiments, and as it were another\natmosphere, caught from the presence of Christianity, even while\nChristianity was ignored or persecuted. The pagan spirit was\nessentially worldly. How could it be otherwise? Poverty made a man\nridiculous; and ridicule is the beginning of contempt. Christian\ncharity and compassion had no pagan counterpart until Christian\nexample gave rise to the notion that it was a wise and good thing to\nfeed the hungry and care for the orphan. Long before the reign of the\nfirst Christian emperor the pagan Roman heart, catching some warmth\nfrom the celestial fire which burnt unseen in the largely-extended\nChristian population, began to form institutions which faintly\nreproduced Christian charity; but this was the influence of mind over\nmind.\n\nWhat is a far more remarkable fact is the gradually-developed\ninfluence of generations of Christian ancestors over the mere natural\ninstincts of humanity. How much do we not owe to the fact that we\ndescend from a mainly Christian stock! What sweet domestic ties, what\ncalm, heaven-reflecting pools of life, do we not enjoy\u2014not owing to\nour own personal graces, but because grace, in a greater or less\ndegree, has, though may be with grave exceptions, presided over the\nrise and growth for centuries of those who have preceded us.\n\nWhen St. Jerome wrote to the youthful daughter of his beloved penitent\nPaola, as the former was about to dedicate herself to God in a virgin\nand secluded life, a very large and most emphatic portion of his\ninstructions is taken up with exposing to her the difficulties she\nwill meet with in preserving an essential virtue, and the extreme\nmeasures she, a maiden of seventeen, must resort to as a guarantee\nagainst temptation. To what, save to the blessed effects of centuries\nof a more or less Christian ancestry, do we owe the blessed fact that,\nwhereas to any young girl now entering religion her Christian parents\nand her priestly adviser would fill hours with counsels about holy\npoverty, obedience, and the conquest of her own will, hardly one word\nwould be breathed about any imminent peril to a virtue which she only\nthinks of in its highest religious sense, because she has never even\ndreamt that it could practically be in danger? The very flesh has been\npurified and chastened by centuries of grace. The human instincts have\nbeen almost unconsciously raised to a higher level; and, evil as the\nworld may yet be, we habitually entertain angels unawares. Thus does\nthe longanimity of God wait with ever-slackening step through the long\nages of time, while grace permeates slowly the few but ever-increasing\nwilling hearts, sanctifying soul and body equally and together; for\n\u201cthe Lord dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should\nperish.\u201d He deals patiently with the world for the sake of the church,\npatiently with the wicked for the sake of the good, and because the\ngood are not good for themselves alone; they yield a perfume of which\nthey are not conscious, but which attracts others to them; and if but\nthe ten righteous men can be found, the city will be spared!\n\n * * * * *\n\nWe often hear allusions made to the destructive work of time, to the\nruin of nations, and the obliteration of vast and crowded cities; and\nwriters of the day indulge in sensational reflections upon the future\nfate of the peoples and homes of modern days. We are all acquainted\nwith the New Zealander who is to sit amid the ruins of London. But\nthose who speak and write in this sense have in their minds the fate\nof heathen nations and pagan cities in the first hour or epoch of the\nworld\u2019s existence, before the accomplishment of the mystery of the\nIncarnation\u2014that is, before God dwelt upon earth to reconquer by his\nprecious blood and sweat of agony his kingdom among men. But as\nChristians we cannot believe that Christian nations, however imperfect\nin their Christian practice, will ever be cast out, root and branch,\nand the ploughshare pass over their hearths and His altars as over\nNinive and Troy, as over the Etruscan cities and the pleasure-loving\nRoman towns of southern Italy. The ten righteous are never wanting in\nany city where the altars of Jesus are erected, and where the Mother\nof fair love is named with tender and reverent confidence. The surging\ntide of evil may threaten us, as in guilty Paris and brutalized\nLondon; but though heavy chastisements may pour down on these examples\nof modern vice, yet never, never will the dear Conqueror who has\ndeigned to plant his foot on the teeming city streets as his priests\ncarry the Blessed Sacrament to the dying, and who has his tabernacles\nof love here and there through our crowded thoroughfares, relinquish\nhis recovered inheritance. Never, never will the lands where he has\ndwelt be desolate like the godless lands of old.\n\nBelieve it, O ye loving hearts! who are burning in silent anguish over\nthe erring and the ignorant, who are pouring sad tears on the cruel\nwickedness of high places, and on the degradation and depravity of the\nneglected and the forgotten.\n\nHeavy and sharp and terrible may be the punishment of our iniquities;\nbut even hell itself is less hell than it would be but for the\nshedding of the precious Blood; and no nation where his name is\ninvoked, no people among whom he has his part\u2014albeit not, alas! the\nlarger part\u2014can ever perish out of sight, out of mind, as the huge\nheathen nations have gone down in utter darkness in the lapse of ages,\nand hardly left a stone to proclaim, \u201cI am Babylon.\u201d\n\nSweet patience of Jesus! sweet pity of Mary! we wrong you both when we\nforget that where you have once entered, there you will abide; because\nthe few are the salvation of the many; because, though not every\ndoor-post and lintel bears the red cross, yet those that do bear it\nplead for the rest, and the angel of destruction stays his steps at\nthe first and drops his avenging sword; for his Lord and Master has\npassed that way!\n\n * * * * *\n\nWe have spoken of the creation as being complete. We have concluded\nthat, while we are incapable of measuring its extent, and can only\nvainly guess at unknown worlds beyond our own system, it will never\nreceive one atom, one molecule, in addition to those of which it now\nconsists. Our reason for this belief lies deep down in the very roots\nof theology, which we find a better reason than any with which mere\nhuman science can furnish us, because the end of the latter is\ncontained within the end of the former, as the greater contains the\nless. We have already stated our reason\u2014namely, that the ultimate\nobject of the creation was the Incarnation, and, that object\naccomplished, there can apparently be no need of further creation. In\nsaying this we are not presuming to limit the power of God or to\ninterpret his unrevealed will. We are, with all diffidence,\nformulating a supposition which approves itself to our reason. The\ncreation was the expression of the goodness of God, uttered outside\nhimself by the Logos, God the Son. But the creation, merely as such,\nmerely as existence, and man, the lord of creation, merely in his\nnatural state, were incapable of union with God. Therefore, from the\nfirst, man was constituted in a state of grace. Thus the second\nmission, which is that of the Holy Ghost, and which is the second in\nthe eternal decrees, the _nunc stans_ of eternity, is the first in the\n_nunc fluens_ of time. For the grace of God, which is the Holy Ghost,\nwas given to man in measure and degree from the first moment of his\nbeing, four thousand years before the first mission, that of God the\nSon, took place in time. Both are continuous, and both are\nprogressive. The mission of God the Son did not cease when he ascended\ninto heaven; for it is continued at the Consecration in every Mass,\nand in every tabernacle where the Blessed Sacrament dwells. At each\nMass he comes and comes again! In the Blessed Sacrament he remains.\nTherefore his actual presence is progressive, in proportion to the\nincrease of his altars where the bloodless sacrifice is offered, and\nwhere the Bread of Life is reserved. We are ourselves entirely\npersuaded (and this opinion is in harmony with that of many modern\ntheologians) that the Incarnation would equally have taken place had\nman never fallen. It was the object of the creation. Man\u2019s fall called\nfor his redemption by the death and Passion of our Lord, and, as a\nloving consequence, also for the sacrifice of the Mass. But it does\nnot follow that, had the Redemption not come after the Incarnation,\nbecause man had not fallen, there would have been no Blessed\nSacramental Presence. The church having nowhere defined to the\ncontrary, it is permitted to those whose devotion to the Blessed\nSacrament makes the whole creation a blind mystery, and even the\nIncarnation appear incomplete without it, to believe that the Blessed\nSacrament would always have been, and a sinless Adam, with his sinless\noffspring, have held communion with the incarnate God through and by\nthis divine nourishment, even as his redeemed children do now, only in\nthat case without the sacrifice of the Mass; for where there is no sin\nthere is no sacrifice.[118]\n\nThis may be but a pious thought, and we have no wish to press it upon\nour readers. We leave it to their devotion to follow it out or not as\nthey will. All we want to prove is that, though our Blessed Lord came\nonce only, conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Blessed Virgin;\nand once only was crucified, dead, and buried, and rose the third day,\nand ascended into heaven, nevertheless his sacramental presence is a\nperpetual carrying on and carrying out of this his first mission to\nus, and that thus his mission bears a progressive character. He is the\nconqueror \u201c_proceeding_ to conquer.\u201d He is still sending his\nmessengers before his face to prepare his way. His priests are still\ngoing forth to all nations to preach the remission of sins, by\nplanting his altar, which is his earthly throne, in divers parts, till\nthe earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the covering\nwaters of the sea.[119] We are looking forward to the fulfilment of\nthat prophecy in all its plenitude; for surely no one can allege\neither that this time has already come, or that because some, it may\nbe several, missionary priests have had a certain success among the\nheathen, anything faintly resembling such a grand, lavish promise as\nthat, has received even an approximate fulfilment. Still less will any\none assert that such promises are vain; and if not so, then let us\nlook forward, and ever more and more forward, to the progression of\nour dear Lord\u2019s kingdom upon earth; himself present amongst us in the\nBlessed Sacrament, coming in that meek guise to take possession of his\nterritories, and all but silently planting his standard first here,\nthen there, as new altars are raised to him, and as other souls are\nbrought beneath the sacraments\u2014the oaths of allegiance to their new\nMaster.\n\nWe cannot disguise from ourselves that we have fallen upon evil times,\nand that faith has grown dim. Nevertheless, we maintain it would be\ndifficult for any thoughtful and unprejudiced mind to deny the\never-increasing evidence that the leaven is leavening the whole mass;\nstill less can it be affirmed that anything has ever done this in\nhighly-civilized countries except Christianity.\n\nThe wealth and learning of the Romans, their vast literature, their\nhigh art, had no effect in producing either morality or mercy. There\nwere noble examples among them of men and women who, we may believe,\nresponded to the light vouchsafed them, whose names have come down to\nus; and doubtless there were many, utterly unknown to history, who\nobeyed the dictates of their conscience, enlightened by the divine\nSpirit of whom they had never so much as heard. We do not believe that\nanywhere, in any age, in any city, however given up to iniquity, there\nwas nothing but eternal death reigning over poor, fallen, suffering\nhumanity, and leaving the beneficent Creator, the dear Redeemer,\nwithout a soul to love and serve him, albeit in a blind way. We\nbelieve such a condition of things to be simply impossible; but\nhowever that may be, whether more or less than we have dared to hope,\nChristianity was not there, and in its absence nothing availed to\nproduce generally even the appreciation of purity or real charity.\n\nAs we have said, the Romans were a grand law-giving nation. Civil\nrights were understood, upheld, and protected better than by the\nmodern Napoleonic code, and far more in harmony with Christianity,\nwhich ultimately profited by, and copied so largely, the Roman law.\nBut the law did not touch the heart or enlighten the conscience; and\nwhile the public life of Rome had much moral grandeur, the private\nexistence of man and woman alike was infamous; and it was so in\nproportion to their advance in wealth and luxury.\n\nWe have said that only Christianity can moralize civilized nations,\nand we did so advisedly; for a certain inoffensiveness, and the\npractice of many natural virtues, exist among nations that have not\ncome within the range of so-called civilization. Where the\nintellectual and reasoning powers of men are undeveloped, they retain\nsomething like the innocence of children. But when man without\nChristianity is raised to intellectual height, cultivated in mind,\nrefined in manner, surrounded by art, and with advanced knowledge of\nphysical science\u2014when he has thus developed all his powers, without\nhaving a corresponding force given him against the inclinations of\nnatural concupiscence, he is then no longer in the infancy of\nhumanity. It is mature, and the ripe fruit tends to rottenness.\nCivilization and knowledge must go forward _pari passu_ with divine\ngrace to be a real benefit to mankind; for there is no good apart from\na high moral standard, whether we consider the individual or the\nnation, and no moral standard will long support itself without the\nconcomitance of grace. We are told that the great question of the day\nis the _modus vivendi_ between the church and modern progress. If this\nbe so, the church alone can discover and develop it; because the\nchurch is the organ of the Holy Ghost, and when our Lord was about to\nleave this earth he promised the Paraclete, who would \u201cteach us _all\nthings_.\u201d Therefore the church is the ultimate dispenser of all\nscience, no matter of what nature; and as the reign of the Holy Ghost\nshall be more and more established in the now perfectly-defined status\nof her infallibility, so will she increasingly take up unto herself,\nwithin her own arena, all the gifts of knowledge and science which are\nher essential prerogatives. Once more she will become the queen of\nnations, the guide and pioneer of the world.\n\nHers has been a long history of struggle, and frequently of apparent\ndefeat; but out of it she has ever risen victorious, though her\nvictories are different in character from the triumphs of the world,\nbecause they are so silent and so peaceful that they are only known by\ntheir results. The first of these results is more liberty, a widening\nof the cords of her tent; for as the church defines her own nature\nwith increased accuracy, so by this accuracy she leaves more freedom\nto her children. Definition is also limitation; and both exclude\ndoubt. Doubt is slavery, while certainty is liberty. When our Lord\nbegan to teach of the coming kingdom of God, he did so by parables,\nand to his own immediate disciples alone was an explanation\nvouchsafed: \u201cTo you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of\nGod; but to the rest in parables.\u201d He spoke of himself as \u201cstraitened\u201d\nuntil his work should be accomplished.\n\nThe whole history of the church has been on the same principle. Until\ncertain things have been accomplished her path is hemmed in, and the\naccomplishment is ever effected by the means of her enemies, even as\nour salvation was by the hands of those who crucified Jesus. The rise\nof each heresy has produced the definition of doctrine, and each\ndefinition has widened the horizon of our faith and flooded our life\nwith light. The war with evil has had no other result than to impart\nspiritual strength to the spouse of Christ. And now everything points\nto a great crisis, a culminating term, a springtide of the waters of\ngrace; for the long war with Protestantism has led up to the dogma of\nthe Papal Infallibility. The coping-stone is laid, and a new era is\nbeginning, which will be the fuller development of the individual life\nof the soul in the beauty of holiness and in the indwelling of the\nHoly Ghost. The external edifice is complete; the interior decoration\nwill hasten towards completion. Already we see the signs of those\nbetter times approaching. We see them alike in the preternatural as in\nthe supernatural world. The spirits of evil are guessing at the\nfuture, and, as is their wont, are anticipating the coming events by\nparodying the divine future action. The sleepless intelligence and\nnever-wearying enmity of Satan pursues with relentless accuracy every\ndevelopment of God\u2019s truth in the history of the church. With the\nfragments, in his fallen state, of his former untold science, combined\nwith his thousands of years of cumulative experience, his one desire\nis to be beforehand with God. In advance of the great divine act of\nthe Incarnation, he instituted the horrors of possession, and\npractised them in the pagan world on a scale he is but seldom allowed\nto repeat where the name of Jesus is uttered. With each phase of God\u2019s\ndivine action on the world, and of concomitant human necessities, he\nchanges his tactics. There are but few among us who remember or\nrealize the fact that every incident of our lives is lived in\nconnection with three worlds\u2014the tangible, visible, material world,\nthe world of grace, and the world of the prince of the powers of the\nair. The masses live (consciously) in the first alone; the good and\npious remember the second; but few even of these attempt to realize\nthe last in anything like a just proportion with its immensity, its\nsubtlety, and its ubiquity. Nor is it our object to press the subject\non their attention. It is not every mind that can bear to meet the\nthought, beyond the limits of the universal prayer, \u201cLead us not into\ntemptation, but deliver us from evil.\u201d\n\nBut those who can bear it and can follow it out should be doubly on\nwatch and guard in the interests of the multitudes who, it is true,\nbelieve in their guardian angel, but forget their left-hand diabolic\nattendant. It was not so in earlier times when faith was young, among\nthe primitive writers and the great ascetics. One of the holiest of\nthe past generation said that the cleverest work the devil had ever\naccomplished was the getting men to disbelieve in his existence.\nHaving, as a rule (except among Catholics), established his\nnon-existence in their minds, the sphere of his occult action is\nnecessarily vastly extended. We do not look out for what we firmly\nbelieve is not there. He is among us, and we see him not. He has\nstudied the Scriptures, and he knows there will be a time when our\nmaidens shall dream dreams and our young men see visions. He guesses\nat the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, in a more determinate and wider\nreign of grace, in the future of the church; and above all he has not\nforgotten, though many of us have, that there is the promise of yet\nanother mission that will alter the whole face of the world, that will\nfollow on the ever-growing and extending reign of the Holy Ghost, and\nthat will culminate the glories of their Queen\u2014the mission of the\nangels. They will come, the bright, swift-winged messengers, and \u201cthey\nshall gather out of his kingdom all scandals, and those that work\niniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. Then shall the\njust shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father,\u201d[120] and \u201cthe\nangels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the\njust.\u201d We read these sacred words constantly, but how far do we\nrealize their meaning? How far have we amplified the thought in our\nmind, and given it form and consistency? We read of the day of\njudgment; but do we suppose that it will be an affair of\nfour-and-twenty hours\u2014the angels in the morning, the judgment about\nnoon, and all the past, present, and future of humanity in heaven or\nhell by twilight?\n\nIt is true we are told that the awful time will come as a thief in the\nnight, and we are apt to explain that into being sudden; whereas it\nmay more properly describe the fact that the time will steal upon us,\nsilently and hiddenly. We shall find our bright brethren, the angels,\naround us, among us, before we have altogether realized their\napproach; just as, gradually and by degrees, we shall find the Spirit\nilluminating the minds and hearts of the innocent and the zealous, the\n\u201cyouths and the maidens,\u201d with divine inspirations, first as the\ndawning of new light, then as the blaze of noontide. All God\u2019s\ndealings with his poor creatures have been gradual. They are hidden,\nbut they are never sudden. He always sends his angels before his face\nto prepare the way. Noe was more than a hundred years engaged in\nbuilding the ark, and there it lay, a sign to all men, the black\ntimber ribs against the gray dawn and the flaming evening sky,\nscanning the heavens like a musical score on which were written the\nnotes of the awful anthem of God\u2019s wrath, while the hammers of the\nartisans beat time through a century of vain appeal to a\nGod-forgetting world. The suddenness must be laid to their own door,\nand in no way resulted from God\u2019s dealings with them. The Deluge\nitself took forty days to exhaust the downpouring floods of rushing\nwaters from the opened gates of heaven. The dawn is ever gradual; the\nlight steals upon us, though at last the sun\u2019s broad disc springs\nsudden and refulgent above the gray horizon. Many of us, though less\nguilty in our indifference, are like Gallio, who \u201ccared for none of\nthose things.\u201d The round of our daily life suffices us, and we neither\ngive the time nor the trouble to come to conclusions or to arrive at\ndefinite notions even respecting the signs of the times, which our\nLord rebuked his disciples for not discerning. Catholics will often\ntalk among themselves and with those outside the church in a casual\nway about the spiritist manifestations which are so rife in our day,\nas if it were quite an open question, and that it were unnecessary to\nhave any fixed opinion on the subject. Not only have they never\nrealized that the church has spoken again and again, but also they\nhave never used their common reasoning powers to arrive at the\nconclusion that either spiritist manifestations, as they are now\npresented to us, form part of God\u2019s mode of governing his creatures,\nand therefore are most precious to each of us, and not to be treated\nas a trifle; or, as they are in fact, the devil\u2019s guess at some of\nGod\u2019s secrets, and his anticipation of something belonging to the\nfuture destiny of man. We have no intention of polluting our pages by\nallusion to the jejune trifling of spiritist appearances. We would\nonly ask every one solemnly and reverently to think of God\u2019s ways in\nour world, and then, as before him, to declare whether or no the\nhalf-ludicrous, partially ghastly, and altogether jerky,\nwill-o\u2019-the-wisp performances of spiritists have anything in\nconsonance with the dignity, the uniformity, the plain good sense (if\nthis term sound not irreverent) of God\u2019s dealings with his children.\nThey talk of undiscovered natural laws! When did any grand,\nGod-implanted natural law begin to reveal itself by tricks and antics?\nWhat are natural laws but revelations of God\u2019s action and divine\nbeing? Every one of them shows us God, and leads us to God by simple\nand lucid gradation. It is the travesty of his laws in which the devil\ndelights; and as within ourselves there are undeveloped laws which\nhave been overlaid by original sin, and lie within us as the butterfly\nlies in the chrysalis, therefore the enemy of mankind, who, with\nfar-seeing cunning, predicates the glorious future of mankind before\nthe final consummation of all things, is using his knowledge to\npractise upon these laws to the detriment of those who lend themselves\nignorantly as his instruments.\n\nThe fallen angels know far more accurately the secrets of our nature\nthan we know them ourselves, and through this knowledge they deceive\nthe unwary. Still more easily they have their way with those whose\nreprehensible curiosity induces them to resort to dangerous\nexperiments. It is distressing to hear good, practical Catholics\ntalking loosely on these matters, as though they had little or no data\non which to form a solid, reasonable opinion, and were unable to\ndistinguish between natural though occult laws, as they are brought\nout by divine, supernatural influence on the saints, and the miserable\nand contemptible practices of the spiritists, the \u201clo here, lo there\u201d\nof those who prophesy false Christs.\n\nIt is an old proverb that the devil can quote Scripture, and so, also,\ncan he base his evil designs on his knowledge of Catholic truth. We\nbelieve in the possibility, by a special permission from God, of the\nreappearance of the departed amongst us, and of the holy souls coming\nto ask for prayers, as we read constantly in the lives of the saints;\nand probably many of us have ourselves known of such incidents on\ncreditable evidence. The devil acts upon this faith as he acts upon\nhis own knowledge of occult laws; and blending a theoretic truth with\npractical error, he weaves a mesh to catch souls, all the while\nforeboding the time when the more developed mission of the Holy Ghost,\nand the elaborating in countless hearts of that hidden holiness by\nwhich the church is \u201call glorious within,\u201d shall bring about that\ngreater familiarity with the supernatural which is foretold as a\ncharacteristic of the latter times.\n\nThe early teaching of the church laid more stress on the mission of\nthe angels than it became her habit to do in later days. Not that the\nchurch, as the organ of the Holy Ghost, ever gives an uncertain sound\nor calls back any of her divine utterances; but, like a watchful\nmother, she holds in her own keeping such of the treasures, new or\nold, which are not adapted to the present wants of her children. There\ncame a time, as Christianity grew more diffused, when the early\nChristians, not entirely weaned from the heathen practices of their\nforefathers, were in danger of attempting to define the occupation and\nattributes of the angels beyond the limits of the church\u2019s authority.\nThey affected to have learnt the names of many, and to decide on their\nposition and purpose in the angelic hosts. Out of that arose a kind of\nworship and invocation of the angels which bordered on superstition\nand savored of the worship offered to the demons among the heathens.\nThis fell under the reprobation of the church, and by a natural\nreaction left devotion to the angels at a lower ebb than what is\nwarranted by sound doctrine.\n\nThen came the German heretics and the dawn of modern Protestantism;\nand one of the first of their efforts was to banish all belief in the\ninterposition and ministry of the angelic host. They took advantage of\nthe errors and follies of individuals to write against the whole\ndoctrine of angelic action; and though among Catholics the faith in\ntheir guardianship and aid is constant, yet it is not now practically\n(of course virtually it is the same) what it was in earlier times. But\nhere also we have another instance of how the church brings forth from\nher divine armory the weapon most needed to defeat the machinations of\nthe arch-enemy; for it has been reserved for our day to see devotion\nto the angels taking a fuller extension and a more definite form than\nit ever before held in the history of the church\u2019s inner life. In all\nher definitions and in all her practices there resides the spirit of\nprophecy. They have not only reference to the present time; they are\nfar-seeing and far-stretching. And as the definition of the Immaculate\nConception of Mary in our own time has led to the extension of her\nreign in the hearts of men, and is preparing the way every hour for\nher sweet sovereignty to \u201ctake root in an honorable people,\u201d so does\nthe increasing devotion to the angels who form her court harmonize\ntherewith, and prepare for that mission of the angels which, however\nremote, is as certain as the day of judgment. Oh! what enlarged hearts\ndo we need to take in, however inadequately, all that lies before us\nin the history of God\u2019s creation. Far distant though it be, still is\nit ours, just as the past is ours, and the present; for all are united\nin Jesus. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.\nNothing shall be lost to us. No treasure of the past but has tended to\nbrighten our own brief day, no promise of the future but what we shall\nreap; for we have all things in Him who contains all in himself, and\nwho gives his whole self to us.\n\nLet us in thought go back to Paradise, to our great progenitor before\nhis fall. For Adam knew Jesus. Not, indeed, as we know him\u2014the\nrainless skies of the garden God had planted had formed no background\nto the beloved sign of our redemption; for as the Redeemer Adam knew\nhim not. We have already given our reasons for believing that besides\nknowing Him, by the graces of infused science, as the second Person of\nthe Trinity, the Logos, he knew of the intended Incarnation through\nand by which Jesus was to unite Himself to us. We have also dared to\nimagine that he foresaw the Real Presence as the carrying out and\ncompletion of the Incarnation. But in those days Adam knew of no\nshedding of blood, of no sacrifice of suffering. The whole of that\npathetic and terrible chapter, written in red characters, was a sealed\none to our once sinless forefather. But in addition to the first\nbeautiful and tender history of the future Incarnation there was a\nglorious page redolent with light and full of joy; for Adam looked out\nbeyond Jesus as the Creator, and Jesus as the elder Brother of man in\nthe Incarnation, to Jesus as the Glorificator. Adam knew that the\ngreen glades and fruit-laden forests of Paradise were not to\nconstitute his ultimate home. He aspired after the time when the\nGod-Man would reward his fidelity at the close of a longer or shorter\nprobation, and admit him from the infancy of innocence into the\nresplendent manhood of accomplished and final grace. Then would he be\nlike Jesus; for he would see him as he is!\n\nThus did Adam dwell in the contemplation of two futures\u2014the one tender\nand familiar, the other glorious and triumphant\u2014until his own act had\nmade the rift between the two, and the blood-stained cross crowned the\nheights of Calvary. _O felix culpa!_ We dare to say it, because our\nmother the church has said it. And as Adam sees that past now,\npardoned, ransomed, and glorified[121] with his glorified Lord, he\nbeholds his children, with each stroke of eternity\u2019s golden moments,\nthronging through the gates of heaven by the Sacrifice of the cross.\nWhat must not _his_ love in heaven be! Next to that of Our Lady surely\nhis must be the greatest of all the multitude who have washed their\nrobes in the blood of the Lamb.\n\nBut the glory of the saints now in heaven cannot be compared with that\nwhich will follow after the second mission of our Lord at the\nconsummation of all things; for that mission is a mission of glory,\neven as his first was a mission of humiliation. He came to us in the\nwomb of Mary, in the manger at Bethlehem, hidden and unknown, poor and\ndespised; but when the time shall be ripe for that second mission, he\nwill come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.[122] He\nwill come as the glorificator of His own creation, of which Mary is\nthe first in rank, a hierarchy in herself, a sealed fountain, a garden\nenclosed, a second paradise, but where no sin has entered; and in that\nsecond mission his saints, as also his angels, will take part.\n\nThus we look back upon the first mission accomplished\u2014that of the\nIncarnation and Redemption; the second mission being accomplished\u2014that\nof the Holy Ghost gradually developing into the reign of the Holy\nGhost; and we look forward to two other missions\u2014that of his angels,\nand, finally, that of His own second coming. \u201cBehold, he cometh with\nclouds, and every eye shall see him.\u201d[123] \u201cFor the Lord himself shall\ncome down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an\narchangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead, who are in\nChrist, shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, shall\nbe taken up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ, and so\nshall we be always with the Lord. Wherefore comfort ye one another\nwith these words.[124]\n\n\n [117] 2 Peter ii. 10-13.\n\n [118] The redemption was an ordinance of God consequent\n upon man\u2019s fall. Had Adam never sinned, Jesus had never\n been crucified. But it would seem more consonant with the\n boundless love of God for his creation to believe that the\n Blessed Sacrament formed part of his antecedent will; and\n that a sinless race would have received spiritual and\n divine food, and would have been thereby sanctified, and\n ultimately glorified through participation in the Body and\n Blood of the God-Man. It would have been, as it is now, the\n Bread of Life; bloodless as it is now, but also unbroken as\n it is not now\u2014that is, divested of its propitiatory\n character in so far as propitiation involves the idea of\n offence.\n\n [119] Isaias xi. 9.\n\n [120] Matt. xiii. 41, 42, 43, 49.\n\n [121] It is generally believed that Adam was amongst\n the souls released from Limbo when our Lord descended\n thither, and who entered heaven with him.\n\n [122] Mark viii. 38.\n\n [123] Apocalypse i. 7.\n\n [124] 1 Thess. iv. 15-17.\n\n\n\n\nHOBBIES AND THEIR RIDERS.\n\n\nUnder the general head of hobbies we class a thousand peculiarities\ndistinguishing men which, if strictly viewed according to that\naccurate balance of mind known as sanity, would almost justify us in\ncalling nine out of every ten men insane on some point, however\ninfinitesimal. Every enthusiasm, from the most exalted moral\nself-forgetfulness to the most ludicrous extravagance, has been in\nturn called folly and ridiculed as a hobby. There is in the world a\ntradition, or rather a prescription, against anything which is not\ndecent and well-behaved moderation. Even Christianity is not to be too\nobtrusive; even moral reform is to wear a velvet glove. No one sin, be\nit ever so monstrous and preponderant over other offences in your\nparticular time or neighborhood, is to be singled out and fought\nagainst more than any other; decorous generalities and pious\nconventionalities are by no means to be departed from; and if your\nheart burns within you, you must put a seal upon your lips and\ncarefully prevent the zeal from infecting your weaker brethren who\nmight thuswise be led astray.\n\nA man\u2019s character is better revealed in his hobby than in anything\nelse belonging to him. Oftentimes the possession of one shows him in a\nmore lovable, human light. He must have both heart and imagination to\nhave one. The man who is wholly incapable of fostering one would be a\nvery unpleasant, not to say dangerous, neighbor. It is said that to\nhave no enemies argues also that you have no friends, and that to have\nno prejudices implies that you are too cold-blooded to feel\nenthusiasm. Without taking either of these sayings literally, it is\nyet evident that they are built upon truth. The only person who has no\nindividual likings, no bias, no tastes to which he is passionately\nattached, is either the heartless, calculating, selfish man who moves\nthrough life rather as an automaton than as a being of flesh and\nblood, and generally ends by ruling his fellow-beings by fear and by\nwealth, as many statesmen we read of in history, and pettier rulers we\nhear of now and then in the world of business; or the poor, nerveless\nbeing whose mind remains all his life a blank, and who sinks unnoticed\ninto an obscure grave.\n\nSome of our friends, especially elderly people, are often the dearer\nto us for their little eccentricities, which give a touch of piquancy\nto their character, and most often reveal some amiable trait. Hobbies\ndo not sit so well on the young; for one always has an involuntary\nsuspicion of their genuineness, and, even if they are genuine, youth\nought to repress any attempt at thrusting itself forward and claiming\nundue attention. Besides, young people have yet to earn the right to\noccupy the attention of others otherwise than in the usual way of\nguidance and education, and a peculiar turn of mind may be cherished\nwithout manifesting itself by any outward sign. Sterne has a\ndelightful consciousness of the value of a hobby as an indication of\ncharacter when he shows us Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim in the\nback-garden at Planchy, following step by step the course of the army\nof the Allies by the help of a spade and some turf, placed so as to\nrepresent bastions and fortifications. This process the old soldiers\nwent through over and over again, always with renewed zest. It was a\nhobby something like this\u2014but too much mixed with vain-glory and the\nbad taste which nature has at last succeeded in hiding\u2014that prompted\nthe planting of Blenheim Park, near Oxford, in such a way as to\nrepresent the positions of the regiments at the battle of Blenheim.\nThe trees have had time to grow out of this likeness, yet they stand\nin ranks and platoons which one can imagine to have looked hideous\nwhen the oaks and beeches were young saplings.\n\nHobbies and collections are somehow related; at least the mind is used\nto coupling them together. One can hardly be a collector of anything\nwithout becoming absorbed in the collection and in the knowledge\nrequired for adding to and classifying it. Even if the collection have\nbeen begun with some object of instruction or benevolence, or as a\ndistraction from grief, it soon grows to be a great interest of life,\nand toil in its behalf becomes pleasure and relaxation. But oftener\nstill the hobby precedes the collection, and many people who are taken\nfor sober, humdrum individuals, the mere _padding_ of society, would\nin reality be fast and furious riders of hobby-horses if their means\nallowed them to give outward expression to their tastes.\n\nA very familiar type is the collector of pictures; and the fewer he\nhas, the more set he is on his hobby. He gets some fine specimen of an\nold master \u201cfor an old song\u201d (for such miraculous bargains are half\nthe charm, just as for many women the delight of contriving and\npiecing and otherwise skilfully eking out old material to look \u201cas\ngood as new\u201d is much greater than to possess a new dress made of a\nroll of cloth just from the store); and if he is cheated, he probably\nnever finds it out. He often is, and woe to him who, thinking to do\nhim a good turn, undeceives him. But whether the picture be genuine or\nnot, it is the source of unending delight to its owner. He will\ndiscuss its points by the hour\u2014the lights and shades, the material of\nthe colors, the style of the painter; he will \u201cget up\u201d the artist\u2019s\nlife and history, buy books on the subject, pin you to your chair\nwhile he recounts how he found it, who \u201crestored\u201d it, how it once got\ninjured by a fire; and, lastly, he will put you into corners, or\nbehind cupboards and curtains, that you may be sure to see it in the\nbest light.\n\nThe hobby of the rich collector who can dignify his gathering of\npictures with the name of gallery has a different way of showing\nitself; it crops out in a sort of innocent ostentation, or again an\nassumed indifference. There are men whose hobby it is to conceal their\nhobby, to ape humility and pretend to a nonchalance very far from\ntheir real feelings. Among collectors, none are more voracious, more\nsteady-going, and generally more happy than bibliopolists. They are of\nall ranks and degrees, but perhaps clergymen and college professors\npredominate. In England the country squire is often an eager\nbook-hunter. Books of genealogy and heraldry are favorite tidbits with\nhim, while clergymen often have a special mania for county histories.\nThe collectors of minor curiosities, miscellaneous objects from all\nparts of the world, are generally old maiden ladies, who have, as a\nclass, the most amiable and touching weaknesses, such as that of the\nbenevolent little fairy, Miss Farebrother, in George Eliot\u2019s\n_Middlemarch_, who drops her lumps of sugar in a little basket on her\nlap, that she may have them to bestow upon her friends, the\nstreet-boys. Then there are collectors innumerable of stuffed beasts,\nof shells, of minerals, of old china, laces, and jewelry, of heathen\nidols, of all kinds of coins, of autographs, of postage-stamps, etc.\nThe autograph-hunter is a very restless and persistent individual. The\nAmerican who sent a cheese to Queen Victoria must have been of this\nspecies, and the queen did not fail to reward him with a letter\nwritten with her own hand.\n\nA hobby that used to be rather prevalent, but has somewhat gone out of\nfashion now, was that of collecting walking-sticks, canes,\nsnuff-boxes, and pipes. Apropos to this, a story is told of an old man\nwhose special mania was snuff as well as snuff-boxes. He was a man of\nsome standing in English society towards the latter end of the last\ncentury. His sitting-room was fitted up with shelves like a shop, and\non these stood canisters of various kinds of snuff, their names on\nlabels, and the locks and keys of fantastic and rather ingenious\nshape. This sanctum was his delight, and the shelves, which ran all\nround the room, were being constantly replenished with new specimens\nof the weed. He used snuff to an enormous extent, and willingly gave\nit away to his friends; but storing it was his chief pleasure, and he\nlooked forward to the last variety in snuff\u2014which his tobacconist had\na standing order to send him as soon as it touched English soil\u2014with\nthe same glee with which a naturalist expects the newest kind of\nliving ape just imported from Africa.\n\nWe have never heard but of one person who made a _sp\u00e9cialit\u00e9_ of\ncollecting pieces of wedding-cake; she was an old nurse who had been\nin the service of a lady employed about the court of William IV. She\nhad pieces of the wedding-cakes of all the princesses of the royal\nfamily, including Queen Victoria and some of her daughters, besides\nremains of the cakes of her mistress\u2019s family, a large and ramified\none, and of those of any person of title or distinction of whom,\nthrough her connections, she could possibly beg these mementoes.\n\nThe horticultural mania, emphatically a hobby for the rich, is one of\nthe most charming and desirable of hobbies; a healthy one, too, as it\nkeeps one out in the open air to a great extent, and supplies the\nplace of such feverish excitements as arise from an interest in\npolitics or in the state of the funds. It even takes away the\npossibility of interest in petty gossip; for how is it possible to\nthink of the success of Mrs. So-and-so\u2019s coming tea-party when your\nmind is anxiously engaged on the chance of a late frost ruining your\ncamellias, or the probable time when your _Victoria Regia_ will bloom?\n\nA hobby rather prevalent among women is a constant attendance at\nauctions. They cannot resist buying little things they do not want,\nbecause they are cheap; and, besides, there is a fascination about the\natmosphere of a salesroom which is not reducible to mere words. It is\nmilk-and-water gambling, as are many other innocent-looking devices\nused by very worthy people to increase their stock of pretty\npossessions without paying full value for them. Very opposite to this\nis the hobby of petty economies, such as untying a knot instead of\ncutting it, secreting tiny bits of pencil, keeping a strict watch over\nmatches and candle-ends, etc. It may be a mere habit of mind, but it\noften degenerates into a foolish hobby, such as is that of keeping\nevery scrap of cloth, silk, or flannel, and carrying about this\nrubbish from place to place, for the chance of its \u201ccoming in\nusefully\u201d at some future time. Of course we know how many a gorgeous\nquilt has been evolved from these savings of years, and how mats have\nbeen made of the coarser refuse, and the rest sometimes thriftily sold\nto the paper-mill; but these are often exceptions, for time and\ndeftness are wanting to many who have the instinct of saving, and such\nsmall economies are apt to have in themselves a tendency to narrow the\nmind. Besides, what is thrift in one case is parsimony in another; and\nwhile one family may be praise-worthy in its attempts to \u201ctake care of\nthe pence,\u201d such care would be despicable in another of easier means.\n\nShall we call it a hobby to \u201chave one\u2019s finger in every pie\u201d? Some\npeople are not happy unless they are giving their neighbors gratuitous\nadvice, and telling them at every turn how they would act \u201cif I were\nyou.\u201d But of this kind of interference none is so dangerous and none\nso fascinating as the well-meant contrivances of the born match-maker.\nThis individual is invariably a woman, and generally a most amiable\nand kind creature. Sometimes a young matron is bitten with the mania,\nand clumsily enough she sets to work extolling the delights of the\nhoneymoon to her girl friends; sometimes a middle-aged woman who has\nhad experience, and is more wary in her method, quietly sets her\nsnares and unluckily succeeds once in five times\u2014unluckily, we say;\nfor her one success blinds her to her four failures, and she continues\nin the slippery path which, in the end, is almost sure to bring ruin\non some special pet of hers. Even unmarried women are match-makers;\nthey will plan, and speculate, and contrive; and it is lucky indeed if\nthey are nothing more than indiscreet, for they are handling edged\ntools. You never find a man to be a match-maker; and yet women will\nhave it that men are so much more benefited by matrimony than\nthemselves!\n\nAmong special hobbies, one is said to have been the property of a rich\nold Englishman of the olden time, who altered a house on purpose to\nsuit it. He could not bear the sight of a female servant, and so angry\nwas he at meeting one on the stairs that he sent for a mason to\ncontrive hiding-places here and there in which an unlucky maid, if she\nchanced to meet the master, might take refuge out of his sight. The\nwhole house was full of such cunningly-placed holes, and in this odd,\nhoney-combed state it passed to his next heir.\n\nOne or two members of a family often take upon themselves the\nguardianship of the family honor, and bore every relation they have,\nto the sixth and seventh degree, about the genealogy, intermarriages,\nquarterings, etc., of their collective fetich. They are learned in\nfamily \u201ctrees,\u201d know every date, from the first mention of the name in\nthe annals of the country to the number of goods and chattels they\nbrought over with them in the _Mayflower_; how many shares they bought\nin the cow of the first settlement; when this and that portrait was\npainted, and so on. \u2018Tis not the knowledge that is irksome, but the\ninappropriateness and universality of its mention in the conversation\nof these good people, and the unconsciousness of the narrators that\nthey have ever spoken to you of the subject before.\n\nHave you ever known any one whose \u201cbest parlor\u201d was their hobby\u2014a\nscrupulous, Dutch-like reverence for immaculate cleanliness and order?\nScarcely any hobby is more terrible to the stranger or casual visitor.\nAkin to it is the excess of punctuality by which some people make\ntheir guests wretched. Both grow to be a punishment to the person\nhimself; for he, or oftener she, suffers torture every time a guest\ncomes in with snow on his boots, or any one puts a cup of coffee on a\nmarble table, or leans his head on the back of an easychair. Half the\nday is employed in dusting and cleaning the sacred precincts, and the\nother half in resting from the exertions thereby incurred.\n\nThe hobbies of writers furnish some amusing stories. The historian of\nthe queens of England\u2014Miss Agnes Strickland, as worthy and\naffectionate a woman as ever breathed\u2014had, it is well known,\nconstituted herself the champion of Mary, Queen of Scots. So\nthoroughly had she succeeded in realizing the doings of the times of\nElizabeth that she spoke on this subject as you would of an injustice\nthat had been done your dearest friend, and that quite recently. It\nwas as fresh in her mind as some wrong committed last week on a\ndefenceless woman, and she grew excited and eloquent over it,\nforgetting who, with whom, and where she was. This was very\nunpractical and somewhat ludicrous, some may be inclined to say, but\nit was a peculiarity that certainly made her happy, and it was no\nannoyance to her listeners. How much more dignified, too, than the too\ncommon fuming over the impertinence of the servant that was discharged\nlast week, or the chafing over the troublesome man who claims a \u201cright\nof way\u201d and threatens to bring a suit about it next month!\n\nPolitical hobbies also abound. These are generally the property of old\npeople, the traditions of whose youth have remained proof against the\nenlightenment of the present. There are people who boast they have\nnever been on a railroad, and never will be\u2014they are common in Europe,\nat least\u2014and people who would scorn to be photographed; people who\nlaugh at you if you tell them that the sun really does _not_ go round\nthe earth, and rise and set morning and evening, and who obstinately\nbelieve that dogs only go mad during the dog-days. But there are those\nwho, with a better education and more opportunities, are just as\nunprogressive. Such will buttonhole you and argue seriously that the\nPope is going to involve Europe in another Thirty-Years\u2019 War. They\nseriously believe it and live in dread of it. They would not hurt a\nfly; but they firmly believe that, if they got hold of a Jesuit, they\nwould remorselessly run him through, and think they had rid the\ncountry of a tiger or an alligator. Dr. Newman\u2019s _Apologia_ gives an\namusing account of the awe and terror inspired by the dark house in a\nby-street where \u201cit was said a Roman Catholic lady lived all alone\nwith her servant.\u201d In England the Jesuits and \u201cBony\u201d long divided the\nhonors of bugbear-in-chief to the British public. To this day some\namiable old Welsh lady will assure you in a whisper that the whole\ncountry has underground (and it is to be supposed submarine)\nconnection with Rome, and that _she_ never goes to bed without looking\nunderneath to see that there is no Jesuit in disguise concealed there!\nThen there is the man who, under the Napoleonic _r\u00e9gime_, whether of\nthe first or third emperor, would tell you in an awestruck manner of\nthe impossibility of putting off the evil hour any longer, and the\ninevitable certainty of a French invasion and annexation of England to\nFrance; the landing always to take place exactly within a few miles of\nhis own house, if he lived by the seaside. If his house were further\ninland, he would tell you he knew _his_ village would be the first and\nmost convenient place to halt at and plunder.\n\nAt one time there was in London a great mania for Turkish baths. A\nperson of some note as a writer and, we believe, an M.P. took up the\nsubject vigorously, and had a Turkish bath built adjoining his own\nhouse. Here he passed the greater part of his time, combining his\nreading and writing with the delights of his new hobby. But he had an\nold hobby as well, which was the evil agency of Russia in the politics\nof Europe. Like the philosopher who asked but one question on the\noccasion of any disturbance\u2014\u201cWho is _she_?\u201d\u2014this man acknowledged but\none possible element of discord at the bottom of any diplomatic\n_imbroglio_\u2014_i.e._, Russia. A friend of his called on him one day\nabout midday, and, being ushered into the hall, heard his voice\nshouting from behind the door leading to the bath: \u201cCome in, S\u2014\u2014, and\nwe\u2019ll sit here a while. Stay to luncheon, won\u2019t you? It is only two\nhours to wait.\u201d The friend was so amused that he took off his clothes\nand submitted to the novel invitation of spending the time of a\nmorning call in a Turkish bath. Of course the conversation soon fell\non Russia and its demoniacal secret agency in all the troubles of the\nworld. The man was exceptionally clever, and these oddities of mind\nand behavior only made his society more charming to his friends and\nmore _piquant_ to his acquaintances.\n\nAmong fixed ideas which may almost be called hobbies are certain\npreferences which blind us to the good done without the special\nadjuncts which we individually consider nearly indispensable. For\ninstance, it is recorded\u2014with how much truth we cannot tell\u2014of the\ngreat architect, Pugin the elder, that one day, being in Rome, he went\nto Benediction in a church where it is customary to say prayers in the\nvernacular for the conversion of _England_. This was done after the\nservice proper was over, and Pugin, not recognizing the extra prayers\nat the end of the familiar Benediction service, asked a neighbor what\nthey meant. On being told he turned to a friend who was with him and\nsaid: \u201cThe idea of praying for the conversion of England in such a\ncope as that!\u201d A clever and well-known writer for one of our leading\nCatholic magazines, who is confessedly somewhat eccentric, is said to\nhave been discovered one morning by a friend in a state of violent\nagitation, walking up and down the breakfast-room with quick and\nnervous strides, and looking like a man in passionate, personal grief.\nOn being gently asked the cause of this emotion, he answered\nvehemently: \u201cI was thinking of how many souls are being eternally\ndamned at this very moment. Is it not frightful to think of? Every\nminute souls are going there, to be tormented for all eternity!\u201d Here\nwas a fixed idea with which it was difficult to deal. It was true, and\na thought which would do many good if they would realize it as he\ndid\u2014the innocent, large-hearted man, who did not need the idea for his\nown discipline\u2014but it was decidedly an inconvenient disturbance of the\ndomestic balance of things, and not a pleasant appetizer for the good\nbreakfast that was before him.\n\nBores, pure and simple, are of a remote kindred with the riders of\nhobbies, and they are of as many kinds. There is the croaker, who\ncherishes some pet grievance and favors every one with it; the singer\nwho is offended if he is not asked to perform, and is not applauded at\nthe end like the leading tenor of the hour; the critic who thinks he\nwould lose his reputation if he condescended to praise anything, or to\nadmire and be pleased like a common mortal; the man (or woman) who\nsets himself up on a pedestal and assumes, subtly but unmistakably,\nthat he is entirely above his neighbors or whatever people he may be\nwith; the man who has quarrelled with somebody, and insists on reading\nyou the whole correspondence; the man who is sure always to come to\nsee you at inopportune times, and, worse still, never knows when to go\naway; the amateur\u2014a terrible species\u2014who imagines he can paint, or\nplay the pianoforte or the flute, etc., or write poetry, or draw\nplans, or, in short, do anything which it requires a life-time to\n_learn_\u2014for the greatest always think themselves still at the bottom\nof the ladder of knowledge; the man who tells stories to satiety, and\nexpects them to be laughed at; the man who interrupts a _t\u00eate-\u00e0-t\u00eate_,\nor who is so full of some interest of his own that he insists on you\nsharing it when you show no inclination to listen to him; the man who\ncannot take a hint, though he is as good-natured as he is obtuse\u2014these\nthere are, and many more, who are the human mosquitoes of the world.\n\nAkin to hobbies, as we said at the beginning, are tastes, harmless for\nthe most part, often \u00e6sthetic, and almost always beneficial. Indeed,\nmany a taste, well regulated, has become an antidote or a preservative\nagainst vice; and, to put it from a very low point of view, a taste is\ngenerally far more economical than dangerous company and degrading\nsin. The _Saturday Review_, in an article on this subject last year,\nsaid with truth: \u201cTastes are not, as a rule, exorbitantly expensive;\nthey are certainly very much cheaper than vices. A very moderate\npercentage of an income, judiciously laid out, will soon secure an\nexcellent library. It is surprising how small a sum will suffice for\nthe purchase of every standard work worth having. The most famous\nprivate libraries cost their owners nothing in comparison with the\nprice of a few race-horses.\u201d Although we have somewhat disparaged\namateurs as a kind of \u201cbores,\u201d this was not meant to dissuade young\nmen and women from cultivating some taste which will serve as a\nresource for evening hours or any otherwise unoccupied time, and be a\nrelaxation from necessary work, as well as a gradual safeguard against\ncoarse pleasures. As long as such pursuits are undertaken with due\nmodesty as to one\u2019s proficiency in them, and not as a mere social\n\u201caccomplishment\u201d to be obtruded on others on all possible occasions,\nthey are infinitely to be commended. They grow on one, too, and soon\nbecome the chief point of attraction in our intellectual life,\nespecially if our business happens to be, as that of most persons is,\nof a prosaic nature. As we grow old they may develop into hobbies;\nnever mind, they will still make us happy and never cause us shame. On\nthe other hand, what will tendencies to convivial \u201cpleasures,\u201d or to\nfrivolous and objectless conversation, or to gadding about to\ntheatres, balls, and races, come to in the end? Dead-Sea fruit.\n\nAmong the minor arts which tend to occupy one\u2019s leisure pleasantly and\nusefully are wood-carving, turning, ivory-carving, and leather-work.\nEven commoner things may be taken up. We have known young men who,\nduring a long convalescence, took to mending cane chairs as a mode of\nmaking their fingers useful when their brains were still too weak to\nbe taxed. Basket-making, decalcomania of the higher order\u2014_i.e._, a\nsort of easy glass-painting akin to decalcomania, are all useful and\npossible methods of employing one\u2019s self and cultivating a pleasant\ndomestic taste. Mechanics, too, and household carpentry we have often\nseen fostered in young people and become their pride, while\nillumination\u2014a really high style of art, though a rare gift\u2014is not so\nuncommon as some may think. Of such tastes as gardening, reading,\nembroidering, and music we say nothing; they are too well known. Such\na taste generally ends in a collection, and then the pleasure is\nenhanced a hundred-fold; and, as the _Saturday Review_ says, it really\nneeds but a comparatively small outlay to secure a very fair\ncollection of any kind. This in its turn helps to study by giving us\nthe means of reference or comparison. And if in any family the members\nwere seriously to look up the money really wasted\u2014that is, the money\nspent in transitory, unhealthy pleasures, the value of which dies in\nthe mere excitement of the moment, leaving no pleasant memory or\nuseful impression behind, and often, on the contrary, leading to a\nremorseful, or at least an uncomfortable, remembrance\u2014they would find\nthat every year there goes forth imperceptibly from the collective\ntreasury of the home enough to beautify their lives and increase their\nhappiness if only they would lead it into the right channels. The\nmoney would not be missed, while their pleasures would be tenfold and\nlasting. Even the very poorest of the poor spends uselessly\u2014and alas!\noften wickedly\u2014what would make him a happy, self-respecting man; and,\nstrictly speaking, no one can say that he cannot afford good and\nhealthy pleasures, for, as a matter of fact, he _does_ afford bad and\nunhealthy, or, to say the least, unsatisfactory, ones. Let every one\nask this question of his own experience: Which costs most in the long\nrun, a healthy pleasure, say even an innocent hobby, or a vicious and\nlowering pursuit?\n\n\n\n\nA PLEA FOR OUR GRANDMOTHERS.\n\n\nThat there are many flaws and deficiencies in the social structure of\nour bustling republic, from its foundation in the single family to the\ncollection of families forming general society, cannot be denied.\nAmong these none are more palpable than the failure to provide\ncomfortable space, suitable appointments, and a well-defined position\ntherein for our grandmothers.\n\nTheir claims to consideration as a class, existing\u2014albeit by mere\nsufferance\u2014in every city, village, and rural corner throughout the\nlength and breadth of our wide domain, seem to have been crowded out\nand lost in the confusion and dust upwhirled by our great social\nvehicle in its onward sweep toward an imaginary and unattainable El\nDorado. No one seems to comprehend the binding obligation of those\nclaims. The force of a playful remark made by the great and good\nFather Burke to his mother\u2014when she complained that she failed to hear\nhis lecture because the hall was so crowded that she could not get\nin\u2014\u201cAh! mother dear, wasn\u2019t that too bad? Just think of it! _Why, if\nit hadn\u2019t been for you, dear, I wouldn\u2019t have been there myself!_\u201d has\nnot come home to Americans in connection with this subject. They do\nnot pause to reflect that, but for our grandmothers, this great\nmultitude now rushing so furiously toward every promising avenue to\nwealth and influence, elbowing and jostling each other in their mad\ncareer, would not have been in existence.\n\nNor are the annoyances to which this class is exposed in consequence\nof such neglect\u2014itself the result rather of heedlessness than\ndesign\u2014any the less burdensome that they are mainly of so negative a\ncharacter as scarcely to form the basis of a positive complaint; nay,\nso far from this that when they find voice in such utterance as the\ndisquieting consciousness of their reality, in spite of their unreal\nguise, may force from the victims, the moan is more apt to excite\nill-concealed merriment in a listener, by its quaint whimsicality,\nthan pity or sympathy.\n\nYet these evils are real and constantly increasing. The most serious\nof them are the outgrowth of modern civilization and the progressive\ndoctrines of the last quarter of a century. In this enlightened age it\nis not to be supposed that people _must_ grow old, and it is highly\nimproper for our grandmother to insist upon submitting to conditions\nproper enough to humanity before it flourished in the light of\n\u201cadvanced ideas,\u201d but wholly out of place now. As recently as\ntwenty-five years ago she was, perforce of that very submission, an\nimportant element in the domestic and social circle. She occupied a\nposition quite independent of such prescribed rules and customs as\ngovern other classes in society. She was not expected to conform to\nevery caprice of fashion. She was permitted to dress in a manner\nconsistent with her age, and no one respected her the less, or thought\nof indulging in sharp criticism of her style, if it was of an obsolete\ndate. She could employ her time in suitable occupations, and render\nthe useful and acceptable services to the family and neighborhood for\nwhich the skill acquired by her long acquaintance with the world and\nits exigencies eminently fitted her; or repose in the calm twilight of\nlife\u2019s evening hour, in such habiliments as best comported with her\nown comfort and the requirements of her gradual descent into the\nvalley of years.\n\nNot so now. The milliners provide her with no bonnets or caps\nbefitting her age; nay, they utterly refuse to attempt, at any price,\nthe construction for her of suitable head-gear. Such manufacture has\ntaken its place among the \u201clost arts,\u201d and they do not wish to revive\nit. The mantua-makers insist upon \u201cthe _demi-train_, at least,\u201d and\nshe _must_ submit in the matter of the overskirt, with its puffed\nabominations and puckered deformities. She is allowed no ease or\ncomfort in her costume, but is required to assume all the grotesque\ndiscomforts invented by modern _modistes_ for the summer-day\nbutterflies of fashion, at the risk, if she refuses, of being\nfollowed, every time she ventures to appear among them, with such\nremarks as, \u201cA nice old lady? Oh! yes; but it _is_ a pity that she\nwill persist in making such a guy of herself, with those old-fashioned\nsleeves and skirts, and her plain white muslin caps.\u201d\n\nIt is curious to remark how different is the relative position of the\ngrandfather, at home and abroad, from that of his female contemporary.\nHow independent he is of conventional forms in his dress and\nintercourse with society; how free to go and come when he pleases,\nwithout giving occasion for wry faces or unkind criticisms if the\nfashion of his coat has not been changed for half a century! Is he not\nrather regarded with increased respect on that account?\n\nBut the prevailing modern rule in relation to the dress of women of\nall ages is that it shall change in style with every change of the\nmoon, and, above all, that as much expense in material and labor shall\nbe lavished upon its elaboration as the inventive genius of skilled\nartists can possibly devise. And American women\u2014even grandmothers\u2014are\nso foolish as to bow in slavish submission to this intolerable\ntyranny, which is working such widespread ruin and desolation in our\ncountry! \u201cLet _Fashion_ rule, though the heavens fall,\u201d say they.\n\nSo completely have all correct ideas pertaining to true taste in the\ndiscriminating consistency of different costumes adapted to the\ndifferent periods of life been swallowed up in the all-prevailing\nfashion-worship, that there is now scarcely any distinction, save in\nlength of skirt, between the dress of the little girl of five and that\nof her grandmother, mother, or the young lady, her elder sister.\nPitiable indeed is this loss of all sense of the fitness of things for\nthe two extremes of human life, which should be exempted from\nsubjection to discomforts for fashion\u2019s sake!\n\nWhat spectacle can be more mournfully absurd than that of a pale,\nwrinkled old face set in a ghastly silvered frame of the hairdresser\u2019s\ncurls and crimps, and surmounted, to complete its repulsiveness, with\na bedizened hat, the form of which can only be made barely tolerable\nby a beautiful young face beneath it; or that of a form bending under\nthe weight of years, carrying with trembling steps a load of jewelry\nand such remarkable excrescences, frills, flounces, and fur-belows, as\nthe dressmaker insists upon cumbering it withal? These pitiful sights\nare constantly displayed in our palace-cars, at our hotels,\nboarding-houses and watering-places, even by the aged invalids who\nfrequent the latter for their healing influences.\n\nThis is all wrong! There is no good sense or propriety in it. The\nfree-born American woman should claim immunity from such bondage, and\nthe right to accept with cheerful grace that rest from the petty\nstrifes and ambitions which agitate life\u2019s noon-day to which she is\nentitled at its twilight-hour. If she has\u2014either by inheritance or the\nsuccessful, if not altogether honest, speculations of her male\nkin\u2014come into possession of more money than she well knows how to use,\nshe should set that inherent Yankee wit, which is her inalienable\nnational dower, to devise some less ridiculous, at least, if not more\nuseful, mode of disbursing it.\n\nWhen we consider the multitudes of starving poor that throng our\ncities; the necessities of widows and orphans; the notable rarity of\nwell-selected and amply-filled libraries among our wealthy classes,\nand their very meagre patronage of the fine arts, we discover that\nthere is no lack of proper and elevating objects for expenditure.\nAbove all, when we reflect that the possessors of wealth must\ninevitably be called to a rigid account of their stewardship at last,\nthe thought is appalling, and the subject, in all its phases, for this\nworld and the next, is a sad one to contemplate.\n\nIn pleasing contrast with the picture presented by the domestic and\nsocial attitude of the average American grandmothers of to-day is that\nwhich we have frequently been so favored as to witness among the most\nwealthy, as well as the poorest, classes of our faithful foreign\npopulations; where the grandmother, in her comfortable though\nantiquated cap and costume, was the most honored and tenderly beloved\nmember of the household, its arbiter in all disputes, its wise and\nchosen counsellor in all doubts, its nurse in sickness, comforter in\naffliction, and its guide to that blessed land on the confines of\nwhich her aged feet were tottering.\n\nShe indulged no worldly ambitions; gave no thought to dress, save to\nrestrict it to the severest simplicity and neatness. She filled no\nbrilliant _r\u00f4le_ at home or in society, nor cared for anything but to\ndo good to all as she had opportunity. She was not learned in the\nphilosophy of books and literature; her deficiency in such knowledge\nmay have been so great as to excite a sneer in her American neighbor,\nwho had enjoyed the great \u201cadvantages\u201d of the public-school system;\nbut even the youngest of her numerous grandchildren\u2014who gathered\naround her chair in the most cosey corner, of an evening, to listen\nreverently to her explanations of \u201cChristian Doctrine,\u201d to join with\nher in recitations of the beads, and to give rapt attention to her\ntales and legends of the \u201cdear old land\u201d\u2014knew that her venerable head\nwas stored with treasures of learning more precious than all earthly\nlore in the sight of Him before whom the \u201cwisdom of this world is\nfoolishness,\u201d and who has chosen the \u201cweak things thereof to confound\nthe wise.\u201d\n\nHow will they miss her when she is gone! For how many long years will\n\u201cgrandmother\u2019s\u201d virtues and her pious instructions form the theme, and\nher advice and prayers the sustaining resource, of her children\u2019s\nchildren, while they carefully transmit to theirs her unwritten\nmemoirs as an invaluable legacy of precept and example!\n\n\n\n\n FROM LAMARTINE.\n\n\n Almond-bough with blossom rife,\n Pride of beauty picturing;\n Blooms like thee the flow\u2019r of life,\n Blooms and withers in the spring.\n\n Missed or gathered, prized or slighted,\n Still from wreath and fingered spray\n One by one its petals, blighted,\n Pass, like pleasures day by day.\n\n Taste we then its brief delight,\n Ere the stealthy winds go by;\n Drain the laughing chalice quite,\n Drink the perfume that must die.\n\n Oft is beauty like the flow\u2019r\n Gathered for a guest at morn,\n And before the festal hour\n From his chilly temples torn.\n\n One day ends: another breaks;\n Spring and all her sweets decay;\n Every leaf the light wind takes\n Whispers, \u201cGather while ye may.\u201d\n\n Since the rose is doomed to perish\u2014\n Perish, pass, nor bloom again,\n Lovers\u2019 lips her blossom cherish,\n Love her dying sweets detain.\n\n\n\n\nNEW PUBLICATIONS.\n\n\n CATHOLIC CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN STATE. A Series of Essays on\n the Relation of the Church to the Civil Power. Translated,\n with the permission of the author, from the German of Dr.\n Joseph Hergenr\u00f6ther, Professor of Canon Law and Church\n History at the University of W\u00fcrzburg. In two volumes.\n London: Burns & Oates. 1876.\n\nIt is to be regretted that the price of this excellent work has been\nplaced so high, although its paper covers and generally cheap style of\nexecution give it the appearance of a German rather than an English\npublication. The price in England is one pound sterling, which makes\nit necessary to sell it for eight dollars in this country, and with a\ndecent binding it must cost ten dollars. This great cost must impede\nthe general circulation which such a work merits and ought to obtain.\nIn respect to the value of its contents, it is well worth the price it\ncosts, and ought to have a place in every public library and on the\nbookshelves of every Catholic of intelligence and culture\u2014indeed, of\nevery educated man who wishes to understand the questions mooted and\ndiscussed so generally at the present time in respect to the nature\nand mutual relations of the church and the state. It is a masterly\nscientific treatise, constructed with that solid learning and\nthoroughness of exposition which characterize the works of genuine\nGerman scholarship. The author is one of the most eminent of the\nCatholic professors of Germany, at home in canon law, history and\njurisprudence, well versed in theology, and enjoying an established\nreputation for sound orthodoxy in doctrine. The division of his topics\ninto separate essays, each with its distinct sections, makes it easier\nto follow his course of exposition and reasoning than it would be if\nthey were arranged under a more strictly methodical form, and his\nabundant references, frequently accompanied by citations, give\nevidence of the sources he has referred to, as well as the means of\nreferring, in case of need, to these authorities. He is succinct and\nbrief in his treatment, yet clear and precise. The subjects about\nwhich Mr. Gladstone\u2019s _Expostulation_ have awakened controversy are\ntreated comprehensively and in their principles, furnishing a general\ndefence of the Catholic Church, and a refutation of the accusations of\nher enemies in respect to her polity, administration, and relations to\nthe natural and temporal order. In short, it is a text-book or manual\nfor instruction, fitted to be used as a guide to those who have to\nteach, as an arsenal from which those who have to write or lecture may\ndraw their weapons of argument, and as a standard of reference for the\ncorrect decision of the matters within its scope. The private student\nwill find it all that is requisite for his complete and accurate\ninformation on the important topics of which it treats. We understand\nthat the translation has been made by Miss Allies, assisted by two\nother ladies, and, we doubt not, under her father\u2019s supervision. We\nhave not seen the original, but the translation seems to have been\nthoroughly well executed. The work will undoubtedly take its place at\nonce as a classic.\n\n\n HISTOIRE DE MADAME BARAT, FONDATRICE DE LA SOCIETE DU\n SACRE-C\u0152UR DE JESUS. Par M. l\u2019Abb\u00e9 Baunard. Paris:\n Poussielque Fr\u00e8res, Rue Cassette 27. 1876.\n\nWe have had the honor of receiving one of the first copies of this\nlong-expected biography of one of the great women of this century, and\ntake the earliest opportunity of making the due acknowledgment. This\nis not a book to be dismissed by a brief notice, and we hope to make\nit the subject of an article in one of our future numbers, after\nhaving given it the careful perusal which it merits. It is published\nin two goodly volumes of fair, large type, averaging each six hundred\noctavo pages. The Abb\u00e9 Baunard is already celebrated as the author of\nthe _Life of St. John_. Those who read French easily and with pleasure\nwill prefer, we suppose, to obtain the original work, which no doubt\nwill soon be for sale in our foreign bookstores. Nevertheless, as a\ntranslation from the graceful pen of Lady Georgiana Fullerton is\nadvertised as nearly or quite ready, we are confident that the charm\nof the Abb\u00e9 Baunard\u2019s style will be preserved, in so far as that is\npossible, in the _Life of Madame Barat_ which is soon to appear in\nEnglish. It is already evident that this biography, which is at the\nsame time a history of the institute founded by the venerable lady who\nis its subject, will have a worldwide circulation. In our own country\nthere are great numbers who are eagerly desiring the opportunity of\nperusing it. We have as yet only commenced the pleasing task, but we\nhave gone far enough to warrant the assurance that those who are\nlooking forward to the reading of it as a source of great benefit and\npure enjoyment will not be disappointed.\n\n\n ARE YOU MY WIFE? By the author of _A Salon in Paris before\n the War_, _Number Thirteen_, _Pius VI._, etc. New York: The\n Catholic Publication Society. 1876. 1 vol. 8vo. pp. 292.\n\nThe startling question that gives a title to this story has been\nbefore the readers of THE CATHOLIC WORLD for many months. Those who\nhave followed out the puzzle presented to them through its monthly\ninstalments will have found for themselves the solution of the\nproblem, and formed their own opinion regarding its merits or\ndemerits. The story is now published in book-form, and adds one more\nto the number of admirable original works of fiction given to the\nCatholic public through the pages of THE CATHOLIC WORLD.\n\n_Are You My Wife?_ is remarkable, and welcome, at least in this: that\nit shakes itself loose from the mouldy traditions which seem to form\nthe stock-in-trade of most of our Catholic writers of English fiction.\nIt is a bold effort and well sustained. The story is full of interest\nfrom beginning to end; the characters clean-cut and distinct; the\nincidents varying and rapid; and the secret carefully concealed to the\nvery last. It is not, perhaps, of the first, but certainly of a very\ngood, order of art, and possesses this exceptional merit over its\nfellows, that while the facts on which it hangs are as interesting as\nthose in the best works of non-Catholic novelists, the purity and\nmoral elevation of the whole are far beyond what even the best of such\nwriters can furnish.\n\nIt is needless here to sketch the plot, which, though woven out of\nnatural materials, is ingeniously intricate. Many of the characters\nare such as may be met with any day in England. The nominal heroine is\na wild, weird creation; the real heroine is Franceline, as charming a\ngirl as ever met us in the pages of a novel or stole our hearts away\nin real life. No wonder all the young men go wild over her; no wonder\nthat the old men do the same. She grows up and develops under our\nsight the dreamy, happy child, until she, and we with her, suddenly\nstart to find she is a woman.\n\nThe graceful yet powerful pen that gave us such sketches as _A Salon\nin Paris before the War_, _Number Thirteen_, and others equally good,\nhas not mistaken its powers\u2014indeed, has not, we are convinced, yet\ntried them to the full of their bent\u2014in the present more finished and\nmore ambitious work. There is little or nothing in _Are You My Wife?_\nto betray the hand of an unpractised novelist. Only here and there\noccurs a fulsomeness of detail on minor matters that were better\ncondensed. In one or two places, though very rarely, the conversation\nflags. Conversation is, as a rule, slow enough in society itself; in a\nbook, when slow at all, it becomes intolerable. These are the only\nblemishes we find in an unusually interesting book. Sir Simon Harness,\nPonce Anwyll, Miss Merrywig, Miss Bulpit, Ang\u00e9lique, and Raymond are\ncharacters with whom we regret to part, as also Franceline and Clide,\nwere they not so well provided for. Humor, wit, and imagination are\nplentiful throughout the book, while the pictures of natural scenery\nare often unsurpassed. Here, for instance, is a picture of still life\nthat the best of pencils or pens might be proud to own:\n\n\u201cOn emerging from the damp darkness after an hour with Miss Merrywig,\nFranceline found that the sun had climbed up to the zenith, and was\npouring down a sultry glow that made the earth smoke again. There was\na stile at the end of the wood, and she sat down to rest herself under\nthe thick shade of a sycamore. The stillness of the noon was on\neverything. A few lively linnets tried to sing; but, the effort being\nprompted solely by duty, after a while they gave it up, and withdrew\nto the coolest nooks, and enjoyed their siesta like the lazy ones.\nNobody stirred, except the insects that were chirping in the grass,\nand some bees that sailed from flower to flower, buzzing and doing\nfield-labor when everybody else was asleep or idle. To the right the\nfields were brimful of ripening grain of every shade of gold; the\ndeep-orange corn was overflowing into the pale amber of the rye, and\nthe bearded barley was washing the hedge that walled it off from the\nlemon-colored wheat. To the left the rich grass lands were dotted with\nflocks and herds. In the nearest meadow some cattle were herding. It\nwas too hot to eat, so they stood surveying the fulness of the earth\nwith mild, bovine gaze. They might have been sphinxes, they were so\nstill; not a muscle in their sleek bodies moved, except that a tail\nlashed out against the flies now and then. Some were in the open\nfield, holding up their white horns to the sunlight; others were\ngrouped in twos and threes under a shady tree; but the noontide hush\nwas on them all. Presently a number of horses came trooping leisurely\nup to the pond near the stile; the mild-eyed kine moved their slow\nheads after the procession, and then, one by one, trooped on with it.\nThe noise of the hoofs plashing into the water, and the loud lapping\nof the thirsty tongues, were like a drink to the hot silence.\nFranceline watched them lifting their wet mouths, all dripping, from\nthe pool, and felt as if she had been drinking too. There was a long,\nsolemn pause, and then a sound like the blast of an organ rose up from\nthe pond, swelling and sweeping over the fields; before it died away a\ncalf in a distant paddock answered it.\u201d\n\n\n THE LIFE OF REV. MOTHER ST. JOSEPH, FOUNDRESS OF THE\n CONGREGATION OF SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF BORDEAUX. By l\u2019Abb\u00e9\n P. F. Lebeurier. Translated from the French. New York: D. &\n J. Sadlier & Co. 1876.\n\nWhen, in the early part of the seventeenth century, St. Francis de\nSales founded the Order of the Visitation, he placed the corporal\nworks of mercy, such as visiting the sick and relieving the poor,\namong the duties of its members, but he was afterwards induced to\nmodify the original plan by making enclosure a part of the\nconstitution of the order. There was a demand, however, for\ncommunities of women devoted to the relief of human misery; and among\nthe many congregations of this kind which were founded during the life\nor shortly after the death of St. Francis that of the Sisters of St.\nJoseph holds an important rank. This order came into existence under\nthe fostering care of Father Medaille, a priest of the Company of\nJesus, in the year 1650, in the diocese of Puy, and was soon\nestablished in many other parts of France. After an existence of a\nhundred and forty years, it was broken up and the sisters dispersed by\nthe French Revolution; but upon the conclusion of the Concordat\nbetween Napoleon and Pius VII. the religious who still survived\nreassembled and opened a house in Lyons, in 1807, under the protection\nof Cardinal Fesch.\n\nOne of the most exemplary and useful members of the order since its\nrestoration, Mother St. Joseph\u2014in the world, Jane Chanay\u2014is made known\nto us in the biography whose title we have given. There are few lives\nof which a judicious and faithful account would not be useful, and no\nkind of writing is more attractive to most readers than biography. It\nis seldom, however, that we meet with a religious biography with which\nwe are altogether pleased, and this now before us is not at all to our\ntaste. There is certainly no reason why the life of a nun should not\nbe as full of interest as that of a woman engaged in the frivolities\nand vanities of the world, and we cannot but think it is the fault of\nthe author that Mother St. Joseph\u2019s has not been made both instructive\nand entertaining. The narrative is slow and interrupted, the style\nheavy, and the facts often trivial without being either amusing or\nedifying. We have the authority of Cardinal Donnet for the assertion\nthat the book is commendable for the beauty of its diction; but this\nis certainly not true of the English translation, which is often\nneither correct nor elegant. Take, for instance, the following\nexamples: \u201cOther saints \u2026 are restored to their Creator with not _a\nmaze_ to dim their lustrous brightness\u201d (p. 22). \u201cWhen once the fire\nof jealousy is kindled in the soul, nothing can _satiate its ravages_\u201d\n(p. 26).\n\nWe close with the following sentence, which we commend to the\nattention of grammar-schools: \u201cThis good father having, in the course\nof his missions, met with several widows and pious young women who\nwere desirous to retire from the world and devote themselves to the\nservice of the salvation of their neighbor, but were deterred for want\nof means to enter convents, he formed the intention to propose to some\nbishop the establishment of a congregation into which those devoted\nwomen could enter and devote themselves to labor for their salvation,\nand fulfil all the good works of which they were capable in the\nservice of their neighbor\u201d (p. 66).\n\n\n PRINCIPIA OR BASIS OF SOCIAL SCIENCE. By R. J. Wright.\n Second Edition. Philadelphia: Lippincott & Co. 1876.\n\nThe eight or ten pages of letters from various persons with which this\nvolume is prefaced, and in which the author receives thanks for copies\nof his book, forcibly remind us of Sheridan\u2019s formula for\nacknowledging the publications that were constantly sent him: \u201cDEAR\nSIR: I have received your exquisite work, and I have no doubt I shall\nbe highly delighted _after_ I have read it.\u201d The persons, known and\nunknown, whose names are paraded here all anticipate a time when they\nshall be able to congratulate themselves upon having put the _Basis of\nSocial Science_ beneath their feet.\n\nMr. Wright is doubtless a well-meaning man; and if good intentions\ncould pacify a critic\u2019s irritable soul, between him and ourselves\nthere would be no quarrel. His aim has been, he informs us in his\npreface, to write a work which, without offending the religious,\npolitical, or scientific susceptibilities of any one, would commend\nitself especially to \u201cpious young men\u201d and \u201cstudents for the ministry,\nwho really desire to be useful and to be abreast of their age on this\nsubject\u201d; and we are therefore prepared to find him ready to embrace\nwith equal tenderness a Mormon prophet, an Oneida free lover, a French\ncommunist, and a Catholic monk. Mr. Wright\u2019s sweetness and piety are\nas offensive to us as the caress of a Yahoo was to Dean Swift. These\nattempts to reconcile the antagonisms, incompatibilities, and\ncontradictions of the age, by besmearing them all with honey, are\nworse than absurd; they add to the confusion and weaken the power to\napprehend truth. The self-imposed task of the author of this volume is\none which the greatest mind now living could not perform in a\nsatisfactory manner. Of all sciences, the social is, if it may as yet\nbe called a science, the most difficult, the most involved and\nuncertain; in its idea it is a synthesis of all knowledges, and no one\nwho has not gathered into his own mind the intellectual achievements\nof the whole race should attempt to construct a philosophy of social\nscience. The importance of the study of sociology we fully admit, and\ngladly welcome even the humblest efforts to increase our knowledge of\nthis subject; but when those who ought to remain in the ranks seek to\ntake command, they become disorganizers. Had Mr. Wright been modest,\nhe might have been useful; having attempted too much, he has failed to\naccomplish anything. In fact, he has not the first requisite of an\nauthor\u2014a knowledge of the language in which he writes. His style is\nbarbarous and tumultuary, often ungrammatical. It must, however, be\nstriking and emphatic, if we are to judge from the number of words\nprinted in italics and majuscules. And his thought is like his\nstyle\u2014incoherent, crude, and embryotic. He has read Comte, Fourier,\nMill, Herbert Spencer, and Appleton\u2019s _Cyclop\u00e6dia_, and with their aid\nand the help of a certain \u201cTheory of the Six Units\u201d he has sought to\ndevelop an ideal of human society not more impossible than Plato\u2019s\n_Republic_ or more visionary than More\u2019s _Utopia_.\n\nThe keynote to his system is the \u201cTheory of the Six Units.\u201d The six\nunits are the Individual, the Family, the Social Circle, the Precinct,\nthe Nation, and Mankind. It seems to have been his acquaintance with\ncertain other \u201csingular sixes\u201d that led him to a belief in six, and\nbut six, social units. In the first place, \u201cthe figure which gives the\nmaximum amount of internal content with the minimum amount of external\nsurface of similar bodies joined together is a HEXAGON.\u201d Again: \u201cIn\ndeveloped civilization there are six great classes of society\u201d; but it\nis only in some future work that the author will tell us about these\nsix great classes. And just here we wish to find fault with Mr. Wright\nfor a habit he has of adroitly arousing our curiosity, and then, as we\nare beginning to imagine we are about to learn something, coolly\ndropping us with the remark that the matter \u201cwill be portrayed in\nanother book.\u201d He sometimes, too, seems to take a wicked delight in\npuzzling his readers, as in the following sentence: \u201cAll affairs, when\nthey become ordinary, are apt to become matters of business; and\nbusiness matters are\u2014well, we need not say what.\u201d But to return to the\n\u201csixes.\u201d There are six fundamental motors of human passions. There are\nsix infinities\u2014namely, deific spirit, soul spirit, matter, space,\nduration, diversity. There are six organs of sense (the old notion\nthat there were but five is exploded)\u2014sensation, temperature, taste,\nsmell, hearing, sight. There are six crystallizations\u2014monometric,\ndimetric, trimetric, monoclinic, triclinic, and hexagonal. There are\nsix religious societies\u2014Adam, Adam and Eve, Patriarchy, Israel in\nEgypt, Israel in Palestine, the Christian Church. It follows as a\nmatter of course that there must be six social units; and in fact, if\nit were worth while, we could prove that there must be ten or twenty.\n\nThere is no unit in which Mr. Wright so much delights as the Precinct.\nThe real cause of the American civil war he has discovered to have\nbeen a neglect of Precinct by both the North and the South; and it is\nquite probable, we think, there is no social or political problem\nwhich may not ultimately be solved in the same felicitous and\nsatisfactory manner.\n\nGenius is manifested\u2014at least this is, we believe, the opinion of Mr.\nEmerson\u2014quite as strikingly in quotation as in original composition,\nand we respectfully call the attention of the philosopher of Concord\nto Mr. Wright as a confirmatory example of this law of mind. Many a\nhousehold will find food for thought in the following citation:\n\u201cFamily miffs are a grand institution for giving needful repose and\nafter-exhilaration to overtasked affection.\u201d And this other will be\ninteresting to politicians: \u201cIt is to the criminal propensities of man\nthat we owe civilization.\u201d \u201cAlas!\u201d sighs our pious philosopher, \u201cthat\nthe Radicals cannot make a better basis for civilization than the\nforegoing crime-begetting one.\u201d\n\nFrom Wells, the phrenologist, Mr. Wright gets the following quotation,\nwhich almost makes us repent of what we have written: \u201cAs a class the\ntheologians have the best heads in the world.\u201d\n\n\n CANTATA CATHOLICA. B. H. F. Hellebusch. Benziger Bros.\n\nThis is a collection of music for the \u201cAsperges,\u201d \u201cVidi Aquam,\u201d\nseveral Gregorian Masses, the Gregorian Requiem, the Preface, the\nPater Noster, Responses, Vespers, the Antiphons of the Blessed Virgin,\n\u201cO Salutaris,\u201d and \u201cTantum Ergo,\u201d besides a large number of pieces\nintended to be used at Benediction and at various other times. The\nGregorian chants for the \u201cAsperges,\u201d \u201cVidi Aquam,\u201d and the Masses are\nharmonized by Dr. F. Witt. We cannot say that we admire the peculiar\n\u201cdrone bass\u201d which Dr. Witt uses so extensively, and the harmonies\nare, to our ears, crude, and sometimes even barbarous, and as a\ngeneral rule are not in accordance with the _mode_. We also noticed\nsome ear-splitting _fifths_, used without any excuse whatever. The\nRequiem is very incomplete; five verses only of the \u201cDies Ir\u00e6\u201d are\ngiven, and the Gradual and Tract are entirely omitted. Mr. Hellebusch\nremarks in his preface that \u201cthe Preface and Pater Noster should only\nbe accompanied when required by the officiating clergyman and after\nrehearsal.\u201d In looking in the book for the reason for this remark, we\nfind that to accompany the simple melody of the \u201cPreface of Trinity\u201d\none hundred and ninety sharps, flats, and naturals are required; and\nin the accompaniment of the words \u201csocia exultatione concelebrant,\u201d in\nthe \u201cCommon Preface,\u201d we find twenty. The melody of the \u201cPreface\u201d has\nalso been altered by sharpening \u201cdo\u201d all through. Over eight pages are\ndevoted to Responses, exclusive of the Responses for the Preface and\nPater Noster. In that portion of the book devoted to Vespers are some\ngrave errors. On page 103 is a note which informs us that \u201cthe Psalms\n_can_ be chanted to any of the following _authentic_ or _simplified_\nVesper tones.\u201d We have yet to learn which are the eight _authentic_\ntones, and we were not aware that authentic and _simplified_ meant one\nand the same thing. The eight Psalm-tunes are given with their various\nendings, and with the Second, Fourth, Fifth, and _Sixth_, or \u201cFinal by\nwords of one syllable.\u201d We suppose \u201cmediation\u201d is meant; but then the\nSixth tone has no different mediation for words of one syllable, and\nthe rule for Hebrew proper names is not given at all. In the Fifth\ntone the \u201csi\u201d is improperly marked flat. The pointing of the Psalms is\nvery bad; we have \u201cspir\u00edtui, spirit\u00fai, vid\u00edt, sic\u00fat, mot\u00e1,\u201d etc. In\nthe latter part of the book, however, the pieces are selected with\ngood taste, and musically, although not practically, well arranged.\nThe book has been made up in too great a hurry.\n\n\n ASPERGES ME. MASS IN F. MISSA DE ANGELIS. C. P. Morrison,\n Worcester, Mass.\n\nThe \u201cAsperges\u201d is chiefly remarkable for some very clumsy and\nincorrect modulations and the utter absence of any kind of melody and\ndesign. The \u201cMass in F\u201d is an easy setting of the Ordinary of the Mass\ncombined with a nauseating adaptation of English words for the use, we\nsuppose, of the \u201cseparated brethren\u201d who like this kind of music. We\nlooked for and found the close on the words \u201cFilius Patris,\u201d with a\nnew movement for the \u201cQui tollis,\u201d and the inevitable RESURRECTIONEM\nmor \u2026 tu \u2026 o \u2026 rum. The C clef is placed at the beginning of the tenor\npart, and the notes are incorrectly written, as if in the G clef, an\noctave higher. The composer ought to know that the C clef is of as\nmuch importance as either the G or F clef, and not a purely fanciful\ncharacter to be used or not at the option of the writer. The harmony\nof the \u201cMissa de Angelis\u201d is entirely modern, full of chromatic\npassages, dissonances, etc., which Mr. Morrison again ought to know\nare not allowed in harmonies for Gregorian chant.\n\n\n ALL AROUND THE MOON. From the French of Jules Verne. Freely\n translated by Edw. Roth. With a Map of the Moon constructed\n and engraved for this edition, and also with an Appendix\n containing the famous Moon Hoax, by R. Adams Locke. New\n York: The Catholic Publication Society, No. 9 Warren Street.\n 1876.\n\nIt is not often the case that translations are, like the present one,\nan improvement on the original, especially when the original work is\nsuch an admirable one as that from which this translation is made. We\nnoticed the first part, published under the title of _The Baltimore\nGun Club_, some time ago, favorably, and have been even more pleased\nwith this sequel.\n\nMr. Roth calls the book a free translation, but this term hardly\nconveys the idea of the adaptation which he has really made of the\ntext. Verne certainly intended, when he laid the scene in America, to\nmake the characters, incidents, and conversation thoroughly American,\nand he succeeded as well as could have been expected; but the task was\none simply impossible for a foreigner, and any translation at all\napproaching to literal exactness, no matter by whom made, would have\nbeen sure to have shared the defects of the text. Mr. Roth, therefore,\nto carry out the author\u2019s idea, had practically to rewrite the book in\nsuch a way as to preserve the genius of the conception while altering\nthe details in a way which required an ability like that of the author\nhimself.\n\nBesides having made the book really an American one, he has added to\nits scientific merit by a fuller explanation of the problem which is\nthe nucleus of the story.\n\nThe \u201cMoon Hoax,\u201d which is appended, was probably the most successful\nand the best contrived of all the scientific canards which have ever\nappeared. It was written more than forty years ago, but its memory has\nnot yet died out, and it was so cleverly done as to be well worthy of\nthis reprint.\n\nThe book is illustrated by twenty-four cuts, besides the map of the\nmoon mentioned in the title. It would really have been better without\nthe rather clap-trap additional about the Centennial at its close, but\nthis makes it all the more American, and may be excusable under the\ncircumstances.\n\n\n THE WYNDHAM FAMILY: A Story of Modern Life. By the author of\n _Mount St. Lawrence_. London: Burns & Oates. 1876. (For sale\n by The Catholic Publication Society.)\n\nThe best of motives and any quantity of the most pious reflections\nhave combined to make of these two volumes a remarkably dull story.\nThis is to be regretted; for those who can overcome the repugnance of\nwading through page after page of what, with the best will in the\nworld we can only call dreary writing, will find much sound sense on\nthe conduct of the family and what are called \u201cthe exigencies\u201d of\nmodern society. The author has attempted a bold feat\u2014to paint the\n\u201cheroics\u201d of the kitchen, or, as they are called in the story, \u201cthe\nglory of service.\u201d That there may be, that there is often, glory in\nservice there can be no doubt. This is the power of Christianity. That\na cook may be, and indeed often is, a model of self-sacrifice, or at\nleast a source of great self-sacrifice in others, he would be a rash\nman who should undertake to deny. The author of _The Wyndham Family_\nwould reverse the old saying that \u201cGod sends the food, but the devil\nsends the cook.\u201d To be sure, the particular cook here held up to view\nturns out to be quite a superior character, and this makes one of the\nsurprises of the story. The experiment, however, can scarcely be\nconsidered a happy one. Were the two volumes condensed into one; were\nthe atmosphere of the kitchen a little less obtrusive; were the girls\nin the story made to talk like girls, and not like what on this side\nwould be called by some \u201cschool marms\u201d; were there only a little more\nof the relief afforded by such a character as \u201cUncle Sanders,\u201d _The\nWyndham Family_ might have been not only what it now is, a vehicle for\nhighly moral reflections, but a popular and interesting story.\n\nIt is strange that England, which has done so much in reviving\nCatholic English letters within the last century, and which is so high\nin the higher walks of literature, should, with a very few exceptions,\ncontinue to furnish about the poorest specimens of Catholic stories\nthat the world has ever seen. Indeed, a kind of \u201cgoody-goody\u201d school\nhas grown up there which holds its own with exasperating persistency.\nThe sooner that school is broken up the better. There surely might be\nfound a happy medium between the \u201cpenny dreadful,\u201d or the fleshly\nschool of fiction, and that which reads like a very weak dilution of\nthe penny catechism.\n\n\n THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE\n CITY AND COUNTY OF NEW YORK FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 31,\n 1875.\n\nApart from the mass of interesting statistics contained in this\nreport, the comprehensive style adopted by the compiler of presenting\nfacts and figures deserves special mention.\n\nWe have been interested in the development of the law compelling\nchildren to attend school, but fail to find satisfactory information\nregarding its workings in the report of the Superintendent of Truancy.\nAn increase of 7,614 in the daily average attendance is claimed by\nhim. These figures do not agree with the facts stated on pp. 12 and\n213, and in addition the attendance of 1874 shows an increase of\n15,094 over 1873.\n\nAfter a year\u2019s trial the superintendent comes to the conclusion that\nthe law, as it now stands, is a failure, and recommends the enactment\nof other laws, and the erection of new institutions to enforce the\npresent law, of which he says: \u201cInstances of opposition on the part of\nthe parents to the law, or the efforts of the agents, are extremely\nrare; but rather do they regard them as welcome visitors and valuable\nauxiliaries, their authority and suasion being earnestly solicited for\nthe reformation of the child\u201d (p. 424).\n\n\n FLAMINIA, and other stories; LUCAS GARCIA, and other\n stories; PERICO THE SAD, and other stories; ROBERT, OR THE\n INFLUENCE OF A GOOD MOTHER; THE CRUCIFIX OF BADEN, and other\n stories; THE STORY OF MARCEL, and other tales. New York: The\n Catholic Publication Society. 1876.\n\nThese are all excellent stories, choice flowers of fiction culled from\nFrench, Spanish, Italian, German, and English gardens, while those of\nnative growth are not forgotten. They are reprints from THE CATHOLIC\nWORLD; and how admirably fitted they are to meet a general want the\nreader may judge for himself by glancing at this month\u2019s Bulletin,\nwhich presents the verdict of the Catholic press on them. Nothing is\nmore needed nowadays than good popular Catholic literature, stories,\nperhaps, more than anything else. We accordingly welcome the\nrepublication in book form of stories which were universally well\nreceived as they appeared in the columns of THE CATHOLIC WORLD, and\nonly hope that the series may be continued.\n\n\n EPISODES OF THE PARIS COMMUNE IN 1871. Translated from the\n French by the Lady Blanche Murphy. Benziger Brothers, New\n York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 1876.\n\nThis is a little volume of very readable sketches, relating the\npersecutions and sufferings of the various brotherhoods of Paris\nduring the brief reign of the Commune in 1871. Their schools were\nclosed, their houses invaded, and the brothers who had not succeeded\nin escaping to some safe hiding-place were arrested and thrown into\nprison. The services of the Christian Brothers as ambulance nurses\nduring the war were known to the whole country; but the Commune\nruthlessly drove them from the bedsides of the wounded and dying\nsoldiers. \u201cDown with the Black-gowns!\u201d was the cry. \u201cDeath to the\nBrothers! Let them go join Darboy.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe watchword of the Revolution,\u201d said Raoul Rigault to M. Cotte, the\nwriter of one of these sketches, and late director of the press\nambulances of Longchamps\u2014\u201cthe watchword of the Revolution is death to\nreligion, to ritual, to priests!\u201d And he added: \u201cAs long as there is\nleft in the land one man who dares pronounce the name of God all our\nlabor will have been in vain, and we shall not be able to lay down the\nsword and the rifle.\u201d\n\nThe style of the translation is easy and simple, and these _Episodes_\nwill very fittingly occupy a place in \u201cThe Catholic Premium-Book\nLibrary.\u201d\n\n\n THE STORY OF A VOCATION: HOW IT CAME ABOUT, AND WHAT BECAME\n OF IT. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1876.\n\nThis is really the story of two vocations\u2014of one in the world, and of\nanother in, but not of, the world. It is one of those pure, graceful,\nyet interesting tales which are only too few. The translation, from\nthe French, is well done. Parents and those who have charge of\nchildren will find this book not only highly entertaining but of real\nutility.\n\n\n THE EPISCOPAL SUCCESSION IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND,\n A.D. 1400 TO 1875. With appointments to monasteries and\n extracts from consistorial acts taken from MSS. in public\n and private libraries in Rome, Florence, Bologna, Ravenna,\n and Paris. By W. Mazi\u00e8re Brady. Vol. I. Rome: Tipografia\n della Pace. 1876.\n\nThis collection of curious documents relates to the Catholic\nsuccession. It is of great utility to the searcher into ecclesiastical\nantiquities. The author has consulted archives and searched out old\nrecords with much diligence, and gathered together a number of curious\nitems of information of great value and interest to the antiquarian\nstudent. The most interesting of these is the account of Dr. Goldwell,\nBishop of St. Asaph, the last of the old line of Catholic succession\nin England, a prelate whose learning and sanctity make him worthy to\nclose the series which St. Augustine began.\n\n\n BOSTON TO WASHINGTON. A Pocket Guide to the Great Eastern\n Cities and the Centennial Exhibition, with Maps. New York:\n Hurd & Houghton. 1876.\n\nThe title of this work will give the reader but a poor idea of its\nvalue compared with other guides, which are mere advertising sheets.\nThis book is neat in every way\u2014in its paper, in its printing, in its\nillustrations, and in its binding\u2014and contains a great amount of\ninteresting and correct information about the cities of Boston, New\nYork, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and will prove a\nvaluable guide to the traveller, whether native or foreign.\n\n\n VOYAGES DANS L\u2019AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE. Par L. R. P\u00e8re P. J.\n De Smet, S. J. Bruxelles: Benziger Bros.; New York.\n\nThis is a French edition of Father De Smet\u2019s travels as an Indian\nmissionary in the Rocky Mountains and in Oregon. This celebrated\nJesuit, besides being a zealous apostle, was also a keen observer of\nmen and customs, and his descriptions of Indian life, with which no\nman was more familiar, are both entertaining and instructive. A\nbiography of Father De Smet has been recently published in Belgium, an\nEnglish translation of which would, we think, be welcomed by American\nCatholics.\n\n\nNOTE TO THE ARTICLE ON \u201cTHOMISTIC PHILOSOPHY.\u201d\n\nThose who read carefully the philosophical articles which appear from\ntime to time in our pages will notice that different, and even\ncontradictory, opinions on some points are to be met with\noccasionally. It seems proper to explain, therefore, that the editor,\nand those who assist him in supervising the conduct of the magazine,\nwhile professing a general adhesion to the doctrine of St. Thomas,\nallow a considerable latitude in the expression of individual opinion\nby the different writers who contribute articles; and do not\nnecessarily imply, in their approbation of pieces for publication,\nthat they concur in every respect with the statements and arguments\ncontained in them.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC WORLD.\n\nVOL. XXIII., No. 136.\u2014JULY, 1876.\n\nCopyright: Rev. I. T. HECKER. 1876.\n\n\n\n\nSONNET.\n\nTHE CENTENARY OF AMERICAN LIBERTY.\n\nBY AUBREY DE VERE.\n\n\n A century of sunrises hath bowed\n Its fulgent forehead \u2018neath the ocean-floor\n Since first upon the West\u2019s astonished shore,\n Like some huge Alp forth-struggling through the cloud\n A new-born nation stood, to Freedom vowed:\n Within that time how many an Empire hoar\n And young Republic, flushed with wealth and war,\n Alike have changed the ermine for the shroud!\n O \u201csprung from earth\u2019s first blood,\u201d O tempest-nursed!\n For thee what Fates? I know not. This I know\n The Soul\u2019s great freedom-gift, of gifts the first\u2014\n Thou first on man in fulness didst bestow:\n Hunted elsewhere, God\u2019s Church with thee found rest:\u2014\n Thy future\u2019s Hope is she\u2014that queenly Guest.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES,\n\n1776-1876.\n\n\nThe social conditions of life which have been developed in the\nEuropean colonies of North America, though to a certain extent the\nresult of the physical surroundings of the early settlers, are chiefly\nthe freer growth of principles which had been active, for centuries,\nin the Christian nations of the Old World. The elements of society\nhere, unhindered by custom, law, or privilege, grouped themselves\nquickly and spontaneously into the forms to which they were tending in\nEurope also, but slowly and through conflict and struggle. The great\nand most significant fact, that it was found impossible in the New\nWorld to create privileged classes, clearly pointed in the direction\nin which European civilization was moving. Another fact not less\nnoteworthy is the failure of every attempt to establish religion in\nthis country.\n\nThough there is but little to please the fancy or fire the imagination\nin American character or institutions, it is nevertheless to this\ncountry that the eyes of the thoughtful and observant from every part\nof the world are turned. The Catholicity of Christian civilization has\ngeneralized political problems and social movements. Civilization,\nlike religion, has ceased to be national; and the bearing of a\npeople\u2019s life upon the welfare of the human race has come to be of\ngreater moment than its effect upon the national character. It is to\nthis that the universal interest which centres in the United States\nmust be attributed.\n\nWe are a commonplace and mediocre people; practical, without high\nideals, lofty aspirations, or excellent standards of worth and\ncharacter. In philosophy, in science, in literature, in art, in\nculture, we are inferior to the nations of Europe. No mind\ntranscendentally great has appeared among us; not one who is heir to\nall the ages and citizen of the world. Our ablest thinkers are merely\nthe disciples of some foreign master. Our most gifted poets belong to\nthe careful kind, who with effort and the file give polish and\nsmoothness, but not the _mens divinior_, to their verse; and who, when\nthey attempt a loftier flight, grow dull and monotonous as a\nWestern prairie or Rocky Mountain table-land. Our most popular\nheroes\u2014Washington and Lincoln\u2014are but common men, and the higher is he\nwho is least the product of our democratic institutions.\n\nOur commercial enterprise and mechanical achievements are worthy of\nadmiration, but not so far above those of other nations as to attract\nspecial attention.\n\nIf to-day, then, the American people draw the eyes of the whole world\nupon themselves, it is not because they have performed marvellous\ndeeds, opened up new realms of thought, or created higher types of\ncharacter, but because their social and political condition is that to\nwhich Europe, whether for good or evil, seems to be irresistibly\ntending. Beyond doubt, the tendency of modern civilization is to give\nto the people greater power and a larger sphere of action. Every\nattempt to arrest this movement but serves to make its force the more\nmanifest. This spirit of the age is seen in the general spread of\neducation, in the widening of the popular suffrage, in the separation\nof church and state, and in the dying out of aristocracies. We simply\nnote facts, without stopping to examine principles or to weigh\nconsequences. Those who resist a revolution are persuaded that it will\nwork nothing but evil, while those who help it on hope from it every\ngood; and the event most generally shows both to have been in error.\nOur present purpose does not lead us to speculate as to the manner in\nwhich the general welfare is to be affected by the great social\ntransformations by which the character of civilized nations is being\nso profoundly modified; but we will suppose that the reign of\naristocracies and of privilege is past, and that in the future the\npeople are to govern; and we ask, What will be the influence of the\nnew society upon the old faith?\n\nThe essential life of the Catholic Church is independent of her\nworldly condition; and though we are bound to believe that she is to\nremain amongst men until the end, we are yet not forbidden to hold\nthat at times she may to human eyes seem almost to have ceased to be;\nthat as in the past Christ was entombed, the _deletum nomen\nChristianum_ was proclaimed, in the future also the heavens may grow\ndark, God\u2019s countenance seemingly be withdrawn, and the voice of\ndespair cry out that all have bent the knee to Baal.\n\n\u201cBut yet the Son of Man, when he cometh, shall he find, think you,\nfaith on earth?\u201d We may hope, we may despond; let us, then,\ndispassionately consider the facts.\n\nFirst, we will put aside the assumption that it is possible to\norganize this modern society so as to crush the church by persecution\nor violence. In a social state, which can be strong only by being\njust, attempts of this kind, if successful, would inevitably lead to\nanarchy and chaos, out of which the church would again come forth with\nor before the civil order. We cannot, then, look forward to a\nprolonged and open conflict between the church and the civilized\ngovernments of the world without giving up all hope in the permanency\nand effectiveness of the social phase upon which we have entered. In\nthe end the European states, like the American, must be convinced\nthat, if they would live, they must also let live; since a _modus\nvivendi_ between church and state is absolutely essential to the\npermanence of society as now constituted.\n\nThe question, then, is narrowed to the free and peaceable life of the\nchurch in contact with the popular governments which are already\nconstituted or are struggling for existence; and it is in their\nbearing upon this all-important subject that the world-wide\nsignificance of the lessons to be learned from a careful study of the\nhistory of the Catholic Church in the United States becomes apparent.\nFor a hundred years this church has lived in the new society, and all\nthe circumstances of her position have been admirably suited to test\nher power to meet the difficulties offered by a democratic social\norganization. The problem to be solved was whether or not a vigorous\nbut yet orderly and obedient Catholic faith and life could flourish in\nthis country, where what are called the principles of modern\ncivilization have found their most complete expression.\n\nIf we would understand the history of our country, we must not lose\nsight of the religious character of the men by whom it was explored\nand colonized. Religious zeal led the Puritans to New England, the\nCatholics to Maryland, and the Quakers to Pennsylvania; and among the\nSpaniards and the French there were many who, like Columbus and\nChamplain, deemed the salvation of a soul of greater moment than the\nconquest of an empire. We might, indeed, without going beyond our\npresent subject, speak of the heroic and gentle lives of the apostolic\nmen who, from Maine to California, from Florida to the Northern Lakes,\ntoiled among the Indians, and not in vain, that they might win them\nfrom savage ways and lift them up to higher modes of life. The\nCatholics of the United States can never forget that the labors of\nthese men belong to the history of the church on this continent; that\nthe lives they offered up, the blood they shed, plead for us before\nGod; and that if their work is disappearing, it sinks into the grave\nonly with the dying race which they more than all others have loved\nand served. But in this age men are little inclined to dwell upon\nmemories, however glorious. We live in the present and in the future,\nand, in spite of much cheap sentiment and wordy philanthropy, we have\nbut weak sympathy with decaying races. We are interested in what is or\nis to be, not in what has been; and perhaps it is well that this is\nso. We have but feeble power to think or act or love, and it should\nnot be wasted. If Americans to-day are busy with thoughts of a hundred\nyears ago, it is not that they love those old times and their simple\nways, but that by contrast they may, in boastful self-complacency,\nglory in the present. They look back, not to regret the fast-receding\nshore, but to congratulate themselves that they have left it already\nso far behind. It is enough, then, to have alluded to the labors of\nthe Catholic missionaries among the North American Indians, since\nthose labors have had and can have but small influence upon the\nhistory of the church in the United States. To understand this history\nwe need only study that of the Europeans and their descendants on this\ncontinent.\n\nThe early colonists of the present territory of the United States were\nas unlike in their religious as in their national characters. English\nPuritans founded the colonies of New England; New York was settled by\nthe Dutch; Delaware and New Jersey by the Dutch and the Swedes;\nPennsylvania by Quakers from England, who were followed by a German\ncolony. Virginia was the home of the English who adhered to the\nEstablished Church of the mother country, and North Carolina became\nthe refuge of the Nonconformists from Virginia; in South Carolina a\nconsiderable number of Huguenots found an asylum; and in Maryland the\nfirst settlers were chiefly English Catholics. Nearly all these\ncolonies owed their foundation to the religious troubles of Europe.\nThe Puritans, the Catholics, and the Quakers were more eager to find a\nhome in which they could freely worship God than to amass wealth.\n\nThe religious spirit of New England, whose influence in this country,\nbefore and since the Revolution, has been preponderant, was as narrow\nand proscriptive as it was intense, and a gloomy fanaticism lay at the\nbasis of its entire political and social system. The Puritan colonies\nwere not so much bodies politic as churches in the wilderness. To the\ncommission appointed to draw up a body of laws to serve as a\ndeclaration of rights, Cotton Mather declared that God\u2019s people should\nbe governed by no other laws than those which He himself had given to\nMoses; and one of the first acts of the Massachusetts colony was the\nexpulsion of John and Samuel Browne with their followers, because they\nrefused to conform to the religious practices of the Pilgrims. If\ndissenting Protestants were not tolerated in New England, Catholics\ncertainly could not hope for mercy; and, in fact, they were denied\nreligious liberty even in Rhode Island, which had been founded by the\nvictims of Puritan persecution as a refuge for the oppressed and a\nprotest against fanaticism. Though Mr. Bancroft, whose partisan zeal,\nwhenever there is question of New England, is unmistakable, denies\nthat this unjust discrimination was the act of the people of Rhode\nIsland, it served, at any rate, so effectually to exclude Catholics\nthat when the war of independence broke out not one was to be found\nwithin the limits of the colony.\n\nPuritanism, more than any other form of Protestantism, drew its very\nlife from a hatred of all that is Catholic. The office and authority\nof bishops, the repetition of the Lord\u2019s Prayer, the sign of the\ncross, the chant of the psalms, the observance of saints\u2019 days, the\nuse of musical instruments in church, and the vestments worn by the\nministers of religion were all odious to the Puritans because they\nwere associated with Catholic worship; and in their eyes the chief\ncrime of the Church of England was that she still retained some of the\ndoctrines and usages of that of Rome. Religion and freedom, though\ntheir conception of both was partial and false, were the predominant\npassions of the Puritans; and since they looked upon the Catholic\nChurch as the fatal enemy alike of religion and of freedom, their\nfanaticism, not less than their enthusiastic love of independence,\nfilled them with the deepest hatred for Catholics. They had the\nvirtues and the vices of the lower and more ignorant classes of\nEnglishmen, from which for the most part they had sprung. If they were\nfrugal, content with little, ready to bear hardship and to suffer\nwant, not easily cast down, they were also narrow, superstitious,\nangular, and unlovely; and these characteristics were hardened by a\ncold, gloomy, and unsympathetic religious faith. The credulity which\nled them to hang witches made them ready to believe in the diabolism\nof priests; while the narrowness of their intellectual range rendered\nthem incapable of perceiving the grandeur and excellence of an\norganization which alone, in the history of the world, has become\nuniversal without becoming weak, and which, if it be considered as\nonly human, is still man\u2019s most wonderful work. With the \u00e6sthetic\nbeauty of the Catholic religion they could have no sympathy, since\nthey were deprived of the sense by which alone it can be appreciated.\nThough they fasted, appointed days of thanksgiving, and, through a\nfalse asceticism, changed the Lord\u2019s day into the Jewish Sabbath, the\nfasts and saints\u2019 days of Catholics were in their eyes the\nsuperstitions of idolaters; and while they assumed the right to\ndeclare what is true Christian doctrine and to enforce its acceptance,\nthey indignantly rejected the spiritual authority of the church,\nthough historically traceable to Christ\u2019s commission to the apostles.\n\nThe measures, therefore, which the colonies of New England took to\nprevent the establishment of the Catholic Church on their soil, were\nmerely the expression of the horror and dread of what they conceived\nits influence and tendency to be. In 1631, just eleven years after the\nlanding of the _Mayflower_, Sir Christopher Gardiner, on mere\nsuspicion of being a papist, was seized and sent out of the Colony of\nMassachusetts Bay, and in the same year the General Court wrote a\nletter denouncing the minister at Watertown for giving expression to\nthe opinion that the Church of Rome is a true church. Three years\nlater Roger Williams, whose tolerant temper has been an exhaustless\ntheme of praise, joined with the Puritans in declaring the cross a\n\u201crelic of Antichrist, a popish symbol savoring of superstition and not\nto be countenanced by Christian men\u201d; and, in proof of the sincerity\nof their zeal, these godly men cut the cross from out the English\nflag. Priests were forbidden, under pain of imprisonment and even\ndeath, to enter the colonies; and the neighboring Catholic settlements\nof Canada were regarded with sentiments of such bigoted hatred as to\nblind the Puritans to their own most evident political and commercial\ninterests. So unrelenting was their fanaticism that one of the\ngrievances which they most strongly urged against George III. was that\nhe tolerated popery in Canada. In the New England colonies, down to\n1776, the Catholic Church had no existence, and the same may be said\nof the other colonies, with the exception of Maryland and of a few\nfamilies scattered through parts of Pennsylvania. In Maryland itself,\nwhere the principles of religious liberty, which now form a part of\nthe organic law of the land, had been first proclaimed by the Catholic\ncolonists, the persecution of the church early became an important\nfeature in the colonial legislation. In successive enactments the\nCatholics were forbidden to teach school, to hold civil office, and to\nhave public worship; and were, moreover, taxed for the support of the\nEstablished Church. The religious character of Virginia, though less\nintense and earnest than that of New England, can hardly be said to\nhave been less anti-Catholic; and it is therefore not surprising that\nwe should find the cruel penal code of the mother country in full\nvigor in this colony.\n\nIt would have been difficult to find anywhere communities more\nthoroughly Protestant than the thirteen British colonies one hundred\nyears ago. The little body of Catholics in Maryland, in all about\n25,000, who, in spite of persecution, had retained their faith, had\nsunk into a kind of religious apathy; and as their public worship had\nlong been forbidden and they were not permitted to have schools, to\nindifference was added ignorance of the doctrines of the church. A few\npriests, once members of the suppressed Society of Jesus, lingered\namongst them, though they generally found it necessary to live upon\ntheir own lands or with their kindred, and with difficulty kept alive\nthe flickering flame of faith. Without religious energy, zeal, or\norganization, the Maryland Catholics were gradually being absorbed\ninto mere worldliness or into the more vigorous Protestant sects; and,\nin fact, many of the descendants of the original settlers had already\nlost the faith. In this way the character of the old Catholic colony\nhad been wholly changed; so that Maryland surpassed all the other\ncolonies in the odious proscriptiveness of her legislation, levying\nthe same tax for the introduction into her territory of a Catholic\nIrishman as for the importation of a Negro slave. The existence of the\nCatholic families there, and of the small and scattered settlements in\nPennsylvania, if recognized at all by the general public, was looked\nupon as an anomaly, an anachronism, which, from the nature of things,\nmust soon disappear. There is no exaggeration, then, in saying that\nthe Revolution found the British provinces of North America thoroughly\nProtestant, with a hatred of the church which nothing but the general\ncontempt for Catholics tended to mitigate; while the seeming failure\nof the Catholic settlement in Maryland, one hundred and fifty years\nafter the landing of Lord Baltimore, gave no promise of a brighter\nfuture for the faith.\n\nIn the presence of the impending conflict with England political\nquestions became supreme, and the Convention of 1774, in its appeal to\nthe country, entreated all classes of citizens to put away religious\ndisputes and animosities, which could only withhold them from uniting\nin the defence of their common rights and liberties. Though this\nappeal was probably meant to smooth the way for a more cordial union\nbetween New England and the Southern colonies, which were even then as\nunlike as Puritan and Cavalier, it was also an evidence of the public\nfeeling, showing that with the American people religious questions\nwere fast coming to be merely of secondary importance. At any rate it\nwas responded to cheerfully and generously by the Catholics, who,\nwithout stopping to think of the wrongs they had suffered, threw\nthemselves heartily into the contest for national independence. The\nsigner of the Declaration who risked most was a Catholic, and a\nCatholic priest was a member of the delegation sent to Canada to bring\nabout an alliance, or at least to secure the neutrality of that\nprovince.\n\nThe conduct of the Catholics in the war made, no doubt, a favorable\nimpression, and the very important aid given to the American cause by\nCatholic France had still further influence in softening the\nasperities of Protestant prejudice; but, unless we are mistaken, we\nmust seek elsewhere for the explanation of the clause of the federal\nConstitution which provides that \u201cno religious test shall ever be\nrequired as a qualification for any office or public trust under the\nUnited States\u201d; as well as of the First Amendment, to the effect that\n\u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or\nprohibiting the free exercise thereof.\u201d These provisions were merely a\npart of a general policy, which restricted as far as possible the\nfunctions of the federal government, and left to the several States as\nmuch of their separate sovereignty as was consistent with the\nexistence of the national Union.\n\nThis is evident from the fact that the federal Constitution placed no\nrestriction upon the legislation of the different States in matters of\nreligion, leaving them free to pursue the intolerant and persecuting\npolicy of the colonial era; and, indeed, laws for the support of\npublic worship lingered in Connecticut till 1816 and in Massachusetts\ntill 1833, and anti-Catholic religious tests were introduced into\nseveral of the State constitutions. In New York, as late as 1806, a\ntest-oath excluded Catholics from office; and in North Carolina, down\nto 1836, only those who were willing to swear to belief in the truth\nof Protestantism were permitted to hope for political preferment. New\nJersey erased the anti-Catholic clause from her constitution only in\n1844; and even to-day, unless we err, the written law of New Hampshire\nretains the test-oath.\n\nThe provision which denied to the general government all right of\ninterference in religious matters was a political necessity. Any\nattempt to introduce into Congress religious discussions would have\nnecessarily rent asunder the still feeble bands by which New England\nand the Southern States were held together. The reasons of policy\nwhich forbade the federal government to meddle with slavery applied\nwith ten-fold force to questions of religion.\n\nThe First Amendment to the Constitution, of which we Americans are so\nfond of boasting, cannot, then, be interpreted as the proclamation of\nthe principle of toleration or of the separation of church and state;\nit is merely the expression of the will of the confederating States to\nretain their pre-existing rights of control over religion, which,\nindeed, they could not have delegated to the general government\nwithout imperilling the very existence of the Union. Nearly all the\nleading statesmen of that day recognized the necessity of some kind of\nunion of church and state, and their views were embodied in the\ndifferent State constitutions.\n\nThe year before the first battle of the Revolution no less than\neighteen Baptists were confined in one jail in Massachusetts for\nrefusing to pay ministerial rates; and yet John Adams declared \u201cthat a\nchange in the solar system might be expected as soon as a change in\nthe ecclesiastical system of Massachusetts\u201d; and at a much later\nperiod Judge Story was able to affirm that \u201cit yet remained a problem\nto be solved in human affairs whether any free government can be\npermanent where the public worship of God and the support of religion\nconstitute no part of the policy or duty of the state.\u201d\n\nThere is no foundation, we think, for the opinion which we have\nsometimes heard expressed, that the First Amendment to the\nConstitution was intended as an act of tardy justice to the Catholics\nof the United States, in gratitude for their conduct during the war\nand for the aid of Catholic France. It in fact made no change in the\nposition of the Catholics, whom it left to the mercy of the different\nStates, precisely as they had been in the colonial era. Various causes\nwere, however, at work which, by modifying the attitude of the States\ntowards religion, tended also to give greater freedom to the Catholic\nChurch. The first of these was the rise of what may be called the\nsecular theory of government, whose great exponent, Thomas Jefferson,\nhad received his political opinions from the French philosophers of\nthe eighteenth century. The state, according to this theory, is a\npurely political organism, and is not in any way concerned with\nreligion; and this soon came to be the prevailing sentiment in the\nDemocratic party, whose acknowledged leader Jefferson was, which may\nexplain why the great mass of the Catholics in this country have\nalways voted with this party. Another cause that tended to bring about\na separation of church and state was the rapidly-increasing number of\nsects, which rendered religious legislation more and more difficult,\nespecially as several of these were opposed to any recognition of\nreligion by the civil power. And to this we may add the growing\nreligious indifference which caused large numbers of Americans to fall\naway from, or to be brought up outside of, all ecclesiastical\norganization. The desire, too, to encourage immigration\u2014which sprang\nfrom interested motives, and also from a feeling, very powerful in the\nUnited States half a century ago, that this country is the refuge of\nall who are oppressed by the European tyrannies\u2014predisposed Americans\nto look favorably upon the largest toleration of religious belief and\npractice. There is no question, then, but the Catholics of this\ncountry owe the freedom which they now enjoy to the operation of\ngeneral laws, the necessary results of given social conditions, and\nnot at all to the good-will or tolerant temper of American\nProtestants. Let us, however, be grateful for the boon, whencesoever\nderived. At the close of the war which secured our national\nindependence and created the republic the Catholic Church found\nherself, for all practical purposes, unfettered and free to enter upon\na field which to her, we may say, was new. At that time there were in\nthe whole country not more than forty thousand Catholics and\ntwenty-five priests. In all the land there was not a convent or a\nreligious community. There was not a Catholic school; there was no\nbishop; the sacraments of confirmation and of Holy Orders had never\nbeen administered. The church was without organization, having for\nseveral years had no intercourse with its immediate head, the\nvicar-apostolic of London; it was without property, with the exception\nof some land in Maryland, which, through a variety of contrivances,\nhad been saved from the rapacity of the colonial persecutors; and,\nsurrounded by a bigoted Protestant population, ignorant of all the\nCatholic glories of the past, it was also without honor. But faith and\nhope, which with liberty ought to make all things possible, had not\nfled, and soon the budding promise of the future harvest lifted its\ntimid head beneath the genial sun of a brighter heaven. The priests of\nMaryland and Pennsylvania addressed a letter to Pius VI., praying him\nto appoint a prefect-apostolic to preside over the church in the\nUnited States; and as the Holy See was already deliberating upon a\nstep of this kind, Father Carroll was made superior of the American\nclergy, with power to administer the sacrament of confirmation. This\nwas in 1784.\n\nThe priests, who at this time, for fear of wounding Protestant\nsusceptibilities, thought it inexpedient to ask for a bishop, were\nnow, after longer deliberation, persuaded that in this they had erred,\nand they therefore named a committee to present a petition to Rome,\npraying for the erection of an episcopal see in the United States. The\nHoly Father having signified his willingness to accede to this\nproposition, and it having been ascertained, too, that the government\nof this country would make no objection, they at once fixed upon\nBaltimore as the most suitable location for the new see, and presented\nthe name of Father Carroll as the most worthy to be its first\noccupant. The papal bulls were dated November 6, 1789, and upon their\nreception Father Carroll sailed for England, where he was consecrated\non the 15th of August, the Feast of the Assumption, 1790.\n\nEvents were just then taking place in France which were of great\nmoment to the young church on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.\nThe French Revolution was getting ready to guillotine priests and to\nturn churches into barracks; and M. Emery, the Superior-General of the\nOrder of Saint Sulpice, who was as far-seeing as he was fearless,\nentered into correspondence with Bishop Carroll, in England, with a\nview to open an ecclesiastical seminary in the United States. The\noffer was gladly accepted, and the year following (1791) M. Nagot\norganized the Theological Seminary of Baltimore, and in the same year\nthe first Catholic college in the United States was opened at\nGeorgetown, in the District of Columbia. In 1790 Father Charles Neale\nbrought from Antwerp a community of Carmelite nuns, who established\nthemselves near Port Tobacco, in Southern Maryland. This was the first\nconvent of religious women founded in the United States, the house of\nUrsuline nuns in New Orleans having come into existence while\nLouisiana was still a French colony. A few years later a number of\nreligious ladies adopted the rule of the Order of the Visitation and\norganized a convent in Georgetown; and in 1809 Mother Seton founded\nnear Emmittsburg, in Maryland, the first community of Sisters of\nCharity in this country, just one year after Father Dubois, the future\nBishop of New York, had opened Mt. St. Mary\u2019s College. In 1805 Bishop\nCarroll reorganized the Society of Jesus, and in 1806 the Dominicans\nfounded their first convent in the United States, at St. Rose, in\nKentucky. Two years later episcopal sees were established at New York,\nBoston, Philadelphia, and Bardstown, with an archiepiscopal centre at\nBaltimore.\n\nIn this way the church was preparing, as far as the slender means at\nher command would permit, to receive and care for the vast multitudes\nof Catholics who began to seek refuge in the United States from the\npersecutions and oppressions of the British and other European\ngovernments. But her resources were not equal to the urgency and\nmagnitude of the occasion, and her history, during the half-century\nimmediately following the close of the Revolutionary war, though full\nof examples of courage, zeal, and energy, shows her in the throes of a\nstruggle which, whether it were for life or death, seemed doubtful.\n\nLike an invading army, her children poured in a ceaseless stream into\nthe enemy\u2019s country, and, arrived upon the scene of action, they found\nthemselves without leaders, without provisions, without means of\ndefence or weapons of heavenly warfare. Far from their spiritual\nguides, in a strange land, without churches or schools, the very air\nof this new world seemed fatal to the faith of the early Catholic\nimmigrants; and when, yielding to the rigors of the climate or the\nhardships of frontier life, they died in great numbers, their orphan\nchildren fell into the hands of Protestants and were lost to the\nchurch. Their descendants to-day are scattered from Maine to Florida,\nfrom New York to California.\n\nBishop England, though inclined to exaggerate the losses of the church\nin this country, was certainly not mistaken in holding that during the\nperiod of which we speak, though there was an increase of\ncongregations, there was yet a great falling away of Catholics from\nthe faith in the United States.\n\nUnfortunately, the want of priests and churches cannot with truth be\nsaid to have been the greatest evil, especially in the early years of\nthe organization of the hierarchy. A spirit of insubordination existed\nboth in the clergy and the laity. \u201cEvery day,\u201d wrote Bishop Carroll,\n\u201cfurnishes me with new reflections, and almost every day produces new\nevents to alarm my conscience and excite fresh solicitude at the\nprospect before me. You cannot conceive the trouble which I suffer\nalready, and the still greater which I foresee from the medley of\nclerical characters, coming from different quarters and of various\neducations, and seeking employment here. I cannot avoid employing some\nof them, and soon they begin to create disturbances.\u201d There were\ntroubles and scandals in nearly all the larger cities, which in some\ninstances were fomented by the priests themselves. The trustee system\nwas a fruitful cause of disturbance, threatening at times to bring the\ngreatest evils upon the church; especially as there seemed to be\nreason to fear lest the dissensions between the clergy and the laity\nmight serve as a pretext for the intermeddling of the civil authority\nin ecclesiastical affairs. Except in the two or three colleges of\nwhich we have spoken, there was no Catholic education to be had; and\nfor a long time the few elementary schools which were opened were of a\nvery wretched kind. Indeed, we may say that it is only within the last\nquarter of a century that many of the bishops and priests of this\ncountry have come to realize the all-importance of Catholic education.\n\nAnother unavoidable evil was the mingling of various nationalities in\nthe same church, giving rise to jealousies, and frequently to\ndissensions; and to this we may add that the very people to whom above\nall others the church in this country is indebted for its progress met\nwith peculiar difficulties in the fulfilment of their God-given\nmission. This fact did not escape the keen eye of the first bishop of\nCharleston.\n\n \u201cEngland,\u201d he says, \u201chas unfortunately too well succeeded in\n linking contumely to their name [the Irish] in all her\n colonies; and though the United States have cast away the\n yoke under which she held them, many other causes have\n combined to continue against the Irish Catholic more or less\n to the present day the sneer of the supercilious, the\n contempt of the conceited, and the dull prosing of those who\n imagine themselves wise. That which more than a century of\n fashion has made habitual is not to be overcome in a year;\n and to any Irish Catholic who has dwelt in this country\n during one-fourth of the period of my sojourn it will be\n painfully evident that, although the evil is slowly\n diminishing, its influence is not confined to the American\n nor to the anti-Catholic. When a race is once degraded,\n however unjustly, it is a weakness of our nature that,\n however we may be identified with them upon some points, we\n are desirous of showing that the similitude is not complete.\n You may be an Irishman, but not a Catholic: you may be\n Catholics, but not Irish. It is clear you are not an Irish\n Catholic in either case! But when the great majority of\n Catholics in the United States were either Irish or of Irish\n descent, the force of the prejudice against the Irish\n Catholic bore against the Catholic religion, and the\n influence of this prejudice has been far more mischievous\n than is generally believed.\u201d[125]\n\nWe must not omit to add that many of the early missionaries spoke\nEnglish very imperfectly and were but little acquainted with the\nhabits and customs of the people among whom they were called to labor;\nwhile the five or six bishops of the country, separated by great\ndistances from their priests, rarely saw them, and consequently were\nin a great measure unable to control or direct them in the exercise of\nthe sacred ministry. The French missionaries, who in their own country\nhad seen the most frightful crimes committed in the name of liberty\nand of republicanism, found it difficult to sympathize heartily with\nour democratic institutions; and from Ireland very few priests came,\nbecause the French Revolution had broken up the Continental Irish\nseminaries from which she drew her own supplies.\n\nThe purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803 added little or nothing\nto the strength of the church in the United States, since, owing to\nthe wretched French ecclesiastical colonial policy, which did not\npermit the appointment of bishops, the Catholic population of that\nprovince, a large portion of whom were negro slaves, had been almost\nwholly neglected. What the state of the church was in Florida at the\ntime of its cession to the United States may be inferred from the fact\nthat in the whole province there was but one efficient priest, who at\nonce withdrew to Cuba, and afterwards to Ireland, his native country.\nIn the early years of the present century Protestant feeling in this\ncountry was much more earnest and self-confident than at present\u2014in\nthe simple days of camp-meetings and jerking revivals and childlike\nfaith in the pope as Antichrist, and in priests and nuns as Satan\u2019s\nchosen agents; when the preachers had the whole world of anti-popery\ncommonplace wherein to disport themselves without fear of\ncontradiction. The universal feeling of pity for those who doubted the\nsupreme wisdom of our political institutions was bestowed with not\nless boundless liberality upon all who failed to perceive that\nAmerican Protestantism was the fine essence and final outcome of all\nthat is best and purest in religion. Catholic opinion, on the other\nhand, was feeble, unorganized, and thrown back upon itself by the\noverwhelming force of a public sentiment strong, fresh, and defiant.\nWe were, moreover, still under the ban of English literature that for\nthree hundred years had been busy travestying the history and\ndoctrines of the church, to defend which was made a crime. There were\nbut few Catholic books, and those to be had generally failed to catch\nthe phases of religious thought through which American Protestants\nwere passing. It was more than thirty years after the erection of the\nsee of Baltimore that the Charleston _Miscellany_, which Archbishop\nHughes called the first really Catholic newspaper ever published in\nthis country, was founded; and fifty years after the consecration of\nBishop Carroll there were but six Catholic journals in the United\nStates.\n\nMuch else might be said in illustration of the difficulties with which\nthe church has had to contend, and of the obstacles which she has had\nto overcome, in order to win the position which she now occupies in\nthe great American republic. Enough, however, has been said to show\nthat it would be difficult to imagine surroundings which, while\nallowing her freedom of action, would be better suited to test her\nstrength and vitality.\n\nThe 15th of next August eighty-six years will have passed since the\nconsecration of Bishop Carroll, and to this period the organized\nefforts of the church to secure a position in this country are\nconfined. The work then begun has not for a moment been intermitted.\nIn the midst of losses, defeats, persecutions, anxieties, doubts,\nrevilings, calumnies, the struggle has been still carried on. Each\nyear with its sorrows brought also its joys. The progress, if at times\nimperceptible, was yet real. When in the early synods and councils of\nBaltimore were gathered the strong and true-hearted bishops and\npriests who have now gone to their rest, there was doubtless more of\nsadness than of exultation in their words as they spoke of their\nscattered and poorly-provided flocks, of the want of priests, of\nchurches, of schools, of asylums, of the hardships of missionary life,\nand of labors that seemed in vain. Still, they sowed in faith, knowing\nthat God it is who gives the increase. Like weary travellers who seem\nto make no headway, by looking back they saw how much they had\nadvanced. New churches were built, new congregations were formed, new\ndioceses were organized. On some mountain-side or in deep wooded vale\na cloister, a convent, a college, a seminary arose, one hardly knew\nhow, and yet another and another, until these retreats of learning and\nvirtue dotted the land. The elements of discord and disturbance within\nthe church grew less and less active, the relations between priest and\npeople became more intimate and cordial, the tone of Catholic feeling\nimproved, ecclesiastical discipline was strengthened, and the\nself-respect of the Catholic body increased.\n\nThe danger, which at one time may have seemed imminent, of the\nestrangement of the laity from the clergy, disappeared little by\nlittle, and to-day in no country in the world are priest and people\nmore strongly united than here. With the more thorough organization of\ndioceses and congregations parochial schools became practicable, and\nthe great progress made in Catholic elementary education is one of the\nmost significant and reassuring facts connected with the history of\nthe church in the United States. The number of pupils in our parochial\nschools was, in 1873, 380,000, and to-day it is probably not much\nshort of half a million, which, however, is even less than half of the\nCatholic school population of the entire country. But the work of\nbuilding schools is still progressing, and the conviction of the\nindispensable necessity of religious education is growing with both\npriests and people; so that we may confidently hope that the time is\nnot very remote when in this country Catholic children will be brought\nup only in Catholic schools. By establishing protectories, industrial\nschools, and asylums we are growing year after year better able to\nprovide for our orphan children.\n\nThe want of priests, which has hitherto been one of the chief\nobstacles to the progress of the church, is now felt only in\nexceptional cases or in new or thinly-settled dioceses. A hundred\nyears ago there were not more than twenty-five priests in the United\nStates; in 1800 there were supposed to be forty; in 1830 the number\nhad risen to two hundred and thirty-two, and in 1848 to eight hundred\nand ninety. In ten years, from 1862 to 1872, the number of priests was\nmore than doubled, having grown from two thousand three hundred and\nseventeen to four thousand eight hundred and nine. The lack of\nvocations to the priesthood among native Americans was formerly a\nsubject of anxiety and also of frequent discussion among Catholics in\nthis country; but now it is generally admitted, we think, that if\nproper care is taken in the education and training of our youths, a\nsufficient number of them will be found willing to devote themselves\nto the holy ministry.\n\nIn 1875 there were, according to the official statistics of the\nvarious dioceses, five thousand and seventy-four priests, twelve\nhundred and seventy-three ecclesiastical students, and six thousand\nfive hundred and twenty-eight churches and chapels in the United\nStates. There were also, at the same time, thirty-three theological\nseminaries, sixty-three colleges, five hundred and fifty-seven\nacademies and select schools, sixteen hundred and forty-five parochial\nschools, two hundred and fourteen asylums, and ninety-six hospitals\nunder the authority and control of the Catholic hierarchy of this\ncountry.\n\nOne hundred years ago there was not a Catholic ecclesiastical student,\nor theological seminary, or college, or academy, or parochial school,\nor asylum, or hospital from Maine to Georgia.\n\nFather Badin, the first person who ever received Holy Orders in the\nUnited States, was ordained in the old cathedral of Baltimore on the\n25th of May, 1793, just eighty-three years ago. It is now eighty-six\nyears since Bishop Carroll was consecrated, and down to 1808 he\nremained the only Catholic bishop in the American Church, whose\nhierarchy is composed at present of one cardinal, ten archbishops,\nforty-six bishops, and eight vicars-apostolic.\n\nIn 1790 there was not a convent in the United States; in 1800 there\nwere but two; to-day there are more than three hundred and fifty for\nwomen, and there are probably one hundred and thirty for men.\n\nWe may be permitted to refer also to the increase of the wealth of the\nchurch in this country, especially since this seems to be the cause of\ngreat uneasiness to the faithful and unselfish representatives of the\nsovereign people. The value of the property owned by the church in\nthis country, as given in the census reports, was, in 1850,\n$9,256,758; in 1860, $26,774,119; and in 1870, $60,985,565. The ratio\nof increase from 1850 to 1860 was 189 per cent., and from 1860 to 1870\n128 per cent.; while the aggregate wealth of the whole country during\nthese same periods increased in the former decade only 125 per cent.\nand in the latter only 86 per cent. In 1850 the value of the church\nproperty of the Baptists, the Episcopalians, the Methodists, and the\nPresbyterians was greater than that of the Catholics, but in 1870 we\nhad taken the second rank in point of wealth, and to-day we think\nthere is no doubt but that we hold the first.\n\n\u201cWhatever causes,\u201d says Mr. Abbott, in his recent article on _The\nCatholic Peril in America_, \u201cmay have contributed to this significant\nresult, it is certain that among the chief of them must be reckoned\nexemption from just taxation, extraordinary shrewdness of financial\nmanagement, and fraudulent collusion with dishonest politicians.\u201d\n\nThose who know more of the history of the church in this country than\ncan be learned from statistical reports, or articles in reviews, or\ncyclop\u00e6dias are aware that there are no possessions in the United\nStates more honestly acquired, or bought with money more hardly\nearned, than those of the Catholic Church; and that her present\nwealth, instead of being due to special financial shrewdness, has in\nmany instances been got in spite of great and frequent financial\nblundering; while the bishops and priests of America, with here and\nthere an exception, have neither had nor sought to have any political\ninfluence, nor would they, if disposed to meddle with partisan\npolitics, meet with any encouragement from the Catholic people. Their\nposition with regard to the question of education is the result of\npurely conscientious and religious motives; and while claiming for\nCatholics the right to give to their children the benefit of religious\ntraining, they have everywhere and repeatedly given the most\nconvincing proofs of their sincere desire to concede to all others the\nfullest liberty in this as in other matters; and though they cannot\napprove of that feature in the common-school system which excludes all\nteaching of doctrinal religion, they have never thought of pretending\nthat those to whom it does commend itself should not be permitted to\ntry the experiment of a purely secular education, provided they\nrespect in others the freedom of conscience which is now a part of the\norganic law of the land.\n\nWith very few exceptions, Catholics have, throughout the whole\ncountry, been rigidly excluded from all the higher political offices;\nthough now, unfortunately, this can hardly be considered a grievance,\nsince the general corruption and unworthiness of public life have\ncaused the more respectable class of American citizens to shrink from\nthe coarseness and vulgarity of our partisan contests. On the other\nhand, those nominal Catholics who acquire influence in what are called\n\u201cward politics\u201d are generally very much like other politicians, eager\nto serve God and the country whenever it puts money in their purse.\nWhat political reasons may have determined the great body of Catholic\nvoters in this country to prefer the Democratic to the Whig, and later\nto the Republican, party, we know not; but we are very sure that\nnothing could be more unfounded than to imagine that the welfare or\nprogress of the church can in any way be connected with the success of\nDemocratic partisanism. As a religious body we have nothing to hope\nfrom either or any party. We ask nothing but the liberty which with us\nis considered the inalienable heritage of all Christian believers; and\nfor the rest, we know that a politician doing a good deed is more to\nbe shunned than an enemy plotting evil.\n\nThe property of the Catholic Church in the United States has not been\nexempted from taxation, except under general laws which applied\nequally to that of all other religious denominations; and though we\ncan imagine nothing more barbarous, more hurtful to the progress of\nthe national architecture and to the general \u00e6sthetic culture of the\npeople, than a change in the policy which has hitherto prevailed, not\nin this country alone, but in all the civilized states of the world;\nnevertheless, if those who hold that religion has no social value\nsucceed in revolutionizing legislation on this subject, the Catholics\nwill not be less prepared than their neighbors to abide the issue.\n\nA more interesting study than the wealth of the church is the growth\nof the Catholic population in the United States, though, in the\nabsence of reliable or complete statistics on this subject, we are not\nable to give an entirely satisfactory or exact statement of the facts.\nThe \u201cnumber of sittings,\u201d to use the phrase of the official reports,\ngiven in the United States Census, is of scarcely any assistance in\ndetermining the religious statistics of the country. The number of\nProtestant church sittings, for instance, was in 1870 19,674,548,\nwhereas the membership of all the Protestant sects of the country was\nonly about 7,000,000; and it is well known that, while in most\nProtestant churches many seats are usually unoccupied during religious\nservice, in the Catholic churches the same seat is frequently filled\nby three, or four, or even five different persons, who take it in\nsuccession at the various Masses.\n\nNinety-one years ago Father Carroll set down the Catholic population\nof the United States at twenty-five thousand, and he may have fallen\nshort of the real number by about ten thousand. In 1808, when\nepiscopal sees were placed at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and\nBardstown, the Catholic population had increased to about one hundred\nand fifty thousand. In 1832 Bishop England estimated the Catholics of\nthe United States at half a million; but in 1836, after having given\nthe subject greater attention, he thought there could not be less than\na million and a quarter. Both these estimates, however, were mere\nsurmises; for Bishop England, who always exaggerated the losses of the\nchurch in this country, not finding it possible to get the data for a\nwell-founded opinion as to the Catholic population, was left to\nconjecture or to arguments based upon premises which, to say the\nleast, were themselves unproven. The editors of the _Metropolitan\nCatholic Almanac_ for 1848, basing their calculations upon the very\nsatisfactory returns which they had received from the thirty dioceses\nthen existing in the United States, set down our Catholic population\nat 1,190,700, and this is probably the nearest approach which we can\nmake to the number of Catholics in this country at the time the great\nIrish famine gave a new impulse to emigration to America. From 1848\ndown to the present day the increase of the Catholic population has\nbeen very rapid, it having risen in a period of twenty-eight years\nfrom a little over a million to nearly seven millions. The third\nrevised edition of Schem\u2019s _Statistics of the World for 1875_ gives\n6,000,000 as the Catholic population of the United States, and the\n_American Annual Cyclop\u00e6dia_ for 1875 reckons it as more than\n6,000,000; and from a careful consideration of the data, which,\nhowever, are still imperfect, we think it is at present probably not\nless than 7,000,000. This remarkable growth of the church here during\nthe last thirty years must be attributed to various causes, by far the\nmost important of which is beyond all doubt the vast immigration from\nIreland; to which, indeed, we must also chiefly ascribe the progress\nof the church during this century in all other countries throughout\nthe world in which the English language is spoken. No other people\ncould have done for the Catholic faith in the United States what the\nIrish people have done. Their unalterable attachment to their priests,\ntheir deep Catholic instincts, which no combination of circumstances\nhas ever been able to bring into conflict with their love of country;\nthe unworldly and spiritual temper of the national character; their\nindifference to ridicule and contempt; and their unfailing\ngenerosity\u2014all fitted them for the work which was to be done here, and\nenabled them, in spite of the strong prejudices against their race\nwhich Americans had inherited from England, to accomplish what would\nnot have been accomplished by Italian, French, or German Catholics.\nAnother cause of the more rapid growth of the church during the last\nquarter of a century may be found in the more thorough organization of\ndioceses, congregations, and schools, by which we are better able to\nshield our people from unhealthy influences, and thus year after year\nto diminish our losses; while the increasing number of converts to the\nfaith helps to swell the Catholic ranks. Of 22,209 persons who were\nconfirmed in the diocese of Baltimore from 1864 to 1868, 2,752, or\nmore than 12 per cent., were converts; and our converts are generally\nfrom the more intelligent classes of Americans. The efforts to arrest\nthe progress of the church, which now for nearly half a century have\nassumed a kind of periodicity, may be placed among the causes which\nhave added to her strength. These attempts are made in open violation\nof the religious and political principles which are the special boast\nof all Americans, and the only arguments which can be adduced to\njustify them are drawn from fear or hatred. Whenever we have been made\nthe victims of lawlessness or fraud, as in the burning of the\nCharlestown convent and the churches of Philadelphia, or in the\nspreading \u201cAwful Disclosures\u201d throughout the land, the sympathies of\ngenerous and honest men have been attracted to us. And when Protestant\nbigotry has made an alliance with a political party in order to\ncompass our ruin, it has merely succeeded in forcing the opposing\nparty to take up throughout the whole country the defence of the\nCatholics. Thus during the brief day of the \u201cKnow-nothing\u201d conspiracy\nlarge numbers of Protestants, for the first time since the\nReformation, were led to examine into the history of the church, with\na view to defend her against the traditional objections of\nProtestantism itself. In fact, in a country which looks with equally\ntolerant complacency upon every form of belief or unbelief from\nAtheism to Voudooism, from the Joss-House of the Chinaman to the\nMormon Tabernacle and breeding caravansary of free-love, to imagine\nthat there can be either decent or reasonable motives for exciting to\npersecution of the Catholic Church is sheer madness; nor can we think\nit less absurd to suppose that the good sense and justice of the\nAmerican people will allow them to commit themselves to a policy as\ninconsistent as it would be outrageous.\n\nHowever this may be, there can be no doubt but the repeated and\nunprovoked attacks made upon the Catholics of the United States by\nfanatics and demagogues have helped to increase their union and\nearnestness; and this leads us away from the growth of the church in\nher external organization to the consideration of the development of\nher spiritual and intellectual life. And here we are at once struck by\nthe similarity between her progress and that of the country itself,\nwhich has been diffusive at the expense of concentration and\nthoroughness. Nevertheless, no attentive observer can fail to be\nstruck by the intense and earnest religious spirit by which the great\nbody of the Catholics of the United States are animated, as well as\nthe readiness with which they co-operate with their priests in\npromoting the interests of religion. Nowhere do we find greater\neagerness for instruction in the truths of the faith, or greater\nwillingness to make sacrifices in order to give to the young a\nreligious education, than among the Catholics of this country. Our\npriests are, as a body, laborious, self-sacrificing, and\ndisinterested, and are honestly struggling to make themselves worthy\nof the great mission which God has given them in America.\n\nOur position in this country hitherto has turned the thoughts of our\nbest minds to polemical and controversial writing, which, though\nuseful and even necessary, has only a temporary value, since it is\naddressed primarily to objections and phases of belief which owe their\nspecial significance to transitory conditions of society and opinion.\nControversies between Catholics and Protestants which forty years ago\nattracted general attention and produced considerable impression,\nwould now pass unnoticed; for the simple reason that Americans, in the\nconfusion of sects and religious opinions, have come to realize that\nProtestantism has no doctrinal basis, and is left to trust exclusively\nto religious sentiment. Dogmatic Protestantism is of the past, and the\nmost popular preachers are those who appeal most skilfully to the\nreligious instincts without requiring the acceptance of any religious\nbeliefs. Most of our best writers have been men whose arduous labors\nleft them but little time for study or literary composition, and their\nworks frequently bear the marks of hasty performance; but they will\nnevertheless not suffer from comparison with the religious writings of\nAmerican Protestants. The ablest man who has devoted himself to the\ndiscussion of religion and philosophy, or probably any other subject,\nin the United States during the last hundred years is Dr. Brownson,\nall of whose best thoughts have been given to the elucidation of\nCatholic truth; and though there was something wanting to make him\neither a great philosopher or a great theologian, or even a perfect\nmaster of style, we know of no other American of whom this may not\nalso be justly said; unless, perhaps, we may consider Prescott,\nHawthorne, or Irving worthy of the last of these titles. And though we\nCatholics have no man who is able to take up the pen which has just\nfallen from the hand of Dr. Brownson, none who have the power which\nonce belonged to England and Hughes, we are in this not more\nunfortunate than our country, which no longer finds men like Adams or\nJefferson to represent not unworthily its supreme dignity; nor any\nlike Webster, Clay, or Calhoun, whose minds were as lofty as their\nhonor was pure, to lend the authority of wisdom and eloquence to the\ndeliberations of a great people.\n\nDuring the hundred years of our independent life the external\ndevelopment of the church, like that of the nation, has been so rapid\nthat all individual energies have to a greater or less degree been\ndrawn to help on this growth. Another century, bringing other\ncircumstances, with them will bring the opportunity and the duty of\nother work. A more thorough organization must be given to our\neducational system; Catholic universities mast be created which in\ntime will grow to be intellectual centres in which the best minds of\nthe church in this country may receive the culture and training that\nwill enable them to work in harmony for the furtherance of Catholic\nends; a more vigorous and independent press, one not weakened by want\nor depraved by human respect or regard for persons, must be brought\ninto existence. We must prepare ourselves to enter more fully into the\npublic life of the country; to throw the light of Catholic thought\nupon each new phase of opinion or belief as it rises; to grapple more\neffectively with the great moral evils which threaten at once the life\nof the nation and of the church. All this and much else we have to do,\nif our God-given mission is to be fulfilled.\n\nAnd now we will crave the indulgence of our readers while we conclude\nwith a brief reference to what we conceive to be the office which the\nCatholic Church is destined to fulfil in behalf of the American state\nand civilization.\n\nDe Tocqueville, in his thoughtful and singularly judicious treatise on\nAmerican institutions, makes the following very just remarks:\n\n \u201cI think the Catholic religion has been falsely looked upon\n as the enemy of democracy. On the contrary, Catholicism,\n among the various sects of Christians, seems to me to be one\n of the most favorable to the equality of social conditions.\n The religious community in the Catholic Church is composed\n of but two elements\u2014the priest and the people. The priest\n alone is lifted above his flock, and all below him are\n equals. In matters of doctrine the Catholic faith places all\n human capacities upon the same level; it subjects the wise\n and the ignorant, the man of genius and the vulgar crowd, to\n the details of the same creed; it imposes the same\n observances upon the rich and the poor; it inflicts the same\n austerities upon the powerful and the weak; it enters into\n no compromise with mortal man, but reducing the whole human\n race to the same standard, it confounds all the distinctions\n of society at the foot of the same altar, even as they are\n confounded in the sight of God. If Catholicism predisposes\n the faithful to obedience, it certainly does not prepare\n them for inequality; but the contrary may be said of\n Protestantism, which generally tends to make men independent\n more than to render them equal.\u2026 But no sooner is the\n priesthood entirely separated from the government, as is the\n case in the United States, than it is found that no class of\n men are naturally more disposed than the Catholics to\n transfuse the doctrine of the equality of conditions into\n political institutions\u201d[126]\n\nThe generous sentiments which two centuries and a half ago led the\nCatholics of Maryland to become the pioneers of religious liberty in\nthe New World, are still warm in the hearts of the Catholic people of\nthe United States. We have even here been the victims of persecution,\nand it is not impossible that similar trials may await us in the\nfuture; but we have the most profound conviction that, even though we\nshould grow to be nine-tenths of the population of this country, we\nshall never prove false to the principle of religious liberty, which,\nto the Catholics of the United States, at least, is sacred and\ninviolable. For our own part, we should turn with unutterable loathing\nfrom the man who could think that any other course could ever be\neither just or honorable.\n\nThe Catholics of this republic are deeply impressed with the\ninviolability of the rights of the individual. We believe that the man\nis more than the citizen; that when the state tramples upon the\nGod-given liberty of the most wretched beggar, the consciences of all\nare violated; that it is its duty to govern as little as possible, and\nrather to suffer a greater good to go undone than to do even a slight\nwrong in order to accomplish it. For this reason we believe that when\nthe state assumed the right to control education, it took the first\nstep away from the true American and Christian theory of government\nback towards the old pagan doctrine of state-absolutism. Though we\nuphold the rights of the individual, we are not the less strong in our\nadvocacy of the claims of authority. In fact, the almost unbounded\nindividual liberty which our American social and political order\nallows would fatally lead to anarchy, if not checked by some great and\nsacred authority; and this safeguard can be found only in the Catholic\nChurch, which is the greatest school of respect the world has ever\nseen. The church, by her power to inspire faith, reverence, and\nobedience, will introduce into our national life and character\nelements of refinement and culture which will temper the harshness and\nrecklessness of our republican manners. By her conservative and\nunitive force she will weld into stronger union the heterogeneous\npopulations and widely-separated parts of our vast country. The\nCatholics were the only religious body in the United States not torn\nasunder by sectional strife during our civil war, and we are persuaded\nthat, as our numbers grow and our influence increases, we are destined\nto become more and more the strong bond to hold in indissoluble union\nthe great American family of States. The divisions and dissensions of\nProtestantism have a tendency to prepare the public mind to\ncontemplate without alarm or indignation like divisions and\ndissensions in the state; and all who love the country and desire that\nit remain one and united for ages must look with pleasure upon the\ngrowth of a religion which, while maintaining the unity of its own\nworld-wide kingdom, inspires those who are guided by its teachings\nwith a horror of political dissensions and divisions.\n\n\n [125] Bishop England\u2019s works, vol. iii. p. 233.\n\n [126] _Democracy in America_, vol. i. p. 305.\n\n\n\n\nA FRENCHMAN\u2019S VIEW OF IT.[127]\n\n\nM. Claudio Jannet has recently sent forth from the little town of Aix,\nin Provence, a work on the United States of the present day which may\nbe both interesting and profitable to American readers. It does not\nappear that M. Jannet has visited the country whose moral, social, and\npolitical condition he sets himself to describe. His information has\nbeen gathered from books, pamphlets, and periodicals; his conclusions\nare the result of deliberation rather than the hasty observations of a\ntourist, and they are all the more valuable because they are not\ndistorted by the usual blunders and prejudices which obstruct the\nvision of the average Frenchman in America. The European traveller,\nparticularly the French traveller, finds many things in our country to\nshock his prejudices and offend his tastes. The discomforts of the\njourney, the harshness of the climate, the extravagance of living, the\nimperfections of our domestic economy, the general crudeness of our\nnew and incomplete civilization, the press and hurry of business, the\nlack of \u00e6sthetic culture, the vulgarity of popular amusements\u2014all\nthese things put him out of the humor to be just. He dislikes the\nsurface aspects of American life, and, with the best disposition in\nthe world, he commonly fails to see what lies underneath. He fills his\nnote-book with dyspeptic comments, and when he goes home he writes a\nvolume of blunders, and all the Americans who read it laugh at it.\nTake, however, a conscientious Frenchman of sober and reflective turn\nof mind, shut him up in his own study, supply him with an abundance of\nthe right kind of American books and newspapers, let him ponder over\nhis subject at leisure in the midst of his accustomed comforts, and\nthe chances are that he will write a very good essay on the condition\nof this country, and tell a great many wholesome truths which we\nourselves hardly suspect.\n\nM. Jannet\u2019s book has been evolved in this way. His industry in the\ncollection of materials seems to have been remarkable; and if his\njudgment has not always kept pace with it, the instances in which he\nhas been misled are fewer than we should have expected. For most of\nhis mistakes he can show the excuse of an American authority. It does\nnot become us, therefore, to find too much fault with him. We are\nrather disposed to overlook errors in the statement of particular\nfacts, and consider the really valuable and novel points in his essay,\nwith the moral which he wishes us to draw from it. We shall find in\nwhat he says abundant food for reflection, even when we believe him to\nbe wrong.\n\nHe sets out with an attempt to show that the spirit of revolution has\nbeen waging incessant war for nearly a hundred years upon \u201cthe work of\nWashington,\u201d and that the Constitution, as it was devised by the wise\nand conservative party represented by our first President, has been\nalmost torn to shreds, and is destined to destruction by the\naggressions of radicalism. M. Jannet\u2019s references to \u201cthe school of\nWashington\u201d seem rather odd to an American reader. We doubt whether\nthere ever was a distinct political school to which that name could be\nproperly applied; and it is not at all clear that there have been two\nwell-defined and antagonistic political principles in conflict since\nthe very foundation of the government, as Ormuzd and Ahriman, the\nspirit of good and the spirit of evil, waged perpetual warfare, in the\nZoroastrian system, for the dominion of the world. The philosophical\nhistorian is fond of tracing in the revolutions of states and the\ndevelopment of political theories the steady growth of some fixed\nprinciple of action. But it is a specious philosophy which takes no\naccount of accidents. M. Jannet has made the mistake of going too\ndeep, and overlooking what lies right on the surface. He sees the\nspirit of radicalism, fostered by the influx of communistic and\ninfidel immigrants from Europe, attacking the conservative safeguards\noriginally established in our federal and State constitutions,\nassailing the rights of the States, extending the suffrage, sweeping\nthe country into the vortex of uncontrolled democracy. \u201cPopular\nsovereignty\u201d is the watchword of this radical movement. \u201cThe doctrine\nof popular sovereignty,\u201d says M. Jannet, \u201cis based upon the idea that\nman is independent, and that consequently there can be no authority\nover him except with his own consent. This principle established,\nthere can no longer be any question of limiting the suffrage by\nconditions of capacity, of fitness, or of the representation of\ninterests, since sovereignty is an attribute of the voter in his\nquality as a man. The exclusion of women and minors from the polls is\nonly an abuse, a relic of old prejudices. Thus the most advanced party\nalready places female suffrage at the head of its programme, and\nperhaps it will some day be established in the United States. The\npeople, being sovereign by nature, cannot be checked in its will by\nany custom, any tradition, any respect for acquired rights. Whatever\nit wills is just and reasonable by the mere fact that it so wills.\nThere can be no permanent constitution for the country; the\nconstitution can be only what the people wills, or is thought to will,\n_for the time being_.\u201d About the year 1850, according to our author,\nthe heresy of \u201cpopular sovereignty,\u201d otherwise the religion of\nrevolution, obtained full headway, and the radical party, making\nskilful use of the anti-slavery sentiment which had hitherto been\ncultivated only by a small band of eccentric philanthropists, captured\nthe masses of well-meaning, unreflecting voters. Liberty and\nemancipation were their watchwords; but their real purpose was only\nthe supremacy of the mob. Slavery was the abuse which they pretended\nto attack, but they only feigned a horror for it in order to win over\nthe small but zealous party of sincere abolitionists; their actual\nobject was to abolish the federal Union with its limited powers, and\nset up a unitary democracy based upon the despotism of universal\nsuffrage. \u201cFrom the day when this party came into power by the\nelection of Lincoln,\u201d says M. Jannet, \u201cnothing remained for the South\nbut to take up arms to protect its rights against the projects already\ndisclosed.\u201d And he adds that the radical movement towards pure\ndemocracy \u201calone can explain the unheard-of ferocity with which the\nNorthern armies fought, and the odious persecution which followed\ntheir triumph, and which still lasts, ten years afterwards.\u201d\n\nThus the anti-slavery agitation was only an incident\u2014and, indeed, M.\nJannet seems not to regard it as a very important one\u2014in the long,\nuninterrupted, deplorable decline of America from a moderately\nconservative federal republic to the despotism of an ignorant,\ncentralized democracy. It can hardly be necessary to point out to\nAmerican readers the serious mistake in M. Jannet\u2019s theory. It is\nuseless to look beyond slavery for an explanation of the changes\nwrought within the past fifteen years in the character of the American\ngovernment. Mr. Seward was right when he declared that there was an\nirrepressible conflict between slavery and freedom. It had been\ngathering force for years when it broke into war in 1861; it had been\nthe original cause of nearly all the encroachments upon the rights of\nthe States which preceded the Rebellion, and it had made the very\nwords \u201cState rights\u201d odious to a vast majority of the Northern people.\nThe plain truth is that the only State right which the conservative\nand aristocratic party cared about maintaining was the right to hold\nhuman beings in bondage, and buy and sell them like cattle. They chose\nto identify a political theory with a hateful social institution, and\nit was only natural that, when the end came, theory and institution\nshould go down together. The evil influence of slavery, however, has\nsurvived the extinction of slavery itself. We must not forget that the\nactive men of 1876 were boys in the exciting period just before the\nwar, and their political creed took shape at a time when the doctrine\nof State rights was the defence of the slave-driver and the\nsecessionist, and the federal power was the safeguard of freedom and\nunion. The ideas impressed upon them during the years of conflict have\nremained during the years of peace, and have affected in a most\nserious manner the fortunes of the country during the period of\nreconstruction. For four years, so crowded with great historical\nchanges that they may be counted as equivalent to nearly a whole\ngeneration of uneventful peace, the nation was taught by the necessity\nof war to believe that the reserved rights of the States must yield to\nthe paramount necessity of preserving the Union, and ultimately of\ndestroying slavery for the sake of union. It would be unfair to say\nthat the letter of the Constitution fell into contempt, but there was\na general agreement that constitutions, to be worth anything, must be\nelastic instruments, stretched to cover unforeseen emergencies.\nNaturally, when the war was over we did not return at once to the old\nideas. In the provisions for saving the fruits of the contest,\nguarding against fresh attempts at disunion, and protecting the\nemancipated race in its newly-acquired liberties, the despotic and\nabsolute spirit of the war still prevailed. The federal government\nwhich had put down the rebellion was called upon to secure its\nvictory. So for the next ten years we saw a constant assumption at\nWashington of powers which no Congress or President would have dreamed\nof asserting a generation ago. The \u201creconstructed States\u201d became\nlittle more than vassal provinces, practically ruled at the seat of\nthe federal government. In some cases, even after the military\ngovernors had disappeared and the States had been restored to\nrepresentation in Congress, and nominally to their full powers of\nself-administration, we have seen soldiers sent from Washington to\ndecide local election contests, legislatures dispersed at the point of\nthe federal bayonet, and the verdict of the ballot rudely set aside by\nthe President\u2019s despotic order. The general course of legislation for\nthe Southern States at Washington was inspired by the belief that the\nwhole Confederacy was a hot-bed of insurrection and crime. Special\nlaws were enacted to prevent the \u201crebel element\u201d from acquiring that\npredominance in the Southern communities which naturally belonged to\nit, and to lift up the negroes to a political power to which they were\nnot entitled by their numbers, and for which they were not qualified\nby character or education. The control of elections was taken away\nfrom the States by the Enforcement laws, and the ordinary police\nduties of preserving the peace were usurped by federal appointees\nunder a strained interpretation of the statutes. An incident reported\nin Alabama during the political campaign of 1874 illustrates the\nextreme length to which federal interference was carried, and the\ningenuity with which it was employed for merely partisan purposes. A\nRepublican politician had been murdered in August of that year, and\nthe perpetrators of the deed had not been discovered. The guilt was\ncharged, however, upon several active Democrats, and just before the\nelection they were arrested by a federal marshal and committed for\ntrial. Of course there was no law which gave the federal authorities\ncognizance of murder, and no indictment for that offence could be\nfound in a federal court; but it was desirable that the arrests should\nbe made for political effect, and the accused were consequently\nindicted under a clause of the Enforcement law for \u201cconspiracy to\nprevent a citizen from voting \u201c\u2014a conspiracy to prevent his voting in\nNovember by killing him in August! The arrest served its purpose, and\nit is hardly necessary to say that the case never was tried.\n\nBut of late the progress of the country towards centralization has\nbeen sensibly checked. The abuses of the past few years have been\nfollowed by a popular reaction. The temper of the South is better\nunderstood. The North begins to see the dangers of the course it has\nbeen following, and at the same time to feel ashamed of its injustice.\nAnd more than all else, the Supreme Court of the United States, in two\nable decisions, sweeps away a great mass of the most mischievous\nEnforcement legislation, and redefines the almost obliterated\nboundaries of State and federal authority. The judgment of the court\nin the Grant Parish and Kentucky cases marks an era in our\nconstitutional history. It neutralizes a great deal of the evil\nconsequences of the war period, and can hardly fail of a most salutary\neffect upon future legislation. When he has read it, even M. Jannet,\nperhaps, will take a more cheerful view of our condition.\n\nBut let us leave the historical part of M. Jannet\u2019s book, and look at\nthe picture which he draws of our actual condition. We do not purpose\nto criticise it. We shall let our readers correct errors for\nthemselves, as they can easily do, while we content ourselves with\nshowing them how the political and social aspects of our country\nimpress an intelligent foreign student. M. Jannet is deceived\nsometimes; he takes too seriously the satire of \u201cthe American humorist\nEdgar Po\u00eb,\u201d and the mixture of sarcasm and burlesque which he cites\nfrom \u201cThe gilded age by Mark Twain and Dudley\u201d; but upon the whole he\ntells the sober truth. He gives a pretty exact account of our\nelectoral system, and especially of our system of nominations, which\npractically prevents the people from voting for anybody except the\nfavorites of a little knot of professional politicians assembled in a\ncommittee or ward meeting. As political struggles in the United\nStates, he says, are not for the triumph of principles, but only for\nthe possession of power, politics has naturally become debased,\nhigh-minded citizens have insensibly become disgusted with it, and at\nthe same time the rising flood of universal suffrage has driven the\nwealthy classes out of political life. Between 1824 and 1840 the party\norganizations were definitively settled, and since then politics has\nbeen the exclusive appanage of politicians by profession. M. Jannet\ngives a very unpleasant sketch of this class of persons, and describes\nthe machinery of manipulating conventions and setting up candidates\nwith considerable minuteness and accuracy. Nor is it possible for us\nto read without mortification his account of the manner in which the\nprofessional politicians carry on the government:\n\n \u201cSuch institutions leave the nation completely disarmed\n against corruption. No one, either in the executive or the\n legislative branch, has any interest in stopping it. We\n shall even see that, under the political customs of the\n country, the representatives of power in every grade have a\n manifest interest in tolerating it.\u2026 Before the presidential\n election the politicians who manage the conventions of the\n party make careful bargains with their candidate for the\n distribution of the offices. The President, when he desires\n a re-election, has here in the same manner a powerful motive\n of action; all the federal employees fight for him with\n ardor and by every possible means, for the retention of\n their places depends upon his triumph. It is easy to see how\n party spirit is inflamed by the prospect of so much booty in\n case of success. The evils of this system have become more\n striking as the number of federal employees has increased.\n Given the prevalence of dishonesty and love of money, it is\n evident that office-holders who can retain their places only\n a few years must make use of the time to enrich themselves.\u2026\n But corruption is not confined to the employees, properly\n speaking; it extends in a large measure even to the\n representatives of the nation. The President nominates his\n cabinet, subject to the confirmation of the Senate. But in\n the party conventions the President\u2019s choice is fixed in\n advance. Arrangements of the same kind are made with the\n senators; for their approval is necessary for a thousand\n federal appointments, and naturally for the most important.\n The result of this state of things is that the Senate which,\n by the Constitution is a directing political body without\n whose co-operation it is impossible for the President to\n carry on the government, becomes a theatre of incessant\n intrigue and corruption.\u201d\n\nWe prefer not to follow M. Jannet in his brief recital of the Cr\u00e9dit\nMobilier scandal, the Fremont affair, the Pacific Mail bribery, the\noperations of the Tweed and Erie Rings, the boldness of the lobby, the\npower of the railway corporations in politics, the pressure of\nenormous debts and taxes as the inevitable consequence of legislative\nvenality, and the degradation of the judicial office. It is a horrible\naccount, but it is not exaggerated. For all his statements\u2014save, of\ncourse, some mistakes of secondary importance\u2014M. Jannet can show good\nAmerican authority.\n\nIn the face of all this disorder and corruption the best citizens,\ndisgusted with political life, hold themselves every year more and\nmore strictly aloof from it.\n\n \u201cMen of property, merchants, and manufacturers are injured\n by the mismanagement of affairs, and deplore it; but each\n one finds it for his individual advantage not to lose his\n time in trying to correct public evils. The country is still\n rich enough to bear the waste and rascality of a government\n which calls itself popular.\u2026 Even in these days there are\n certain influences of religion, race, or locality which\n sometimes bring honest and capable men into the local\n political assemblies; but the ruling trait of American\n democracy is nevertheless the ostracism of the upper classes\n and of eminent men. The consequence is that these classes\n become more and more dissatisfied with democratic\n institutions, and cast wistful eyes towards the\n constitutional government, in reality more free than theirs,\n which Great Britain and her colonies enjoy. From De\n Tocqueville and Amp\u00e8re to Duvergier de Hauranne and Hepworth\n Dixon, all observers have been struck by this sentiment, not\n in general openly expressed, but sufficiently shown by the\n considerable number of distinguished Americans who pass the\n greater part of their lives out of the country.\u201d\n\nIn this there is just a modicum of truth\u2014less now, perhaps, than there\nwas when it was written; for there is to-day an unmistakable tendency\namong our best citizens to resume that share in the management of\npublic affairs from which they have too long suffered themselves to be\nexcluded. But M. Jannet follows Hepworth Dixon in his stupendously\nabsurd remarks on the \u201cmoral emigration\u201d of the best men of America,\nand finds it a proof of distaste for democratic institutions that\nWashington Irving should have rambled about the Alhambra, Bancroft\naccepted the mission to England, and Hawthorne the consulate at\nLiverpool; that Motley should have read the archives of the Dutch\nRepublic at the Hague, Power and Story studied among the monuments of\nItaly, and Longfellow amused himself with the \u201cGolden Legend\u201d when he\nmight have found so many heroic subjects at home! We are astonished\nthat M. Jannet, who has certainly read a great many American books,\nshould not have perceived the dense ignorance which distinguishes this\nparticular portion of Dixon\u2019s _New America_ perhaps above the rest of\nthe book. M. Jannet has only to pause and reflect for a moment, and he\nwill not accuse Diedrich Knickerbocker and the author of the _Life of\nWashington_ and _Rip van Winkle_ of neglecting his own country to\nlounge in Granada, nor blame the poet of Cambridge because he rhymed\nthe \u201cGolden Legend\u201d as well as the story of Evangeline and Miles\nStandish. Hawthorne too, the most thoroughly national of American\nromancers, and Bancroft, who has spent a lifetime in the study of\nAmerican history! Is it also to Mr. Hepworth Dixon that M. Jannet is\nindebted for the discovery stated in the following passage?\n\n \u201cAmericans, even those who at heart are most disgusted with\n democracy, have a passionate love of their country, and look\n upon themselves as the first nation of the world. This\n patriotism, despite its exaggerations, is a great power for\n the country. Without precisely desiring the establishment of\n a constitutional monarchy, many enlightened Americans aspire\n to a stronger and more stable government under a republican\n form. I have been struck, in the intercourse that I have had\n with many of them, by the secret admiration with which the\n rule of Napoleon III. in its day inspired them. This rule,\n democratic in its origin, revolutionary in its principle,\n but favorable to the preservation of material order and the\n acquisition of wealth, agreed very well with their desire\n for additional security, and at the same time with their\n lack of principles. Sentiments of this kind\u2014and they are\n wide-spread\u2014are one of the greatest dangers that threaten\n American society.\u201d\n\nOf course the corruption which disgraces politics appears likewise in\nthe private life of the people. The constant aim of the Yankee, says\nM. Jannet, is to make money.\n\n \u201cThe love of money seizes the young man from the time of his\n adolescence, and does not let the old man allow repose to\n the evening of his life. Except in the old slave States,\n there is no class of people of leisure in America. From top\n to bottom of the ladder, all society is a prey to devouring\n activity. Its economical results are considerable; the rapid\n growth of the nation and its prodigious development in all\n the arts of material well-being are the fruits of this\n ardent labor which knows no rest. If the Americans love\n money, it is not for the sake of mere acquisition, but in\n order that they may give themselves up to the enjoyment of\n luxuries and launch into new speculations. Harpagon is a\n type which does not exist among them. Indeed, they generally\n lack those habits of patient economy which constitute the\n strength and the virtue of our old races of peasants and\n _bourgeois_. Their readiness to spend and their generosity\n in case of need equal their appetite for gain. One who fails\n to take account of this characteristic restlessness of\n American life will get but an imperfect idea of the private\n habits and public institutions of the people. In no country\n are \u2018honors\u2019 more eagerly sought after or is democratic\n vanity more freely indulged; but it must be confessed that\n \u2018honor\u2019 is interpreted among Americans, or at least among\n Yankees, in quite a different sense from that which is\n accepted in Europe. No man plumes himself upon\n disinterestedness. Magistrates, generals, statesmen, accept\n subscriptions of jingling dollars as testimonials of public\n esteem. It is alike in dollars that they pay, among the\n Yankees, for injuries and insults. This universal thirst for\n gold has perhaps the good effect of softening political\n asperities, at least so long as a boundless field remains\n open for work and speculation. The unbridled love of money,\n in fact, lowers all men to the same level, and stifles alike\n fierce fanaticisms and generous passions. The same ardor in\n the pursuit of wealth soon scatters the family. Aged\n parents, home, or the paternal acres, nothing can restrain\n those who are ruled by this passion alone. There is no\n attempt, as there is with us, to conceal the love of money.\n \u2018The almighty dollar!\u2019 cry the Americans with admiration. A\n new-comer is presented to them. \u2018How much is this man\n worth?\u2019 they ask, instead of inquiring, as we should do,\n about his antecedents and his merit. Everything is\n overlooked for a rich man, and, except in a few chosen\n circles, a bankruptcy counts for nothing when fortune smiles\n again. Nowhere is merit valued without money. Hence the\n inferiority of American literature and art; hence the\n commercial customs that prevail in professions which we\n style liberal. Physicians, counsellors at-law, even\n ministers of the Gospel (we speak, be it understood, only of\n the Protestant sects), advertise as freely as the commonest\n working-man. Poverty is held in contempt to a degree of\n which our older society, formed in the school of Catholicity\n and chivalry, can have no idea. In spite of universal\n suffrage and absolute political equality, there is no\n country in which so great a gulf has been placed between the\n rich and the poor. This superficially democratic society\n would not live in peace two days, if it were not that the\n poor man can raise himself with a little trouble to comfort,\n if not to fortune. But when the natural riches of the\n country become less abundant and the demand for labor\n abates, will not these hard social customs become a cause of\n formidable antagonism? Distant as this future may still\n appear, the question is one which no serious observer can\n well avoid asking.\n\n \u201cThe pursuit of wealth is the main-spring of material\n progress, but when it is carried to an extreme it misses the\n very object of its pursuit. The excessive love of money has\n developed in the United States a financial dishonesty which\n stains the national character and causes a great loss of the\n public property. Who has not heard of the great fires which\n so often destroy entire quarters of the large cities? They\n are often kindled by individuals who wish to conceal their\n bankruptcy or to get the amount of their insurance. These\n crimes affect a multitude of innocent persons and cause an\n increase in the rates of insurance; in short, it is the\n nation at large which pays for such frauds by an increase in\n the cost of all its products. It is the same thing with\n failures. They entail no dishonor, as they do in France;\n that is why they are so many.\u2026\n\n \u201cThe causes of this perversion of the moral sense are\n complex. Amid the almost infinite subdivision of Protestant\n sects there is no longer any religious teaching which\n addresses itself with authority to the mass of the nation.\n We do not take sufficient account of what Catholicism is\n doing in our country to maintain the fundamental ideas of\n morality even among men who during their lives remain\n strangers to its practices. The corruption of the public\n authorities and the inefficient administration of justice\n have also a great influence.\u2026 Moreover, we must take into\n consideration the very mixed character of the population.\n Even the native Americans are incessantly in motion. They\n transfer themselves from one end of the country to the other\n for the slightest of reasons, and thus they escape the\n salutary control of local opinion which, among stable\n populations, is one of the most powerful moral influences.\n The establishment of joint-stock companies for financial and\n commercial enterprises\u2014an innovation which dates from about\n fifty years ago\u2014has done a great deal to weaken the\n sentiment of responsibility.\u2026 If certain companies are\n honestly administered, a great number are made the occasion\n of shameless frauds. We see audacious speculators buying up\n a majority of the stock in order to make secret issues of\n new shares. This operation is called \u2018stock-watering.\u2019 It is\n estimated that between July 1, 1867, and May 1, 1869,\n twenty-eight railway companies increased their capital from\n $287,000,000 to $400,000,000. These shares only serve for\n stock-gambling, and woe to those who have them left on their\n hands! \u2018It would appear,\u2019 says an American writer, \u2018that the\n railroad speculators have three objects in view: First, to\n get as much as possible of the public lands; experience has\n proved that the more they ask the more they will obtain, and\n that the ease with which Congress is induced to favor their\n projects is proportioned to the liberality with which they\n distribute funds for corruption. Secondly, to raise in\n Europe as large a loan as possible, no matter at what rates.\n Thirdly, when they have got all the land and all the money\n they can, and have attracted all the immigration from\n Germany they can hope for, they sell the railroad, at\n whatever loss to the bondholders, and make a little ring of\n members of the company its sole proprietors!\u2019 The great\n number of these immoral speculations, the adventurous\n character of commerce, and the senseless luxury in which all\n business men indulge bring on periodically grave financial\n crises of which Europe feels only the after effects.\n Malversation is common even in institutions which have the\n best reasons to be free from it. Enormous defalcations are\n daily committed in the administration of charitable works,\n neutralizing in a great measure the generosity with which\n the Americans have endowed them.\u201d\n\nAlas! it is impossible to deny that these statements are substantially\ntrue. The discoveries of corruption in public life which have recently\nproduced so much political excitement surprise nobody who has studied\nAmerican society. This is a \u201crepresentative\u201d democracy; and though\ncertain well-understood causes, which it would be out of place to\ndiscuss here, have long been at work driving the highest class of our\ncitizens out of public employment, it is undeniable that as a general\nrule the morality of men in office is about on a level with that of\nthe voters who put them there. When peculation and swindling become\ncommon in commerce, and a man who makes money is always treated with\nrespect until he goes to the penitentiary, it is almost inevitable\nthat there should be bribery in the cabinet and conspiracy in the\nantechambers of the White House. The stream cannot rise higher than\nits source.\n\nBut if we wish to understand the real condition of the American\npeople, we must study it in the nurseries of all public virtue\u2014the\nhome, the school, and the church. With the first of these the woman\nquestion has a most intimate connection. De Tocqueville said that\nAmericans did not praise women much, but daily showed their respect\nfor them. Now, says M. Jannet, things have sadly changed. We have\nceased to respect women, and we are always talking about their rights.\nThere is a considerable party among us which not only insists upon the\nright of women to vote and hold office, but would make of them\nlawyers, physicians, and ministers of the Gospel, and give them the\ndirection of industrial and commercial enterprises precisely as if\nthey were men. M. Jannet confesses that American women, on the whole,\nshow very little eagerness to play the new _r\u00f4le_ which the modern\nsocial reformers have created for them; but the agitation, if it\nproduces no practical results, has a very unhappy influence upon the\nfemale mind, and a bad effect upon female education. How fearfully the\nfamily relation has been impaired in America all intelligent observers\nknow. The laxity and confusion of the marriage laws; the shocking\nfrequency of divorce; the publicity given to scandalous and indecent\ninvestigations; the prevalence of the crime of infanticide, against\nwhich the press, the pulpit, and the medical profession have long\nexclaimed in horror; the growing inability or unwillingness of\nAmerican women to bear the burden of maternity; the rapid decay of the\nAmerican element in the population through the excessive proportion of\ndeaths to births; the breaking up of homes; the license allowed to the\nyoung of both sexes\u2014all these things are the appalling symptoms of a\ndeep-seated social disorder. We have been in the habit of making it a\nreproach to the French that there is no word in their language which\nexpresses the American and English idea of home; but it may be\nquestioned whether, retaining the word, we are not in danger of losing\nthe reality. In the cities, at all events, there has been within the\nlast quarter of a century a lamentable change in domestic life.\nFashionable society has broken up the family gatherings around the\nevening lamp. The mother no longer lives in the midst of her children;\nshe spends her days in shopping, visiting, and receiving, and her\nnights in the ball-room. Children are educated by hired nurses, and\nbefore they are full grown emancipate themselves from the control of\nparents whom they have never been taught to respect and obey. \u201cAt\nhome,\u201d in the jargon of the day, has become a travesty of its original\nmeaning; it designates the exhibition of a domestic interior from\nwhich all the characteristics of home life are rigorously excluded.\nArchitects are forgetting the meaning of home, and in the fashionable\nhouse of the period the domestic virtues could hardly find a lodgment.\nThe hotel and the boarding-house are driving out of existence those\nmodel homes which were once the glory of America. What else could we\nexpect? It is the woman who gives character to the household, and the\ntendency of our time is to remove woman from the fireside and set her\nupon the platform.\n\nThat there is nothing in the American school system to supply the\ndefects of American home education no Catholic will need to be\nassured. The whole system rests upon the principle that the\nschool-teacher has nothing to do with the cultivation of the moral\nnature of his pupil. His duty is limited to the atlas, the copy-book,\nand the multiplication-table. The pretext upon which this rule has\nbeen adopted, says M. Jannet, is respect for all religious beliefs,\nbut its real end is to create a generation without any positive\nreligious belief whatever. Zealous Christians even among Protestants\nare not deceived by it. A report upon the state of schools in\nPennsylvania in 1864 says: \u201cThe importance, not to say the absolute\nnecessity, of religious education becomes day by day more apparent. If\nwe wish to maintain our institutions, it is essential to raise the\nstandard of character and to revive among our people the spirit of\nChristianity. The generation which will soon succeed us should not\nonly be skilful of hand, stout of heart, and enlightened in mind, but\nit must learn also to love God and man and practise duty.\u201d But\nunfortunately, continues M. Jannet, such remonstrances have proved\nunavailing, and the \u201cunsectarian\u201d system is now permanently\nestablished\u2014a sad result for which the Protestant clergy is in great\npart to blame. Nearly all of them approve the system, in the belief\nthat Sunday-schools will be sufficient for religious instruction; but\n\u201ctrue Christians point out that this separation of the two branches of\neducation tends to make religion regarded as something foreign to the\npractical affairs of life.\u201d Our author shows how steadily the godless\ntheory of education has gained acceptance; he perceives the growing\ndisposition to enforce it by the authority of the federal government,\nand make it obligatory upon the States to provide irreligious schools,\nand upon the people to use them. In the progress of this destructive\ntendency he traces the influence of German ideas, political,\npseudo-philosophical, socialistic, and atheistic, in which lies one of\nthe greatest dangers of the republic. \u201cTwo things strike us in these\nnew currents of opinion: on the one hand, their opposition to the old\nbases of Anglo-Saxon ideas and liberties under which the United States\nlived until about 1850; on the other, their identity with the\nprinciples disseminated in Europe by the revolutionists. It is\nimpossible for an impartial observer not to recognize here the effect\nof one and the same cause acting in accordance with a well defined\naim. This cause, this agent, let us say at once, is Freemasonry. It is\neasy to judge of the real purpose which it has in view by studying it\nin the United States. There the conflicts and passions of the Old\nWorld have no place; what Freemasonry seeks to accomplish is the\ndestruction of all positive religion and of every principle of\nauthority in man\u2019s political and social relations.\u201d\n\nProtestantism, far from checking these disastrous tendencies, has\nallowed itself to increase them; and even if it had the will to\nconstitute itself the defender of the state and the family, it is torn\nby intestine divisions and driving rapidly towards disintegration. Yet\nM. Jannet does not quite give us up for lost. \u201cThe crisis which is now\npassing over the country and checking its material prosperity may be\nthe signal for a reform, in forcing honest men to recognize the vices\nof their institutions and the corruption of their manners.\u201d There are\nfour influences which he hopes may combine to save us. These are, 1,\nthe wisdom and energy of the people of the South, who, after ten years\nof persevering efforts, have at last begun to recover the direction of\ntheir local affairs, and to clear away \u201cthe ruins caused by the war\nand the domination of the Radicals.\u201d 2. The success obtained by the\nDemocrats, or rather the Conservatives, in the elections of November,\n1874, and April, 1875\u2014a success that will put an end to the despotism\nwith which the Radicals have cursed the country for fifteen years. We\ngive these two points for what they are worth; of course we do not\nbelieve that there is any such fundamental difference between the\npeople of the North and the people of the South, the people who call\nthemselves Republicans and the people who call themselves Democrats,\nas M. Jannet imagines. 3. The great number of American families who,\nin the midst of corruption and disorder, have faithfully preserved the\nvirtues and domestic habits which lie at the foundation of all\nprosperous society. 4. Lastly and chiefly, the marvellous progress of\nthe Catholic Church.\n\nWe make no comment upon this portion of his essay, but we end our\nreview with a few lines from his closing paragraph which it will do us\nAmericans, at the beginning of our new century, no harm to take to\nheart: \u201cIn all countries, in all times, under the most diverse\nhistorical and economical conditions, the moral laws which govern\nhuman society are unchanging and inevitable. Founded upon the\ndecalogue, nay, upon the very nature of God, the distinction between\ngood and evil knows no mutation. Everywhere men are prosperous or\nunfortunate, according as they keep the divine law or break it.\u201d\n\n\n [127] _Les Etats-Unis Contemporains, ou les M\u0153urs,\n les Institutions et les Id\u00e9es depuis la Guerre de la\n S\u00e9cession._ Par Claudio Jannet. Paris: E. Plon et Cie.\n 1876.\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS OF A YOUNG IRISHWOMAN TO HER SISTER.\n\n(FROM THE FRENCH.)\n\n\nORLEANS, January, 1867.\n\nI hasten to tell you, my darling sister, of our happy arrival in the\ncity of Joan of Arc. It was cold during this long journey, but I was\nso _silkenly_ enveloped inside the elegant _coup\u00e9_ which was Ren\u00e9\u2019s\nNew Year\u2019s gift to me that I did not feel it.\n\n_Ah! qu\u2019un autre vous-m\u00eame est une douce chose!_\u2014\u201cHow sweet it is to\nhave a second self!\u201d You know how often I used to say this at the\nSacred Heart, and with what questioning eyes our Parisian companions\nwere wont to regard the daughters of Erin. Our impassioned fondness\nfor one another surprised them, and we said that doubtless in France\npeople did not know how to love. Dearest, we have now learnt that the\ncountry of our adoption is as _warm_ as our native land. What kind\nhearts have we not found here! I am glad, therefore, to remain here\nfor the winter; besides, with Ren\u00e9 I cannot grow weary anywhere. Why,\ndarling Kate, are you not with us? Prepare yourself for frequent\nletters, as I have the mania of a scribbling friendship, to the\nastonishment of my mother-in-law. True, my writing-desk accompanies me\neverywhere, and before all other pleasures I prefer that of conversing\nwith you.\n\nOur home is delightful for comfort and elegance. We\u2014that is, Ren\u00e9 and\nI\u2014occupy the second story. Our house is in the _Rue Jeanne d\u2019Arc_, and\nI have only to go to the window to see the beautiful cathedral, which\nI do not fail to visit often, there to pray in union with my Kate. _A\ntout seigneur tout honneur._[128] Let us, then, speak first of this\nmarvel of stone; of this Gothic pile whose lofty towers excite the\nadmiration of the artist. Dearest, shall I tell you? I felt myself\nmore _at home_ there than in any other church. I am not going to\ndescribe either the rich chapels or the splendid windows. In these\nfirst visits to _Sainte-Croix_ my heart melted with joy at the thought\nthat I am a Catholic. \u201cWell, my little _Irlandaise_, and so you are\nenthusiastic about Orleans,\u201d said Ren\u00e9 softly to me, on observing the\nflush upon my cheeks.\n\nI have been shown also the statue of Joan of Arc in the _Place du\nMartroi_. This, however, I do not admire; it is not the young\nshepherdess of my dreams, but a robust maiden of vigorous mould on\nhorseback. But the bas-reliefs!\u2026 These are magnificent, sublime! What\nmemories! What a history!\u2014put to death upon the soil of this same\nFrance which she had saved. My blood boils when I think of the cruelty\nof England.\n\nWe are quite a large colony here. I must introduce you, Miss Kate,\ninto this family circle. You scarcely know my mother-in-law, having\nonly had an occasional glimpse of her amid the solemnities of my\nmarriage, and when you were thinking only of your Georgina. We orphans\nwere all in all to each other\u2014we who were then on the point of being\nseparated. Dear, dear Kate! my _alter ego_, my idol, who, wholly\npossessed by the highest love, have willed to consecrate your youth\nand future to the service of our Lord in the persons of his poor; and\nnow there are you in your coarse habit, while Georgina the worldly is\nadorning herself with the jewels which became you so well!\n\nMy mother-in-law, who is kindness itself to me, is a person of\nexceeding dignity; quite a medi\u00e6val _ch\u00e2telaine_, with the noble\nbearing of the heroines of Walter Scott. Her piety is fervent, and,\nher sons tell me, just a little austere. Ah! dearest, what a blessing\nis such a mother as this. The breath of the present age has not passed\nover her dwelling; her children believe and worship; and I seem to\nbehold in her a Christian of the early centuries or a Blanche of\nCastile. My four sisters-in-law are very kind to the last comer, your\nGeorgina. You saw my brothers in Paris.[129] Mme. Adrien is a Belgian,\nlively and graceful, and as proud of her \u201cjewels\u201d as the Cornelia of\nantiquity. She has three sons, who are pupils of the Jesuit Fathers in\nthe _Rue des Postes_, and whom we shall only see during the vacations.\nHer daughter H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, a superb _blonde_, worthy of inspiring a Raphael,\nhas just completed her education at the Benedictines of \u2014\u2014. Mme. Raoul\nwas born of a French family on the other side of the Rhine. Her two\ndaughters, Th\u00e9r\u00e8se and Madeleine, are my delight. I sometimes go and\nlook at them sleeping, and then go to sleep myself to dream of angels.\nPicture to yourself these twins, the one small and fair, the other\ntall, slender, with a pale complexion and brown curls; gayly bearing\nthe light burden of their ten years, and alike in one thing only\u2014the\nvoice; and thus they often amuse themselves in taking us by surprise\nand making us guess which of the two is speaking. Mme. Paul has four\ntreasures: the _dauphin_, Arthur, and demoiselles Margu\u00e9rite, Alix,\nand Jeanne, the pretty one who arrived last\u2014all this little\npopulation, young, fresh, smiling, chattering, and roguish. Mme.\n\u00c9douard, the most sympathetic of all, the most French, and the most\nattractive, who has been married three years, is rich in the sweetest\nlittle cherub that could flatter maternal pride.\n\nAdieu, dearest; this is only a sign of life. I am tired with the\nexpeditions of the day, and Ren\u00e9 reminds me that it is late. Be happy,\nmy Kate, and help me to bless God for my happiness; I am so afraid of\nbeing ungrateful.\n\nYOUR GEORGINA.\n\n\nJANUARY, 1867.\n\nBooksellers are abundant here, my dear; and Ren\u00e9, who knows my\nweakness, daily brings me something new. I have just read _Mme.\nRos\u00e9ly_, by Mlle. Monniot, a name dear to our youth. How much I should\nlike to know this authoress! The mind capable of such conceptions must\nbe a personification of virtue and devotedness. The thought occurred\nto me of writing to her. Dear busy one, you will not even open this\nbook; and yet how much it would please you, it is so beautiful! What\npleasure it gave me there to find Margaret again, become a sister of\n_Bon-Secours_![130] I visited yesterday two churches, St. Paul and\n_Recouvrance_, both newly restored. There are fine windows at St.\nPaul\u2019s, but the colors are too vivid for my taste. To the right\nis a chapel nearly dark, and a black Virgin held in great\nveneration\u2014_Notre-Dame des Miracles_. I shall often return thither. I\nprayed there with all my heart for you, for our friends, for our own\nIreland. _Recouvrance_ is a charming church, close upon the Loire.\n(Did I tell you of my transport on seeing the beautiful river about\nwhich I had written volumes in the upper classes?) The altar is\nsurmounted by sculptures\u2014Mary and Joseph finding Jesus in the midst of\nthe doctors. This sanctuary is a casket. Around the side aisles are\ndelicious little chapels, with frescoes by Hippolyte Lazerges. I will\nmention those of the baptistery\u2014Moses striking the rock, and the\nSamaritan at Jacob\u2019s well. The Samaritan is admirably fine in form and\nexpression. I stayed long before it\u2014this fair page of Scripture made\nto live, as it were; the Saviour teaching the truth to this sinful\nwoman! Here are the most beautiful confessionals that can be seen,\nwith exquisite little paintings\u2014the father of the prodigal welcoming\nhis son, and the good Shepherd recovering his sheep from among the\nthorns.\n\nYour letter has just reached me. Thanks, Kate! How sweet and good a\nthing it is to be so loved! Fain would I shed around me some little of\nthe happiness with which I am flooded. My mother-in-law is so kind as\nto let me share in her works of charity, and my good Ren\u00e9 accompanies\nme into the abodes of the poor. Oh! in these low streets what miseries\nthere are, what repulsive infirmities! These poor quarters remind me\nof London. In the evening we pay visits. Orleanese society appears to\nme much less frivolous than that of Paris. I felt very shy at the\nprospect of all these introductions, but they came about in the most\nnatural way in the world. Our family party is so united, so animated,\nthat we have no need to seek amusement from without. At ten o\u2019clock\n_Grandmother_ gives the signal for us to separate. Ren\u00e9 and I prolong\nthe evening by reading together. With regard to Ren\u00e9, I am full of\nremorse for having\u2014quite inadvertently, however\u2014neglected to enclose\nin my last letter the one which he had written to you, and which you\nmust since have received. Oh! how excellent he is, this brother of\nyours; and how proud of him I am\u2014so intellectual, so distinguished, so\nhandsome, and, what is far better and worth all the rest, so pious!\nEvery morning we go together to Mass at _Sainte-Croix_. The Masses of\ncommunion are said in an expiatory chapel before the image of the\nMother of Sorrows. From an artistic point of view this chapel is an\nanachronism\u2014a Greek marble in a Gothic church. But what peace reigns\nthere, what recollection; and one can pray there so well! Orleans\nseems to me empty in the absence of its great bishop, now in Rome. Do\nyou remember our enthusiastic exclamations while reading his excellent\nwork on education? I am impatient to be presented to him, to speak to\nhim of Ireland\u2014of this people which he has justly called \u201ca people of\nmartyrs and apostles.\u201d[131]\n\nHave read the _Souvenirs d\u2019une Institutrice_, by Mme. Bourdon. That\nisolation, those struggles against penury, that life so troubled and\nstormy, made a hymn of thanksgiving gush out of my heart to Him whose\nprovidence has ordained for me so different a destiny. \u201cO fortune!\u201d\nsaid the Solitary of Cayla, \u201cwhat suffering dost thou not cause when\nthou art adverse!\u201d Dear Kate, with all my heart I pity the poor,\nespecially the mothers. Ren\u00e9 made a discovery yesterday\u2014a young\nmarried couple in utter distress, owing to the illness of the husband.\nThe young mother is wholly occupied in the attendance necessary to the\nsick man and to her new-born son, who might be well named Benoni, the\npoor darling! It does not possess even a cradle. How I wept while\nlistening to the story of their last three months! We sent the doctor\nto them, and I felt the pleasure of a child in myself choosing\nwhatever I thought needful for this family. Mary and Joseph must have\nbeen thus at Bethlehem. The poor woman had sold her furniture bit by\nbit, not venturing to beg or speak to any one of her troubles; and yer\nthe charities here are admirably organized.\n\nLucy (Mme. \u00c9douard) is coming with us to-morrow on a pilgrimage to\nCl\u00e9ry; I shall pray there for my Kate, and for all whom we love. I go\nthe round of the churches with Lucy; Ren\u00e9 carves, paints, or writes,\nand we have music together. My mother-in-law has given me a beautiful\npiano, one of Pleyel\u2019s. Our brothers have excellent voices. Lucy and I\nplay splendid pieces of Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Beethoven. What\nconcerts, what harmonies, what an enchanted life! From eight o\u2019clock\nin the evening until ten we work for churches or the poor. Don\u2019t be\nuneasy, dear Kate, with regard to what you call the unsettled, aimless\nlife of the world; my hours and minutes are regulated with a\nmathematical precision. Ren\u00e9 loves order above everything, and my\nmother-in-law\u2019s hobby is punctuality. Your Georgina, who is not\nover-exact and a bit of a loiterer, is making rapid strides to attain\nto the perfection of her lord and master, who is good and lovable a\nthousand times over, and never scolds.\n\nDo you remember our old mistress Annah, who invariably used to say\nupon quitting us, \u201cMy husband will scold,\u201d at which we always laughed,\nlittle giddy ones that we were? I bow before your gravity, and kiss\nyou a hundred and a hundred times.\n\n\nFEBRUARY, 1867.\n\nI am just come from _St. Pierre du Martroi_, where the P\u00e8re Minjard\nhas been preaching a sermon in behalf of the Society of St. Vincent de\nPaul\u2014an institution shown by the eloquent orator to be a source of\ncomfort to sorrows otherwise inconsolable, and also a preservative\nagainst a social danger. What a picture he drew of atheistic\npoverty\u2014poverty without God! What eloquence! What a soul of fire! At\nlast, under this austere Dominican habit, I have beheld a man of\ngenius. Thought makes this manly countenance its abode, and here\ndwells intellect in its plenitude. His eyes sparkle at times with a\nlightning flash almost dazzling. Ah! dear Kate, what an absorbing\ndiscourse.\n\nHow exactly like yourself it is to be so interested in Benoni and his\nfamily! I scarcely venture to go there, the poor woman so overwhelms\nme with her thanks. In vain I tell her again and again that she is my\n_sister_, and that in giving her a little from my abundance I have\ndone nothing more than my strict, rigorous, obligatory duty. She\nreceives me as if I were an angel from Paradise. The young man is\nrecovering his health, and the child his roses. Thanks to my good\nRen\u00e9, who is really the most generous of men, I have installed them in\na commodious and airy apartment where everything is bright with\nsunshine. This morning the God of the Eucharist entered this truly\nsanctified dwelling. This little household is so religious, resigned,\nand thankful to a kind Providence that God must take pleasure in it as\nin a temple.\n\nOur pilgrimage was charming. Lucy consecrated her baby to Our Blessed\nLady; and how happy the little love appeared to be about it! The\nchurch of Cl\u00e9ry is of Gothic architecture, sufficiently remarkable,\nbut how dilapidated, poor, and bare! I noticed a clock and a Christ\nwhich must be as old as the time of Louis XI.; a magnificent Way of\nthe Cross; beautiful antique carving in a small chapel which is quite\nin a ruinous state. The black Virgin is _Notre-Dame de Cl\u00e9ry_, who\nshared with _Notre-Dame d\u2019Embrun_ the affection and the eccentric\ndevotion of the son of Marie d\u2019Anjou, in whose mind they represented\ntwo distinct persons; and were invoked (O blasphemy!) almost as\nwitnesses of the atrocities and revengeful deeds of the sombre lord of\nPlessis-lez-Tours. The black Virgin is over the high altar. I had a\ncouple of tapers placed before this miraculous image, one for my\nKate\u2019s intentions and one for my own. The tomb of Louis XI. and of\nCharlotte of Savoy is in the nave. By the side of the pulpit is a\nmonument of black marble; four colonnades of white marble support the\nupper portion, also of the same material, upon which the King of\nFrance is kneeling, his hand joined and his face turned towards the\naltar of the Blessed Virgin. His countenance has not by any means the\nwily and cruel expression given to him in the portraits of the time.\nAt the four corners are four angels facing the spectators. On the way\nhome we visited the Church of St. Fiacre. The road is animated in\nspite of the season; there, too, is the river, the beautiful river,\nthe river so eminently French. Besides, must not even the dullest\nlandscape appear radiant when one is twenty years old, with a husband\nwhom one adores, a golden future in prospect, and heaven itself in the\nheart? Kate dearest, I am faithful to my daily _Te Deum_; it is the\nonly hymn that can express what I feel.\n\nMy mother-in-law gave a large dinner-party in the evening. I made\nmyself resplendent \u2026 in simplicity! This, at least, is the encomium\nbestowed on me by Ren\u00e9, who pretends that I was very much admired. I\nwould not say this to any one but my sister. Great names were\nrepresented there; some of the greatest in France\u2014names of chivalrous\nassociations. How happily inspired was Mother St. Athanasius in making\nus read the chronicles of the middle ages! It is to my having done so\nthat I am indebted for the most gracious smiles of two honorable\ndowagers to whom I spoke of the glorious and historical deeds of their\nancestors. Edward sang with me _Le fil de la Vierge_;[132] and\naltogether _la petite Irlandaise_ found the evening too short and the\ncompany too amiable. These kind brothers and sisters never weary of\nbringing me forward, placing me in the light, and making everybody\nlove me; my mother-in-law calls me her lily, her heath-flower, her\nviolet; and the children are wild about Aunt Georgina. Dear Kate, how\nravishingly fair is the dawn of my existence as a young wife!\n\nA fortunate meeting, dearie\u2014namely, with Margaret W\u2014\u2014, the beautiful\nEnglishwoman, who is, she says, _en passage_ here. I was at Ste.\nCroix, lost in my thanksgiving after communion, when a rustling of\nsilk and lace reminded me that I was still on earth, and a musical\nvoice with a slight English accent said in my ear: \u201c_C\u2019est bien\nvous?_\u2014Is it really you, Georgina?\u201d I raised my head and recognized\nour friend. We came out together. Margaret has since paid me a visit,\nand my mother-in-law asked her to spare a whole day to Georgina. All\nthe family is won by the grace and lively wit of _la belle Anglaise_.\nShe is on her wedding tour; her husband is very agreeable\u2014an\naccomplished gentleman, with the manners and bearing (if you please)\nof a peer of England. Lady Margaret told us about her presentation at\ncourt. Queen Victoria is very fond of her. In the evening\ntwilight[133] we found ourselves alone together; then, looking\nstraight into my eyes, Margaret asked me: \u201cAre you truly and perfectly\nhappy, Georgina?\u201d You may guess what was my answer. \u201cSo much the\nbetter; so much the better,\u201d sighed the lofty lady; and then, blushing\nand with a full and beating heart, she confided to me her grief\u2014her\nhusband does not love her! And yet he had seemed to me full of\nthoughtful attention to her. \u201cAh! dear Georgina, if you only knew what\nI suffer. I love Lord William passionately. I believed in his love,\nand now I know that my large fortune tempted his mother, who, by dint\nof entreaties, persuaded him to marry me, when he really loved his\ncousin, a poor and pretty orphan, who was, moreover, well deserving of\nhis affection.\u201d I did not know what to say to her. Was she seeking\nconsolation? I cannot tell. She was lofty and proud until this\nintimate confidence. I took her hand, and with the utmost tenderness\nexpressed my sympathy, assuring her that no one could see her without\nloving her, and that there could be no doubt that Lord William\nreturned her affection. She burst into tears and kissed me twenty\ntimes. Had I convinced her? In the evening I watched the English peer\nattentively; his amiability was perfect. I managed skilfully to bring\nout the talents of Margaret, who sang and played the loveliest things,\nand with such an expression!\u2026 Pray for this heart, dear Kate. Ah! how\ntrue it is that a serpent hides among the flowers. Who would not envy\nthe happiness of this young bride, endowed with all the good things of\nthis world, and of an aristocratic beauty really incomparable? On\nreturning from Italy Margaret will visit Switzerland. We have agreed\nthat she is to write to me, and that we will do impossibilities to\nmeet again.\n\nRen\u00e9 complained of my being melancholy after the departure of \u201cthe\nEnglish.\u201d I could not confide to him the secret of my friend. \u201cDear\nGeorgina, has this fine bird of passage inspired you with her\nwandering propensities?\u201d \u201cYou know very well, Ren\u00e9, that with you I\ndesire nothing.\u201d \u201cSmile, then, my lady, or I shall think you are ill;\ncome, sing me \u2018The Lake,\u2019 to shake off your gloom.\u201d[134]\n\nMy eyes will no longer stay open, dear sister; my tender affection to\nyou.\n\n\nFEBRUARY 17, 1867.\n\nA heavenly day, dear Kate; all fragrant with holy friendship, and,\nstill better, with divine love. P\u00e8re Minjard preached a charity sermon\nat Ste. Croix on behalf of the schools in the East. We went _en\nch\u0153ur_,[135] as the twins say. What incomparable eloquence! Nothing so\ncaptivates me as the art of language. I was fascinated, and as if\nhanging on the lips of this son of Lacordaire. He took for his text,\n\u201cWe must rescue Christ. Christ is in danger.\u201d In a sustained and\nalways admirable style he showed us Christ, in peril in the Gospel, by\nfalse criticism; in peril in tradition, by false science; in peril in\nthe church teaching, by false politics; in peril in the church taught,\nby false literature\u2014all this is a social danger. Oh! what beautiful\nthings, what sublime thoughts; I could have wished the sermon never to\nend, and felt myself living a life of intelligence in a higher region\nthan I had ever dreamed of before. Here is one among other beauties:\n\u201cIn our hours of poetry and youth have we not all dreamed of the East,\nwith its clearer sun, its balmier breezes, its holier memories?\u2026 Such\nis, in fact, the incomparable favor that Christ has granted us in\nleaving in our hands the destiny of his name and his works.\u201d Would\nthat I could transcribe to you this living harmony, this austere\nteaching, ardent and true! How splendidly he brought before us the\nancient memories of that East from which everything we have has come\nto us; the grand and Christian souvenirs also of the Crusades, and of\nthose ages of faith when men were capable of a passionate ardor for\nthe beautiful and the good! Never had I imagined such rapidity of\nthought, such facility of elocution, such magnificence of language.\nThe few words of allusion to Mgr. Dupanloup were of exquisite\ndelicacy: \u201cAnd I say this with so much the more freedom because he to\nwhom my eulogies would be addressed is not present.\u201d What a picture,\ntoo, he drew of the debasement of our souls if we no more had Jesus\nChrist!\n\nA walk yesterday in the _Jardin des Plantes_. Our English parks are\nnaturalized in France, except in the official gardens\u2014flat and\nmonotonous squares. A fine view from the top of the rising ground and\nthe sky of France with Ren\u00e9\u2014all this I found superb. The twins were\nwith us, amusing themselves with a violet, and at every step uttering\nexclamations of joy. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se takes the airs of a duchess, and thus\ngets called by no other name\u2014a custom which does not seem to displease\nher. As for Mad, so small and fragile, I have named her Picciola. My\nnieces are already pious, and delight to take me into the churches; we\nhave seen five\u2014the Visitation, the Sacr\u00e8-C\u0153ur, the Presentation, the\nBon-Pasteur, and the Sainte-Enfance.\n\nGreat sensation at home: my mother expects her elder sister, _la tante\nsolennelle_\u2014the solemn aunt\u2014as the _dauphin_, Arthur, has whispered to\nme. Everybody makes up a countenance and a toilet suitable to the\noccasion; even the babies put on serious faces. These preparations\nmake me afraid. I whisper to you that the least cloud frightens me;\nour sky is always so clear. My mother-in-law, kind and maternal as she\nis to me, nevertheless intimidates me greatly. Ren\u00e9 is going away\nto-morrow on business, and this first separation causes me more pain\nthan I am willing to confess. I long so much to say to him: \u201cTake me\nwith you.\u201d I feel it would be unreasonable. He is going to travel\neighty leagues in a few days, and does not wish to expose me to this\nfatigue, though it seems to me that with him nothing could be\ndifficult. What will you say, dear Kate, to your Georgina?\u2014that you no\nlonger recognize her great courage, and that inability to bear the\nleast contrariety is not the mark of a Christian; that I ought rather\nto thank Providence for sending me the opportunity of gaining a little\nmerit. Dear little preacher! the heart that loves does not reason, and\nRen\u00e9 is my universe. But I promise you to accept this light trial.\n\nSend your good angel to the traveller, darling Kate.\n\n_Evening._\u2014I set out to-morrow with the dawn! Ren\u00e9 read in my eyes\nthat I was fretting, and altered his itinerary; I am radiant, and\nlooking forward to a thousand delights.\n\nLove your Georgina. Let us pray together for our green Erin, so worthy\nof our love. I have always in my heart the hope of its resurrection.\n\n\nMARCH 6, 1867.\n\nShall I tell you about my journey, dearest Kate? We made a halt in\nBrittany, the land of true poets, where we are to pass the summer. As\nwe walked over the barren heaths we shut our eyes and evoked the old\nmemories of Armorica, while the mild image of Guy de Bretagne and of\nIsabelle aux Blanches Mains[136] mingled in our imaginations with the\nshades of the martyrs. Dear Kate, I enjoyed this excursion immensely.\nThe farther I go, the more I realize the happiness which God has\nallotted me in giving me for guide, adviser, and support this dear and\ngentle Ren\u00e9, so truly the _brother_ of my heart. We have been reading\ntogether the life of Saint Elizabeth by M. de Montalembert. The \u201cdear\nsaint\u201d of Protestant Germany was wont to call her husband by the sweet\nname of brother, and this we thought so suave, so charming, and\nangelic that we agreed to call each other brother and sister when we\nare alone. Oh! what a heavenly thing is Christian love. That which I\nfirst of all admired in Ren\u00e9, even when he was to me merely a\nstranger, was his recollectedness in church. He has often said to\nme\u2014and with what earnestness!\u2014\u201cGeorgina, let Jesus be all in all to\nus.\u201d It is to your prayers, my darling Kate, that I owe this happy\ndestiny.\n\nWhat a surprise! My Aunt de K\u2014\u2014 was not expected before the end of the\nweek; but this morning, on returning from my visits among the poor,\nRen\u00e9 left me at the house door, and I hastened as usual into the\ndrawing-room to say good-morning to the dear little ones who daily\nwelcome me with shouts of joy. On entering I beheld an unknown face;\nit was the _solemn aunt_. A sudden blush mounted even to my forehead.\nMy mother-in-law introduced me; while I lost myself in reverences, my\naunt bestowed on me a half-inclination of the head\u2014so cold! looking at\nme all the time with so searching an eye that I was almost out of\ncountenance. Fortunately, the door was again thrown open very wide,\nand a footman in full livery announced Mme. Edouard, M. Gaston (this\nis the pretty baby), and in succession M. et Mme. Adrien, M. et Mme.\nRaoul, M. et Mme. Paul. All were richly dressed. I hid myself as well\nas I could behind Lucy\u2019s fauteuil to keep my shabby toilet out of\nsight, and then took advantage of the entrance of the children to make\nmy escape before the entry of Ren\u00e9. The solemnity of the _d\u00e9je\u00fbner_\nnearly sent me to sleep. At eight o\u2019clock in the evening Mme. de K\u2014\u2014\nretired to her room, alleging that she was fatigued with her journey;\nyou may judge whether any one tried to detain her. Then we began to\ndress ourselves up, and exchanged silence for joyous dances and merry\nlaughter. _Duchesse_ was a \u201cgolden fairy,\u201d superb with her lofty air;\nthere is a touch of my _solemn aunt_ about her. Picciola was charming\nin her ribbon-decked costume of a shepherdess. Your Georgina was\ndressed _en S\u00e9vign\u00e9_; the sparkling Lucy as a _soubrette_ of the time\nof Louis XIV. A few intimate friends joined us about nine o\u2019clock. The\nbrilliant chords of the piano troubled not the repose of Mme. de K\u2014\u2014,\nwho was purposely lodged far from the noise. Our songs, our dances,\nand lively follies went on till one o\u2019clock; and as I am not tired,\nand, besides, make a point of sending you news of us before\n_mortifying_ Lent shall have proclaimed a truce to our delights, with\nRen\u00e9\u2019s permission I relate to you these little events. Dear Kate, my\nletters will no longer speak of anything but sanctity. I kiss you with\nall my heart. _My brother_, who is beginning to read me a chapter of\nthe _Imitation_, tells you how much he is devoted to you in Him whose\nlove is the bond of our souls.\n\n\nMARCH 10.\n\nMy dearest Kate, do not be anxious if I tell you that I am going to\nkeep all the fasting days of Lent. The good doctor gives me permission\nto do so, in spite of my eighteen years, on condition that in case of\nthe slightest fatigue I give it up. This is understood. M. l\u2019Abb\u00e9\nCharles Perraud, of the Oratory, is preaching the Lent at\n_Sainte-Croix_. What a congregation! It was a compact crowd. The text\nwas, \u201cMan does not live by bread alone.\u201d In order to please your love\nof sacrifice I will not send you another note during all these forty\ndays; but as I have not yet made any vow to renounce the most\nlegitimate gratifications of the heart, I shall keep a journal with\ngreat regularity, to send you after Easter.\n\nI am reading again _Rob Roy_ with Ren\u00e9; this is for our secular\nreading, but for the spiritual we have the Conferences of Fathers\nLacordaire and De Ravignan.\n\n12th.\u2014Was at the sermon: \u201cEnter into your heart.\u201d The orator spoke of\nrecollectedness, inviting us to enter into our heart, promising that\nby so doing we should find _light_, _joy_ and _virtue_; these were the\nthree points of his discourse. We take interminable walks with\nIsabelle (Mme. Raoul) and her children. I am working a magnificent\nchasuble which I wish to present to our _cur\u00e9_ in Brittany. Ren\u00e9 reads\nto us the _Revue du Monde Catholique_ and the _Union_. These gentlemen\ndo not go to the club, but occupy themselves, according to their\nrespective tastes, in painting, carving, illuminating, and creating\nsurprises for us. My _solemn aunt_ took her departure this morning,\nand all that is cold, heavy and pompous went with her.\n\nI have not told you that H\u00e9l\u00e8ne and I are the best of friends. We are\nof the same age; she has always had an especial liking for Ren\u00e9, and\nshe also entrusts me with her confidences. Dear Kate, this good young\nheart has likewise been wounded by the divine Hand, and she who is the\nidol of her family desires to leave us, that she may give herself\nwholly to God. The poor mother knows nothing, but she has a\npresentiment of this secret (at the same time sweet and distressing),\nand strives to dissuade her daughter from her purpose. H\u00e9l\u00e8ne wishes\nto be a Carmelite. She has her grandmother\u2019s energy and greatness of\nsoul, and nothing can shake her resolution. Thus there will be a\nseparation under this happy roof; the singing-bird is about to spread\nher wings and fly away to other skies. Since my pretty niece opened\nher heart to me I have become quite thoughtful. If it should so happen\nthat God required of me a similar sacrifice; and if, after giving up\nmy sister to him, I must also give him a child of my own!\u2026 But I put\naside this apprehension. Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.\n\n14th.\u2014\u201cBear God in your heart and glorify him in your bodies.\u201d This\nsermon has deeply impressed me; how I love the Catholic doctrine\nrespecting the body of man!\n\nI love to communicate by the side of Ren\u00e9. H\u00e9l\u00e8ne followed us this\nmorning; in returning from the altar I involuntarily looked at her,\nand was struck by the air of ecstatic joy and profound happiness which\nshone on her countenance. Kate, she is truly called! Adrien dotes upon\nhis daughter. Each one of the family feels the charm of her bright and\ncheerful piety, which makes her admirable even in the smallest things;\nshe is _grandmother\u2019s_ right hand, who feels herself living over again\nin this fair child.\u2026 How we are going to suffer!\n\n16th.\u2014A long walk with all the darlings, which made me miss a sermon\nof the Abb\u00e9 Bougaud, whom I so much want to hear. Visited two\nchurches. Orleans is full of them, and reminds me of the towns in\nItaly, where one comes upon them at every step. I have had some\nletters from Ireland, from our friends in Dublin. Lizzie asks me if,\nlike her, I have a \u201cdear, sweet home\u201d; she is enchanted with her\nposition. Ellen, the lively Ellen, gently rallies me on my love for\nFrance, and reminds me of Petrarch:\n\n _Non e questa la patria!_\n\nHow she misjudges my feelings if she thinks that my happiness could\nmake me forgetful of Ireland!\n\n21st.\u2014Sermon on the love of our neighbor. I have no trouble in loving\nthis dear neighbor of mine. _Duchesse_ allows herself to rally her\naunt on what she calls her _love of everybody_! Happily for this lofty\nlittle person, Berthe (Mme. Raoul) wages unflinching war against the\nslightest tendency to pride, and the uncles surpass one another in\nteasing her out of it. My room is all perfumed with the sweet\nfragrance of violets. Ren\u00e9 has brought me home splendid ones from his\nmorning\u2019s ramble. I delight in my bouquets like a child with a\nplaything; it is long since I have had any flowers, and I love these\nbalmy things, which the poetic Margaret calls the \u201cbeauties of nature,\nqueens of solitude, and daughters of the sun.\u201d\n\n25th.\u2014The weather was fine; Ren\u00e9 had the horses put in, and we set out\ntogether, delighted to be alone. As we were coming down the _Rue\nRoyale_ I caught sight of H\u00e9l\u00e8ne and her father, lost in admiration\nbefore some fine engravings. \u201cShall we take them with us?\u201d I said to\nRen\u00e9; and a minute afterwards the future Carmelite was giving us her\nimpressions of the day. How charming she is! And all this beauty is\ngoing to conceal itself under the austere _bandeau_ and thick veil.\u2026\nWe went to the _Chapelle Saint-Mesmin_, where Monseigneur has his\ncollege and his summer residence. The pure air, the perfumes of the\nspring, the evening calm, gave me an inexpressible feeling of\nenjoyment. For a moment I forgot this earth, and in the isolation of\nthought went back to my childhood; saw our beloved home, and our so\nlamented mother watching us at play. Why is she not with us still? She\nwould have been so proud of Ren\u00e9. \u201cWhat are you thinking of,\u201d asked\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne, \u201clooking in this way up to heaven like the picture of the\nMignon of Ary Scheffer?\u201d \u201cShe is dreaming of Ireland,\u201d replied _my\nbrother_, who had understood me.\n\n31st.\u2014Sermon on the intellectual life: \u201cLord, give me understanding\nand I shall live.\u201d My mother-in-law was rather unwell; I passed the\nday in her room. The whole _flight of doves_, profiting by this fine\nSunday, went out to flutter in the bright sunshine. H\u00e9l\u00e8ne presented\nher grandmother with a bunch of double violets; she took them with a\nsmile, and then delicately placed them in my hair, saying as she did\nso: \u201cDarling Violet, receive your sisters.\u201d I kissed her hand\u2014that\nsoft, white hand which reminds me of my mother\u2019s.\n\nApril 2.\u2014\u201cBlessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.\u201d The\ndays succeed each other, but are not much alike, it is said,\nimmutability not belonging to this earth. That which always resembles\nitself is my union with Ren\u00e9. He is no sooner absent than something\nwithin me suffers; as soon as he returns my heart overflows with joy.\nLucy asked me, \u201cAre you never sad?\u201d \u201cNever!\u201d \u201cHappy sister!\u201d she\nrejoined; \u201cas for me, I weep sometimes when baby suffers; then I feel\nas if all was lost\u2014as if I must die. Edward calls this exaggeration.\u201d\n\u201cDear Lucy, the Holy Ghost has said, \u2018If you are glad of heart, sing:\nif sorrowful, pray.\u2019 Pray, then, so that you may never be sad. God is\nso good that we ought to serve him with a joyful heart.\u201d\n\n7th.\u2014Played some splendid duets with H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, who has remarkable power.\nSermon on the supernatural life: \u201cIf you eat not the flesh of the Son\nof man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.\u201d The P\u00e8re Perraud\nwas the intimate friend of the gentle Abb\u00e9 Perreyve\u2014\u201cthis delightful\napparition,\u201d said M. de Montalembert, \u201cwhich, after an interval of\nthirty years, has made me seem to see again Lacordaire as he appeared\nbefore the court of the peers of France, young, eloquent, intrepid,\ngentle and frank, austere and charming, but above all ardent and\ntender, endowed with that spring of fascination, that key of hearts,\nwhich is found so rarely here below. In him one saw again that noble\nand sympathetic look which no one who had once received it could ever\nforget\u2014that eye, questioning and candid as that of a child.\u201d\n\nI am reading again, with Ren\u00e9, _Quentin Durward_ and _Charles the\nBold_. I am translating into English _Les Enfants d\u2019\u00c9douard_ for Lucy,\nwho says she likes English better than anything, and wishes to teach\nit to her son. Edward (ours) pretends that I possess all the\nqualifications for a good professor. They will spoil me, these kind\nbrothers.\n\n12th.\u2014Way of the Cross, of the Friday. I love this devotion. Even the\n_dauphin_, Arthur, begs to go to it; he has a taste for music, and the\npretty voices of the children of the choir fascinate him.\n\nI have to-day been absorbed in a delightful book for which I am\nindebted to the obliging kindness of Adrien. It is the letters of\nSilvio Pellico, translated by M. Latour. What an admirable man Silvio\nis! Do you recollect the _M\u00e9moires d\u2019Andryane_? Silvio speaks of this\nbook, and deeply regrets that his friend, the Frenchman, did not use\nmore reserve in his confidences to the public, as there were still\nprisoners in the Spielberg.\n\n14th.\u2014Copied a beautiful letter of Mgr. le Comte de Chambord, _our\nking_, as _duchesse_ proudly says. Mgr. Dupanloup is at Orleans; this\nevening he appeared in the pulpit. I was there; for, although the\nsermon was for men only, I like so much to witness this fine spectacle\nof the nave quite filled with men. I know of nothing more solemn and\nimposing than the _Miserere_ chanted by this multitude of deep and\npowerful male voices, accompanied by the rich tones of the great\norgan. My heart beat; for I was about to listen to the great orator.\nAlas! after the invocation Monseigneur left the pulpit, and was\nreplaced by the P\u00e8re Perraud. He took for his text the words of the\nprophet Isaias: \u201cWatchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the\nnight? And the watchman answered: The morning cometh, and also the\nnight: if you seek, seek: return, come.\u201d[137] M. Bougaud preaches the\nretreat for ladies; we are entering upon the week that is indeed holy.\n\n15th.\u2014Dear Kate, I am in a state of enthusiasm. M. Bougaud is quite\nwhat his _Sainte Chantal_ had led me to anticipate: an ardent soul, a\nheart of fire, his style unique, rich, picturesque, poetic, incisive,\npenetrating; the priestly heart which knows all the feelings, the\naspirations, and the needs of souls.\n\n\u201cWho are you, and what say you of yourselves?\u201d It was admirably fine.\nHe described to us the three wounds, the three martyrdoms, or the\nthree honors of man in this world:, in the mind, the thirst for\ninfinite illumination; in the heart, a keen and incessant hunger after\naffections; and in the whole being, the craving for eternity. It is\nfrom eternity that we are descended, and thither we must ascend again.\n\nI warmly expressed my admiration to Ren\u00e9 and Edouard, who were waiting\nfor me. My sisters were detained at home by their maternal cares, but\nit is settled that to-morrow we are to go _in choir_.\n\n16th.\u2014Sermon on the duties of mothers: \u201cThree things constitute a\ngreat soul, a soul strong and invincible: a horror of sin, a contempt\nfor all that passes away, and the love of God.\u201d Oh! if it were granted\nme to have a child, what happiness it would be to me to develop in him\nthese three things.\n\n17th.\u2014I have not been to the sermon, dear Kate \u2026 A letter from Fanny\nW\u2014\u2014 has informed me of the sudden death of our dear Mary. I have been\nweeping all day, thinking of the despair of her poor mother. There had\nbeen nothing to prepare her for this thunderclap. Mary appeared to\nhave entirely recovered from the fall she had last year, of which the\nonly remaining effect was an excessive paleness\u2014\u201ca paleness which\nrendered her so attractive that no one saw in it any alarming symptom.\nThe eve of her death she was speaking of you, of Kate, the chosen one\nof her heart. Our vigil was prolonged to a later hour than usual; I\nmake use of the word _vigil_, because Mary loved it. We spoke of the\ngreat subjects of interest about which she was so enthusiastic\u2014of the\nchurch, of Ireland, and of Poland, that other martyr; and Mary said to\nus: \u2018How the saints must implore the Lord for their brethren upon\nearth!\u2019 Dear soul! she also implores him now. Comfort us, darling\nGeorgina.\u201d I have written. I have tried to comfort these two hearts,\nso stricken by death\u2014that wound which is incurable here below. May God\nbe their help! Dear Kate, you will not hear of this loss for eight\ndays to come, in the midst of the Catholic alleluia; but it is indeed\nalleluia that one ought to sing over this early tomb. Happy are they\nwhom God calls to himself! Ren\u00e9 has been reading to me this evening\nsome chapters on the sufferings of Jesus Christ, by Father Thomas of\nJesus. Truly, the Calvary of Lady W\u2014\u2014 is the sudden departure of her\nangelic child; and who can console a mother?\n\nFanny is saddened on account of their isolation, although, with the\nmarvellous intuition of pure souls, she feels that death separates\nbodies only. \u201cShe is always present to me,\u201d she writes. A world of\nmemories revived within me upon reading these pages, bedewed with many\ntears. How warmly this family is attached to us!\n\n18th.\u2014I could write a volume upon this Holy Thursday, the Thursday\n_par excellence_. At seven o\u2019clock I was in the _Black Chapel_ with\nRen\u00e9; and we did not leave Ste. Croix until past eleven. What a\nservice, dear Kate! The Catholic worship is nowhere more magnificently\ncelebrated. To adorn this vast temple, Monseigneur is having admirable\nStations of the Cross sculptured in the walls themselves; the sculptor\nrequires a year for each station, of which the earlier ones are now\nopen to the pious curiosity of the public. Before one o\u2019clock I set\nout with Ren\u00e9, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, and the twins for the visits to the churches\u2014a\nveritable steeplechase. _Duchesse_ had laid a wager with Arthur that\nshe would see fifteen; and as she was bent upon gaining it, she so\nprettily pressed me to show her \u201csome more\u201d that we still went on and\non. We had afterwards a time of repose; a sermon from that true\norator, M. Bougaud: \u201cWhensoever you shall do these things, do them in\nremembrance of me.\u201d Our Lord has left us a remembrance. What is this\nremembrance, and with what feelings ought we to regard it? What\neloquence! How well he depicted this remembrance, and also how\nthorough an insight he possesses of the heart! What happy similitudes\nand figures! How he feels and how he loves! It is plain that the love\nof God predominates all else in this soul. \u201cWhen I was young I took\noffence at Bossuet for saying that friendships pass away with years;\nbut now I am offended with him no more: he saw clearly; he saw only\ntoo well.\u201d \u201cWhen I glance over the globe I am greatly moved. I see\nIreland dying of famine; Poland groaning forth her last sigh of agony;\nGermany, who has not yet stanched the bleeding wounds inflicted by her\nfratricidal wars; Italy, binding up her wounds in the sun like a poor\nstricken Samaritan; France, who perhaps in a few months\u2019 time will be\ncovered with blood\u2014all the nations shattered and expiring.\u2026 \u201cDear\nKate, I wept as I listened to this enumeration; for I thought of Mary,\nwho died almost while speaking of the martyr-nations. With regard to\nwhat M. Bougaud said about the love of God, my pen is powerless to\nexpress it.\n\nWe are come back this evening from Ste. Croix. Never did I see\nanything more imposing. The cathedral was full. The singing of the\n_Stabat_ was something admirable. We were in the transept, and before\nus this mass of men like a moving sea, a profusion of lights, numerous\nclergy, the grand voice of the organ, and in the tribune the children\nof the choir, with the voices of angels. I was transported. A good\nday, upon the whole, although I should have preferred to all this\nagitation a few hours of solitude at the feet of Jesus. It is late;\nRen\u00e9 is waiting for me for the holy hour. Good-night, dear Kate; let\nus love Jesus more and more.\n\n19th.\u2014This morning I hastened with H\u00e9l\u00e8ne to make the Way of the Cross\nbefore there was a crowd. The service was very fine. Monseigneur was\npresent; he seemed to me to be in great suffering. I was at the sermon\npreached by M. Bougaud on the Passion. What attractive eloquence! What\nlove for the divine Crucified One! The preacher showed us the Passion\nas the true Sacrifice in which are united the three parts of the\nsacrifices of antiquity: oblation, immolation, and communion. He\nportrayed the august Victim, his beauty, his courage, and his love;\nand in accents of the most touching pathos he retraced for us the\ngreat tragedy of the cross. How he has understood and experienced the\nSaviour\u2019s love! Speech is inadequate to express his lofty enthusiasm,\naccompanied as it is by a heart and an imagination enkindled with such\nfervor.\n\nOn a day like this one does not know how to quit the church. We were\nthere again this evening for the sermon of the P\u00e8re Perraud: \u201cHe was\nbruised for our sins.\u201d This young preacher was truly eloquent; he too\nbelieves and loves, and the love of God is a flame which is marvellous\nin its inspiration. He pointed out to us in the Passion of Jesus\nChrist a great teaching: hatred of sin; a sure hope; the mercy of the\nLord. Kate dearest, this is the first Good Friday that I have ever\nspent away from you!\n\n20th.\u2014Heard three Masses with Ren\u00e9; his ardent piety is a help to my\ntepidity. This is _the vigil par excellence_, the last of the holy\nforty days.\n\nM. Bougaud\u2019s concluding sermon has been worthy of the preceding ones;\nit was taken from the words of St. Augustine, spoken on the same day,\nin the year 387, when St. Ambrose gave holy baptism to this _son of so\nmany tears_: \u201cI believe in God; I believe in Jesus Christ; I believe\nin the church.\u201d To listen to M. Bougaud is a royal treat; I hung, as\nit were, on his lips, drinking in that eloquence which is indeed the\ntwo-edged sword spoken of in Scripture. \u201cGod is the place of souls. A\nplace is that which bears, which supports.\u201d How ably he developed this\ngreat proposition! \u201cJesus Christ is the only veritable source of love,\ndevotedness, immolation, and sacrifice. All in the present age that is\nvile, or despicable, or impious will never be able to effect anything\nagainst the church; while all it has that is beautiful, noble,\nrefined, great, and excellent will never be able to effect anything\nbut by the church; these I call the two axioms of the intelligence and\nlove of the church. The distinctive and immortal sign which\ncharacterizes the church, and which belongs to her alone, is not\nscience, eloquence, or genius; it is devotedness, immolation,\nsacrifice.\u201d And speaking of the love of God, of Jesus Christ, and of\nthe church, the characteristic of living souls, he said: \u201cIt is\nneedful to awaken in souls this threefold love.\u201d It was beautiful,\nsublime; but a discourse like this cannot be reproduced by lips\nprofane. This evening we had no regular sermon, owing to the fatigue\nof the preacher. He contented himself with thanking his male auditors\nfor their assiduous and willing attention (the Abb\u00e9 Bougaud thanked us\nalso, with a charm peculiarly his own), gave a _r\u00e9sum\u00e9_ of the\nprincipal features of the plan he has been following in this course of\ninstruction, and, after saying a few words on the subject of the\nPaschal Communion, ended by inviting to it those who have not yet\nresponded to the call of their Saviour, entreating them to be among\nthe workmen who came at the eleventh hour. O Lord Jesus! draw all\nsouls unto thee; reveal to them the incomparable sweetness of thy\nservice.\n\nDear Kate, I am told so much of the beauties of the Procession of the\nResurrection that I have decided to go to it. Marianne promises to\nwake me. Do you remember the good Duchess Elizabeth giving orders for\nher foot to be pulled in the night by one of her attendants, and of\nthe pleasing trait of the Landgrave? To-morrow I shall have this\nvolume put into the post; read in every line the unalterable affection\nof your Georgina. I do not mention Ren\u00e9, our hearts having been melted\ninto one alone. _Alleluia_, dear sister of my soul! When will the\nCatholic alleluia be sung in all the universe? Who can ever have made\nthe title of _papist_ a term of reproach? May England herself one day\nbecome papist and receive the pardon of Ireland! O my country! how\ndevotedly I love her.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n [128] \u201cTo every noble, all honor\u201d (proverb).\n\n [129] Mmes. de T\u2014\u2014 were detained in Brittany at\n the time of Georgina\u2019s marriage. The birth of Jeanne,\n Mme. Paul\u2019s fourth child, took place the same day.\n\n [130] Our Lady of Good Help.\n\n [131] Sermon preached at St. Roch, 1861.\n\n [132] \u201cThe Virgin\u2019s Thread,\u201d the poetic and popular\n name in France for the gossamer.\n\n [133] _L\u2019entre chien et loup._\n\n [134] _D\u00e9sassombrir._\n\n [135] _In choir_\u2014in a body; a whole party.\n\n [136] The white-handed Isabelle.\n\n [137] Is. xxi. 11.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TYPICAL MEN OF AMERICA.\n\n\nThe commemoration of the birth of American independence one hundred\nyears ago, which is now engaging the attention of our entire\ncommunity, and exciting a lively interest in every quarter of the\ncivilized world, while it affords us an excellent opportunity for the\ndisplay of the most tangible evidences of great national prosperity\nand progress in arts, sciences, and industrial pursuits, will not be\nwithout its salutary influence on the thousands of intelligent\nforeigners who this year, for the first time, may visit our shores.\nWhether these strangers come to us merely to gratify their curiosity,\nor, actuated by a laudable spirit of investigation, to study our laws,\ninstitutions, and peculiar systems of labor, a personal inspection of\nour social and political condition will doubtless have the effect of\nremoving many latent prejudices and false conceptions from their minds\nwhich have been planted and fostered there by ignorant journalists and\nhostile critics.\n\nAnd if, instead of confining their observations to the things to be\nseen in the grand Exhibition at Philadelphia, or even to the seaboard\ncities, with their fleets of shipping, gigantic warehouses, and\nimmense factories, they should penetrate into the interior, they will\nbehold a condition of society unequalled in any country or age. There,\nin the near and far West, the observant traveller will find millions\nof happy homesteads, wherein the laborious husbandman can repose in\nthe twilight of his useful existence, conscious that the fertile soil\nupon which he has spent the best years of his manhood, and the\nroof-tree that covers him, are absolutely his own, subject to no\nearthly authority but the law which he and his fellows have devised\nfor their mutual happiness and protection.\n\nBut while these advances in material as well as political greatness\nare naturally subjects of honest pride with the people of this\ncountry, they likewise give rise to grave reflections, and\ninstinctively suggest the question: Has our progress in the higher\naims of life, in civilization, morality, and religion, kept pace with\nour extraordinary increase in wealth, population, political power, and\nmaterial development? We have no desire to throw a passing shadow over\nthe festive spirit of this centennial year by dwelling too\nemphatically on individual and national faults\u2014faults which, though\nmore apparent in our popular system of government than in the more\nsecretive polity of other nations, are nevertheless common to all\u2014but\nwe are obliged in candor to admit that the grosser pursuits of life,\nthe desire to possess the perishable things of the world, have\noccupied much more the attention of the busy brains and restless\nphysical energy of our population, than the cultivation of solid\nmental gifts and the practice of public and private virtues.\n\nMuch, of course, may be urged in palliation of this undue tendency to\nmaterialism. Possessing a fertile, unsettled country of vast\ndimensions and inexhaustible agricultural and mineral wealth, it was\nnot unnatural that the new-born energies of our young republic should\nbe directed to the attainment of personal independence, by the\ncultivation and exploration of the almost illimitable public domain of\nwhich we became the owners by right of conquest or purchase. But is it\nnot now time to pause on the threshold of our second century of\nexistence, and enquire whether, in this headlong pursuit of material\nsuccess, we have not almost lost sight of the great and sole end for\nwhich man was created, and the means by which his destiny in this\nworld and the next is to be accomplished? Has not our test of human\nusefulness been an incomplete one, and our standard of mental and\nmoral excellence far too low?\n\nIn nature, it is said, everything is great or little by comparison. If\nthe same rule be applied to the conduct and achievements of the men of\nthe present day, as contrasted with those of a past age, we fear it\nwould be found that, while we are willing to honor the virtues of our\nancestors and eager to claim a share of their glory, we have\nlamentably failed in following their brilliant example, and much more\nso in improving on their plans and methods of benefiting mankind. And\nyet examples worthy of imitation are not wanting in the short but\neventful pages of our history. We need not go back to remote antiquity\nfor them, or even search through tomes of medi\u00e6val chronicles for what\nis so plentifully supplied us in modern records\u2014models of moral\npurity, unsullied reputation, unselfish ambition, and perfect manhood.\nTake, for instance, those two illustrious men whose names are most\ninseparably connected with American history\u2014Christopher Columbus, the\ndiscoverer of the New World, and George Washington, the central figure\nin that group of patriots and statesmen who founded the only really\nfree republic that now exists or ever had an existence.\n\nFrom the day he left his father\u2019s house in Genoa, at the early age of\nfifteen, till, spent by toil and worn down by disease, he expired in\nValladolid, the great discoverer pursued one unvarying course with a\ntenacity of purpose and a strength of will that were truly heroic. But\nColumbus was more than a hero: he was a Christian in the highest\nsense, a Catholic thoroughly imbued with the doctrines of the church,\nand as jealous of her honor and authority as the most loving son could\nbe of the reputation of his earthly mother. During nearly half a\ncentury of constant study, adventure, grand successes, and\ndisheartening changes of fortune, the experienced seaman, erudite\nastronomer, and close observer of natural phenomena exemplified in his\nwhole career, with singular consistency, all the supernatural virtues\nwith which God is sometimes pleased to endow his creatures. To a mind\nwell disciplined and stored with all the human knowledge of his age\nwere added a profound faith; deep-seated reverence for authority; a\nsincere love, not only for friends and relatives, but for all mankind;\nand an implicit reliance on the beneficence and justice of divine\nProvidence that no terror could shake and no reverse lessen in the\nslightest degree.\n\nA careful examination of the career of Columbus leads to the\nconviction that his chief object and ultimate aim from the beginning,\nwhat in after-life became more apparent, was to rescue the Holy\nSepulchre from the polluting grasp of the infidel, and to bring the\nlight of Christianity to races of men who were in darkness; all other\nefforts, though consistent with this grand scheme, were subordinate\nand auxiliary to it. Actuated by an ambition less exalted or an\nenthusiasm less aborbing, he could never have attained that glorious\nsuccess which, though partial, has linked his name to immortality.\nNeither was this crusader a theorist or a religious fanatic, but, on\nthe contrary, one of the most practical and calculating of men. Though\nthoroughly satisfied with the feasibility of his plans and confident\nin the rectitude of his motives, he neglected no opportunity of\nqualifying himself for the noble task upon which he had set his heart.\nWhile others attempted to reach Asia by slow and uncertain coasting\nalong the western shores of Africa, he proposed to launch boldly out\non the unknown and trackless deep, and, by taking a direct course\nwestward, to reach the remotest parts of the East, where was situated,\nit was reported, the great Christian empire of Kublai Khan, the land\nof gold and precious stones, a tithe of which would be sufficient to\ninitiate and sustain a new and more successful crusade against the\nMohammedans.\n\nWith this end constantly in view, Columbus carefully studied every\nwork on cosmogony and the physical sciences within his reach,\naccurately noted down each new discovery in navigation, and was never\ntired of consulting old mariners on their experience and observations.\nEven the writings of learned churchmen were placed under contribution.\n\u201cHe fortified himself,\u201d says one of his biographers, \u201cby references to\nSt. Isidore, Beda, St. Ambrose, and Duns Scotus.\u201d He also became a\npractical sailor, and grew as familiar with the frozen seas of Iceland\nand the torrid heats of the African coast as with the bays and inlets\nof his native Italy. \u201cI have been seeking out the secrets of nature\nfor forty years,\u201d he tells us, \u201cand wherever ship has sailed, there\nhave I voyaged.\u201d\n\nHaving at length, by study and personal observation, accumulated a\nlarge and varied stock of scientific knowledge, the future discoverer\nretired with his family to the remote island of Porto Santo, the\nadvanced outpost of African discovery. There for several years he\ndevoted his leisure to the patient collation and arrangement of his\nauthorities, till he was able to reduce a mass of crude philosophical\nspeculations and ill-digested cosmical theories to an elaborate\nsystem, which, if not altogether borne out by subsequent\ninvestigation, was in the main correct, and far in advance of the\nintelligence of the fifteenth century.\n\nHis plans thus thoroughly matured, Columbus considered that the time\nhad arrived to put them into execution. He had already submitted\ncertain proposals to Portugal, but they were rejected by a body called\nthe Geographical Council, who, while they treated with seeming\ncontempt the scheme of the astute Italian, had the unparalleled\nmeanness to appropriate and attempt to use secretly the results of his\nlong years of toil and study. Armed with letters of recommendation, he\nnow appeared before the court of Spain, and, with the earnestness and\nlucidity of a mind thoroughly convinced by long and patient analysis,\nhe explained to Ferdinand and Isabella his great project of crossing\nthe Atlantic and adding to their dual crown, not only a new continent,\nbut the everlasting glory of having been the means of bringing into\nthe bosom of the church millions of human beings. Though engaged in\nthe desperate war which ended in the final overthrow of Moslem power\nin Spain, the Catholic sovereigns gave the daring adventurer a kind\nreception, and referred his proposition to a junta of cosmographers\nfor consideration. The members of that body, however, seem to have\nbeen as incapable of understanding the merits of the questions\nsubmitted for their deliberation as they were of appreciating the high\nresolve and mental comprehensiveness of their originator. After five\ntedious years, during which Columbus, with anxious steps but\nunfaltering courage, followed the court from place to place as the\nexigencies of the war required, the junta reported that his plans were\n\u201cvain and impossible.\u201d\n\nDisgusted, but not disheartened, Columbus retired to the small port of\nPalos, where, in the society of a few learned men, clerical and lay,\nhe forgot for a while his disappointment, but not his darling project.\nThrough the interference of friends negotiations with the Spanish\ncourt were renewed, and again broken off on account of the conditions\ndemanded by Columbus being considered exorbitant. He did not think so,\nhowever, and the result proved that he did not overrate the value of\nhis services. Abandoning all hope of co-operation from Spain, the\ngifted Italian was about to pass the Pyrenees, and was actually on his\nway to the French frontier, when a courier was despatched to recall\nhim to court. The remonstrance of influential friends, and the fear of\nyielding to a rival the profits as well as the political prestige\nwhich were sure to follow the success of Columbus\u2019 projects, at last\novercame the caution of Ferdinand; while a strong sympathy with the\ndaring designs of the gifted adventurer, and an ardent desire for the\npropagation of the faith, made Isabella an active advocate of his\ninterests. At Santa F\u00e9, on the 17th of April, 1492, the agreement\nbetween Columbus and the Catholic sovereigns was signed, whereby he\nbecame admiral and viceroy of all the seas and countries he might\ndiscover; a sharer, to the extent of one-tenth, in all the profits\naccruing from the trade with such foreign possessions; and, by virtue\nof his contribution of one-eighth of the expenses of the voyage, a\nproportionate part of the gains which might result from it.\n\nThese conditions, which had previously been looked upon as\ninadmissible, but which were now willingly allowed, furnish the key to\nthe character of Columbus. Few men of that age cared less for titles,\npower, or wealth than he; but these means were necessary, he\nconsidered, for the accomplishment of his grand ulterior design\u2014the\nChristian possession of Palestine. He had studied human nature\nthoroughly, and knew that no great movement, social or political,\ncould ever command the confidence and sympathy of the world unless\ndirected by leaders of approved position and sustained by liberal\nexpenditures of money.\n\nSo far, then, his wish was gratified. Ferdinand, the cautious, had\nyielded a reluctant consent to the fitting out of the expedition on\nsatisfactory terms, and Isabella, his consort, the noblest woman that\never graced a throne, pawned her jewels to procure funds for its\nproper equipment. Amid the congratulations of his sanguine friends and\nthe prayers of the populace, Columbus, with his fleet of three frail\nboats and scanty crews, \u201cafter they had all confessed and received the\nsacraments,\u201d set sail from Palos on the memorable 3d of August, 1492.\n\nOnce out of sight of land, on the boundless ocean where keel of ship\nhad never ploughed before, naught around him but a gloomy waste of\nwaters, naught above him save the sun and stars, no friend to consult,\nno familiar voice to whisper hope or combat despair, with a crew both\nignorant and superstitious, he held on his prearranged course,\nself-reliant, watchful, and dauntless. Night succeeded day, and light\nfollowed darkness, in dreary succession, yet still no land appeared.\nAppalled by imaginary dangers and sick from hope deferred, his men,\nwhose hearts were never wholly in their work, first began to murmur,\nthen broke out into open reproaches, and finally threatened to throw\ntheir captain into the sea. It was amid such trying circumstances that\nthe true character of the man became manifest in all its magnificent\nproportions. Calm alike in sunshine and storm, his hand constantly on\nthe tiller and his eye directed to the west, he heeded little the\nrumbling of mutinous discontent beneath his feet, nor for a moment did\nhe allow himself to doubt that God in his own good time would conduct\nhim safely to the haven of his hopes.\n\nIn the dark watches of the night, when the waves ran highest and the\nheavens were obscured as with a pall, he felt that he had that within\nhis soul beckoning him on, more brilliant in its coruscations than the\nstarry cross that illumines the southern hemisphere, as unerring in\nits guidance as the beacon which of old led the children of Israel\nthrough the pathless desert\u2014implicit belief in the sublimity of his\nmission, and an entire reliance on the mercy of his Creator, in whose\nhands he felt himself an humble instrument for the accomplishment of\nnoble ends. Nor were his confidence and humility long unrewarded.\nAfter eight weeks of constant watching and unspeakable anxiety, land\nwas at length discovered, the first glimpse of the New World presented\nto European eyes; and scarcely had the anchor of the _Santa Maria_\nbecome embedded in the sands of San Salvador, than her brave commander\nand his now repentant followers hastened ashore to plant the sacred\nemblem of our salvation, and, weeping and prostrate on that heathen\nsoil, to pour forth their thanksgiving to the Almighty.\n\nThe honors which were showered upon Columbus on his return to Spain\nafter this great event were in strange contrast to the neglect,\ntreachery, and injustice of which he was afterwards the victim. Three\ntimes again did he cross and recross the Atlantic, making on each\noccasion new and important discoveries. But ignorance, venality, and\nenvy of his fair fame and spotless honor conspired to raise up against\nhim a host of powerful enemies, who at last stripped him of his\nhard-earned rewards, and would, had it been possible, have robbed him\neven of the glory of having been the discoverer of America. However,\nhe bore his trials with fortitude as he had worn his great honors with\nmeekness, seldom retorting on his enemies, and but once, as far as we\nare aware, condescending to complain of the rank ingratitude of a\ncountry to which he had given a whole continent. This occurred during\nhis fourth voyage, in a despatch to the king, in which he says:\n\u201cWearied and sighing, I fell into a slumber, when I heard a piteous\nvoice saying to me: \u2018O fool! and slow to believe and serve thy God,\nwho is the God of all. What did he more for Moses, or for his servant\nDavid, than he has done for thee? From the time of thy birth he has\never had thee under his peculiar care. When he saw thee of a fitting\nage, he made thy name to resound marvellously throughout the earth,\nand thou wert obeyed in many lands, and didst acquire honorable fame\namong Christians. Of the gates of the ocean sea, shut up with mighty\nchains, he delivered to thee the keys; the Indies, those wealthy\nregions of the world, he gave thee for thine own, and empowered thee\nto dispose of them to others according to thy pleasure. What did he\nmore for the great people of Israel when he led them forth from Egypt?\nor for David, whom from being a shepherd he made a king in Judea? Turn\nto him, then, and acknowledge thine error; his mercy is infinite. He\nhas many and vast inheritances yet in reserve. Fear not to seek them.\nThine age shall be no impediment to any great undertaking. Abraham was\nabove a hundred years when he begat Isaac; and was Sara youthful? Thou\nurgest despondingly for succor. Answer! Who hath afflicted thee so\nmuch and so many times\u2014God or the world? The privileges and promises\nwhich God hath made to thee he hath never broken; neither hath he\nsaid, after having received thy services, that his meaning was\ndifferent, and to be understood in a different sense. He fulfils all\nthat he promises, and with increase. Such is his custom. I have shown\nthee what thy Creator hath done for thee, and what he doeth for all.\nThe present is the reward of the toils and perils thou hast endured in\nserving others.\u2019\u201d\n\nWhether Columbus had a vision, which is not improbable, or that he\nadopted this metaphorical style of complaint to avoid giving offence\nto Ferdinand, it is equally characteristic of the depth of his\nreligious feelings and the depth of his gratitude to the Almighty. But\nremonstrance, no matter how just or how delicately urged, had little\neffect on the court of Spain. He was soon after recalled, to end his\ndays in comparative want and obscurity. It was not apparently in the\ndesigns of Providence that Columbus should have succeeded in his\nprimary object\u2014the delivery of Jerusalem\u2014but his half-success, the\ndemonstration of the rotundity of the earth and the discovery of our\nhemisphere, were productive of more benefit to humanity than the\ncomplete victories of most other great benefactors of mankind. While\nhe has handed down to all ages an imperishable name, he has also left\nan example to posterity\u2014and particularly to us Americans, who owe him\nso much gratitude and reverence\u2014that far outweighs in importance his\ncontributions to science and his efforts to aggrandize his adopted\ncountry. He has proved in his own person that a soul filled with deep\nand intense devotion to the Creator, and a will conformable in all\nthings to his laws, are alone capable of leading human beings to the\nachievement of true and lasting greatness.\n\nEqually salutary, though different in degree and purpose, is the\nlesson taught us by the life and labors of George Washington, who may\nbe considered as having been in the natural what Columbus was in the\nsupernatural order\u2014a noble specimen of humanity; a lover and\nbenefactor of his kind.\n\nAs Americans, we cannot study too diligently the character of him who\nwas properly called the Father of his Country. No other among our\nRevolutionary ancestors embodied in himself so many of those civic\nvirtues which constitute the perfect citizen. Like most men who have\nplayed prominent parts on the world\u2019s stage, Washington was born with\nstrong passions and an imperious disposition; but careful self-culture\nearly changed his powerful impulses into tenacity of purpose and\nstrength of will, while his natural exclusiveness gave him afterwards\nthat dignity of word and action which is absolutely necessary for\nthose who are called upon to command. As general of the army and\npresident of the infant republic, he had men around him of more\nbrilliancy, larger experience, and greater mental attainments; but he\nalone possessed in a superior degree that well-balanced organization\nand intuitive wisdom to which all could pay the homage of obedience.\n\nWashington\u2019s mind, however, was neither synthetical nor originating.\nHe was more a man of ability than of genius. He never could have\ninitiated a revolution, though once begun, as experience has proved,\nhe was admirably adapted to carry it out successfully. In a monarchy,\nhe might have been a loyal, chivalrous subject; under a wise,\nconservative government, he would have been the first to oppose\ninnovation; under all circumstances, he could not have failed to be a\nhigh-toned, accomplished, and honorable gentleman.\n\nWe are not surprised that our Protestant fellow-citizens love to point\nwith commendable pride to the example of their great and good\nco-religionist, though Protestantism, particularly that professed in\nhis day, and by his family and associates, had little to do with the\nformation of his character or the regulation of his public actions;\nbut as Catholics we yield to none in admiration and affection for the\nnoblest citizen of our common country. We can never forget that when\nour numbers were \u201cfew and faint, but fearless still,\u201d when Puritan\nfanaticism and Anglican superciliousness endeavored to underrate our\nservices, malign our motives, and misrepresent our doctrines, George\nWashington, rising superior to the narrow, petty bigotry of his\ngeneration, was the first to give a hearty and candid recognition to\nour claims as good and faithful citizens. His words to Bishop Carroll\nand the other representatives of the Catholics of the Revolution are\nindelibly impressed on the memory of the millions of Catholics among\nus who feel, and are proud to acknowledge, that to him and his\nassociates they are mainly indebted for the civil and religious\nliberty they now so freely enjoy. \u201cAs mankind become more liberal,\u201d he\nwrote, \u201cthey will be more apt to allow that all those who conduct\nthemselves as worthy members of the community are equally entitled to\nthe protection of civil government. I hope ever to see America among\nthe foremost nations in examples of justice and liberality. And I\npresume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part\nwhich you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution and the\nestablishment of their government, or the important assistance which\nthey received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is\nprofessed.\u201d\n\nThough a sincere Christian, Washington cannot be said to have been a\nreligious man. The cold formalities of Episcopalianism to which he was\naccustomed could not touch his heart nor inspire his soul with great\nand glowing emotions; but this was more the fault of the system in\nwhich he was reared than of himself. The motives of his actions seem\nto have been principally based on a refined sense of honor, on his\ncomprehension of the requirements of the natural law, which in his\nregard was usually in conformity with the teachings of the church. He\nwas just, honest, truthful, and manly; faithful in his social\nrelations and moderate in his ambition. Had he possessed some of the\nglorious enthusiasm of Columbus, great as he was, he might have been\nstill greater; and had the discoverer united to his other wonderful\nqualities the worldly wisdom of Washington, his star might not have\ndescended amid the darkness and disappointment which clouded the last\nyears of his eventful life.\n\nTaking the character of the two greatest personages, we find in their\ncollective lives the development of the highest qualities which human\nnature is capable of exhibiting. As such, we desire to hold them up\nfor imitation to the youth of this country, who in a short time will\ntake the place of the present generation in the conduct of our civil\nand domestic affairs. That those men were of different races and\npeculiar national tendencies does not prevent the blending of their\ncharacters into one harmonious whole. The greatest nations of ancient\nand modern times, those which have developed the most equitable and\nstable systems of government, with the greatest liberty and the\nhighest civilization, have been formed upon the union of various\ntribes, clans, and families, having many radically different\ntendencies and special characteristics. In what one people may be\ndeficient another may have a superabundance; and the volatile and\nsupersensitive nature of one race is counteracted by the sedateness\nand stolidity of others less imaginative. As the river Nile, flowing\nfrom different sources, bears in its course the riches of the soils of\na hundred climes, and empties them all into the lap of Egypt, so\nfamilies of men, gifted by their Creator with various qualities of\nheart and mind, collect together, each with its contribution, to form\na lasting and magnificent commonwealth. This is as true of religious\nas of political society. The church, guided by a divine instinct,\nfinds employment and turns to account the genius of all her children,\nno matter how peculiar or dissimilar their attributes. She welcomes\nand perfects the organizing power of the Latin races, and the fire and\nenthusiasm of the Celtic, equally with the solidity of the Germanic\nand the imagination of the Orientals. Unity in diversity, authority\nwith liberty, are essentials and correlative in the science of good\ngovernment, whether it be that of a republic or of the universal\nchurch.\n\nWho knows but that the nation now in process of forming in the bosom\nof our republic, from the various races of Europe, with ampler natural\ncapacities quickened into greater activity by the political character\nof its institutions, is destined, in the order of events, to give to\nChristianity an expression more adequate and more in accordance with\nits universal spirit and divine origin? The church of Christ has no\nreverses in the movement of her divine mission, and she has turned to\naccount each race according to its gifts in the Old World from her\nbeginning. May not all these, in their best energies combined in the\nNew, be called to realize the highest type of the Christian character?\nDo not the leading traits of Columbus and Washington point out to us\nthe ideal Christian, the union of the most exalted faith with the\nthoroughest manhood? For as Christ was perfect God and perfect man in\none personality, so is he who unites the most exalted faith with the\nmost thorough manhood in one personality the complete Christian. Is\nnot this ideal Christian the glorious promise of the future of this\nNew World?\n\nProtestantism, which has been the religion of the vast majority of our\ncountrymen, is gradually losing its hold upon their convictions. The\nreligion alone which can claim the attention of all mankind is the\nCatholic. It alone has all the notes of truth, both inward and\noutward, in its favor.\n\nUnsupported by religious convictions, no nation can realize its true\ndestiny. Unity of religious conviction, and the virtues necessary to\nuphold its institutions, are more necessary to a republic like ours\nthan to any other form of political government. The principles and\nviews of human nature on which our republic is based are sustained by\nthe doctrines of Christianity taught by the Catholic Church. Gradually\nthe church and the republic are approaching each other, and with this\nnearer approach there springs up reciprocal appreciation and sympathy.\nFanatics on one hand, and infidels on the other, may warn, may threat,\nand may attempt to keep them apart by conspiracy and persecution, but\nin vain; for God, in whose providence they are destined to be united,\nwill not be frustrated by the puny efforts of his enemies to keep them\nasunder. Out of this divine wedlock will spring forth children whose\nlives will be of the highest type of Christian manhood, and whose\ncivilization will be the most glorious development of God\u2019s kingdom on\nearth.\n\n\n\n\nCATHOLICS IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.\n\n\nThe moment of England\u2019s triumph in the last century was the dawn of\nAmerican independence. When England, aided by her colonies, had at\nlast wrested Canada from France, and, forcing that weakened power to\nrelinquish Louisiana to Spain, had restored Havana to the Catholic\nsovereign only at the price of Florida, her sway seemed secure over\nall North America from the icy ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, from the\nshores of the Atlantic to the Mississippi. But her very success had\naroused questions and created wants which were not to be answered or\nsolved until her mighty American power was shattered.\n\nWhile Spain and France kept colonies in leading-strings, England\nallowed her American provinces to thrive by her utter neglect of them.\nMonarchs granted charters liberally, and with that their interest\nseemed to vanish, until it was discovered that offices could be found\nthere for court favorites. But the people had virtually constituted\ngovernments of their own; had their own treasury, made their own laws,\nwaged their wars with the Indian, carried on trade, unaided and almost\nunrecognized by the mother country.\n\nThe final struggle with France had at last awakened England to the\nimportance, wealth, and strength of the American colonies. It appeared\nto embarrassed English statesmen that the depleted coffers of the\nnational treasury might be greatly aided by taxing these prosperous\ncommunities. The Americans, paying readily taxes where they could\ncontrol their disbursement, refused to accept new burdens and to pay\nthe mother country for the honor of being governed. The relation of\ncolonies to the mother country; the question of right in the latter to\ntax the former; the bounds and just limits on either side, involved\nnew and undiscussed points. They now became the subject of debate in\nParliament, in colonial assemblies, in every town gathering, and at\nevery fireside in the American colonies. The people were all British\nsubjects, proud of England and her past; a large majority were devoted\nto the Protestant religion and the house of Hanover, and sought to\nremain in adherence to both while retaining all the rights they\nclaimed as Englishmen.\n\nA small body of Catholics existed in the country. What their position\nwas on the great questions at issue can be briefly told.\n\nThey were of many races and nationalities. No other church then or now\ncould show such varieties, blended together by a common faith.\nMaryland, settled by a Catholic proprietor, with colonists largely\nCatholic, and for a time predominantly so, contained some thousands of\nnative-born Catholics of English, and to some extent of Irish, origin,\nproud of their early Maryland record, of the noble character of the\ncharter, and of the nobly tolerant character of the early laws and\npractice of the land of Mary. In Pennsylvania a smaller Catholic body\nexisted, more scattered, by no means so compact or so influential as\ntheir Maryland brethren\u2014settlers coming singly during the eighteenth\ncentury mainly, or descendants of such emigrants, some of whom had\nbeen sent across the Atlantic as bondmen by England, others coming as\nredemptioners, others again as colonists of means and position. They\nwere not only of English, Irish, and Scotch origin, but also of the\nGerman race, with a few from France and other Catholic states. New\nJersey and New York had still fewer Catholics than Pennsylvania. In\nthe other colonies, from New Hampshire to Georgia, they existed only\nas individuals lost in the general body of the people. But all along\nthe coast were scattered by the cruel hand of English domination the\nunfortunate Acadians, who had been ruthlessly torn from their Nova\nScotian villages and farms, deprived of all they had on earth\u2014home and\nproperty and kindred. With naught left them but their faith, these\nAcadians formed little groups of dejected Catholics in many a part,\nnot even their noble courage amid unmerited suffering exciting\nsympathy or kindly encouragement from the colonists. Florida had a\nremnant of its old Spanish population, with no hopes for the future\nfrom the Protestant power to which the fortunes of war and the\nvicissitudes of affairs had made them subjects. There were besides in\nthat old Catholic colony some Italians and Minorcans, brought over\nwith Greeks under Turnbull\u2019s project of colonization. Maine had her\nIndians, of old steady foes of New England, now at peace, submitting\nto the new order of things, thoroughly Catholic from the teaching of\ntheir early missionaries. New York had Catholic Indians on her\nnorthern frontier. The Catholic Wyandots clustered around the pure\nstreams and springs of Sandusky. Further west, from Detroit to the\nmouth of the Ohio, from Vincennes to Lake Superior, were little\ncommunities of Canadian French, all Catholics, with priests and\nchurches, surrounded by Indian tribes among all which missionaries had\nlabored, and not in vain. Some tribes were completely Catholic; others\ncould show some, and most of them many, who had risen from the\npaganism of the red men to the faith of Christ.\n\nSuch was the Catholic body\u2014colonists who could date back their origin\nto the foundation of Maryland or Acadia, Florida or Canada, Indians of\nvarious tribes, new-comers from England, Germany, or Ireland. There\nwere, too, though few, converts, or descendants of converts, who,\nbelonging to the Protestant emigration, had been led by God\u2019s grace to\nsee the truth, and who resolutely shared the odium and bondage of an\noppressed and unpopular church.\n\nThe questions at issue between the colonies and the mother country\nwere readily answered by the Catholics of every class. Catholic\ntheologians nowhere but in the Gallican circles of France had learned\nto talk of the divine right of kings. The truest, plainest doctrines\nof the rights of the people found their exposition in the works of\nCatholic divines. By a natural instinct they sided with those who\nclaimed for these new communities in the western world the right of\nself-government. Catholics, of whatever race or origin, were on this\npoint unanimous. Evidence meets us on every side. Duch\u00e9, an Episcopal\nclergyman, will mention Father Harding, the pastor of the Catholics in\nPhiladelphia, for \u201chis known attachment to British liberty\u201d\u2014they had\nnot yet begun to talk of American liberty. Indian, French, and\nAcadian, bound by no tie to England, could brook no subjection to a\ndistant and oppressive power. The Irish and Scotch Catholics, with old\nwrongs and a lingering Jacobite dislike to the house of Hanover,\nrequired no labored arguments to draw them to the side of the popular\nmovement. All these elements excited distrust in England. Even a\nhundred years before in the councils of Britain fears had been\nexpressed that the Maryland Catholics, if they gained strength, would\none day attempt to set up their independence; and the event justified\nthe fear. If they did not originate the movement, they went heartily\ninto it.\n\nThe English government had begun in Canada its usual course of\nharassing and grinding down its Catholic subjects, putting the\nthousands of Canadians completely at the mercy of the few English\nadventurers or office-holders who entered the province, giving three\nhundred and sixty Protestant sutlers and camp-followers the rights of\ncitizenship and all the offices in Canada, while disfranchising the\nreal people of the province, the one hundred and fifty thousand\nCanadian Catholics. How such a system works we have seen, unhappily,\nin our own day and country. But with the growing discontent in her old\ncolonies, caused by the attempts of Parliament to tax the settlers\nindirectly, where they dared not openly, England saw that she must\ntake some decisive step to make the Canadians contented subjects, or\nbe prepared to lose her dear-bought conquest as soon as any war should\nbreak out in which she herself might be involved. Instead of keeping\nthe treaty of Paris as she had kept that of Limerick, England for once\nresolved to be honest and fulfil her agreement.\n\nIt was a moment when the thinking men among the American leaders\nshould have won the Canadians as allies to their hopes and cause; but\nthey took counsel of bigotry, allowed England to retrace her false\nsteps, and by tardy justice secure the support of the Canadians.\n\nThe Quebec act of 1774 organized Canada, including in its extent the\nFrench communities in the West. Learning a lesson from Lord Baltimore\nand Catholic Maryland, \u201cthe nation which would not so much as legally\nrecognize the existence of a Catholic in Ireland, now from political\nconsiderations recognized on the St. Lawrence the free exercise of the\nreligion of the Church of Rome, and confirmed to the clergy of that\nchurch their rights and dues.\u201d\n\nJust and reasonable as the act was, solid in policy, and, by\nintroducing the English criminal law and forms of government,\ngradually preparing the people for an assimilation in form to the\nother British colonies, this Quebec act, from the simple fact that it\ntolerated Catholics, excited strong denunciation on both sides of the\nAtlantic. The city of London addressed the king before he signed the\nbill, petitioning that he should refrain from doing so. \u201cThe Roman\nCatholic religion, which is known to be idolatrous and bloody, is\nestablished by this bill,\u201d say these wiseacres, imploring George III.,\nas the guardian of the laws, liberty, and religion of his people, and\nas the great bulwark of the Protestant faith, not to give his royal\nassent.\n\nIn America, when the news came of its passage, the debates as to their\nwrongs, as to the right of Parliament to pass stamp acts or levy\nduties on imports, to maintain an army or quarter soldiers on the\ncolonists, seemed to be forgotten in their horror of this act of\ntoleration. In New York the flag with the union and stripes was run\nup, bearing bold and clear on a white stripe the words, \u201cNo Popery.\u201d\nThe Congress of 1774, though it numbered some of the clearest heads in\nthe colonies, completely lost sight of the vital importance of Canada\nterritorially, and of the advantage of securing as friends a community\nof 150,000 whose military ability had been shown on a hundred\nbattle-fields. Addressing the people of Great Britain, this Congress\nsays: \u201cBy another act the Dominion of Canada is to be so extended,\nmodelled, and governed as that, by being disunited from us, detached\nfrom our interests by civil as well as religious prejudices; that by\ntheir numbers swelling with Catholic emigrants from Europe, and by\ntheir devotion to administration so friendly to their religion, they\nmight become formidable to us, and on occasion be fit instruments in\nthe hands of power to reduce the ancient free Protestant colonies to\nthe same slavery with themselves.\u201d \u201cNor can we suppress our\nastonishment that a British parliament should ever consent to\nestablish in that country a religion that has deluged your island in\nblood, and dispersed impiety, bigotry, persecution, murder, and\nrebellion through every part of the world.\u201d\n\nThis address, the work of the intense bigot John Jay, and of the\nfurious storm of bigotry evoked in New England and New York, was most\ndisastrous in its results to the American cause. Canada was not so\ndelighted with her past experience of English rule or so confident of\nthe future as to accept unhesitatingly the favors accorded by the\nQuebec act. She had from the first sought to ally herself with the\nneighboring English colonies, and to avoid European complications.\nWhen she proposed the alliance, they declined. She would now have met\ntheir proposal warmly; but when this address was circulated in Canada,\nit defeated the later and wiser effort of Congress to win that\nprovince through Franklin, Chase, and the Carrolls. It made the\nexpeditions against the British forces there, at first so certain of\nsuccess by Canadian aid, result in defeat and disgrace. In New York a\nlittle colony of Scotch Catholics, who would gladly have paid off the\nscore of Culloden, took alarm at the hatred shown their faith, and\nfled with their clergyman to Canada to give strength to our foe, when\nthey wished to be of us and with us. In the West it enabled British\nofficers to make Detroit a centre from which they exerted an influence\nover the Western tribes that lasted down into the present century, and\nwhich Jay\u2019s treaty\u2014a tardy endeavor to undo his mischief of 1774\u2014did\nnot succeed in checking.\n\nPamphlets, attacking or defending the Quebec act, appeared on both\nsides of the Atlantic. In the English interest it was shown that the\ntreaty of Paris already guaranteed their religion to the Canadians,\nand that the rights of their clergy were included in this. It was\nshown that to insist on England\u2019s establishing the state church in\nCanada would justify her in doing the same in New England. \u201cAn\nEnglishman\u2019s Answer\u201d to the address of Congress rather maliciously\nturned Jay\u2019s bombast on men like himself by saying: \u201cIf the actions of\nthe different sects in religion are inquired into, we shall find, by\nturning over the sad historic page, that it was the \u2014\u2014 sect (I forget\nwhat they call them; I mean the sect which is still most numerous in\nNew England, and not the sect which they so much despise) that in the\nlast century deluged our island in blood; that even shed the blood of\nthe sovereign, and dispersed impiety, bigotry, superstition,\nhypocrisy, persecution, murder, and rebellion through every part of\nthe empire.\u201d\n\nOne who later in life became a Catholic, speaking of the effect of\nthis bill in New England, says: \u201cWe were all ready to swear that this\nsame George, by granting the Quebec bill, had thereby become a\ntraitor, had broke his coronation oath, was secretly a papist,\u201d etc.\n\u201cThe real fears of popery in New England had its influence.\u201d \u201cThe\ncommon word then was: \u2018No king, no popery.\u2019\u201d\n\nBut though Canada was thus alienated, and some Catholics at the North\nfrightened away, in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the French West the\nfanaticism was justly regarded as a mere temporary affair, the last\noutburst of a bigotry that could not live and thrive on the soil.\nProvidence was shaping all things wisely; but we cannot be surprised\nat the wonder some soon felt. \u201cNow, what must appear very singular,\u201d\nsays the writer above quoted, \u201cis that the two parties naturally so\nopposite to each other should become, even at the outset, united in\nopposing the efforts of the mother country. And now we find the New\nEngland people and the Catholics of the Southern States fighting side\nby side, though stimulated by extremely different motives: the one\nacting through fear lest the king of England should succeed in\nestablishing among us the Catholic religion; the other equally fearful\nlest his bitterness against the Catholic faith should increase till\nthey were either destroyed or driven to the mountains and waste places\nof the wilderness.\u201d\n\nSuch was the position of the Catholics as the rapid tide of events was\nbearing all on to a crisis. The Catholics in Maryland and Pennsylvania\nwere outspoken in their devotion to the cause of the colonies. In\nMaryland Charles Carroll of Carrollton, trained abroad in the schools\nof France and the law-courts of England, with all the learning of the\nEnglish barrister widened and deepened by a knowledge of the civil law\nof the Continent, grappled in controversy the veteran Dulany of\nMaryland. In vain the Tory advocate attempted, by sneers and jibes at\nthe proscribed position of the foreign-trained Catholic, to evade the\nlogic of his arguments. The eloquence and learning of Carroll\ntriumphed, and he stood before his countrymen disenthralled. There, at\nleast, it was decided by the public mind that Catholics were to enjoy\nall the rights of their fellow-citizens, and that citizens like\nCarroll were worthy of their highest honors. \u201cThe benign aurora of the\ncoming republic,\u201d says Bancroft, \u201clighted the Catholic to the recovery\nof his rightful political equality in the land which a Catholic\nproprietary had set apart for religious freedom.\u201d In 1775 Charles\nCarroll was a member of the first Committee of Observation and a\ndelegate to the Provincial Convention of Maryland, the first Catholic\nin any public office since the days of James II. \u201cCharles Carroll of\nCarrollton, the great representative of his fellow-believers, and\nalready an acknowledged leader of the patriots, sat in the Maryland\nConvention as the delegate of a Protestant constituency, and bore an\nhonorable share in its proceedings.\u201d\n\nWhen the news of Lexington rang through the land, borne from town to\ntown by couriers on panting steeds, regiments were organized in all\nthe colonies. Catholics stepped forward to shoulder their rifles and\nfirelocks. Few aspired to commissions, from which they had hitherto\nbeen excluded in the militia and troops raised for actual service, but\nthe rank and file showed Catholics, many of them men of intelligence\nand fair education, eager to meet all perils and to prove on the field\nof battle that they were worthy of citizenship in all its privileges.\nEre long, however, Catholics by ability and talent won rank in the\narmy and navy of the young republic.\n\nWe Catholics have been so neglectful of our history that no steps were\never taken to form a complete roll of those glorious heroes of the\nfaith who took part in the Revolutionary struggle. The few great names\nsurvive\u2014Moylan, Burke, Barry, Vigo, Orono, Louis, Landais; here and\nthere the journal of a Catholic soldier like McCurtin has been\nprinted; but in our shameful neglect of the past we have done nothing\nto compile a roll that we can point to with pride.\n\nWhen hostilities began, it became evident that Canada must be gained.\nExpeditions were fitted out to reduce the British posts. The Canadians\nevinced a friendly disposition, giving ready assistance by men,\ncarriages, and provisions to an extent that surprised the Americans.\nWhole parishes even offered to join in reducing Quebec and lowering\nthe hated flag of England from the Castle of St. Louis, where the\nlilies had floated for nearly two centuries. But the bigotry that\ninspired some of our leaders was too strong in many of the\nsubordinates to permit them to reason. They treated these Catholic\nCanadians as enemies, ill-used and dragooned them so that almost the\nwhole country was ready to unite in repulsing them. Then came\nMontgomery\u2019s disaster, and the friends of America in Canada dwindled\nto a few priests: La Valiniere, Carpentier, the ex-Jesuits Huguet and\nFloquet, and the Canadians who enlisted in Livingston\u2019s, Hazen\u2019s, and\nDuggan\u2019s corps, under Guillot, Loseau, Aller, Basad\u00e9, Menard, and\nother Catholic officers.\n\nThen Congress awoke to its error. As that strategic province was\nslipping from the hands of the confederated colonies, as Hazen\u2019s\nletters came urging common sense, Congress appointed a commission with\nan address to the Canadian people to endeavor even then to win them.\nBenjamin Franklin was selected with two gentlemen from Catholic\nMaryland\u2014Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll. To increase their\ninfluence, Congress requested the Rev. John Carroll to accompany them,\nhoping that the presence of a Catholic priest and a Catholic layman,\nboth educated in France and acquainted with the French character,\nwould effect more than any argument that could be brought to bear on\nthe Canadians. They hastened to do their utmost, but eloquence and\nzeal failed. The Canadians distrusted the new order of things in\nAmerica; the hostility shown in the first address of Congress seemed\ntoo well supported by the acts of Americans in Canada. They turned a\ndeaf ear to the words of the Carrolls, and adhered to England.\n\nCanada was thus lost to us. Taking our stand among the nations of the\nearth, we could not hope to include that province, but must ever have\nit on our flank in the hands of England. This fault was beyond\nredemption.\n\nBut the recent war with Pontiac was now recalled. Men remembered how\nthe Indian tribes of the West, organized by the mastermind of that\nchief, had swept away almost in an instant every fort and military\npost from the Mississippi to the Alleghanies, and marked out the\nfrontier by a line of blazing houses and villages from Lake Erie to\nFlorida. What might these same Western hordes do in the hands of\nEngland, directed, supplied, and organized for their fell work by\nBritish officers! The Mohawks and other Iroquois of New York had\nretired to the English lines, and people shuddered at what was to come\nupon them there. The Catholic Indians in Maine had been won to our\nside by a wise policy. Washington wrote to the tribe in 1775, and\ndeputies from all the tribes from the Penobscot to Gasp\u00e9 met the\nMassachusetts Council at Watertown. Ambrose Var, the chief of the St.\nJohn\u2019s Indians, Orono of Penobscot, came with words that showed the\nreverent Christian. Of old they had been enemies; they were glad to\nbecome friends: they would stand beside the colonists. Eminently\nCatholic, every tribe asked for a priest; and Massachusetts promised\nto do her best to obtain French priests for her Catholic allies.\nThroughout the war these Catholic Indians served us well, and Orono,\nwho bore a Continental commission, lived to see priests restored to\nhis village and religion flourishing. Brave and consistent, he never\nentered the churches of the Protestant denominations, though often\nurged to do so. He practised his duties faithfully as a Catholic, and\nreplied: \u201cWe know our religion and love it; we know nothing of yours.\u201d\n\nMaine acknowledges his worth by naming a town after this grand old\nCatholic.\n\nBut the West! Men shuddered to think of it. The conquest of Canada by\na course of toleration and equality to Catholics would have made all\nthe Indian tribes ours. The Abnakis had been won by a promise to them\nas Catholics; the Protestant and heathen Mohawks were on the side of\nEngland, though the Catholics of the same race in Canada were\nfriendly. If the Indians in the West could be won to neutrality even,\nno sacrifice would be too great.\n\nLittle as American statesmen knew it, they had friends there. And if\nthe United States at the peace secured the Northwest and extended her\nbounds to the Mississippi, it was due to the Very Rev. Peter Gibault,\nthe Catholic priest of Vincennes and Kaskaskia, and to his sturdy\nadherent, the Italian Colonel Vigo. Entirely ignorant of what the\nfeeling there might be, Col. George Rogers Clark submitted to the\nlegislature of Virginia, whose backwoods settlement, Kentucky, was\nimmediately menaced, a plan for reducing the English posts in the\nNorthwest. Jefferson warmly encouraged the dangerous project, on which\nso much depended. Clark, with his handful of men, struck through the\nwilderness for the old French post of Kaskaskia. He appeared before it\non the 4th of July, 1778. But the people were not enemies. Their\npastor had studied the questions at issue, and, as Clark tells us,\n\u201cwas rather prejudiced in favor of us.\u201d The people told the American\ncommander they were convinced that the cause was one which they ought\nto espouse, and that they should be happy to convince him of their\nzeal. When Father Gibault asked whether he was at liberty to perform\nhis duty in his church, Clark told him that he had nothing to do with\nchurches, except to defend them from insult; that, by the laws of the\nstate, his religion had as great privileges as any other. The first\nFourth of July celebration at Kaskaskia was a hearty one. The streets\nwere strewn with flowers and hung with flags, and all gave themselves\nup to joy. But Clark\u2019s work was not done. The English lay in force at\nVincennes. Father Gibault and Colonel Vigo, who had been in the\nSpanish service, but came over to throw in his fortunes with us, urged\nClark to move at once on Vincennes. It seemed to him rash, but Father\nGibault showed how it could be taken. He went on himself with Dr.\nLefont, won every French hamlet to the cause, and conciliated the\nIndians wherever he could reach them. Vigo, on a similar excursion,\nwas captured by British Indians and carried a prisoner to Hamilton,\nthe English commander at Vincennes, but that officer felt that he\ncould not detain a Spanish subject, and was compelled by the French to\nrelease him. When Clark, in February, appeared with his half-starved\nmen, including Captain Charlevoix\u2019s company of Kaskaskia Catholics,\nbefore Vincennes, and demanded its surrender with as bold a front as\nthough he had ten thousand men at his back, the English wavered, and\none resolute attack compelled them to surrender at discretion. What is\nnow Indiana and Illinois, Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, was won to the\nUnited States. To hold it and supply the Indians required means. Clark\nissued paper money in the name of Virginia, and the patriotic Colonel\nVigo and Father Gibault exhausted all their resources to redeem this\npaper and maintain its credit, although the hope of their ever being\nrepaid for their sacrifice was slight, and, slight as it might have\nbeen, was never realized.[138] Their generous sacrifice enabled Clark\nto retain his conquest, as the spontaneous adhesion of his allies to\nthe cause had enabled him to effect it. The securing of the old French\nposts Vincennes, Fort Chartres, and others in the West which the\nEnglish had occupied, together with the friendship of the French\npopulation, secured all the Indians in that part, and relieved the\nfrontiers of half their danger. Well does Judge Law remark: \u201cNext to\nClark and Vigo, the United States are more indebted to Father Gibault\nfor the accession of the States comprised in what was the original\nNorthwestern Territory than to any other man.\u201d\n\nThose Western Catholics did good service in many an expedition, and in\n1780 La Balm, with a force raised in the Illinois settlements and\nVincennes, undertook to capture Detroit, the headquarters of the\nEnglish atrocities. He perished with nearly all his little Catholic\nforce where Fort Wayne stands, leaving many a family in mourning.\n\nThe first bugle-blast of America for battle in the name of freedom\nseemed to wake a response in many Catholic hearts in Europe. Officers\ncame over from France to offer their swords, the experience they had\nacquired, and the training they had developed in the campaigns of the\ngreat commanders of the time. Among the names are several that have\nthe ring of the old Irish brigade. Dugan, Arundel, De Saint Aulaire,\nVibert, Col. Dubois, De Kermorvan, Lieut.-Col. de Franchessen, St.\nMartin, Vermonet, Dorr\u00e9, Pelissier, Malmady, Mauduit, Rochefermoy, De\nla Neuville, Armand, Fleury, Conway, Lafayette, Du Portail, Gouvion,\nDu Coudray, Pulaski, Roger, Dorset, Gimat, Brice, and others, rendered\nsignal service, especially as engineers and chiefs of staff, where\nskill and military knowledge were most required. Around Lafayette\npopular enthusiasm gathered, but he was not alone. Numbers of these\nCatholic officers served gallantly at various points during the war,\naiding materially in laying out works and planning operations, as well\nas by gallantly doing their duty in the field, sharing gayly the\nsufferings and privations of the men of \u201976.\n\nSome who came to serve in the ranks or as officers rendered other\nservice to the country. \u00c6danus Burke, of Galway, a pupil of St.\nOmer\u2019s, like the Carrolls, came out to serve as a soldier, represented\nSouth Carolina in the Continental Congress, and was for some time\nchief-justice of his adopted State. P. S. Duponceau, who came over as\naide to Baron Steuben in 1777, became the founder of American\nethnology and linguistics. His labors in law, science, and American\nhistory will not soon be forgotten.\n\nMeanwhile, Catholics were swelling the ranks, and, like Moylan, rising\nto fame and position. The American navy had her first commodore in the\nCatholic Barry, who had kept the flag waving undimmed on the seas from\n1776, and in 1781 engaged and took the two English vessels, _Atlanta_\nand _Trepassay_; and on other occasions handled his majesty\u2019s vessels\nso roughly that General Howe endeavored to win him by offers of money\nand high naval rank to desert the cause. Besides Catholics born, who\nserved in army or navy, in legislative or executive, there were also\nmen who took part in the great struggle whose closing years found them\nhumble and devoted adherents of the Catholic Church. Prominent among\nthese was Thomas Sims Lee, Governor of Maryland from 1779 to the close\nof the war. He did much to contribute to the glorious result,\nrepresented his State in the later Continental Congress and in the\nConstitutional Convention, as Daniel Carroll, brother of the\narchbishop, also did. Governor Lee, after becoming a Catholic, was\nreelected governor, and lived to an honored old age. Daniel Barber,\nwho bore his musket in the Connecticut line, became a Catholic, and\nhis son, daughter-in-law, and their children all devoted themselves to\na religious life, a family of predilection.\n\nIn Europe the Catholic states, France and Spain, watched the progress\nof American affairs with deepest interest. At the very outset\nVergennes, the able minister of France, sent an agent to study the\npeople and report the state of affairs. The clear-headed statesmen saw\nthat America would become independent. In May, 1776, Louis XVI.\nannounced to the Catholic monarch that he intended to send indirectly\ntwo hundred thousand dollars. The King of Spain sent a similar sum to\nParis. This solid aid, the first sinews of war from these two Catholic\nsovereigns, was but an earnest of good-will. In France the sentiment\nin favor of the American cause overbore the cautious policy of the\nking, the amiable Louis XVI. He granted the aid already mentioned, and\ninduced the King of Spain to join in the act; he permitted officers to\nleave France in order to join the American armies; he encouraged\ncommerce with the revolting colonies by exempting from duties the\nships which bore across the ocean the various goods needed by the army\nand the people. The enthusiasm excited by Lafayette, who first heard\nof the American cause from the lips of an English prince, soon broke\ndown all the walls of caution. An arrangement was made by which\nmaterial of war from the government armories and arsenals was sent\nout, nominally from a mercantile house. A year after the Declaration\nof Independence, France, which had opened her ports to American\nprivateers and courteously avoided all English complaints, resolved to\ntake a decisive step\u2014not only to acknowledge the independence of the\nUnited States, but to support it. Marie Antoinette sympathized deeply\nwith this country, and won the king to give his full support to our\ncause. On the 6th of February, 1778, Catholic France signed the treaty\nwith the United States, and thus a great power in Europe set the\nexample to others in recognizing us as one of the nations of the\nearth. America had a Catholic godmother. Amid the miseries of Valley\nForge Washington issued a general order: \u201cIt having pleased the\nAlmighty Ruler of the universe to defend the cause of the United\nAmerican States, and finally to raise us up a powerful friend among\nthe princes of the earth, to establish our liberty and independence\nupon a lasting foundation, it becomes us to set apart a day for\ngratefully acknowledging the divine goodness and celebrating the\nimportant event, which we owe to his divine interposition.\u201d France now\nopenly took part in the war, and in July, 1778, a French fleet under\nd\u2019Estaing appeared on our coasts, neutralizing the advantage which\nEngland had over us by her naval superiority. The ocean was no longer\nhers to send her army from point to point on the coast. This fleet\nengaged Lord Howe near Newport, and co-operated with Sullivan in\noperations against the English in Rhode Island. After cruising in the\nWest Indies it again reappeared on our coast to join Lincoln in a\nbrave but unsuccessful attack on Savannah, in which fell the gallant\nPulaski, who some years before had asked the blessing of the pope\u2019s\nnuncio on himself and his gallant force in the sanctuary of Our Lady\nof Czenstochowa, before his long defence of that convent fortress\nagainst overwhelming Russian forces.\n\nIn July, 1780, another fleet, commanded by the Chevalier de Ternay,\nentered the harbor of Newport, bringing a French army commanded by an\nexperienced general, John Baptiste de Vimeur, Count de Rochambeau. An\narmy of Catholics with Catholic chaplains, observing the glorious\nritual of the church with all solemnity, was hailed with joy in New\nEngland. The discipline of that army, the courteous manners of\nofficers and privates, won all hearts. What that army effected is too\nwell known to be chronicled here in detail. When Lafayette had\ncornered Cornwallis in Yorktown, Washington and Rochambeau marched\ndown, the fleet of the Count de Grasse defeated Admiral Graves off the\ncapes of Virginia, and, transporting the allied armies down, joined\nwith them in compelling Cornwallis to surrender his whole force; and\nold St. Joseph\u2019s Church, in Philadelphia, soon rang with the grand _Te\nDeum_ chanted in thanksgiving at a Mass offered up in presence of the\nvictorious generals.\n\nNone question the aid given us by Catholic France. Several who came as\nvolunteers, or in the army or fleet, remained in the United States.\nOne officer who had served nobly in the field laid aside his sword and\nreturned to labor during the rest of his life for the well-being of\nAmerica as a devoted Catholic priest.\n\nBut France was not the only Catholic friend of our cause. Spain had,\nas we have seen, at an early period in the war, sent a liberal gift of\nmoney. She opened her ports to our privateers, and refused to give up\nCaptain Lee, of Marblehead, whom England demanded. She went further;\nfor when intelligence came of the Declaration of Independence, she\ngave him supplies and repaired his ship. She subsequently sent cargoes\nof supplies to us from Bilbao, and put at the disposal of the United\nStates ammunition and supplies at New Orleans. When an American envoy\nreached Madrid, she sent blankets for ten regiments and made a gift of\n$150,000 through our representative. When the gallant young Count\nBernardo de Galvez, whose name is commemorated in Galveston, was made\ngovernor of Louisiana, he at once tendered his services to us; he\nforwarded promptly the clothing and military stores in New Orleans;\nand when the English seized an American schooner on the Louisiana\nlakes, he confiscated all English vessels in reprisal.\n\nSpain had not formally recognized the United States. She offered her\nmediation to George III., and on its refusal by that monarch, for that\nand other causes she declared war against England. Galvez moved at\nonce. He besieged the English at Baton Rouge, and, after a long and\nstubborn resistance, compelled it to surrender in September, 1780; he\nswept the waters of English vessels, and then, with the co-operation\nof a Spanish fleet under Admiral Solano and de Monteil, laid siege to\nthe ancient town of Pensacola. The forts were held by garrisons of\nEnglish troops, Hessians, and northern Tories, well supplied and ready\nto meet the arms of the Catholic king. The resistance of the British\ngovernor, Campbell, was stout and brave; but Pensacola fell, and\nBritish power on our southern frontier was crushed, and neutralized.\nSpain gave one of the greatest blows to England in the war, next in\nimportance to the overthrow of Burgoyne and Cornwallis.\n\nOn the Northwest, too, where English influence over the Indians was so\ndetrimental, Spain checked it by the reduction of English posts that\nhad been the centre of the operations of the savage foe. America was\nnot slow in showing her sense of gratitude to Catholic Spain. Robert\nMorris wrote to Galvez: \u201cI am directed by the United States to express\nto your excellency the grateful sense they entertain of your early\nefforts in their favor. Those generous efforts gave them so favorable\nan impression of your character and that of your nation that they have\nnot ceased to wish for a more intimate connection with your country.\u201d\nGalvez made the connection more intimate by marrying a lady of New\nOrleans, who in time presided in Mexico as wife of the Viceroy of New\nSpain.\n\nBut it was not only by the operations on land that the country of\nIsabella the Catholic aided our cause. Before she declared war against\nEngland, her navy had been increased and equipped, so that her fleets\nco-operated ably with those of France in checking English power and\nlowering English supremacy on the ocean.\n\nYet a greater service than that of brave men on land or sea was\nrendered by her diplomacy. Russia had been almost won by England; her\nfleet was expected to give its aid to the British navy in reasserting\nher old position; but Spain, while still neutral, proposed an armed\nneutrality, and urged it with such skill and address that she detached\nRussia from England, and arrayed her virtually as an opponent where\nshe had been counted upon with all certainty as an ally. Spain really\nthus banded all Continental Europe against England, and then, by\ndeclaring war herself, led Holland to join us openly.\n\nNor were France and Spain our only Catholic friends. The Abb\u00e9 Niccoli,\nminister of Tuscany at the court of France, was a zealous abettor of\nthe cause of America. In Germany the Hessians, sent over here to do\nthe work of English oppression, were all raised in Protestant states,\nwhile history records the fact that the Catholic princes of the empire\ndiscouraged the disgraceful raising of German troops to be used in\ncrushing a free people; and this remonstrance and opposition of the\nCatholic princes put a stop to the German aid which had been rendered\nto our opponent.\n\nNever was there such harmonious Catholic action as that in favor of\nAmerican independence a hundred years ago. The Catholics in the\ncountry were all Whigs; the Catholics of Canada were favorable, ready\nto become our fellow-citizens; France and Spain aided our cause with\nmoney and supplies, by taking part in the war, and by making a\nContinental combination against England; Catholic Italy and Catholic\nGermany exerted themselves in our favor. Catholics did their duty in\nthe legislature and in the council-hall, in the army and in the navy;\nCatholics held for us our northeastern frontier, and gave us the\nNorthwest; Catholic officers helped to raise our armies to the grade\nof European science; a Catholic commander made our navy triumph on the\nsea. Catholic France helped to weaken the English at Newport,\nSavannah, and Charleston; crippled England\u2019s naval power in the West\nIndies, and off the capes of Virginia utterly defeated them; then with\nher army aided Washington to strike the crowning blow at Cornwallis in\nYorktown. Catholic Spain aided us on the western frontier by capturing\nBritish posts, and under Galvez reduced the British and Tories at\nBaton Rouge and Pensacola. And, on the other hand, there is no\nCatholic\u2019s name in all the lists of Tories.\n\nWashington uttered no words of flattery, no mere commonplaces of\ncourtesy, but what he felt and knew to be the truth, when, in reply to\nthe Catholic address, he said: \u201cI presume that your fellow-citizens\nwill not forget the patriotic part which you took in the\naccomplishment of their Revolution and the establishment of their\ngovernment, or the important assistance which they received from a\nnation in which the Roman Catholic faith is professed.\u201d\n\n\n [138] \u201cFather Gibault, but especially Vigo, had on\n hand at the close of the campaign more than $20,000 of\n this worthless trash (the only funds, however which\n Clark had in his military chest), and not one dollar\n of which was ever redeemed.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nTHE IRISH HOME-RULE MOVEMENT.[139]\n\n\nWhat is the real nature of the new political movement or organization\nin Ireland which emblazons on its banner the device \u201cHome Rule\u201d?\nBeyond all question it has attained to national dimensions. It has\nconcentrated upon itself more of the attention and interest, hopes and\nsympathies, of the Irish people than any political endeavor on the\nsame field of action for many years. More than this, it seems to have\nsucceeded in exacting a tribute to its power and authority which no\nprevious movement received from the adverse ministers, publicists, and\npeople of England. These, while they combat it, deal with it as\n\u201cIreland.\u201d It makes propositions, exacts terms, directs assaults,\nassents to arrangements on behalf of and in the name of the Irish\npeople; and, as we have indicated, the singular part of the case is\nthat not only is its action ratified and applauded by them, but its\nauthority so to act in their name is virtually recognized by the\ngovernment. In the House of Commons it takes charge of Irish affairs;\nhas almost an Irish (volunteer) ministry, certainly an organized party\nnot inferior, if not superior, in discipline to that of the\n\u201cgovernment\u201d or \u201copposition.\u201d We hear of its \u201cwhips,\u201d its councils,\nits special division-lists, its assignment of particular duties,\nmotions, or bills to particular individuals; and, lastly, we hear of\nit boldly challenging the Disraelian hosts, fighting them in debate\nthroughout a set field-day, and, despite the actual government\nmajority of forty-eight and working majority of seventy, running the\nministerialists to within barely thirteen votes.\n\nIn all this there is much that is new in the history of Irish\npolitics; and it were impossible that it should not intensely\ninterest, if not affect, the Catholic millions of America, bound, as\nmost of them are, to Ireland by the sacred ties of faith and kindred\nand nationality.\n\nWhat, then, is Home Rule? Is it Fenianism, \u201cveiled\u201d or unveiled? Is it\nRepeal? Is it less than repeal, or more than repeal? Is it a surrender\nor a compromise of the Irish national demand; or is it, as its\nadvocates claim, the substance of that demand shaped and adjusted\naccording to the circumstances, requirements, and necessities of the\npresent time?\n\nWith the fall of the Young Ireland party, and the disastrous collapse\nof their meditated rather than attempted insurrection in 1848, there\nseemed to foes and friends an end of national movements in Ireland for\nthe balance of the century. It is almost a law of defeats that the\nvanquished are separated into two or three well-defined parties or\nsections: those whom the blow has intensified and more embittered in\ntheir opposition; those whom it wholly overawes, who thereafter\nconsider they have done enough for honor, and retire entirely from the\nfield; and, lastly, those who recognize, if they do not accept, the\ndefeat; who admit the impossibility of further operations on a\nposition so advanced, fall back upon some line which they imagine they\ncan hold, and, squaring round there, offer battle with whatever of\nstrength and resources survive to them. This is just what resulted in\nIreland in 1848-49. The Young Ireland movement of 1848 was never\nnational in dimensions or acceptance. O\u2019Connell\u2019s movement _was_, from\n1842 to 1844; but from that date forward, though there were two or\nthree rival movements or parties, having for their leaders\nrespectively O\u2019Connell, Smith O\u2019Brien, and John Mitchel, no one of\nthem had the nation at its back. The Young Irelanders led away from\nO\u2019Connell the youth, talent, enthusiasm, and, to a large extent,\nthough not entirely, the resolute earnestness and honesty of the old\nRepeal party. It is a very common but a very great fallacy that they\nbroke away on a \u201cwar policy\u201d from the grand old man whose fading\nintellect was but too sadly indicated in the absurd conduct that drove\nthe young men from his side. They had no \u201cwar\u201d policy or design any\nmore than he had (in the sense of a war attack on England), until they\ncaught up one in the blaze and whirl of revolutionary intoxication\nscattered through Europe by the startling events of February, 1848, in\nParis. They seceded from O\u2019Connell on this point,[140] because they\nwould not subscribe to the celebrated test resolutions (called \u201cPeace\nResolutions\u201d) declaring that under _no_ circumstances was it or would\nit be lawful to take up arms for the recovery of national rights.\nSpurning such a declaration, but solemnly declaring they contemplated\nno application of its converse assertion in their political designs\nfor Ireland, the seceders set up the \u201cIrish Confederation.\u201d But the\nmagic of O\u2019Connell\u2019s name, and indeed the force of a loving gratitude,\nheld the masses of the people and the bulk of the clergy in the old\norganization. The Confederates were in many places decidedly\n\u201cunpopular,\u201d[141] especially when, the Uncrowned Monarch having died\nmournfully in exile, his following in Conciliation Hall raised the cry\nthat the Young Irelanders \u201ckilled O\u2019Connell.\u201d Soon afterwards the\nseceders were themselves rent by a secession. The bolder spirits, led\nby John Mitchel and Devin Rielly, demanded that the Confederation, in\nplace of disclaiming any idea of an armed struggle against England,\nshould avowedly prepare the people for such a resort. The new\nsecession was as weak in numbers, relatively towards the\nConfederation, as the original seceders were towards the Repeal\nAssociation. The three parties made bitter war upon one another. A\nreally national movement there was no more.\n\nSuddenly Paris rose against Louis Philippe, and throughout Europe, in\ncapital after capital, barricades went up and thrones came down.\nIreland caught the flame. The Mitchel party suddenly found themselves\nmasters of the situation. The Confederation leaders\u2014O\u2019Brien, Duffy,\nDillon, O\u2019Gorman, Meagher, and Doheny\u2014not only found their platform\nabandoned, but eventually, though not without some hesitation and\nmisgiving, they themselves abandoned it too, and threw themselves into\nthe scheme for an armed struggle in the ensuing summer or autumn. It\nwas thought, perhaps, that although this might not reunite the\nO\u2019Connellites and the Young Irelanders, it would surely reunite the\nrecently-divided sections of the O\u2019Brien following; but it did so only\nostensibly or partially. There were two schools of insurrectionists in\nthe now insurrectionary party: Mitchel and Rielly declared that\nO\u2019Brien and Duffy wanted a \u201crosewater revolution\u201d; O\u2019Brien and Duffy\ndeclared the others were \u201cReds,\u201d who wanted a _jacquerie_. The refusal\nof the leaders to make the rescue of Mitchel the occasion and signal\nfor a rising, led to bitter and scarcely disguised recrimination; and\nwhen, a couple of months later, they themselves, caught unawares and\nunprepared by the government, sought to effect a rising, the result\nwas utter and complete failure. The call had no real power or\nauthority behind it. The men who issued it had not the mandate of the\nnation in any sense of the word. They were at the moment the fraction\nof a fraction. They had against them the bulk of the Repeal millions\nand the Catholic clergy; not against them in any combative sense, but\nin a decided disapproval of their insurrection. Some, and only some,\nof the large cities became thoroughly imbued with and ready to carry\nthrough the revolutionary determination\u2014an impress which Cork has ever\nsince retained; but beyond the traditional vague though deep-rooted\nfeeling of the Irish peasantry against the hateful rule of England,\nthe rural population, and even the majority of the cities and towns,\nhad scarcely any participation in \u201cthe Forty-Eight movement.\u201d\n\nWhen, therefore, all was over, and the \u201cMen of \u201948,\u201d admittedly the\nflower of Ireland\u2019s intellect and patriotism, were fugitives or\n\u201cfelons\u201d\u2014some seeking and receiving asylum and hospitality in America,\nothers eating their hearts in the hulks of Bermuda or the dungeons of\nTasmania\u2014a dismal reaction set in in Ireland. The results above\nreferred to as incidental to defeats as a rule were plainly apparent.\nOf the millions who, from 1841 to 1848, whether as Repealers,\nO\u2019Connellites, Confederates, Mitchelites, Old Irelanders, or Young\nIrelanders, partook in an effort to make Ireland a self-governed or\nelse totally independent nation, probably one-half in 1849 resigned,\nas they thought, for ever, all further hope or effort in that\ndirection. Of the remainder, a numerically small party\u2014chiefly, though\nnot all, men who had belonged to John Mitchel\u2019s section of the Young\nIrelanders\u2014became only the more exasperated by a defeat in which they\nfelt that their policy had not had even a chance of trying what was in\nit; a defeat, too, that left the vanquished not one incident to solace\ntheir pride and shield them from humiliation and ignoble ridicule.\nChafing with rage and indignation, they beheld the rest of what\nremained at all visible of the national party effecting that\nretrograde movement alluded to in a foregoing page. Of all the\nbrilliant leaders of Young Ireland, Gavan Duffy alone now remained to\nface on Irish soil the terrible problem, \u201cWhat next?\u201d Openly\nproclaiming that the revolutionary position could not be held, he\nordered a retreat all along the line. Halting for a while on an\nattempt to revive the original Irish Confederation policy\u2014an attempt\nwhich he had to abandon for want of support\u2014he at length succeeded in\nrallying what could be called a political party on a struggle for\n\u201cTenant Right.\u201d It raised in no way the \u201cnational\u201d question. It\ngathered Presbyterians of the north and Catholics of the south,\nrepealers and anti-repealers, in an organization to force Parliament\nto pass a bill preventing the eviction of tenant-farmers unless for\nnon-payment of rent; preventing also arbitrary increasing of rent that\nmight squeeze out the farmer in another way. \u201cCome, now, this is\nsomething practical and sensible,\u201d said matter-of-fact non-repealers\nand half-hearted nationalists. \u201cWhy, it is craven surrender and sheer\ndishonor!\u201d cried the irreconcilable section of the \u201948 men. A band of\nthirty or forty members of Parliament were returned at the instance of\nthe Tenant League to work out its programme. They were mostly corrupt\nand dishonest men, who merely shouted the new shibboleth for their own\npurposes. Were the people thoroughly in earnest, and did they possess\nany really free voting power (there was no vote by ballot then), all\nthis could be cured; but as things stood, the parliamentary band broke\nup in the first three months of their existence. The English minister\nbought up its noisiest leaders, of whom Keogh (now a judge) and\nSadleir are perhaps most widely remembered. In some cases the\nconstituencies, priests and people, condoned their treason, duped into\nbelieving it was not treason at all, but \u201ca great thing to have\nCatholics on the bench.\u201d In other places the efforts of priests and\npeople to oppose the re-election of the traitors were vain; free\nelection amongst \u201ctenants at will\u201d being almost unknown without the\nballot. The tenants\u2019 cause was lost. Thus ruin, in its own way as\ncomplete and disastrous as that which overtook the insurrectionary\nattempt of 1848, now overthrew the experiment of a great popular\ncampaign based on constitutional and parliamentary principles. Not\nonly was there now no movement for nationality in Ireland; there was\nnot an Irish movement of any kind or for any Irish purpose at all,\ngreat or little. It was _Pacata Hibernia_ as in the days of Carew and\nSt. Leger.\n\nNow came the turn for the unchanged and exasperated section of the \u201948\nwar party. Few in numbers, and scattered wide apart, they had hissed\nforth scorn and execration on Duffy\u2019s parliamentary experiment as a\ndeparture from the revolutionary faith. If he in 1849 answered to\ntheir invectives by pointing to the fiasco of the year before, they\nnow taunted him with the collapse of 1853. Not more than two or three\nof the \u201948 men of any prominence, however, took up this actually\nhostile attitude. Most of them\u2014O\u2019Brien, Dillon, Meagher, O\u2019Gorman, and\neven Martin\u2014more or less expressly approved the recent endeavor as the\nbest thing practicable under the circumstances in Ireland. Now,\nhowever, the men who believed in war and nothing but war, in total\nseparation and nothing short of separation, would take _their_ turn.\nThe Fenian movement thus arose.\n\nIf neither of the sections or subsections of the Irish nationalists in\n1848 could be said to have succeeded in rallying or representing the\nfull force, or even a considerable proportion, of Irish patriotism,\nthis new venture was certainly not more fortunate in that respect.\nOutside its ranks, obstinately refusing to believe in its policy,\nremained the bulk of the millions who had followed O\u2019Connell or Smith\nO\u2019Brien. Yet the Fenians worked with an energy worthy of\nadmiration\u2014except where the movement degenerated into an intolerance\nthat forbade any other national opinions save those of its leaders to\nbe advanced. In truth, their influence on Irish politics was very\nmixed in its merits. In some places it was a rude and vaunting\nrowdyism that called itself Fenianism; in others an honest, manly,\nself-sacrificing spirit of patriotism marked the men who were its\nconfessors and martyrs. If in their fall they drew down upon Ireland\nseverities worse than anything known since 1798, it is only fair, on\nthe other hand, to credit in a large degree to the sensations aroused\nby their trials the great awakening of public opinion on the Irish\nquestion which set in all over England at the time.\n\nAnd now once more the board was clear. England had won the game; not a\npawn remained untaken on the Irish side. Not an Irish association, or\nsociety, or \u201cagitation,\u201d or demand of any kind challenged Britannia\u2019s\npeace of mind. Once more it was a spectacle of the lash and the\ntriangle; state-trials, informers, and prosecutors; the convict-ship\nand the hulk; the chain-gangs at Portland and Chatham.\n\n\u201cWho will show us any light?\u201d exclaims one of the Young Ireland bards\nin a well-known and beautiful poem. Such might well have been the\nexclamation of Ireland in 1867. Was this to be the weary cycle of\nIrish effort, for ever and for ever? Was armed effort hopeless, and\npeaceful effort vain? Was there no alternative for Irishmen but to\nbecome \u201cWest-Britons,\u201d or else dash their brains out against a dungeon\nwall? Could no one devise a way whereby to give scope and vent to the\nIrish passion for national existence, to give a field to Irish\ndevotion and patriotism, which would be consonant with the spirit of\nmanhood, without calling for these hecatombs of victims?\n\nSuddenly a new element of consideration presented itself; new, indeed,\nand rather startling.\n\nIt was Irish Protestantism offering the hand of reconciliation to\nIreland.\n\nThe Tory party had come into power in the course of the Fenian\nprosecutions, and had carried on the work in a spirit which Cromwell\nhimself would approve. They really held office, not because they had\nan effective majority in the House of Commons, but because the\nliberals were broken up and divided, unable to agree on a policy. To\nturn to his own account the \u201cFenian scare\u201d was Mr. Gladstone\u2019s\nbrilliant idea. To make a dash on the Irish Church establishment would\nrally all the mutinous fractions of liberalism, on the principle of\n\u201chit him, he has no friends.\u201d It would gratify all England as a sort\nof conscience-salve for the recent dragonnades and coercion laws. Yes;\nthis was the card with which to beat Disraeli. True, Mr. Gladstone had\nonly a few years before put down his foot and declared that never,\n\u201cno, _never_,\u201d could, would, or should that Irish Church be\ndisestablished or interfered with in any way. What was he to say now\nto cover this flank movement, made for purely party purposes? In all\nBritain there is no brain more subtle, none more fertile of strategic\nresource, than that of W. E. Gladstone. He put it all on Fenianism. He\nhad changed his mind, _not_ because he was out of office with a weak\nand broken party, and wanted to get back with a strong and united one,\nbut because he had opened his eyes to Fenianism! He never hit on a\nmore successful idea. On the cry of \u201cDown with the Irish Church!\u201d he\nwas swept into office at the head of the most powerful majority\ncommanded by any minister since Peel in 1841. It must not be thought\nthat Mr. Gladstone was insincere, or meant anything but service to\nIreland (while also serving his party) by this move. He has the\nfaculty of intensely persuading himself into a fervid conscientiousness\non any subject he likes, whether it be Free Trade, Church\nEstablishment, Church Disestablishment, or Vaticanism.\n\nThe Irish Protestants had an unanswerable case against England\u2014that\nis, as between them and her\u2014on this matter of disestablishment. It\nwas, on her part towards them, an open, palpable, and flagitious\nbreach of faith\u2014breach of formal treaty in fact. The articles of the\nUnion in 1800 expressly covenanted that the maintenance of the Irish\nChurch establishment was to be one of the cardinal, fundamental,\nessential, and everlasting conditions of the deed. Mr. Gladstone\nsnapped his fingers at such considerations. \u201cMind, you thereby repeal\nand annul the Union,\u201d cried Irish conservatives. \u201cWe will kick another\ncrown into the Boyne,\u201d said Parson Flanagan at an Orange meeting. \u201cWe\nhave held by this bargain with you with uneasy consciences,\u201d said and\nwrote numbers of sincere Irish Protestants; \u201cbreak it, and we break\nwith you, and become Irishmen first and before everything.\u201d\n\nIt was rightly judged by thoughtful observers that, though noisy\nbraggarts of the Parson Flanagan class would not only let the crown\nalone, but would cringe all the more closely by England\u2019s side even\nwhen the church was swept away, there was much of sober earnestness\nand honest resolve in what hundreds of Protestant laymen (and even\nclergymen) spoke upon this issue. Yes, though the bulk of Irish\nProtestants would prove unequal to so rapid a political conversion,\neven under provocation so strong, there would still be a considerable\nmovement of their numbers towards, if not into, the Irish camp. Time,\nmoreover, and prudent and conciliatory action on the part of their\nCatholic countrymen, would be always increasing that _rapprochement_.\n\nAnd so in the very chaos and disruption and upheaval of political\nelements and parties in Ireland from 1868 to 1870 there was, as by a\nmysterious design of Providence, a way made for events and\ntransformations and combinations which otherwise would have been nigh\nimpossible.\n\nThe church was disestablished; Irish Protestants were struck with\namazement and indignation. England had broken with them; they would\nunite with Ireland. But, alas! no; this was, it seemed, impossible.\nThey could never be \u201cFenians.\u201d No doubt they, after all, treasured in\ntheir Protestant hearts the memory, the words, and, in a way, the\nprinciples of their great coreligionists, Grattan and Flood, Curran\nand Charlemont. In _this_ direction they could go; but towards\n_separation_\u2014towards an \u201cIrish republic,\u201d towards disloyalty to the\ncrown\u2014they would not, could not, turn their faces. These men belonged\nin large part to a class, or to classes, never since 1782 seen joining\na national movement in any great numbers. They were men of high\nposition; large landed proprietors, bankers, merchants,\n\u201cdeputy-lieutenants\u201d of counties, baronets, a few of them peers, many\nof them dignitaries of the Protestant church, some of them fellows of\nTrinity College. Such men had vast property at stake in the country.\nThey saw a thousand reasons why Irishmen alone should regulate Irish\naffairs, but they would hold by a copartnership with Scotland and\nEngland in the empire at large. This, however, they concluded, was not\nwhat the bulk of their countrymen was looking for; and so it almost\nseemed as if they would turn back and relapse into mere West-britonism\nas a lesser evil for them than a course of \u201crebellion\u201d and \u201csedition.\u201d\n\nAt this juncture there appeared upon the scene a man whose name seems\ndestined to be writ large on the records of a memorable era in Irish\nhistory\u2014Isaac Butt.\n\nWhen, on Friday evening, the 15th of September, 1865, the British\ngovernment seized the leading members of the Fenian Society and flung\nthem into Richmond jail, it became a consideration of some difficulty\nwith the prisoners and their friends how and by whom they should be\ndefended. In one sense they had plenty of counsel to choose from. Such\noccasions are great opportunities for briefless advocates to strike\nin, like ambitious authors of unacted plays who nobly offer them to be\nperformed on Thanksgiving day or for some popular public charity. No\ndoubt the prisoners could have had attorneys and lawyers of this stamp\neasily enough; but it was not every man whom they would trust equally\nfor his ability and his honesty. Besides, there was the money\ndifficulty. The crown was about to fight them in a costly law duel. To\nretain men of the front rank at the bar would cost thousands of\npounds; to retain men of inferior position would be worse than\nuseless. Could there be found amongst the leaders of the Irish bar\neven one man bold enough and generous enough to undertake the\ndesperate task and protracted labor of defending these men, leaving\nthe question of fee or remuneration to the _chance_ of funds being\nforthcoming? What of the great advocates of the state trials of 1843\nand 1848? Holmes\u2014_clarum et venerabile nomen_\u2014dead! Shiel\u2014gone too;\nWhiteside\u2014on the bench; O\u2019Hagan\u2014also a judge; Sir Colman O\u2019Loghlen\u2014a\ncrown prosecutor; Butt\u2014yes, Butt, even then in the front rank, the\nmost skilful, the boldest, the most eloquent, and most generous of\nthem all\u2014_he_ is just the man! Where is Butt?\n\nWhere, indeed? He had to be searched and sought for, so utterly and\nsadly had a great figure silently disappeared from the forum. Thirty\nyears before Isaac Butt was the young hope of Protestant conservatism,\nthe idol of its _salons_. He had barely passed his majority when he\nwas elected to the professorship of Political Economy in Trinity\nCollege; and, at an age when such honors were unprecedented, was\nelevated to a \u201csilk-gown,\u201d as Queen\u2019s Counsellor at the bar. Yet there\nwas always about young Butt an intense Irishism; he was a\nhigh-spirited Protestant, a chivalrous conservative; but even in that\nearly time the eagle eye of O\u2019Connell detected in him an Irish heart\nand a love of the principles of liberty that would yet, so he\nprophesied, lead Butt into the ranks of the Irish people. The English\nTory leaders enticed him over to London, and sent him into Parliament\nfor one of their boroughs\u2014Harwich. They made much of him\u2014and were his\nruin. In the whirl of parliamentary life, in the fascination of London\nsociety, he abandoned his professional business and fell into debt\ndifficulty, and dissipation. Had he been less independent and less\nself-willed, he would no doubt have been richly placed by his\nministerial friends. Somehow or another he and they drew apart as he\nwent sullenly and recklessly downward. In 1864 he had almost dropped\nout of sight, having just previously ceased to sit in Parliament.\n\nTo the solicitation to undertake the defence of the Fenian prisoners\nhe responded by giving them, it may be said, three whole years of his\nprofessional life. He flung himself into that fight for the men in the\ndock with the devotion, the enthusiasm, the desperate energy of a man\nstriving for life itself. His genius and ability, conspicuous before,\nshone out more than ever. He was admittedly the first lawyer of his\nday; and now not only the crown counsel but the judges on the bench\nfelt they were dealing with their master. Of money he took no thought.\nIndeed, in the best and worst days of his fortunes he gave it little\nheed. He has been known in the depth of his difficulties to hand back\na special fee of a hundred guineas which he knew a poor client could\nnot spare, and the same day pay his hotel bill with a check doomed\nnever to be cashed. The incident is unfortunately only too typical of\none phase of his nature.\n\nThree or four years immersed in such labors\u2014one protracted series of\nstate trials\u2014dealing in the most painfully realistic way with the\nproblem of Ireland\u2019s destiny, could not fail to have a profound effect\non a man like Butt. Meantime, he grew into immense popularity. His\nbold appeals for the prisoners, which soon came to be the sentiments\nof the man rather than the pleadings of the advocate, were read with\navidity in every peasant\u2019s cottage and workman\u2019s home. The Fenians,\nbroken and defeated as an organization, yet still ramifying throughout\nthe country, looked to him with the utmost gratitude and confidence.\nUnder his presidency and guidance a society called the Amnesty\nAssociation was established for the purpose of obtaining the royal\nclemency for at least some of the Fenian convicts. A series of\nmass-meetings under its auspices were held throughout the island, and\nwere the largest assemblages seen in Ireland since the Repeal meetings\nof Tara and Mullaghmast. In fine, Mr. Butt found himself a popular\nleader, at the head of at all events the pro-Fenian section of Irish\npolitical elements, and daily becoming a power in the country.\n\nThe resentful Protestants, just now half-minded to hoist the national\nflag, were many of them Butt\u2019s old comrades, college-chums, and\npolitical associates. He noted their critical position, and forthwith\nturned all his exertions, in private as well as in public, to lead\nthem onward to the people, and to prevent them from relapsing into the\ncharacter of an English garrison. In his public speeches he poured\nforth to them the most impassioned appeals. In private he sought out\nman by man of the most important and influential among them. \u201cBanish\nhesitation and fear,\u201d he cried. \u201cAct boldly and promptly now, and you\nwill save Ireland from revolutionary violence on the one side, and\nfrom alien misgovernment on the other. You, like myself, have been\nearly trained to mistrust the Catholic multitude, but when you come to\nknow them you will admire them. They are not anarchists, nor would\nthey be revolutionists if men like you would but do your duty and lead\nthem\u2014that is, honestly and faithfully and capably lead them\u2014in the\nstruggle for constitutional liberty.\u201d The Protestants listened, almost\npersuaded; but some sinister whisper now and again of the terrors of a\n\u201cCatholic ascendency\u201d in an Irish parliament\u2014a reminder that Irish\nCatholics would vote for a nominee of their clergy right or wrong, and\nconsequently that if the Irish Protestant minority threw off the yoke\nof England, they should bear the yoke of Rome\u2014seemed to drive them,\nscared, from the portals of nationality.\n\nAbout this time, the beginning of 1870, Mr. Gladstone raised to the\npeerage Colonel Fulke Greville Nugent, M.P. for Longford County. He\nwas a respectable and fairly popular \u201cliberal\u201d in politics, was a good\nlandlord, and, though a Protestant, kindly and generous to the\nCatholic clergy and people around him. He had held his seat by and\nfrom the priests; for Longford County, from the days when it\nheroically won its independence a generation before, had been\nvirtually in the gift of the Catholic clergy. This vacancy occurred in\nthe very fever of the Amnesty excitement. A few months before Mr.\nGladstone had rather harshly refused the appeal for Amnesty; and\nTipperary made answer and commentary thereon by electing to Parliament\none of the Fenian convicts, at the moment a prisoner in Chatham. It\nwas proposed to imitate this course in Longford, but a more worthy\nresolve was taken: John Martin of Rostrevor\u2014\u201cHonest John Martin\u201d\u2014one\nof the purest, most heroic, and lovable of Irish patriots, was put in\nnomination, although at the moment he was travelling in America and\nunaware of the proceedings. But the clergy had at a private conference\ncommitted themselves to the son of their late member\u2014a brainless young\nofficer in the army. Neither party would withdraw their man; and out\nof this arose a conflict as fierce, bitter, and relentless as if the\nparties to it had been ancient and implacable foes instead of lifelong\nand loving friends. Altar denunciations of the most terrible kind were\nhurled at the men who dared to \u201coppose their clergy\u201d by advocating\nJohn Martin. Platform denunciations were hurled at the men who dared\nto go \u201cagainst Ireland\u201d by preferring to a stainless and devoted\npatriot a brainless little fop who had not a political idea in his\nhead or a spark of Irish patriotism in his heart.\n\nIreland, and England too, looked on in intense amazement and\ncuriosity. Here was a great problem brought to a critical test. The\nold story of the anti-Catholic English press, that Irish Catholics\nwould slavishly \u201cvote black white at the ordering of their priests,\u201d\nwas about to be proved true or put to shame. The Longford clergy\ndefeated John Martin and carried their man, but he was subsequently\nunseated on petition. The experiment otherwise, however, was decisive.\nFor John Martin, a Presbyterian Protestant, a Catholic people fought\ntheir own clergy as vehemently as they and those clergy had ever\nfought the Tory landlords. It was an exceptional and painful incident,\nbut at the moment one of vast importance, which proudly vindicated\nboth priests and people from a damaging calumny.[142]\n\nThere was no misunderstanding all this. No Irish Protestant,\npatriotically inclined, could any longer be scared by the bugbear of\n\u201cCatholic intolerance.\u201d The time at last had come for the step they\nmeditated. The moment had arrived also for some attempt to answer the\naspirations of Ireland. And \u201cthe Hour had brought the Man.\u201d\n\nOn the night of Thursday, the 19th of May, 1870, there were quietly\nassembled in the Bilton Hotel, Upper Sackville Street, Dublin\u2014the most\nexclusive and aristocratic of the quasi-private hotels in that city\u2014a\nstrange gathering. Such men had never met to confer or act together\nbefore. It was a \u201cprivate conference of Irish gentlemen to consider\nthe state of Ireland.\u201d But looking around the room, one might think\nthe millennium at hand, when the wolf would lie down with the lamb and\nthe lion slumber with the fawn. Men who were Tories, nay, Orangemen;\nmen who were \u201cultra-montanes,\u201d men who had been Repealers, men who\nwere Whigs, men who had been rebels; Protestants, Catholics,\nPresbyterians, Quakers, Fenians, anti-Fenians, knights, high sheriffs,\naristocrats, democrats\u2014a strange array, about fifty in all.[143]\nSoberly and earnestly and long they discussed and debated and\ndeliberated. The men seemed thoroughly to realize the gravity of what\nthey were about.\n\nThey did not claim any representative character whatever; they spoke\neach man for himself. The questions they had proposed to discuss dealt\nmerely with \u201cabsenteeism and the consequent loss of trade and national\nprosperity,\u201d and \u201cthe advantages of a royal residence in Ireland in a\npolitical and financial point of view.\u201d But in the very first moments\nof discussion even the new converts to nationality took up bolder\nground. Lord Mayor Purdon, a Protestant Conservative, a man\nuniversally respected in Dublin; Sir William Wilde (husband of the\nYoung Ireland poetess \u201cSperanza\u201d), an arch\u00e6ologist of European fame;\nthe Hon. Capt. King-Harman; and the Rev. J. E. Galbraith, fellow of\nTrinity College, one of the most distinguished mathematicians of the\nage, were amongst the men of conservative politics who came especially\nto the front. The nationalists, both \u201cextreme\u201d and \u201cmoderate,\u201d\ninterfered but little in the discussions, looking on greatly\nastonished at all they heard and saw; but their part of the case was\nwell handled by the man who was really the guiding spirit of the\nscene, and who eventually rose and in a brief speech of thrilling\npower proposed:\n\n \u201cThat it is the opinion of this meeting that the true remedy for\n the evils of Ireland is the establishment of an Irish parliament\n with full control over our domestic affairs.\u201d\n\nA dozen men rose to second this resolution of Mr. Butt, which was\ncarried in the meeting not only without a dissentient voice, but with\nenthusiasm. Considering the composition of the assemblage, this was\none of the most startling incidents in Irish politics for half a\ncentury. Having appointed a committee to report resolutions to a\nfuture meeting, the assembly adjourned.\n\nThis was the birth of the Home-Rule movement.\n\nThe course of procedure adopted, following upon the above events, was\none quite unique in Irish politics. Usually the promoters in such\ncases would hold a meeting as \u201cwe the people of Ireland\u201d and begin to\nact and speak in the name of the country. Not only was this line of\nconduct eschewed, it was expressty repudiated, by the semi-private\nsociety or association which at first grew out of the Bilton Hotel\nmeeting. It was only four months afterwards (1st of Sept., 1870) that\nthey ventured to assume public form or shape as a political\norganization. During all this interval they announced themselves\nsimply as a number of Irishmen associated together in an endeavor to\nascertain the feeling of the country upon the subject of national\nautonomy. They had themselves arrived at certain general conclusions\nor resolutions (hereafter to be noticed), but they declared they could\nnot arrogate to themselves any right or authority to speak for the\nnation at large. When at length they broke ground and took the field\npublicly as the \u201cIrish Home Government Association,\u201d they still\ndisclaimed the right to assume the authoritative functions or tone of\na great national organization.[144] _That_ would come at the right\ntime, if the country thought well of calling forth such a body; but\n_this_ was at best a sort of \u201cprecursor society\u201d projecting certain\nviews, and submitting them to public examination by the people, with\nthe avowed intention on the part of these \u201cprecursors\u201d of some day, if\nthey found encouragement for their course, calling on the country to\npass its deliberate and decisive verdict upon those views, so that\n_Ireland, the nation_, might speak, and, speaking, command obedience\nfrom all loyal and faithful sons.\n\nThis was all Butt\u2019s sagacity. _Festina lente_ was the motto that\nbefitted work so grave and momentous as an effort to lift Ireland up\nand bid her hope and strive once more. There was need of this\ndeliberation and caution. The experiment of bringing together such\nelements as he gathered around this new venture was a hazardous one.\nThere were prejudices to be allayed, objections to be removed,\nantipathies to be conquered. Notoriously there were men who wanted not\nto go very far on a road so new to them, and whom a very little bit\nindeed of self-government would satisfy. Just as notoriously were\nthere men who wanted to go a great deal further than they could get\nthe rest of their countrymen to join them in attempting. These two\nsections\u2014the Protestant loyalists and the Fenian secessionists\u2014were\nthe most widely opposed. Then there were men of the \u201cOld Ireland\u201d\nschool and men of the \u201cYoung Ireland\u201d school\u2014men who objected to\n\u201crepeal\u201d as worthless without the addition of a separate and\nresponsible Irish administration; and men who objected to repeal as\ndangerous without stronger guarantees against conflict and separation\nof the kingdoms.\n\nIt was expected that the greatest difficulty would be with the (Irish)\nFenians; but this was not so. Mainly through Mr. Butt\u2019s great\ninfluence with them, but partly because adversity had taught them\nuseful lessons, they either came into the new scheme or else declared\nfor a friendly neutrality. Not that any of them did so in the sense of\nrecanting their Fenian principles. They expressly reserved their own\nconvictions, but announced their determination to give a fair trial\nand a friendly aid to an honest endeavor in the direction proposed.\nSome of their body, absent in America, disapproved of this resolve,\nand bitterly decried the idea of letting any patriotic scheme but\ntheir own find tolerance, much less favor, from their ranks. In\nEngland, however\u2014_i.e._, among the Irish in England\u2014where the wreck\nand disorganization that had broken up Irish Fenianism had had little\neffect, and where for several years past there had resided whatever of\nstrength and authority remained of that body, the proposals of Mr.\nButt were taken up heartily, and even enthusiastically, by them.\n\nA much more formidable work it was found to be to assure the men of\nlarge property that this was not an embryo scheme for rebellion and\nrevolution; to persuade the Catholic clergy that it was not either a\ncloak for Fenianism or a snare of Orangeism; and to convince the\nProtestants that it was not a trap laid for them by Cardinal Cullen\nand the Jesuits.\n\nAnd now what was the scheme or plan or \u201cplatform\u201d put forward after\nsuch deliberation, inquiry, negotiation, and investigation? What\nspecifically has been the Irish national demand as put forth to the\nworld in 1870, solemnly ratified in a great National Conference in\n1873, and unmistakably and triumphantly endorsed at the general\nelections of February, 1874?\n\nSubstantially the old demand and declaration on the basis of which\nIreland has been ready enough any time for the last two hundred and\nfifty years to compromise with the English connection\u2014equality in a\ncopartnership, but no subjugation; the national autonomy of Ireland\nsecured; the right of Ireland to legislate for and control her own\naffairs established. The Irish Confederate government of 1642, the\nfree Irish parliament of 1690, the free Irish parliament of 1782, and\nthe decree of the Irish millions organized in the Repeal movement of\n1843 formulated just that programme\u2014modified somewhat, no doubt, each\ntime, it might be, according to the requirements of the period; but\nstill, as the student of authentic historical documents will discover,\nit was on all those memorable occasions in substance the same. The\nCatholic Confederation at Kilkenny in the seventeenth century, and the\nProtestant convention at Dungannon in the eighteenth, spoke in almost\nidentical tones as to Ireland\u2019s position under the triple crown of\nScotland, England, and Ireland. It was very much as if Virginia in\n1865 said: \u201cI have fought you long and bravely; recognize and secure\nto me the fulness of state rights, and I will loyally cast in my lot\nas a member of the United States.\u201d How closely the founders of the new\nIrish movement kept on the old lines may be seen from the subjoined\n\u201cplatform\u201d laid down by the \u201cHome Government Association\u201d in 1870:\n\n \u201cHOME GOVERNMENT ASSOCIATION.\n\n \u201cGENERAL PRINCIPLES.\n\n \u201cI.\u2014This association is formed for the purpose of obtaining\n for Ireland the right of self-government by means of a\n national parliament.\n\n \u201cII.\u2014It is hereby declared, as the essential principle of\n this association, that the objects, and THE ONLY OBJECTS,\n contemplated by its organization are:\n\n \u201cTo obtain for our country the right and privilege of\n managing our own affairs, by a parliament assembled in\n Ireland, composed of her majesty the sovereign, and her\n successors, and the Lords and Commons of Ireland:\n\n \u201cTo secure for that parliament, under a federal\n arrangement, the right of legislating for and regulating\n all matters relating to the internal affairs of Ireland,\n and control over Irish resources and revenues, subject to\n the obligation of contributing our just proportion of the\n imperial expenditure:\n\n \u201cTo leave to an imperial parliament the power of dealing\n with all questions affecting the imperial crown and\n government, legislation regarding the colonies and other\n dependencies of the crown, the relations of the United\n Empire with foreign states, and all matters appertaining\n to the defence and the stability of the empire at large.\n\n \u201cTo attain such an adjustment of the relations between the\n two countries, without any interference with the\n prerogatives of the crown, or any disturbances of the\n principles of the constitution.\n\n \u201cIII.\u2014The association invites the co-operation of all\n Irishmen who are willing to join in seeking for Ireland a\n federal arrangement based upon these general principles.\n\n \u201cIV.\u2014The association will endeavor to forward the object it\n has in view, by using all legitimate means of influencing\n public sentiment, both in Ireland and Great Britain, by\n taking all opportunities of instructing and informing public\n opinion, and by seeking to unite Irishmen of all creeds and\n classes in one national movement, in support of the great\n national object hereby contemplated.\n\n \u201cV.\u2014It is declared to be an essential principle of the\n association that, while every member is understood by\n joining it to concur in its general object and plan of\n action, no person so joining is committed to any political\n opinion, except the advisability of seeking for Ireland the\n amount of self-government contemplated in the objects of the\n association.\u201d\n\nThough rather diffidently and unostentatiously projected, the new\nmovement was hailed with general approbation. Yet it had for some time\nhanging on either flank very bitter though not very numerous\nassailants. The ultra-tories, led by the Dublin _Daily Express_,\nshrieked fiercely at the Protestant conservatives that they had\nentered the camp of Fenianism and Romanism; the ultra-whigs, led by\nthe Dublin _Evening Post_, howled wildly at the Catholics that they\nwere the tools of Orangemen who shammed Home Rule merely to spite Mr.\nGladstone for disestablishing the Protestant Church. There can be no\ndoubt this latter idea had long a deterrent effect on the Catholic\nbishops and clergy; they thought the new movement too like a\nProtestant revenge on an English minister whom they regarded as a\nbenefactor. \u201cThe newly-born patriotism of these Tory-nationalists will\nsoon vanish,\u201d they said (not without show of reason); \u201cwait until they\nhave driven Mr. Gladstone from office, and got Disraeli back\nagain\u2014they will then draw off quick enough from Home Rule.\u201d \u201cVery\nlikely,\u201d answered the Catholic Home-Rulers; \u201cwe are quite prepared to\nfind a large percentage of these men fall off, but enough of them will\nremain faithful and true to make the movement a success; and\nespecially the Protestant _youth_ of the country henceforth will be\nours.\u201d\n\nTime\u2014at all events such time as has since elapsed\u2014has quite vindicated\nthis view.\n\nMeantime the country was pronouncing gradually but decisively on the\nmovement. Within the first six months the following corporations, town\ncommissions, and boards of guardians passed formal votes endorsing its\nprinciples:\n\n Cork (Municipal Council).\n Limerick \u201c \u201c\n Athlone (Town Commission).\n Ballinasloe \u201c \u201c\n Clones \u201c \u201c\n Dungarvan \u201c \u201c\n Galway \u201c \u201c\n Kingstown \u201c \u201c\n Longford \u201c \u201c\n Nenagh \u201c \u201c\n New Ross \u201c \u201c\n Mullingar \u201c \u201c\n Queenstown \u201c \u201c\n Tuam \u201c \u201c\n Dublin (Board of Guardians).\n Cork \u201c \u201c\n Drogheda \u201c \u201c\n Galway \u201c \u201c\n Kilkenny \u201c \u201c\n Kilmallock \u201c \u201c\n Millstreet \u201c \u201c\n Limerick Farmers\u2019 Club\n Cork \u201c \u201c\n Mallow \u201c \u201c\n\nThis was barely a few months\u2019 work as to the pronouncement of\npopularly-elected public bodies. A number of public meetings in\nvarious parts of the country, attended by tens of thousands of the\npeople, gave a further stamp of approval and a cheer of welcome to the\nmovement.\n\nThe mode of electing the governing body or council of the association\nwas peculiar. In place of the usual mode\u2014proposing the list at the\nannual public meeting, and passing it there and then\u2014the members of\nthe council were elected by ballot-papers; each member of the\nassociation, no matter where resident, receiving his paper and\nexercising his vote as well as if he lived on the spot in Dublin. Much\ncuriosity existed to see the result of this secret ballot-vote in a\nlarge body so mixed in religious class and (in a sense) political\nopinions. Two-thirds or three-fourths of the voters would be\nCatholics\u2014was it not a grievous peril that by any chance they might\nballot in a nearly exclusively Catholic council, and thus sow\nmisgiving and mistrust amongst the Protestants? But never yet have the\nCatholics of Ireland, in private or in public, failed to refute by a\nnoble tolerance the evil suspicions of their foes. The very first\ncouncil thus elected (under circumstances, too, that precluded concert\nor arrangement as to either general or particular result) turned out\nto be composed of thirty-two Catholics and twenty-nine Protestants;\nand two Protestants headed the poll![145] The announcement had a\nprofound effect, not only in cementing and solidifying the new union\nof parties and creeds within the organization, but also in spreading\nits principles abroad. A good idea of the varied classes composing the\ngoverning body thus elected may be gathered from the following\nanalysis of the Home-Rule Council for 1872:\n\n Catholic clergy, 5\n Protestant clergy, 4\n (The late) Lord Mayor, 1\n Aldermen, 7\n Deputy lieutenants, 3\n Doctors of medicine, 3\n Knights, 3\n Justices of the peace, 4\n Lieutenant-Colonel, 1\n Members of Parliament, 5\n Queen\u2019s counsel, 1\n Solicitors, 2\n Town councillors, 3\n\nThe British Liberal party, who at first pooh-poohed the \u201cHome-Rule\ncraze,\u201d at length began to take alarm; for without the Irish vote that\nparty could neither attain to nor retain office. They warned the\nCatholic hierarchy to discourage this mischievous business. It was at\nbest \u201cinopportune\u201d; it would arrest Mr. Gladstone\u2019s beneficent design\nof settling the Catholic university education question; and would only\n\u201cplay the Tory game.\u201d Liberalism was not going to die easily. Things\ncame to a crisis in the Kerry election of 1872. On the death that year\nof Lord Kenmare, his son, Viscount Castlerosse, then Catholic-whig-liberal\nmember for Kerry, attained to the earldom, and thus created a vacancy\nin the parliamentary representation. By a compact between the great\nlandlords of the county, Whig and Tory, thirty years previously, it\nwas agreed to \u201chalve\u201d the county between themselves: one Protestant\nTory member from the great house of Herbert of Muckross, and one\nCatholic Whig from the noble house of Kenmare\u2014an \u201calliance offensive\nand defensive\u201d against all third parties or popular intruders being\nthus established. On this occasion the new Earl of Kenmare nominated\nas his successor in the family seat his first cousin, Mr. James A.\nDease, an estimable Catholic gentleman acceptable to the people in\nevery way but one: he was not a Home-Ruler. Although the Catholic\nbishop, Right Rev. Dr. Moriarty, joined the county landlords in\nnominating Mr. Dease, the bulk of the Catholic clergy, and the people\nalmost unanimously, revolted, and, amidst a shout of derision at such\na \u201chopeless\u201d attempt, hoisted the flag of Home Rule. They, Catholics\nalmost to a man, chose out as their candidate a young Protestant\nKerryman barely home from Oxford University\u2014Roland Blennerhassett, of\nKells. He was a Home-Ruler, and much loved even as a boy by the Celtic\npeasantry of that wild Iveragh that breaks the first roll of the\nAtlantic billows on the stormy Kerry coast. Ireland and England held\nbreath and watched the struggle as a tacitly-admitted test combat.\n\n \u201cWho spills the foremost foeman\u2019s life,\n His party conquers in the strife.\u201d\n\nSuch an election-struggle probably had not stirred Ireland since that\nof Clare in 1829. It resulted in an overwhelming victory for Home\nRule. Deserted by every influence of power that should have aided and\nbefriended them (save their ever-faithful priests, who, in nearly\nevery parish, marched to the poll at the head of their people)\u2014the\nfrieze-coats of \u201cO\u2019Connell\u2019s county,\u201d rising in their might, tore down\nthe territorial domination that had ruled them for thirty years, and\nstruck a blow that decided the fortunes of the Home-Rule movement.\n\nBarely less important (and only less important because of some\npeculiar features in the Kerry struggle) was another election being\nfought out in Galway County at the same moment. That county, about a\nyear previously, had elected unopposed, on Home-Rule principles, a man\nthe value of whose accession to the national ranks it would be almost\nimpossible to overestimate. This was Mitchell Henry, of Kylemore\nCastle, near relative by descent of that Patrick Henry illustrious in\nAmerican annals. Not because of his large wealth\u2014he is said to have\nsucceeded on his father\u2019s death to a fortune of over a million pounds\nsterling\u2014but for his high character, his great ability and thoroughly\nIrish spirit, he was a man of great influence, and his espousal of\nHome Rule was quite an event. Now, however, another election, this\ntime contested, fiercely contested, had arisen; the candidates being\nColonel Trench, son of Lord Clancarthy, Whig and Tory landlord\nnominee, and Captain John Philip Nolan, Home-Rule candidate, under the\nauspices of the great \u201cPrelate of the West,\u201d the world-famed\nArchbishop of Tuam. For years the grand old man had not interfered in\nan election or emerged from the sorrowful reticence into which he\nretired after the ruin of the Tenant League. But Ireland was up for\nthe old cause, and \u201cJohn of Tuam,\u201d O\u2019Connell\u2019s stoutest ally in the\ncampaign for Repeal, was out under the old flag. Not to let his name\nand his influence be discredited in his old age was as much the point\nof battle, certainly the point of honor, on the part of the people, as\nto return the Home-Ruler. The struggle was one of those desperate and\nmerciless encounters between landlord tyranny on the one side and\nconscience in the poor man\u2019s breast on the other, which used to make\nIrish elections as deadly and disastrous as armed conflicts in the\nfield. Happily, it was the last of its class ever to be seen in\nIreland; for the Ballot Act, passed a year after, closed for ever the\nera of vote-coercion. Captain Nolan was triumphantly returned. The\nfamous \u201cGalway Election Petition,\u201d in which Judge Keogh so\ndistinguished himself, unseated him (for a time) soon after; but Kerry\nand Galway struck and won together that week in February, 1872; and\nthe one blaze of bonfires on the hill-tops of all the western\ncounties, the following Saturday night, celebrated the double victory\nfor the national cause.\n\nIn the course of the next succeeding year every election vacancy in\nIreland but one resulted in the return of a Home-Ruler, Mr. Butt\nhimself being among the number. There was now no longer any question\nas to the magnitude of the dimensions to which the movement had\nattained. \u201cHome Rule\u201d had become a watchword throughout the land; a\nsalutation of good-will on the road-sides; a signal-shout on the\nhills. To this had grown the work begun almost in fear and trembling\nthat night at the Bilton Hotel in 1870. The hour could be no longer\ndelayed for convening the whole Irish nation in solemn council to make\nformal and authoritative pronouncement upon the movement, its\nprinciples, and its programme. In the end of the summer of 1873 it was\naccordingly decided that in the following November an Aggregate\nConference of Delegates from every county in Ireland should be\nconvened in the historic Round Room of the Rotunda, memorable as the\nmeeting-place of the Irish Volunteer Convention more than\nthree-quarters of a century before.\n\nBut the history of that important event fitly belongs to another\nchapter of such a record as this. The point now arrived at closes the\nfirst stage of the Home-Rule movement\u2014from 1870 to 1873. The second\nthree years\u2014from 1873 to 1876\u2014will exhibit it in a new light, with the\nmandate of a nation as its authority, and a powerful parliamentary\nparty as its army of operation.\n\n\n [139] The above article is from the pen of Mr. A. M.\n Sullivan, M.P. for Louth, editor of the Dublin\n _Nation_, and one of the leaders in the national\n movement for Home Rule in Ireland. The movement is one\n of great importance and significance. It has many\n enemies. It has been and continues to be much\n misrepresented. For these reasons we open our pages to\n one of its ablest and most eloquent exponents to give\n its history to our readers. Mr. Sullivan will resume\n and close the subject in the next number of THE\n CATHOLIC WORLD.\u2014ED. C. W.\n\n [140] There were certain other issues, chiefly as to\n alleged profligacy of financial expenditure, and as to\n audit and publication of accounts, etc., which need\n not be considered here.\n\n [141] Their meetings in Dublin were constantly\n \u201cmobbed\u201d for some time.\n\n [142] Not many months later the climax was capped\n by the triumphant return of Mr. Martin for Meath,\n probably the most Catholic constituency in Ireland;\n the candidate whom he defeated (in a stiff but\n thoroughly good-humored contest) being the son of Lord\n Fingal, one of the best and most popular of the Irish\n Catholic nobility.\n\n [143] As this assembly has become in a degree historical,\n it may be interesting to give the following list\n (never before published) of those who attended it, and\n others added by vote thereat to make up a Committee on\n Resolutions. In nearly every case an indication of the\n political and religious opinions of the parties is now\n added. The list includes some of the largest merchants\n in Dublin:\n\n The Rt. Hon. Edward Purdon, Lord Mayor, Mansion House,\n Protestant Conservative.\n\n\n Sir John Barrington, ex-Lord Mayor, D.L., Great\n Britain Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n E. H. Kinahan, J.P., ex-High Sheriff, Merrion Square,\n Tory.\n\n James V. Mackey, J.P., Beresford Place, Orangeman.\n\n James W. Mackey, ex-Lord Mayor, J.P., 40 Westmoreland\n Street, Catholic Liberal.\n\n Sir William Wilde, Merrion Square, F.R.C.S.I., Prot.\n Cons.\n\n James Martin, J.P., ex-High Sheriff, North Wall, Cath.\n Lib.\n\n Cornelius Denehy, T.C., J.P., Mountjoy Square, Cath.\n Lib.\n\n W. L. Erson, J.P., Great Charles Street, Or.\n\n Rev. Joseph E. Galbraith, F.T.C.D., Trinity College,\n Prot. Cons.\n\n Isaac Butt, Q.C., Eccles Street, Prot. Nationalist.\n\n R. B. Butt, Eccles Street, Prot. Nat.\n\n R. W. Boyle, Banker, College Green, Tory.\n\n William Campbell, 26 Gardiner\u2019s Place, Cath. Lib.\n\n William Daniel, Mary Street, Cath. Lib.\n\n William Deaker, P.L.G., Eden Quay, Prot. Cons.\n\n Alderman Gregg, Sackville Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n Alderman Hamilton, Frederick Street, Cath. Repealer.\n\n W. W. Harris, LL.D., ex-High Sheriff of the County\n Armagh, Eccles Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n Edward M. Hodson, Capel Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n W. H. Kerr, Capel Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n Major Knox, D.L., Fitzwilliam Square (proprietor of\n _Irish Times_), Prot. Cons.\n\n Graham Lemon, Town Commissioner of Clontarf, Yew Park,\n Prot. Cons.\n\n J. F. Lombard, J.P., South Hill, Cath. Repealer.\n\n W. P. J. McDermott, Great Britain Street, Cath. Rep.\n\n Alexander McNeale, 104 Gardiner Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n W. Maher, T.C., P.L.G., Clontarf, Cath. Rep.\n\n Alderman Manning, J.P., Grafton Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n John Martin, Kilbroney, \u201cForty-eight\u201d Nationalist,\n Presbyterian.\n\n Dr. Maunsell, Parliament Street (editor of _Evening\n Mail_), Tory.\n\n George Moyers, Richmond Street, Or.\n\n J. Nolan, Sackville Street (Secretary Fenian Amnesty\n Association), Cath. Nat.\n\n James O\u2019Connor, Abbey Street (late of _Irish People_),\n Cath. Fenian.\n\n Anthony O\u2019Neill, T.C., North Strand, Cath. Rep.\n\n Thomas Ryan, Great Brunswick Street, Cath. Nat.\n\n J. H. Sawyer, M.D., Stephen\u2019s Green, Prot. Nat.\n\n James Reilly, P.L.G., Pill Lane, Cath. Nat.\n\n Alderman Plunket, James\u2019 Street, Cath. Nat. Rep.\n\n The Venerable Archdeacon Goold, D.D., M.B., Protestant\n Tory\u2014son of Goold of \u201982.\n\n A. M. Sullivan, T.C., P.L.G., Abbey Street, Cath. Nat.\n Rep.\n\n Peter Talty, Henry Street, Cath. Rep.\n\n William Shaw, M.P., Beaumont, Cork (President of\n Munster Bank), Prot. Lib.\n\n Captain Edward R. King-Harman, J.P., Creevaghmore,\n County of Longford, Prot. Cons.\n\n Hon. Lawrence Harman King-Harman, D. L., Newcastle,\n County of Longford, Prot. Cons.\n\n George Austin, Town Commissioner of Clontarf,\n Winstonville, Prot. Cons.\n\n Dr. Barry Rathmines, Cath. Lib.\n\n George Beatty, Henrietta Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n Joseph Begg, Capel Street, Cath. Nat. (Treasurer of\n Fenian Amnesty Association).\n\n Robert Callow, Alderman, Westland Row.\n\n Edward Carrigan, Bachelor\u2019s Walk, Cath. Lib.\n\n Charles Connolly, Rogerson\u2019s Quay, Cath. Lib.\n\n D. B. Cronin, Nassau Street, Cath. Fenian.\n\n John Wallis, T. C., Bachelor\u2019s Walk, Prot. Cons.\n\n P. Walsh, Merrion Row, Cath. Nat.\n\n John Webster, Monkstown, Prot. Cons.\n\n George F. Shaw, F.T.C.D., Trinity College, Prot. Cons.\n\n P. J. Smith, Dalkey, Cath. Nat. Repealer.\n\n George E. Stephens, Blackhall Place, Prot. Cons.\n\n Henry H. Stewart, M.D., Eccles Street, Prot. Cons.\n\n L. J. O\u2019Shea, J.P., Margaret Place, Cath. Rep.\n\n Alfred Webb, Abbey Street, Nat., \u201cQuaker.\u201d\n\n\n [144] \u201cThis association has never proposed to itself\n the position and duties of such a great popular\n organization as must eventually take up and carry out\n to the victorious end the national question. It has\n rather proposed to itself the less ambitious though\n not less arduous task of preparing the ground for such\n a comprehensive organization.\u201d\u2014_First Report of the\n Irish Home Government Association._ Dublin: Falconer,\n Upper Sackville Street. 1871.\n\n [145] Every year nearly the same five or six men\n have been returned at the head of the paper; Isaac\n Butt always first, next to him either O\u2019Neill Daunt or\n John Martin; the others almost invariably being Rev.\n Professor Galbraith, A. M. Sullivan, J. P. Ronayne,\n and Mitchell Henry.\u2014[Mr. Ronayne, we regret to say,\n died while this article was in our hands.\u2014ED. C. W.]\n\n\n\n\nSIR THOMAS MORE\n\n_A HISTORICAL ROMANCE._\n\nFROM THE FRENCH OF THE PRINCESSE DE CRAON\n\n\nIX.\n\n\nAfter the king had declared that he no longer wished her to assume any\nauthority in the household, the queen secluded herself entirely in the\nmost retired portion of the palace. In default of happiness, she at\nleast found forgetfulness there; for it was no longer thought\nnecessary to watch over her. Her rival, on the contrary, glorying in\nthe light of the king\u2019s favor and of her own youth and beauty, spent\nher days in festivity and enjoyment. She allowed herself to be carried\naway by the flattery of the throng of courtiers who followed in her\ntrain and servilely implored a glance from the eye, a smile or a word\nfrom her whom they had so quickly abandoned but a short time before.\n\nFor several days, however, the tumult of these _f\u00eates_, the sound of\nmusic and dancing, had not entered to wound the heart of Catherine in\nher seclusion. She was seated near the fire, and turning in her hands\nsome worsted stuff intended to make a garment for a poor child. The\nheavy folds of the curtains hung motionless, the light flame of the\nwaxen tapers burning near her had not wavered, and yet Catherine\nstarted nervously and trembled. The anguish of mind she had so long\nendured had, so to speak, worn away the mortal covering and brought\nher soul in direct contact with exterior objects; she saw that which\npossessed no corporeal shape, she heard that which had no sound. Some\nperson unknown has entered her apartments; her beautiful eyes are\nturned towards the door. Very soon, in fact, the curtains roll on\ntheir golden rings. A man enters. He advances a step and pauses. It is\nNorris, the favorite attendant of Henry VIII.\n\n\u201cWhat wouldst thou?\u201d asked the queen with that sweet but imposing\nmajesty of manner so natural to her that she could not lay it aside.\n\n\u201cMadam\u2014the king\u2014madam!\u201d And the unfortunate man hesitated, trembling\nin every limb.\n\nA mist passed over Catherine\u2019s eyes.\n\n\u201cMadam,\u201d he was at last able to articulate, \u201cthe king, my lord, sends\nme to tell you that before daybreak to-morrow morning he wishes you to\nbe ready to leave the palace.\u201d\n\nThe queen turned pale.\u2026\n\n\u201cHas your majesty any command to give me?\u201d said Norris after a\nmoment\u2019s silence.\n\n\u201cThe king shall be obeyed,\u201d replied the queen coldly, and she made a\nsign for him to withdraw. He bowed and hastily left the apartment.\nCatherine remained mute with grief and astonishment. \u201cI have, then,\nstill more to suffer!\u201d she cried at length, falling on her knees. \u201cHe\ndrives me from his presence\u2014he, my own husband. He will not even\npermit me to breathe in the most remote corner of his palace!\u2026 Ah!\nwell. Yes, I will fly from this house of malediction, whose\nhearthstone has been soiled by infamy, and may I never enter it\nagain!\u201d\n\nBut, alas! Catherine had as yet spoken for herself alone. Suddenly the\nmother\u2019s heart asserted its supremacy; she arose hastily, seized one\nof the lights near her, and, passing rapidly through several\napartments, she at length paused, panting for breath.\n\n\u201cNo one!\u201d she exclaimed, looking wildly around her, \u201cno one has been\nnear these apartments to disturb her rest. The most profound silence\nreigns.\u201d And in her turn she feared to awaken her daughter.\n\nSoftly approaching the bed on which reposed the little Mary, she drew\naside with her royal hand the heavy curtain of purple and gold. The\nchild was sleeping profoundly; her head rested on one of the delicate\narms; her long, golden hair, loosened from all confinement, hung over\nher lovely neck and shoulders, and down on her light muslin\nnightdress. She had thrown off the bedclothing that covered her. The\nblood, pure and calm, circulated gently through the transparent veins.\nShe seemed as happy, as tranquil, as her mother was agitated and\nmiserable. Catherine, in an agony inexpressible, regarded her sleeping\nchild, her hand nervously clenching the curtain she was holding back.\n\n\u201cSleep on, my daughter, sleep!\u201d she murmured. \u201cMayst thou never know\nthe weary vigils and bitter anguish of suffering! But what do I say?\nDoes he not involve thee in the unjust proscription of thy mother? The\nhatred he bears towards her, will he not extend it to thee? Art thou\nnot the very link that must be broken?\u201d\n\nAnd Catherine, in despair, drew back like a stranger in this apartment\nshe must leave before the dawn of the morning.\u2026 Again she returned to\nthe couch of her child. She bent over her; her lips almost touched her\nforehead. Then a gloomy courage took possession of her soul.\n\n\u201cWhy torture myself thus,\u201d she cried, \u201csince thou art still left to\nme? Though all forget me, though the earth open beneath me, I will\nnever more be separated from thee. Thou shalt be my joy, my life, my\nhope; thou shalt become my sole, my only friend! One day, yes, one day\nthou wilt understand thy mother. Let him cast thee far away from\nhim\u2014ah! what matters it? I open my heart to thee! The earth is vast;\nshe will welcome her unfortunate children. And when, worn down by\nsorrow, I shall be ready to yield up my life, my hand will still be\nraised to bless thee, and my eyes will be fixed upon thine. It shall\nbe thou who wilt close these eyes before I descend into the night of\nthe grave, and thy tears will bedew my last resting-place. Then wilt\nthou be courageous, and in thy turn learn how to vanquish and defy\nevil fortune.\u201d\n\nThus spoke the unhappy queen. She arose and again fell on her knees.\nBut the hour strikes\u2014that hour she had desired, hoped, waited for, as\na moment of happiness, of hope and consolation. It now strikes,\nclashing, resounding through the silent chambers of her stricken\nheart, only to awaken a new and fearful sorrow. Still, she hesitates\nnot; she again embraces the child, then tears herself away\u2014flies. She\nhastens eagerly on\u2014Catherine has disappeared.\u2026\n\n * * * * *\n\nOn being informed of the clergy\u2019s refusal the king fell into a furious\nrage. For three days the bishops were shut up in Westminster. The\nroyal commissioners went to and fro continually from the king\u2019s palace\nto the assembly; but the deliberations were conducted with so much\nsecrecy that nothing was known of them outside.\n\nMeanwhile, night came on, and the most profound silence reigned\nthroughout the long cloisters of the abbey. The pale rays of the moon\nalone illuminated the splendid arches. The sanctuary was deserted, and\nthe red flicker of a lamp suspended in the immense vault showed no\nlarger than a luminous point set in space. A woman covered with a long\nveil stood within the sacred place, leaning against the iron railing,\napparently absorbed in prayer. But no, she was not praying; the human\nsoul must be calm and resigned before it can truly lift itself up\ntowards God. Burning tears streamed from her eyes in torrents upon the\nstone pavement beneath her feet; she started at the slightest creaking\nof the wooden stalls surrounding the choir, and her attentive ear\ncaught even the least breath of air. Anon footsteps were heard.\n\n\u201cSt. Catherine, pray for us,\u201d said a dear and well-known voice.\n\n\u201cAmen,\u201d responded the queen; and she advanced towards two men who were\napproaching.\n\n\u201cMore!\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cMore! you have abandoned me, then?\u201d\n\n\u201cNever, madam!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, then,\u201d she cried, seizing his hand, \u201cabandon me now! Cease,\ncease to sacrifice yourself for me! Know that you have no longer a\nqueen; the banished Catherine leaves to-morrow the palace of her cruel\nhusband. No place of refuge is offered her; she is left to choose some\nobscure corner of the earth where she will be at liberty to die. But\nhe is mistaken! I will never leave the soil of England\u2014no, never!\u201d she\ncried. \u201cI will never look again upon my own happy land. \u2018Woman,\u2019 they\nwould say to me, \u2018you have deserted your children; you have not known\nhow to die in the land over which you ought to reign; has the Spanish\nblood, then, ceased to flow in your veins?\u2019 No, never!\u201d\n\nOn hearing her speak thus More stood transfixed with astonishment and\nsorrow.\n\n\u201cThey have dared!\u201d he said at last, \u201cthey have dared, Rochester!\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d replied the queen, \u201cthey have dared! But, Rochester, speak; the\ntime is short; every moment is precious. What has passed in the\nassembly?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere shall I find words to tell you, madam?\u201d replied the good and\nvenerable old man. \u201cParliament has been won over; your friends,\npowerless, have been made to tremble for their own lives; threats of\ndeath pass from mouth to mouth. I myself have scarcely been able to\nescape their criminal attempts on my life; a dish on my table was\npoisoned, and several of my people have died from eating of it.\nConsternation reigns secretly in every heart. The clergy are\nthreatened on all sides; the people are exasperated by a thousand\ncalumnies, the sources of which remain scrupulously concealed. The\nsoil of old England seems about to be shaken to its foundations. Vice\nstalks forth with head erect, while the virtuous man flies in terror.\nThere is time yet, madam. Save yourself! Save us all! Renounce an\nalliance so fatal for you; abandon this prince who no longer puts any\nrestraint upon his passions\u2014he is not worthy of you; and let the house\nof the Lord become your retreat and be your refuge!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat sayest thou?\u201d replied Catherine. \u201cWas it for cowardly advice\nlike this I called you to me, Rochester? And my daughter\u2014what kingdom\nand what father would you give her?\u201d\n\n\u201cGod, madam, and the justice of her cause!\u201d cried the afflicted old\nbishop.\n\n\u201cThen you have yielded?\u201d said the queen.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d replied Rochester, \u201cwe have recoiled before our worst fears; we\nhave made a pact with falsehood, since we can no longer believe in the\nveracity of the king. He has summoned before him in turn each one of\nthe most influential members of the conference. He has sworn to them,\nin the presence of God himself, that he desired in naught to usurp the\nauthority of the spiritual head of the church; that naught could ever\nchange him from being the faithful and obedient child of the church he\nis; that he hated heresy, and that his sole desire was to prevent it\nspreading in his kingdom\u2014in a word, that he wished to live and die in\nthe Catholic faith, in the faith of his fathers, and that he only\nasked of them a title that would give him honor and prove the\nconfidence they had in their prince and the love they bore toward\ntheir lawful sovereign. Now, madam, what shall I say to you? He has\nbeen so far successful in convincing them that they have carried the\nmajority of votes. We have granted him everything\u2014with this\nrestriction, however: that we acceded to his demand only so far as the\nlaw of God would permit. But, alas! discouragement and dissensions\nhave entered among us, and the choice of men by whom the king\nsurrounds himself is sufficient evidence of the road he is resolved to\nfollow. Thomas Audley replaces More, and Cranmer, that base intriguer,\nis installed in the place of the learned and immortal Warham.\u201d\n\n\u201cGreat heaven!\u201d said the queen, \u201cthat vile tool of Anne Boleyn primate\nof England? Then all is lost to faith, hope, the future, succor\u2014all!\u201d\n\nMeanwhile, a strange disturbance was heard, and all at once a door\nleading to the interior of the abbey was opened. A number of the\nking\u2019s guard appeared, armed and bearing torches. The queen,\nterrified, hurriedly retired with More and Rochester within the shadow\nof a chapel where for centuries had reposed the ashes of the old Saxon\nkings. The tombs, on which they were represented in sculpture the size\nof life, lying at full length, their hands crossed on their breasts,\nthe head and feet resting on pillows of stone, cast deep shadows all\naround them. These shadows, fortunately, concealed the queen,\nRochester, and More entirely from observation, while they could see\ndistinctly all that took place in the choir.\n\nThe monks, marching in two lines, defiled two by two and took their\nplaces in the stalls, while the guards stationed themselves at the\ndifferent openings. The gleam of the torches lighted up everything.\nSoon was seen to enter the Abbot of Westminster, who preceded three\nmen richly dressed and enveloped in cloaks. They all three seated\nthemselves in large velvet arm-chairs; but one of them sat in the\nloftiest and most richly adorned of all. In a word, it was plain that\na tribunal was constituted, but that it waited the presence of the\naccused in order to give judgment. He tarried not long. The door again\nopened, and they beheld a young woman enter whose countenance was very\npale. She walked between two guards, and her dress was that of a\nreligious.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d said Sir Thomas in a stifled tone. \u201cWhy, that is the Holy Maid\nof Kent! I believe she has her hands bound. No, it is her veil. What a\nstrange matter! Poor young girl! The rumor of her predictions must\nhave reached the king\u2019s ears. I have so constantly warned her not to\nmeddle in affairs of state!\u201d murmured More.\n\n\u201cCan it be she?\u201d cried the queen and Rochester in the same breath.\n\u201cMore, are you sure of it?\u201d\n\n\u201cQuite sure,\u201d he answered. \u201cI remember perfectly her pale and\nsuffering countenance.\u201d\n\nIn the meantime they made the young girl seat herself on a stool in\nthe midst of the assembly, and the Abbot of Westminster began to\ninterrogate her.\n\n\u201cWhat is your name?\u201d he asked in a very loud tone of voice.\n\nShe neither moved nor replied.\n\n\u201cI conjure you, my sister, to answer me,\u201d he added more solemnly\nstill. \u201cWhat is your name?\u201d\n\n\u201cElizabeth Barton,\u201d she answered, fixing on him a lingering look of\nsurprise and astonishment.\n\n\u201cWhere were you born?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn Aldington, in the county of Kent,\u201d answered she very distinctly.\n\n\u201cWhat is your age?\u201d\n\n\u201cTwenty-three years.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy did you become a religious?\u201d continued the abbot.\n\n\u201cI am not a religious; I have assumed this habit in order to do\npenance and take care of the poor.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho has persuaded you to do this?\u201d\n\n\u201cMyself.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut do you not pretend to have revelations from heaven, and have you\nnot told the assembled people of extraordinary things which are hidden\nin the future?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, my lord,\u201d she replied; and her eyes began to gleam with a\nsingular light.\n\n\u201cWell! repeat what you have said,\u201d interrupted he who was seated in\nthe loftiest chair, rising abruptly to his feet. \u201cRepeat what you have\nsaid,\u201d he continued. And the long, flame-colored plume that shaded his\nlarge hat seemed to tremble with impatience, like the head which it\ncovered.\n\nAt the sound of that voice, so imperious and bearing the expression of\na soul so deeply agitated, the Holy Maid of Kent seemed stricken with\nhorror. She arose and stood in the midst of the assembly, and, turning\ntoward the speaker, extended her hand.\n\n\u201cO King Henry!\u201d she cried, \u201cthink not to conceal yourself from my\neyes. I know you; I know with what power you are invested; and now you\nwould have me tell you what I have said and teach you what I have\nlearned. Well, then, \u2026 yes, \u2026 king, \u2026 but mortal like myself, \u2026\ntremble, recoil with horror and dismay, at sight of the black\nhypocrisy with which you have enveloped your heart. Look well; fix\nyour eyes on the infamous vices that have eaten out the last sentiment\nof virtue God had implanted there.\u2026 Your crimes have multiplied like\nthe sands which roll with the waves in the depths of the sea; you will\ninundate the steps of your throne with the blood of the noblest and\npurest. Heresy, introduced by you into this land, will multiply under\na thousand different forms; everywhere with truth will be banished\ntrue charity. The years of your reign will witness the birth of more\ncalamities than the rain of heaven will cause flowers to grow. The\nwoman you desire will dishonor your bed and perish on the scaffold\nwhich your own hands will have erected; and your daughter, the child\nyou this day reject, shall reign. Yes! she shall reign,\u201d she cried,\n\u201cin spite of all your efforts. Then your bones, eaten by worms, shall\nbe buried under the stones of the sepulchre; but your execrable memory\nshall live among men, and your name\u2014this name of Henry VIII., stamped\nwith the ineffaceable seal of blood\u2014will carry down to ages most\nremote the horrible memory of a monster!\u2026 I have spoken!\u201d[146]\n\nWho could describe the effect produced by these last words on the\nspectators? Whiter than the linen robe which enveloped his form, the\nAbbot of Westminster was seized with terror. It was he who had\npersuaded the king to summon this woman, in order, he said, to\nundeceive the people, who believed in her, and pacify in this way the\ncredulous and superstitious masses.\n\nA prolonged silence reigned throughout that vast temple; who should\ndare to speak?\n\nCromwell alone turned towards the king. He encountered his fixed and\nfurious gaze, which plainly said: \u201cWoe to those who have deceived me!\u201d\n\nHe was not at all disconcerted by it. \u201cBe calm, sire,\u201d he said in a\nlow voice, \u201cbe calm; nothing is lost yet.\u201d\n\nHenry made no reply, but Cromwell needed no answer.\n\n\u201cMy dear sister,\u201d he said in a gentle and honeyed tone, \u201cwho has\ninstructed you to say these things?\u201d And he saw Henry VIII.\nconvulsively clench his fists.\n\n\u201cNo one,\u201d answered she in a sweet, sonorous voice.\n\n\u201cNo one! That is hard to believe,\u201d he replied in a tone almost of\nderision.\u2026 \u201cYou have, at least, repeated all this to several others.\u2026\nThat the king, your lord, may believe you to be sincere, you should\nhide nothing from him. Have you not written to Cardinal Wolsey?\u201d\n\n\u201cWithout doubt,\u201d she replied, \u201cI have informed him of what I ought to\nhave let him know, \u2026 because that was my duty. Sir Thomas More, the\nlord chancellor, can bear witness that I tell you the truth.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! Sir Thomas too,\u201d replied with emphasis the odious Cromwell; and\nhe dwelt especially on the name of this just man. \u201cSir Thomas More! It\nis very well, my dear sister. We verily believe thee.\u201d\n\nThe anxiety that seized on the invisible spectators of the chapel may\nbe imagined. The queen was entirely absorbed with the thought of her\ndaughter; but on hearing the terrible indiscretion of this foolish or\ninspired woman she with difficulty stifled a cry of terror.\n\n\u201cMore has written to you, then?\u201d continued Cromwell, whose ingenuity\nwas never at fault.\n\n\u201cYes, to recommend himself to my prayers, but not on this subject.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you have spoken with him many times,\u201d replied Cromwell in a\nconfident tone, although he really knew nothing about it.\n\n\u201cOnce only,\u201d she answered, \u201cin the house of the Carthusians at\nRichmond, where I saw him with Masters Beering, Risby, and my Lord\nRochester.\u2026 But they advised me not to speak of these things, and to\nkeep my revelations secret.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey were only the more criminal,\u201d replied Cromwell; \u201cbecause it was\ntheir duty to have unfolded the wicked designs of which you are guilty\ntoward his royal majesty.\u201d\n\nAt the word \u201cguilty\u201d she raised her head and fixed her black and\npiercing eyes upon Cromwell.\n\n\u201cGuilty!\u201d she exclaimed. \u201cIt is a crime, then, to speak the truth?\u201d\n\nShe said no more, but took her seat without awaiting permission.\n\nIn the meantime the king, thanks to Cromwell, had time to recover from\nthe astonishment that had seized him, and to hide from the monks the\nhumiliation which he could hardly wait to avenge; for, not disdaining\nhimself to subdue this feeble enemy whom they had represented as\nunable to speak in his presence, he had believed, on the faith of his\nconfidants, it was worth while to summon the Holy Maid of Kent before\nhim, in order to show that she was worthy of no confidence. Now the\nmost furious thoughts were at strife within him. How had she\nrecognized him? Had the queen\u2019s friends instructed her?\u2026 But she would\nnot name them. What a story this would make throughout the kingdom!\nAnd his hardened heart could not cease being troubled.\n\nCromwell, despite the joy he felt at having made her name More and the\nBishop of Rochester, was at a loss how to close with dignity this\ndisagreeable scene. The monks opened their office-books and pretended\nto be reading; the woman remained seated on her stool and said nothing\nmore; the guards waited some signal, which no one gave.\n\nThe king decided the question, which was becoming every moment more\nand more embarrassing.\n\n\u201cIt is well,\u201d he said; \u201cwe have had enough of it; I am satisfied.\u201d\n\nHe arose abruptly. All followed him; the guards threw open the doors,\nextinguished the lights, led away the Holy Maid of Kent, and the monks\nslowly retired into the abbey.\n\n * * * * *\n\nThe hours of night rapidly succeeded each other; already a whitish\ncircle began to rise and extend over the horizon. Nevertheless, all\nwere wrapped in sleep in the plain and beneath the shadow of the\nwoods. The industrious husbandman still rested his weary limbs on his\nrude couch; the dog which guarded his thatched cottage had ceased to\nhowl; and even the invalid found, at the approach of day, a moment of\nrepose. But idleness, always so prolonged in the palaces of kings,\nseemed to have been banished from the palace of Whitehall. Lights were\nseen glancing to and fro athwart the large windows; hurried footsteps\nwere heard running up and down the marble stairways; whilst a coach\nwith several horses attached, slowly drove around a distant courtyard.\n\nAnne Boleyn herself was already occupied with the arrangement of her\nattire. She was seated upon soft cushions of velvet before a toilet\ntable of ebony and gold. A young girl named Anne Savage, whom she\npreferred above all her maids because of her uninterrupted\ncheerfulness, her merry chat, and her expertness in the arts of the\ntoilet, perfumed the long and beautiful hair which she was arranging\nwith extreme care on the brow of her mistress, while the latter was\nsearching in a casket she held in her lap for the jewels she wished to\nadorn her ears and add to her _coiffure_.\n\n\u201cThere is nothing at all in this box!\u201d cried Boleyn, tossing over\npell-mell the most magnificent jewelry.\u2026 \u201cThese emeralds are so trying\nto the face! These pearls injure the complexion! Anne, go bring me\nsomething else. All these are frightful I tell you!\u2026 But what is that?\nI hear a noise, \u2026 a cry.\u2026 Listen.\u2026 No, \u2026 it is in the king\u2019s\napartments.\u2026\u201d\n\n\u201cI hear nothing,\u201d replied Anne Savage after a moment\u2019s silence, during\nwhich she had not breathed.\n\n\u201cAh! yes, I hear it,\u201d replied Anne Boleyn; \u201cI suspect the cause of it,\ntoo.\u2026 But I do not want to think about this.\u2026 However, it is a bad\nomen.\u2026\u201d\n\nAnd as Lady Boleyn was very superstitious, and her conscience far from\neasy, she let the casket fall at her feet, and, bowing her head on her\nbosom, seemed to be absorbed in deep reflection.\n\nAnne Savage tried to complete the _coiffure_ as she sat in that\nposition, but she failed in her task.\n\n\u201cIf my lady cannot hold up her head,\u201d at last cried the maid\nimpatiently, \u201cit will be impossible for me to arrange her head-dress\nproperly.\u201d\n\nThis admonition recalled Anne Boleyn to herself; she immediately\nraised her head and began carefully to scrutinize herself in the\nmirror placed before her. Well pleased with her appearance, she\narranged two or three hair-pins ornamented with pearls strung like the\nbeads of a rosary, and drew down a little the net-work of gold that\nfell below her cap and confined her tresses.\n\nWith this improvement she arose, in order to choose from among the\ndresses she had caused to be brought and laid out on all the furniture\nin the room.\n\n\u201cThis blue, \u2026 or rather this lilac,\u201d she murmured; \u201cno, these\nembroideries are heavy and ugly. I will try this white.\u2026 I would have\nliked a rose-color; here is one. Really, there is nothing here that\npleases me.\u2026 It is true,\u201d she continued spitefully, \u201cany of these\nought to be good enough for one who is going to be married in a\ngarret!\u201d\n\n\u201cIn a garret!\u201d interrupted the maid. \u201cWhat! is it not in the chapel my\nlady is to be given away?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied Lady Boleyn, reddening. \u201cThe king has changed everything\nsince yesterday evening. He has had an altar put up in one of the\nupper rooms of the palace. You alone are to carry my train, and Norris\nand Heneage will serve as witnesses. These are the honors which he\ndeigns to accord the Queen of England.\u2026 Ah! my dear Anne, I am very\nmiserable,\u201d added Lady Anne, almost ready to burst into tears.\n\n\u201cIn a garret!\u201d repeated Savage, and she stood as if stupefied. \u201cIn a\ngarret! O my lady! how can you suffer this?\u2026 Well, now do you not\nthink I was right in telling you that you would do wrong to marry the\nking, and abandon so cruelly Lord Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and\nlord of I know not how many boroughs? He would not have believed\nhimself obliged to marry you in the garret of Northumberland Castle!\nHe loved you so much; he was so proud of you! Many a time has he said\nto me: \u2018Anne, you are a good girl; you have the same name as your\nmistress. You shall never leave my wife; I will give you a marriage\nportion and an honest man for a husband.\u2019 Besides, madam,\u201d continued\nAnne Savage in a grave, sententious manner, \u201cI can never forget that\nmy grandfather, who was very learned and respected by all the parish,\nused to say to me as I would sit by his side to sew: \u2018Remember well,\nmy little Anne, never to marry a man who is above you in wealth or\nrank; otherwise you will not be happy, because love flies away very\nquickly, and reproaches follow.\u2019\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! my dear Anne, do not recall anew my regrets,\u201d cried Lady Boleyn,\nwith tears in her eyes. \u201cI have never ceased to love Percy; \u2026 and when\nI compare the violence and haughty manner of the king with the\ngentleness and virtues of Percy, I am miserable for having listened to\nmy ambition. Oh! how severely I am punished. Henry considers me\noverwhelmed with honor by his loving me! Submissive to all his\ncaprices, I am for ever fearful of losing his favor; while Percy,\nhappy in the sole hope of marrying me, always thanked me for every\nsmile or word that I addressed him. Anne, do you believe that he has\nentirely forgotten me?\u201d she asked suddenly.\n\n\u201cTruly, my lady, I wot not; I only know by my cousin Savage that he no\nlonger receives any one in his fair castle at York.\u2026 But be it as it\nmay, how, my lady, could it profit you to-day?\u201d\n\n\u201cNay, as thou sayest, naught, my poor Anne,\u201d replied Lady Boleyn; but\nas she spoke she could not restrain her tears.\n\nShe recalled to mind all that she had done to induce the king to marry\nher; that, since she had been able to attain an end so difficult, she\ncertainly ought to feel satisfied; and yet, in spite of these\nconsiderations, she found herself overwhelmed with regrets for the\npast and fears for the future. She reflected that Henry had conducted\nhimself so cruelly toward the queen, if ever she ceased to please him\nshe would have everything to fear; and the happiness of that brilliant\npicture of thrones and honors which she had always dwelt on with such\nardent longings seemed to vanish at the very moment when she saw it\nabout to be realized. But Anne Savage could not conceive what should\nafflict her on this point.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d she exclaimed, \u201cshould you torture yourself in this way? It is\ntoo late to think of bringing him back, since he is already married.\nBesides, it is very strange; for you have told me a hundred times that\nyou loved nobody but the king.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are right,\u201d replied Lady Boleyn; \u201cthat is true. I did love him,\nand I love him still; but I feel that it is impossible to love very\nlong a person whom one cannot respect.\u201d\n\n\u201cBetter to have thought of that sooner,\u201d murmured the maid; but she\ntook care not to say so aloud.\n\nAbsorbed as she was in her sorrow, Lady Boleyn did not forget the care\nof her toilet, and, to assist in drying her tears, she turned the\nVenetian mirror in every direction in order to survey herself; but she\nwas by no means satisfied with the _ensemble_ nor the details it\npresented to her.\n\n\u201cSee!\u201d she cried, \u201chow badly these sleeves fit; and these heavy plaits\naround my waist. In sooth, never was I so badly dressed. This white\nsatin robe with silver flowers is frightful.\u2026 Besides, I wanted a\nrose-colored dress, \u2026 but of a color that is not here. They leave me\nwith naught indeed. This may not be borne. Go, bid all my women enter;\nI would know what they think of me.\u201d\n\nAnne Savage ran to open the door. Scarcely had she opened it.\u2026\n\nBut let us leave the frivolous and coquettish Boleyn to adorn with so\nmuch care that form which the dust of the tomb has long since claimed,\nand follow rather this man, all flushed, out of breath, and hurried,\nwho eagerly mounts the stairs in search of the king. The guards are\nstanding near the doors; the mats on which they passed the night are\nstill lying on the floor in the lower hall of the palace; they rub\ntheir half-opened eyes, still bewildered with sleep. They offer the\nusual salutations to Norris, who advances, and whom they recognize;\nbut he passes through their midst without seeming to perceive them,\nand enters abruptly the apartment of the king.\n\nHenry VIII., leaning against one of the windows, his face pressed\nclose to the glass, was gazing eagerly out to behold all he had been\nable to see of Catherine\u2019s departure; but, hearing the door open, he\nturned quickly around, withdrew from the window, and, going to the far\nend of the apartment, took his seat.\n\n\u201cWell, good Norris,\u201d he said, looking attentively at him, \u201cwhat a sad\nair you wear! It was, then, very difficult to get Catherine off? I had\nforeseen it all, however.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour majesty had foreseen it all, and yet methinks you have chosen\nnot to be by the while.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat, then, has happed?\u201d\n\n\u201cNaught, of great moment\u2014no, in sooth, naught but what should have\nbeen. But I vow my heart was bruised sore when the queen\u2019s grief brake\nforth. Nothing loath was she to go; but when she saw the Princess Mary\nwas not let go with her, and the door of the coach closed, she fain\nwould have cast herself without. Then she uttered cries the most\nheartrending, and, stretching out her arms towards us, besought us to\nlet her return and once more embrace her daughter. The princess,\nseeing the despair of her mother, with sobs and cries begged to follow\nher. At length, there being no way to prevent the queen from\ndescending, she clasped her a thousand times in her arms. She then\nwrote something on a scrap of paper I have here, and bade me deliver\nit to your majesty, which I promised to do. She entreated all present\nto beg you to have compassion on her and send the Princess Mary to\nher; that she asked but this one favor, and then she would consent to\ndo all that you wished. It was necessary to carry her to the coach;\nfor she fell fainting while embracing her daughter for the last time.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlways these fainting fits of hers,\u201d replied the king angrily; \u201cyet\nwill she say it is I who have slain her. Come, let us see the paper!\u201d\n\nNorris presented it.\n\nThe king opened it and read the following words which the queen had\nwritten in a trembling hand:\n\n\u201cSIRE: What have I done to you that you treat me thus? You banish me\nfrom your palace and condemn me to exile. Alas! to this I had\nsubmitted; but why have you the cruelty to separate me from the only\ngood of mine that is left in all the world? You know well that never\nhave I gainsaid wish of yours; but is it in my power not to be your\nlawful wife? I conjure you, then, to have compassion on me! Give me\nback my daughter; give her to me, and I will weep no more the lot you\nhave cast for me. Become a stranger in the land over which you reign,\nat least permit to die in peace an unfortunate woman whom you have\ndeprived of her rank, her country, and her friends. Leave me my\ndaughter to console the last days of a life that is almost ended. What\ncan you hope or fear from her? Since you cast her out from your arms,\nleave me the happiness to take her to mine. I am her mother; I have\nbrought her into the world in sorrow; I have nourished her from my own\nbosom\u2014she is mine; and, since it is your will to deprive her of a\nfather, do not, at least, tear her from the arms of her unhappy\nmother.\u201d\n\nThis letter, still all wet with tears, produced a painful impression\non the mind of Henry.\n\n\u201cThis fellow will assuredly find me of the cruelest,\u201d he said to\nhimself. \u201cIt is well, it is well,\u201d he added in a loud voice. \u201cIt is a\nrequest that she makes to me; we will see to it later on. Everything\nis ready, Norris?\u201d he added immediately.\n\n\u201cYes, sire; your orders have been executed with the greatest\nexactness. Heneage and Lady Berkley are below; they await your\nmajesty.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs Dr. Roland also there?\u201d demanded the king. \u201cYes, sire; he has been\nthere more than an hour.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, go and seek Lady Boleyn.\u201d\n\nNorris immediately descended. He found all the doors of Lady Boleyn\u2019s\napartments open, and in the distance heard exclamations mingling, and\nunceasingly repeated.\n\n\u201cOh! how lovely is my lady. Never did she look more fair!\u201d they cried.\n\u201cHow handsomely my lady\u2019s hair is dressed, and what beautiful hair it\nis! What a sweet complexion, what a charming figure! There is not a\nwoman in all the kingdom who is my lady\u2019s equal!\u201d\n\nHearing this concert of praise, Anne Boleyn began to take courage.\n\n\u201cNo, no,\u201d she said with an air of disdain; \u201cI am very badly dressed\nto-day.\u201d\n\nAs she said these words Norris entered and announced to Lady Boleyn\nthat the king awaited her.\n\nShe followed him at once, accompanied by Anne Savage; the other women\nstood in astonishment, and were very curious to know why this favor\nwas shown to their companion, while the jealousy with which they\nalready regarded her was still further increased.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n [146] See Sanders on the Holy Maid of Kent.\n\n\n\n\nTHE TRANSCENDENTAL MOVEMENT IN NEW ENGLAND.[147]\n\n\nThis volume reads pleasantly. There is attached to it a peculiar\ninterest, and something of the charm of a romance, for those who have\nhad some knowledge of the transcendental movement in New England, and\nacquaintance with its leaders. The author has evidently written his\naccount with feelings of sympathy and friendship, which he\nacknowledges, and these have led him to bring out all the good points\nof the movement, while its shortcomings, exaggerations, and\nabsurdities are scarcely, if at all, hinted at. The style is clear and\nsmooth, the narrative never falters; the writer has contrived to throw\na certain halo around the leaders of transcendentalism, and succeeded\nin presenting in his book a series of ideal portraits calculated to\nimpose somewhat upon strangers. The impression which the work leaves\non the mind of the reader is as if he had been listening to the\nconversation of a member of a mutual admiration society. Octavius\nBrooks Frothingham is not a \u201ccentral thinker,\u201d his knowledge of the\nsubject of which he treats is very limited, and his religious insight\nis null. Transcendentalism requires a differently-equipped man to be\nits historian. There is, somehow, a narrowness of structure and a\npeculiar twist in the faculties of the New England mind\u2014perhaps a\nconstitutional inheritance\u2014which renders it inapt to conceive first\nprinciples and grasp universal truths; and although transcendentalism\nwas an effort to rise above this condition, it nevertheless carried\nwith it in its flight all these defects.\n\nOur author has not written a history, but an interesting sketch which\nwill be useful, no doubt, to some future historian. To write a\nhistory, especially of a philosophical and religious movement such as\ntranscendentalism pretended to be, and really was, requires more than\nan acquaintance with persons and facts. One must comprehend its real\norigin, and have mastered and become familiar with his subject. This\nis a task which Mr. Frothingham has not accomplished.\n\nEvery heresy segregates its adherents from the straight line of the\ntrue progress of the human race, all deviations from which are, in the\nnature of things, either transitory or fatal. They live, for the\ngreater part, outside of the cumulated wisdom and the broad stream of\nthe continuous life of humanity. When the heresy has almost exhausted\nits derived life\u2014for no heresy has a source of life in itself\u2014and the\nsymptoms of its approaching death begin to appear, the intelligent and\nsincere who are born in it at this stage of its career are the first\nto seek to regain the unbroken unity of truth. This is reached by two\ndistinct and equally legitimate ways. The first class gains the\nknowledge of the whole body of the originally revealed truth, from\nwhich its heresy cut it off, by tracing the truths retained by the\nsect to their logical connection with other no less important truths\nequally contained in the same divine revelation. The second class\nfalls back upon the essential truths of natural reason; and as all\nsupernatural truth finds its support in natural truth, it follows that\nthe denial of any of the former involves a denial of the latter.\nHeresy always involves a mutilation of man\u2019s natural reason. Once the\nintegral natural basis recovered, the repudiation of heresy as\ncontrary to reason follows logically. But the experience of the human\nrace, that of the transcendentalists included, shows plainly that\nnature does not suffice nature; and this class, at this moment, starts\nout to find a religion consonant with the dictates of reason,\nsatisfactory to all their spiritual necessities, and adequate to their\nwhole nature. They ask, and rightly, for a religion which shall find\nits fast foundations in the human breast. This appeal can only be\nanswered, and is only met, by the revelation given to the world in the\nbeginning by the Author of man, completed in the Incarnation, and\nexisting in its entirety and in unbroken historical continuity in the\nCatholic Church alone.\n\nThis dialectical law has governed the course of all heresies, from\nwhich they could not by any possibility escape; the same law has\ngoverned the history of Protestantism on its native soil, in Germany,\nas well as in old England, in New England, and wherever it has\nobtained a foothold.\n\nOur business at present is with those of the second class, under which\nhead come our New England transcendentalists; and what is not a little\namusing is the simplicity with which they proclaim to the world, in\nthis nineteenth century of the Christian era, the truths of natural\nreason, as though these were new and original discoveries! They appear\nto fancy that the petty sect to which they formerly adhered, and their\ndreary experience of its rule, have been the sad lot of the whole\nhuman race! It is as if a body of men had been led astray into a\ncavern where the direct rays of the sun never penetrated, and, after\nthe lapse of some generations, their descendants approach its mouth,\nbreathe the fresh air, behold the orb of light, the mountains, the\nrivers, and the whole earth covered with trees, flowers, and verdure.\nFor the first time this glorious world, in all its wonderful beauty,\nbursts upon their view, and, in the candor of their souls, they\nflatter themselves that they alone are privileged with this vision,\nand knowledge, and enjoyment! Their language\u2014but, be it understood, in\ntheir sober moods\u2014affects those whose mental sight has not been\nobscured by heresy; somewhat like the speech of children when first\nthe light of reason dawns in their souls. For the transcendental\nmovement in New England was nothing else, in its first instance, than\nthe earnest and righteous protest of our native reason in\nconvalescence against a false Christianity for its denial or neglect\nof rational truths.\n\nMr. Frothingham tells us that \u201che was once a pure transcendentalist,\u201d\nand that perhaps \u201chis ardor may have cooled.\u201d We protest, and as a\ndisinterested party assure him that he writes with all the glow of\nyouth, and in his volume he has furnished a pretty cabinet-picture, in\n_couleur du rose_, of transcendentalism in New England, without\nbetraying even so much as the least sign of a suspicion of its true\nplace in the history either of philosophy or religion. In seeking for\nthe \u201cdistinct origin\u201d and the place in history of the transcendental\nmovement in New England, he goes back to Immanuel Kant, born at\nK\u00f6nigsberg, in Prussia, April 22, 1724, and finds it, as he supposes,\nin Kant\u2019s famous _Critique of Pure Reason_, published in 1771. After\nmentioning some of the disciples of Kant, we are taken to the\nphilosophers of France\u2014Cousin, Constant, Jouffroy; then we are next\ntransported across the Channel to old England, and entertained with\nColeridge, Carlyle, and Wordsworth; finally we are landed in New\nEngland and are told:\n\n \u201cWith some truth it may be said that there never was such a\n thing as transcendentalism out of New England. In Germany\n and France there was a transcendental philosophy, held by\n cultivated men, taught in schools, and professed by many\n thoughtful and earnest people; but it never affected society\n in its organized institutions or practical interests. In old\n England this philosophy influenced poetry and art, but left\n the daily existence of men and women untouched. But in New\n England the ideas entertained by foreign thinkers took root\n in the native soil and blossomed out in every form of social\n life. The philosophy assumed its full proportions, produced\n fruit according to its kind, created a new social order for\n itself, or rather showed what sort of social order it would\n create under favoring conditions. Its new heavens and new\n earth were made visible, if but for a moment, and in a\n wintry season\u201d (p. 103).\n\nThe contact with the productions of the foreign philosophers as well\nas religious and literary writers whom Mr. Frothingham mentions\nundoubtedly stimulated and strengthened the transcendental movement in\nNew England; but it did not originate it. The movement was the\nspontaneous growth of the New England mind, in accordance with the law\nwhich we have stated, aided by the peculiar influence of our political\ninstitutions, as will be shown further on. Its real authors were\nChanning, Alcott, and Emerson, who were neither affected at their\nstart nor afterward\u2014or if at all, but slightly\u2014by foreign or\nextraneous influences.\n\nMoreover, the Kantian philosophy afforded no logical foothold for the\ndefence of the movement in New England. Were our New Englander, who\nstill clings to his early faith in transcendental ideas, to present\nhimself to the philosophical offspring of Kant, he would no more pass\nmuster than his old orthodox Protestant antagonist of the exclusive\ntraditional school. The logical descendants of Kant are, in the region\nof philosophy, to use an Americanism, played out, and those who still\nkeep up an existence will be found in the ranks of positivism,\nmaterialism, and blank atheism.\n\nThe idea of God, the immortality of the soul, the liberty of the will,\nthe creation of the world\u2014these and all such ideas the descendants of\nKant have politely conducted to the frontiers of philosophy, and\ndismissed each and every one, but not before courteously thanking them\nfor their provisional services. Our New Englander would appear to\ntheir eyes as a babe still in swaddling-clothes, or as a child\nlearning to read by amusing itself with the pictures of old Mother\nGoose stories. Whatever hankering Mr. Frothingham and some few others\nmay have after their first love of transcendental ideas\u2014and those in\nNew England with whom they are most in sympathy, one and all are\nmoving in the same direction\u2014they are only in the initial stage of the\nprocess of evolution of the Kantian germ-cell, the product of\nProtestant protoplasm, and will end eventually in the same logical\nissues as their less sentimental German, French, and English\n_confr\u00e8res_.\n\nTo give us a right history of transcendentalism, Mr. Frothingham must\nenlarge the horizon of his mental vision, and include within its scope\na stretch of time which elapsed before his ancestors were led off by\nheresy into the cavern of obscurity. He will find a historical no less\nthan a \u201cdialectical basis\u201d for its ideas or primary truths, and other\ntruths of natural reason of which he has not yet made the discovery,\nin the writings of Clement of Alexandria, in Augustine, in Vincent of\nLerens, in Anselm, and above all in Thomas of Aquinas, whose pages\ncontain all the truths, but purified from the admixture of error, of\nthe pagan philosophers, as also of those who had preceded him in\nChristian philosophy\u2014men whose natural gifts, as well as devotion to\ntruth, were comparable, to say the least, with Immanuel Kant and his\nFrench, or English, or American disciples. Those profound thinkers\nmaintained and demonstrated the truth of the great ideas which Kant,\naccording to his own showing, neither dared affirm nor deny, and which\nthe transcendentalists held for the most part by openly contemning\nlogic and by submissively accepting the humiliating charge of being\n\u201csentimentalists.\u201d What those great men taught from the beginning has\nbeen always taught, even to our day, by all sound Catholic teachers in\nphilosophy. So jealous has the supreme authority of the church been in\nthis matter of upholding the value of the natural powers of human\nreason against those who would exalt tradition at its expense it has\nrequired, if they would teach philosophy in the name of the church, as\na test of their orthodoxy, a subscription to the following\nproposition: \u201cReason can with certitude demonstrate the existence of\nGod, the spirituality of the soul, and the liberty of man.\u201d Had the\nauthor of the volume which we are briefly reviewing read the _Summa_\nof St. Thomas, or only the chapters which treat of these subjects, and\nunderstood them\u2014which is not, we hope, asking too much from an\nadvanced thinker of our enlightened age, inasmuch as St. Thomas wrote\nthis work in the \u201cdark ages\u201d for mere tyros\u2014he would have gained a\nstand-point from which he might have done what he tells us in his\npreface was \u201cthe one purpose of his book\u2014to define the fundamental\nideas of philosophy, to trace them to their historical and speculative\nsources, and to show whither they tended\u201d (p. viii.) Such a work would\nhave been more creditable to his learning, more worthy of his\nintellectual effort, more satisfactory to intelligent readers, and one\nof permanent value. We commend to Octavius Brooks Frothingham the\nperusal and study of St. Thomas\u2019 _Summa_\u2014above all, his work _Contra\nGentiles_, which is a defence of Christianity on the basis of human\nreason against the attacks of those who do not admit of its divine\nrevelation; or if these be not within his reach, to take up any one of\nthe modern works on philosophy taught in Catholic colleges or\nseminaries to our young men.\n\nAfter all, perhaps, the task might prove an ungracious one; for it\nwould not be flattering to the genius of originality, on which our\ntranscendentalists pride themselves, to discover that these utterances\nconcerning the value of human reason, the dignity of the soul, and the\nworth of man\u2014barring occasional extravagant expressions attributable\nto the heat of youth\u2014were but echoes of the voice of the Catholic\nChurch of all ages, of the traditional teachings of her philosophers,\nespecially of the Jesuitical school; all of which, be it said between\nourselves, has been confirmed by the sacred decrees of the recent\nVatican Council! Still, passing this act of humiliation on their part,\nit would have afforded them what our author says their system\n\u201clacked,\u201d and for which he has had recourse\u2014in our opinion in vain\u2014to\nthe great German systems: namely, a \u201cdialectical basis.\u201d He would have\nfound in Catholic philosophy solid grounds to sustain every truth\nwhich the transcendentalists so enthusiastically proclaimed in speech,\nin poetry, and prose, and which truths, in their practical aspect, not\na few made noble and heroic sacrifices to realize.\n\nTo have secured such a basis would not have been a small gain, when\none considers that these primary truths of reason are the sources from\nwhich religion, morals, political government, and human society draw\ntheir vitality, strength, and stability. Not a small service to\nhumanity is it to make clear these imperishable foundations, to render\nthem intelligible to all, and transmit them to posterity with\nincreased life and strength. It is well that this noble task of\nphilosophy did not depend on the efforts of the transcendentalists;\nfor Mr. Frothingham sadly informs us in his preface that \u201cas a form of\nmental philosophy transcendentalism may have had its day; at any rate\nit is no longer in the ascendant, and at present is manifestly on the\ndecline, being suppressed by the philosophy of experience, which,\nunder different names, is taking possession of the speculative world\u201d\n(p. vii.) Who knows what might have been the precious fruits of all\nthe high aspiration and powerful earnestness which were underlying\nthis movement, if, instead of seeking for a \u201cdialectical basis of the\ngreat German systems,\u201d its leaders had cast aside their prejudices,\nand found that Catholic philosophy which had interpreted the divine\noracles of the soul from age to age, consonant with man\u2019s original and\neverlasting convictions, and sustaining his loftiest and noblest\nhopes?\n\nBut with the best will in the world to look favorably on the practical\nresults of the transcendental movement, and our sincere appreciation\nof its leaders\u2014both of which, the issues and the men, are described\nfrom chapter vii. to xv., which latter concludes the volume\u2014in spite\nof these dispositions of ours, our sympathy for so much praiseworthy\neffort, and our respect for so many highly-gifted men, in reading\nthese chapters a feeling of sadness creeps over us, and we cannot help\nexclaiming with the poet Sterling:\n\n \u201cO wasted strength! O light and calm\n And better hopes so vainly given!\n Like rain upon the herbless sea,\n Poured down by too benignant heaven\u2014\n We see not stars unfixed by winds,\n Or lost in aimless thunder-peals,\n But man\u2019s large soul, the star supreme,\n In guideless whirl how oft it reels!\u201d\n\nBut this is not to be wondered at; for although these men had arrived\nat the perception of certain great truths, they held them by no strong\nintellectual grasp, and finally they escaped them, and their\nintellectual fabric, like the house built upon sand, when the storm\ncame and the winds blew, great was the fall thereof. This was the\nhistory of Brook Farm and Fruitlands, communities in which the two\nwings of transcendentalism attempted to reduce their ideas into\npractice. Here let us remark it would have increased the interest of\nthe volume if its author had given to his readers the programme of\nBrook Farm, \u201cThe Idea of Jesus of Society,\u201d together with its\nconstitutions. It is short, interesting, and burning with earnestness.\nThere is scarcely any account of the singular enterprise of the group\nof idealists at Fruitlands, and the name of Henry Thoreau, one of the\nnotables among transcendentalists, is barely mentioned, while to his\nlife at Walden Pond there is not even an allusion. True, these\nexperiments were, like Brook Farm, unsuccessful, but they were not\nwithout interest and significance, and worthy of a place in what\nclaims to be a history of the movement that gave rise to them; at\nleast space enough might have been afforded them for a suitable\nepitaph.\n\nWe will now redeem our promise of showing how the influence of our\npolitical institutions aided in producing what goes by the name of\ntranscendentalism. But before doing this, we must settle what\ntranscendentalism is; for our author appears to make a distinction\nbetween idealism and transcendentalism in New England. Here is what he\nsays:\n\n \u201cThere was idealism in New England prior to the introduction\n of transcendentalism. Idealism is of no clime or age. It has\n its proportion of disciples in every period and in the\n apparently most uncongenial countries; a full proportion\n might have been looked for in New England. But when Emerson\n appeared, the name of idealism was legion. He alone was\n competent to form a school, and as soon as he rose, the\n scholars trooped about him. By sheer force of genius Emerson\n anticipated the results of the transcendental philosophy,\n defined its axioms, and ran out their inferences to the end.\n Without help from abroad, or with such help only as none but\n he could use, he might have domesticated in Massachusetts an\n idealism as heroic as Fichte\u2019s, as beautiful as Schelling\u2019s,\n but it would have lacked the dialectical basis of the great\n German systems\u201d (p. 115).\n\nIf we seize the meaning of this passage, it is admitted that previous\nto the knowledge of the German systems Mr. Emerson had already defined\nthe axioms, run out their inferences to the end, and anticipated the\nresults of the German transcendental philosophy. But this is all that\nany system of philosophy pretends to accomplish; and therefore, by his\nown showing, the distinction between idealism and transcendentalism is\na distinction without a difference.\n\nMr. Frothingham, however, tells us on the same page that\n\u201ctranscendentalism, properly so-called, was imported in foreign\npackages\u201d; and Mr. Frothingham ought to know, for he was once, he\ntells us, \u201ca pure transcendentalist\u201d; and on pages 128 and 136 he\ncriticises Mr. Emerson, who identifies idealism and transcendentalism.\nWith the genius and greatness of the prince of the transcendentalists\nbefore his eyes, our author, as is proper, employs the following\ncondescending language: \u201cIt is audacious to criticise Mr. Emerson on a\npoint like this; but candor compels the remark that the above\ndescription does less than justice to the definiteness of the\ntranscendental movement. It was something more than a reaction against\nformalism and tradition, though it took that form. It was more than a\nreaction against Puritan orthodoxy, though in part it was that. It was\nin a very small degree due to study of the ancient pantheists, of\nPlato and the Alexandrians, of Plutarch, Seneca, and Epictetus, though\none or two of the leaders had drunk deeply from these sources.\nTranscendentalism was a distinct philosophical system\u201d (p. 136).\n\nSo far so good. Here is the place, if the author knows what he is\ntalking about, to give us in clear terms the definition of\ntranscendentalism. But what does he? Does he satisfy our\nanticipations? Mr. Emerson, be it understood, does not know what\ntranscendentalism is! Well, hear our author, who thinks he does. He\ncontinues: \u201cPractically it was an assertion of the inalienable worth\nof man; theoretically it was an assertion of the immanence of divinity\nin instinct, the transference of supernatural attributes to the\nnatural constitution of mankind.\u2026 Through all was the belief in the\nliving God in the soul, faith in immediate inspiration, in boundless\npossibility, and in unimaginable good\u201d (p. 137). Ordinarily when\nwriters attempt to give a definition, or convey information of a\n\u201cdistinct philosophical system,\u201d they give one to understand its first\nprinciples or axioms, its precise method, and its important\nconclusions, and particularly wherein it differs in these respects\nfrom other systems of philosophy. This is what Mr. Frothingham in the\npassage last quoted has led us to expect; but instead of this he gives\nto the reader mere \u201cassertions\u201d and \u201cbeliefs.\u201d And these assertions\nand beliefs every one knows who has heard Dr. Channing, or Mr.\nEmerson, or Mr. Alcott, or who has a slight acquaintance with their\nwritings, to have been the sources of inspiration in their speech,\nwhich appear on almost every page they have written! Proof is\nneedless; for there is no one who will venture a contradiction on this\npoint. The men who were most influenced by the study of the\nphilosophers abroad were neither the originators nor leaders of the\nso-called transcendental movement in New England\u2014Brownson, Parker, and\nWilliam Channing. Mr. Frothingham, we submit, has not made out his\ncase, and has given too much credit where it was not due, while\nrobbing others of their just merit, whatever that may be. If\n\u201ctranscendentalism was a distinct philosophical system,\u201d nowhere in\nhis book has this been shown.\n\nTranscendentalism, accepting the author\u2019s statement as to its true\ncharacter, was never a philosophical system in New England; and had\nits early disciples been content to cultivate the seeds sown by its\ntrue leaders, instead of making the futile attempt to transfer to our\nclime exotics from Germany which would not take root and grow in our\nsoil, we should have had, in place of a dreary waste, stately trees\nwhose wholesome and delicious fruits would now refresh us.\n\nAnd now for our reasons why it was native to the soil from which it\nsprang. If we analyze the political system of our country, we will\nfind at its base the maxim, \u201cMan is capable of self-government.\u201d The\nAmerican system exhibits a greater trust in the natural capacities and\nthe inherent worth of man than any other form of political government\nnow upon this earth. Hence all the great political trusts are made\nelective; hence also our recourse to short periods of election and the\ngreat extension among us of the elective franchise. The genius and\nwhole drift of the current of our political life runs in this\ndirection. Now, what does this maxim mean, that \u201cMan is capable of\nself-government\u201d? It means that man is endowed by his Creator with\nreason to know what is right, true, and good. It means that man\npossesses free-will and can follow the right, true, and good. These\npowers constitute man a responsible being. It supposes that man as he\nis now born is in possession of all his natural rights, and the primal\ntendencies of his native faculties are in accordance with the great\nend of his existence, and his nature is essentially good. But such\nviews of human nature are in direct opposition to the fundamental\ndoctrines of Puritanism and orthodox Protestantism. These taught and\nteach that man is born totally depraved, that his nature is\nessentially corrupt, and all his actions, springing from his nature,\nnothing but evil. Now, the political influence of our American\ninstitutions stimulated the assertion of man\u2019s natural rights, his\nnoble gift of liberty, and his inalienable worth, while the religion\npeculiar to New England preached precisely the contrary. In the long\nrun, the ballot-box beat the pulpit; for the former exerted its\ninfluence six days in the week, while the latter had for its share\nonly the Sabbath. In other words, the inevitable tendency of our\nAmerican political system is to efface from the minds of our people\nall the distinctive dogmas of the orthodox Protestant views of\nChristianity by placing them on a platform in accordance with man\u2019s\nnatural capacities, his native dignity, and with right and honorable\nviews of God. Herein lies the true genesis of Unitarianism and its\ncogenitor, the transcendental movement in New England.\n\nDr. Channing was right in discarding the attempt to introduce the\nworse than idle speculation of the German and French philosophical\nsystems in New England. \u201cHe considered,\u201d so says his biographer,\n\u201cpretensions to absolute science quite premature; saw more\nboastfulness than wisdom in ancient and modern schemes of philosophy;\nand was not a little amused at the complacent confidence with which\nquite evidently fallible theorists assumed to stand at the centre, and\nto scan and depict the panorama of existence.\u201d \u201cThe transcendentalists,\u201d\nhe tells James Martineau in 1841, \u201cin identifying themselves a good\ndeal with Cousin\u2019s crude system, have lost the life of an original\nmovement.\u201d In this last sentence Dr. Channing not only anticipated\nhistory but also uttered a prophecy. But how about a philosophy whose\nmission it is to maintain all the great truths for which he so\neloquently and manfully fought? How about a conception of Christianity\nwhich places itself in evident relations with human nature and the\nhistory of the universe?\u2014a religion which finds its sanctuary in man\u2019s\nsoul, and aims at the elevation of his finite reason to its archetype\nand its transformation into the Infinite Reason?\n\nUnitarianism in New England owes its existence to the supposition that\nCalvinism is a true and genuine interpretation of Christianity. \u201cTotal\ndepravity,\u201d \u201celection,\u201d \u201creprobation,\u201d \u201catonement,\u201d etc., followed, it\nwas fancied, each other logically, and there was no denying one\nwithout the denial of all. And as it was supposed that these doctrines\nfound their support in the divinity of Christ, and in order to bring\nto ruin the superstructure they aimed at upsetting its base by the\ndenial of the divinity of Christ. They had grown to detest so heartily\nthe \u201cfive points\u201d of Calvinism that they preferred rather to be pagans\nthan suckled in such a creed. Is it probable, is it reasonable to\nsuppose that our New Englanders, who have a strong vein of earnest\nreligious feeling in their nature, would have gone across the ocean to\nfind a support for the great truths which they were so enthusiastic in\naffirming among the will-o\u2019-the-wisps of the realms of thought, when\nat their very doors was \u201cthe church which has revealed more completely\nman to himself, taken possession of his inclinations, of his lasting\nand universal convictions, laid bare to the light those ancient\nfoundations, has cleansed them from every stain, from every alien\nmixture, and honored them by recognizing their impress of the\nDivinity?\u201d\n\nBut Mr. Frothingham tells us: \u201cThe religion of New England was\nProtestant and of the most intellectual type. Romanism had no hold on\nthe thinking people of Boston. None besides the Irish laboring and\nmenial classes were Catholics, and their religion was regarded as the\nlowest form of ceremonial superstition\u201d (p. 107); and almost in the\nsame breath he informs his readers that \u201cthe Unitarians of New England\nwere good scholars, accomplished men of letters, humane in sentiment\nand sincere and moral in intention\u201d (p. 110). Is Octavius Brooks\nFrothingham acquainted with all \u201cthe ceremonial superstitions\u201d upon\nthis earth, and does he honestly believe that the Catholic religion is\n\u201cthe lowest form\u201d of them all? Or\u2014what is the same thing\u2014does he think\nthat the \u201cgood scholars and accomplished men of letters\u201d of New\nEngland thought so? Perhaps such was his received impression, but that\nit was common to this class of men we stoutly deny. No one stood\nhigher among them than Dr. Channing, and his estimate of the Catholic\nreligion was certainly not the same as Mr. Frothingham\u2019s. It would be\ndifficult to find in a non-Catholic writer a higher appreciation of\nher services to humanity, and more eloquent descriptions of certain\naspects of the Catholic Church, than may be found in his writings. Mr.\nFrothingham ought to know this, and only the limits of our article\nhinder us from citing several of these. Is he aware that President\nJohn Adams headed the subscription-list to build the first Catholic\nchurch in Boston. Our author, by his prejudices, his lack of insight,\nand limited information, does injustice to the New England people,\ndepreciates the intelligence and honesty of the leaders in\nUnitarianism, and fails to grasp the deep significance of the\ntranscendental movement.\n\nHe does injustice to the people of Boston especially, who, when they\nheard of the death of the saintly Bishop Cheverus, tolled the bells of\nthe churches of their city to show in what veneration they held his\nmemory; and if he was not of the age to have listened, he must have\nread the eloquent and appreciative eulogium preached by Dr. Channing\non this great and good man. And Bishop Cheverus was the guide and\nteacher of the religion of the Irish people of Boston!\n\nMr. Frothingham will not attempt to make a distinction between the\n\u201cCatholic religion\u201d and \u201cthe religion of the Irish menial and laboring\nclasses\u201d\u2014a subterfuge of which no man of intelligence and integrity\nwould be guilty. The Irish people\u2014be it said to their glory\u2014have from\nthe beginning of their conversion to Christianity kept the pure light\nof Catholic faith unsullied by any admixture of heresy, and have\nremained firm in their obedience to the divine authority of the holy\nchurch, in spite of the tyranny, of the bitterest persecution of its\nenemies, and all their efforts of bribery or any worldly inducements\nwhich they might hold out. When our searchers after true religion\nshall have exhausted by their long and weary studies Zoroaster,\nPythagoras, Svenalis, Plato, Epictetus, Brahma, Buddha, Confucius,\nMahomet, and any other notable inventor of philosophy or religion;\nwhen they have gathered up all the truths scattered among the\ndifferent heresies in religion since the Christian era, the end of all\ntheir labors will only make this truth the plainer: that the Catholic\nChurch resumes the authority of all religions from the beginning of\nthe world, affirms the traditions and convictions of the whole human\nrace, and unites, co-ordinates, and binds together all the scattered\ntruths contained in every religious system in an absolute, universal,\ndivine synthesis.\n\n\n [147] _Transcendentalism in New England._ A History.\n By Octavius Brooks Frothingham. New York: G. P.\n Putnam\u2019s Sons. 1876.\n\n\n\n\nCHARLES CARROLL OF CARROLLTON.[148]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\nCharles Carroll\u2019s is a household name in the American family\u2014the name\nof a man marked among his peers for a purity of character on which a\nChristian mind loves to dwell: _integer vit\u00e6 scelerique purus_! His\nindependence was so noble and sublime, yet so toned with homeliness\nwithal, that of him it was said he walked the streets of his\nregenerated country with brow erect and mien expanded, because he was\n_sans peur et sans reproche, a preux chevalier_\u2014the idol in the family\nsanctuary. He alone of the great founders chosen by the angel of this\nland was destined to witness, beyond the span of days usually allotted\nto man, the unparalleled prosperity and unequalled development of the\nresources of a virgin country. Such was the well-earned reward of a\ncareer marked by the purest disinterestedness in motives, justice in\nthe choice of means, and humblest dependence on the assistance of the\nLord God of nations.\n\nOn the anniversary of that day when the covenant that saved mankind\nwas announced by an archangel from the highest heavens, and ratified\non earth by the assent of the lowly maid of Jesse, the _Ark_ and the\n_Dove_ moored on the American waters of the Potomac. A stalwart band\nof men who were to herald\u2014and they alone of all the Pilgrims\u2014the great\ncovenant of true liberty leaped on shore and planted the standard of\nsalvation. They planted the cross on a new land to be added to Mary\u2019s\ndowry. Truer men were never hailed by an uncivilized people\u2014men who\nhad learned how to fulfil their destinies in the schools of Bethlehem\nand of Golgotha.\n\nThe Catholic student of American history feels his heart glowing with\nsentiments of the holiest pride, as, reverting to the twenty-fifth day\nof March, 1632, he reads that the Catholic pilgrim alone, with his\ndescendants after him, has held steadfastly and without swerving, even\nto this day, to the true dictates of that moral and religious economy\nwhereby man can secure his happiness and moral independence here, with\na never-wavering certainty of thereby securing a claim to an\neverlasting welfare hereafter. Cardinal McCloskey to-day represents\nand enacts these very same principles and laws among and to the\nmillions of Catholics in America, which the humble Jesuit missionary\nAndrew White proclaimed among and to the tribes of the Potomac two\nhundred and forty-three years ago\u2014nay, the same principles and laws\nwhich were, by the Lord\u2019s mandate, proclaimed by Peter and the\napostles when for the first time they announced their mission to the\nthrongs gathered in the city of David.\n\nWe love to dwell on these facts. The child who was christened in his\nmother\u2019s arms in Jerusalem on the day after Pentecost became endowed\nwith the same heavenly prerogatives as the Indian babe regenerated in\nthe laver of redemption by Father White sixteen ages later or by any\npriest of the church on this very day! In very deed, the indelible\nmarks and divine perfections of the heavenly court are mirrored and\nreflected by the city of God on earth. That same and one Christ who\nreigned, with his laws, in the church of Jerusalem, and a thousand\nyears after in Vineland of North America, reigns and rules to-day,\nwith the same laws, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.\n\nMeanwhile, where is the church of the Puritans? Where are her\nantecedents? Has any of her aspirations been fulfilled? Is there any\nmark of benediction left by her professors?\n\nThe past of Charles Carroll clusters around his life in manifold\nbenedictions; his name is borne aloft on the waters of that grand\nstream over which the bark of Peter has triumphantly glided for\neighteen centuries, and will continue its triumphant course to the\nconsummation of the world. Such is the perpetuity of faith!\n\nA half-century had hardly passed away since the landing of the\nPilgrims when Daniel Carroll, the grandsire of our Charles, came to\nAmerica (A.D. 1680). He was an Irishman, of that prodigious stock\nwhich, in the wonderful ways of Providence, being transplanted on our\nshores, was on some future day to give to America most energetic and\ndetermined laborers in the rearing of our independence. Surely did the\norator of Concord, amid the festivities of the last Centennial, prove\nhimself miserably ignorant of what his sires owed to the Irish[149] of\nPennsylvania.\n\nFor let it be recorded for the hundredth time: but for those men our\ncause would have been lost, in the straits to which the public weal\nwas brought. They came to the rescue, and George Washington took good\nheart and went on to victory.\n\nDaniel was born in Littemourna, King\u2019s County, Ireland. During the\nreign of James II. he held responsible offices. Lord Baltimore was his\npatron, and by his favor, close application, sterling honesty, and\npersevering industry he became the owner of large estates, and the\nfamily prospered and increased in wealth, although not in social or\npolitical position, during the second and third generations.[150]\n\nDaniel Carroll rose very high in the estimation of the colony, and was\nchosen to offices of important and delicate trust. So great was his\nrenown for spotless integrity, extraordinary ability, and love of the\npublic weal that when Protestant bigotry obtained the upper hand, and,\nin the language of McMahon, the non-Catholic historian of Maryland,\n\u201cin a colony which was established by Catholics, and grew up to power\nand happiness under the government of a Catholic, the Catholic\ninhabitant became the only victim of religious intolerance,\u201d he was\nexempted from the opprobrious and hateful disqualifications inflicted\nupon his coreligionists by the penal code\u2014an exemption, at first\nsight, of doubtful honor, were it not for the exceptional nature and\ncircumstances of the case. It entailed not the least compromise on the\npart of the recipient, who accepted it without hindrance to an open\nprofession of his faith; moreover, it enabled him to shelter less\nfavored colonists in the enjoyment of rights most dear to their hearts\nand indispensable to their happiness.\n\nCharles Carroll, the father of the signer, was born in 1702. He was a\nhigh-spirited man, but he had no chances to display his talents, nor\nfield on which to exert his energies. He chafed under the wrong and\ningratitude with which the children of mother church were harried in\nthe \u201cLand of the Sanctuary\u201d which they had opened to the oppressed of\nall climes. Alluding to the legislation of the Maryland colony in\n1649, Chancellor Kent says: \u201cThe Catholic planters of Maryland won for\ntheir adopted country the distinguished praise of being the first of\nAmerican States in which toleration was established by law. And while\nthe Puritans were persecuting their Protestant brethren in New\nEngland, and Episcopalians retorting the same severity on the Puritans\nin Virginia, the Catholics, against whom the others were combined,\nformed in Maryland a sanctuary where all might worship and none might\noppress, and where even Protestants sought refuge from Protestant\nintolerance.\u201d\n\nBut Protestant intolerance demolished the sanctuary, the handiwork of\nnoble and loving Catholic hands. In accord with the wish of many, Mr.\nCarroll entertained the idea of seeking freedom of action, liberty of\nconscience, and equality of rights under another sky. Thus, in one of\nhis journeys to Europe, he applied to the French minister for the\npurchase of a tract of land in Louisiana. The project was far\nadvanced, when the minister growing alarmed at the vast purchase which\nit was their wish to make on the Arkansas River, the negotiations were\n(providentially?) broken off. The project, viewed in the light of\nsucceeding events, may appear, as it was then by many deemed,\ninjudicious. Yet great praise is due to Charles Carroll, Sr., for his\ntaking the lead in the movement at a time when, as Mr. Latrobe\nobserves, \u201cthe disqualifications and oppressions to which Catholics\nwere subjected amounted to persecution. Roman Catholic priests were\nprohibited from the administration of public worship. The council\ngranted orders to take children from the pernicious contact of\nCatholic parents; Catholic laymen were deprived of the right of\nsuffrage; and the lands of Catholics were assessed double when the\nexigencies of the province required additional supplies.\u201d\u2026 Nay, more:\na Catholic was levelled to the condition of a pariah or a helot\u2014he was\nnot even allowed to walk with his fellow-citizen before the\nState-house. Things were carried to a point beyond endurance. No\nwonder the Catholics of Maryland felt relief even in the thought of\nfleeing from home. And yet, with these facts, admitted by all American\nhistorians, staring him in the face, the British ex-premier has dared\nto flaunt a lie in the face of the whole world!\n\nCharles Carroll, Sr., died at a patriarchal age, more than four-score\nyears. Like Simeon of old, he had long waited for the consolations of\nIsrael, for the day when the spouse of Christ would cast aside the\nslave\u2019s garb, and, emerging from American catacombs, come forth in the\nradiant panoply of freedom and celestial splendor. He himself never\nhad faltered in this hope. He always felt that Mary\u2019s land would not\nbe forsaken by her in whose name it was first held. He saw his country\nfree, and he rejoiced. He witnessed around him the beneficent results\naccruing from the influences of mother church. He raised his hand to\nbless God, to bless his kin, to bless the land. But how shall we\nportray the emotions of his heart when no more in hiding-places, but\nin full noon-day, openly and freely, he saw the clean Sacrifice\noffered by the priests of the Most High? And when the form of his\nbeloved son knelt before him for a last blessing, how with the\nfather\u2019s benedictions must have mingled feelings of pride and\ngratitude because even by the untiring labors of that son had the\nblessings of liberty to church and state been won!\n\nIt was the writer\u2019s good-fortune, a great many years ago, to seek for\nrest in what, among Catholic Marylanders, was formerly known as the\n\u201cJesuit Tusculum.\u201d In a secluded nook in Cecil County, on the Eastern\nShore, lies embosomed within dense thickets and shady lanes the\nBohemia Manor, a dependency of Georgetown College. When the Catholic\nyouth of Maryland were debarred the privilege of collegiate training\nin their native schools, the members of the Company of Jesus had, at a\nvery early period, opened there a boarding-school, especially for such\nof the American boys as would afterwards, like their persecuted peers\nin England, seek for a sound education and a thorough Christian\ntraining at the well-known academies of Belgium and France. Wandering\nthrough those woods, rowing over the meandering streams whose soft\nmurmurings give life to the silent homes of the crane and gentle game,\nthe youthful forms of the Carrolls and Brents, Dorseys and Darnells,\nhaunted the imagination and brought one back to those days of fervent\nCatholic spirit, pure hearts, and high-minded youths who waxed in\nyears and strength under the saintly training of Hudson and Manners,\nFarmer and Molineux. To the care of experienced, learned, and saintly\nJesuits was entrusted the training of that part of the Lord\u2019s vineyard\nwhich, amid persecution and manifold dangers, mirrored the days of\nprimitive Christianity.\n\nYoung Charles Carroll, who was born in 1737, was sent thither to drink\nthe first pure waters of secular learning and Christian training. At\none time well-nigh twoscore of the sons of the more fortunate\ncolonists were there united with him at the Tusculum of the Company of\nJesus.\n\nBut a day of separation dawned. Charles was in his eleventh year when\nnot the swift steamship of our time but a laggard craft was to convey\nhim to distant shores. He was accompanied in his journey by his\ncousin, John Carroll, with whom many years after he accomplished a\nmost delicate and important mission at the command of the government.\nThus he added to the ties and sympathies of blood a link of such\nfriendships as are so apt to knit in college life and ever after\ncongenial souls and hearts beating in unison. True, when the day\narrived on which each was to enter an avenue of life that would lead\nto the career for which each was fitted by nature, they chose\ndifferent gates, but came forth on the great drama of life to be the\nleaders of two generations, one in the church, the other in the state.\nCharles Carroll with unerring finger points to the Catholic layman the\nresources which he should improve for the perfect execution of his\npart; John Carroll has represented him who is the infallible guide of\nthe church, becoming at the same time the model of bishop and priest,\nthe pride and the joy of the anointed minister of that same church in\nthe United States.\n\nSix years did young Carroll spend at St. Omer\u2019s, in French Flanders,\nin the study of the classics of ancient and modern times under Jesuit\ntuition; thence he passed to Rheims; and lastly he entered the college\nof Louis le Grand in Paris. In the two last places he applied himself,\nunder the guidance of learned Jesuits, to the study of logic and\nmetaphysics, mathematics and natural sciences. When at Louis le Grand\nthe elder Charles crossed the ocean a third time to feast his eyes and\ngladden his doating heart on the son who had waxed in years as well as\nin grace. He found the promising boy grown into a manly youth, and\nbade him say farewell to the charms of a life whose days glided on in\nunruffled peace, breathing in an atmosphere of religion and science.\nHis intercourse there was with men whose aspirations were to the\ngreatest glory of God, whose conversation was in heaven. These men, so\nnoble, so learned, so perfect, had entwined the hearts of their pupils\nwith their own.\n\nIn 1757 Charles Carroll removed to London to enter upon the study of\nlaw. Admitted to the Inner Temple, an inmate, or at least a\nfrequenter, of those halls wherein surely the Holy Ghost did not hold\nan undisputed sway, the noble-minded and pure-souled Maryland youth\nmust have felt the change to the quick. What a contrast to the\nsimplicity of his western home at the paternal manor, the sweet\ninfluences and innocent life at the Bohemian Tusculum, and in the\nblessed halls of Bruges and St. Omer\u2019s! At the Temple he spent the\nfive years requisite in order to be called to the bar; but he remained\nin Europe until 1764, when he again set sail for his western home.\n\nA great change had meanwhile come over the moral atmosphere of his\nnative State. Whilst bickerings about religion were growing\ndistasteful, a rumbling noise of threatened disasters in the distance\ndrew the hearts of the colonists together. Indistinct and sombre\nfigures of enemies lurking around the premises counselled measures of\ninternal peace, equal distribution of civil rights, and a unity of\nsentiments and aims as the only hope of averting ruin and of\nconquering a powerful foe. Ties of friendship were strengthened,\nmeasures of concerted action were discussed, whilst religious\nquestions were laid aside, and arrogant claims of superior rights on\nthe part of non-Catholics forgotten, in the presence of an impending\ndanger; the more so because it was felt that there was a party\nbrooding in their midst which was in accord with the enemy outside.\n\nWhen the boy left the land of his birth, and the prow of the ship that\nbore him ploughed the waters of the Atlantic, his soul expanded with a\nheretofore unexperienced sentiment of liberty; for only then did he\nbegin to feel that freely under the canopy of heaven he could practise\nhis religion without let or hindrance, without the sneers or\nintermeddling of his neighbors. Add to this the anticipated enjoyment\nof the liberty in wait for him on the eastern lands of Catholic faith.\nYet the prospective and future return to the land of bondage must from\ntime to time have thrown shadows of sadness over the gushing and\njoyful youth at school. But now comes a truce to religious dissensions\nand family quarrels; a victory is gained: the church is free, her\nshackles broken. Catholic and non-Catholic worship at the altar of\ntheir choice freely and publicly. They are all children of the same\npolitical family, members of the same moral body!\n\nBut the liberties of the colonies are crushed by the mother country,\nand Charles Carroll lands on these shores only in time to be one of\nthe mourners at the funeral of liberty. His countrymen had been galled\nwith bitterness by the contempt, insolence, and arrogance of the\nBritish soldiery, and felt a contempt for the martinet leaders of the\nBraddock defeat, while at the same time a feeling of superiority was\nengendered in their heart by the warlike qualities displayed by rank\nand file under the leadership of him who was already first in the\nhearts of his peers. They chafed at being made the hewers of wood and\ndrawers of water to British indolence; they felt the sanctuary of\ntheir homes desecrated by the writs of assistance; their inmost souls\nwere moved with indignation at being ordered to sacrifice their\nhard-earned comforts, their very subsistence, to the pleasure of a\nribald soldiery. Such things could not be endured by the sons of\nliberty. And thus it happened that Charles Carroll was not welcomed\nwith the cheers of a hearty greeting; he only heard the groans, the\nsmothered curses, the oaths of vengeance deep and resolute, uttered by\nhis oppressed fellow-colonists.\n\nHis soul was fired with wrath and zeal; but a wrath subdued by\nself-control, a zeal swayed by prudence. His was a self-possession\nthat was never thrown off its guard. He seemed ever to be on the alert\nagainst surprises\u2014a foe more fatal to armies than cannon and shot.\n\nDuring the excitement of the Stamp Act Charles Carroll, who had\nreturned from the Continent \u201ca finished scholar and an accomplished\ngentleman,\u201d was at first a silent but careful and discerning observer.\nHe studied the tendency of events, and the moral elements on which\nthese events should work some remarkable development. Cautious but\nfirm, he gradually entered the lists, and then in the struggles which\nseemed so unequal he fought heart and soul with that noble galaxy of\nMaryland patriots who, bold and undismayed, opposed an unbroken front\nto those first encroachments which were even countenanced by\ninterested parties in the colony. But for a prompt resistance a breach\nwould have been opened for such inroads into the domain of our\nliberties as would break down its ramparts, overwhelm our defenders,\nand enslave the people.\n\nIt is not necessary for us here to relate how the obnoxious law was\nrepealed\u2014a tardy and unwilling act of atonement (\u201can act of empty\njustice,\u201d as McSherry well defines it); yet its revocation was hailed\nby the colonies with great rejoicings as the harbinger of a better\nrule and the dawn of a day of just polity in the home government.\nSurely, the rulers in the mother country had felt the temper of her\nchildren abroad; they loved her fondly as long as she proved herself a\nmother; woe were she to forget the ties of love and harshly deal with\nthem!\n\nCharles Carroll was neither blinded nor hoodwinked by this sporadic\ntoken of motherly justice. Those years of residence in England were\nnot lost to him. He well knew the temper of the British lion, his\narrogance and his treachery. Sooner or later another paroxysm of\nexigencies would come over him; they must be met, cost what it may.\n\n\u201c_Wicked_ is the only word which I can apply to the government of your\ncolonies. You seem to regard them as mere material mines from whence\nthe mother country is to extract the precious ore for her own luxury\nand splendor.\u201d[151]\n\nThe victory gained and the danger averted for the nonce, Mr. Carroll\ndevoted himself to promoting the welfare of the colony. In fact,\nwhilst a short period of comparative peace lasted outside the\ncolonies, Maryland was not free from internal disturbance. Two sources\nof disquietude were then opened\u2014the Proclamation and the Vestry Act.\nNor was the colony less annoyed by the unfaithfulness of leading\nmerchants in Baltimore, who, goaded by thirst of money and not\nprompted by feelings of love for their country, had slackened in their\nopposition to the encroachment of the government at home. They only\nfollowed in the wake of New York and Philadelphia, and even of Boston.\nThe love of lucre and the diseased tastes of what was then called _the\nquality_ allowed the merchants of those cities to fall away from the\ncompact entered upon with the sister colonies. To advance their\ninterests and to satisfy a portion of the community, they forsook\ntheir principles and paid the hated tributes for proscribed\ncommodities. But outside Baltimore the people in the counties remained\nfirm and unshaken in their patriotism.\n\nCharles Carroll was young in years, but ripe in judgment. The future\nstatesman lost no opportunities. It was of the utmost importance that\nhe should thoroughly know the habits of his fellow-citizens and their\ncalibre, whether he looked upon them as a distinct colony or in their\nrelations to the other provinces; what were the materials and the\nresources of the whole country; what guarantees could be drawn from\nthe past for the welfare of the future; how far or within what bounds\nshould the liberties of the colonies be restrained; what security for\nthe rights of conscience; were the rights of each colony to be\nparamount over the exigencies of the whole family of provinces?\u2026 To a\nmind well stored with the choicest theoretical lore it became an easy\nmatter to trace its course and clearly see the way ahead. Thus\nprepared, he grappled with Charles Dulany, the champion of those who\nopposed the people\u2019s claims and remonstrances. Dulany was his senior\nby many years, had grown up identified with the selfish interests of\noffice-holders and of the established clergy, himself high in the\ncouncils of the government, whilst his opponent had just arrived from\na long sojourn abroad, and was a \u201cpapist\u201d enthralled and\ndisfranchised.\n\nThe main point of dispute turned on the rights of the government of\nthe colony to tax the people arbitrarily for the payment of officers\nand the support of the clergy. The history of the Proclamation, drawn\nup by Dulany himself, and the burial thereof amid a most solemn\npageant by the freemen of Annapolis on the 14th of May, 1673, are too\nwell known to require detailing here. It is enough to say that by\ngeneral acclamation the people acknowledged Charles Carroll as their\nchampion. He could not be selected as a delegate, enthralled as he\nwas, but in public meetings held in Frederick, Baltimore, and\nAnnapolis they unanimously voted and formally tendered him the thanks\nof the people.\n\nMr. Carroll entered the lists veiled under the name of _First\nCitizen_, whilst Dulany met him in combat as _Antilon_\u2014an unnecessary\ndisguise, for he was too well known, being the patriot \u201cwho,\u201d says\nMcSherry, \u201chad long stood the leading mind of Maryland.\u201d The war was\ncarried on in the columns of the _Maryland Gazette_, and Mr. Carroll\nsustained his character of \u201cfinished scholar and accomplished\ngentleman.\u201d Never did he swerve from the high tone of a writer who was\nconscious of his own powers. Assailed with offensive names by his\nadversaries, he never descended to their level. When the real name of\nthe _First Citizen_ was yet unknown, the excitement created by his\narticles, written in a style ready and incisive, and withal most\ngraceful, was enhanced by and received a keener zest from the stimulus\nof curiosity. Wonderful was the avidity with which they were sought\nand read. These articles fed the public spirit, inspired the people\nwith courage, and shaped the course to be pursued not only by the\ncolonists of Maryland, but even in sister colonies. The articles by\n_First Citizen_ were held in so much esteem that Joseph Galloway, when\nspeaker in the Pennsylvania Assembly, would copy them with his own\nhand, on the loan from a fortunate subscriber, and send them to\nBenjamin Franklin.\n\nThus the popular party triumphed. The party of oppression, with the\nestablished clergy at their back, was discomfited. Hammond and Paca\nwere elected. Maryland was saved, and her saviour was Charles Carroll.\nAmid these controversies arose a young man, spirited, wealthy, and\nhighly educated, who threw himself headlong into the struggle, and,\ngrowing with its trials, became renowned in its darkest hours, and\nhonored and cherished in its glorious success\u201d (McSherry, p. 170).\nThat young man, only seven-and-twenty, was already a renowned\nstatesman.\n\nA distinguished non-Catholic historian remarks that Charles Carroll\nbrought to play on whatever he undertook \u201ca decided character, stern\nintegrity, and clear judgment.\u201d Truly, the star of his name had\nreached the meridian of its course already. There it became fixed. His\ncountrymen were guided by it during the dark days of the most perilous\nevents, through battles and storms, dissensions and heart-burnings,\nthe exuberancy of victories and the dejection of defeats. Thirty\nyears, the best of his life, his whole manhood, a long manhood\u2014for he\ngrew old only when others cease to live\u2014he devoted to the welfare of\nhis country.\n\nThe life of Charles Carroll becomes at this period so entwined and\nblended with the history of the country that our article would swell\ninto a portly volume were we to undertake a narrative of the details\nof his public career. We have endeavored to give a faithful portrait\nof the character of a man who is the pride of the secular history of\nthe Catholic Church in America. It has been our aim to give a key to\nopen the inmost recesses of that soul the noblest of the noble, that\nheart the purest of the pure, that mind greatest among the great.\nTherefore we shall only hint at the events of his public life, _omnia\nqu\u00e6 tractaturi sumus, narratione delibabimus_, as Quintilian would\nteach us.\n\nAs foreseen, the British lion awoke from his apparent lethargy, and\nwith a roar and a spring he bounded anew. Stung to the quick at being,\neven only once, foiled in his endeavors to saddle on the colonies\nunjust burdens, he made renewed attempts, and the tax on the\n\u201cdetestable weed\u201d was revived. The people arose in their indignation,\nand gave vent to it in the hazardous but successful festivities of the\nfamous Boston Tea Party. Massachusetts was disfranchised. Indeed, it\nwas the vent of a petty spite. Not the Bay State alone, but all the\ncolonies, would soon disfranchise themselves, all in a body, and in a\nway of their own. But Massachusetts had given the example, and\nMaryland followed close in the wake. The latter even improved on the\nact of the former; for what had been achieved in the Boston Bay under\ndisguise the citizens of Maryland consummated at Annapolis openly and\nundisguised. And yet brave Maryland had intestine troubles that\nengrossed her attention\u2014troubles which were aggravated even by the\nfact that the abettors thereof were interested in carrying out the\nmeasures of the home government. But there shone above them the\nguiding star\u2014Charles Carroll led them to victory. Undaunted and\nuncompromising, Mr. Carroll looked coming events in the face; and when\nMr. Chase indulged in the hope that there would be no more trouble,\nfor \u201chad they not written down their adversaries?\u201d he would not thus\nflatter himself with illusions of enduring peace. To other means they\nwould have yet to resort. \u201cWhat other means have we to resort to?\u201d\nasked the other. \u201cThe bayonet,\u201d calmly rejoined Charles Carroll. And\nso firm was his conviction that they should resort to arms that he\nheld his opinion against many at home and abroad. His reply to the\nHon. Mr. Graves, M.P., who averred that six thousand soldiers would\neasily march from one end of the colonies to the other, is too\ncharacteristic of the statesman not to copy it here: \u201cSo they may, but\nthey will be masters of the spot only on which they encamp. They will\nfind naught but enemies before and around them. If we are beaten on\nthe plains, we will retreat to our mountains and defy them. Our\nresources will increase with our difficulties. Necessity will force us\nto exertion, until, tired of combating in vain against a spirit which\nvictory after victory cannot subdue, your armies will evacuate our\nsoil, and your country retire, a great loser by the contest. No, sir;\nwe have made up our minds to abide the issue of the approaching\nstruggle, and, though much blood may be spilt, we have no doubt of our\nultimate success.\u201d In these few lines the spirit, the gallantry, the\ntactics, the greatness of our armies from Lexington to Yorktown are\nboth eloquently and accurately described.\n\nAnd when a second cargo of the \u201cdetestable weed\u201d entered the waters of\nMaryland, the friends of Mr. Stewart, a leading merchant in the\ncolony, to whom the brig _Peggy Stewart_ belonged, and to whom the\ncargo was consigned, appealed to Charles Carroll for advice and\nprotection. The _First Citizen_ was ever consistent. Was not the\nimportation an offence against the law? Was not the majesty of the\npeople insulted? To export the tea to the West Indies or back to\nEurope was no adequate reparation\u2014what if Mr. Stewart was a friend of\nhis?\u2026 \u201cGentlemen, set fire to the vessel, and burn her with her cargo\nto the water\u2019s edge!\u201d With sails set and colors flying, she floated, a\nsheet of fire, amid the shouts of the people on shore.\n\nBesides the powerful promptings of a heart burning with love of\ncountry, Charles Carroll felt moved to deeds of heroism and\nself-defence by motives of equal, if not superior, importance. He\nbecame, nay, he seemed to feel that he was, in the hands of\nProvidence, the chosen champion to assert Catholic rights and\nliberty\u2014ay, might we not look upon him as the O\u2019Connell of America in\nthe eighteenth century? It can be proved beyond all doubt that the\nCatholics of the colonies placed great trust in him. Surely he became\ntheir representative. There was power in his name. He had become a\nleading genius, inspiring with wise resolves, and determination to\ncarry them out, those valiant men of his faith who had clustered\naround the Father of his Country, or were admitted to the councils of\nthe nation, or formed part of the rank and file in the American army,\nor had it in their power to swell with generous hands the national\nresources. This power of Mr. Carroll was felt even outside the pale of\nhis own church. The case of the _Peggy Stewart_ is one to the point.\n\nAnother and far more important illustration of his power is the\nfollowing: Thomas Conway, a meteor of sinister forebodings, with his\nplots of disaster and ruin, has defiled a very short page of American\nhistory. Yet, brief as his career was in this country, it worked\nmischief. \u201cConway\u2019s Cabal\u201d is well known. It is well known how the\ndespicable adventurer was bribed into a conspiracy against Washington\nin favor of an unpopular superior officer. Charles Carroll was a\nmember of the Board of War. In that board there was a party covertly\nyet powerfully at work to displace the commander-in-chief in favor of\nHoratio Gates. Mr. Carroll, as usual, always on his guard, watched his\nopportunity. He was approached cautiously and warily, even before a\nvote was taken. Then calmly and stoutly, yet with that rock-like\nfirmness of his that had become proverbial, he said: \u201cRemove General\nWashington, and I\u2019ll withdraw.\u201d Words were those pregnant with weighty\nconsequences. Carroll was at the head, he was the representative of\nthe Catholics. Maryland went with him; the Catholics of Pennsylvania,\nnine-tenths of the whole population, an element of great power,\nindispensable to success, were with him. The colonies needed the aid\nof Catholic France sadly. What if Charles Carroll withdrew to\nCarrollton? What if he recrossed the ocean? George Washington was\n_not_ removed; and under God\u2019s favor was not George Washington _the_\nchosen leader, _the_ appointed conqueror, the Moses of his day, the\nJosue of his people? Who was there to take his place as _the first_\nover those fierce legions of sturdy and resolute assertors of a\nnation\u2019s life?\n\nWe must be allowed here to transfer to these columns, in words far\nmore eloquent and true than we could ever command, both the source and\nthe development of the ideas to which the deeds of those two men in\nthe infancy of the nation has given rise in our mind.\n\nIn a dialogue between himself and a mysterious apparition on the\nthreshold of that Temple whose entrance was forbidden to the Emperor\nTheodosius, Frederick Faber, yet an Anglican, thus addresses his\ncompanion:\n\n\u201cDo you not think that we should be in a more healthy state if there\nwere a greater indifference to politics amongst us?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied he; \u201cI know of no indifference which is healthy, except\nindifference to money. The church has a great duty to perform in\npolitics. It is to menace, to thwart, to interfere. The Catholic\nstatesman is a sort of priest. He does out in public the secular work\nof the retired and praying priesthood; and he must not be deserted by\nthose spiritual men whom he is arduously, wearily, and through evil\nreport conscientiously representing.\u201d\n\nCould modern publicist ever utter words more squarely tallying with\nthe circumstances of our own times?\n\nWe have followed our hero only to the performance of his first acts in\nthe great drama in which the Ruler of nations had appointed him to\nbear such important parts. Charles Carroll, in his adjuncts and\ncircumstances, as regards both his cast of religion and politics,\nstood alone among his peers. Much he had to destroy ere he could\nbuild. But he addressed himself to his work with well-appointed tools,\na clear mind, a steady hand, a glowing heart, and an immovable\nreliance in Him who hath said that \u201cunless the Lord build the house,\nthey labor in vain that build it; unless the Lord keep the city, he\nwatcheth in vain that keepeth it\u201d (Ps. cxxvi.) Thus appointed, he\nnever faltered. On, on he advanced, step after step; stretching forth\nhimself to those things that were before him, he pressed towards the\nmark, until he had received the prize.\n\nMore than onescore years and ten he labored as man never did labor for\nthe well-being of his country. When he had reached the sixty-fourth\nyear of his life, and only then, he rested; he unbuckled his armor and\nlaid it down, to enjoy the blessings which his own heart and mind had\ndrawn on America. How beautifully were his talents apportioned, in\nequal distribution\u2014thirty years of study in the best schools of\nEurope; thirty years of the most faithful service in the greatest work\nthat it ever was the lot of man to be engaged in; thirty years of\nunruffled peace in the bosom of his family, in the home of his youth,\nwhich became the Mecca of the people, as a writer calls it\u2014a shrine of\nwisdom and goodness! There \u201cthe patriarch of the nation\u201d taught two\ngenerations; he laid before their appreciative minds the principles\nand inspired their grateful hearts with those sentiments of Christian\npolity of which he himself was such a shining ornament and faithful\nembodiment.\n\nWe well remember how, in days long passed away, old men who had known\nhim in the days of his manhood were wont to speak of him; how that\nheart, so noble and so pure, fondly watched the healthy growth of that\ntree of liberty to plant which he himself had lent a strong hand.\nThese men would tell how the ripe and veteran statesman felt as much\nzest in the enjoyment of surrounding events as when, a boy and a\nyouth, he applied himself to literary studies, or pursued the more\narduous acquisition of scientific lore in the halls of philosophy or\nin those of law and jurisprudence. His was an equanimity of character\nseldom witnessed in man. And that placid, calm bearing which made his\ncountenance the mirror of a soul preserved in patience and perfect in\nself-control never forsook him to the very last hours of his life. A\nvery old member of the Company of Jesus, a professor and superior of\nthe Georgetown University, has more than once related, within hearing\nof the writer, that the appearance of Charles Carroll riding into the\ncollege enclosure, on a docile and yet lively pony, when the great\npatriot had already overstepped the fourscore years of life, conveyed\nthe impression of a youthful and innocent old age, so full of charm\nand gravity, pensiveness and gayety, authority and condescension, that\nit was felt indeed, but could not be described. It was the reflection\nof a past without reproach, and of a future without fear. His very\ncarriage, the manner of his conversation, were an embodiment of his\nlast words: \u201cIn the practice of the Catholic religion the happiness of\nmy life was established!\u201d Holy words! Sublime expression of the hopes\nof Christianity! May the example of such a man never fail, and be for\never the mould in which the young American spirit should be cast!\nProvidence seems to have granted him so long an existence because he\nwas the purest of the Revolutionary patriots, and he wished his\nexample to last the longest!\n\nAfter his death no page was ever written to vindicate his character or\nplead in behalf of one single shortcoming! No word of merciful\nforgiveness was heard at his grave. His peers, his descendants, had\nnaught to forgive. With one voice of acclamation from one end of the\ncountry to the other, amid wreaths of unspotted lilies and fragrant\nroses, his name was emblazoned on the fair escutcheon of the American\nnation as the name of\n\n THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT WITHOUT\n FEAR AND WITHOUT REPROACH.\n\nOn the shield of this untrammelled and free American Church let two\nnames for ever be emblazoned with undying fame\u2014John and Charles\nCarroll; one the father of his clergy, the other the leader of his\npeople; John Carroll, the first vicar-apostolic, the first American\nbishop; Charles Carroll, a signer of our Magna Charta, the assertor\nand defender of those rights which shall for ever be the palladium of\nreligious freedom. Could a line of conduct be laid before us in more\nunmistakable words and surer meaning?\n\nNot by the ties of blood alone were those two souls knit to one\nanother, like David and Jonathan of yore; but inspired with love of\ncountry, and deep, holy, unswerving affection for the church, they\nfully appreciated the resources, moral and physical, which with proper\nculture would make of this land a favorite portion of the mystical\nVineyard and the asylum for the oppressed. John within the sacred\nenclosure of God\u2019s tabernacle, Charles in the halls of legislation,\nthey worked in different departments, yet with one accord, the former\nto give the great garden fit husbandmen, and provide it with every\nappurtenance in nurseries of virtue and learning; the latter to lead\nthe instincts born with a people, purified by trials and trained to\njustice, into a current which, swelling in its course within the\nbounds of Christian discipline, would, the one directing,\nstrengthening, hallowing the other, run to endless days in great\nmajesty and overwhelming power.\n\nCharles outlived the archbishop by many years, and witnessed the\ntriumphs of the Redeemer\u2019s spouse to the achievement of which his\ngreat kinsman had devoted the resources of his extraordinary mind, the\nmost tender and inviolate affections of his exuberant heart, and the\nuntiring exertions of a long apostleship.\n\nAnd here we feel as if we may lay down our pen and look upon our task\nas accomplished. We have endeavored to be the faithful limner of a\ncharacter noblest among the noble, the pride and the guide of our\nCatholic laity in the American Church.\n\nHow grand that figure loometh in the galaxy of our greatest men! Great\nand grand, pure, unselfish, guileless, wise, loving, he stands on a\npedestal of imperishable renown, religion blended with wisdom, charity\nwith prudence, firmness with condescension!\u2026 When shall we look upon\nhis like again? Yea, the memory of his deeds is fresh, and his many\nvirtues as a Christian and as a statesman are even mirrored in the\nlives of many noble, devoted, valiant followers\u2014bright examples of\ntrue patriotism and golden righteousness to our rising youth, on whose\nstern vigor, unfaltering courage, and sterling virtues mother church\nwill lean for comfort and defence\u2014a youth called, may be, to fight\neven fiercer battles than our great ancestor, their shining model, had\nto meet; battles that will need stout hearts, level minds, souls\nprompt in bold resolves. But the God of yesterday is the God of\nto-day; and with Charles Carroll in the van our gallant youth will\nadvance to the battle, sure also of the victory.\n\n\n [148] The medal of which the above is an engraving\n gives its own history. It was struck, we are informed\n at the expense of the Carroll family. It was suggested\n long since that if the _fiftieth_ anniversary of\n American Independence was so befittingly honored by\n thin tribute of love and heartfelt gratitude of a\n whole nation to the only survivor of the signers, and\n he a Catholic, it would be _dulce et decorum_ for the\n Catholics of these United States to restrike it for\n distribution, and as a lively reminder on the dawn of\n the _hundredth_ anniversary. Nor would it be a\n difficult or costly undertaking. We are told the die\n is still preserved, although not at the mint. The only\n alteration should occur in the legend of the reverse,\n thus: d. Nov. 14, 1832, \u00e6t. 98. The exergue should\n read: July IV. MDCCCLXXVI.\n\n [149] \u201cWe enter upon the second century of the republic\n with responsibilities which neither our fathers nor\n the men of fifty years ago could possibly foresee.\u201d\n Again: \u201cThis enormous influx of strangers has added\n an immense ignorance and entire unfamiliarity with\n republican ideas and habits to the voting class.\u201d\n And: \u201cIt has introduced powerful and organized\n influences not friendly to the republican principle\n of freedom of thought and action,\u201d etc.\u2014Geo. W.\n Curtis, LL.D., of New York, oration before the town\n authorities of Concord, Mass., April 19, 1875.\n Printed by permission. The _New England Historical\n and Genealogical Register_, vol. xxix., October,\n 1875.\u2014Strange that Mr. Curtis should have forgotten\n the foreign _influx_ among the signers! Yet Thornton\n was born in Ireland; Smith also, Taylor also; Lewis\n in Wales; Witherspoon near Edinburgh; Morris in\n Lancashire, England; Wilson in Scotland; Gwinnett in\n England. Strange that of fifty-nine signers so many\n should be strangers, besides those who were born of\n foreigners! And strange that the most refined and\n elegant civilians George Washington associated with\n in Philadelphia were Irishmen. And was not that a\n strange influx of Nesbitt saving Washington\u2019s army\n from starvation? And what of the $25,000 that Barclay\n gave, and the $50,000 given by McClenaghan, etc.,\n etc.?\u2014an influx _in infinitum_. The influx worked\n well a hundred years ago; fear not, it will work well\n even now, but keep demagogues and false patriots\n aside. Yet on what side are most of them to be found?\n\n [150] Hence sprung the qualification added to the\n name of Daniel\u2019s grandson. When Charles, as one of the\n members delegated by the State of Maryland to attend\n the Convention in Philadelphia, advanced on the 2d of\n August, 1776, to the secretary\u2019s desk to sign his name\n to the Declaration, allusion was made to the great\n wealth of the Maryland delegate, who would thereby\n jeopardize it all. \u201cBut,\u201d remarked a bystander \u201cit\n will be hard to identify; are there not several\n Charles Carrolls?\u201d\n\n \u201cAh! yes,\u201d rejoined the signer; and dipping the pen\n anew in that famous ink-stand, with that noble grace\n of person so peculiar to him, he bent over the\n parchment once more, and added, of _Carrollton_.\n Surely Carrollton was the only manor of that name, and\n our Charles was the only master thereof. Hence the\n qualification which has since become useless\u2014Charles\n Carroll of Carrollton. In our days the great American\n family knows only one Charles Carroll.\n\n [151] A supernatural interlocutor in Father Faber\u2019s\n _Sights and Thoughts_. London: Rivingtons, 1842, p. 181.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC SUNDAY AND PURITAN SABBATH.\n\n\n\u201cMamma, what kind of a place is heaven?\u201d inquired a boy, after a two\nhours\u2019 Sunday session in a parlor corner, with the Bible for mental\naliment. \u201cWhy, my child, heaven is one perpetual Sabbath!\u201d \u201c_Well, ma!\nwon\u2019t they let me go out sometimes, just to play?_\u201d Absurd as was his\nmode of expressing it, the boy was right as to the fundamental idea;\nand though he could not have given the steps by which he reached the\nconclusion, yet he judged well that the Almighty, when sending us into\nthis world, did not decree that we should be perpetually miserable in\nit. The enforced performance of what was intended for a devotional\nexercise was, in his case, beginning to bear its legitimate and\ninevitable fruits of irksomeness at the outset, wearisomeness while it\nlasts, and loathsomeness at the end.\n\nAll who claim the name of Christians observe, with greater or less\nstrictness, one day in seven as a day of rest and worship; the\ndevotional exercises conjoined therewith, emanating from the authority\nof the church in the case of Catholics, and from the varying taste and\nfancy of the sect, congregation, or even, it would seem, of the\nindividual, among non-Catholics. We propose in this article to inquire\ninto the origin of the Catholic usage regarding the Sunday; the\ngrounds and mode of its observance among Protestants; the difference\nbetween the sectarian modes of keeping it and that enjoined by the\nchurch. And as about every religious practice where variance exists\nthere must be a right and a wrong\u2014a method of observance consistent\nwith authority and reason, and one either less so or entirely\nincongruous therewith\u2014we shall try to find (apart from the authority\nof the church, which, though ample for us, would be of little avail\nfor _outsiders_) on which side right reason is, and to show the\nabsurdity of wrong custom in the matter.\n\nThe church tells us simply what the law of nature informs us of, the\nexistence of God the Creator, and of our duty of worshipping him; but\nthe time when all other things must be abandoned for this special\npurpose is subject to another law\u2014the ceremonial\u2014and as under the\nMosaic dispensation that law was only a shadow of future good, to be\nlaid aside when the true Light should descend upon earth, so the\nJewish Sabbath, which was clearly established in the third commandment\nof the Decalogue, is no longer to be held sacred, but the first day of\nthe week, which was consecrated by the resurrection of Jesus Christ\nand the descent of the Holy Ghost, is _by her_ ordered to be kept\nholy; and she enjoins on all her children at least to hear Mass\ndevoutly and to abstain from servile labor on that day. Having to\nprovide, however, for all sorts and conditions of men, the church adds\nthat reasons of necessity or transcendent charity will excuse us from\neither obligation. And this is all that our holy mother enjoins on the\nsubject. As Catholics we accept and celebrate the Sunday wholly on her\nauthority; and, _\u00e0 fortiori_, we are not bound to any further\nobservance of it than she dictates.\n\nWhile it is clear from Holy Scripture that the apostles did meet with\neach other and with the early converts to Christianity twice on the\n_Dominica_ or Lord\u2019s day, yet there is nothing to show that it was\neven habitual with them to convene on that day; still less is there\nanything, either in the form of precept or exhortation, in the entire\nNew Testament, that would manifest the fact of any change in the\nceremonial law of Moses on the subject. There is no announcement\nwhatever either of the abrogation of the Sabbath of the Jews or of the\nestablishment of Sunday instead; so that, had we but the Scripture to\nrefer to, we should grope in the dark both as to the obligation itself\nand the mode of its fulfilment. But when we come to the fathers of the\nChurch, the very earliest of them indicate distinctly that the\nChristians of their day did habitually meet together on the first day\nof the week (called by them \u03ba\u03c5\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u1f74, or _Dominica_). As we go on we\nfind them frequently enjoin, both expressly and by clear implication,\nthe obligation resting upon all Christians of meeting together on that\nday for participation in the Holy Mysteries. Later still we find them\naffirm this duty as of apostolic institution. To give a single example\nof many, St. Saturninus, before suffering martyrdom at Abitina, in\nAfrica, in the year 304, under Diocletian, _for celebrating Mass on\nSunday_, exclaims, in presence of his judges: \u201c_The obligation of the\nSunday is indispensable; it is not lawful for us to omit the duty of\nthat day!_\u201d From the earliest Christian records to the present day\nthere is no break, no link wanting. Historians have clearly shown the\npractice of the faithful, and councils have firmly enjoined and\nreiterated it. So much for the origin and history of Sunday worship in\nthe Church.\n\nIt is, of course, one of the cardinal principles of Protestantism\u2014in\nfact, its sole _raison d\u2019\u00eatre_\u2014that \u201cthe Bible is the only rule of\nfaith and practice\u201d; that everything therein commanded should be\nperformed literally; and that whatever has no clear and direct warrant\nof Scripture is purely of man\u2019s device, and, by consequence, of no\nauthority whatsoever. All very fine, in words; but when we examine how\nthe doctrine works in point of fact, we shall find an amazingly great\ndiscrepancy between the expressed faith and the actual, tangible\npractice. There has certainly been no considerable drain upon the\nreservoirs of our large cities in carrying out the injunction that \u201cif\nye wash not one another\u2019s feet, ye have no part in me.\u201d It is not, so\nfar as we are informed, peculiarly characteristic of any sect of\nProtestants, when \u201csmitten on one cheek,\u201d immediately to \u201cturn the\nother\u201d for a repetition of the blow. No special alacrity has ever been\nshown, even by the straitest sects, in eager obedience to the command,\n\u201cFrom him that borroweth from thee, turn not thou away\u201d; and so far\nare they from obeying the absolute injunction of the Apostle James to\n\u201ccall in the priests of the church to the sick,\u201d and to \u201canoint them\nwith oil in the name of the Lord,\u201d that they rave and rage against\nCatholics for doing so, and affirm it to be a superstitious\nobservance. If St. Paul ever expressed himself clearly on any point,\nhe certainly does so most unmistakably when he says that \u201cit is a\nshame for a woman to speak in the church\u201d; yet the sectarian world is\nnow very largely supplied with \u201creverend\u201d ladies, widowed, married,\nand maiden, who evangelize with great acceptance, and even officiate\nas regular pastors to various congregations throughout the country. It\nwould seem, therefore, that the cardinal principle aforesaid must have\neither disappeared or some ingenious mode have been discovered by\nwhich it works only when wanted, to be set aside whenever its\nadmission would run counter to the whim which may happen to be in\nvogue.\n\nNow, the only texts of the New Testament that mention the Sunday in\nsuch way that it would be possible to draw from them any inference in\nregard to its observance are Acts xx. 7 and 1 Cor. xvi. 1, neither of\nwhich declares the abolition of the ancient Sabbath or enjoins the\nobservance of Sunday. But notwithstanding this fact, Protestants at\nlarge have accepted our Sunday, whether _on tradition_, which they\nreject; _or on the authority of the church_, which they despise; or,\nfinally, of their own good pleasure\u2014certainly not _on Scripture_,\nsince it is not instituted therein. It is hardly worth while, owing to\ntheir paucity, to mention as exceptions the Sabbatarians, who maintain\nthat Christians have no authorization for changing the divine\ninstitution of the Jewish Sabbath, and who consequently observe\nSaturday. Luther does not pretend any divine authority for the change,\nbut takes for granted that \u201cmankind needs a rest of one day, at least,\nin seven; and the first day, or Sunday, having prescription in its\nfavor, ought not lightly to be changed.\u201d He says elsewhere that \u201cif\nany man sets up its observance on a Jewish foundation, then I order\nyou to labor on it, to ride or dance on it, or to do anything whatever\non it that shall remove its infringements on Christian liberty.\u201d The\nAugsburg Confession pointedly says: \u201cThose who judge that in place of\nthe Sabbath the Lord\u2019s day was instituted, as a day necessarily to be\nobserved, do very grossly err.\u201d Calvin says in his Institutes: \u201cIt\nmatters not what day we celebrate, so that we meet together for the\ndesirable weekly worship; there is no absolute precept\u201d; and he adds\nthat the sticklers for Sunday are \u201cthrice worse in their crass and\ncarnal view of religion than the Jews whom Isaias (ch. i. 13)\ndenounced.\u201d The doctrine of the English Reformers on the subject is\nmost concisely and strikingly put by Tyndale, who, in his _Answer_ to\nSir Thomas More, thus speaks:\n\n \u201cAs for the Sabbath, _we be lords over the Sabbath_, and may\n yet change it into Monday, or into any other day, ass we see\n need, or may make every tenth day holy day, only ass we see\n cause why. We may make two every week, if it were expedient\n and one not enough to teach the people. Neither was there\n any cause to change it from Saturday, but to put a\n difference between ourselves and the Jews; neither need we\n any holy day at all, if the people might be taught without\n it.\u201d\n\nEven in Scotland John Knox, who attached himself to the innovators\nwith a bigoted zeal, did not pretend to find any Gospel warrant for\nwhat he was pleased to call _the Sabbath_; and Dr. Hessey candidly\nacknowledges that the strained sabbatarianism of Scotland is by no\nmeans to be attributed to him or his coadjutors, mentioning at the\nsame time that Knox, when on a visit to Calvin at Geneva, found that\neminent Reformer occupied, on the Sunday of his arrival, at a game of\nbowls! If, then, it be plain that the arch-innovators are not\nresponsible for that peculiarly unlovely, rigid, and ultra-Judaic\nobservance of the Sunday (the traces of which, growing fainter year by\nyear, are yet plainly discernible in the laws, institutions, habits,\nand manners of the English-speaking portion of the Protestant world),\nwhence did it originate? Why are the ideas of English-speaking\nProtestants so widely different from those of their brethren, and even\nof their own founders, on this subject?\n\nFuller (in whose pages much quaint and na\u00efve information about the\nhistory of those transition days is to be found) tells us that the\n_Puritans_, \u201cwho first began to be called by that name about 1564,\u201d\nand who dissented from the church of King Henry on the ground that the\nReformation had not gone \u201cfar enough,\u201d were, like all other renegades,\nanxious to distinguish themselves by hostility at every point to the\ncamp they had abandoned. They preached that to throw bowls on the\nSabbath \u201cwere as great sin as to kill a man\u201d; to make a feast or\nwedding dinner on that day \u201cwere as vile sin as for a father to cut\nthe throat of his son with a knife\u201d; and that to ring more bells than\none \u201cwere mickle sin as is murder.\u201d Of this brood was Vincent Bownde,\nwhose great work on the _Observance of the Sabbath_ first appeared in\n1595; and to this book, which began the polemical controversy on the\nsubject, is due the rabid sabbatarianism of the English Puritans\nduring the remainder of the reign of Elizabeth and the dynasty of the\nStuarts. The Scottish Calvinists eagerly seized the cry, and from both\nsects (their influence, pertinacity, and numbers being much greater\nthan those of the Anglican Establishment, which was itself, of\nnecessity, largely tinctured by their practice), through our own\nhard-headed but harder-hearted Puritans of New England, who practised\nthis unmitigating observance of the day with the same zeal of\nenforcement that they displayed in many other grimly ludicrous things,\nwe of this age and country are still to a great extent under the sway\nof an intolerant and enforced sabbatarianism which the spread of\nintelligence and liberality is gradually wearing away, but which,\nafter all, dies very hard. Just as no enmity is so envenomed, no\nhatred so intense, so in like manner no distinctive practice or usage\ndisappears so slowly, as those originally engendered by religious\nfaction. It was clear that no Scriptural authority existed for the\nabrogation of the Jewish Sabbath, and equally evident that the denial\nof the authority of the church destroyed for ever all ecclesiastical\nsanction for Sunday. There remained, consequently, no possible\nauthorization for it but to insist that the mere meeting together of\nthe apostles on that day (which, so far as anything to the contrary\ncan be shown from Scripture, _might have been accidental_) constituted\nsufficient warrant; and next to regulate the observance of the day by\nthe practice of the Jews with regard to the Sabbath. This Bownde did\nwithout hesitation. His book, gratifying as it did at once the\nmalignity of the Puritans against the church, their envy of the\nestablished sect, and their own exclusiveness, became exceedingly\npopular, was largely read and quoted, and its influence remains to the\npresent day. Here in the United States we yet retain traces of it in\nour laws; as, indeed, we still do of that other intolerance by which\nCatholics were, in former days, not allowed to hold civil office. In\nsome of the New England States Sunday (or _Sabbath_, as they\nwrong-headedly insist on calling it) begins at sunset on Saturday; but\nin most of them it legally begins at twelve o\u2019clock on Saturday night,\nlasting twenty-four hours. In some States contracts made on that day\nare void; but generally they are binding, if good in other respects.\nOf course the name Sunday is the Anglo-Saxon _Sunnan-d\u0153g_, equivalent\nto the Roman _dies solis_, so called in both tongues from its being\nanciently devoted to the worship of the sun. Sabbath is the Hebrew\nnoun _shabb\u0101th_ (rest) from the verb _sh\u0101bath_ (to rest).\n\nTo ourselves and those who think with us that the state, in\nlegislating about matters of religion, whether doctrinal or merely of\nexterior observance, is overstepping her proper limits\u2014nay, who go\nfurther, and insist that government was no more instituted to educate\nour children than to feed and clothe them; that there is not an\nassignable ground for the former which would not be even more\nconclusive for the latter\u2014it follows that all such legislation, from\nthat of Cromwell\u2019s Puritans and the Six Sessions of Scotland, down\nthrough the Blue Laws of Connecticut, to the last municipal regulation\nthat allows no concert on Sunday unless it be a \u201csacred\u201d one, and no\nprocession accompanied by a band of music on that day, seems, what it\nreally is, an absurdity and a monstrosity, a relic of odious strifes\nand bitter hates; and we would be glad, in common, we think, with\nsensible and tolerant men of all creeds, to see our statute-books rid\nof its remotest traces.\n\nIn speaking of any religious practice enjoined by the Catholic Church\nwe have this advantage: viz., that what it is at one place or time it\nis in all places and at all times. The practice, then, of Catholics,\nin accordance with the church teachings above stated, is to hear Mass\non Sunday, and, except in cases of necessity, to abstain from servile\nlabor. Most Catholics also attend Vespers on that day, though there be\nno absolute obligation. We take no extreme cases, either of the very\npious on the one side who for their souls\u2019 sake may be said to make a\nSunday of every day in the week, or of those on the other hand whose\nreligion sits so lightly upon them that it is sometimes difficult to\ntell whether, beyond a feeble claim to the name of Catholic, they have\nany religion at all. Among the 200,000,000 Catholics of the world are\nto be found many of both descriptions. We speak, however, of the\naverage. Among these, Mass and Vespers being over, there will be found\nno strait-lacedness; no tone peculiar to a Sunday, put on for that\nday, and not observable on other days; no hesitation in conversing\nabout sublunary affairs of all kinds that can and may engage the\nattention during the week. Should a concert-hall be open, as in Europe\nis often the case, the Catholic hesitates not to go there, providing\nit be one to which he would go on any day\u2014_i.e._, if it be a proper\nplace for himself or family under any circumstances. He converses on\nbusiness or for pleasure with his friends in the public gardens, at\nthe _caf\u00e9s_; with his family he visits other families with whom they\nmay be intimate. He does not hesitate to write a business letter, to\nview a lot which he thinks of purchasing, or to take the railway train\non that day. It is needless to go further. He has complied with the\ncommand of the church, and, not being a _law unto himself_\nspiritually, he invents for himself no obligations superadded to those\nof the church, which, in accordance with the commands of Scripture, he\nbelieves himself _bound to hear_.\n\nIn speaking of Protestant doctrine or practice we are, of course, more\nat a loss to speak definitely than when we lay down Catholic usage;\nsince the former rarely remains the same on any single point, even\nwithin the same sect, for an ordinary generation of man. Why, fifty\nyears ago Christmas was an abomination, \u201ca rag of popery,\u201d to all but\nthe Anglicans. The sign of the cross was \u201cthe mark of the beast.\u201d An\norgan in a meeting-house was \u201ca seeking out of their own inventions.\u201d\nOf the least approach to a liturgical observance, were it but the\nrepetition of the Creed, it was said: \u201cIn vain do they worship me,\nteaching for doctrines the commandments of men.\u201d Now nearly all the\nsects make a feint of some sort of service or observance of the\nChristmas season; the cross is displayed within and without many\nchurch buildings; not merely organs but string and brass bands fill\nthe choirs of Protestant fashionable churches; they may nearly all be\nheard falsely repeat, Sunday after Sunday, that they \u201cbelieve in the\nholy Catholic Church\u201d; and the prophet who should now foretell their\nchanges in another half-century would run the risk of being mobbed in\nthe public streets.\n\nWe give the doctrinal teaching of the Presbyterians on Sunday and its\nobservance, or at least of so many of the different religious bodies\ngoing under that name as still subscribe to, and say they deduce their\ndoctrines from the Bible _via_ the Westminster Confession of Faith. It\nwas formerly, and is to some extent still, the most generally\nreceived teaching on the subject of observing the Sabbath among\nEnglish-speaking Protestants, who seem to have had a monopoly of\nspiritual information and an exclusive enlightenment on this whole\nmatter. How much the bitter hatred existing between Roundhead and\nCavalier had to do with the firm hold the said observance took on\nPuritans and their descendants is not to the present purpose to\ninquire. In response to the question, \u201cHow is the Sabbath to be\nsanctified?\u201d we have this answer:\n\n\u201cThe Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting _all that day, even\nfrom such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other\ndays_; and spending _the whole time_ in public and private exercises\nof God\u2019s worship, except so much as may be taken up in works of\nnecessity and mercy.\u201d\n\nWhat was meant by this is sufficiently indicated by the legislation\neffected both before and subsequent to the meeting of the \u201cAssembly of\nDivines.\u201d We are assured by excellent authorities that in England,\nsome twenty years after the appearance of Bownde\u2019s book, people \u201cdared\nnot, for fear of breaking the Sabbath, kindle a fire, or dress meat,\nor visit their neighbors; nor sit at their own door nor walk abroad;\nnor even talk with each other, save and it were of godly matters.\u201d In\n1643 the Long Parliament enacted laws \u201cfor the more thorough\nobservance of the Sabbath,\u201d and caused to be burnt by the hangman\nJames I.\u2019s _Book of Sports_. In the next year the Court of Six\nSessions forbade in Scotland all walking in the streets on the Sabbath\nafter the noonday sermon; and soldiers patrolled the streets,\narresting both old and young whom they should find outside their\nhouses and not on the way to or from church. The gates of Edinburgh\nwere ordered to be shut from ten P.M. of Saturday till four A.M. of\nMonday; and the case is on record of a widow who had to pay a fine of\ntwo merks for having \u201chad a roast at the fire during sermon time.\u201d\n\nIt is told of an English lady of rank in our own day that, having\nprocured some Dorking fowl, she some time after asked the servant who\nattended to them whether they were laying many eggs; to which the\nlatter replied with great earnestness: \u201cIndeed, my lady, they lay\nevery day, _not excepting even the blessed Sabbath_!\u201d Nor is the\npuritanic feeling still existing to a considerable extent among some\nfew of the sectaries in Scotland badly illustrated by Sandie\u2019s remark\nwhen he saw a hare skipping along the road as the people were\ngathering for sermon: \u201cAy! yon beast kens weel eneuch it\u2019s the Sabbath\nday!\u201d And the countryman passing on his way to \u201cmeeting,\u201d who, when\nasked by a tourist the name of a picturesque ruin in the vicinity,\nanswered: \u201cIt\u2019s no the day to be speerin\u2019 sic like things,\u201d gives the\nreader an idea of certain peculiarities (formerly quite prevalent\namong Protestants, and still too common for the comfort of those who\nhave many of the straiter sort for neighbors) which, we believe, are\ngradually but surely fading out before the progress of intelligence\nand with the wave of superstition and intolerance. For it must be\nborne in mind that the same Westminster Confession, relying too on\nScripture, insists on the right and power of the civil magistrate\n_circa sacra_, contends that \u201che beareth not the sword in vain,\u201d and\nthat kings should be \u201cnursing fathers\u201d and queens \u201cnursing mothers\u201d to\nthe church. We will do our modern Presbyterians the charity to believe\nthat in subscribing to this instrument, they do so with some \u201cmental\nreservation\u201d; otherwise the cry against union of church and state that\nwe so frequently hear from them would (when taken in connection with\ntheir former antecedents as a sect and their present professed\nstandards) be quite unintelligible.\n\nNow, of the mode of keeping Sunday followed by Protestants in\nContinental Europe we need not speak, nor of the practice of Anglicans\nin the same regard, save in so far as the latter have (principally\nthrough the lower or _evangelical_ division of their body) been\nmodified and influenced by its former subjection and present proximity\nto the Puritan element of the English population. In the countries of\nEurope claimed as Protestant, and as a very natural as well as logical\nresult of the indifferentism taught by the so-called fathers of\nreform, Luther and Calvin, it is difficult for the tourist to discern\nin Prussia, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, or Norway, save by the greater\nnumber of people at the theatres, concerts, and exhibitions, in the\nbeer-gardens, taverns, and other places of resort, whether the day be\nSunday or not. Some, of course, attend church on that day, it being\nalmost the only day of the week on which such service is ever held.\nGeneva and the non-Catholic cantons of Switzerland may be passed with\nthe same description, which completely exhausts Protestant Continental\nterritory in Europe. Nor of the mode of observing Sunday inculcated by\nthe Anglicans in England can we say that it is at all overdone or\npuritanical. They have, at least, escaped the dismal parody of\nasceticism which distinguishes such of their Scotch neighbors as have\nany trace of the ancient practice left.[152] Let us glance a moment at\nthe laws of our Puritan friends of New England, that we may get an\nidea of bigotry run mad, and of the deductions that may be drawn from\nVincent Bownde\u2019s book and the teachings of the Westminster divines.\n\u201cHaving themselves,\u201d as Washington Irving well observes,\u201d served a\nregular apprenticeship in the school of persecution, it behoved them\nto show that they were proficients in the art.\u201d The Puritans of\nMassachusetts thus legislate in regard to the \u201c_Sabbath_\u201d in the\n\u201cPlymouth Code\u201d:\n\n \u201cThis court, taking notice of the great abuse and many\n misdemeanors committed by divers persons profaning the\n Sabbath, or Lord\u2019s day, to the great dishonor of God,\n reproach of religion, and grief of spirit of God\u2019s people,\n do therefore order that whosoever shall profane the Lord\u2019s\n day by doing unnecessary servile work, by unnecessary\n travelling, or by sports or recreations, he or they that so\n trespass shall forfeit, for every such default, forty\n shillings, _or be publicly whipped_; but if it clearly\n appear that the sin was proudly, presumptuously, and with a\n high hand committed, against the known command and authority\n of the Blessed God, such a person, therein despising and\n reproaching the Lord, SHALL BE PUT TO DEATH, or grievously\n punished, at the discretion of the court.\u201d\n\nIn support of the same wretched Sabbath superstition the colonies of\nHartford and New Haven issue the following edicts:\n\n 21. \u201cNo one shall run on the Sabbath day, or walk in his\n garden or elsewhere, except reverently to and from meeting.\u201d\n\n 22. \u201cNo one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep\n house, cut hair, or shave on the Sabbath day.\u201d\n\n 23. \u201cNo woman shall _kiss her child_ on the Sabbath or\n fasting day.\u201d\n\nOmitting, for very shame\u2019s sake, to say anything of No. 38 of Governor\nEaton\u2019s code, the reader will perceive in the above quotations to what\nabsurd results logical consistency drives the fanatic when he becomes\nso by cutting adrift from the safe moorings of God\u2019s church and trusts\nhis salvation to the puny cockboat of private judgment. These Puritans\nhad disclaimed the title of the church which originated the Sunday;\nthey would not, like Cranmer, accept it as \u201c_a mere appointment of the\nmagistrates_\u201d; so there was nothing left for them but to slur over the\nutter vagueness of its mention in the New Testament, and refer the\nwhole observance back to Moses and the Third Commandment. In doing\nthis why were they not consistent throughout? Why did they not _let\ntheir lands rest in the seventh year_? Why not observe the _year of\nJubilee_ ordered by the sanction of the same Lawgiver?\n\nAs before stated, Protestant practice, like the doctrines from which\nit emanates, is Proteus-like in form and phase; nor is the method\nfollowed in the observance of Sunday any exception to the general\nrule. But, upon the whole, the offspring of Knox, the descendants of\nBownde, and the adherents of the straiter sects stand up more\nstrenuously and make a stouter fight (not in argument, but by sheer\npersistence) for the rigorous keeping of the \u201cSabbath\u201d than they have\nfound it convenient to do for many doctrines and usages which,\nlogically speaking, were of far more importance to Protestantism as a\nsystem. Our outward and visible life in the United States, in Canada,\nand in the British Isles is to this day, in this one matter, largely\ntinctured and deeply infected with the plague of stupid and\nsuperstitious keeping of the Sunday, begun in factious opposition to\nthe English state establishment, propagated by the work of Bownde,\neagerly appropriated by Andrew Melville and the Scottish\npolitico-religious agitators of his day, and transmitted to us through\nthe Rump Parliament and the Puritans of New England. The \u201cable and\ngodly\u201d ministers of these latter, who, in the words of Mr. Oliver,\n\u201cderided the sign of the cross, but saw magic in a broomstick,\u201d though\ntheir descendants have recoiled from the teachings of their childhood\ninto Unitarianism or infidelity; though not one-half the adult\npopulation of New England now belongs to any Christian sect; and\nthough of all bodies of men that ever existed under a guise of\nreligion in the face of day they were the most inconsistent, the most\nbigoted, the most superstitious, the most intolerant, and the most\nrelentlessly persecuting, are yet often forced upon our admiration. It\nhas somehow become the fashion to laud these bigots to the heavens in\nannual _palavers_ of New England Societies, Plymouth Rock orators,\nFourth of July and other spread-eagle speakers; and though their other\ndoctrines and practices have vanished, leaving on their chosen ground\nscarce a trace behind, yet we are reminded of their spirit and\n_quondam_ influence by the shackles of legal enactment in regard to\nSunday observance; by the tumult that rises from certain classes of\nProtestants as silent custom or outspoken enactment from time to time\nsweeps out of existence some one or other of the trammels with which\nPuritanism, in its day of power, enthralled us. With what persistent\nzeal do they not agitate in the newspapers and petition authorities,\nmunicipal, State, and federal, against the running of the horse-cars,\nthe rail-cars, and the mail steamers on the Sabbath! How terrible, in\ntheir eyes, are the Sunday excursions of the laboring people of our\nlarge cities! How clearly do they not perceive that liberty is a good\nthing only so long as everybody thinks and acts exactly as they do!\nDid they not prove that we lost the day on a famous occasion during\nthe civil war by delivering battle on Sunday? How insanely anxious are\nthey not to have the Almighty (their Almighty, that is to say) in some\nway constitutionally harnessed to the already hard-racked instrument\nwhich consolidates the government of these States! It is true that\nthese men are the _t\u00eates mont\u00e9es_ of fanaticism of this sort, and we\nare far from affirming that a majority of their co-religionists go\nwith them. Indeed, we know, from daily observation, that in many of\nthe sects there exists but little of the spirit indicated, and that\nwhat remains is fast disappearing. But there exists enough of the\nembers to render walking amid them very annoying, and, with the\nassistance of a good breeze from the preachers, these embers may\neasily, and on small provocation, be fanned into a flame! Has not\nfanaticism displayed an unexpected vigor in connection with the\nquestion of opening our great Centennial Exposition on the only day on\nwhich the industrious poor can have the chance of seeing it without\nmanifest injury to their temporal interests?\n\nOur Protestant friend of the stricter sort awakes on the Sunday\nmorning, bethinks himself of the day, dresses (having shaved himself\nprovisorily on Saturday night), schools his countenance into the most\nmalignantly orthodox cast, takes in hand the Bible, Baxter\u2019s _Call_,\nor Boston\u2019s _Fourfold State_, and descends to the parlor; that is, he\nwould descend but that he hears one of his boys whistling in an\nadjoining room, who must at once be reproved therefor, to be more\nfully punished next day.\n\n \u201cTo Banbury came I, O profane one!\n There I saw a Puritane one\n Hanging of his cat on Monday\n For killing of a rat on Sunday.\u201d\n\nHaving thus effectually \u201cborne testimony\u201d and quenched the spirits of\nthe juvenile members of the family, who, fully knowing what Sunday\nmeans to them, have learned experimentally that\n\n \u201cStone walls do not a prison make,\n Nor iron bars a cage,\u201d\n\nhe sits down gazing at his book, fancying, in some vague way, that he\nis doing God service (though how or to what end would seem indistinct,\nsince, according to his most cherished doctrine, there is no merit\nwhatever in good works). He hears with disgust the bell of the\nirreligious milkman, sees the unsanctified horse-car pass his door,\nthe irreverent baker make his round, and notes the profane newsboy cry\nthe Sunday papers. This last is the most afflictive dispensation of\nall, and the one against which he has most vainly and frequently\npetitioned, never thinking that, even on his own grounds, the real\ngravamen is in the papers of Monday morning, the work for which must\nnecessarily be done on Sunday. Breakfast comes at length\u2014eaten in\nsolemn silence\u2014the children being \u201chard up\u201d for an apposite moral or\nreligious observation, and fearful lest, should they say anything, it\nmight be something mundane. Nor can the mother help them to diminish\nthe gloom of the occasion, having been herself furtively engaged in\neking out the shortcomings of the servant in preparing the meal, and\npainfully aware that, according to the family scheme of orthodoxy, she\nhas not been sanctifying the Sabbath. Family worship (on this day\nlonger in the prayer than usual) adds in no way to the general\ncheerfulness. Each boy and girl, supplied with a Sunday-school book of\nthe stereotyped pattern and contents, and given to understand the\nenormity of even the desire to take a walk on that day, longs in the\ninmost heart that the day were over. Church time comes, when, with a\nwarning that they will be expected to answer on the text, the sermon,\nand an admonition against drowsiness, all are trooped off to meeting,\nthe parents bringing up the rear. Then ensues an hour and a half of\ndreary listening to what most of them cannot, by the remotest\npossibility, comprehend. More than likely some of them may have been\novercome by sleep; in which case even the negative pleasure of apathy\nis taken away, and its place supplied by a fearful looking-for of\njudgment, either by rebuke or castigation. The dinner is, in want of\nhilarity, a repetition of the breakfast; for no secular idea may be\nexpressed, and the spirit does not move the younger branches, in any\nspecial degree, to an interest in the rather languid remarks of the\npaterfamilias upon the theological tendencies of the sermon; said\nobservations being delivered in his Sunday tone, compared with which a\ngush of tears would be exhilarating. Books are retaken; no cheerful\ngame or romp among the children; no free play or interchange of ideas\nbetween the parents. To write a letter would be a crying sin for the\nfather. It is a heinous fault when his mind spontaneously wanders to\nthat note of his due on Wednesday next; and although the mother had\nthe interesting and enlivening lucubrations of _Edwards on the Will_\nin her hands, yet there is much reason to believe that the washing of\nto-morrow has more than once intervened to prove Edwards in the right;\nnot to mention the occasion on which she caught herself recalling the\ntrimmings of Mrs. X\u2014\u2018s bonnet in the front pew. No visit from, none\nto, any family of their acquaintance; either would be a sin against\nthe sanctity of the Sabbath! We need not visit the Sunday-school, to\nwhich the superstitious folly of the parents, fear of their fellow\nchurch-members, the Mrs. Grundyism of sects, or an unfounded belief\nthat something valuable is learned there compels the parents to send\ntheir children. Probably most of our readers know how these things are\nmanaged; what is the _causa causativa_ of a Sunday-school\nsuperintendent; what is the calibre of the young men who teach, and\nthe object which takes them there. We all, of course, know and\nrecognize the high moral aims as well as the literary and theological\nability of the misses who form the grand staff of instructors in those\ninstitutions! But we must not be diverted from our sabbatarian Sunday.\n\nThen follows a dreary tea, meeting and sermonizing again, from which\ntwo of the children, having gone hopelessly asleep soon after the\nexordium, are brought home in a dazed state, nor does a protracted\nbout of family worship much assist in arousing them therefrom; and\nthen to bed! We suppose the father to be honest. Many such men are. We\ndoubt not but many of the Puritans were sincere, and slit the ears of\nthe Quakers with the serenity of good men engaged in the performance\nof a virtuous action. But let us put the question squarely to\nreasonable men: Will it be a matter of surprise if this man\u2019s\nchildren, when they grow up, loathe and abhor all religion, thinking\nit all of a piece with that in which they were brought up\u2014if they turn\nout, in short, what the descendants of the Puritans have become? Why,\nthe writer is acquainted with a school, kept by a well-meaning man, in\nwhich, by tedious Bible-reading, hymn-singing, and long-winded prayers\nat the school opening and closing, the teacher is unwittingly the\ncause of more of what _he_ would consider sacrilege, in an hour, than\nis heard of profanity among all the hackmen of New York on the longest\nday of the year; and his great object, which is to bring up\nPresbyterians, is thereby rendered as utterly futile as though he were\nan ingenious man doing his utmost to make infidels of them.\n\nCuriously enough, people of this kind (we refer to the strict keeping\nof Sunday) are never satisfied with the liberty they enjoy (and which\nnobody wishes to curtail) of observing the day just as rigorously as\nthey may desire. Not at all. There is no happiness or ease of spirit\nfor them until by legal pains and penalties they can force you, me,\nand all their neighbors to their own peculiar way of thinking and\nacting. This was well illustrated by the Scotchman who, in telling how\npious a people he had got among, said: \u201cLast Sabbath, joost as the\nkirk was skailin\u2019, there was a drover chiel comin\u2019 alang the road,\nwhustlin\u2019 an\u2019 lookin\u2019 _as happy_ as gin it was the middle o\u2019 the week.\nWeel, sir, oor lads is a _God-fearin\u2019_ set o\u2019 lads, an\u2019 they wur joost\ncomin\u2019 oot o\u2019 kirk. Od! they yokit on him, an\u2019 amaist kilt him.\u201d This\nis, after all, the point of the matter. We neither can, by right,\nought to have, nor have we any objection to any observance of the\nSunday, however rigid or however much (to our mind) it may seem\nstrained, overdone, and even ludicrous. That is the affair of the man\nhimself, and should lie between his own conscience and his Creator,\nwhere we have no right to interfere. But we all want and have a right\nto the same privilege for own conviction, or want of conviction, that\nwe cheerfully accord to him. Now, this such people as he never will\naccord to us so long as they can possibly prevent it. They never have\ndone so in the history of the world, and, taking experience for our\nguide, we have no reason to suppose that they ever will. They prate\nlargely of liberty of conscience, but that phrase means in their mouth\nliberty to think as you please, _so long as you think with them_.\nThough he is my neighbor, may not my daughter play the piano on Sunday\non account of his tender conscience? Must I not, because he fancies\nthe Sunday thereby desecrated, practise the flute? I do not attempt to\ninterfere with his drone of family worship; why should he be eternally\npetitioning to stop the delivery of my letters, or to prevent my going\ndown-town in the horse-cars on that day? I insist that he has as much\nas he is called on to do in attending to the affairs of his own\nconscience; that the contract is quite as much as he can conveniently\nand creditably get through with and I object (I think with reason) to\ngiving up mine to his charge. I want a keg of beer in my cellar, or,\nit may be, a basket of champagne. _Because he is virtuous, shall there\nbe no more cakes and ale?_ Shall his being scandalized because I think\nproper to take a walk on Sunday confine me all that day to the house?\nMust his scruples of conscience prevent myself and family from\nentertaining our friends on Sunday? In short, must I always be on\ntenterhooks to know how his conscience regards every act of mine on\nthat day? It would seem, though, as if that were just what my neighbor\nand his atrabilious friends have been aiming at. For, now that I think\nof it, they have been since ever I remember the self-same people, who\nhave all along got up meetings, been active in urging petitions, and\ndone their utmost to thwart every convenience or facility that for the\npast twenty-five years has been contrived for public accommodation on\nSunday.\n\nOn further reflection, they are the identical individuals who have\npublicly and privately been marplots in every matter in our vicinage,\nduring the same length of time, which did not fully recognize their\nlittle _Ebenezer_ or _Bethel_ as its fount and origin; and though they\nare possibly not to be convinced, yet it is highly important for these\npeople and all their class to learn once for all that the days of\nPuritanism are gone, and that nowadays every man is responsible for\nhis own acts to his Creator, and not to Mr. Jones next door, nor to\nthe congregation with which he worships. We do not wish Mr. J\u2014\u2014 to\nread his letters on Sunday, nor will we force him to patronize the\nstreet-car on that or any other day; but we want him and his friends\nto cease from making laws that interfere with our freedom, while\nthrusting upon them nothing which, _willy nilly_, they are bound to\naccept.\n\nThus it will be seen that our objection is not to our friends of the\nvarious illiberal \u201cschemes of salvation\u201d as individuals, nor to their\npractice of a peculiar and, to us, by no means an alluring primness of\nspeech and gait on Sunday; but to their unwillingness to allow us, who\nsee things differently, to follow our own convictions, and to their\nmanifest determination that we shall, in the event of their ever\nhaving the power, be forced to adapt ourselves to their views and\npractices. This overbearing spirit seems to be inseparable from their\npharisaic practice and its resultant prejudices, so that our dislike\nto both is well founded. As to the sanctification of the Lord\u2019s day,\nthey have an indisputable right to celebrate it just as austerely as\nmay best suit them, though we think them grossly and foolishly wrong\ntherein. They may call the day _Sabbath_, if they please, though we\nknow that word to signify Saturday, and nothing else. But in return\nfor this (not _concession_, for it is their right) we wish to suggest\nmildly that _we_ also have certain inalienable rights; that among\nthese, according to a highly-respectable and much-lauded document of\nwhich we sometimes hear, \u201care life, liberty, and the pursuit of\nhappiness\u201d; and we modestly venture the additional suggestion that the\nmunicipal and other laws which already exist, and those which these\npeople would fain enact, touching an enforced observance of the Sunday\nafter _their_ fashion, interfere largely with our _just liberty_ and\nmilitate strongly against our chances of success in the _pursuit of\nhappiness_.\n\nFinally, which method of observing the day seems the more in accord\nwith right reason? And here we wish the Protestant to lay aside a\nmoment, if he can, the prejudice engendered by the tyranny of early\neducation, surrounding usage, and personal habit. Our having been\naccustomed from early youth to a specific article of diet, clothing,\nor to a habit of any kind, physical or mental, does not necessarily\nmake an entirely different usage wrong or the direct reverse _sinful_.\nIf it be a command of God that Sunday shall be observed after the\nfashion of the ancient Jews with their Sabbath, we have nothing to\nsay, except that even _then_ we object to its observance being made a\nmatter of legal enactment. No man was ever yet driven to the Almighty\nby fear of temporal pains and penalties; nor is any worship acceptable\nto our Creator unless it be a free-will offering of the heart. But\nwhen Protestants admit with us that the Mosaic dispensation is past\nand the type done away with in the fulness of that which it\nprefigured, we certainly cannot consider the law of the Pentateuch any\nmore binding upon us in this respect than in regard to the rite of\ncircumcision, the usage of polygamy, or the obligation of a brother to\nmarry his deceased brother\u2019s wife. But there is, in the New Testament,\nno warrant at all for the change of the day, much less any rule for\nits special observance; and consequently, on Protestant principles,\nany day in the week\u2014indeed, any one in ten days, a fortnight, or a\nmonth\u2014would answer the purposes of religion equally well; and as there\nis no Scriptural command, the mode of observance is purely of human\ninvention.\n\nWe of course do not speak here of the Sunday, or of any one day in\nseven, employed (apart from religious purposes) solely for the purpose\nof recruiting the jaded physical energies of him who toils on the\nother six days in the week. The necessity for a periodical suspension\nof toil and labor depends on physical laws to which no reference is\nnow made; and as the turmoil of trade and the competition of labor go\non increasing, the necessity for the regular recurrence of a day of\nrest becomes more and more evident. The laboring classes are too\nnumerous and too deeply interested in the preservation of the stated\nholiday for it ever to die out. In this view of the question\u2014the\npurely physical one\u2014the mode of observance would be simply a matter of\ndiscretion and utility, and would not come within the purview of the\ncivil law at all; though the actual appointment of the day might, for\nthe sake of uniformity and for many other reasons, very properly be\nconsidered as pertaining to government. We, however, speak of the day\nas a divine or an ecclesiastical institution, in which light its\nobservance will depend upon the direct word of God or command of his\nchurch; but in no case will the civil law have any right to interfere\neither by dictum or permission.\n\nBut even supposing, for argument\u2019s sake, what we by no means\nadmit\u2014viz., that the Sunday should be observed in accord with the\nprescriptions of the Pentateuch\u2014we do not see how it follows that\ninnocent and healthful recreation should be denied on that day, either\nto the young, for whom it is absolutely necessary, or to the\nmiddle-aged and the old, to whom it is at least desirable. There is a\ngreat and palpable distinction between recreation and labor. The\nlatter is forbidden on the Sabbath in the Decalogue; but does the\nformer stand in the same case? The words are: \u201c_On it thou shalt not\ndo any work._\u201d It does not say: \u201cOn it thou shalt take no recreation,\nnor shalt thou play.\u201d It is one thing to say to the hod-carrier or the\nnavvy that he shall not mount the ladder with the heaped hod or ply\nthe mattock and spade; and it is another and quite a different thing\nto say to either that he shall not take a walk in the suburbs, go with\nhis family on an aquatic or rural excursion, or visit the \u201cExhibition\nbuildings\u201d on a Sunday. It is against such superstitious abuses, which\nhad, in course of time, grown up on the authority of the sophistical\nRabbins touching the Sabbath, that our Saviour so frequently and\npointedly protests; and against the same or similar illiberal\npractices we now protest.\n\nWe Catholics say that the Sunday is like other holidays of obligation,\nof the same enactment, and on the some footing with them\u2014_i.e._, they\nare all instituted by command of the church. Now, with the Sunday, as\nwell as with the other church festivals of obligation, comes the duty\nof hearing Mass and refraining from servile labor; but the law of the\nchurch ceases at that point, and \u201cwhere there is no law there is no\ntransgression.\u201d The Catholic believes the other days ordered by the\nchurch to be observed just as binding as Sunday; but it never enters\nhis head to attempt to coerce Protestants either into the same belief\nor observance. His Protestant friend says to him in effect: \u201cI have a\nvery tender conscience touching the observance of this day. Your\ncheerfulness interferes with my devotional feelings; your Sunday\nrecreations, walks, visits, and travel scandalize me, and offer a bad\nexample to my rising family. On last Sunday morning yourself and\nfamily rode out in the horse-cars to the park; in the afternoon you\nentertained a houseful of visitors, during which time you, with the\nflute, accompanied your daughter on the piano. The Sunday previous you\ntook the train for an adjoining city. The Sunday papers are frequently\ntaken at your house. You write, post, receive, and read letters as\nunconcernedly on the Lord\u2019s day as though it were the middle of the\nweek. When we had the power you would have been _firstly fined_, then\n_whipped_, and for stubborn persistence _put to death_ for this; but\nin these degenerate days all I can do is to put every legal and social\nobstruction in your way that our decaying numbers but ever persistent\ndetermination will enable us to do. Alas for the days that are gone!\u201d\n\nNow, with the parents on either side we have little to do. The mind of\nthe Catholic is made up; his conscience is informed from the precepts\nand instructions of the church; and we have no desire to change his\nviews or practice in the premises. And, in the case of his opponent,\nthere are few tasks so hopelessly wanting in results as that of\nconvincing a man against his will; as that of trying to surmount\nreligious prejudice in the adult. But we put it to fair reason, to\ncommon sense, to the community (which has a manifest interest that its\nmembers shall be under the influence of some religion, and not utter\ninfidels), to answer: In which of the two families exists the stronger\nlikelihood that the children will grow up stanch and ardent believers\nin religion? Will any one tell us that it will be in that in which a\ndark, overshadowing pall, under the name of piety, was made \u201cto press\nthe life from out young hearts\u201d; in which every thoughtless, merry, or\nexuberant word or act of theirs was represented as sin \u201c_deserving\nGod\u2019s wrath and curse for ever_\u201d; in which no memory of youth\nconnected with religion can be other than sombre, dismal, and\nremorseful? Or will it be in the Catholic family, where the child is\ntaught, not merely in words, but in fact, that \u201c_my yoke is easy and\nmy burden is light_\u201d; where, as he grows up, religious observance\nconstantly appeals to him as a privilege, not as an infliction; where\ncheerfulness, mirth, and jollity are by no means considered hostile\nto, but rather the concomitants of, true religion; and where no day of\nthe week is definitely consecrated to unnatural gloom and false\n(because enforced, and consequently hypocritical) devotion?\n\nThe answer is plain. Statistics of the result, with children brought\nup under each set of influences, bear us triumphantly out; and, in\nfine, thankful as we are for the daily and yearly decrease in numbers\nand influence of those who maintain this rigorous observance of the\nSunday, we shall be still better pleased, and it will be a happy day\nfor this and the other English-speaking peoples among whom they ever\nexisted, when the quibbling, narrow-minded, and sophistical principles\nand practices represented by such persons shall have been entirely\nstamped out beneath the onward march of tolerance and Christian\ncharity.\n\n\n [152] Not having had an opportunity of extensive travel\n in Scotland, we cannot speak of anything but Edinburgh\n and Glasgow; but on the few Sundays that we passed\n there, if there was any more specific and noticeable\n observance of the day than by _more copious drinking_,\n we failed to see it.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ETERNAL YEARS.\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE DIVINE SEQUENCE.\u201d\n\n\nCONSUMMATION.\n\n\nWe have spoken of the way in which the arch-enemy, the seducer of\nGod\u2019s children, is aping the mysteries of the still hidden future,\naccording as his subtlety and his enmity direct him. But while his\nrage and cunning are devising new deceits for those who are not\nenlightened by divine truth, or who have hid their light under a\nbushel, our attention is called in a special manner to her whose\noffice it is, and ever has been, to crush his head. Whenever and\nwherever the deceits of men and devils are putting out the light and\nwrapping the soul of man in darkness, there does the Virgin Mother\ncome more openly and more directly to counteract the fatal influence.\nIt has been reserved for the cold, matter-of-fact, utilitarian last\nhalf of the nineteenth century to see awakened in the multitude the\nsimple and romantic faith in pilgrimages and in the childlike,\npathetic histories of Mary\u2019s appearances upon earth that lent such\ncharm to the ages of faith. If the enemy of mankind seems to have more\npower allowed to him in the evil days on which we have fallen, so the\nMother of fair love, from whose pure hands the divine odyle streams,\nis deigning to speak to children and childlike souls, showing herself\nto be the great channel of special graces, the medium of divine\ncommunications, and the sure refuge against Satan\u2019s acted prophecy and\npantomime of God\u2019s loving intentions. \u201cWe will come to him, and dwell\nwith him\u201d\u2014and Mary is the precursor and the channel now as she was\nthen to his first coming, when he took flesh in her womb. The promise\nto the individual soul is the promise to the church: and _vice versa_.\nThe revelation of God in the church is also the life of God in the\nsoul\u2014the two are bound up in one. The life of the church is the\nguarantee of the life of the soul; it is the only sure foundation of\nsuch life; and the golden house, the _domus aurea_, of that life is\ndevotion to the divine Mother. For as her presence, her sweet virginal\nlife, was the necessary preliminary to the first coming of Christ, so\nwill the Son of God not appear on his glorious second mission till\nMary has come in the hearts of her people as an army with banners; all\nher prerogatives known and worshipped, all her position, flowing from\nher rights as the mother of the God-man, acknowledged and understood,\nand her court of angels following in her mystic footsteps upon earth,\neven as the bees follow their queen wherever she may choose to alight;\nand so preceding the second coming of our dearest Lord and ushering in\nthe new glories of the kingdom of God upon earth.\n\nThe Holy Ghost could only be sent by Jesus glorified. The sacrifice of\nthe cross needed to be accomplished and the precious blood shed,\nbefore the promised Paraclete could come. And thus between the one\nstupendous event and the other there lies an epoch of forty days, when\nhe had not yet ascended into heaven, and when therefore his risen\nglory was in a measure incomplete. At the beginning of that dread\ntime, full of the deepest mystery, of which we but imperfectly\ncomprehend the meaning, he was seen first by Mary Magdalene in the\ngarden. And as she fell at his feet with extended hands, he said,\n\u201cTouch me not.\u201d We have probably all of us at some time meditated\nsadly on those repelling words.\n\nTime was when she might touch those blessed feet, not with her hands\nonly but with her lips. Does he love her less now that her repentance\nis complete, and her salvation accomplished? Do not her rapid thoughts\ngo back in one rush to the time when she sat at his feet unrebuked,\nwhiling away the contemplative hours as she listened to his words and\nheard him say she had chosen \u201cthe better part\u201d? Does she not with a\npang of wounded love recall the moment when she wiped the precious\nointment with her hair from the feet she had bathed with it and with\nher tears? But now he says, \u201cTouch me not!\u201d Yes, there is a change.\nBut, O loving heart! it is not a change of loss but of gain. It is\ntrue there is an interim in which our beloved Lord is shrouded from us\nin too much glory for our human sense. The cradle-time of his sweet\ninfancy is past, the grace of his youth, the glory of his manhood, and\nall the bitter-sweet ignominies of his cross. He has passed somewhat\nbeyond our ken. He is risen, but not yet ascended. The first Mass[153]\nhad not then been offered. The bloody sacrifice was over; the\nEucharistic Sacrifice had not been celebrated by mere priestly hands,\nonly by his own divine hands on Holy Thursday. Until Mass had once\nbeen said, there was something as it were incomplete in the condition\nof the church. The next touch, the only touch possible for us (save by\na special command to St. Thomas and his faltering disciples), was in\nthe Blessed Sacrament.[154] Now we touch him daily, and fear no\nrebuke. Jesus is ascended, and the Paraclete has come, and is ever\ncoming more and more; and as the Holy Dove sheds the light of his\nwings upon the church and speaks through her utterance, so the\nprivileges and the status of Mary are more revealed and more\ndeveloped. We know more of our queen, and we are learning more of her\ncourt, and when both have taken their place in the hearts of men and\nhave prepared for the reign of the Holy Ghost, when the angels have\naccomplished their mission, the far-off glories of which are hardly\ndawning on us, then will he make us know all that lies hidden in the\ndeep mystery of his second coming, and God and man and angels will be\nunited in the sweet bonds of Jesus, and through the mediation of her\nwho is clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a\ncrown of twelve stars on her virgin head.\n\nThis is the divine progression, and this is leading to the divine\nconsummation.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOur task is drawing to a close. It has been our endeavor to encircle\nthe whole creation with the chain of faith, and to bind each to all in\nendless links of the divine love. We have dared to glance back before\ntime into the bosom of eternity. We have beheld time, as it appears to\nour human ken, in a manner detach itself from eternity, and seem to\nbecome an entity\u2014which indeed it is in a certain sense. We have\nmarvelled at its slow-flowing course and its distant results, as\ncompared with our own rapidity of thought and grasp of imagination.\nAnd we have seen that time is patient because it is the offspring of\neternity, and because it is the mode and vehicle of God\u2019s revelation\nof himself to us. God is patient because he is almighty and\nomniscient. For a little space we have strained our endeavors to look\nupon the flowing stream as God sees it, and not as we break it up into\nmoments and hours. Our motive for doing this has been to realize so\nfar as is possible the continuousness of God\u2019s action with the\nindivisibility of his being as he is in himself, and to prove that\nthis indivisibility and intrinsic unchangeableness lie at the root of\nall his manifestations of himself through the _nunc fluens_ of time.\nWherever we have fancied a contradiction to exist, or even a\ndisparity, the error has lain in our partial vision and not in any\nshadow of change in the great God. He meant always what he means now,\nbut mankind could not always equally bear that meaning. Therefore, as\npitying his creation, he has condescended in past ages to pour the\ndivine waters of revelation in diverse colored vessels; so that at one\ntime the limpid liquid seemed to us of a different hue from what it\nassumed subsequently, until at last the waters of life were held in\nthe crystal vases of the church, pure and white as they. We perceive\nand understand that the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob is the\nsame God as our God of Bethlehem and Calvary. And the unity of God\u2019s\nnature becomes ever more and more obvious to us as we study the\ncharacteristics of his government. At no period and in no place has\nthe loving Creator forgotten the work of his own hands. And lest we\ncould not find him, he has adapted the light he poured upon us to the\nweakness of our sight. In the unity of God and in his unchangeableness\nwe find our own link to the past, and discover how we are the\ninheritors of former ages and the heirs of the years to come. We have\nindicated (we could do no more) the great fact that all is because God\nis; that he has and can have no other end than himself; and that it is\nexactly in that great truth that lies all our hope and all our\nsalvation. For he is absolute goodness as certainly and as necessarily\nas he is absolute being. This being so, it is impossible for us to\nwish anything that he has made not to be. Dreadful as is the thought\nof hell, we could not wish hell were not\u2014we cannot wish evil to exist.\nBut we find it there, and we are silent because he has permitted it.\nWe hate it, because, though he permits it, he hates it. But we see how\nit grows out of the free will of men and angels; and that, as all\nmerit lies in deliberate choice, there could be no choice if virtue\nwere a necessity. Evil is not, like good, an original and universal\nprinciple. It is the negation of that; and required, to give it an\nactual existence, the free power of deliberate selection, like that of\nthe devils when they fell. We see as we read the history of the world,\nin the light thrown by the knowledge of God, that evil works greater\ngood. And as we can see this in part, we believe that it exists in the\nwhole, though our perception is limited. We know that good must\ntriumph in the end. If we thought otherwise, we should make the devil\nstronger than God, and the scheme of redemption a comparative failure.\n\nAs we enumerate all these things, what is the result we arrive at\nexcept one of illimitable joy and confidence\u2014exultation beyond all\nexpression in the might and majesty of our God\u2014a hopefulness that\nexceeds language\u2014a courage too large for a narrow heart, and a\nboundless, passionate yearning towards all living souls, that they may\nlearn how great a God is our God, and how good and grand a thing it is\nto be alive and to serve him?\n\nWe can only measure life with any accuracy by the amount of thought\nwhich has filled it\u2014that is, by the quantity of our intellectual and\nspiritual powers which we have been able to bring to the small\naperture in the camera obscura by which to contemplate the\never-flowing eternity that lies beyond, and cut it up into the\nsections we call time.\n\nAnother example will show us how plastic is the nature of time. Take\nthe life of an animal. We are inclined to give the largest possible\nand reasonable importance to the brute creation. It is an open\nquestion in which we see great seeds of future development, all\ntending to increased glory to the Creator and to further elucidation\nof creative love. Nevertheless it is obvious that brutes perceive\nonly, or chiefly, by moments. There is, as compared with ourselves,\nlittle or no sequence in their perceptions. There is no cumulative\nknowledge. They are without deliberate reflection, even where they are\nnot without perceptions of relations and circumstances, past or\nfuture. Consequently, they are more rigorously subjected to time than\nourselves. Therefore, when we deprive an animal of life we deprive him\nof a remainder of time that is equal to little more than no time, in\nproportion to the degree in which his power of filling time with\nperception is less than our own.[155] All we have said tends to prove\nthat time has in itself only a relative existence; it is a form or\nphase of our own being.[156] It is an aspect of eternity; the aspect\nwhich is consistent with our present condition.\n\nFrom the way in which we have seen that God has made use of different\nraces to work for the establishment and development of his church, we\nhave opened a glorious vista of hope in the future, and we have\nrejoiced over the work to be done, and the laborers who at the\neleventh hour shall be called into the vineyard, until even the\nfragments that remain shall be gathered up, so that nothing may be\nlost. We have dared to maintain, against all those who cavil at the\nevil days on which we have fallen, that Christianity has infiltrated\nits influence in regions where it is blasphemed, or, as in the past\nRoman Empire, where it was denied. We have endeavored to impress on\nour readers the importance, and in a certain sense the sacredness, of\nmatter, as the vehicle of God\u2019s demonstration of himself. For, as\nF\u00e9nelon says, \u201cGod has established the general laws of nature (which\ninvolve all the laws of matter) to hide under the veil of the\nregulated and uniform course of nature his perpetual operation from\nthe eyes of proud and corrupt men, while on the other hand he gives to\npure and docile souls something which they may admire in all his\nworks.\u201d In proportion as we honor God\u2019s laws, so should we honor the\nmeans of their manifestation, the substance through and in which they\nwork, and without which they would fall back into the abstract and\nhave no existence outside God himself. We say in proportion, because\nthe manifestation is second to the principle manifested, and the\n_modus operandi_ is inferior to him who employs it. We have as much\ndifficulty in conceiving of God apart from his operations as we have\nin realizing eternity apart from time. And therefore is all honor due\nto the vast creation whereby we see the evidence of things not seen,\nand everything becomes to us \u201choly to the Lord.\u201d It is for this reason\nthat the true and intelligent love of nature is essentially the\noffspring of the Christian faith. The ancients cannot be said to have\nhad it in any degree beyond a remote possibility in their intellectual\nnature. To them nature was a weird enchantress, hiding her terrible\nsecrets with a jealous care. The silence and solitude of the forests\nand the mountains were full of a sense of horror. The separate trees\nheld a lamenting and imprisoned spirit; the gay, sparkling streams\nwere a transmuted nymph, which, like the perfumed shrubs and flowers,\ntold some tale of the anger of the gods and their swift revenge. All\nthat was inanimate inspired sadness. And when their pastoral tales\nrose into cheerfulness, it was that the lowing herds and bleating\nsheep formed a part. The sounds and motion of at least animal life\nwere essential. The solitudes of nature were simply awful and\nterrific; for nature was then only a mystery to unredeemed humanity.\nShe held deep secrets in her bosom, but the curse had set its seal\nupon them all, and she waited in long mournful silence for the hour\nwhen the human feet of the Creator should press her varied fields, and\nby his thrilling touch break the iron bars of her captivity, and teach\nher to tell of him in the whispered music of her thousand voices. In\ntruth, her secrets were his, nor dared she break silence until he had\ncome to set free the mystery of love for which she was created and\ninstituted. But when Love himself had walked the earth, and mingled\nhis tears\u2014ay, and his precious blood\u2014with the dews of his own\ncreation, then the dark melancholy of nature grew into sweet pathos,\nand her solitudes were filled with secrets of his presence.\n\nBut what was then hidden from the pagan world could hardly be so to\nthe first father of our race, he who out of the vast stores of his\ninfused science named all created beings. When Adam saw the corn\ngrowing bright in thick array, and the vine bending down with purple\nfruit, surely he understood, as in a prophecy, the great symbol of the\nbread of life and of the Holy Eucharist. The body and blood of the\nIncarnate God, albeit unbroken and unshed, must have been present to\nhis ardent expectation as he beheld their antitype in the garden of\nParadise. The rose with her mystic bosom deep enfolded must ever have\nawakened some passing thought of the _Rosa mystica_. And when to sad\nEve, after her exile beyond the gates guarded by the flaming sword of\nthe cherubim, the rose appeared bearing thorns among her five or seven\nleaved foliage, she guessed at the sacred crown and the divine wounds\nof the God-man, and at the sevenfold desolation of the mother who bore\nhim. And what to us are the bright autumn hedgerow leaves dabbed with\nblood, not red now but tawny? Are they not tokens that he has trod\nthat way and left the traces of his past glorious passion\u2014past,\nbecause that blood was shed once for all, but still and for ever\nremaining; while the scarlet poppy takes up the theme, and in every\ncorn-field, on barren tracks, and meeting the way-worn traveller by\nthe road\u2019s dusty side, reminds him that the sacrifice is renewed hour\nby hour the wide world over, fresh and life-giving as ever? Can the\nrich woodlands fail to bring before us the thought of him who gathered\nfrom the forests of his own creation the wood for his own cross? Can\nwe sit beneath the dappled sunshine of the flickering boughs without\nremembering how it dared to lay its quick vibrating touch upon his\nsacred head, as he walked amid the olive groves of Gethsemane, but\nwithdrew itself, and gave place to the cold moon before the scene of\nhis great agony?\n\nSurely these shadows are full of uncreated light; and from time to\ntime the church retrims her lamps of dogmatic theology, and each time\nthe light streams further down into the still, dim, uncertain regions\nof natural science, another precious secret is revealed, another\nancient doubt dispelled; and matter and natural laws prove themselves\neach more and more to be the depositories of divine truth and the\nfaithful creatures of the omnipresent Creator.\n\nWhile acknowledging the force of law, we have denied that law can have\nan independent existence apart from a self-existing, self-conscious\nlawgiver, of whom it is the exponent. We have asserted the same as\nregards force, which is but another name for law, or, rather, which is\nlaw _in posse_. And we have stated that as science proves the absence\nof all direct contact in the material world, the world of atoms, so\nthe only real contact is that of spirit on matter, of the divine\nCreator on his own creation. For he is nearer to us than we are to\nourselves. All forces, all active powers, emanate from God. They are\nthe evidences to us of his existence. They could as little exist\nwithout him as a shadow can exist without light. They are one in their\nnature, though they are diverse in their effects, because they are\nGod\u2019s constant _touch_ on his own creation. He exists formally in all\nspace and beyond all space. And everywhere he is the same: the\nimmutable and absolute _Ens_. In his touch on his creation he gives\nrise to the active forces which virtually declare his being, and which\nare extended throughout space, but under a million varied degrees of\nbeing and a million varied forms. They are virtually everywhere\nequally. But their manifestation in mind and degree is as diverse as\nall that exists in the vast cosmos, inside and outside of which God\nis, infinite and entire.\n\nWe have not enlarged upon this theme as we might have done. We have\nonly pointed out to our readers how God\u2019s touch on his creation is the\nonly absolute contact that exists, and that science goes to prove the\nabsence of all other, that is, of all material contact. We have\nabstained from trying to demonstrate how this truth sweeps away a\nhundred doubts respecting God\u2019s ways towards man, and a thousand\ndifficulties that might prove stumbling-blocks to our faith. We have\ndesired no more than to put the thought, nay, we might say the fact,\nbefore them, and leave them to work out all its corollaries in love\nand devotion. We are not writing for sceptics but for those who\nbelieve, and would fain believe yet more surely, giving a reason for\nthe faith that is in them, and dwelling in prayer on thoughts which\nreveal more of God\u2019s character to the soul. We are to be perfect as\nour heavenly Father is perfect. That is, in our measure and degree, we\nare to aim at a faint reflection of the harmony, the proportion, the\njustice of God. To do this, and to aim at doing it, we need to form in\nour own minds an accurate though but a limited view of the character\nof God. And to effect this, we must as it were look at his character\nall round\u2014for which purpose the past, the present, and the future are\nall-important to us; and we have to view him as he reveals himself to\nus in his creation, in his government, and in his promises. We have\nventured to maintain that the whole of his creation is with a view to\nhis Incarnation; that the Incarnation of the Second Person of the\nBlessed Trinity is enhanced by his glorious passion and most precious\ndeath working our redemption; that it is glorified by his resurrection\nand ascension; and only completed in his sacramental presence; that as\nthis sacramental presence is the one great fact virtually enclosing in\nitself all the others, as it is the coping-stone of the great mystery\nof the Incarnation, its lowest depth and greatest height, so is it the\nlink that rivets the creation to the God-man, and the keystone to all\nthe science of matter and dynamic force. For it is the divine epitome\nof all the laws that govern both, the reason of their being, and the\nlast exponent of their rootedness in God. It completes the circle\nwithin whose bounds lies the entire cosmos as a globe environed by the\nserpent. It is the golden ring with which the divine Spouse has wedded\nhimself to his church and to all the world, if they but know it. Words\nfail us. We cannot say enough; for these are thoughts too deep for\nwords, and which seem to be rather darkened than expressed by\nlanguage. And, like all that is greatest, they come to us from that\nwhich seems most simple and most hidden of all\u2014a silken-curtained\nTabernacle; and behind the little closed door lies all; every secret\nhas its solution within the round white limits of the Host, for that\nHost is the great ultimatum of the creation, and the absolute\nconsummation of God\u2019s giving himself to man, while the latter is in\nthe condition of viator.\n\nWe have entreated our readers not to be deluded by the dimness of the\npresent times, but by prayer and solitary thought to strain their\nspiritual vision to behold the brightness of the future which is\ncoming upon us like the rays of the sun behind a mist; the reign of\nthe Holy Ghost\u2014the enlargement of the church\u2019s border, and the\nspreading of the cords of her tent; the devotion to the Mother of God\ntaking root in an honorable people; and thus, through the mediation of\nher who is the first among all created beings, bringing the whole\nouter world nearer to the spiritual world. This, and the future\nmission, may be a very distant one, of her messengers the angels, are\nall certain because they are written, and even now the signs of the\ntimes indicate their advent. In whatever form they may come, whatever\nmay be the details filling up the wonderful picture of the future,\nwhatever, in short, may be the literal working-out of the wonderful\npromises of the Gospel, one thing at least is certain: they mean peace\nto men of good-will. We may be quite unable to define or explain them;\nwe are waiting for the hour when the church shall teach us more. But\nwe cannot exaggerate their importance, nor can we deny that our\nblessed Lord has left a rebuke on those who make no attempt to discern\nthe signs of the times. There are souls among his special servants who\nare the men of the future. They are those who are called to stand on\nthe watch-towers of prayer, and to hear the cry, \u201cWatchman, what of\nthe night?\u201d\n\nThe time of figs was not yet. Nevertheless, he in his eternal justice\ncursed the fig-tree that yielded him no fruit, when he deigned to look\nup among the broad, scented leaves of its knotted branches. There are\nsouls who are called to bear fruit out of season as well as in season,\nand woe to them if they fail in their higher and exceptional spiritual\nvocation. They are to be beforehand with time; they are to be, though\nin a silent, hidden way, the spiritual heralds of the future, the\nharbingers of God\u2019s coming spring, the pioneers of prayer. They are\nthe human messengers that are to prepare his way before him, in those\nnever-ceasing conquests which multiply in proportion as our hearts are\nready to receive him. They are to live, as all the great saints have\ndone, in advance of their age. St. Francis was centuries before his\ntime in the refinements of his exquisitely spiritualized nature; St.\nVincent of Paul was the same in the creations of his charity; and St.\nFrancis of Sales like St. Philip Neri in the blending of deep piety\nwith the exigencies of modern life. The nearer we approach to the\nconsummation, the more numerous will become the watchers of the night,\nthe souls that are looking out for a new dawn, and who meanwhile are\nleading an inner life in advance of the present. God alone can know\nthem, and those on whom he has bestowed the gift, though but\npartially, of the discernment of spirits. To others they will appear\nas men walking in a dream, visionary and unpractical. It matters not\nto them. Even here they have in a measure their great reward, for they\ncan say, with their divine Master, \u201cI have meat to eat which you know\nnot.\u201d\n\nWe are often tempted to complain that we have fallen upon evil times.\nThe past seems to us to have been more full of heroism, the future we\nbelieve will be richer in knowledge. We have slid into a period of\nprosaic piety mingled with many doubts. Without pausing to argue how\nmuch of this is false, we would remark that the present is an epoch\nwhich may yield a larger amount of merit to those who know how to\nprofit by it than perhaps any other\u2014we may make a rich harvest of\nfaith and hope. And we must bear in mind that both these are virtues\nthat will ultimately be swallowed up in the greater and crowning\nvirtue of perfect charity. When we see, there will be an end of faith;\nwhen we know, hope will expire in certainty. \u201cThere remain now faith,\nhope, and charity; but the greatest of these is charity.\u201d In\nproportion to the extension of our knowledge, the area of our blind\nfaith is diminished. \u201cBecause thou hast seen me, thou hast believed.\nBlessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.\u201d There is\na special grace attending these twilight days, when a larger demand is\nmade upon our faith. The light will gradually increase unto the\nperfect day\u2014not only the real absolute perfect day of heaven, but in a\nmeasure here upon earth. The merit of faith will be less, when the\nangels are obviously carrying out their mission upon earth, than it is\nnow, when the good lies so hidden, and the evil is so rampant and\nopen. We are foolish not more truly to value the advantages of our own\ntime, and to rejoice that we are called upon to have a greater and a\nstronger faith than may be possible in those who will, as it were, put\ntheir hand into the wounded side where beats the Sacred Heart of\nJesus. Whatever has an appearance of discouragement about it is in\nfact a fresh demand from God upon our larger faith and deeper trust.\nIt is as if he said to us, \u201cYou are my friends, and therefore I can\ncount upon you.\u201d We should make haste to lay up a larger harvest of\nmeritorious faith from every doubt that falls across our path and\nevery cloud that veils the sunshine, and by this very act we shall\nhasten the dawn and bring on the joyous fruition of our prayer. \u201cThy\nkingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven\u201d\u2014for surely\nthis prayer is intended to be granted in a far greater degree than\nanything the world has ever seen from the creation to the present\nhour. Remember who taught us that prayer; and remember the centuries\nthat it has been breathed by all the church of God from infancy to\nage. It is not a poetic phrase. It is not a hyperbole. It is God\u2019s\nword, expressive of God\u2019s will and God\u2019s intention; and, therefore,\nhas he made it the universal petition of all his children. It is the\nepitome of all he demands in every separate soul, until the many units\nhave become a large multitude of the faithful, greater than any man\ncan number.\n\nIt is the strenuousness of our faith which will give a greater\ndistinctness, a more delineated and chiselled clearness, to our\nconvictions, and even to our opinions. At present they hang loose on\ntoo many of us, and flap about in the high wind of the world\u2019s\ncontempt and impudent indifference, blinding our sight and hindering\nour steps. A firmer, steadier faith will gather tight across our bosom\nall our outstanding notions and ideas, bringing them into subjection\nto the faith which teaches us to see all things as God sees them\u2014that\nis, according to our degree, but in the same light that he sees them,\nwhich is the light of eternity and of his own being. He has bidden us\nopen our mouth wide that he may fill it. Can, we, then hope too\nlargely or too earnestly? Can we assign any limits to the grace of\nsanctification in its continuous progression, or to the advance of\nlove in the ever-enduring reign of the Holy Ghost? The God towards\nwhom we are being so sweetly drawn is infinite, and though each\nindividual must reach his own appointed measure and degree, yet who\ncan dare put a limit even in thought to the plenitude of that future?\nBut for our great and exceeding hope, how barren would our present\nlife appear! Like Rachel, the church cries incessantly to her Lord,\n\u201cGive me children, or I die.\u201d Let us repeat the prayer, and re-echo in\nevery act of our lives the passionate desire for the spread of truth\nand the increase of light; for it is hardly less difficult to guess at\nthe beautiful and glorious future which God reserves for his cherished\ncreations\u2014the garment that he has woven for his only-begotten Son\u2014than\nit is to form an opinion of the possible glorious future of some souls\nas compared with others. And is this all? Have we by any unguarded\nexpression left on our reader\u2019s mind a notion that we are anticipating\nthe perfectibility of mankind upon earth, the absence of evil, and a\nsort of pious utopia, as the sum and substance of our expectations\u2014a\ndeifying of the system of nature, a glorification in some distant\nfuture of all the natural laws, as ultimate and final, and which,\nbecause of the beauty of creation, are to content us and be in some\nform or other our higher destiny? Not so. The end is not in that,\nneither is it here. Were Satan bound now, as one day he will be, we\nstill should as now carry about with us the concupiscence which has\ntainted the nature of every human being, save only the Mother of God.\nAlas! we need no devil to prompt us to sin, for we carry an enemy\nwithin us. Even mortal sin can be committed without his assistance;\nand we are but too apt to paint him blacker by thrusting upon him a\nresponsibility which is too often all our own. We believe in no\nabsolutely sinless existence this side the gates of death, except that\nof the God-man and his immaculate Mother. But this we do believe, that\n\u201cwisdom is justified by her children,\u201d[157] and we venture to\nanticipate that all that is holy, beautiful, and fitting in nature\nwill shine with a renewed glory upon earth as the dawn grows to the\nperfect day, before the temporal gives place to the eternal, and the\nSon of Man shall have delivered up the kingdom to the Father. \u201cAnd\nwhen all things shall be subdued unto him, then the Son also himself\nshall be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may\nbe all in all.\u201d[158] We have borne the image of the earthly, we must\nalso bear the image of the heavenly\u2014when God shall be all in all, when\nwe shall have ascended by the ladder of the sacred humanity to the\nmystery of the Holy Trinity, when we shall look on the Triune God and\nbe satisfied. Before the immensity of that thought there falls a veil\nof light more impenetrable than the thickest darkness. We cease to\nthink. Our whole being becomes as it were detached from our human\nconsciousness, and for one moment, one awful, never-to-be-forgotten\nmoment, we hang over the abyss which is the eternity and the infinity\nof God. Towards that we yearn, for it is our last end. Even the\nimmaculate heart of Mary; even the unutterable endearments of the\nsacred humanity; even that which in its mystery and its hiddenness is\nthe nearest approach to the undivided thought of God\u2014the Blessed\nEucharist\u2014become to us but parts of a whole which must be ours, if we\nare to be content. The cosmos rolls away from our sight like a\nscorched parchment before that living heat. The history of Bethlehem\nand Calvary are manifestations limited in themselves, and indicative\nof more. The Blessed Paraclete, whose personality we perhaps sometimes\nfind it hard to individualize (though we do not say with the Ephesian\ndisciples that \u201cwe have not so much as heard whether there be a Holy\nGhost\u201d), becomes in our thoughts a more intense and absolute idea,\nless vague than in the past, and how inscrutably attractive! We have\nreached the thought of the Holy Ghost through Jesus. And now we seem\nto sink into the bosom of the Father through the Holy Ghost; and, in a\nway too deep for words, to be conscious of ourselves only through our\nperception of the great God, and to have lost everything save the\nimmensity and the unity, the eternal being and the eternal love, of\nthe Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost\u2014the three Persons we have\ndimly known on earth; and the one God, whom we shall only fully know\nin heaven, when we shall have entered on the eternal years.\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n [153] By this is meant the first Mass celebrated by a\n mere man.\n\n [154] With ever-yearning love he calls us in the dear\n Sacrament of the Altar and before the doors of his\n tabernacle that we may touch not only his sacred feet\n as Mary Magdalene pressed them to her lips, but his\n whole self, his humanity and his divinity in one.\n\n [155] In other words, there is a more imperfect being\n than ours. Though whether its imperfection is to\n exclude all idea of their having a future fuller\n development, whereby and in which they will be\n indemnified for their sinless share in guilty man\u2019s\n punishment, is still an open question.\n\n [156] Time is the measure of successive existence in\n created and finite beings. As a finite spirit cannot\n escape from this limit of successive existence, any\n more than a body can escape from the limit of locality\n and finite movement in space, it is evident that this\n statement is not correct in a literal and strictly\n metaphysical sense. Eternal existence is the entire\n possession of life which is illimitable in such a\n perfect manner that all succession in duration is\n excluded. It is possible only in God, who is alone\n most pure and perfect act, and therefore is at once\n all he can be, without change or movement. The created\n spirit must ever live by a perpetual movement or\n increase in its duration, because it is on every side\n finite. It is impossible, therefore, that time should\n cease while creatures continue to exist.\u2014ED. C. W.\n\n [157] Matt. xi. 19.\n\n [158] 1 Cor. xv.\n\n\n\n\nNEW PUBLICATIONS.\n\n\n THE GLORIES OF THE SACRED HEART. By Henry Edward, Cardinal\n Archbishop of Westminster. New York: The Catholic\n Publication Society. 1876. [Republished by special\n permission of his Eminence.]\n\nThere are many excellent works on the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of\nJesus. The new one whose title is given above is not a mere repetition\nin a new form of the substance of any of these preceding treatises. It\nis different from all of them, and quite peculiar in its scope, as\nwell as in its style, as might be expected from its eminent author.\nIts basis is strictly theological. With his usual and characteristic\naccuracy of doctrine and lucidity of style, the cardinal makes an\nexposition of the mystery of the Incarnation and its consequences,\nespecially in respect to the deification and adoration of the sacred\nhumanity of Jesus Christ. The special _cultus_ of the Sacred Heart is\nexplained in its relation to the deified humanity, to the Blessed\nSacrament, to the sanctification of men, and to the eternal glory of\nthe elect. This is a book to enlighten the mind of a sincere and\ndevout reader, and, through the illumination of the understanding, to\nawaken a solid, rational, and ardent devotion.\n\n * * * * *\n\nWe have received the following books, but in consequence of the\nunusually crowded state of our columns must defer notice of them until\nlater.\n\n TERRA INCOGNITA; OR, THE CONVENTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. By\n John Nicholas Murphy. Popular Edition. London: Burns &\n Oates. New York: The Catholic Publication Society.\n\n SOUVENIRS OF NOTRE DAME: A Collection of Poems and Dramas.\n By Mrs. Mary T. Monroe. New York: The Catholic Publication\n Society.\n\n JULIAN THE APOSTATE, AND THE DUKE OF MERCIA: Historical\n Dramas. By the late Sir Aubrey de Vere. London: Pickering.\n\n MARGARET ROPER; OR, THE CHANCELLOR AND HIS DAUGHTER. By\n Agnes M. Stewart. Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co.\n\n REAL LIFE. By Mathilde Froment. Translated from the French\n by Miss Newlin. Kelly, Piet & Co.\n\n THE WISE NUN OF EASTONMERE, and other Tales. By Miss Taylor.\n Kelly, Piet & Co.\n\n SAINT ELIZABETH, THE LILY OF PORTUGAL; SAINT ELIZABETH, THE\n MATRON OF ISRAEL; SAINT ELIZABETH, THE QUEEN OF HUNGARY. By\n the author of \u201cLife in the Cloister.\u201d Kelly, Piet & Co.\n\n MEDITATIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR A RETREAT OF ONE DAY IN\n EACH MONTH. Kelly, Piet & Co.\n\n BERTHA: A Historical Romance. By Conrad von Bolanden.\n Translated by S. B. A. Harper. New York: D. & J. Sadlier &\n Co.\n\n THE NEW MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. From the\n original French. B. S. P. Philadelphia: Peter F.\n Cunningham\u2019s Son.\n\n SCIENCE AND RELIGION. A Lecture delivered at Leeds, England.\n By Cardinal Wiseman. St. Louis: Patrick Fox.\n\n LITTLE CATECHISM OF THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE SOVEREIGN\n PONTIFF. New York: Benziger Bros.\n\n SPIRITUALISM AND NERVOUS DERANGEMENT. By William A. Hammond,\n M. D. New York: G. P. Putnam\u2019s Sons.\n\n THE PHYSICAL BASIS OF IMMORTALITY. By Antoinette Brown\n Blackwell. G. P. Putnam\u2019s Sons.\n\n CLAREL: A Poem and Pilgrimage in the Holy Land. By Herman\n Melville. Two vols. G. P. Putnam\u2019s Sons.\n\n THE GREEKS AND THE PERSIANS. By the Rev. G. W. Cox, M.A. New\n York: Scribner, Armstrong & Co.\n\n THE FALL OF THE STUARTS AND WESTERN EUROPE. By the Rev. E.\n Hale, M.A. Scribner, Armstrong & Co.\n\n THE AGE OF ELIZABETH. By Mandell Creighton, M.A. Scribner,\n Armstrong & Co.\n\n THE LIFE, LETTERS, AND TABLE-TALK OF BENJAMIN ROBERT HAYDON.\n Edited by Richard Henry Stoddard. Scribner, Armstrong & Co.\n\n POEMS. By Christina G. Rossetti. Boston: Roberts Bros.\n\n REVOLUTIONARY TIMES. By Edward Abbott. Roberts Bros.\n\n ACHSAH: A New England Study. By Rev. Peter Pennot. Boston:\n Lee & Shepard.\n\n A QUESTION OF HONOR. By Christian Reid. New York: Appleton &\n Co.\n\n SPIRIT INVOCATIONS. Compiled by Allen Putnam, M.A. Boston:\n Colby & Rich.\n\n * * * * *\n\nIn the next number of THE CATHOLIC WORLD will be begun a new serial\nentitled \u201cSix Sunny Months,\u201d by the author of _The House of Yorke,\nGrapes and Thorns_, etc.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC WORLD.\n\nVOL. XXIII., No. 137.\u2014AUGUST, 1876.\n\nCopyright: Rev. I. T. HECKER. 1876.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NEXT PHASE OF CATHOLICITY IN THE UNITED STATES.\n\n\nThe history of the universal church, replete as it is with miraculous\nconversions and great moral revolutions, presents no parallel to the\ngrowth and spread of the Catholic faith in this republic; and if we be\nallowed to forecast the future by the light of the past, we may\nwithout presumption predict for Catholicity a career of usefulness and\nglory, an influence far-reaching and all-pervading, on American soil,\nhitherto unequalled, even in the most triumphant days of our holy and\nvenerable mother.\n\nIn the early ages of Christianity whole tribes and nations were won\nover bodily to the Gospel, not alone by the superhuman efforts of a\ncomparatively small number of apostolic men, but incidentally by the\nattractions of the purer and higher order of civilization which\neverywhere followed their footsteps and resulted naturally from their\nteachings. The primitive missionaries were reformers of manners and\ngovernments, advocates of mercy and equity, promoters of peace,\nindustry, and education, as well as expounders of divine law. They\nindeed realized the fabled power of Orpheus, and tamed the brute\npassions of paganism by the harmony of their lives and the melody of\ntheir doctrines.\n\nFar different have been the circumstances which surrounded the first\npermanent introduction of Catholicity into what is now the United\nStates. Though we can dwell with commendable pride on the devotion and\nself-sacrifice which characterized the Spanish and French Dominicans,\nFranciscans, and Jesuits in their arduous labors among the aborigines;\nand recall with deep gratitude the beneficent and indefatigable\nexertions of the zealous pioneers of our present hierarchy and\npriesthood, we cannot help feeling that we have had no national\ninheritance in the merits of those extraordinary men of the Old World,\nthose confessors and martyrs, whose names shine forth with such\nresplendent lustre in the calendar of the saints of God.\n\nWe look in vain, also, for any great name, distinguished for political\npower or intellectual supremacy, among the humble immigrants who first\nraised the standard of the cross in the hostile atmosphere of colonial\nProtestantism. As in the crumbling yet still luxurious Roman Empire,\nthe foundations of our infant church were laid on what, in a worldly\nsense, may be called the lowest class in the social scale, the poor,\nthe simple, the neglected and despised. Wealth, fashion, and\nself-interest were opposed to it. A people shrewd, intelligent, and in\ntheir own way religious, were in possession of the country, and had\nneither the will nor the disposition to yield one jot to the\nprofessors of a faith which they had been taught to regard as debasing\nand idolatrous. Only a hundred years ago the Catholics of the United\nColonies consisted of a few isolated groups, principally in Maryland\nand Pennsylvania, without influence, authority, or legal recognition.\nIn the aggregate they counted about one in every thousand of the\npopulation, and, save some descendants of the original Maryland\nsettlers, and a few private gentlemen who afterwards rose to eminence\nin the Revolutionary War, they were alike devoid of wealth and social\nstanding.\n\nStill, this very obscurity was their safeguard and defence. Though\nsoon declared free by the fundamental law of the new confederacy,\npublic opinion, or rather popular prejudice, was against them, and for\nmany years after the achievement of our independence their numbers\nincreased with more steadiness than rapidity. Recruits came from all\nquarters. Attracted by the guarantees presented by the Constitution,\nCatholics of various nationalities hastened to place themselves under\nits protecting \u00e6gis. The hurricane of revolution which swept over\nFrance and the greater part of Europe, and reached even the West\nIndies, drove many pious priests and exemplary laymen to our shores.\nOn the north the French Canadian crossed the frontier, while as our\nsouthern boundaries were enlarged so as to embrace the valley of the\nLower Mississippi, the inhabitants of that large region, who were\nnearly all of one faith, helped materially to swell the Catholic\npopulation of the Union. At that period Ireland had not begun to pour\nin her myriads, but a small, steady stream of emigrants was setting in\nfrom other ports as soon as it was ascertained that the new nation of\nthe west had discarded the penal code of England when it had thrown\noff her authority.\n\nIn 1810 the Catholics within the limits of the United States were\nestimated at upwards of one hundred and fifty thousand, and the clergy\nnumbered eighty, or double the number reported in 1800. Twenty years\nafterwards the laity had increased to 450,000 and the clergy to 232.\nThe hierarchy, which only dated from 1789, at this time reckoned\nthirteen bishops.\n\nFrom 1830 may be dated the extraordinary growth in numbers, influence,\nand activity of the Catholic Church in this country. The tide of\nEuropean immigration, which has flowed on with undiminished volume\ntill within a year or two, then fairly began. Between that year and\n1840 over 300,000 arrivals were reported from Ireland, 58,000 from\nFrance, Spain, and other Catholic countries, and 150,000 from Germany,\na strong minority of whom may also be credited to the church. All\nthese accessions, added to the native-born and already adopted\nelement, brought the Catholic strength in the latter year to over one\nmillion, and swelled the ranks of the priesthood to 482, or one for\nevery 2,000 souls.\n\nSatisfactory as were these results, the next decade was destined to\nwitness an advance much more magnificent as to numerical strength, and\ninfinitely more salutary when we reflect on the quarter from which\nsome of that strength was drawn.\n\nThe Oxford movement, as it was called, had already spread\nconsternation among the Anglicans. Many of the ablest and most erudite\nscholars of Oxford University, wearied and dissatisfied with the\ncontradictions and pretensions of English Protestantism, had sought\npeace and rest in the bosom of the church. Their writings and example\nproduced a profound sensation wherever the English language was\nspoken, and nowhere a more decided one than in this country. Men who\nhad formerly exhibited nothing but contempt or indifference for\nCatholicity, and some even who had displayed a marked hostility to the\nfaith, eagerly read the works of such thinkers as Newman, and, as a\nconsequence, guided by Providence, abandoned their favorite heretical\nnotions and became reconciled to the church. This spirit of\ninvestigation and submission pervaded all classes, particularly the\nmore studious, conscientious, and influential. Judges, journalists,\nartists, authors, physicians, ministers, and doctors of divinity\nopenly declared their adhesion to the Catholic faith, and arrayed\nthemselves beside the contemned and obscure Irish immigrant and his\nchildren. Many of the ablest publicists of to-day, not a few of the\nmost energetic of the clergy, and at least one illustrious member of\nthe hierarchy are the fruits of this sympathetic movement which had\nits origin in the cloisters of the once Catholic university.\n\nAnother cause which helped to swell the Catholic census about the same\ntime was the annexation of Texas, which eventually led to the\nacquisition of New Mexico and California. The population of those\nTerritories could have scarcely numbered less than two hundred\nthousand, nearly all of whom were Catholics. By a strange coincidence\nthe sons of the Puritans, who claimed the land and the fulness thereof\nas theirs, were brought into the same fold and under the same\njurisdiction simultaneously with the native Mexican, whose ancestors\nwere Catholics before the keel of the _Mayflower_ was laid.\n\nGerman immigration, also, had assumed large proportions. From 1840 to\n1850 the arrivals were 440,000, of whom it may be safely said\none-fourth, or 110,000, were Catholics. This stalwart element sought\nwhat was then considered the far West-Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and the\nTerritories\u2014where to-day we find them and their descendants among the\nmost devoted children of the church.\n\nBut all these influences combined did not equal in effect that\nproduced by the tremendous exodus of the Irish people\u2014a spontaneous\nmovement of population unexampled in modern times. Though immigration\nfrom Ireland had steadily increased from the beginning of the century,\nit was only during the latter half of the decade of 1840-50 that it\nassumed its phenomenal proportions. Notwithstanding its political\nservitude, that remarkable island in 1845 presented the spectacle of a\npopulation as happy, moral, and law-abiding as any in Christendom. Her\npeople had increased from year to year in a ratio unknown to less\nvirtuous and more pampered lands. The voice of her great leader could\nat any time call together hundreds of thousands of her enthusiastic\nsons to listen to the story of their wrongs or to descant on the near\napproach of legislative independence, and dismiss them to their homes\nwith the promptitude of a general and the authority of a parent.\nFather Mathew, of blessed memory, had exorcised the demon of\nintemperance, and counted his followers by millions. Agrarian crime\nand faction fights, those twin children of misgovernment, were almost\nunknown, and the soil, as if in unison with the general spirit of\npeace and harmony, never put forth such an abundance of agricultural\nwealth. In one night, it may be said, a blight came over all those\nfond hopes and bright anticipations. The food upon which three-fourths\nof the people mainly subsisted was destroyed, and Famine, gaunt and\nlean, suddenly usurped the place of generous abundance.\n\nThe destruction of the potato crop of Ireland in 1846-7-8 was\nundoubtedly the act of an inscrutable Providence; the misery,\nsuffering, and wholesale sacrifice of human life which followed were\nthe work of man. At the worst times of the famine there was always\nmore than enough cattle and grain in the country to feed the entire\npopulation. Under a wise or just government a sufficiency of these\nwould have been retained to supply the primary wants of the people; as\nit was, they were exported and sold in foreign markets to satisfy that\nmost insensate and insatiable of all human beings, the Irish landlord.\n\nAppalled by the suddenness and extent of the calamity, the peasantry\nat first stood mute, and before assistance could reach them many\nhundreds had actually lain down and died of starvation. Then, when\npublic and private charity was exhausted; when pestilence was\nsuperadded to want, and all earthly succor seemed to have failed; when\nnothing but death or the poorhouse threatened even the best of the\nmiddle class, the people, with, it would appear, one accord, resolved\nto give up home and kindred, rushed like a broken and routed army to\nthe nearest sea-ports, and abandoned a country apparently doomed to\ndestruction. Many crossed to England and Scotland, others fled even to\nthe Antipodes, but the great mass looked to the United States as their\nhaven of refuge. Thenceforth every day witnessed the arrival of\ncrowded immigrant ships in our harbors, while the streets of our large\ncities were literally thronged with swarms of strange and emaciated\nfigures. From 1840 to 1850 over one million Irish immigrants arrived\nin the United States, one-fourth of whom landed at New York during the\nlast three years of that period.\n\nNever were a people less prepared to encounter the difficulties and\ndangers which necessarily beset strangers coming into a strange land\nand among a community so different from themselves in manners, habits,\nand methods of living. Unlike the Germans and other Europeans, who had\nhad leisure and means to organize emigration, the Irish of that\nmemorable epoch acted without concert and without forethought. They\nhad fled precipitately from worse than death, and brought with them\nlittle save the imperishable jewel of their faith. Fortunately, this\nproved to be for them even better than worldly store; it was their\nbond of unity and best solace in the hour of trial and disappointment\nwhich awaits most of those who come among us with exaggerated ideas of\nthe wealth and resources of this country. Numbers of those helpless\nstrangers paused upon the threshold of their new home, and helped\nmaterially to swell the already overcrowded population of the large\ntowns and cities; but very many, the majority perhaps, sought the\nmanufacturing villages of New England, the mineral regions of\nPennsylvania, and the Western prairies.\n\nThen began in earnest the labors of the resident priesthood, which,\nthough reinforced by numbers of their brethren from abroad, were still\nhardly equal to the herculean task of providing for the spiritual\nwants of so vast a mass of people scattered in every direction. Some\nmeans, however, had to be found to reach and minister to those\nfaithful though helpless outcasts; some roof under which the holy\nsacrifice of the Mass might be occasionally offered up and the\nessential sacraments of the church administered. The churches already\nbuilt scarcely sufficed for the Catholics settled in the country, yet\nhere was a new congregation arriving in every ship. In the large\ncentres of population the difficulty was not so great; for with the\nincrease of priests the number of Masses said in each church was\nmultiplied, while the sick and the penitent seldom went unattended or\nunshriven. In the smaller towns and remote settlements the case was\nfar different. Private houses, \u201cshanties,\u201d barns, ball-rooms,\ncourt-houses, lecture-halls, markets, and even sectarian\nmeeting-houses were brought into requisition. Yet, with all these\nappliances, there were hundreds of small, isolated congregations who\nseldom were enabled to hear Mass oftener than once a month, and in\nmany cases less often, one priest having to attend four or five such\nmissions in rotation.\n\nBut the clergy had other and scarcely less sacred duties to perform.\nSuch heterogeneous masses of humanity huddled together for weeks in\nthe foul holds of rotten emigrant vessels, where was germinated the\nseeds of disease sown by famine and pestilence, could not but bring\ninfection to our shores. From Gros Isle in the St. Lawrence, and along\nthe Atlantic seaboard to New Orleans, the deadly ship-fever polluted\nthe atmosphere, and hundreds who, flying from starvation, had braved\nthe dangers of the ocean, found that they had endured those hardships\nonly to die within sight of the promised land. One prelate and several\nheroic priests fell victims to the dire pestilence, but others were\nfound equally zealous, not only to soothe the last moments of the\ndying with the consolations of religion, but to comfort and care for\nthe helpless survivors.\n\nAt the beginning of the second half of the century we find the\nCatholic population of the country estimated at two and a quarter\nmillions, the clergy at eighteen hundred, or one to every thirteen\nhundred of the laity, while the number of dioceses had increased to\nthirty-three.\n\nHad immigration entirely ceased at that time, and the growth of the\nCatholic population been limited to its natural increase, the labors\nof the priesthood in ministering to the spiritual wants of so large\nand scattered a body would have more than taxed the energies of a less\ndevoted class of men; while the pecuniary resources of the laity,\nalways so generously expended in the building of churches and asylums,\ncould have to a certain extent borne the unusual draft on their means\nwhich the exigencies of the times demanded. But it did not cease. On\nthe contrary, it continued for many years with augmented volume. The\ncauses which had impelled such vast multitudes to renounce home and\ncountry for ever were still active. From 1850 to 1860 the immigration\nfrom Europe was reported as follows:\n\n From Germany, 950,000; \u00bc Catholic, 237,000[159]\n From France and other Catholic countries,\n 105,000; \u00be Catholic, 78,750\n From Ireland, 1,088,000; 9/10 Catholic, 979,200\n ---------\n Total in ten years, 1,294,950\n\nThus another million and a quarter were added to the church in\nAmerica, making a grand total at the end of this decade of four and a\nhalf millions of souls under the charge of 2,235 priests, or one for\nevery 2,000 persons. Thus we see that, though the priesthood had\nreceived an accession of 435 members in ten years, the labors of each\nindividual had been almost doubled.\n\nIncredible as these figures may seem, the next decade showed little\ndiminution in amount. From 1860 to 1870 the Catholic immigration,\ncalculating on the above basis, may be set down as follows:\n\n From Germany, 268,000\n \u201c France, etc., 51,000\n \u201c Ireland, 841,000\n --------\n Total in ten years, 1,160,000\n\nIf to this reinforcement be added those who have come among us since\n1870, we find that the past fifteen years have increased the Catholic\ncensus by about one and a half millions from abroad, and materially\nhelped to bring it up to what, on the best authority, it is said to be\nin this year of grace, 1876\u2014seven millions, or about one-sixth of the\nentire population.\n\nFortunately for the interests of religion, the increase in the number\nof priests kept pace with the wonderful augmentation of the laity. In\n1785 there was one priest to every 1,000 laymen; in 1808, one to every\n1,500; in 1830, one to every 1,900; in 1840, one to 2,000; 1850, one\nto 1,200; 1860, one to 2,000; and in 1875, one to every 1,300, or\n5,074 priests of all ranks.\n\nYet, numerous as had been the accessions to the priesthood in those\nyears, the duties and responsibilities of the clerical order increased\nin greater proportion. The millions of strangers who had sought homes\namong us, while they preserved their faith and brought with them the\ngrand moral lessons learned in the Old World, could not bring their\nchurches, schools, and asylums. These had to be provided here, and the\nAmerican priest thus became from necessity a builder and a financier,\nas well as a teacher and instructor of his people. When the abnormal\nIrish immigration began in 1847, we had but 812 churches, several of\nwhich were small frame buildings, hastily constructed and totally\ninadequate to the wants even of those who erected them. Many of those\nhave since been pulled down, reconstructed, or rebuilt, and replaced\nby substantial brick or stone edifices. This in itself was a work of\nconsiderable merit; but when we reflect that since then no less than\nfour thousand three hundred new churches have been added to this\nnumber, we are lost in astonishment at the magnitude of the work\nperformed in so short a space of time. Nor are those modern buildings\ngenerally of that rude and fragile class which were so common fifty\nyears ago, but, on the contrary, most of them are excellent specimens\nof solid masonry and architectural skill. The noble cathedrals\nespecially which adorn Baltimore, Albany, Buffalo, Philadelphia,\nPittsburg, Cincinnati, Boston, and other sees, are models of design,\ndurability, and grandeur of which any country or age might be proud.\nThe same may be said, but with greater emphasis, of the Cathedral of\nSt. Patrick now nearly completed in New York\u2014that grand epic in\nmarble, from the tall spire of which the glittering emblem of our\nsalvation is destined at no far distant day to shine down upon a\nmillion faithful followers of the cross.\n\nThus it may be well said that the past quarter of a century was the\nera of church-building as well as of increase. But the vast energy so\ndisplayed was not employed solely in one direction. While thousands of\ntemples have arisen to the honor and glory of God, his afflicted\ncreatures, the sick, unfortunate, and helpless; the foundling infant\nand decrepit grandsire; the orphan bereft of its natural protectors,\nand the worse than orphaned\u2014the pariah of her sex\u2014all have been cared\nfor, fed, clothed, consoled, and housed. Eighty-seven hospitals and\ntwo hundred and twenty asylums of various kinds attest the practical\ncharity and active benevolence of the Catholics of America.\n\nIt was formerly said that the Catholic Church could not prosper under\na free government; that it needed the help of kingcraft and despotic\nlaws to enforce its decrees and sustain its authority. We have proved\nthe fallacy of this calumny pretty thoroughly\u2014so conclusively, indeed,\nas to excite real or pretended alarm among bigots of all sects and of\nno sect at all. No people are more at home and thrive better in all\nrespects in this land of liberty than Catholics.\n\nIt has also been asserted that we are the enemies of enlightenment.\nOur hundreds of convents and academies, and thousands of parochial\nschools, might be considered a sufficient answer to this falsehood.\nBut, in the providence of God, the time has come when we are called\nupon to take a further step and demonstrate that in the domain of the\nhighest intellectual studies we are a match for the best of our\nopponents.\n\nWe have no means of ascertaining the exact number of schoolhouses\nwhich have been built during this period; probably one thousand would\nnot be too high an estimate, and we are inclined to think that there\nare even more. In the large cities most of the churches have a\nbuilding for educational purposes attached; in the rural districts the\nbasement is generally used. There are also a number of what are called\ncharity schools, generally under the charge of some of the teaching\norders, of which New York alone boasts twenty-four, erected at a cost\nof four million dollars. There are six hundred and forty academies and\nselect schools for females, with an average attendance of sixty\nthousand pupils, for whose accommodation, as well as for the nuns and\nsisters who watch over them, an equal number of buildings, some very\nextensive and costly, have been provided.\n\nThough our seminaries and colleges do not show a proportionate ratio\nof increase, either in numbers or attendance, the result, if taken by\nitself, is highly satisfactory. In the last century only two of them\nexisted in the United States; up to 1850 ten more were added; in 1874\nwe had eighteen theological seminaries, attended by 1,375 students,\nand sixty-eight colleges with over ten thousand pupils and about six\nhundred professors and teachers.\n\nWith all this it must be confessed that, as far as human knowledge is\nconcerned, the Catholics of the United States are as a body behind\ntheir non-Catholic fellow-citizens. We acknowledge this inferiority,\nand can satisfactorily account for it. Under the peculiar difficulties\nof our position it became a matter of primary necessity that our\nco-religionists should first have churches wherein to worship God,\nasylums and hospitals to shelter and succor the weak and afflicted,\nand free schools for the training of the children of the poor, whose\nfaith and morals were endangered by the plan of instruction pursued in\nthe schools of the state. But now that all these wants have been\nsupplied as far as practicable, and that we may safely confide to\nposterity the task of completing the work already so far advanced, our\nnext duty plainly is to provide for the generation growing up around\nus facilities for a higher and more thorough system of education than\nhas yet been attempted in our colleges and academies, equal in all\nrespects, if not superior, to that so liberally afforded by the\nsectarian and secular seats of learning which so plentifully\nbesprinkle the land.\n\nRemembering what has been already wrought by the zeal and unswerving\nperseverance of the Catholic body in other directions in the past, we\nshould look forward with undiminished courage and confidence to the\nfuture. If with a disorganized, unsettled people like ours, generally\npoor in the world\u2019s goods, and with never-ending personal demands on\ntheir limited resources, we have been able to build and maintain so\nmany churches, institutions, convents, and schools in so short a time,\nwhat may not be expected from the same class, now that they are\nregularly domiciled, and a portion, at least, of the wealth that ever\nrewards industry and application is fast becoming theirs?\n\nWhat is wanted in the first instance, in order to give tone and\ndirection to the young Catholic mind, is a Catholic national\nuniversity, one on a scale comprehensive enough to include the study\nof all branches of secular knowledge\u2014law, physics, medicine,\nlanguages, art, science, literature, and political economy. Such an\ninstitution, properly founded and conducted, would find no lack of\npublic patronage. We are satisfied that American parents, whether the\ndescendants of the old Catholic settlers or those who have embraced\nthe faith in later years, instead of sending their sons to Yale or\nHarvard, to France or Germany, would much prefer to have them educated\nat home in a university where their religion would be neither a scoff\nnor an obstacle in the way of their preferment, and where they would\ngrow up American citizens, in fact as well as in name. The German\nelement, also, which constitutes so large a portion of the Catholics\nof the West, would find in it an adequate substitute for those\ncelebrated homes of learning they left behind in Fatherland, and,\nunder its fostering care, would continue to develop that spirit of\nprofound thought and critical investigation so characteristic of the\nTeutonic genius.\n\nBut the Irish and their descendants, who will long continue to form\nthe majority of the Catholic population of this republic, would derive\nmost benefit from such an establishment. That subtle Celtic intellect,\nso acute yet so versatile; fully capable of grappling with the most\ndifficult problems of human existence and social responsibility, yet\nso replete with poetry, romance, and enthusiasm; so long repressed,\nyet never dimmed, would, we feel assured, spring into life and\nactivity beyond the conception of most men, were such an opportunity\npresented. In the three centuries following the conversion of the\nIrish their schools were unsurpassed throughout Christendom in extent,\nnumbers, and attendance. The whole island, in fact, seemed to be\nturned into one vast reservoir of learning, from which flowed\nperennial streams of Christian knowledge over the then sterile wastes\nof semi-civilized Europe. The number of missionaries and teachers\nwhich Ireland produced in that most brilliant epoch of her history is\nalmost incredible, and her zeal and energy in the dissemination of\nCatholic doctrine, even in the most remote parts of the Continent,\nbecame proverbial.\n\nCivil wars, long, bloody, and desolating, destroyed her institutions\nand scattered her libraries, while penal laws of preternatural\ningenuity and cruelty completed the work of desolation by denying her\neven the commonest rudiments of instruction. But as she kept the faith\npure and undefiled throughout the long night of slavery, so she has\npreserved the moral tone and vigor of thought which ever follow a\nstrict observance of the divine code. One generation alone, removed\nfrom the barriers and devices of the oppressor, has been enough to\nshow that, in mind as well as in body, the Irish race is at least the\nequal of even the most favored nations of the globe. In the strength\nof pure religious conviction lies the greatness of a people.\n\nPerhaps now is the most fitting time for the beginning of a work such\nas we have endeavored briefly to intimate. From all appearances the\nflood of immigration which, for twenty or thirty years, has flowed so\nsteadily yet strongly, is fast receding into its former narrow\nchannels. We shall have still, we trust, many foreign Catholics coming\namong us each year to help to develop the resources of our immense\ncountry, and to find peace and freedom under our Constitution; but we\nneed not expect, during this century at least, such an influx as was\nprecipitated upon us by the dreadful Irish famine. The Catholic\npopulation henceforth will present a more stable and homogeneous\ncharacter, and will have more leisure to devote a portion of its\nwealth and energy to purposes other than erecting buildings and\nproviding for the necessities of homeless and churchless millions.\nChurches and charitable institutions will, of course, continue to be\nbuilt to meet the wants of our ever-increasing numbers, but their\naugmentation, being the result of a normal growth, will be more\ngradual and natural. We will, in other words, have more time to devote\nto education and the cultivation of the refinements and\naccomplishments of life, without in any wise neglecting the primary\nduties of Christians.\n\nWe have had our epochs of immigration and church-building, of\nextraordinary growth in popular education and incredible effort to\nsupply the wants of the poor and friendless. We are now entering upon\nan era of mental culture, higher, more elaborate, and more general in\nits application than it was possible, or even desirable, to initiate\namid the distractions and occupations of the busy past. But, ardent as\nis our desire to see such an important step taken in a direction which\nwe feel would lead to certain success, we only look on it as a means\nto definite and ennobling ends, and not as the end itself. Mere mental\ntraining, dissociated from moral tuition and habits of manly thought\nand action, would be worse than useless; it would be dangerous alike\nto the student, to society, and to the cause of morality and religion.\nTo develop the intellect merely at the expense of those greater\nattributes of the soul in the proper cultivation of which consists the\nreal ostensible difference between man and the brute creation, would\nbe to multiply infinitely the number of educated imbeciles of which\nthe world has already too many.\n\nIt cannot be denied that the object of all education ought to be\ntruth, a knowledge of God and of his works, that in the study of them\nwe may learn to love and worship his holy name. Though the custodians\nof the divine gift of Pentecost are few, as children of the church we\nmay all become sharers in the ineffable benefaction conferred on the\napostles. Truth is one and indivisible, It is found not only in the\ndoctrines and discipline of the church, but in every department of\nlife\u2014in every pursuit, study, and calling incidental to the existence\nof accountable beings. The nearer we come to the apprehension of this\ntruth, the more we are disposed to seek and treasure it when found, no\nmatter in what sphere of life our lot may be cast.\n\nUnfortunately for religion and civilization, the last three centuries\nhave been remarkable more for confusion of ideas on this important\nsubject, and utter perversion of the natural laws, than any other\nperiod in the whole Christian era. The war engendered by the\nProtestant Reformation, the atheistic philosophy of the\nEncyclopedists, the destructive dogmas of the secret societies, and,\nin our own day, the gross materialism of the new school of scientists,\nhave so clouded and bewildered, so perverted and debased, the human\nunderstanding that the world has come to look upon mere brilliancy of\ndiction, novelty of opinion, and audacity of assertion as the highest\nevidences of intellectual superiority. Modern Europe, from end to end,\nis the victim of this lamentable delusion, and our own otherwise\nfavored country is rapidly falling under its malign influence. Shall\nthis foul plague be allowed to enshroud us all, and blight with its\ndeadly breath the future of our young republic?\n\nIf such is to be the case, we may read our fate in the past decadence\nof the most enlightened nations of the Old World. From the outbreak of\nthe Protestant Reformation they have gone steadily, almost blindly\ndownwards, until, as to-day we see, they have ended in blank\ninfidelity. The favored intellectual lights of the last three\ncenturies in Protestant Europe have been men without faith and without\nconscience, who, with the help of Protestant governments, have sapped\nand undermined and utterly destroyed even the remnants of the faith in\nChristianity and a divine Creator of this world that still lingered\nhere and there about the old homes of Christian learning; and\nliterature may be said to have been given over to the service of the\nenemies of Christ and of his church.\n\nIf we contemplate the condition of modern art, we witness degeneracy\nalmost as lamentable. Men wonder that no great sculptors and painters\nhave arisen since the Italian, Spanish, and Flemish schools of the\nmiddle ages ceased to exist. Since then we have had artists who draw\nas well as, and who understood anatomy better than, the best of the\nold masters; but the inspiration, the spirit that made the figure on\nthe canvas seem to live, is wanting.\n\nThe best of our modern painters are but copyists of nature, of\nlandscape, man, or animals. They display no creative power; they are\nincapable of producing anything original, anything like the least of\nthose historic pieces, those almost superhuman groups, which\nillustrate in a thousand varieties the incidents in the earthly career\nof our Redeemer and his holy Mother. Why? Because the mind must first\nbe able to conceive in all its integrity and beauty what the hand is\ndesigned to execute. No matter how exact the eye or how deft the\ntouch, if the imagination be not purified by religion and guided by\ntruth, it is vain to attempt to represent on canvas or in marble pure,\nexalted types of excellence of which we are incapable of forming\nwithin ourselves more than an indefinite conception.\n\nIt is thus that the Reformers in England, Germany, and the north of\nEurope, and the Revolutionists in France and the southern part of the\nContinent, conspired to paralyze, what they could not wholly\nannihilate, that splendid fabric of Christian thought and genius\nreared by the church after many centuries of toil and anxiety. In this\nhemisphere we have suffered from the same malign causes, but our\naffection is more accidental and sympathetic than chronic. There is\nnothing in the mental condition of this new and cosmopolitan people to\ndiscourage or repel the efforts of those who would earnestly strive\nafter a higher, purer, and more Christian mental development. But such\nefforts, to be successful, must be made within the bosom of the\nchurch. The Protestant sects are incapable of any combined movement in\nthat direction; for they have neither unity of action or thought, nor\na common standard by which to measure mental excellence and moral\nsoundness. Clearly the change must originate in the Catholic body.\n\nWhen we assert this we are well aware of the magnitude of the work to\nbe accomplished and the apparent paucity of the laborers to execute\nit. But our confidence in the future is sustained by experience.\nWhoever would have said at the beginning of this century that this\nhundredth year of our independence would find the Catholics of the\nUnited States counted by millions, and their priests, churches, and\nschools by thousands, would have been looked upon as a dreamer or a\nrash enthusiast. Who shall say what the beginning of the next century\nmay not be destined to usher in?\n\nAs the church is the divinely-commissioned teacher of the world, we\ndesire to see our young Catholic men, the flower of her children,\nwhether they be destined for the liberal professions or otherwise,\nsent forth into society armed at all points, prepared not only to\nsustain and defend the faith that is in them, but to demonstrate in\ntheir own persons and by their individual conduct how infinitely\nsuperior is secular knowledge even when based on eternal truth, to the\nvague theories and absurd speculations of those who foolishly seek to\nfathom the designs and comprehend the laws of God while denying the\nvery existence of the Creator of all things.\n\nAny system of education which falls short of this would be worse than\nnone at all. To confer a degree on a student, and allow him to enter\nthe world with the _\u00e9clat_ of a university course to give his opinions\na certain intellectual character, without qualifying him to uphold the\nhonor of his _Alma Mater_ and the integrity of his creed, would of\ncourse be an act of egregious folly. As well might we uniform a\nsoldier and send him into action without arms, or entrust our lives\nand liberties to the keeping of a statesman of whose loyalty and\nfidelity we were not fully assured.\n\nYears ago it was confidently asserted by a prominent dissenting\nminister of this city that the United States would eventually become\nthe battle-field upon which the contest for permanent supremacy\nbetween Protestantism and Catholicity would be waged. We agreed with\nhis views then, and everything that has happened in the religious\nworld since confirms the sagacity of the remark. We desire nothing\nbetter than that this struggle, if it have to come, shall take place\nhere, where both parties are equally free and well matched, though\neach has peculiar advantages not enjoyed by the other. The sects, on\ntheir side, have numbers, wealth, social position, political\ninfluence, and possession not only of the public schools and\ninstitutions of the state, but of all the old colleges and\nuniversities. On the other hand, the church in America has all the\nenergy, hopefulness, and enthusiasm of youth united to the mature\njudgment of advanced years; thorough unanimity; and, above and beyond\nall, a creed and a doctrine founded on eternal truth, fortified by\ntradition, upheld by divine assistance, and guarded by an infallible\nauthority. The impending conflict will not be one of arms nor of\nwords, but of works and brains; and as the superiority of our\nopponents is material, not spiritual, it is not difficult to foresee\nto which side victory would incline.\n\nSince rebellion against God\u2019s law first raised its crest at Worms in\n1521, the church has never had so favorable an opportunity of exposing\nthe hollowness, rottenness, and insincerity of the leaders of dissent\nin all its forms as that presented in this country and generation. In\nolder nations where Protestantism still flourishes it is as the mere\ntool of the state, the plaything of royalty, without the support of\nwhich it could not subsist. Supposing the British Parliament, in the\nplenitude of its power, should disestablish the Anglican Church,\nconfiscate its property, and imprison its prelates, as Bismarck has\ndone to the Catholics of Germany; how long would that luxurious\nEstablishment remain in existence? The same may be said of Lutheranism\nin Prussia and Calvinism in other parts of Europe. They are of the\nearth, earthy, and require the aid of the temporal arm to protect them\nagainst their more logical though more destructive offshoots, the\nfree-thinkers and revolutionists. Here, on the contrary, though the\nsects have through their politico-religious combinations an undue\ninfluence in public affairs, they have no appreciable direct state\npatronage, and must stand or fall by their own merits.\n\nNow, it is well known and pretty generally acknowledged that sooner or\nlater the Catholic Church has always suffered from its connection with\nthe state, even when the alliance seemed to be more than favorable to\nher. From the very nature of her organization she cannot long be made\nan instrument of despotism or of selfish ambition. In non-Catholic\ncountries she has generally been persecuted and proscribed: in others\nshe has been as often the victim of impertinent interference and\ninjudicious patronage on the part of temporal rulers. In none has she\nbeen free to carry out her divine mission; and, sad to relate but true\nnevertheless, on all the broad and fair earth the only spot where the\nchurch of Christ may be said to be unshackled and disenthralled is\nthis young republic of the West.\n\nThis fact is in itself a great gain for us in view of the opposition\nwe may expect in the time to come; but there are others which, though\nless apparent, are well worthy of consideration. Few persons who have\nnot devoted special attention to the matter can form an estimate of\nthe radical change which has been taking place, gradually but surely,\nin the American mind regarding Catholicity. Fifty years ago there were\nhundreds of towns and villages where the professors of our faith, few\nand obscure, were looked upon with downright contempt, while a\nCatholic priest, because unknown, was regarded as little less than a\nmonster of iniquity. This gross prejudice, the result more of\nignorance than badness of heart, was stimulated and fostered by local\nministers and itinerant preachers, who, having neither fixed\nprinciples in religion nor definite notions of right and wrong upon\nwhich to descant, have been too much in the habit of entertaining\ntheir hearers with denunciations of the church and her priesthood. In\nnearly all those places where formerly so little was known about our\nfaith are now to be found substantial churches, large and respectable\ncongregations, zealous and respected priests, and perhaps one or more\neducational and charitable institutions.\n\nThe rural American, who, with all his deficiencies, is usually a\nfair-minded and reflective man, being thus brought face to face with\nthe things he had been taught to loath, begins to feel the mists of\nprejudice lifted from his judgment, and ends by respecting the\ndevotion and unaffected piety of those he lately contemned. Many other\ncauses have likewise contributed to this desirable revolution in\npopular feeling, such as the annual visit of so many of our wealthy\nand influential citizens to Europe, where the ancient splendor of the\nchurch may be seen in all its perfection; while the conduct of the\ndissenting ministers, their perpetual quarrels among themselves, and\nthe open disregard shown by them in so many instances for public\ndecency, have disgusted many of their most attached followers, and set\nthem groping after truth and spiritual rest in the direction of the\nchurch.\n\nIt may now be justly said that bigotry of the former malignant type\nwhich affected all classes can at present only be found among the\nlowest and most ignorant, and that Protestants of a higher grade in\nsociety, convinced of their errors, have gracefully abandoned them. So\nfar have they advanced in charity that they are now willing to admit\nthat Catholics may be good citizens, agreeable neighbors, and honest\ndealers; but still they cannot be persuaded but that mentally, if not\nmorally, they are inferior in natural capacity and acquired\ninformation to their own co-religionists. There only remains one thing\nmore to be done to make persons who think thus sincere friends and\npossible allies, and that is to demonstrate to their satisfaction that\nthere is nothing in the teachings or practices of our religion tending\nto dwarf the intellect or weaken the understanding; but, on the\ncontrary, that the more closely we assimilate human knowledge to the\nrevealed law of God as expounded by the church, and the more we are\ngoverned by the rules which she has laid down for our mental conduct,\nthe better qualified we become to stand in the front rank of the\nhighest social and intellectual movements of the age. This\naccomplished, as we fondly hope it soon will be, the future destiny of\nour half-converted brethren lies in the hands of a power superior to\nthat of man.\n\nEvery indication of the popular desire for such an educational\nestablishment as we have foreshadowed points out the present as the\nmost propitious time for its foundation. By and by it may be too late.\nThe national character of our people, though not yet definitely\nformed, is fast crystallizing, and whatever impress is made on it now\nwill be defined and permanent. We do not aim to distort or subdue the\nintellect of our young men, but to captivate and to cultivate it by\nholding up for its ambition the noblest of careers\u2014the pursuit of\nvirtue and the study of the great truths of religion and of nature. We\nwould make, if we could, the Catholic laymen of the next generation,\neach in his own sphere, leaders in a new crusade against error, not\nthrough the use of force or legal compulsion, but by the greater\npurity of their lives and the superiority of their genius.\n\nHerein lies the great future of the Catholic layman. Never before did\nsuch a career open before him. His sires of past ages met the infidel\nwith sword and spear and the weapons of the flesh, and beat him back\nfrom the then hallowed soil of Christendom. To-day he faces a subtler,\nfiercer, and more resolute infidel than the Turk. As the flower of the\nTurkish hordes was composed of the janissaries, the perverted children\nof Christian parents, so to-day the standard-bearers of infidelity are\nthe lost children of the cross. The weapons with which this new\ncrusade is to be fought out are the moral and intellectual forces.\nEvery portion of the civilized world is a battle-field. All must not\nbe left to the pulpit, the confessional, the priest. The layman moves\nwhere the priest never penetrates, where the confessional is unknown,\nthe pulpit mocked. Let him bear his faith with him, and its influence\nwill tell. Let his wit be keener, his temper cooler, his knowledge\nwider and deeper than that of his foe, and infidelity, that brawls\nto-day with braggart tongue, will soon learn, if not to repent, at\nleast to dread an encounter where there can be no doubt as to the\nissue.\n\nWe cannot have a healthy Catholic literature and a correct standard of\npublic taste without lay aid any more than we can fill our colleges,\nschools of art and science, conservatories and gymnasiums, without\nsuch cordial assistance. Catholic laymen have to a great extent the\ndestiny of their children and of the church in America in their\nkeeping; and as their responsibility is heavy, so will be their reward\nor condemnation signal, according as they use or abuse the trust\nreposed in them by an all-wise Providence.\n\nSo far they have shown every indication of a willingness to make all\npossible sacrifices for the education of their children, and a\nreasonable desire to encourage Catholic literature, much more so than\nthose can appreciate who do not know our country and the peculiar\ndifficulties we have had to overcome. Some of our foreign\ncontemporaries, in England especially, are in the habit once in a\nwhile of drawing pleasing distinctions between the state of Catholic\nliterature abroad and in this country. In this comparison we naturally\nappear to no very great advantage. We are frequently reminded of the\nlamentable condition of things that compels us to draw on foreign\nsources for our literary stores, while it is hinted that it is almost\ntime we looked to ourselves for intellectual support. All this, of\ncourse, we take placidly enough, while thoroughly understanding the\nspirit that gives rise to it. We are proud to concede the superiority\nof the great body of English and other Catholic writers who have done\nsuch service to the church and conferred such honor on the Catholic\nname. Still, we do not feel so utterly hopeless of future success in\nthis line, nor even despondent as to the degree of success to which we\nhave already attained. And considering the means at our disposal,\nglancing back at the century behind us and its fruits, the 25,000\nswelled to 7,000,000, the solitary bishop to a great hierarchy, the\nfew scattered priests to a valiant army, the little out-of-the-way\nchapels to a multitude of massive churches and towering cathedrals,\nthe communities of religious of both sexes, the asylums for the waifs\nand strays, the deserted and sorrowing, the maimed, the halt, and the\nblind of the world\u2014glancing at all this, we are in a fair position to\nsay to literary critics: Gentlemen, thus far our hands have been\npretty full. We grant you all the culture you please; may it increase\na hundred-fold! We have not had much time to sit down and study. From\nthe beginning we have been in the thick of a fierce fight. Peace is at\nlast coming; the smoke of battle is clearing away; the heavens are\nopening and smiling above us. Our dead are buried; our wounded are\ngathered in; the prisoners taken from us are being sullenly but surely\nreturned; our frontier is guarded and respected. Now we turn to the\narts of peace. All that has been accomplished thus far has been done\nwithout any abundance of fine writing. This has been mainly the work\nof our faithful Catholic laity under the guidance of a loyal clergy\nand episcopacy. To that same laity we look for greater triumphs to\ncome.\n\nAs a people we have no long line of princes and statesmen to defend,\nno schism to apologize for, no national outrages against God\u2019s church\nto explain away or palliate. We have every confidence in the Catholics\nof this country to accomplish, under Providence, whatever they\nundertake for the benefit of religion and the spread of Christian\nenlightenment. The future of America is for us. While the professors\nof the sectarian creeds, in their efforts to force on the public and\non each other their peculiar views, have reached their climax and are\ndescending into the depths of nihilism and refined paganism, the\nchurch in this republic enjoys the pristine vigor of youth and an\nunexampled unanimity both in spirit and in action. In her organization\nthere is a vast amount of latent force yet undeveloped, a mine of\nintellectual wealth that awaits but the master hand of the explorer to\nbring it to the surface. Great indeed will be the reward, high the\nfame, of him who will help us to utilize this unsuspected and unused\ntreasure.\n\n\n [159] The figures showing the gross immigration are taken\n from official returns, mainly from the _Reports of the\n Bureau of Statistics on the Commerce and Navigation of\n the U.S._; the _Reports of the Commissioners of\n Emigration_, New York; and _Thom\u2019s Irish Almanac and\n Official Directory_, Dublin. The approximate number of\n Catholics is our own calculation. Though the\n population of Germany is more than one-third Catholic,\n we consider it safer to set down the proportion of\n Catholic emigrants from that country at one-fourth of\n the whole. When the famine began in Ireland,\n ninety-two per cent. of the population was Catholic;\n and as it was from this portion that our immigration\n has since been principally drawn, ninety per cent. is\n not considered too much to credit to Catholicity.\n\n\n\n\nTHE LIFE AND WORK OF MADAME BARAT.[160]\n\n\nMadeleine-Louise-Sophie Barat was born on the 12th of December, 1779,\nin the little village of Joigny, in Burgundy. Her father was a cooper\nand the owner of a small vineyard, a very worthy and sensible man and\nan excellent Christian. Her mother was remarkably intelligent and\nquite well educated, far superior in personal character to her humble\nstation, very religious, and endowed with an exquisite sensibility of\ntemperament, controlled by a solid virtue which made her worthy to be\nthe mother of two such children as her son Louis and her daughter\nSophie. The birth of Sophie, who was the youngest of her three\nchildren, was hastened, and her own life endangered, by the fright\nwhich she suffered from a fire very near her house during the night of\nthe 12th of December. The little Sophie was so frail and feeble at her\nbirth that her baptism was hurried as much as possible, and the tenure\nof her life was very fragile during infancy. As a child she was\ndiminutive and delicate, but precocious, quick-witted, and very\nplayful. The parish priest used to put her upon a stool at catechism,\nthat the little fairy might be better seen and heard; and at her first\ncommunion she was rejected by the vicar as too small to know what she\nwas about to do, but triumphantly vindicated in a thorough examination\nby _M. le Cur\u00e9_, and allowed to receive the most Holy Sacrament. She\nwas then ten years old, and it was the dreadful year 1789. Until this\ntime she had been her mother\u2019s constant companion in the vineyard,\noccupied with light work and play, and learning by intuition, without\nmuch effort of study. At this time her brother Louis, an\necclesiastical student eleven years older than herself, was obliged to\nremain at home for a time, and, being very much struck with the noble\nand charming qualities which he discerned in his little sister, he\ndevoted himself with singular veneration, assiduity, and tenderness to\nthe work of her education. This episode in the history of two great\nservants of God, one of whom was an apostle, the other the St. Teresa\nof her century, is unique in its beauty.\n\nThe vocation of the sister dated from her infancy, and was announced\nin prophetic dreams, which she related with childish _na\u00efvet\u00e9_ like\nthe little Joseph, foretelling that she was destined to be a great\nqueen. When Sophie was eight years old, Suzanne Geoffroy\u2014who was then\ntwenty-six, and who entered the Society of the Sacred Heart twenty-one\nyears afterwards, in which she held the offices of superior at Niort\nand Lyons, and of assistant general\u2014was seeking her vocation. Her\ndirector told her to wait for the institution of a new order whose\nfuture foundress was still occupied in taking care of her dolls.\n\nLouis Barat divined obscurely the extraordinary designs of Almighty\nGod in regard to his little sister, and, faithful to the divine\nimpulse, he made the education and formation of her mind and character\nthe principal work of the next ten years of his life\u2014a work certainly\nthe best and most advantageous to the church of all the good works of\na career full of apostolic labors. He was a poet, a mathematician,\nwell versed in several languages and in natural science, very kind and\nloving to his little sister, but inflexibly strict in his discipline,\nand in some things too severe, especially in his spiritual direction.\nIn a small attic chamber of his father\u2019s cottage he established the\nnovitiate and school composed of little Sophie Barat as novice and\nscholar, with brother Louis as the master. The preparatory studies\nwere soon absolved by his apt pupil, and succeeded by a course of\nhigher instruction, embracing Latin, Greek, Italian, and Spanish.\nSophie was particularly enchanted with Virgil, and even able to\ntranslate and appreciate Homer. The mother grumbled at this seemingly\nuseless education, but the uneducated father was delighted, and the\nwill of Louis made the law for the household. During seventeen months\nhe was in the prisons of Paris, saved from the guillotine only by the\nconnivance of his former schoolmaster, who was a clerk in the prison\ndepartment, and released by the fall of Robespierre. Sophie went on\nbravely by herself during this time, and continued her life of study\nand prayer in the attic, consoling her father and mother, who idolized\nher, during those dreadful days, and persevered in the same course\nafter her brother\u2019s release and ordination, under his direction, until\nshe was sixteen. At this period her brother, who had taken up his\nabode in Paris, determined to take his sister to live with himself and\ncomplete her education. Father, mother, and daughter alike resisted\nthis determination, until the stronger will of the young priest\novercame, with some delay and difficulty, their opposition, and the\nweeping little Sophie was carried off in the coach to Paris, to live\nin the humble house of Father Louis, and, in conjunction with her\ndomestic labors, to study the sciences, the Holy Scriptures in the\nLatin Vulgate, and the fathers and doctors of the church. She had\nseveral companions, and the little group was thus formed and trained,\nnot only in knowledge but in the most austere religious virtues and\npractices, under the hand of their kind but stern master, for more\nthan four years. During the vintage Sophie was allowed to take a short\nvacation at home, of which she availed herself gladly; for she was\nstill a gay and playful girl, submitting with cheerful courage to her\nbrother\u2019s severe discipline, yet not without a conflict or without\nsome secret tears. She was a timid little creature, and the\ninjudicious severity of her brother\u2019s direction made her scrupulous.\nOften she was afraid to receive communion; but she was obedient, and\nwhen her brother would call her from the altar of their little chapel,\nsaying, \u201cCome here, Sophie, and receive communion,\u201d she would go up\ntrembling and do as she was bidden. Her great desire was to become a\nlay sister among the Carmelites, and her companions were also waiting\nthe opportunity to enter some religious order. Father Barat did not\ndoubt her religious vocation, but he wanted to find out more precisely\nhow it could be fulfilled. Her divine Spouse was himself preparing her\nfor the exalted destination of a foundress and spiritual mother in his\nchurch; and when she had attained her twentieth year, this vocation\nwas made known to her and accepted with a docility like that of the\nBlessed Virgin Mary to the angel\u2019s message.\n\nThe history of the origin of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus\nrequires us to go back some years and relate some events which\nprepared the way for it. Four young priests, L\u00e9onor and Xavier de\nTourn\u00e9ly, Pierre Charles Leblanc, and Charles de Broglie, had formed a\nsociety under the name of the Sacred Heart, intended as a nucleus for\nthe re-establishment of the Society of Jesus. The superior was Father\nL\u00e9onor de Tourn\u00e9ly, a young man of angelic sanctity, and a favorite\npupil of the saintly Sulpician, M. l\u2019Abb\u00e9 Emery. This young priest\nreceived an inspiration to form a congregation of women specially\ndevoted to the propagation of the devotion of the Sacred Heart and the\nhigher education of girls. The first woman selected by him as the\nfoundress of the new society was the Princess de Cond\u00e9, under whom a\nsmall community was formed at Vienna, but soon dispersed by the\ndeparture of the princess to join the Trappistines. Soon after Father\nde Tourn\u00e9ly died, having scarcely attained his thirtieth year, leaving\nin his last moments the care of carrying out his project to Father\nVarin. Joseph Varin d\u2019Ainville was a young man of good family, who,\nafter passing some time in a seminary, had left it to join the army of\nthe Prince de Cond\u00e9, with whom he made several campaigns. He had been\nwon back to his first vocation through the prayers of his mother,\noffered for this purpose on the eve of ascending the scaffold at\nParis, and the influence of his former companions, the four young\nfathers of the Sacred Heart above named. On the very day of the prayer\noffered by his heroic mother he was determined to return back to the\necclesiastical life on receiving communion at Vanloo, in Belgium, when\nhe had met his four saintly friends, whose society he immediately\njoined. Having been elected superior of the society after the death of\nFather de Tourn\u00e9ly in 1797, Father Varin was persuaded to merge it in\nanother society formed by a certain Father Passanari under the title\nof the Fathers of the Holy Faith, which was also intended as a nucleus\nfor the revival of the Order of Jesuits. The Archduchess Maria Anna,\nsister of the Emperor of Germany, was selected to form in Rome, under\nthe direction of Father Passanari, a society of religious women\naccording to the plan of De Tourn\u00e9ly, and she went there for that\npurpose, accompanied by two of her maids of honor, Leopoldina and\nLouisa Naudet. Early in the year 1800 Father Varin returned to Paris\nwith some companions, and Father Barat was received into his society.\nIn this way he became acquainted with Sophie, and her direction was\nconfided to him, to her great spiritual solace and advantage; for he\nguided her with suavity and prudence in a way which gave her heart\nliberty to expand, and infused into it that generosity and confidence\nwhich became the characteristic traits of her piety, and were\ntransmitted as a precious legacy by her to her daughters in religion.\nAs soon as Father Varin had learned the secrets of the interior life\nof his precious disciple, and had determined her vocation to the same\nwork which had been already begun in Rome by the three ladies above\nmentioned, three others were admitted to share with her in the\nformation of the little Society of the Sacred Heart. One of these was\nMlle. Octavie Bailly, another was Mlle. Loquet, the third was a pious\nservant-girl named Margu\u00e9rite, who became the first lay sister of the\nsociety. On the 21st of November, the Feast of Our Lady\u2019s\nPresentation, the little chapel was decorated in a modest and simple\nway. Father Varin said Mass. After the Elevation the four aspirants\npronounced the act of consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and\nafterwards they received communion.\n\nThis was the true inauguration of the Society of the Ladies of the\nSacred Heart, for the attempt made at Rome by the archduchess proved a\nfailure; the intriguing, ambitious character of Father Passanari was\ndetected, and Father Varin renounced all connection with him and his\nprojects. These events occurred, however, at a later period, and for\nsome time yet to come the little community in France remained\naffiliated to the mother-house in Rome.\n\nThe first house of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart, the one which has\nalways been called the cradle of the society, was founded at Amiens\none year after the consecration of the postulants in the little chapel\nof the Rue Touraine. A college was established in that city by the\nFathers of the Holy Faith, and a visit which Father Varin made there\nearly in the year 1801, for the purpose of giving a mission and\npreparing for the opening of the college, led to an arrangement with\nsome zealous priests and pious ladies of Amiens for transferring a\nsmall school of young ladies to the care of Sophie Barat and her\ncompanions. Two of these ladies of Amiens, Mlle. Genevi\u00e8ve Deshayes\nand Mlle. Henriette Grosier, joined the community, of which Mlle.\nLoquet was appointed the superior. This lady proved to be entirely\nunfit for her position, and after some months returned to her former\nuseful and pious life in Paris. Mlle. Bailly, after waiting for a\nconsiderable time to test her vocation, at length followed her first\nattraction and left her dear friend Sophie for the Carmelites. Sophie\nBarat, with the consent of her companions, was appointed by Father\nVarin to the office of superior, much to her own surprise and terror,\nfor she was the youngest and the most humble of her sisters; and from\nthis moment until her death, in the year 1865, she continued to be the\nReverend Mother of the Society of the Ladies of the Sacred Heart,\nthrough all its periods of successive development and extension. It\nwas on the 21st of December, 1802, soon after her twenty-third\nbirthday, that she was definitively placed in this her true position,\nfor which divine Providence had so wonderfully prepared her. She had\nbeen admitted to make the simple vows of religion on the 7th of June\npreceding, in company with Madame Deshayes. The community and school\nincreased and prospered, and on the Feast of St. Michael the\nArchangel, Sept. 29, 1804, they were installed in their permanent\nresidence, one of the former houses of the Oratory of Cardinal de\nBerulle. The community at this date comprised twelve members,\nincluding postulants. Their names were Madeleine-Sophie Barat,\nGenevi\u00e8ve Deshayes, Henriette Grosier, Rosalie-Margu\u00e9rite Debrosse,\nMarie du Terrail, Catharine-Emilie de Charbonnel, Ad\u00e8le Bardot,\nFelicit\u00e9 Desmarquest, Henriette Ducis, Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Duch\u00e2tel, Madame\nBaudemont, and Madame Coppina. The two last-mentioned ladies\nafterwards brought the society into a crisis of the gravest peril, and\nfinally withdrew from it, as we shall see later. Of the others,\nMesdames Deshayes, Grosier, de Charbonnel, Desmarquest, and Ducis were\namong the most eminent and efficient of the first set of co-workers\nwith the holy foundress herself in the formation and government of the\nsociety and its great schools and novitiates. The final rupture with\nFather Passanari had already been effected, and Madame Barat was\ntherefore the sole head of the society, under the direction of Father\nVarin. Twelve years elapsed before the constitutions of the society\nwere drawn up and adopted, and during this period the first\nfoundations were made, a most dangerous and well-nigh fatal crisis was\nsafely passed, the spirit and methods of the new institute were\ndefinitely formed; thus laying the basis for the subsequent increase\nand perfection of the vast edifice of religion and instruction whose\ncorner-stone was laid by the humble and gracious little maiden of\nJoigny in the depths of her own pure and capacious heart. St. John of\nthe Cross says that \u201cGod bestows on the founder such gifts and graces\nas shall be proportionate to the succession of the order, as the first\nfruits of the Spirit.\u201d The whole subsequent history of the Society of\nthe Sacred Heart shows that this was fulfilled in the person of Sophie\nBarat. After the second foundation had been made in an old convent of\nthe Visitation at Grenoble, Madame Baudemont was made superior at\nAmiens, and the first council was held for the election of a\nsuperior-general. Madame Barat was elected by a bare majority of one;\nfor a party had already been formed under sinister influences which\nwas working against her and in opposition to Father Varin, and seeking\nto change altogether the spirit of the new institute. From this time\nuntil the year 1816 Madame Barat was merely a superior in name and by\ncourtesy at Amiens, and she was chiefly employed in founding new\nhouses, forming the young communities, and acquiring sanctity by the\nexercise of patience and humility. The new foundations were at\nPoitiers, Cuigni\u00e8res, Niort, and Dooresele near Ghent; and of course\nthe society received a great number of new subjects, some of whom\nbecame its most distinguished members\u2014as, for instance, Madame\nDuchesne, the pioneer of the mission to America, Madame de Gramont\nd\u2019Aster and her two daughters, Madame Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Maillucheau, Madame\nBigeu, Madame Pr\u00e9vost, Madame Giraud, and the angelic counterpart of\nSt. Aloysius, Madame Aloysia Jouve. We must not pass over in silence\nthe benediction given on two occasions by the august pontiff Pius VII.\nto Madame Barat and her daughters. At Lyons she had a long\nconversation with him, in which she explained to his great\nsatisfaction the nature and objects of her holy work, and she also\nreceived from his hands Holy Communion. At Grenoble all the community\nand pupils received his benediction, and of these pupils eleven, upon\nwhose heads his trembling hands were observed to rest with a certain\nspecial insistance, received the grace of a religious vocation.\nAnother incident which deserves mention is the last visit of Madame\nBarat to her father. The strict rules of a later period not having\nbeen as yet enacted, she never failed, when passing near Joigny on her\nvisitations, to stay for a short time with her parents, often taking\nwith her some of the ladies of her society who were of noble or\nwealthy families, that she might testify before them how much she\nhonored and loved the father and mother to whom she owed so great a\ndebt of gratitude. On her annual _f\u00eate_ she used to send them the\nbouquets which were presented to her. During her father\u2019s last illness\nshe came expressly to see and assist him in preparing for death, and,\nthough obliged to bid him adieu before he had departed this life, she\nleft him consoled and fortified by her last acts of filial affection,\nand he peacefully expired soon after her departure from Joigny, on the\n25th of June 1809.\n\nAt the first council the spirit of disunion already alluded to\nprevented Father Varin and Madame Barat from undertaking the work of\npreparing constitutions for the society. A brief and simple programme\nof a rule was drawn up and approved by the bishops under whose\njurisdiction the houses were placed, and Madame Barat became herself\nthe living rule and model, on which her subjects and novices were\nformed. Father Varin had resigned his office of superior when Madame\nBarat was formally elected by the council of professed members their\nsuperior-general. Another ecclesiastic of very different spirit, who\nwas the confessor of the community and the school at Amiens, M. l\u2019Abb\u00e9\nde St. Est\u00e9ve, was ambitious of the honor and influence which justly\nbelonged to Father Varin. He obtained a complete dominion at Amiens by\nmeans of Madame de Baudemont, a former Clarissine, who was gained over\nby his adroit flattery and artful encouragement of the love of sway\nand pre-eminence which her commanding talents, her former conventual\nexperience, and her mature age, together with the advantage of her\nposition as local superior, entrusted to her against Father Varin\u2019s\nadvice, gave a too favorable opportunity of development. M. de St.\nEst\u00e9ve arrogated to himself the title of founder of the society, and\nplanned an entire reconstitution of the same under the bizarre title\nof _Apostolines_, and with a set of rules which would have made an\nessential alteration of the institute established by Father Varin. All\nthe other houses besides Amiens were in dismay and alarm. Madame\nPenaranda, a lady of Spanish extraction, descended from the family of\nSt. Francis Borgia, who was superior at Ghent, separated her house\nfrom the society by the authority of the bishop of the diocese. She\nreturned, however, some years later, with seventeen of her companions,\nto the Society of the Sacred Heart.\n\nIn the meantime the Society of Jesus had been re-established and the\nSociety of the Fathers of the Holy Faith was dissolved, most of its\nmembers entering the Jesuit Order as novices. Father de Clorivi\u00e8re was\nprovincial in France, and Madame Barat, encouraged by the advice and\nsympathy of wise and holy men, waited patiently and meekly for the\ntime of her liberation from the schemes of a plausible and designing\nenemy who had crept under a false guise into her fold. This was\naccomplished through a most singular act of criminal and audacious\nfolly on the part of M. de St. Est\u00e9ve. Having gone to Rome as\nsecretary to the French Legation, in order to further his intrigue by\nfalse representations at the Papal Court, he was led by his insane\nambition, in default of any other means of success, to forge a letter\nfrom the provincial of the Jesuits of Italy to Madame Barat,\ninstructing her to submit herself to the new arrangements of M. de St.\nEst\u00e9ve, which he declared had been approved by the Holy See. In this\ncrisis Madame Barat submitted with perfect obedience to what she\nsupposed was an order from the supreme authority in the church, and\ncounselled her daughters to imitate her example. Very soon the\nimposture was discovered. Mesdames de Baudemont, de Sambucy, and\nCoppina left the society and went to join another in Rome, and the\nrest of the disaffected members of the community at Amiens, although\nnot immediately pacified, made no serious opposition to Madame Barat,\nand not long after were so completely reconciled to her that all trace\nof disunion vanished. There being now no obstacle in the way of\nforming the constitutions, a council was summoned to meet in Paris, at\na suitable place provided by Madame de Gramont d\u2019Aster, and its issue\nwas most successful. It assembled on the Feast of All Saints, 1815,\nand in the chapel which was used for the occasion was placed the\nstatue of Our Lady before which St. Francis de Sales, when a young\nstudent, had been delivered from the terrible temptation to despair\nwhich is related in his biography. It was composed of the Reverend\nMothers Barat, Desmarquest, Deshayes, Bigeu, Duchesne, Geoffroy,\nGiraud, Girard, and Eug\u00e9nie de Gramont. Father de Clorivi\u00e8re presided\nover it, and Fathers Varin and Druilhet, previously appointed by him\nto draw up the constitutions, were present to read, explain, and\npropose them to the discussion and vote of the council. The whole work\nwas completed in six weeks. The Reverend Mothers Bigeu, de Charbonnel,\nGrosier, Desmarquest, Geoffroy, and Eug\u00e9nie de Gramont were elected as\nthe six members of the permanent council of the superior-general,\narrangements were made for establishing a general novitiate in Paris,\nthe society was placed under the government of the Archbishop of\nRheims as ecclesiastical superior, who delegated his functions to the\nAbb\u00e9 Pereau, a solemn ceremony closed the sessions on the 16th of\nDecember, and early in January the reverend mothers returned to their\nrespective residences. The constitutions were received with unanimous\ncontentment in all the houses, including Amiens, approved by the\nbishops in whose dioceses these houses existed, and, finally, a letter\nof congratulation, expressed in the most kind and paternal terms, was\nreceived from his Holiness Pope Pius VII. From this period the\nauthority of Madame Barat was fully established and recognized,\nharmony and peace reigned within the society, and a new era of\nextension began which has continued to the present time. The society\nwith its constitutions was solemnly approved by Leo XII. in a brief\ndated December 22, 1826, which was received at Paris in February,\n1827, during a session of the council. By the authority of the Holy\nSee an additional vow of stability was prescribed for the professed,\nand the dispensation from this vow reserved to the pope. The rules\nwere made more strict in several respects, and a cardinal protector\nwas substituted for the ecclesiastical superior. The royal approbation\nfor France was at this time also solicited, and granted by Charles X.,\nthen reigning. In 1839 another effort was made to give a still greater\nperfection to the statutes and to provide for the more efficacious\ngovernment of the institute, now become too great for the immediate\ngovernment of the superior-general, by a division into provinces under\nprovincial superiors.\n\nAt this time the society passed through another dangerous crisis, and\nfor four years was in a disturbed state which gave great anxiety to\nthe Rev. Mother Barat, diminished seriously her influence over her\nsubjects, and even occasioned a menace of suppression in France to be\nintimated by the government. The cause of this trouble was an effort\nmade by a number of persons both within and without the society to\ntransfer the residence of the superior-general to Rome, and to modify\nthe rules in a way to make the society as far as possible a complete\ncounterpart of the Society of Jesus. In 1843 this difficulty was\nfinally settled by the authority of the Sovereign Pontiff, who\nannulled all the acts and decrees which had been passed in the\ncouncils of the society looking towards innovation, and determined\nthat the residence of the superior-general should not be removed from\nFrance. Happily, not a house, or even a single member, was separated\nfrom the society by this disturbance, and when it passed by the\nvenerable and holy foundress was more revered and loved than ever\nbefore, and her gentle but strong sway over the vast family which she\ngoverned was confirmed for ever, never again to suffer diminution.\nSome of the proposed changes were, however, absolutely necessary for\nthe order and well-being of the society, and were provided for in the\nyear 1850 by Pius IX., who decreed the establishment of provinces\nunder the name of vicariates, each one to be governed by the superior\nof its mother-house with the rank and title of superior-vicar, subject\nto the supreme authority of the superior-general. At the close of\nMadame Barat\u2019s administration, which ended only with her life, on\nAscension Thursday, 1865, there were fifteen vicariates. Since then\nthe number has been increased. There are three in the United States,\none in British America, one in Spanish America; and in these five\nvicariates there are about eleven hundred religious of the first and\nsecond profession, including lay sisters. The number of houses in\nvarious parts of the world is about one hundred, and the total number\nof members four thousand. Madame Barat herself founded one hundred and\nfifteen houses, and many others have been established since her death.\nBut of these some have been suppressed in Italy and Germany, and\nothers were given up or transferred by the superiors of the order.\nMadame Go\u00ebtz, who was vicar-general to Madame Barat during the last\nyear of her life, succeeded her as superior-general, and was succeeded\nafter her own death, in 1874, by Madame Lehon, the present\nsuperior-general.\n\nOur limits will not permit even a succinct narrative of the events\nwhich filled up the half-century during which Madame Barat governed\nthe Society of the Sacred Heart, from the memorable council of 1815\nuntil 1865. We cannot omit, however, some brief notice of the\nfoundation of the American mission and the ladies who were sent over\nto establish it. The first American colony was composed of three\nladies and two lay sisters: Madame Duchesne, Madame Aud\u00e9, Madame\nBerthold, Sister Catharine Lamarre, and Sister Margu\u00e9rite Manteau.\nMadame Philippine Duchesne was a native of Grenoble, where she\nreceived an accomplished education, first at the Visitation convent of\nSainte-Marie-d\u2019en-Haut, and afterwards under private tutors in the\nsame class with her cousins, Augustin and Casimir P\u00e9rier. At the age\nof eighteen she entered the Visitation convent as a novice, but was\nprevented by the suppression of the religious orders in France from\nmaking her vows. During the dark days of the Revolution her conduct\nwas that of a heroine. After the end of the Reign of Terror she rented\nthe ancient convent above mentioned, and for several years maintained\nthere an asylum for religious women with a small boarding-school for\ngirls, waiting for an opportunity to establish a regular religious\nhouse. Her desire was accomplished when Madame Barat accepted the\noffer which was made to her to receive Madame Duchesne and her\ncompanions into the Society of the Sacred Heart, and to found the\nsecond house of her society in the old monastery of Ste.-Marie-d\u2019en-Haut.\nMadame Duchesne had felt an impulse for the arduous vocation of a\nmissionary since the time when she was eight years old, and this\ndesire had continually increased, notwithstanding the apparent\nimprobability of its ever finding scope within the limits of her\nvocation. She was about forty-eight years of age when she was\nentrusted with the American mission, and lived for thirty-four years\nin this country, leaving after her the reputation of exalted and\nreally apostolic sanctity. Madame Eug\u00e9nie Aud\u00e9 had been much\nfascinated by the gay world in her early youth, and her conversion was\nremarkable. Returning one evening from a _soir\u00e9e_, as she went before\na mirror in her boudoir, she saw there, instead of her own graceful\nand richly-attired figure, the face of Jesus Christ as represented in\nthe _Ecce Homo_. From that moment she renounced her worldly life, and\nsoon entered the novitiate at Grenoble as a postulant. Even there, her\nhistorian relates, \u201con souriait de ses mani\u00e8res mondaines, de ses\nbelles salutations, de ses trois toilettes par jour! M\u00eame sous le\nvoile de novice qu\u2019elle portait maintenant, elle laissait voir encore,\npas sans complaisance, l\u2019\u00e9l\u00e9gance de sa taille et les avantages de sa\npersonne. On ne tardera pas \u00e0 voir ce que cette \u00e2me de jeune fille\nchang\u00e9e en \u00e2me d\u2019ap\u00f4tre \u00e9tait capable d\u2019entreprendre pour Dieu et le\nprochain.\u201d This great change was wrought in her soul during a retreat\ngiven by P\u00e8re Roger on the opening of the general novitiate at Paris\nduring November, 1816. When called to join Madame Duchesne two years\nlater, she was twenty-four years of age, and, after a long period of\nservice in the United States, was finally elected an assistant general\nand recalled to France. Madame Octavie Berthold was the daughter of an\ninfidel philosopher who had been Voltaire\u2019s secretary. She was herself\neducated as a Protestant, was converted to the faith when about twenty\nyears of age, and soon after entered the novitiate at Grenoble. She\nvolunteered for the American mission, animated by a desire to prove\nher gratitude to our Lord for the grace of conversion, and was at this\ntime about thirty years of age. \u201cCaract\u00e8re sympathique, c\u0153ur\nprofond\u00e9ment devou\u00e9e, intelligence orn\u00e9e, sp\u00e9cialement vers\u00e9e dans la\nconnaissance des langues \u00e9trang\u00e8res, Mme Octavie \u00e9tait fort aim\u00e9e au\npensionnat de Paris.\u201d\n\nMgr. Dubourg, Bishop of New Orleans, was the prelate who introduced\nthe Ladies of the Sacred Heart into the United States. It was during\nthe year 1817 that the arrangements were completed at Paris. On the\n21st of March, 1818, the five religious above mentioned embarked at\nBordeaux on the _Rebecca_, and on the 29th of May, which was that year\nthe Feast of the Sacred Heart, they landed at New Orleans, where they\nwere received as the guests of the Ursulines in their magnificent\nconvent. Their own first residence at St. Charles, in the present\ndiocese of St. Louis, was as different as possible from this noble\nreligious house, and from those which have since that time been\nfounded by the successors of these first colonists. Madame Duchesne,\nin her visions of missionary and apostolic life, never dreamed of\nthose religious houses, novitiates, and pensionates, rivalling the\nsplendid establishments of Europe, which we now see at St. Louis,\nManhattanville, Kenwood, and Eden Hall. Her aspirations were entirely\nfor labor among the Indians and negroes, and, to a considerable\nextent, they were satisfied. She began with the most arduous and\nself-sacrificing labors upon the roughest and most untilled soil of\nBishop Dubourg\u2019s diocese, and one of her last acts was to go on a\nmission among the Pottawattomies, from which she was only taken by the\nforce of Archbishop Kenrick\u2019s authority a little before her death. The\npresent flourishing condition of the two vicariates of New Orleans and\nSt. Louis is well known to all our readers. The foundation at New York\nwas due to the enlightened zeal of the late illustrious Archbishop\nHughes, although the first idea originated in the mind of Madame Barat\nmany years before. In the year 1840 the celebrated Russian convert,\nMadame Elizabeth Gallitzin, a cousin of Prince Gallitzin the priest of\nLoretto, and assistant general for America to Madame Barat, was sent\nover to establish this foundation and to make a general visitation, in\nthe course of which she died suddenly of yellow fever at St. Michel,\non the 14th of November, 1842.\n\nThe first residence in New York was the present convent of the Sisters\nof Mercy in Houston Street, from which it was removed, first to\nAstoria, and afterwards to the Lorillard estate in Manhattanville,\nwhere is now the centre of an extensive vicariate comprising eight\nhouses in the States of New York, Rhode Island, Ohio, and Michigan,\nabout five hundred religious, a novitiate containing at this moment\nforty-eight novices exclusive of postulants, and flourishing schools\nboth for the education of young ladies and the instruction of the\nchildren of those parishes which are adjacent to the several convents.\nIt is not necessary to describe for the benefit of our American\nreaders with more detail the history and present condition of the\nSociety of the Sacred Heart in this country. Our European readers\nwould no doubt be interested by such a history; but, besides the\nimperative reason of a want of space in the present article, there is\nanother which imposes on us the obligation of reserve in respect to\nworks accomplished by the living, to whom has been transmitted the\nhumility as well as the other virtues of their holy foundress. There\nis one venerable lady especially, now withdrawn from the sphere of her\nlong and active administration to a higher position in the society,\nwho is remembered with too much gratitude by her children, and honor\nby all classes of Catholics in her native land, to require from our\npen more than the expression of a wish and prayer, on the part of\nthousands whose hearts will echo our words as they read them, that she\nmay resemble the holy mother who loved her and all her American\nchildren so tenderly, as \u201c_sa plus ch\u00e8re famille_,\u201d in length of days,\nand in the peace which closed her last evening.\n\nWe have already alluded briefly to the blessed departure of Madame\nBarat from the scene of labor to the glory which awaits the saints, in\nthe eighty-sixth year of her age and the sixty-sixth of her religious\nlife, on the Feast of the Ascension, 1865. The narrative of a few\nsalient events in her life, and of the principal facts in the history\nof the foundation of the Sacred Heart, which we have thought best to\npresent, meagre as it is, in lieu of more general observations on her\ncharacter and that of her great works, for the benefit of those who\ncannot, at least for the present, peruse the history of M. Baunard,\nleaves us but little room for any such remarks. The character of this\nsaintly woman must be studied in the details of her private and public\nlife, and in the expression she has given to her interior spirit in\nthe extracts from her vast correspondence published by her biographer.\nNo one could ever take her portrait; and we are assured by one who\nknew her long and intimately that the one placed in front of the\nsecond volume of her life is not at all satisfactory. How can we\ndescribe, then, such a delicate, hidden, retiring, subtile essence as\nthe soul of Sophie Barat in a few words, or give name to that which\nfascinated every one, from the little nephew Louis Dusaussoy to\nFrayssinous, Montalembert, and Gregory XVI.? Extreme gentleness and\nmodesty, which, with the continual increase of grace, become the most\nperfect and admirable humility, were the basis of her natural\ncharacter and of her acquired sanctity. In the beginning her modesty\nwas attended by an excessive timidity, so that Father Varin gave her\nthe name of \u201c_trembleuse perpetuelle_.\u201d This was supplanted by that\ngenerous, affectionate confidence in God which shone out so luminously\nin the great trials of her career. In all things, and always, Madame\nBarat was exquisitely feminine. She conquered and ruled by love, and\nthis sway extended over all, from the smallest children to the most\nenergetic, commanding, impetuous, and able of the highly-born,\naccomplished, and in every sense remarkable women who were under her\ngovernment in the society, to women of the world, to old men and young\nmen, to servants, the poor, fierce soldiers and revolutionists, and\neven to irrational creatures. With this feminine delicacy and\ngentleness there was a virile force and administrative ability, a\nfirmness and intrepidity, which made her capable of everything and\nafraid of nothing. Her writings display a fire of eloquence which may\nbe truly called apostolic, and would be admired in the mouth of an\napostolic preacher. Besides the great labors that she accomplished in\nthe foundation and visitation of her numerous houses, and in the\ngovernment of her vast society, Madame Barat went through several most\nsevere and dangerous illnesses, beginning with one which threatened\nher life in the first years at Amiens; and was frequently brought, to\nall appearance, to the very gates of death. Besides these sufferings,\nand the great privations which were often endured during the first\nperiod of new foundations, she practised austerities and penances of\ngreat severity, to the utmost limit permitted by obedience to her\ndirectors. With her wonderful activity she united the spirit of a\ncontemplative; and there are not wanting many evidences of\nsupernatural gifts of an extraordinary kind, or proofs of her power\nwith God after her death. Mgr. Parisis has publicly declared that her\nlife was one of the great events of this century, and comparable to\nthose of St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catharine of Siena,\nand St. Teresa. There is but one, universal sentiment in respect of\nher sanctity, and one, unanimous desire that the seal of canonization\nmay be placed upon it by the successor of St. Peter. A prayer under\nher invocation has been already sanctioned by Pius IX., and the cause\nof her beatification has been introduced, the issue of which we await,\nin the hope that we may one day be permitted and commanded to honor\nthe modest little Sophie Barat of Joigny\u2014who went away weeping in the\ncoach to Paris at sixteen to found one of the greatest orders of the\nworld\u2014under the most beautiful and appropriate title of _Sancta\nSophia_.\n\nWhen we consider the work of Madame Barat as distinct from her\npersonal history, we observe some peculiar and remarkable features\nmarking its rise and growth. It came forth from the fiery, bloody\nbaptism of the French Revolution as a work of regeneration and\nrestoration. Many of its first members had been through an experience\nof danger, suffering, and heroic adventure which had given them an\nintrepidity of character proof against every kind of trial. The stamp\nthus given to the society at the outset was that of generous loyalty\nto the Holy See, and uncompromising hostility to the spirit and maxims\nof the Revolution.\n\nAnother fact worthy of notice is that so many small communities,\nprivate institutes for education, and persons living a very devout and\nzealous life in the world, were scattered about the territory over\nwhich the destructive tornado of revolution had passed, ready to be\nincorporated into the Society of the Sacred Heart, and furnishing the\nmeans of a rapid growth and extension.\n\nNew orders are not absolutely new creations. They spring from those\npreviously existing, and are affiliated with each other more or less\nclosely, notwithstanding their differences. Many of the first members\nof the Society of the Sacred Heart had been previously inclined to the\norders of Mt. Carmel and the Visitation. The spirit of the Carmelite\nOrder was largely inherited by the new society, and from the Order of\nthe Visitation the special devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was\nreceived by the same transmission of mystic life. The organization was\nproduced by the engrafting of the principles of the constitutions of\nSt. Ignatius on the new and vigorous stock. From this blending and\ncomposition sprang forth the new essence with its own special notes,\nits original force, and its distinct sphere of operation. Cardinal\nRacanati thus expresses his judgment of its excellence: \u201cMy duty has\nobliged me to read the constitutions of almost all ancient and modern\norders. All are beautiful, admirable, marked with the signet of God.\nBut this one appears to me to excel among all the others, because it\ncontains the essence of religious perfection, and is at the same time\na masterpiece of unity. The Sacred Heart of Jesus is at once the pivot\naround which everything moves, and the end in which everything\nresults.\u201d Pope Gregory XVI. said that the Rule of the Sacred Heart was\nin every part the work of God. Although not an exact counterpart of\nthe Society of Jesus, the Society of the Sacred Heart is nevertheless,\nin its government and method of discipline, modelled after a similar\ntype, with equally efficacious means for producing in its subjects, in\na manner proportionate to their feminine character, all the highest\nreligious virtues of the mixed state of action and contemplation. The\nonly important differences between the Society of the Sacred Heart and\nthe older orders of women are the absence of the interior cloister and\nof the solemn vows. The first, which is obviously an advantage\nconsidering the nature of the occupations in which the Ladies of the\nSacred Heart are engaged, is compensated for by the extreme strictness\nof the rules governing their conduct in regard to intercourse with the\nworld, and the obligation of going at a moment\u2019s warning to any house,\nin any part of the world, where they may be ordered by the superiors.\nIn respect to the second, as the final vows can only be dispensed by\nthe pope, the completeness and sacredness of the oblation for life are\nnot diminished, but only a prudent provision for extraordinary cases\nsecured by the wisdom of the Holy See, which is beneficial both to the\norder and its individual members. In respect to poverty, self-denial,\nregularity, and all that belongs to the beautiful order of conventual\nlife, the written rule of the Sacred Heart, which is actually observed\nin practice, is not behind those of the more ancient orders. In\nrespect to the extent and strictness of the law of obedience, it is\npre-eminent among all, and its admirable organization may justly be\ncompared to that acknowledged masterpiece of religious polity, the\nInstitute of St. Ignatius. The more humble occupations to which so\nmany admirable religious women in various orders and congregations\ndevote themselves form an integral part of the active duties of the\nsociety. A large portion of its members are lay sisters, and a great\nnumber of the religious of the choir are engaged in the instruction of\npoor children or domestic duties which have no exterior _\u00e9clat_. The\nspecific work of the society is of course the education of young\nladies, with the ulterior end of diffusing and sustaining Catholic\nprinciples and Catholic piety, through the instrumentality of the\n_\u00e9l\u00e8ves_ of the Sacred Heart, among the higher classes of society.\nThere cannot be a nobler work than this, or a more truly apostolic\nvocation, within the sphere to which woman is limited by the law of\nGod, human nature, and the constitution of Christian society. What an\nimmense power has been exerted by the daughters of Madame Barat in\nthis way as the auxiliaries of the hierarchy and the sacerdotal order\nin the church, is best proved by the persecutions they have sustained\nfrom the anti-Catholic party in Europe, and the fear they have\ninspired in the bosoms of tyrannical statesmen like Prince Bismarck,\nwho tremble with apprehension before the banner of the Sacred Heart,\nthough followed only by a troop of modest virgins. It is after all not\nstrange. The women of the revolution are more terrible than furies led\non by Alecto and Tisiphone. Why should not the virgins of the Catholic\narmy resemble their Queen, who is \u201cterrible as an army set in array\u201d?\n\nIt is with great regret that we abstain from setting forth the\nenlightened, sound, and thoroughly Christian ideas of Madame Barat,\nand the various councils over which she presided, in respect to the\neducation of Catholic girls in our age. We are obliged also to omit\nnoticing the charming sketches given in the book before us of the\nfirst pupils of the Sacred Heart, and the noble part which so many of\nthem played afterwards in the world. We must close with a few words on\nthe merit of the Abb\u00e9 Baunard\u2019s work, and an expression of gratitude\nto the distinguished ecclesiastic who has furnished us so much\npleasure and edification at a cost of such very great labor to\nhimself. He has been fortunate in his subject and the wealth of\nauthentic materials furnished him for fulfilling his honorable and\narduous task. His illustrious subject has been fortunate in her\nbiographer. The _History of Madame Barat_ deserves to be ranked with\nMother Chauguy\u2019s _Life of St. Frances de Chantal_ and M. Hamon\u2019s _Life\nof St. Francis de Sales_. We trust that an abridged life by a\ncompetent hand may furnish those who cannot afford so costly a book,\nor read one so large, with the means of knowing the character and\nhistory of the Teresa of our century. There are also materials for\nother histories and biographies of great interest and utility in the\nrich, varied contents of this most admirable and charming work, which\nwe hope may not be neglected.\n\n\n [160] _Histoire de Madame Barat, Fondatrice de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9\n du Sacr\u00e9-C\u0153ur de J\u00e9sus._ Par M. l\u2019Abb\u00e9 Baunard,\n Aumonier du Lyc\u00e9e d\u2019Orleans, Docteur en Th\u00e9ologie,\n Docteur es Lettres. Paris: Poussielgue Fr\u00e8res. 1876.\n\n\n\n\nSIX SUNNY MONTHS.\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE HOUSE OF YORKE,\u201d \u201cGRAPES AND THORNS,\u201d ETC.\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\u201cCITT\u00c0 VECCHIA!\u201d\n\n\nA comfortable family party came Romeward one May morning from Turin.\nThey had the railway carriage quite to themselves, and occupied it\nfully. Mr. Vane lay stretched at length on the front seat, with a\ntravelling-bag and two shawls under his head. It was his first visit\nto Italy, consequently his first approach to Rome, but he declined his\ndaughters\u2019 invitation to look out. He would prefer, he said, to admire\nthe country when he should feel more in the mood. \u201cBesides,\u201d he said,\n\u201cto look at scenery when one is going through it behind a locomotive\nirritates both the eyes and the temper. If you wish to see a near\nobject, no sooner have you fixed your eyes upon it than it is whisked\nout of sight, and your pupils contract with a snap; if a distant one,\nthe moment you perceive that it is worth seeing, some sharp bit of\nforeground starts up and enters like a bramble between your eyelids.\nIt\u2019s a Sancho Panza feast, and I\u2019ll none of it. You children can look\nout and tantalize your tempers, if it please you.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! thank you,\u201d his daughter Isabel said dryly, availing herself of\nthe permission.\n\nPresently she addressed him again: \u201cPapa, if I could find a fault in\nyou, it would be that you are such a very unreasonably reasonable man.\nYou have always so many arguments in favor of every proposition you\nlay down, there isn\u2019t a handle left to take it up by.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you!\u201d the gentleman echoed. And then there was silence for a\nlittle while\u2014a silence of tongues; but, with a ceaseless whirr and\nbuzz, the flying train was casting the north behind, and plunging into\nthe south like a bee into a flower.\n\nMr. Vane\u2019s two daughters, twenty and twenty-two years of age, sat\nopposite him, each at a window, Isabel moving frequently, glancing\nhere and there, and speaking whenever the spirit was stirred; Bianca,\nthe younger, seeming to be in a trance. These two girls were as unlike\nin appearance as it is possible for two persons to be who have many\npoints of resemblance. Both had fine dark eyes, dark hair, complexions\nof a clear, pale olive, and features sufficiently regular. Bianca was\na trifle taller and finer in shape, and her manner had a gentle\ndignity, while her sister\u2019s was lively and positive. Bianca\u2019s mouth\nwas fuller, sweeter, and more silent, and her voice softer. She had a\nmore penetrating mind than most persons were aware of, and thought and\nobserved more than she said. Isabel caught quickly at the surfaces of\nthings, and had a clever way of weaving other people\u2019s ideas into her\ntalk that sometimes made her appear brilliant. It might be said that\nthe impressions of the elder were cameo, those of the younger\nintaglio. For the rest, let their story speak for them.\n\nThe father was a large, leisurely, middle-aged gentleman, whom\ncritical people like to call indolent. He certainly had, as his elder\ndaughter intimated, the faculty of finding a great many excellent\nreasons why he should not exert himself unnecessarily, and it is\nprobable that he might never have been brought to the pitch of a\ntrans-atlantic voyage but for Miss Isabel\u2019s politic arguments in\nurging the matter.\n\n\u201cIn Europe one can be so quiet,\u201d she said. \u201cOne can live there without\nbeing tormented by the idea that one should be doing something for\nsomebody. It isn\u2019t considered necessary to have a mission. Everything\nhappens half an hour or so after time, and everybody goes to sleep in\nthe middle of the day\u2014in the middle of the street, too, if they like.\nI\u2019ve heard people say that it\u2019s just delicious the way the clergy take\ntheir promenade there. Two of them will walk slowly along a few\nminutes, then stop and carry on their conversation a little while, as\nif they were in the Elysian Fields, then resume their walk, and so on,\nwalking and pausing, in the most delightfully leisurely way. Fancy\nthat in New York! Why, our idea of walking is to get one foot before\nthe other as quickly as we can. Going out, we see only the spot we\nstart from and the spot we arrive at, and we shoot from the one to the\nother as if we wore percussion-caps on our heads. Marion says that\nItaly is the fabled lotos, and that all the dust and dirt people talk\nso about is nothing but pollen.\u201d\n\nMr. Vane, who in America felt himself like a drone in the midst of\nbees, could not resist this charming picture, and we accordingly find\nhim in the land of the lotos.\n\n\u201cBianca,\u201d her sister said presently, \u201cdo you remember the Goldsmith\u2019s\nhistory of Rome we studied at school? I\u2019ve forgotten every bit of it\nbut the title, and an impression of great uncomfortable doings, and\nharanguing and attitudinizing, and killing. I recollect it was always\na wonder to me when I found there were people enough left to begin a\nnew chapter with. Now we are going to see the places. How glad I am we\nshall not see any of the tremendous people!\u201d\n\nShe put her head out of the window and added: \u201cI don\u2019t find that the\ncountry looks any better than Massachusetts. But, for all that, I am\nenchanted to be here. How I have longed to come!\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed!\u201d her father said, staring a little. \u201cWhy, then, did you not\nlet us come six months ago, instead of clinging to London and Paris?\u201d\n\nShe smiled indulgently on him. \u201cPerhaps you\u2019ve forgotten how, when I\nwas a child, and when I had mince-pie for dinner, I used to slyly pick\nout the large raisins and put them under the edge of my plate to eat\nafterward. I recollect your finding me out once, and asking me if I\ndidn\u2019t like raisins, and I was in terror lest you were going to take\nthem away from me. I\u2019ve been doing the same thing now\u2014saving the best\nfor the last. I wished to dispose of everything else first, so that,\nwhen I return to America, I can shut my eyes in Rome, and not open\nthem again till they see the shores of the New World. And, between\nourselves, papa, isn\u2019t it a dreadfully new world? I wouldn\u2019t own it to\na foreigner, of course; but you\u2019re such a dear, stanch old Yankee!\u201d\nAnd she leaned forward and gave him an affectionate pinch in the\ncheek.\n\nThe younger sister turned quickly at that. \u201cO Bell! don\u2019t turn\ntraitor,\u201d she exclaimed. \u201cNewness is not a disadvantage always. When\nthe world was new the Creator praised it, but there is no record of\nhis ever having praised it after.\u201d\n\nMr. Vane looked at his younger daughter with a wistful, lingering\nsmile. He always looked attentively at Bianca when she spoke.\n\nIsabel lifted her hands in wonder. \u201cWell, really, she is playing\npatriot! Who have I heard say that her body was born in America, but\nher soul in Italy? Who have I heard say that the children of Israel\nwere not Egyptians, though they were born by the Nile?\u201d\n\nBianca smiled to herself softly, and looked out of the window as she\nanswered: \u201cI am not _playing_ patriot. The feeling was always in my\nmind, hanging there silent like a bell in its tower; and now and then\nit rang. It always rang when struck.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s my darling!\u201d her father exclaimed. \u201cKeep your sweet-toned\npatriotism in its bell-tower. I don\u2019t like the sort that is always\nfiring india-crackers under everybody\u2019s nose. By the way,\u201d he added\nafter a while, rousing again, rather unaccountably, \u201cwhat an absurdity\nit is in us, this coming to Rome in May! To-day is the second of the\nmonth. We should have come in December. I wonder I allowed myself to\nbe so persuaded. I have a mind to go back at once.\u201d\n\nHis elder daughter regarded him tranquilly. \u201cDon\u2019t excite yourself\nunnecessarily, papa,\u201d she said; \u201cwe are behind a coachman who never\nturns back. By the time we reach Rome you will be as contented as a\nlamb. Do not you perceive something beautiful in our coming at this\nseason, with the orange-flowers and the jasmines? We do not arrive, we\nsimply bloom. Even dear old papa will put on a film of tender green\nover his sombreness, like a patriarchal spruce-tree; and as to Bianca\nand me\u2014\u201d\n\nShe sang:\n\n \u201cTwo half-open roses on one twig grew,\n Sweet is the summer.\n A nightingale sang there the whole night through\n Sweet is the summer.\u201d\n\n\u201cHere we are! What a comfort that we have not to go to a hotel nor\nsearch for lodgings! It is very nice to have a friend to prepare\neverything.\u201d\n\nIn fact, a friend of the family, resident in Rome, who had written and\nreceived a score or so of letters on the subject of this journey, was\nwaiting outside the barrier at that moment. They saw her a little\napart from the crowd, looking for them as they gave up their tickets;\nthen a servant took their packages, and they were cordially welcomed\nto Rome. This lady has so long been accustomed to hearing herself\nannounced by the maid-servants of the friends she visits as the\n\u201cSignora Ottant\u2019-otto,\u201d from the number of her house, that she will\nnot be displeased if we continue the title.\n\nA carriage was called, and in a few minutes they had reached the home\nprepared for their reception. It was an old-fashioned Roman house,\nsituated on a high slope of the Viminal where it meets the Esquiline\nin a scarcely perceptible dent. The _portone_, entrance, and stairs\nwere palatial in size, the latter having broad landings lighted by\ndouble windows in the middle of each story; and instead of a mere\npassage or small waiting-room, the door of the apartment opened at\nonce into a noble _sala_. Large chambers surrounded this _sala_, and a\nbackward-extending wing held smaller rooms and a kitchen. All this\npart of the house looked into a garden, where orange-trees stood with\ntheir sprinkle of fragrant snow, and jasmines reared their solid cones\nof flowery gold, perfuming every breeze that entered. Beyond the\ngarden extended an orchard and vineyard, hiding all that part of the\ncity except the long roof and fa\u00e7ade of the church of St. Catherine of\nSiena, and the grand old tower that Vittoria Colonna built her convent\nwalls about. These looked over the rich verdure, standing out dark and\nmassive against the clear western sky.\n\n\u201cThe front rooms are town, the back rooms country,\u201d the Signora said.\n\u201cIn the front rooms we have the \u2018dim, religious light\u2019 that Italians\nlove; here are silence, except for the birds, sunshine, and flowers.\u201d\n\nThe front drawing-rooms were conventional, but the _sala_ and\ndining-room had a character quite new to the travellers. The uncovered\nbrick floors, freshly sprinkled and swept; the faded old screens of\ngreen silk or embroidered satin, set in carved frames; the tarnished\ngilt chairs with scarlet velvet cushions; the large sofas, and tables,\nand cases of drawers, all finely carved; the walls almost entirely\ncovered with old oil-paintings of every size, some without frames,\nsome so dim that amid the haze of faded color a face would look forth,\nor an arm be thrust out as from a cloud\u2014all these made up a picture\nvery different from the rich, toned-down freshness of their New\nEngland home, where they trod on velvet, and would no more have\nadmitted a chair of scarlet and gold than they would have allowed a\ncurtain to hang after the sun had made a streak in it.\n\nThe girls were enchanted. \u201cHow delightfully dingy everything is!\u201d\nIsabel cried. \u201cIt\u2019s like grandmother\u2019s beautiful cashmere shawl that\nis a hundred years old.\u201d\n\nAnd then the travellers were good enough to say that they were hungry,\nand would not be displeased if luncheon should be very prompt at the\nhour of noon.\n\n\u201cAfter this, you see, we shall sail right into your track without a\nbreak,\u201d Mr. Vane said. \u201cYour hours suit me perfectly; and whether it\nshould be luncheon or dinner at noon does not make the least\ndifference to me at this season. In cold weather I like a late\ndinner.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think you will find the early dinner pleasanter in summer,\u201d the\nSignora said; \u201cthat is, if you rise early. You will soon learn, if you\nhave not learned already, to give up the heavy American breakfast, and\nso will be hungry by noon. That gives you the fresh of the morning\nfree, with little digestive work to dull your activity, and the lovely\nevenings from five to eight or nine. If you wish to go out romancing\nby moonlight, the supper is just enough to content, without clogging.\nThe next best plan is, coffee on waking, breakfast at ten, and dinner\nat four or five after your nap. I have tried all ways, and settled on\nthe first for this country. Of course it wouldn\u2019t answer for our\nindoor, chilly life at the other side of the world.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not like a four or five o\u2019clock dinner,\u201d Mr. Vane said with\ndecision. \u201cIt is neither one thing nor the other; and I hate to go\nfrom the bed to the dinner-table.\u201d\n\nIt was the Signora\u2019s first house-keeping for any one but herself, and\nshe was full of a pleasant anxiety. What solemn conferences she had\nwith the _donna_, what explanations, what charges she gave! And how\nlearned she became in matters to which before she had not given a\nthought! In such a dark and narrow street, in a dingy little shop, was\nto be found the best chocolate in Rome. In such another place, where\nyou would least expect, they sold coffee of unimpeachable excellence,\nwhich, of course, one had roasted and ground in one\u2019s own house.\nAnother journey was made for tea. She became an object of terror to\nsellers of meat and vegetables, and fruit-venders trembled before her.\nTo witness the scorn with which she rejected apricots that had not the\nprecise cloudless sunset tint, peaches that were of a vulgar red and\ngreen complexion or too pale in hue, mandarins not sufficiently loose\nof skin and flattened at the poles, and grapes and figs that could not\nanswer in the affirmative at least six stern questions, one would have\nsupposed that she must have been accustomed to such fruits as grew in\nthe Garden of Eden. As to wine, the story of its getting was an\nadmirable illustration of moral pulley-power. A friend\u2019s friend\u2019s,\netc., friend had two friends who owned vineyards and made wine, and\none was famous for his white and another for his red. The first power\nin this machinery was a semi-weekly cup of tea which a certain\nrespectable, antique bachelor had taken regularly with the Signora\ntime out of mind, and, losing which, his life would have been quite\ndisjointed. The flavor of the tea did not, of course, extend beyond\nhim, but it influenced certain favors in his power to grant, which, in\nturn, moved the next wheel; and so on, quite in order, till a way was\nmade from certain cool grottos, where the hoarded wines sparkled to\nthemselves in the dark, to the small dinner-table where our friends in\nthe old Roman house sat and sipped liquid rubies or sunshine for an\nabsurdly small price considering the result.\n\n\u201cBut you are giving us too much of your time,\u201d the Vanes expostulated.\n\u201cWe cannot permit you to turn housekeeper for us. How will you be able\nto write?\u201d\n\nFor the Signora Ottant\u2019-otto was an authoress. \u201cIn the first flush of\nseeing you I could not content myself to write a line,\u201d she said; \u201cand\nby the time I shall have become calm my machinery will be in working\norder. After that nothing will be necessary but an occasional warning\nword or glance.\u201d\n\nThis conversation did not, however, take place till the end of the\nfirst week. The first day the house-keeping seemed to have arranged\nitself without human intervention.\n\nAs they seated themselves at the luncheon-table the soft boom of the\ngun from St. Angelo proclaimed the hour of noon, and immediately\nanother booming, as soft, but more musical, came from the near\n_campanile_ of the Liberian basilica, where the great bell struck the\nAngelus, followed by all the bells in the tower in a _festa_ ringing.\n\n\u201cThat is Maria Assunta and her four ladies of honor,\u201d the Signora\nsaid, with all the pride of a proprietor. \u201cI may as well tell you that\nthey and the church they belong to are my one weakness in Rome. I have\nbeen up the _campanile_ to visit those bells, have read their\ninscriptions and touched their embossed sides, even while they were\nbeing rung. An Italian boy who was with me exclaimed when I put my\nhand to the ringing rim of the great bell: \u2018_E un peccato! Ha fatto\ntacere Maria Santissima!_\u2019\u201d\n\nThey smiled and listened. It pleased them to know what the Signora\nliked and how she liked.\n\n\u201cI remember the first time I saw that church,\u201d she said, pleased to go\non. \u201cIt was my first Christmas in Rome, and, after having heard a Mass\nat Aurora, I went out alone later, to lose myself and see what I would\ncome to. I wandered into the long street that is now so familiar, and\nsaw the tip of a _campanile_ peeping at me over the hill in front like\na beckoning finger. I followed, and presently knew where I must be,\nthough I had carefully refrained from reading descriptions of\nanything. The morning was fresh and clear, but inside the church was\nquite dim, except that the round window high up the eastern end of the\nnave was thrust through by a long bar of sunshine that looked as\nthough it might make a hole for itself out the other end, it was so\nlive and solid. I recollected pictures I had seen of the Jewish\ntabernacle, with the two bars by which it was carried, or lifted, and\nI said to myself, Suppose another gold bar should be put in, and the\nwhole church, and all who are in it, carried off over hill and dale,\nand through the air to some Promised Land fairer than Italy. There was\na man up outside who seemed to be afraid of such a catastrophe; for he\nwas struggling to draw together the two halves of a red curtain over\nthe window. It was not easy to do\u2014I presume he was resisted\u2014but\nfinally everything was shut out but a blush. All that upper end of the\nnave was rosy, and pink reflections ran along the inner sides of the\ntwo rows of white columns, like ripples in water, and faded at the\ngrand altar they had strained to reach. You could fancy they sighed\nwith contentment when they did reach it. The sacristy-bell rang for a\nMass beginning just as I entered, and I took that as an indication\nthat I was to go no further till I had heard it. So I knelt close to\nthe door in a little nook by the tribune. The priest stopped at the\naltar in the very farthest corner. I could see him between the\ncolumns, and so far away that I could hardly know when he knelt or\nrose. When the Mass was over, I seated myself where the bases of two\ncolumns before the Borghese Chapel form a grand marble throne, and\nthere I stayed the whole forenoon.\u201d\n\n\u201cNothing strikes me more in Catholic churches,\u201d Mr. Vane said, \u201cthan\nto see a worshipper attending to the service from some far nook or\ncorner, with a crowd of people walking about between him and the\naltar. You do not seem to think it necessary to be near the priest or\nhear what he is saying. That is one great difference between you and\nProtestants. What their minister says is all. Though, to be sure,\u201d he\nadded, \u201cone wouldn\u2019t always know what the priest were saying, if one\nwere close to him.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t necessary as long as we know what he is doing,\u201d the Signora\nreplied rather quickly. \u201cBesides, Catholics, even uneducated ones, do\nknow very nearly the words he is speaking, without hearing them. It is\na mistake constantly made by Protestants to think that Catholics do\nnot understand, because they themselves do not. They forget that there\nis little variety in the service, and that in all essential parts one\nMass is like all other Masses. An intelligent Catholic, whether he can\nread or not, can tell you just what the priest is doing as far off as\nhe can see him, and knows just what prayers he should offer at the\nmoment. As for the priest or his assistant not speaking distinctly,\nthey often do, oftener than not; and when they do not, it is not\nstrange. The same words, repeated over and over again, even when\nrepeated with the whole heart, have a tendency to become indistinct,\nand to drop the consonants and keep only the vowels. The torso of\nsound is all right.\u201d\n\n\u201cLike the foot of your bronze St. Peter, worn smooth with\noft-repeated, fervent kisses,\u201d the gentleman said, with a gravity that\nhid a smile.\u201d You may say that it has only the vowel shape of a foot,\nthe consonant angles quite kissed away.\u201d\n\nThe Signora lifted her head a little, and immediately changed the\nsubject. Decidedly, she thought, it would be necessary to correct Mr.\nVane\u2019s conversation. But it would not be pleasant to do so the first\nday.\n\nThey lingered at the table nearly an hour, talking over old times and\nfriends, and who were dead and who were married; till presently, it\nhaving got buzzed about among the select number of flies in the room\nthat there was fruit at hand, they reminded the company to retire.\n\n\u201cTea at five and supper at nine,\u201d was the Signora\u2019s parting reminder.\n\u201cAnd now, a pleasant rest to you!\u201d\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\u201cAY DE MI, ALHAMA!\u201d\n\n\nThose who knew little or nothing of Mr. Vane usually fancied that they\nknew him perfectly, and were in the habit of describing him with\nepigrammatic brevity: A kind, honorable man, indolent of mind and\nbody, very tolerant, has no strong convictions, and seems, not so much\nto live, as to be waiting to live, and waiting quite comfortably\u2014as if\na fish out of water should find itself for a few days in wine and\nwater.\n\nThose who knew him best hesitated to describe him; but all agreed that\nhe was kind and honorable. We will not attempt any dissection of his\ncharacter.\n\nTwenty-three years before we find him in Rome he married a beautiful\ngirl born in New Orleans of Spanish parents. He had long admired her,\nbut had been kept at a distance by her coldness; and when, quite\nsuddenly, she consented to be his wife, he could scarcely have told if\nhis delight were greater than his surprise.\n\n\u201cI do not love you,\u201d she said with gentle calmness, \u201cbut I esteem you,\nand am prepared to do my duty as a wife. I should have preferred not\nto marry; but my parents desire that I should, and, as I am their only\nchild, I do not think it right to oppose their wishes.\u201d\n\nIt was scarcely an explanation to satisfy even an accepted lover, and\nMr. Vane could not help asking if there were any one whom she\npreferred to him.\n\nThe answer was not prompt in coming, and was given with great reserve,\nthough the lady showed neither confusion nor unwillingness to give it.\nShe thought gravely for a minute before speaking, her fair, quiet face\nall the time open to his study. \u201cI have never had a lover,\u201d she said\nthen, \u201cand I have never wished to marry any one. I have nothing to\nconfess nor to repent of in this regard.\u201d\n\nWith this he had been obliged to content himself. What unacknowledged\nmaiden preference, untouched by passion, her words might have\nconcealed, if any such had been, he could not ask and he never knew;\nbut gentle, faithful, prompt in every duty, and sincerely desirous to\nrender him happy as she was, he always felt that there was an inner\nchamber in her heart where he had never penetrated, and which she had\neven closed to her own eyes. There was no appearance of concealment or\nconscious reserve, no hidden pain, but only a something wanting, as if\nsome delicate spring in her soul had been broken. He had hoped to make\nher forget whatever shadow of regret her life might have known, and to\nrestore her to an elastic joyousness more suited to her age; and, in\nthe earlier months of their married life, finding his efforts vain, he\nhad broken out in some slight reproaches now and then. But the blush\nof pain and alarm, the anxious inquiries, \u201cIn what have I failed?\u201d\n\u201cWhat have I done to displease you?\u201d and the gayety she strove to\nassume for his pleasure, made him regret his impatience. Tacitly he\nallowed her to renounce an affectation which was the first she had\never stooped to, and, as time passed on, they settled into a friendly\nand undemonstrative intercourse. Isabel seemed to have drawn her\ndisposition from this lively surface of her mother\u2019s briefly-troubled\nlife; but the younger showed something of that quiet melancholy which\nhad succeeded. Mrs. Vane died when Bianca was but six years old, and\nher husband had never manifested any disposition to marry again,\nseeming to be satisfied with the society of his children.\n\nIn religion the daughters followed their mother, who had been a\nCatholic. The father was still Protestant.\n\n\u201cPoor papa!\u201d Isabel said when speaking to a friend on the subject, \u201che\nnever will be persuaded to study theology. The only way to attract him\nto a religion would be by the excellence of its professors; and he\nprotests that he sees no difference in people in general, that he has\nno doubt the Chinese have amiable qualities, and that, if he lived\namong the Turks, he should probably become very fond of them. What can\none do with such a man? Bring out all your hard little arguments and\nlay them down before him, showing how perfectly they fit into the most\nbeautiful mosaic for your side, and he listens with the greatest\nattention, then mixes them all up, and rearranges them into an\nentirely different pattern for the opposite side, and ends by\ndeclaring that both are true as far as they go. You see, he has spent\nhis life with two excellent women, one Protestant and the other\nCatholic\u2014his mother and our mamma\u2014and that has spoiled him for\nconversion. I\u2019ve often wished that dear grand-mamma had been the least\nbit of a vixen, or had even taken snuff in her old age; but she never\ndid a thing to spoil the beautiful white halo about her, and died at\nlast as she had lived. Mamma went as the moon goes, waning, growing\ndimmer every day, till you see it like a little silver cloud in the\nsky, and then it is gone. But grand-mamma seemed to look up suddenly,\nand smile, and disappear, as if some one she thought the world of, and\nhadn\u2019t seen for a long time, had come and called her out of the room\nfor a minute.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou ask what you are to do with such a man as your father,\u201d her\nfriend said. \u201cI answer, you can let him alone, and I strongly advise\nyou to do so. He is quite capable of thinking and observing without\nbeing teased. He leaves you free; do the same by him.\u201d\n\n\u201cI suppose I must,\u201d the girl sighed unwillingly.\n\nBianca, who remembered her mother only as the little silver cloud\nfading in the sky, had also her pretty tribute to pay to the\ngrandmother, who had not been many years dead.\n\n\u201cOf course we wished her to be a Catholic,\u201d she said; \u201cbut no one\ncould know her and doubt that she was good. She did not believe our\ndogmas because she did not understand them, but she never spoke an\nuncharitable word of us. Indeed, I used to think that unconsciously\nshe believed everything. Her religion was like a rose-bush on which\nonly one rose bloomed out, and that rose was Christ. All the rest were\njust buds with the smallest pink tips showing. She was so dazzled and\nwondering over her wonderful one rose that she could not think of the\nothers. What a blossoming out there will be when she reaches heaven,\nif she is not there already!\u201d\n\nWhile we have been giving this little history, _casa Ottant\u2019-otto_ has\nbeen as tranquil as if it were mid-night instead of mid-day. The rooms\nwere perfectly dark, except where a chink in the shutter or a loose\nhasp let in here and there a light too small to be called a ray, which\nmade a pale glow in one spot, showing like a blotch on the darkness.\nNot a sound was heard within, and scarcely a sound from without; for,\nearly as it was in the season, the street had its quiet hour, and the\nbirds, the only noisy people on the garden side, would no more have\nthought of singing at noon than of remaining silent in the morning.\n\nBut, as the afternoon wore on, something stirred on a red cushion in a\ncorner of the dining-room. It was a black cat, called, from its color,\nthe _abate_. This member of the family rose, stretched himself slowly,\nfirst one side, then the other, opened his mouth in a portentous yawn,\nand seemed to utter an inquiring \u201cMew!\u201d but, what with sleepiness,\nwarmth, and languor, the sound was very nearly inaudible. Looking\nabout, he saw Adriano, the man-servant, asleep in an arm-chair, his\nhead, in a little scarlet cap with a tassel, dropped on one shoulder,\nhis arms hanging down over the arms of the chair. Wakened, perhaps, by\nthe glance, the man opened his eyes, gathered up his head and arms,\nand began, in turn, to stretch himself out of sleep, giving an audible\nyawn instead of a \u201cMew.\u201d The _abate_ then exerted himself so far as to\nsaunter to the threshold of the door looking into the kitchen.\nAnnunciata, who had placed her chair in a corner of the room in such a\nmanner that the walls supported her while she slept, was just\nstretching out one foot to pick up the sandal that had dropped off\nduring her nap. All this the cat saw, doubtless. It was too dark for\nany one else to see.\n\nPresently Adriano opened a half shutter in the dining-room, admitting\na faint light; then, passing, with slip-shod feet, into the _sala_,\nthrew the windows wide open. Instantly all the bright out-doors, which\nhad been waiting to enter\u2014sunshine, perfume, and west wind\u2014rushed in\ntogether, lit the gilding in a new glitter, reddened the velvet again,\nwhitened the curtains and set them blowing about, roused a hundred\nlittle winking mischiefs in the carvings, and almost brought a smile\ninto the many pictured faces on the walls that had been waiting so\nlong in the dark with their eyes wide open.\n\nAfter a little interval, the Signora came out of her room; then\nIsabel\u2019s bright face appeared.\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t believe I should sleep a wink on this first day,\u201d she said;\n\u201cbut I have slept the whole time. One becomes accustomed to\neverything. But where can Bianca be? I\u2019m not at all sure she did right\nto go out alone, and at this hour. That girl does the most\nextraordinary things sometimes, quiet as she seems. I sometimes think,\nSignora, that Bianca has great force of will.\u201d\n\nUttering this last remark, the young woman looked at her friend as if\nshe expected an astonished denial. The Signora, on the contrary,\nreplied with a rather significant smile: \u201cOnly \u2018sometimes,\u2019 my dear?\nIf your sister had a motive worthy, her will would be strong enough to\noppose the whole world.\u201d\n\n\u201cBianca!\u201d cried Isabel in astonishment. \u201cWhy, she is the softest\ncreature alive.\u201d\n\nThe Signora was arranging tea-cups on a table drawn up before one of\nthe large sofas, and waited until her hands were free of them before\nreplying, as she wished to speak with emphasis. \u201cDo you think,\u201d she\nsaid then, \u201cthat it is only the positive, opinionated women who have\nfirmness of character? My experience is that your women who are\nconstantly driving and directing people in small things can almost\nalways be themselves driven in great things, while those who do not\nlike to make a fuss about trifles will stand their ground when it\ncomes to a matter of importance. If the truth could be known, I\nbelieve it would be found that the world\u2019s heroines of action and of\nsuffering have been those same soft creatures in ordinary\ncircumstances. And here\u2019s the child now.\u201d\n\nIn fact, the entrance-door opened at that moment from without, and\nBianca Vane came in with cheeks as red as roses. She had begged the\nSignora\u2019s permission to go out instead of going to bed, promising to\ngo no farther than _Santa Maria Maggiore_, which was but five minutes\u2019\nwalk from the house.\n\nIsabel looked at her sister very gravely while she stood pulling the\ngreat key out of the lock, smiling to herself, and tugging away with\nthe softest, prettiest hands in the world. The elder sister had been\naccustomed to be called, and to consider herself, the stronger of the\ntwo, and she was not altogether certain now that the Signora had not\nbeen jesting.\n\nThe great Italian key, large enough for a prison, was got out of the\nlock, the door shut, half by the wind and half by the lady, with a\nforce that made its three little bells and its two immense iron bolts\nrattle and ring, and Bianca went straight to the Signora and kissed\nher\u2014a somewhat unusual demonstration. \u201cI\u2019ve been so happy!\u201d she\nwhispered close to the cheek her lips had touched. \u201cHow beautiful it\nis! You must let me have a \u2018weakness\u2019 for your church and its bells,\nand all that belongs to it.\u201d\n\nA nod and glance of intelligence were exchanged between the two, and\nthe girl went to take off her bonnet.\n\nMr. Vane appeared at the same moment, looking as if he had enjoyed a\nmost satisfying nap, and tea was prepared. The Signora and the two\ngirls occupied the long red sofa, over which, on the wall, a stately\nPenelope, seated among her maidens, laid aside her often-ravelled web,\nand earnestly regarded the Ulysses whom she had not yet recognized,\nbut could not remove her eyes from. At the other side of the table,\nopposite them, a high-backed, ample chair had been placed for the\ngentleman of the family, who seemed to feel himself very much at home.\n\n\u201cHas my little girl been asleep?\u201d he asked, looking at his younger\ndaughter.\n\n\u201cWell, no, papa,\u201d was the reply, \u201cbut she has been dreaming.\u201d\n\nNo more questions were asked then. Mr. Vane was looking at the picture\nopposite him, which had a very pleasant suggestion of perils and\njourneys over, and happy reunion after long separation. Suddenly his\nglance dropped to the lady beneath, went back to the picture, and a\nsecond time sought the Signora\u2019s face.\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d he said, \u201cthat Penelope looks as though you had sat for her to\na not very good artist.\u201d\n\nThe Signora gave him his tea. \u201cI assure you,\u201d she said, \u201cthat I never\nposed for that nor any other Penelope during the whole course of my\nlife. The character doesn\u2019t suit me.\u201d\n\nMr. Vane took his cup, and studied over this little speech while he\nslowly stirred in his tea two cubes of sugar. He had been quite\ncorrect in his remark. The two faces were strikingly alike\u2014fine in\ntheir oval shape, with dark-blue eyes, and a hint of yellow in the\nthick flaxen hair.\n\nPresently he looked up. \u201cI can\u2019t guess,\u201d he said.\n\nThe lady laughed. \u201cWhen it is so plain? Well, in the first place, I am\nnot so industrious; in the next place, I shouldn\u2019t have let Ulysses go\naway without me; in the third place, I haven\u2019t the suitors; and, in\nthe fourth place, if I had had them, I should have kept them in better\norder. I think the places are all taken. And now, Bianca has for a\nlong time had something on her mind to say. You have the floor, my\ndear.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! it\u2019s nothing,\u201d Bianca said; \u201conly if you are done talking about\nPenelope, I should like to give you all a piece of advice.\u201d\n\nThe company were unanimously anxious to hear. Gentle suggestions they\noften heard from this young lady; but it was perhaps the first time\nthey had ever heard her propose deliberately to give advice to any\none, and still less to a company of elders.\n\n\u201cMy advice is this,\u201d she said: \u201cwhenever any of you take your first\nwalk in a strange city, look at the house you live in before you go\naway from it, and see how it is made, and what number it is, and make\nsure of the name of the street; otherwise, though you may find every\nplace you do not want, you may never find your own house again. That\u2019s\nall I have to say.\u201d\n\n\u201cExcellent advice!\u201d Mr. Vane said. \u201cBut may I ask what made you think\nof it just now?\u201d\n\n\u201cFirst let me tell you a little story,\u201d said Bianca. \u201cOnce upon a time\na young woman I know went to live in a strange city where they spoke a\nlanguage she did not understand. The very first day, almost the first\nhour, she went out for a walk, and went alone; but her mind was so\nfull of the place she was going to that she took no note of the place\nshe was leaving. No matter what a nice time she had before she started\nto return; that doesn\u2019t belong to the story, which is entirely\ntragical. Her troubles began when she thought that in two minutes she\nwould be at her own door. Come to think about it, she had no idea\nwhere her own door was, in which of three or four radiating streets it\nwas to be found, or what the number of it was, nor how it looked. So\nshe wandered up and down, and to and fro, in the hot sun, and passed\nher home without recognizing it any more than the Signora\u2019s portrait\nup there recognizes her husband; and at last, when she was just ready\nto cry, and to believe that the house and everybody in it had been\nbewitched and whisked off to some other continent, and that she had to\ngo blowing about for ever in that lost way, what do you think\nhappened?\u201d\n\nThe story-teller had reason to be gratified by the expression of\nintense interest with which her audience waited for the catastrophe.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d she continued, \u201cthis poor wanderer happened to glance up a\nhouse-front as she was passing, and she saw out of a window a hand\nlaid on the frame\u2014just the hand of some one who stood inside. It was\nvery handsome and white, and on one finger of it was a ring that she\nrecognized. And then the tears of sorrow that she was about to shed\nchanged to tears of joy, and she said: \u2018O darling hand of my papa,\nwith my own good-for-nothing cameo face on it\u2014\u2019\u201d\n\nAnd Bianca finished her story by flying up out of her chair, and\nrushing to hang on her father\u2019s shoulder, and kiss the hand that had\nfound her.\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t mean to say that you have been out wandering about Rome all\nalone!\u201d Mr. Vane exclaimed, reddening.\n\n\u201cI only went up to the Liberian basilica,\u201d she said; \u201cand it was an\nabsurd thing in me, getting lost. You didn\u2019t imagine I was going\nproperly to sleep my first day in Rome, did you? You might as well\nhave put a flame to bed, and told it to shut its eyes.\u201d\n\nAs she spoke, a dash of clear crimson stained her cheeks, as if the\njuice of a ripe pomegranate had been flung over them, and her head was\nraised quickly and with an air that was almost defiant, though\nunconsciously so.\n\nThe Signora had seen this gesture and blush once or twice before, and\nthought she understood the meaning of them; how the impassioned and\nenthusiastic nature hidden under that pensive softness and silence\nresented now and then the languid indifference of the father and the\nsuperficial positiveness of the sister, and proudly asserted its own\nclaim to an individual and untrammelled existence.\n\nMr. Vane dropped his eyes, and an expression of pain passed\nmomentarily over his face. He also had seen the look before\u2014seen it in\nhis wife\u2019s face as well as in his daughter\u2019s. \u201cI do not mean to shut\nyou up, my dear,\u201d he said gravely. \u201cI only wish that you should come\nto no harm. If you like to go about freely, the Signora can, perhaps,\nrecommend a good, trusty servant, who will protect you without being\nintrusive.\u201d\n\nShe did not say a word, only leaned close to him, and laid her cheek,\nstill glowing red, on his hair.\n\nHe smiled, and spoke more lightly. \u201cBut I should like to have you go\nwith me sometimes, and kindle my fuel with your fires.\u201d\n\nShe embraced him silently and went back to her seat.\n\nThe Signora smiled into her teacup over this little scene, in which\nnothing had pleased her more than the sweet readiness of the father to\nbe reconciled, and his quick comprehension of the meaning of his\ndaughter\u2019s mute caress. \u201cHe has certainly great delicacy and\nsensitiveness,\u201d she thought. \u201cI wonder if Bianca and he may not be\nvery much alike!\u201d\n\n\u201cThe chief danger in walking out in Rome,\u201d she said, \u201cis from the\npublic carriages. The traditions are evidently all in favor of those\nwho drive, not of those who walk, and pedestrians have no rights which\nquadrupeds and the bipeds who drive them are bound to respect. For the\nrest, I have gone about a good deal alone, and have had no more\nannoyance than I should have had in any other large city in the world.\nOf course young Italian women have not so much liberty as we take; but\nall sensible and honest people here understand that foreigners do not\ncross land and sea, and come to the most famous city in the world, in\norder to shut themselves up in houses; and, moreover, that it may well\nbe inconvenient sometimes to find an escort. I told Bianca that she\ncould go up to the church as well as not, but must go no further. It\nwas stupid of me not to warn her of losing her way back. And,\u201d she\nadded, with a sudden change, \u201cit was still more stupid of me not to\nrecollect the difference between American and Italian bread. You poor\nchild!\u201d For she had caught sight of Isabel getting quite red in the\nface over a roll she was trying to break.\n\n\u201cThey do bake their bread so hard here and in France,\u201d the girl\nsighed, giving up the attempt in despair. \u201cIn Paris I could throw our\nrolls all about the room without injuring anything but the furniture.\nI didn\u2019t make the smallest dent in the bread.\u201d\n\nThe Signora promised them the most American of bread for the future,\nbut added: \u201cI have become so accustomed to this hard baking that I had\nforgotten all about the difference. In time you will come to prefer\nit, and to find that the lighter baking will taste raw to you. Indeed,\nyou will adopt a good many Italian customs in regard to eating, which,\nso far as concerns health, I think they understand better than any\nother nation. Their prohibitions you must certainly attend to, however\nunreasonable they may seem to you; but you are not obliged to eat what\nthey like. The first year I came here I broke a tooth trying to eat a\npiece of cake they brought me on Christmas Eve. They said it was their\ncustom to eat it at that season, and I obeyed dutifully. It is dark, a\ncaricature of our fruit-cake, and seems to be made of nuts and\nraisins, held together by a tough, dry paste. It was like a piece out\nof a badly-macadamized street. Fortunately, I broke only one tooth,\nand that saved my stomach; for I do not know what would have become of\nme if I had swallowed the stuff.\u201d\n\nMr. Vane gave a significant \u201cAhem!\u201d \u201cI should have supposed,\u201d he\nremarked, \u201cthat any one who had swallowed the Infalli\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cPapa!\u201d cried Isabel, making a peremptory gesture to silence him.\n\n\u201c\u2014bility\u2014\u201d he pursued calmly.\n\n\u201cO papa!\u201d said Bianca, with soft entreaty. He winced, but\nfinished\u2014\u201cought to be able to digest anything that Rome can offer.\u201d\n\nThe two girls looked at the Signora. They knew her rather better than\ntheir father did. She was folding her napkin up very carefully, and\nconsidering. After a minute, still smoothing the damask folds, she\nspoke. \u201cI have always thought it wrong to ridicule even a false\nreligion. When I think that on the poor crumbling mythologies of the\nworld the souls of men have tried to climb to such a heaven as they\nhad glimpses of, or were capable of imagining, their mistakes become\nto me sad, or terrible\u2014anything but laughable. One doesn\u2019t laugh at\nsight of a rotten plank that broke in the hands of a drowning man. And\nif falsehood, when human prayers have been breathed on it, and human\ntears shed on it, and human hearts have clung to it, believing it to\nbe truth, is something no longer to be ridiculed, how much more should\nwe treat the truth seriously! The dogma of Infallibility was the\nanchor the church dropped when she saw the storm coming, and it is\nprobable that before we shall have peace again we may hang for a time\non that one rope. Nothing in revelation is more serious to me.\u201d\n\nShe rose, without giving any opportunity for reply, and without\nlooking at any one. \u201cIf you like, we will prepare for a drive,\u201d she\nadded, and left the room quietly.\n\nBut in spite of the calmness with which she spoke the Signora was much\nagitated, and scarcely refrained from tears when she was alone. To\ngive such a reproof was only less difficult than to suffer an affront\nto the church to pass unreproved; and it was with a little nervousness\nthat she went out to meet her guest again.\n\nHe was in the drawing-room alone, evidently waiting for her, and the\nfirst glance in his face entirely reassured her, so sweet and\nuntroubled was his expression.\n\n\u201cI am like a great rough elephant who has stepped on the kind lady who\nwas feeding him with sugarplums,\u201d he said, and offered his hand to her\nwith a confidence in her good-will which was almost more pleasing than\nher confidence in his.\n\nAnd so ended their first and last quarrel.\n\nThe girls, who came presently, with a little timidity, beamed when\nthey saw the two standing by a window and watching the work going on\nacross the street. All the space there had once been a palace-garden,\nbut now nearly every flowery thing had disappeared, and in their place\nthe foundations of a large building were being laid in a superbly\nsolid way. Wide walls of stone, on which three men could walk abreast,\nhad in some places risen a few feet above the outer level, their bases\nsunk ten feet, perhaps, below the deep cellar bottom, and the trenches\nfor founding the partition-walls were being dug in the same manner.\nThey could see, too, the beginning of the grand stone arches which\nwere to support the floors. An Italian would have passed all this\nwithout notice; but to one accustomed to the flimsy style of American\narchitecture the sight was refreshing. In the centre of the space the\nbuilding was to occupy still remained a fountain-basin from which the\nwater had been drawn away, exposing a circle of beautiful round arches\nof gray stone. Under these arches the workmen were accustomed to take\nrefuge when a shower came up, crouching there contentedly, and looking\nout at the bright drops as they fell, like swallows out of a row of\nnests under the barn-eaves.\n\n\u201cI have wondered whether there ever before was a house on this spot,\u201d\nthe Signora said. \u201cIf there were, a garden has bloomed over it for\ncenturies, as, perhaps, at some future time, another garden will cover\nthe ruins of this work of to-day. A few months ago some flowers still\nlingered here, but they were trampled or dug away, till at last only\none red poppy was left at the edge of the cellar-wall. I watched it\nday after day, blazing there like a heart on fire. Every morning I\nlooked out I feared to miss it; but there it clung among trampling\nfeet of men and beasts, with stone-work being built almost over it,\nand every sort of destruction threatening, but never falling. When\nnearly a week had passed, I could bear it no longer. If at that time I\nhad seen a foot set upon, or a rock crushing, the flower, I should\nhave cried out as though I were myself being crushed. I sent Adriano\nout to get it for me, and pressed it carefully in the prettiest book I\nhave\u2014the brave little blossom! Here it is, see! The thin petals are\nlike faded blood-stains, but the seed-vessel in the centre is firm,\nand precisely like a little marble urn with a mossy vine wreathing its\nbase and running up one side. In that urn repose the dust and the hope\nof a long line of scarlet poppies.\u201d\n\nThe gentleman listened indulgently to the Signora\u2019s story, and watched\nher with interest as she put the relic carefully away.\n\nAnd then they went down to the carriage that was waiting for them, and\ndrove through the long street that stretches over hill and valley from\nthe Esquiline to the Pincio, so that one looks, as through a\ntelescope, from the sunny brow of the former to the _campanile_ where\n_Maria Assunta_ and her maidens\n\n \u201cSprinkle with holy sounds the air, as the priest with the hyssop\n Sprinkles the congregation, and scatters blessings upon them.\u201d\n\nSome one has said of this street that it is like a boa-constrictor\nafter it has swallowed an ox and stretched itself out to digest him,\nand the Quirinal Hill is the ox.\n\nAll the world was out that evening, and even the most insensible\npromenader spared a glance for the sky. It was Roman form with Gothic\ncolors, the round arch of the heavens a pale, pure gold, bright, yet\ntender as a flower, and against that background, less like a city than\nlike an embossed picture, Rome, with its great cupola, its crowded\nbeauties of architecture, its pines and its cypresses. Of the\npersonages, more or less distinguished, in the circle of carriages\nbehind them, the new-comers took but little note. The old papal\npicture, with its cardinals\u2019 coaches and its prelates\u2019 costumes, was\neffaced, and there was nothing in the human part of the scene more\nstriking than the last Paris fashions\u2014as if some tyro with his coarse\nbrush should paint over a Titian. If one should seek for royalty in\nthat crowd, he would not find the angelic old king, clothed in white,\nas if already among the blest, beaming on all the faces turned toward\nhim, and giving benediction right and left as he went. In place of\nthat might be seen to pass a brutal face, with the color of one\nhalf-strangled, with upturned nose and curled-up moustache, and with\neyes whose glances no respectable woman would encounter. The Roman\npeople used to say, \u201cWhen the pope comes out, the sun comes out\u201d; but\nno such shining proverb was suggested by this dark and forbidding\nface.\n\nThe Signora, looking with her friends, seemed herself to behold Rome\nfor the first time, and to see in swift contrast both present and\npast. Was it past, indeed, and for ever, that dominion of centuries,\naround which had gathered a glory so _unique_? She stretched her hands\nout involuntarily, and sighed in the song of the vanquished Moors:\n\n \u201cAy de mi, Alhama!\u201d\n\nMr. Vane turned to her rather suddenly. \u201cI have great confidence in\nyour sincerity,\u201d he said, \u201cand I believe that you who know the truth\nneed not fear. Now, setting aside the questions of the right of the\nchurch to possess Rome, and the need she has of it as a base of\noperations, and the fact that the great functions are no longer\nperformed, tell me, do you really regret the old time?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are setting aside a great deal,\u201d she said smilingly; \u201cbut I\nanswer you yes with all my heart. Rome has lost in every way. There\nseems no longer in the world a place for tired people to come to. All\nis hurry, and fret, and fuss; and comfort is gone. Has it ever\noccurred to you to think that many people, especially in progressive\ncountries, inflict an immense deal of discomfort on themselves and\nothers in striving for what they call the comforts of life, losing\nwith one hand what they gain with the other? The contented spirit is\ngone, the quiet, the patience, the simplicity, the charity. Poverty\nwas never before unpitied in Rome, and now the poor not only beg, they\nstarve. They never starved in the old time. I would not undervalue the\nimprovements of modern science\u2014I am proud of them; but they are not\nall, nor the greatest, glories of life. Such of them as suited the\nplace would have come in gently and gradually, without disturbing\nanything. They have been brought in at the point of the bayonet, and\nthe bayonet-point has been left in them. We still feel it. I sometimes\npity these progressionists, who are often, no doubt, sincere in their\nhopes and aspirations, as well as immensely conceited at the same\ntime. They feel the pains of life for themselves and for others, and\nthey fancy that they have found a new solution for the problem that\nthe church solved centuries ago, and that they can have heaven let\ndown to them, instead of having the trouble of climbing to it. It\u2019s a\npitiful thing to dedicate one\u2019s life to a great mistake. Yes, Rome is\nspoilt, looking at it from a philanthropic as well as from an artistic\nand a religious point of view.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt was here Lucullus gave his famous supper,\u201d Isabel said, glancing\nback at the gardens. \u201cWas that what is called the most costly supper\never given? I forget.\u201d\n\nBianca clasped the Signora\u2019s arm and whispered against her shoulder:\n\u201cWe know a costlier one, don\u2019t we?\u201d\n\n\u201cSpeak, darling!\u201d was the answering whisper.\n\n\u201cWhere the Host gave himself, and made the feast eternal.\u201d\n\nAfter a few minutes they looked round to find the drive almost\ndeserted, and, entering their carriage, drove slowly homeward, making\na few little turns in the neighborhood to familiarize the new-comers\nwith the location of the house. The _Ave Maria_ was ringing from all\nthe belfries, great and small, from storied _campanile_, and little\narches set against the sky; workmen and workwomen were going homeward,\nand windows were everywhere being shut on the beautiful twilight,\nwhose air the Italians so fear.\n\nThey went up to the _sala_, and, albeit with a sigh, shut out the west\nwith its crescent now triumphant, and all the sweetness of orange and\njasmine flowers, and all the twitter of subsiding birds.\n\n\u201cI think,\u201d the Signora said, \u201cthat the Roman past wishes, to\nmonopolize the Roman nights, and that the unhealthy air we fear is\nnothing but the breath of ghosts who do not desire our company out of\ndoors. But it\u2019s a pity, besides being very disagreeable of them.\u201d\n\nAnnunciata brought in a lamp, and said \u201c_Buona sera!_\u201d in setting it\ndown.\n\n\u201cThey always wish you _buona sera_ when they bring the lamp, and\n_felice_ or _felicissima notte_ when they leave you for the night,\u201d\nthe Signora said. \u201cImpatient as I am with them sometimes, they\nconstantly conciliate me by some pretty custom. I followed one of\nthese customs this morning\u2014a beautiful one, too. It is this: When a\npriest says his first Mass, any one who will may follow him to the\nsacristy, and kiss his hand in the palm and at the back. Isn\u2019t it\nbeautiful? A young priest from one of the colleges said his first Mass\nin the Borghese chapel this morning. An elder priest, whom they call\nin such cases the _padrino_ or god-father, stood by him, and two young\nfellow-students served the Mass, one of them receiving Holy Communion.\nWhen it was over, I begged and received permission to kiss the sacred\nhand that had just consecrated and touched the Holy Eucharist for the\nfirst time.\u201d\n\nThey were a little tired that evening, and separated very soon after\nsupper. The father went to his room, Isabel to hers, and, after their\ndoors had closed, the Signora stole to Bianca\u2019s to give her one\ngood-night kiss, and found her just kneeling by her bedside.\n\nThe girl gave a tearful smile over her shoulder, but did not rise.\n\n\u201c_Felicissima notte!_\u201d said her friend, and, embracing, left her to\nthe care of the angels.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n\n\nTHE IRISH HOME-RULE MOVEMENT.\n\nII.\n\n\nWhatever the ultimate fate and fortunes of the Irish Home-Rule\nmovement may be, it must be conceded that the projectors of no other\npolitical endeavor witnessed in Ireland for a century past took\ngreater pains than did its founders to constitute the undertaking as\nthe work, not of a party or a section or a class, but of the whole\nnation.\n\nFor three years, from 1870 to 1873, the organization had existed in\nthe precursory or preliminary character described in the last number\nof THE CATHOLIC WORLD. Signs which could not be misread had, with\nincreasing frequency and force, proclaimed that even already it might\nwell, without presumption, adopt a more authoritative tone; but to the\nmen who guided its counsels, these things spoke only of the moment\ncome at last for submitting their work to formal ratification or\nrejection by the country.\n\nIn what manner, or by what means, could the opinions of the Irish\npeople best be collected or ascertained for such a purpose? By the\nformal and regular, open, public, and free election of parochial,\nbaronial, or county delegates to a national convention, of course. But\nthere is a law which forbids such a proceeding in Ireland. Delegates\nmay be elected, and may sit, deliberate, vote, and act, in convention\nassembled, in England, Scotland, or Wales; but if such a proceeding\nwere attempted in Ireland the parties would be liable to\nimprisonment.[161] A formal election of delegates to a national\nconvention being therefore impracticable, what course would be deemed\nnext best? Only by _indirect_ means could the results which such a\nconvention would _directly_ supply be replaced. The votes of the\nparliamentary representatives would have been an excellent test of the\npublic feeling, had those representatives been elected by such free\nchoice as the present system of vote by ballot secures in Ireland. But\nin 1873 it was only at desperate cost the Irish constituencies could\nventure to exercise the franchise as conscience dictated. The votes of\nmunicipal representatives, and other popularly elected public bodies,\nwould come next in importance, yet these were amenable to a similar\nobjection; although, as a matter of fact, a vast proportion (probably\na large majority) of those representatives, even in 1873, would vote a\nprotest against the rule of the English Parliament. Summoning classes,\nas classes, to sit in Dublin as a national council was not to be\nlistened to. For a long period these were the questions, the\nperplexing problems, which, adjourned from meeting to meeting,\noccupied the Home Government Council. At length they decided that\nthere was nothing for it but to convene by a great National\nRequisition, which should be a sort of _pl\u00e9biscite_ or declaration in\nitself, an aggregate conference of delegates or \u201cdeputations\u201d from\nevery county in Ireland. It was urged by some that the requisition\nshould be an \u201copen\u201d one\u2014merely calling upon the conference to discuss\nthe Irish situation; but this view gave way before the advantage of\nmaking the requisition itself a more or less decisive pronouncement\nfrom the thousands of influential and patriotic Irishmen who could\nnot, from one reason or another, be actually present in Dublin. The\nform of the document was, in fact, decided only after consultation\nwith at least a few of the most prominent men in each of the various\nsections of national politicians: Repealers, Conservative\nNationalists, \u201cForty-eight-men,\u201d O\u2019Connellites, Mitchelites, Fenians,\nLiberals, etc. The well-known veteran Repealer, O\u2019Neill Daunt,\nproceeded to Tuam specially charged to seek the counsel and\nco-operation of the great man whose name alone it was felt would be\nequivalent to national approval\u2014the illustrious Dr. McHale,\n\u201cArchbishop of the West.\u201d If any one living could be fairly assumed to\nspeak as O\u2019Connell himself would speak if now alive, \u201cJohn McHale\u201d was\nthe man. He was the old Repeal cause personified.[162]\n\nMr. Daunt returned to Dublin bearing the news that not only did the\narchbishop approve, but that he would himself head the requisition.\nThe announcement was hailed with cheers, like the tidings of some\ngreat victory. A few days later, accordingly, the following form of\nrequisition was circulated for signature:\n\n \u201cWe, the undersigned, feel bound to declare our conviction\n that it is necessary to the peace and prosperity of Ireland,\n and would be conducive to the strength and stability of the\n United Kingdom, that the right of domestic legislation on\n all Irish affairs should be restored to our country; and\n that it is desirable that Irishmen should unite to obtain\n that restoration upon the following principles:\n\n \u201cTo obtain for our country the right and privilege of\n managing our own affairs, by a Parliament assembled in\n Ireland, composed of Her Majesty the Sovereign, and the\n lords and commons of Ireland.\n\n \u201cTo secure for that Parliament, under a federal arrangement,\n the right of legislating for and regulating all matters\n relating to the internal affairs of Ireland, and control\n over Irish resources and revenues, subject to the obligation\n of contributing our just proportion of the imperial\n expenditure.\n\n \u201cTo leave to an Imperial Parliament the power of dealing\n with all questions affecting the imperial crown and\n government, legislation regarding the colonies and other\n dependencies of the crown, the relation of the united empire\n with foreign states, and all matters appertaining to the\n defence and the stability of the empire at large.\n\n \u201cTo obtain such an adjustment of the relations between the\n two countries without any interference with the prerogatives\n of the crown, or any disturbance of the principles of the\n constitution.\n\n \u201cAnd we hereby invite a conference, to be held at such time\n and place as may be found generally most convenient, of all\n those favorable to the above principles, to consider the\n best and most expedient means of carrying them into\n practical effect.\u201d\n\nIt was expected that probably between five and ten thousand signatures\nmight be obtained to this document among the influential political\nclasses in Ireland, rendering it the largest and most notable array of\nthe kind ever seen in the country. In a few weeks, however, nearly\n_twenty-five thousand_ names of what may truly be called\n\u201crepresentative men\u201d were appended to it! Only those who were in\nIreland at the time can know what a sensation was created by the\nappearance of the leading Dublin newspapers one day with four or five\npages of each devoted to what could be after all only a portion of\nthis monster requisition. Not only was every county represented,\nnearly every barony had sent its best and worthiest men. Although most\namazement was at the time created by the array of what was termed \u201cmen\nof position,\u201d the promoters of the movement valued even more the names\nof certain men in middle and humble life, town traders,\ntenant-farmers, artisans, and others, who were well known to be the\nmen in each locality most trusted by their own class. Of magistrates,\nmembers of Parliament, peers (a few), bishops, clergymen (Protestant\nas well as Catholic), mayors, sheriffs, municipal representatives,\ntown-commissioners, poor-law guardians, there were altogether\nliterally thousands. So general a mingling of classes and creeds and\npolitical sections had never before been known (on a scale of such\nmagnitude) in Ireland. Yet no effort had been made to collect\nsignatures after the fashion of petition-signing. The object was to\nseek a half-dozen names of really representative men from each\ndistrict, and these were applied for through the post-office. In\nnearly every case the document, when returned signed by a score or\ntwo, was accompanied by a letter stating that as many thousands of\nsignatures from that district would have been forwarded if necessary.\n\nTuesday, the 18th of November, 1873, was the date publicly fixed for\nthe conference, which was convened \u201cto meet from day to day until its\nproceedings are concluded.\u201d As the day approached, the most intense\ninterest and curiosity were excited by the event, not merely in Dublin\nand throughout Ireland, but all over Great Britain. The great circular\nhall of the Rotunda was transformed into the semblance of a\nlegislative chamber, the attendant suite of apartments being converted\ninto division lobbies,[163] dining-rooms, writing-rooms, etc., while\nthe handsome gallery which sweeps around the hall was set apart for\nspectators.\n\nThe English newspapers seemed much troubled by all this. They did not\nlike that Ireland should in any shape or form take to \u201cplaying at\nparliament,\u201d as they sneeringly expressed it; and this conference\naffair was vividly, dangerously suggestive to the \u201ctoo imaginative\u201d\nIrish. There was, however, they declared, one consolation for them:\nout of evil would come good; this same conference would effectually\ncure the Irish of any desire for a native parliament, and show the\nworld how unfit were Hibernians for a separate legislature. Because\n(so declared and prophesied the English papers from day to day) before\nthe conference would be three hours in session, there would be a\n\u201cDonnybrook row\u201d; fists would be flourished and heads broken; Old\nIrelanders and Young Irelanders, Repealers and Federalists, Fenians\nand Home-Rulers, would, it was declared, \u201cfly at one another\u2019s\nthroats.\u201d At least a dozen English editors simultaneously hit upon the\nwitty joke about \u201cthe Kilkenny cats.\u201d\n\nThis sort of \u201cprophesying\u201d went on with such suspicious energy, as the\nday neared for the meeting of the conference, that it began to be\nsurmised the government party was meditating an attempt to verify it.\nSigns were not wanting that wily and dexterous, as well as pecuniary,\nefforts were being made to incite dissent and disturbance. Admittance\nto the conference was obtainable by any one who had signed the\nrequisition, on recording his name and address; and it was quite\npracticable for a few government emissaries, by pretending to be very\n\u201cadvanced\u201d Nationalists, uncompromising Repealers or anti-tory\nCatholics, to get up flourishing disputations and \u201crows.\u201d Indeed,\nanxiety, if not apprehension, on this score seemed to prevail to some\ndegree on the eve of the 18th. Would there be \u201csplits,\u201d would there be\ndiscord and turbulence and impossibility of reconcilement, or would\nthere be order and decorum, earnest debate, but harmonious spirit and\naction? All felt that the event at hand was one of critical importance\nto Ireland.\n\nFor four days\u2014the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st of November, 1873\u2014the\nconference continued in session, sitting each day at eleven o\u2019clock in\nthe morning, and adjourning at six o\u2019clock in the afternoon. The\nnumber of \u201cdelegates\u201d was 947;[164] and the daily attendance at each\nsitting averaged about six hundred. Fortunately, an authentic record\nwas taken of the composition of the assembly; and it is only on\nglancing over the names and addresses of those nine hundred gentlemen\nthat a full conception of its character can be formed. One of the most\nnotable features in the scene, one that called forth much public\ncomment as an indication of the deep public interest felt in the\nproceedings, was the crowded gallery of ladies and gentlemen who,\nhaving succeeded in obtaining admission-cards, day by day sat out the\ndebates, listening with eager attention to all that went forward. The\npressure for these admission-cards increased each day, and at the\nfinal sitting, on the 21st, it was found impossible to seat the\nhundreds of visitors who filled the avenues to the gallery.\n\nThere was much speculation as to who would be selected as chairman of\nthe convention. The choice when made known called forth universal\napprobation. It was Mr. William Shaw, Member of Parliament for the\nborough of Bandon,[165] a Protestant gentleman of the highest position\nand reputation, a banker (president of the Munster Bank), a man of\nlarge wealth, of grave and undemonstrative manner, but of great depth\nand quiet force of character. He was one of the last men in Ireland\nwho would answer the description of an \u201cIrish agitator\u201d as English\nartists draw the sketch. He was one who had everything to lose and\nnothing to gain by \u201crevolution,\u201d yet he had early joined the movement\nfor Irish self-government, declaring that he did so as a business man\nhaving a large stake in the prosperity of the country, and because he\nsaw that the present system was only the \u201cpretence of a government\u201d\nfor Ireland.\n\nNaturally the chief event of the first day\u2019s sitting was Mr. Butt\u2019s\ngreat speech or opening statement on the whole case. It was a masterly\nreview of the question of Irish legislative independence, and a\npowerful vindication of the federal adjustment now under\nconsideration. He went minutely and historically into every fact and\ncircumstance and every element of consideration, making his address\nrather a great argument than an oratorical display. At the close,\nhowever, when he came to tell how he himself had been led into this\nmovement\u2014how it began, how it had grown, till now he surrendered it\ninto their keeping\u2014his voice trembled with emotion. \u201cState trials were\nnot new to me,\u201d he exclaimed:\n\n \u201cTwenty years before I stood near Smith O\u2019Brien when he\n braved the sentence of death which the law pronounced upon\n him. I saw Meagher meet the same, and I then asked myself\n this: \u2018Surely the state is out of joint, surely all our\n social system is unhinged, when men like O\u2019Brien and Meagher\n are condemned to a traitor\u2019s doom?\u2019 Years passed away, and\n once more I stood by men who had dared the desperate\n enterprise of freeing their country by revolt.\u2026 I heard\n their words of devotion to their country as with firm step\n and unyielding heart they left the dock, and went down the\n dark passage that led them to the place where all hope\n closed upon them, and I asked myself again: \u2018Is there no way\n to arrest this? Are our best and bravest spirits ever to be\n carried away under this system of constantly-resisted\n oppression and constantly-defeated revolt? Can we find no\n means by which the national quarrel that has led to all\n these terrible results may be set right?\u2019 I believe, in my\n conscience, we have found it. I believe that England has now\n the opportunity of adjusting the quarrel of centuries. Let\n me say it\u2014I do so proudly\u2014that I was one of those who did\n something in this cause. Over a torn and distracted\n country\u2014a country agitated by dissension, weakened by\n distrust\u2014we raised the banner on which we emblazoned the\n magic words, \u2018Home Rule.\u2019 We raised it with feeble hand.\n Tremblingly, with hesitation, almost stealthily, we unfurled\n that banner to the breeze. But wherever the legend we had\n emblazoned on its folds was seen the heart of the people\n moved to its words, and the soul of the nation felt their\n power and their spell. Those words were passed from man to\n man along the valley and the hillside. Everywhere men, even\n those who had been despairing, turned to that banner with\n confidence and hope. Thus far we have borne it. It is for\n you now to bear it on with more energy, with more strength,\n and with renewed vigor. We hand it over to you in this\n gathering of the nation. But, oh! let no unholy hands\n approach it. Let no one come to the help of our country,\n\n \u2018Or dare to lay his hand upon the ark\n Of her magnificent and awful cause\u2019\n\n who is not prepared never, never to desert that banner till\n it flies proudly over the portals of that \u2018old house at\n home\u2019\u2014that old house which is associated with memories of\n great Irishmen, and has been the scene of many glorious\n triumphs. Even while the blaze of those glories is at this\n moment throwing its splendor over the memory of us all, I\n believe in my soul that the parliament of regenerated\n Ireland will achieve triumphs more glorious, more lasting,\n more sanctified and holy, than any by which her old\n parliament illumined the annals of our country and our race.\n\nAs his last words died away the assemblage, rising as one man, burst\ninto cheers long protracted, and it was only after several minutes\nthat order was restored.\n\nMr. Butt had spoken to a complete series of resolutions, which he now\nsubmitted to the conference; he concluded by formally moving the first\nof them:\n\n \u201cI. That, as the basis of the proceedings of this conference,\n we declare our conviction that it is essentially necessary\n to the peace and prosperity of Ireland that the right of\n domestic legislation on all Irish affairs should be restored\n to our country.\u201d\n\nIt was seconded by Mr. Joseph P. Ronayne, M.P. for Cork City, a man as\nhonest and as just as Aristides; an \u201cadvanced Nationalist,\u201d one in\nwhose honor, sincerity, and earnestness Fenians and non-Fenians alike\nimplicitly confided. \u201cI did not take part,\u201d he said, \u201cin public life\nfor the last twenty years, and I hesitated a long time before joining\nthe Home-Rule movement. I was a simple Repealer, when simple Repeal\nwas the form in which Ireland demanded the restitution of her\nnationality. I was a rebel in \u201948.\u201d After this manly avowal of his\nposition Mr. Ronayne closed a brief but forcible speech as follows:\n\n \u201cI have no quarrel with the English people; their sins\n against Ireland are sins of ignorance, not of intention. Our\n quarrel is with the government, and against the system which\n has prevailed ever since England claimed possession of this\n country. The measure of Mr. Butt will solve the difficulties\n of the situation. I think we will maintain what is the\n sentiment of the Irish people\u2014what they contended for with\n England when England and Ireland were Catholic, as well as\n when England and Ireland were Protestant and Catholic\u2014that\n is, the nationality of Ireland. And I see no way but that\n proposed by Mr. Butt by which this great end can be\n obtained, consistently with the maintenance of friendly\n relations between the two countries.\u201d\n\nA still more important announcement, from what is called the\n\u201cNationalist\u201d as well as the Repeal point of view, was made by the\nnext speaker, Mr. John Martin, M.P., who moved the second resolution.\nHe, too, avowed himself by preference a Repealer, and every one knew\nhe had been a martyr, prisoner, and exile for his share in the events\nof \u201948. But in language strong, clear, and decisive he gave his\napproval to the Home-Rule scheme:\n\n \u201cBecause I believe that this measure of home government,\n this new arrangement of the relations between the two\n countries, will operate sufficiently for the interests\u2014for\n all the interests\u2014of the Irish people; because I think, if\n carried into effect according to the principles enunciated\n in these resolutions, it will be honorable to the Irish\n nation, it will be consistent with the dignity of the Irish\n nation, and it will be safe for all its interests; and also\n because, as to so much of the rights and prerogatives of the\n Irish nation as are by this scheme of Home Rule to be left\n under the jurisdiction of an imperial parliament, in which\n we shall be represented, I consider that those are only the\n same rights and attributes that, under the old system, were\n practically left together to the control of the English\n Parliament and the English Privy Council and ministry.\u201d\n\nThe full report of the proceedings at this conference, compiled from\nthe daily newspapers and published by the Home-Rule League, is one of\nthe most interesting publications of a political character issued in\nIreland for many years. The speakers exhibited marked ability, and\nthey represented every phase of Irish national opinion. There was very\nearnest debate; amendments were moved and discussed; points were\nraised, contested, decided. But the great fact that astounded the\noutside public, and utterly confounded the prophetic English\njournalists, was that, warm, protracted, and severe as were some of\nthe discussions, free and full interchange of opinion in every\ninstance sufficed to bring about conviction, and settled every issue\nwithout resort to a poll of votes. Every resolution was carried\nunanimously,[166] and on no question, from first to last, was there\nneed to take a division. \u201cIt is not like Ireland at all,\u201d said an\nastonished critic. \u201cWhat on earth has become of our traditional\ncontentiousness and discord?\u201d\n\nThe following were the principal resolutions of the conference,\nbesides the first, already quoted above:\n\nMoved by Mr. John Martin, M.P. (Meath), and seconded by Mr. Roland\nPonsonby Blennerhassett, M.P. (Kerry):\n\n \u201cThat, solemnly reasserting the inalienable right of the\n Irish people to self-government, we declare that the time,\n in our opinion, has come when a combined and energetic\n effort should be made to obtain the restoration of that\n right.\u201d\n\nMoved by the Mayor of Cork (Mr. John Daly), seconded by the Hon.\nCharles French, M.P. (Roscommon, brother of Lord de Freyne):\n\n \u201cThat, in accordance with the ancient and constitutional\n rights of the Irish nation, we claim the privilege of\n managing our own affairs by a parliament assembled in\n Ireland, and composed of the sovereign, the lords, and the\n commons of Ireland.\u201d\n\nMoved by the Rev. Joseph A. Galbraith, F.T.C.D., Trinity College,[167]\nand seconded by the Rev. Thomas O\u2019Shea, P.P. (the celebrated \u201cFather\nTom O\u2019Shea,\u201d of the Tenant League):\n\n \u201cThat, in claiming these rights and privileges for our\n country, we adopt the principle of a federal arrangement,\n which would secure to the Irish parliament the right of\n legislating for, and regulating all matters relating to, the\n internal affairs of Ireland, while leaving to the imperial\n Parliament the power of dealing with all questions affecting\n the imperial crown and government, legislation regarding the\n colonies and other dependencies of the crown, the relations\n of the empire with foreign states, and all matters\n appertaining to the defence and stability of the empire at\n large, as well as the power of granting and providing the\n supplies necessary for imperial purposes.\u201d\n\nMoved by Sir Joseph Neale McKenna, and seconded by Mr. McCarthy\nDowning, M.P. (Cork County):\n\n \u201cThat such an arrangement does not involve any change in the\n existing constitution of the imperial Parliament or any\n interference with the prerogatives of the crown or\n disturbance of the principles of the constitution.\u201d\n\nMoved by Sir John Gray, M.P. (Kilkenny), and seconded by Mr. D. M.\nO\u2019Conor, M.P. (Roscommon, brother of the O\u2019Conor Don):\n\n \u201cThat, to secure to the Irish people the advantages of\n constitutional government, it is essential that there should\n be in Ireland an administration of Irish affairs,\n controlled, according to constitutional principles, by the\n Irish parliament, and conducted by ministers\n constitutionally responsible to that Parliament.\u201d\n\nMoved by Mr. Mitchell Henry, M.P. (Galway), and seconded by Mr. W. J.\nO\u2019Neill Daunt, Kilcaskan Castle, County Cork:\n\n \u201cThat, in the opinion of this conference, a federal\n arrangement, based upon these principles, would consolidate\n the strength and maintain the integrity of the empire, and\n add to the dignity and power of the imperial crown.\u201d\n\nMoved by Mr. W. A. Redmond, M.P. (Wexford), and seconded by Mr. Edmond\nDease, M.P. (Queen\u2019s County):\n\n \u201cThat, while we believe that in an Irish parliament the\n rights and liberties of all classes of our countrymen would\n find their best and surest protection, we are willing that\n there should be incorporated in the federal constitution\n articles supplying the amplest guarantees that no change\n shall be made by that parliament in the present settlement\n of property in Ireland, and that no legislation shall be\n adopted to establish any religious ascendency in Ireland, or\n to subject any person to disabilities on account of his\n religious opinions.\u201d\n\nMoved by Mr. C. G. Doran, T.C. (Queenstown), and seconded by Mr. John\nO\u2019Connor Power (Tuam):\n\n \u201cThat this conference cannot separate without calling on the\n Irish constituencies at the next general election to return\n men earnestly and truly devoted to the great cause which\n this conference has been called to promote, and who, in any\n emergency that may arise, will be ready to take counsel with\n a great national conference, to be called in such a manner\n as to represent the opinions and feelings of the Irish\n nation; and that, with a view of rendering members of\n Parliament and their constituencies more in accord on all\n questions affecting the welfare of the country, it is\n recommended by this conference that at the close of each\n session of Parliament the representatives should render to\n their constituents an account of their stewardship.\u201d\n\nMoved by Mr. George L. Bryan, M.P. (Kilkenny), and seconded by Mr. P.\nCallan, M.P. (Dundalk):\n\n \u201cThat, in order to carry these objects into practical\n effect, an association be now formed, to be called \u2018The\n Irish Home-Rule League,\u2019 of which the essential and\n fundamental principles shall be those declared in the\n resolutions adopted at this conference, and of which the\n object, and only object, shall be to obtain for Ireland, by\n peaceable and constitutional means, the self-government\n claimed in these resolutions.\u201d\n\nThe remaining resolutions dealt with the constitution of the new\norganization thus founded, and decreed an appeal \u201cto the Irish race\nall over the world\u201d for funds to assist them in the great struggle now\nentered upon.\n\nThus was established the \u201cIrish Home-Rule League\u201d which to-day holds\nso prominent a position in Ireland.\n\nAmerican readers, familiar enough with O\u2019Connell\u2019s demand for Repeal,\nwill naturally be anxious to learn in what precisely does the above\nprogramme differ from that of the great Liberator. O\u2019Connell, who had\nhimself seen the Irish Parliament, and, young as he was, sought to\nresist its overthrow, grew into life with the simple idea of undoing\nthe evil which yesterday had wrought; in other words, restoring the\nstate of things which existed before the \u201cUnion.\u201d This was known as\n\u201csimple Repeal\u201d\u2014Repeal and nothing more. Such a demand, arising almost\non the instant, or out of the evil act complained of, was quite\nnatural; but when time had elapsed, and when serious changes and\nalterations in the circumstances and relations of the countries had\ncome about, men had to perceive that simple Repeal would land them, in\nsome respects, in an antiquated and impossible state of things. Thus\nin the Irish Parliament no Catholic could sit, while the act of 1829\nadmitted Catholics to the imperial Parliament. Again, the franchise\nand the \u201cpocket\u201d constituencies that had returned the Irish House of\nCommons could not be restored without throwing the country into the\nhands of a Protestant minority. Numerous other absurdities and\nanomalies\u2014things which existed in 1799, but that would be quite out of\nall sense in 1844\u2014might be pointed out. O\u2019Connell saw this, but relied\nupon the hope of obtaining not only simple Repeal, but also such\nimprovements as the lapse of time had rendered necessary; and he\nrelied further on the necessity which there would be for Ireland and\nEngland, after Repeal, agreeing upon some scheme for the joint\ngovernment of the countries; in other words, some shape or degree of\nfederalism.\n\nBut the great blot upon the old system was that, although under it\nIreland had a totally separate legislature and exchequer, she never\nhad (or under it had the right to have) a separate responsible\nadministration or cabinet. The cabinet or administration that ruled\nIreland was formed by, and solely responsible to, the _English_\nParliament. The Irish Parliament had not the right or power to remove\na minister; was not able, no matter by what majority, to displace even\nan administration actually conspiring against Irish liberties. Without\na separate Irish administration, responsible to the Irish Parliament,\nremovable by its vote, and liable to its impeachment, it may be said\nthat the legislative independence of Ireland was a frail possession.\nEvents showed this to be so.\n\nThe Home-Rule scheme has been concisely described by some of its\nadvocates as offering _beforehand_ the arrangements between the two\ncountries which under the Repeal plan would have to be laid down\n_afterwards_. Instead of first simply severing the Union, and then\ngoing to work to reconstruct everything, the Home-Rulers project their\nreconstruction beforehand, and claim that one advantage of this is in\na large degree to allay alarms and avert hostility. Their plan\nproposes to secure for Ireland the great advantage of a separate\nresponsible Irish ministry; offering, in exchange for this, to give up\nto the imperial executive such powers as the States in America give to\nthe Washington Congress and executive, as distinguished from the\npowers and functions reserved to the State legislatures and\ngovernments. In fine, the Home-Rule scheme has been borrowed largely,\nthough not altogether, from the United States of America: Ireland to\nrule and legislate, finally and supremely, on all domestic affairs;\nall affairs common to England, Ireland, and Scotland to be ruled and\nlegislated for by an administration and parliament in which all three\nwill be represented. There are, no doubt, in America many patriotic\nIrishmen who think this far too little for Ireland to demand; who\ncontend she should seek nothing less than total separation and\nindependence; the price, undisguisedly, being civil war with its\nlottery of risks and chances. However this may be, the Irish people,\nif ever their voice has been heard for a century, on the 18th of\nNovember, 1873, solemnly and publicly spoke for themselves, and their\ndemand so formulated is now before the world.\n\nThere can be no doubt\u2014it is now very well known\u2014that the proceedings\nat the Irish National Conference, especially the unanimity, power, and\ninfluence there displayed, had been keenly watched by the London\ngovernment. Mr. Gladstone had been losing ground in the English\nby-elections for a year past; but as long as there was a hope of the\nIrish Liberal vote remaining he had no need to fear yet awhile. The\nconference, however, was read by him as a declaration of war. The\nHome-Rule leaders themselves realized the critical state of affairs;\nthey were confident Mr. Gladstone would dissolve Parliament and strike\nat them in the approaching summer; and accordingly they set themselves\nto prepare for the conflict. The \u201cChristmas holidays\u201d intervening, it\nwas the first or second week in January before the newly-formed\nHome-Rule League had fully constituted itself and elected its council.\nIts leaders, however, scenting danger, went quickly to work, and\narranged for beginning in February a thorough organization of the\nconstituencies. In February! They were dealing with a man who had no\nidea of giving his adversaries six months, or even six weeks, to\nprepare. They were doomed to be taken unawares and nearly swept off\ntheir feet by a surprise as sudden and complete as the springing of a\nmine.\n\nOn the morning of Saturday, January 24, 1874, the people of the\nBritish Islands woke to find Parliament dissolved. No surprise could\nbe more complete; for Parliament had stood summoned for the first week\nin February. At midnight on the 23d Mr. Gladstone sprang this grand\nsurprise on his foes, English Conservative and Irish Home-Ruler,\nhoping to overwhelm both by the secrecy and suddenness of the attack.\nAnd for a while it quite seemed as if he had correctly calculated and\nwould succeed. The wildest confusion and dismay prevailed. There was\nno time to do anything but simply rush out and fight helter-skelter.\nIn Ireland the first momentary feeling seemed to be one almost of\ndespair. \u201cOh! had we but even another month.\u201d Yet no cowardly despair;\nonly the first gasp of a brave people taken at utter disadvantage.\n\nFor the Home-Rule leaders it was a moment of almost sad and certainly\noppressive responsibility and anxiety. They knew how little allowance\nwould be made for the mere dexterity whereby they had been thus\noutwitted, if they should lose the campaign, as it seemed to many they\nmust. But not a moment did they waste in sighing for what might have\nbeen. There was an instantaneous rush to the council-rooms, and before\nthe tidings from London were twenty-four hours old there had begun\nwhat may be called a three weeks\u2019 sitting _en permanence_ of the\nHome-Rule executive. It is almost literally true that it sat night and\nday throughout that time, receiving and forwarding despatches from and\nto all parts of the country, by telegraph, by mail, and by special\nmessenger. The Home-Rulers had always held forth as an object which\nthey could achieve, or were determined to achieve, in fair time, and\nafter necessary preparations, the conquest of some seventy seats out\nof the Irish one hundred and three. To secure even _thirty_ just now\nin this rush was deemed a daring hope. But it seemed as if enthusiasm\nand popular indignation at the Gladstonian _coup_ compensated for lack\nof preparation or organization. It was a great national uprising.\nNorth, south, east, and west the constituencies themselves set the\nHome-Rule flag flying. Ireland was aflame.\n\nThis was the first general election under the free and fearless voting\nof the ballot.[168] No more complaints by voters of \u201ccoercion\u201d or\n\u201cintimidation\u201d by \u201clandlord\u201d or \u201cclergy\u201d or \u201cmob.\u201d Neither bullying\nnor bribing would any more be of use. At last, for the first time, the\nmind of the elector himself would prevail, and the constituencies of\nIreland were free to pass a verdict on the Act of Union.\n\nOne drawback, however, threatened to baffle their purpose. Candidates!\nWhere were trustworthy candidates to be found? The Home-Rule council\nhad gone upon the plan of refusing to provide or recommend candidates,\nthinking to force upon the constituencies themselves the\nresponsibility of such selection. \u201cWe will set up no candidate-factory\nhere in Dublin,\u201d they said; \u201cit might lead to intrigue. We\u2019ll keep\nclear of it; let each county and borough choose for itself.\u201d But this\nhad to be given up. The cry from the constituencies showed its folly:\n\u201cCandidates, candidates! For the love of God send us a candidate, and\nwe\u2019ll sweep this county for Home-Rule.\u201d As a matter of fact, owing to\nthe dearth of suitable candidates, no less than a dozen seats had to\nbe let go by default without any contest at all; while in as many more\ncases converts from mere liberalism to Home Rule, whose sincerity was\nhardly acceptable, had, from the same cause, to be let pass in \u201con\ngood behavior.\u201d\n\nThere was, there could be, but little of general plan over the whole\nfield; it was fight all round, the whole island being simultaneously\nengaged. This was Mr. Gladstone\u2019s able generalship: to prevent the\nHome-Rule leaders from being able to concentrate their resources on\none place at a time. Nevertheless, they were his inferiors neither in\nability nor in strategy, as the event proved. Upon the vantage points\nwhich he deemed most precious they delivered their heaviest fire, and\nin no case unsuccessfully.[169] The contests that, each in some\npeculiar way, most forcibly demonstrated the determination of the\npeople, their intense devotion to the Home-Rule cause, were: Cavan, an\nUlster county, where for the first time since the reign of James II. a\nCatholic (one of two Home-Rulers) was returned; Louth, where the\nutmost power of the government was concentrated, all in vain, to\nsecure Mr. Fortescue\u2019s seat; Drogheda, where Mr. Whitworth, a princely\nbenefactor to the town, and an estimable Protestant gentleman, was\nrejected because he was not a Home-Ruler; Wexford, where the son of\nSir James Power, a munificent patron of Catholic charities, was\nrejected by priests and people for the same reason; Limerick County,\nwhere a young Whig Catholic squire, whose hoisting of Home Rule was\ndisbelieved in by the electors, received only about one vote to eight\ncast for a more trustworthy man chosen from the ranks of the people,\nalthough the former gentleman was believed in and strenuously\nsupported by the Catholic clergy; and Kildare, where the son of the\nDuke of Leinster, who owned nearly every acre in the county, was\nutterly routed!\n\nAt length the last gun was fired, the last seat had been lost and won,\nand as the smoke of battle lifted from the scene men gazed eagerly to\nsee how the campaign had gone. The Home-Rulers had triumphed all along\nthe line! Strictly speaking, they failed as to one, and only one, of\nthe seats which they contested\u2014namely, Tralee, where the O\u2019Donoghue (a\nformer National leader, now an anti-Home-Ruler) succeeded against them\nby three votes. They had returned sixty[170] men pledged to their\nprogramme, in the late Parliament the Irish representation stood 55\nLiberals, 38 Conservatives, and 10 Home-Rulers. It now stood 12\nLiberals, 31 Conservatives, and 60 Home-Rulers. The national party\nthus outnumbered all others, Whig and Tory, combined; and, for the\nfirst time since the Union, that measure stood condemned by a majority\nof the parliamentary representatives of the Irish nation.\n\nNot in Ireland alone was Mr. Gladstone overwhelmed by defeat, his\nclever stroke of the midnight dissolution notwithstanding. The English\nelections also went bodily against him. In the middle of the fight he\nresigned, and the minister who met the new Parliament with the seals\nof office in his hand and the smile of victory on his countenance was\nBenjamin Disraeli, the Conservative leader.\n\nThere was considerable uneasiness in England when the Irish elections\nwere found to be going for the Home-Rulers, until it turned out that\nthe Disraeli party had a hundred majority on the British vote. \u201cThe\nempire is saved,\u201d gasped the alarmed Englishmen; \u201cwe were lost if such\na Home-Rule phalanx found parties nearly equal in the House of\nCommons. They would hold the balance of power and dictate terms. Let\nus give thanks for so providential a Tory majority.\u201d There was much\nwriting in the English newspapers in this strain. They took it for\ngranted that the Home-Rulers were \u201cbalked\u201d or checkmated, for a time\nat least, by this unexpected Tory preponderance. It cost them over a\nyear to find out that no one rejoiced more than did the Home-Rule\nleaders in secret over this same state of things; that it was a\ncrowning advantage to the Home-Rulers as a party to have the Liberals\nin opposition for four or five years.\n\nReturning a number of men as Home-Rulers did not necessarily\nconstitute them a political party. Neither would a resolution on their\npart so to act altogether carry out such a purpose. The discipline,\nthe unity, the homogeneity, which constitute the real power of a party\ncome not by mere resolving; they may begin by resolution, but they\ngrow by custom and practice. Men behind the scenes in the Home-Rule\ncouncils knew that serious uneasiness prevailed amongst the leaders\nlest their ranks might be broken up or shaken by the prospect or\nreality of a return of the Liberals to power _too soon_\u2014_i.e._, before\nthey, the Home-Rulers, had had time to settle down or solidify into a\nthoroughly compact body, and before discipline and habit had\naccustomed them to move and act together. Four or five years training\nin opposition was the opportunity they most wanted and desired. From a\ndozen to a score of their rank and file were men who had been\nGladstonian Liberals, and whose fealty would be doubtful if in 1875\nthe disestablisher of the Irish Church called upon them to follow him\nrather than Mr. Butt. These men would at that time have felt\nthemselves \u201cLiberals first, and Home-Rulers after.\u201d Even in any case,\nand as it is, there are six or seven of these former Liberals among\nthe Home-Rule fifty-nine who are looked upon as certain to \u201ccross the\nhouse\u201d with their former chief whenever he returns to office. In 1875\nthese men would have carried a dozen lukewarm waverers along with\nthem; in 1877 they will not carry one, and their own action,\ndiscounted beforehand, will disconcert or surprise no one, and will\nmerely cause them to lose their seats on the first opportunity\nafterwards.\n\nQuickly following upon the general election, the members returned on\nHome-Rule principles assembled in Dublin, 3d of March, 1874 (the\nCouncil Chamber of the city hall being lent to them for that purpose\nby the municipal authorities), and, without a dissentient voice,\npassed a series of resolutions constituting themselves a separate and\ndistinct political party for parliamentary purposes. Whigs and Tories,\nTrojans and Tyrians, were henceforth to be alike to them. The next\nstep was to elect a sort of \u201ccabinet\u201d of nine members, called the\nParliamentary Committee, to act as an executive; while the appointment\nof two of their body most trusted for vigilance, tact, and fidelity,\nto act as \u201cwhips,\u201d[171] completed the formal organization of the\nHome-Rule members as a party.\n\nNot an hour too soon had they perfected their arrangements. The new\nParliament, after a technical opening a fortnight previously,\nassembled for the real despatch of business on Thursday, the 19th of\nMarch, 1874, and next day (on the debate on the Queen\u2019s speech), in\nthe very first hour of their parliamentary life, the Home-Rulers found\nthemselves in the thick of battle. Mr. Butt had taken the field at\nonce with an amendment raising the Irish question. The house was full\nof curiosity to hear \u201cthe Irish Home-Rulers\u201d and see what they were\nlike. It was struck with their combative audacity. It frankly\nconfessed they stood fire \u201clike men,\u201d and that they acquitted\nthemselves on the whole with astonishing ability. From that night\nforward the British House of Commons realized that it had for the\nfirst time a \u201cthird party\u201d within its walls. How utterly opposed this\nis to Englishmen\u2019s ideas of things proper or possible will be gathered\nfrom the fact that they construct or seat the chamber for two, and\nonly two, parties; and that they even still make a great struggle to\nhave it regarded as a \u201cconstitutional theory\u201d that there must be two,\nand can be no more than two, parties in the house\u2014namely, \u201cHer\nMajesty\u2019s Government\u201d and \u201cHer Majesty\u2019s Opposition.\u201d American\nlegislative chambers, as well as French, German, Italian, Austrian,\nare constructed and seated in a semicircle or amphitheatre. The\nBritish, on the contrary, is an oblong hall or short parallelogram,\ndivided right and left by a wide central avenue running its full\nlength from the entrance door to the \u201ctable of the House\u201d fronting the\nspeaker\u2019s chair. There are, therefore, no middle seats; everyone must\nsit on one side or another\u2014with the ministerialists or Tories on the\nright of the chair, or with the opposition or Liberals on the left.\nHalf-way up the floor there runs (right and left to each side of the\nchamber), at right angles to the wide central avenue above referred\nto, a narrow passage often mentioned in newspaper reports as \u201cthe\ngangway.\u201d \u201cAbove the gangway\u201d (or nearest the chair) on each side sit\nrespectively the thick and thin followers of the present or late\nministry. \u201cBelow the gangway\u201d (or farthest from the chair) sit on each\nside men who would occupy some section of the middle seats, if the\nhouse possessed any\u2014the right and left centres, so to speak. The\nHome-Rulers sit in a compact body \u201cbelow the gangway\u201d on the\nopposition side.\n\nIn their third session public opinion has now pretty well gauged and\nmeasured the ability and resources of the Home-Rule party. In their\nfirst campaign, 1874, though much praised because they were infinitely\nbetter in every respect than most people expected, they exhibited\nplentifully the faults and shortcomings of \u201craw levies.\u201d Their formal\ndebate on Home Rule, on the 30th of June and 2d of July, was utterly\nwanting in system and management, and would have been a failure had\nnot the anti-Home-Rule side of the discussion been incontestably much\nworse handled. But never, probably, in parliamentary history has\nanother body of men learned so quickly, and so rapidly attained a high\nposition, as they have done. By the concurrent testimony of their\nadversaries themselves the Home-Rule members are the best disciplined\nand best guided and, in proportion to their numbers, the most able and\npowerful party in the British House of Commons. In order to have a\ncomplete and accurate conception of all that relates to the Irish\nHome-Rule movement, there remains only to be considered the policy or\nline of action on which its leaders propose to operate. How do they\nexpect to carry Home Rule?\n\nAt no time have the criticisms of the English press on the subject of\nHome Rule exhibited anything but the shallowest intelligence; and many\nof the Home-Rule victories have been won because of the stolid\nignorance prevailing in the English camp. The English journalists\ndisliking the Irish government, believe and proclaim to their readers\nonly what accords with their prejudices; and accordingly upon them has\nfallen the fate of the general who refuses to reconnoitre the enemy\nand accurately estimate his strength. On this subject the British\njournalist will have it that he \u201cknows all about it,\u201d and has no need\nto investigate things seriously. From the first hour of the Home-Rule\nmovement he has declared it to be \u201cbreaking up,\u201d \u201cfailing,\u201d \u201cgoing\ndown the hill.\u201d It has been so constantly going _down_ that hill in\nhis story that one never can find out when or how it got _up_ there,\nor whether there is any bottom to the declivity which it can ever\nreach in such a rapid and persistent downward motion. On no feature of\nthe Home-Rule question has there been more affectation of knowing all\nabout it, and more complacent dogmatism as to its inevitable fate,\nthan this of the Home-Rule plan of action. The way these people look\nat the matter explains their consolatory conclusions. They view the\nHome-Rulers simply as sixty members in a house of six hundred and\nfifty-eight. \u201cSix hundred to sixty\u2014surely it is absurd! Are the Irish\ndemented, to think their sixty will convert our six hundred?\u201d\n\nThis mistake of viewing Mr. Butt and Home Rule just as they view Sir\nWilfrid Lawson and prohibition is just where the English show their\nunpardonable and fatuous want of intelligence. Indeed, others besides\nEnglish commentators fall into this error. They imagine the\nHome-Rulers contemplate working Home Rule through the House of Commons\nby bringing in a \u201cBill\u201d and having an annual \u201cvote\u201d upon it, as if it\nwere the Permissive bill, or the Woman\u2019s Suffrage, or the Game Law\nBill. The Home-Rulers laugh heartily over all this sort of criticism.\nThey dream of nothing of the kind. There is another way of looking at\nthe Home-Rule party and the Home-Rule question in the House of\nCommons.\n\nSix hundred men can indeed very easily vote down sixty, and make short\nwork of their opposition; always supposing these latter to be units\nfrom places wide apart, representing scattered interests or\nspeculative opinions. The House of Commons deals every year, session\nafter session, with several such sixties and seventies and eighties\nand nineties. But it would be a woful apology for \u201cstatesmanship\u201d to\nregard the Home-Rule sixty in this light. In _their_ case the\ngovernment have to do, _not_ with sixty of their own general body of\nBritish members, but with the Irish representation. The question is\nnot with sixty members of the House, but with _Ireland_. In any crisis\nof the empire, as the English Chancellor of the Exchequer said\nrecently about the British representatives on the Suez Canal Board,\n\u201c_their_ votes would be _weighed_, not _counted_.\u201d\n\nThe purpose of the Home-Rulers, for the present at all events, is much\nless with the House of Commons than with the country; they operate on\nthe country through that house. They want to get Ireland into their\nhands; and even already they have very substantially done so. They\nwant to convince and conciliate and enlist the English democracy; and\nthey have very largely succeeded. With this key to their movements,\nthe supreme ability and wisdom which they have displayed will be\nbetter recognized. They have taken the whole of the public affairs of\nIreland into their charge. They have taken every public interest in\nthe country under their protection. Whoever wants anything done or\nattended to, whether he be Catholic, Protestant, or dissenter, now\nlooks to the Home-Rulers, and to them alone. Not the humblest peasant\nin the land but feels that, if a petty village tyrant has wronged him,\nthe Irish party in the House of Commons will \u201cknow the reason why.\u201d\nThey have seized upon every subject deeply affecting the people as a\nwhole, or important classes among them, and showered bills dealing\nwith these subjects on the table of the House of Commons. The\ndistracted premier knows what is beneath all this; he detects the\nmaster-hand of Isaac Butt in this deep strategy. These are not sham\nbills, merely to take up time. They are genuine bills, ably and\ncarefully drawn, and every one of them dealing with a really important\nand pressing matter for Ireland. Every one of them hits a blot; they\nare nearly all such bills as our Irish Parliament would pass. Some of\nthe subjects (such as the \u201cFisheries Bill\u201d) are popular with very\nnearly all classes in Ireland; then there are the University Education\nBill, the Land-Tenure Bill, the Grand Jury Bill, the Municipal\nPrivileges Bill, the Franchise Hill, the Registration Bill, besides a\nhost of others. Suppose the government give way, and accept one; there\nis a shout of triumph in Ireland: \u201cThe Home-Rulers have forced their\nhand!\u201d and a cry of dismay and rage from the irreconcilable Orangemen:\n\u201cThe government have succumbed to the Jesuits!\u201d Suppose they resist\nand vote down the bill; matters are worse. The Irish people are\ninflamed, and even ministerialists sulk and say: \u201cThis is bad policy;\n\u2018tis playing the Home-Rule game.\u201d Suppose, again, Mr. Disraeli adopts\na middle course and says: \u201cThis is an excellent bill in many respects,\nbut really we have not time to consider it this year.\u201d A louder shout\nthan ever greets such a statement: \u201cThere is no room for Irish\nbusiness. Then let us transact it here at home.\u201d\n\nIt is a matter of notoriety that there is growing up among Englishmen,\nwithin and without the House of Commons, a feeling that, even apart\nfrom all political considerations, _something_ must be done to lighten\nthe work, and remit to other assemblies a large portion of the\nlegislative business now attempted there. The house is breaking down\nunder the load laid upon or undertaken by it. So would Congress, if,\nin addition to its own functions, it attempted to do the work of the\nState legislatures besides. There are hundreds, it may be said\nthousands, of influential English politicians who, seeing this, regard\nas simply inevitable something in the direction of the Home-Rule\nscheme, only, of course \u201cnot so extreme,\u201d as they call it. Nothing but\nthe bugbear of \u201cdismembering the empire\u201d prevents an English cry for\nlightening the ship. The Home-Rulers watch all this, and take very\ngood care that the load which the house prefers to retain shall press\nheavily on it. Not that they pursue or contemplate a policy of mere\nobstruction, which many persons, friends and foes, thought they would.\nMr. Butt has again and again repudiated this. He knows that such a\ncourse would only put the house on its mettle, and would defeat his\nscheme of silently sapping the convictions of the more fairly disposed\nEnglishmen. He knows that the present system cannot last many years.\nHe knows that the English people, once their convictions are affected,\nsoon give way before public exigency. To affect those convictions and\nto create that exigency is the Home-Rule policy. It is all very well,\nwhile the skies are clear and tranquil, for English ministers, past\nand present, to bluster greatly about the impossibility of\nentertaining the Irish demand. It is all very well, while the present\nTory majority is so strong, for both parties to protest their\nhostility to Home-Rule. Opinions change wondrously in these cases.\nWhen the Disraelian majority has in the course of nature dropped down\nto forty, thirty, twenty, and ten; when the Liberal leaders find they\ncan attain to office with the Home-Rule vote, and cannot retain office\nwithout it, they will\u2014offer Home Rule? No. Offer palliatives\u2014good\nplaces for Home-Rulers, and \u201cgood measures\u201d for Ireland? Probably. But\nwhen these offers are found to be vain; are found to strengthen the\npower and intensify the resolution of the Home-Rule party, the\ntransformation which England went through on so many great\nquestions\u2014Catholic Emancipation, Church Disestablishment, etc. (each\nin its day just as solemnly sworn to be \u201cimpossible\u201d)\u2014will begin to\nset in; and\u2014all the more loudly if such a moment should happen to\nsynchronize with deadlock in the legislature, peril abroad, and\npopular resentment at home\u2014from England itself will arise the cry that\n\u201cIreland must be fairly dealt with.\u201d At such a moment a British\nminister will easily be found to \u201cdiscover,\u201d as it were most\nfortunately, that \u201cthe question has hitherto been misunderstood,\u201d and\nthat it is England\u2019s interest not less than Ireland\u2019s to have it\nsatisfactorily adjusted.\n\nFor it is not with Ireland alone British ministers will have to\nsettle. Although no reference has previously been made here to the\nfact, the strongest arm of the Home-Rule party is in England itself.\nWithin the past thirty years there has grown up there, silently and\nunnoticed, a new political power\u2014hundreds of thousands of Irishmen\nwho, having settled in the large labor marts, have grown to\ncitizenship, power, and influence. From Bristol to Dundee there is not\na large city that has not now on its electoral roll Irish voters whose\naction can decide the fate of candidates. Coincidently with the\nestablishment of the \u201cHome Government Association\u201d in Ireland there\narose in England, as a co-operative but independent organization, the\n\u201cHome-Rule Confederation of Great Britain.\u201d This body has organized\nthe Irish vote all over England and Scotland, and holds virtually in\nits hands all the vast centres of political thought and action.\nReflecting their sentiments and their influence, Dundee, Newcastle,\nDurham, Tynemouth, Cardiff, and more than a dozen other important\nEnglish and Scotch constituencies returned English friends of Home\nRule to Parliament. It was not the mere matter of so many votes that\nlent such value to this fact; it was the incentive which it gave to\nthe growing feeling (amongst the English working-classes especially)\nthat the Irish question was one to be sympathized with. An event which\noccurred in England barely a few weeks ago was, however, beyond all\nprecedent in the sensation which it created. This was the recent\nManchester election. A week previously in Burnley it was found\nimpossible to return any but a Home-Rule Liberal, and such a man\naccordingly headed the poll. In Manchester Mr. Jacob Bright (son of\nMr. John Bright) was the Liberal, and a Mr. Powell the Conservative,\ncandidate. It became clear that the Irish vote would decide the issue.\nOne morning the news was flashed through England that _both_\ncandidates, Liberal and Conservative, had undertaken to vote for Mr.\nButt\u2019s motion on Home Rule! What! Manchester, the political capital of\nEngland, gone for Home Rule? It was even so, and Mr. Bright, being\npreferred of the two, was triumphantly returned by the Irish Home-Rule\nvote.\n\nAll this means that on English ground Ireland now has\nhostages\u2014hostages of security that no daring act of armed violence\nshall be attempted against her; hostages of friendship, too, as well\nas of safety; centres of a propagandism, of conciliation; citadels of\npolitical power. The growth of feeling in England in favor of the\nconcession of Ireland\u2019s national autonomy is simply incontestable. It\nmay well be that, as many Irish politicians declare, \u201cthe battle of\nHome Rule for Ireland will be fought and won on British soil.\u201d\n\nAnd this is how Ireland stands in 1876\u2014erect, powerful, resolute,\nunited. What the future may have in store for her, victory or defeat,\nis beyond human ken. This effort too may fail, as many a gallant\nendeavor in her behalf has failed before. All that can be said is that\nso far it has progressed with a success unparalleled in Irish\npolitical annals; that it is wisely guided, boldly animated,\nfaithfully upheld. Much depends on her own children, at home and in\nforeign lands; on their devotion, their prudence, their courage, their\nperseverance. May this new dawn of unity, of concord of conciliation\nherald the day they have so long hoped to see!\n\n And thou, O mighty Lord! whose ways\n Are far above our feeble minds\n To understand,\n Sustain us in these doubtful days,\n And render light the chain that binds\n Our fallen land!\n Look down upon our dreary state\n And, through the ages that may still\n Roll sadly on,\n Watch thou o\u2019er hapless Erin\u2019s fate,\n And shield at least from darker ill\n The blood of Conn.\n\n\n [161] This odious law, known as the \u201cIrish Convention Act,\u201d\n was passed by the Irish Parliament in order to forbid\n the Volunteers and other friends of Parliamentary\n Reform from \u201coverawing the legislature.\u201d Its repeal\n has been steadily resisted by the British Parliament,\n which finds the restriction now as invaluable as the\n Irish people find it oppressive.\n\n [162] Some time previously he had publicly said that Repeal\n he understood, but the new programme he did not. Since\n that time, however, he gave ample proof that he had\n come to understand it clearly.\n\n The clergy of his diocese, the archbishop himself in\n one instance presiding at their meeting, had sent in\n their formal adhesion, accompanied by large\n contributions of money, to the association.\n\n [163] Almost incredible as it may seem to some readers,\n _this_ was the only portion of the arrangements never\n once required. Throughout the four days of protracted\n and earnest debate, as will be detailed further on, no\n occasion arose for taking a division.\n\n [164] _List of Conference Ticket-holders\u2014names and\n addresses\u2014National Conference, November, 1873._\n Dublin: Home-Rule League Publications. 1874.\n\n [165] Since elected (1874) for the county of Cork, along\n with Mr. McCarthy Downing. He had been at one time a\n Protestant dissenting minister.\n\n [166] There was one dissentient to one of the resolutions\u2014a\n gentleman named Thomas Mooney, late of California and\n other places.\n\n [167] It is impossible to treat of the Irish Home-Rule\n movement without a special reference to this reverend\n gentleman, who is one of the most prominent figures in\n the group of Home-Rule leaders. He is a man of\n European reputation in science, and of the most\n upright and noble character. He is greatly loved and\n universally respected. Scarcely has Mr. Butt himself\n been more instrumental in the success of the movement;\n and there are now few names in Ireland more popular\n than that of \u201cProfessor Galbraith.\u201d\n\n [168] The ballot-voting in Ireland under the act of 1873,\n unlike that in America, is strictly secret: there\n being no \u201cticket\u201d to be seen by outsiders. Only on\n entering the booth, where the few persons necessarily\n present are sworn to secrecy, the voter receives a\n paper on which the names of the candidates are\n printed. In a secret compartment of the booth the\n voter marks a cross alongside the name of the man for\n whom he wishes to vote, folds up the paper so as to\n conceal the mark which he has made, brings it forward,\n and drops it through a slit into a sealed box. He then\n quits the booth, and no one, inside or outside (but\n himself), knows for whom he has voted.\n\n [169] The defeat of his Irish cabinet minister and former\n chief secretary, the Right Hon Chichester Fortescue,\n in Louth County, was generally regarded as the\n crushing blow of the whole campaign, as Mr. Fortescue\n was Mr. Gladstone\u2019s official representative in\n Ireland. He was deemed invulnerable in Louth, having\n sat for it twenty-seven years, and being brother of\n Lord Claremont, one of the largest and best landlords\n in the county. The government laughed to scorn the\n idea of disturbing him. The Home-Rulers selected for\n this critical fight Mr. A. M. Sullivan, editor of the\n _Nation_. It was a desperate struggle: but not only\n was the Home-Ruler returned at the head of the poll,\n but he polled two to one against the cabinet minister.\n\n [170] One of them, in Leitrim, subsequently lost his return,\n though in a majority, by a stupid mistake of one of\n his agents.\n\n [171] It may be doubted whether there is any man amongst the\n Home-Rule members better entitled than their senior\n \u201cwhip,\u201d Captain J. P. Nolan, to be ranked as next to\n Mr. Butt himself in importance and in service. On him\n it rests to keep the party on the alert; to note and\n advise with his chief upon every move of the enemy; to\n have his own men always \u201con hand,\u201d so that they may\n never be caught napping; to keep his colleagues\n informed by circular (or \u201cwhip\u201d) of all forthcoming\n bills or motions of importance; and finally, to act as\n \u201cteller\u201d or counter on a division. In fact, if Mr.\n Butt is the head or brain of the Home-Rule party,\n Captain Nolan is its right hand. He belongs to an old\n Catholic family, the O\u2019Nolans of Leix, who in 1645\n were put upon allotments beyond the Shannon in return\n for their estates in fertile Leix, which were handed\n over to Cromwell\u2019s troopers. Captain Nolan is a man of\n considerable literary ability. He is a captain in the\n Royal Artillery and as a scientific and practical\n artillerist stands in the highest repute. He is the\n inventor of \u201cNolan\u2019s Range-finder,\u201d adopted in the\n Russian, French, and Austrian armies.\n\n\n\n\nTHE VALLEY OF THE AUDE\n\n\nThe Aude is a rambling, capricious river of ancient Languedoc that\nrises on the confines of Spain, among the oriental Pyrenees, five\nthousand feet above the level of the sea. At first, imprisoned and\nhalf-stifled among the narrow gorges of the mountains, its waters,\nclear and sparkling, rush noisily and impetuously along, struggling\nfor room; but as soon as they find space in the sunny valleys they\nslacken their speed as if to enjoy the very verdure they create; they\ngrow turbid, sometimes the current dwindles away to a mere thread\namong poor barren hills, and again at the first storm spreads wide its\ncourse through the rich vine-bordered plain. At Carcassonne it becomes\nlanguid, and, turned eastward by the Montagne Noire, passes along\nbeneath the sombre line of the oaks, beeches, and chestnuts that cover\nthe mountains, and when, after being fed by thirty-six tributaries, it\nfalls wearily into the sea a little above Narbonne, it is no longer\nthe limpid, dashing stream we met in the mountains, but troubled in\nits waters and indolent in flow.\n\nWe came first upon the Aude at Carcassonne, where it takes a bend\ntowards the sea\u2014the Ville-basse, a thriving town in the plain that\ndates from the time of St. Louis; the old fortified city on the height\nabove, historic, legendary, and picturesque. And ancient too, for it\nwas, according to some ambitious writers, founded by the fugitive\nTrojans, or, what is better still, by one of the grandsons of Noe, and\nprosperous in the time of the Pharaos. Be that as it may, it was in\nthe possession of the Romans before the coming of C\u00e6sar. In the fifth\ncentury after Christ it fell into the hands of the Visigoths, who are\nsaid to have brought hither from the sack of Rome jewelled utensils\nthat came from the palace of King Solomon and the vessels of gold that\nbelonged to the Temple of Jerusalem, carried away by Titus and\nVespasian. These treasures were long believed hidden in a deep well\nstill to be seen in the upper city, but during a dry season a few\nyears ago it was explored without any discovery to confirm the\ntradition. They were probably taken to Spain, or carried to Ravenna by\nTheodoric the Great, to whom several of the towers of Carcassonne are\nattributed. There are two walls around the old city: the inner ones,\nwith their circular towers of the time of the Visigoths; the outer,\nwith fortified gateways that date at least from the time of Louis IX.\nAnd then there is a venerable quadrangular castle, with five towers\nand a moat that bears the marks of many a hard assault, but now serves\nchiefly to give a picturesque look and a pleasing air of antiquity to\nthe landscape. The square tower next the Aude, if not all five, is\nsaid to have bowed down before the great Emperor of the West. But we\nare anticipating.\n\nAfter the Ostrogoths came the Saracens, flushed with victory, from\nSpain, and they had possession of Carcassonne when Charlemagne came\ninto _Gaule Narbonnaise_ and laid siege to the city, determined to\ndrive them beyond the Pyrenees. The delightful old traditions of that\nday, which are so much better than history, say it then bore the name\nof Atax. According to them, the emperor remained beneath the walls\nfive long years without the slightest success, notwithstanding the\nvalor of his peerless knights. So astonishing a resistance was solely\nowing to Dame Carcas, a mere woman, and a Moor at that, who not only\npossessed remarkable courage, but was shrewd to the last degree, as we\nare prepared to show. Of course, after a five years\u2019 siege the\nprovisions had dwindled away to a very low ebb, and the inhabitants\nhad naturally diminished in proportion. In fact, everybody was at\nlength dead in the city except stout Dame Carcas, who seemed to have\nlived on her wits. This wonderful woman was not discouraged. She acted\non the principle of the inscription over the gates of Busyrane\u2014\u201cBe\nbold, be bold, and evermore be bold.\u201d She garnished the walls with\neffigies in armor\u2014mere scarecrows\u2014and, making the round of the\nrampart, she kept up such a hail of arrows on the enemy, as if she had\nthe arms of Briareus, that they marvelled, as well they might, at the\nresources of so well-supplied and vigilant a garrison. Wishing to\nconvince Charlemagne that there was no possibility of his reducing the\ncity by famine, she gorged her very last pig with her last bushel of\nwheat, and threw it over the ramparts. It was naturally dashed to\npieces, and its internal economy fully displayed, as shrewd Dame\nCarcas intended. The besiegers, astonished to see the very lowest of\nanimals fed on the purest of wheat, now supposed the supplies quite\ninexhaustible, and Charlemagne, as sensible as he was great, at once\nraised the siege. Not without regret, however, and, as he turned back\nto take a last look at the walls before which he had spent in vain so\nmuch time and labor, wondrous to relate, one of the mighty towers of\nthe Goths bowed down before him in reverence, and never regained its\nperpendicular, as may be seen to this day by any one who goes to\nCarcassonne.\n\nDame Carcas, you may be sure, was on the lookout. Satisfied with\nhaving got the better of the mighty emperor, she called him back,\nopened the ponderous gates, and acknowledged his sovereignty.\nCharlemagne, full of admiration at her courage and wit, determined the\ncity should be called after her. Hence the name of Carcassonne. It is\na pity any doubt should be cast over so pleasing a tradition, but some\ndo say, let us hope without proof, that it bore this name in the time\nof the Romans. We do not feel obliged to believe it. People who are\nhistorically as well as religiously \u201cconvinced against their will, are\nof the same opinion still.\u201d We stick to the Middle Ages, when the\ntradition was so fully credited that a bas-relief, a kind of\nemblazonry, of the bust of an Amazon was placed over the principal\ngate of the city, with the words below: _Carcas sum_\u2014I am Carcas.\n\nAccording to a popular legend, Charlemagne besieged Carcassonne twice.\nThe second time it was defended by Anchises, King of the Saracens, who\nwas aided by Satan himself and an efficient corps of African\nsorcerers. However, the demons were routed, and the pious emperor set\nup a fortress of the faith, known to us as the cathedral of St.\nNazaire, which is in the southeast corner of the city, built into the\nvery walls forming a part of the old fortifications. This church is\nstill the jewel of the place. The crypt alone is of the Carlovingian\nage. The nave and aisles of the upper church are of the eleventh\ncentury, in the Roman style, grave and sombre, with small windows,\nmassive pillars, and thick walls capable of resisting the enemy. These\nwere blessed by Pope Urban II. in 1096. The present choir was built in\nSt. Louis\u2019 time, and forms a striking contrast to the heavy gloomy\nnave, for it is of the pointed style, light and elegant, with seven\nstained glass windows of wonderful beauty, and so close together as to\nleave no wall. The arches seem to rest on the eight colonnettes that\nframe the windows. In one of them may be read the whole legend of SS.\nNazarius and Celsus, celebrated in Italian art. Titian has painted\nthem in armor in a beautiful altarpiece of the church that bears their\nname at Brescia. St. Saturnin, however, the apostle of Toulouse, first\nannounced the faith in this region. St. Nazaire is reputed to have\narrived soon after. His mother was a Roman matron converted by St.\nPeter, and he himself was baptized by the apostle, who commissioned\nhim to preach the Gospel. At Milan he exhorted and comforted SS.\nGervasius and Protasius in prison, and was beaten with staves by order\nof the governor. Celsus was his spiritual child and co-laborer. At\nGenoa they were cast into the sea, which refused to drown them, and\nthey walked back over the angry billows to land. After their apostolic\njourney to Southern Gaul, they were beheaded at Milan just without the\nPorta Romana, where a beautiful church still stands to perpetuate\ntheir memory. But it is inferior to St. Nazaire of Carcassonne, which\nis at once antique and poetic. What deep shadows in its venerable\naisles! What rainbow lights in its jewelled windows! The rose of the\nnorth transept is composed of twelve lobes, in six of which blue\npredominates; in the other six, green\u2014very beautiful in the sunset\nlight. In the window of the south transept the lobes are in two rows,\nso disposed that green is under cramoisie, and cramoisie under green,\nproducing quite a magical effect.\n\nNorth of the cathedral, just beyond its ruined cloister, is a donjon\nof the thirteenth century, called the Tour de l\u2019Ev\u00eaque, which contains\na well, an oven, and everything necessary to sustain a regular siege.\nHere, through the vines, figs, and almond-trees, is the best view of\nthe church, with its time-stained turrets, its buttressed walls, and\nthe fine tracery of its windows. The old city is before us with its\ntowers and antique walls, on which every storm that has swept over\nSouthern France has left its trace. Simon de Montfort scaled them\nearly in the thirteenth century. In the fourteenth, they braved the\nBlack Prince, who contented himself with feasting on the well-stocked\nlarders of the Basse Ville and drinking its rich wines, and afterwards\nsetting fire to the place. In the sixteenth century the city was\ninvaded by the Huguenots, who tore a statue of the Blessed Virgin from\nits niche and dragged it through the streets, which so enraged the\nCatholics that they rose in their fury and slaughtered all the\noffenders on whom they could lay hands. Then they carried the statue\nback to its place in solemn procession. And, when a royal edict of\n1562 assigned the Calvinists a meeting-house just out of the city, the\npeople barred the gates against the returning assembly, and drove them\ninto the very Aude.\n\nBut let us leave these historic details, and, turning back into the\npleasanter paths of old romance, follow the Emperor Charlemagne along\nthe valley of the Aude. A little south of the direct road from\nCarcassonne to Narbonne, we come to the village of La Grasse, of a\nthousand souls, in a deep valley of the Orbieu, surrounded by the\nrocky heights of the Corbi\u00e8res. This village grew up around a\ncelebrated Benedictine Abbey that flourished here for more than a\nthousand years\u2014one of the most important in Occitania. Its foundation\nis so remote that it has become the theme of many popular traditions.\nThese are embodied in an old romance, said to have been written by\nPhilom\u00e8ne, secretary of Charlemagne, by the emperor\u2019s order, and under\nhis inspection, and translated in the thirteenth century by William of\nPadua, a monk of La Grasse.\n\nCharlemagne had just taken Carcassonne, where five towers bowed down\nbefore him. He founded several churches, such as St. Nazaire and St.\nSaturnin, and appointed Roger, a clerk of noble family, bishop of the\nplace. Then he marched towards Narbonne, which was in possession of\nthe Saracens, intending to besiege it. He had with him Pope Leo III.,\nmost of the cardinals, the patriarch of Jerusalem, Turpin, archbishop\nof Reims, and an infinite number of other prelates, abbots, and\npriests, together with Roland, Oliver, Oger the Dane, Solomon of\nBritanny, and Count Florestan his brother, and other famous paladins,\nwith dukes, counts, and barons too many to enumerate. While traversing\nthe valley of the Orbieu, one of the principal tributaries of the\nAude, Archbishop Turpin came across seven hermits, viz., Thomas of\nRouen, Richard of Pavia, Robert Prince of Hungary, Germain of\nScotland, Alayran of Flanders, Philip of Cologne, and Bartholomew, son\nof the King of Egypt, who, after completing their studies at Paris,\nleft the world in search of Christ and were led by angels to this\nsolitary valley, where they built an oratory in honor of St. Mary the\nVirgin. Here they had lived for twenty years on herbs, roots, and wild\nfruit, and the people, in view of their thin, wasted aspect, as well\nas the arid country, called the place of their retreat the _Vall\u00e9e\nMaigre_.\n\nWhen Archbishop Turpin brought the emperor and Pope Leo III. to see\nthese holy eremites, they shed an abundance of tears and rendered\nthanks unto God. Charlemagne resolved to erect a superb abbey in the\nplace of their modest oratory, and so well did he endow it that the\nmonks he established here were soon able to fertilize the wild valley\nto such a degree that its name, at the suggestion of Turpin and the\nEarl of Flanders, was appropriately changed to that of _La Vall\u00e9e\nGrasse_.\n\nDuring the erection of this monastery a series of combats took place\nbetween the Moors and the Christians, each one more marvellous than\nthe other. First, Matrandus, King of Narbonne, suddenly came upon the\nencampment of the valley with a numerous army, but he was defeated by\nCharlemagne and pursued to the point where the Niel empties into the\nOrbieu. There he heard the sound of a mighty horn. It was the olifant\nof Roland, who was coming to his aid. He made the Saracens bite the\ndust by thousands, and Matrandus had barely time to take refuge in\nNarbonne and close the gates behind him.\n\nThen an enemy far more redoubtable made his appearance. It was\nMarcilion, King of all Spain, accompanied by sixteen other kings, with\nseven hundred thousand men. Charlemagne had two hundred and forty\nthousand. The battle lasted five days. At length the Saracens were\nvanquished. Five hundred thousand of their number were slain, together\nwith the sixteen kings, whereas the Christians only lost thirty-seven\nthousand, among whom, however, were five bishops, fourteen abbots,\nseven counts, eight hundred barons, and the Abbot of St. Denis, who,\nas he was breathing his last, besought the emperor to complete the\nabbey and bury him in it. His wishes were not disregarded. The abbey\nwas completed. A church was built. In the church were many chapels,\nand in each chapel Archbishop Turpin, accompanied by many bishops and\nabbots, solemnly deposited sacred relics. It was now time to consider\nthe appointment of the abbot, and while they were discussing the\nsubject Marcilion reappeared, this time with only three hundred\nthousand horsemen, but Roland drove them before him into Roussillon,\nwhere he slew more than one hundred and seventy thousand men.\n\nThen took place a fresh battle with Matrandus, and Roland, in a\nhand-to-hand encounter with Tamise, brother of the King of Narbonne,\nclove him in two like an acorn with Durandal, his unerring sword. In\nvain did the kings of Catalonia league together to avenge the death of\nTamise. They slaughtered, it is true, the seven holy hermits, who,\nweary of the tumult in the valley of the Orbieu, had imprudently\nbetaken themselves to another solitude, but they were repulsed by the\nabbot of La Grasse and his sixty monks with considerable loss. And yet\nthey would rather, they said, have demolished the abbey than taken ten\ncities.\n\nSeveral battles ensued beneath the walls of Narbonne before\nCharlemagne took that city, and after, in the course of which Roland\nclove in two Borrel de la Combe; Oliver clove in two Justeamundus, the\nbrother-in-law of Matrandus; and Charlemagne himself performed the\nlike exploit on Almanzor, King of Cordova. Durandal, Hauteclair,\nJoyeuse, and other famous swords mowed down the Saracens like ripe\ngrain, cutting off heads and arms and legs, and causing such torrents\nof blood to flow that the infidels finally renounced all hostilities\nagainst the abbey of La Grasse.\n\nDuring the night before the consecration of the abbatial church was to\nbe made by the Pope, the Divine Redeemer, so runs the legend, himself\nvouchsafed to come down from heaven in person, accompanied by a\nmultitude of angels, to consecrate the edifice. The following morning,\nwhen the Pope and Charlemagne and Archbishop Turpin saw the marks of\ndivine consecration, they, as well as Roland and Oliver and the rest,\nshed tears of joy, and blessed God, and, while still weeping, took\nleave of the monks, begging to be remembered in their daily orisons.\n\nCharlemagne now departed for Spain, to carry war in his turn into the\ncountry of the infidel, and with what prodigies of valor is known to\nall men. The memory of his passage through the valley of the Aude has\nnever been effaced from the popular mind. The name of Roland, too,\nechoes all through this region, like the horn he won from the giant\nJatmund. Not far from La Grasse is a cliff that still bears his name.\nIt was here the great paladin, when weary of hewing in pieces the\nSaracens, used to come to take breath and whet his sword. The iron\nring to which he fastened his steed Brigliadoro is still in its place,\nand no hand in these degenerate days is strong enough to wrench it\nfrom the rock. The people of this region, great lovers of the\nmarvellous, tell how he used to gallop over the Montagne Noire on so\nfiery a steed that its feet shook the very mountains beneath them and\nleft their imprint on the rocks, as may be seen to this day on the old\nroad between Ilhes and Lastours. And a little higher up is a dolmen\nthat bears the marks of his sword and the print of his hands. This\ndolmen is on a slight eminence near a little stream. The table is in\nthe form of a disc about seven feet in diameter and one foot thick. It\nmust weigh several hundred tons, and would require a great number of\nmen of ordinary strength to place it on its present supports. The\npeople say Roland, by way of amusement in his moments of leisure,\nhewed out this rock with his sword, and then used it as a quoit, which\nhe threw with careless ease from La Valdous to Narbonne, and from\nNarbonne back to La Valdous. The prints of his mighty fingers are\nstill clearly perceptible. It was he who set this light plaything up\non its huge pillars, and not the Druids, and to this day it is called\nthe _Palet de Roland_. Near by is a mysterious hole called Roland\u2019s\ntomb, where the people insist he was buried, according to his express\nwish that he might repose in the place of his innocent amusements.\n\nThere are many of these Celtic monuments in this vicinity, the object\nof great conjecture among arch\u00e6ologists. The popular imagination is\nnot so embarrassed, as we have seen. A legend is generally attached to\nthem, often picturesque and dramatic. At Carnac, every one knows, it\nwas St. Corneille who changed his pagan pursuers into monumental rocks\nby the petrifying influence of his wrathful visage.\n\nOn the banks of the Lamouse, a little creek in this region, is a tall\ncolossus of a rock called the _peulvan_, that stands quite solitary on\na little hill. It is, or _was_, fifteen feet high, a yard and a half\nbroad, and not more than half a yard thick. The people say it descends\nto an inaccessible depth in the earth. If we may believe them, forty\nyears ago it was no taller than a man, but it has grown higher and\nhigher every year from some magic subterranean influence.\n\nPeople who live among lofty mountains and dark forests, by noisy\nstreams and waterfalls, or even on the borders of peaceful, dormant\nlakes whose mists fill the valleys and shroud the neighboring hills,\nare apt to be imaginative and dreamy. Here fairies and Undines have\ntheir origin. Here White Ladies, such as Scott has described in the\nvalley of Glendearg, come forth in floating vapory robes to flit about\nthe melancholy vales and fade away with the dawn. Such is the legend\nof Lake Puivert, according to which Reine Blanche, a princess of\nAragon, issues every evening from her ancestral towers, and descends\ninto the valley to breathe the freshness of the air. This legendary\nqueen was no fair young princess who had become an untimely victim to\nmelancholy\u2014\u201csweetest melancholy\u201d\u2014but a dethroned queen, so infirm and\ndecrepit as to have lost the very use of her limbs, and had come to\nend her days in the old manor-house of Puivert, where she had been\nborn. A crowd of servants surrounded her day and night, attentive to\nher slightest caprice. Every evening at set of sun a herald ascended\nto the battlements of the tower to proclaim the coming forth of Lady\nBlanche. No sooner had the echoes of his horn died away than she\nappeared at the principal gate, borne on a litter by four stout men.\nIf the weather was calm and the sky clear, she was taken to a huge\nblock of marble that rose out of the edge of the lake, where she loved\nto breathe the freshness of the night air and the resinous odor of the\nold pines that grew on the mountain above. Two pages in purple waved\ngreat fans to keep off the insects. There was nothing to disturb the\ndelicious solitude but the swallows that skimmed over the surface of\nthe lake and the murmuring rivulets that came down from the hills, and\nhere she would remain in silent reverie till the light faded\ncompletely away, when she was borne back to her tower by the light of\ntorches. It frequently happened, however, that the lake was so swollen\nby storms that her marble throne was entirely submerged. Then she went\nto the chapel of Our Lady of _Bon-Secours_ to pray the wrath of the\nthreatening waters might be stayed. One day she conceived the idea of\npiercing an immense rock that closed the entrance to the valley,\nhoping by this means to let off the surplus waters and keep the lake\nalways at the same level, but, alas! at the very moment when she\nthought her wishes were to be crowned with success, the pressure of\nthe waters against the weakened base of the rock overthrew it, and,\nrushing through the narrow gorge, overwhelmed serfs, pages, and La\nReine Blanche herself. Such is the legendary cause assigned for the\nrupture of Lake Puivert in 1279, which destroyed the neighboring town\nof Mirepoix. The feudal manor-house, so well known in the history of\nthe country, escaped, being on an elevation. It is still haunted by\nthe troubled spirit of Queen Blanche, who, in misty white garments,\nmay be seen at nightfall flitting about the low valley, wringing her\npale hands over the ruin she caused.\n\nNor is this Queen of Aragon the only White Lady of the land. The old\npeople of Limoux tell of women in white who once a year come forth by\nnight from a crystal palace in the bowels of the neighboring hill of\nTaich, and go to the fountain of Las Encantados\u2014the fairies\u2014where with\na golden spatula they beat their linen, after the fashion of the\ncountry, till the dawn of day. These ghostly laundresses are not\nconfined to the valley of the Aude. In Brittany and Normandy they\nlikewise haunt many regions, but they beat their linen with an iron\nhand, which they do not hesitate to apply to the ear of the curious\nintruder.\n\nOn the side of a steep hill that descends to the Rebenty, another\nbranch of the Aude, are three narrow arches to the cave of Las\nEncantados\u2014the grotto of the fairies\u2014where, in the depths, the noise\nof the turbulent stream is repeated by subterranean echoes, and\nchanged, now into a soft harmonious murmur and now into a solemn roar,\ngiving the effect of an organ in a cathedral. Nothing could be more\nimpressive by night than this mysterious music, which the people\nformerly ascribed to some weird influence.\n\nBut to return to the royal foundation of La Vall\u00e9e Grasse. That this\nabbey was really founded under the patronage of Charlemagne is proved\nby a charter of the year 778, still preserved in the prefecture at\nCarcassonne, signed with his own imperial monogram. According to this,\nthe name of the first abbot was Nimphridius; and the house appears to\nhave been so well endowed that it held lands and livings and\nseigneuries, not only throughout the province, but on the other side\nof the Pyrenees. Louis le D\u00e9bonnaire took it under his special\nprotection, together with three cells dependent thereon, to wit: St.\nCucufat on the banks of the Aude, St. Pierre on the Clamoux, and La\nPalme on the seashore. In fact, favor towards it seemed hereditary in\nthe Carlovingian race. Louis IX. kept up the tradition, and when in\nPalestine wrote to his mother and the s\u00e9n\u00e9chal of Carcassonne,\nrecommending the abbey of La Grasse to their protection. The kings of\nAragon, too, respected its extensive domains in their realm.\n\nThe grateful abbey never forgot its illustrious founder. Every morning\nat the conventual Mass the bread and wine were offered by the lord\nabbot, or his representative, at the Offertory, for the repose of\nCharlemagne\u2019s soul, till authorized to render him the cultus due to a\nsaint, from which time the twenty-eighth of January was kept in his\nhonor as a festival of the first class.\n\nIt is one of the traditions of this monastery that, when Pope Leo III.\nwas about to dedicate the church, he received a supernatural warning\nthat it had been miraculously consecrated, and on approaching the\naltar he discovered the marks of the divine hand, which remained\nvisible till the end of the fourteenth century, when the greater part\nof the church was consumed by fire. It was then rebuilt in a style\ncorresponding to the wealth of the abbey, with numerous chapels, a\nchoir with rare carvings, and a silver retablo with twelve silver\nstatues in the niches, all plated with pure gold. The monastic\nbuildings were surrounded by fortified walls of vast circuit. They\nwere grouped around an immense cloister, the arcades of which were\nsupported by marble columns. On the east side were the church,\ndormitories, infirmary, and rooms for visitors. At the north were the\nabbot\u2019s spacious residence, the granary, bakery, stables, etc. South\nand west were the chapterhouse, the large refectory, and houses\nappropriated to the aged monks. A hospital, where the poor were fed\nand sick strangers received gratuitous care, was further off, near the\nprincipal gate. There was an extensive park, with avenues of\nchestnut-trees, watered by the Orbieu, which also turned the\ngrist-mills, oil-mills, and cloth-mills. The water was also brought\ninto the abbey. The library now forms part of the public library of\nCarcassonne.\n\nThe abbey of La Grasse was immediately dependent on the Holy See, in\nacknowledgment of which it paid an annual tribute of five gold\nflorins. And the Bishop of Carcassonne, and the Archbishop of\nNarbonne, though the primate, were obliged to recognize its\nindependence of their jurisdiction before they could obtain admittance\nto the abbey. The abbot from the time of Abbot Nicolas Roger, the\nuncle of Pope Clement VI., had the right of wearing pontifical\nvestments. He held legal jurisdiction over eighty-three towns, besides\nwhich, three other abbeys, three monasteries, twenty-four priories,\nand sixty-seven parish churches were dependent on the house of La\nGrasse.\n\nThis great abbey was suppressed in 1790, after existing over a\nthousand years, and before long was transformed into barracks and\nmanufactories. The church became a melancholy ruin, with its columns\nlying among the tall grass, the capitals covered with lichens, bushes\ngrowing in among the crumbling walls, and here and there scattered\nmutilated escutcheons of the old lords of the land and the very bones\nfrom their sepulchres.\n\nBut the town of La Grasse, that sprang up under the mild sway of the\nold abbots, is still queen of the lower Corbi\u00e8res by its population\nand historic interest. It is noted for its _blanquette_\u2014a sparkling\nwhite wine, which rivals that of Limoux.\n\nAs to the battles in the valley of the Orbieu, it is more certain that\nthe Saracens, on their way to attack Carcassonne, were met by William,\nDuke of Aquitaine, in this valley, where, though defeated, he\nperformed prodigies of valor, and made the followers of Mahound buy\ntheir victory dearly. They soon withdrew into Spain, carrying with\nthem rich spoils from Narbonne, among which were seven statues of\nsilver, long famous in Andalusia, and many marble columns, still to be\nseen in the famous mosque of Cordova, on which they forced the vast\nnumber of prisoners they carried with them to labor.\n\nNor was the abbey of La Grasse the only famous monastery of this\nregion. There was the Cistercian abbey of Fonfroide, founded in the\ntwelfth century by Ermengarde, Vicomtesse of Narbonne, to whom Pierre\nRoger, the troubadour, gave the mystic name of _Tort n\u2019avez_, and so\nwell known from the permanent Court of Love she held in her gay\ncapital. This abbey at one time contained two hundred monks, who were\ngreat agriculturists, and understood drainage and all the improvements\nwe regard as modern. They brought vast tracts of land under\ncultivation, and, by their industry and economy, became wealthy and\npowerful. In 1341, this abbey had nineteen thousand two hundred and\nthirty-four animals, including sheep, cattle, mules, swine, etc.\n\nAmong the celebrated monks of Fonfroide was Peter of Castelnau, whom\nthe Holy See appointed one of the legates to suppress the heresy of\nthe Albigenses, and who acquired so melancholy a celebrity by his\nconflicts with Count Raymond of Toulouse and his tragical end. Another\nmember, eminent for his knowledge and piety, of this house was Arnaud\nde Novelli, uncle of Pope Benedict XII. He was made cardinal by Pope\nClement V., and sent as one of the legates to England to make peace\nbetween Edward II. and his barons. He died in 1317, and lies buried\nunder the high altar of the abbey church. Pope Benedict XII. himself\nwas a monk at Fonfroide, and succeeded his uncle as abbot of the\nhouse. As pope, he is specially celebrated for the part he took among\nthe theologians of the day in discussing the question of the immediate\nstate of the righteous after death, and the decretal which he finally\nissued in 1355\u2014_Benedictus Dominus in sanctis suis_\u2014in which he\ndeclares that the souls of the justified, on leaving their bodies, are\nat once admitted to behold the Divine Essence face to face without\nintermediary; that by this vision they are rendered truly happy, and\nin enjoyment of everlasting repose; whereas those who die in the state\nof mortal sin descend immediately into hell.\n\nThe abbey of Fonfroide, after seven hundred years\u2019 existence, was\nclosed in 1790, but, more fortunate than La Grasse, it is now\ninhabited by Bernardins, who seem to have inherited the virtues and\nspirit of the early Cistercians.\n\nThe tombs of the old vicomtes of Narbonne, who were mostly buried\nhere, are no longer to be seen. William II., by an act of May 25,\n1424, ordered his remains to be taken to Fonfroide, wherever he might\ndie. He left two thousand livres for his tomb, which was to be of\nstone and magnificently adorned, and an annuity of twenty-five livres\nas a foundation for a daily Mass for the repose of his soul. He was\nkilled by the English at the battle of Verneuil, the following August;\nhis body was fastened to a gibbet, and had to be ransomed before it\ncould be brought to Fonfroide.\n\nAnother noted abbey of the country was that of St. Hilaire, built over\nthe tomb of its patron saint\u2014not St. Hilary of Arles, who walked all\nthe way to Rome in the dead of winter, but the first bishop of\nCarcassonne, who never walked anywhere, dead or alive\u2014at least, out of\nhis own diocese. This abbey was built in the good old days of\nCharlemagne, who seems to have never missed an opportunity of building\na church or endowing a monastery\u2014if we are to believe all the\ntraditions of France\u2014and of course endowed this one. However, Roger\nI., Count of Carcassonne, enriched it still more. He never went into\nbattle without invoking St. Hilaire, and to him he ascribed the\nsuccess of his arms. In his gratitude, he had the body of the saint\nexhumed and placed in a beautiful tomb of sculptured marble, and\npromised to furnish the twelve monks\u2014all there were at that time\u2014with\nsuitable clothing during the remainder of his life, which says very\nlittle in favor of Charlemagne\u2019s endowment. The abbey ultimately\nbecame very prosperous, and, among other possessions, owned the most\nof Limoux. It lost its importance, however, in the sixteenth century,\nand was finally secularized. In one of the rooms may still be seen the\nnames of its fifty abbots. The beautiful cloister of the fourteenth\ncentury is well preserved, and the tomb of St. Hilaire, with its\nsculptures of the tenth century, representing the legend of St.\nSaturnin, still serves as the altar of the church. The abbey stands in\na bend of the Lauquet, that has escaped from the Aude, with its little\nvillage around it, among low hills covered with excellent vineyards.\nHere blow alternately the Cers and the Marin, the only two winds known\nin the valley of the Aude, shut in as it is between the Montagne Noire\non the north and the Corbi\u00e8res on the south. These winds blow with\nalternate violence, like two great guns, the greater part of the year,\nand when one dies away the other generally takes up the blast. The\nvery trees are planted with reference to them. People who would live\naccording to the Delphic principle of \u201cnot too much of anything,\u201d\nshould not come to the valley of the Aude. The Cers increases in\nviolence as it approaches the sea, where it seems to put on the very\nairs of the great planet Jupiter itself, noted for the violence of its\nwinds; whereas the Marin waits till it gets away from the sound of\n\u201cthe jawing wave\u201d before it ventures to come out in its full strength.\nHowever, as people often take pride in displaying their very\ninfirmities, as if desirous of being noted for something, so the\ninhabitants of this valley boast of their winds. They did the same in\nthe days of Seneca the philosopher, who says that though the Circius,\nor Cers, overthrew the very buildings, the people of Gaul still\npraised it, and thought they were indebted to it for the salubrity of\ntheir climate. Perhaps they acted on the principle of Augustus C\u00e6sar,\nwho erected an altar to propitiate the Circius when he was in Gaul, so\nmuch did he dread it.\n\nThe canal of Languedoc passes through the valley of the Aude. Of\ncourse the grand idea of uniting the two seas could have originated\nwith no less a person than Charlemagne himself. Francis the First also\nagitated the question. The principle on which canals are constructed\nwas known in the Middle Ages. That universal genius, Leonardo da\nVinci, was the first to make a practical application of it. In spite\nof this, the canal of Languedoc required a century and a half of\nprofound study on the part of men of talent before it was decided on.\nThe difficulty of its construction can hardly be realized in these\ndays. It was not till the time of Louis XIV. the work was undertaken\nby M. de Riquet, who brought down waters from the Montagne Noire to\nfeed the basins in the valley of the Aude. The whole canal was built\nin seventeen years, and cost about seventeen millions of livres. He\ndid not live to see it opened. That satisfaction was reserved for his\nsons. The people awaited the day with impatience, and when it was\nopened, May 15, 1681, there was one great outburst of joy and\nadmiration all the way from the Garonne to the Mediterranean. The\nintendant of the province, and all the capitouls of Toulouse,\nassembled in the morning in the cathedral of that city. The archbishop\nofficiated. Nor was M. Riquet forgotten amid the thanksgiving. His\nsons were present. And at the close of Mass, the archbishop turned and\nsaid: Brethren, let us pray for the repose of the soul of Pierre Paul\nde Riquet. Every head bent a few moments in silent prayer for the\nbenefactor of the country.\n\nA richly carpeted bark, from which floated the national colors, had\nbeen prepared. The Abbot of St. Jernin solemnly blessed the waters of\nthe canal, and the dignitaries set out amid the applause of the\nmultitude, followed by two other barks filled with musicians. At\nCastelnaudary, Cardinal de Bonzi, with several other prelates and\nlords, joined them in a magnificent galley, amid the noise of cannon\nand the peal of trumpets, followed by twenty barks full of\nmerchandise. It was not till May 24 this flotilla arrived at B\u00e9ziers,\nwhere it was hailed, as all along the way, with salutes and cries of\njoy. These demonstrations were warranted by the immense benefit of the\ncanal to the country, and though now in a great measure superseded by\nthe railway, it is still of the greatest utility.\n\nBefore the Aude reaches Carcassonne, it flows directly through the\npretty, industrious town of Limoux, where the shores are connected by\nan old Roman bridge. Four hills enclose the charming valley, on the\nsides of which grow the vines that yield the _blanquette_ of Limoux,\nwhich is famous in the wine market. On one of these hills stands a\nrural chapel held in great veneration by the people around\u2014that of\n_Notre Dame de Marceille_, one of the most frequented places of\npilgrimage in southern France, which has been sung by poets, studied\nby arch\u00e6ologists, and sketched by artists. Nothing could be lovelier\nthan its situation. From the plateau around the chapel you look down\non the Flacian valley, watered by the Aude. To the west are the walls\nof Limoux in the midst of its vineyards and manufactories. Further off\nare bare cliffs and wooded hills, while on the very edge of the\nhorizon rise, like an army of giants, the summits of the Pyrenees,\nalmost always covered with snow or shrouded in mist. What a variety of\ntemperature and products this landscape embraces\u2014the cold mountain\nsummit and the heat of the plain, verdant heights and naked rocks, the\nfrowning hills and joyous valleys, gloomy forests of pines and\nfrolicsome vines, fresh meadows and fields of golden grain! Through\nall this flows the Aude, past old legendary castles now in ruins,\nalong marvellous grottoes a sibyl might envy, its current spanned by\nbridges with their tutelar Madonnas, but not disdaining to turn the\nwheels of the petty industries below us, though it has its source amid\nimpassable gulfs among yonder peaks lost in the clouds.\n\nA paved _rampe_ leads up the hillside to _Notre Dame de Marceille_,\nmore than six hundred feet long, which the pilgrims ascend on their\nknees, praying as they go. Half-way up, they stop to rest beside a\ntrickling fountain and drink of the water that falls drop by drop. On\nthe arch above is the inscription in letters of gold:\n\n \u201c_Mille mali species Virgo levavit aqua._\u201d[172]\n\nThe present church dates from 1488, but a sanctuary is known to have\nexisted here as early as 1011. From age to age it has been the object\nof ever increasing veneration among the people. It belonged at one\ntime to the abbey of St. Hilaire, but in 1207 passed into the hands of\nthe Dominicans of Prouilhe. You enter by a porch, which is supported\nby slender columns that give it an air of elegance. On the front is\ninscribed:\n\n \u201cStay, traveller: adore God, invoke Mary.\u201d\n\nAnd on the sides:\n\n \u201cO Jesus, we have merited thy wrath. Efface from our hearts\n every stain of sin, that they may be rendered worthy to\n become thy dwelling-place!\u201d\n\n \u201cSpotless Maid, Virgin Mother, on\nwhom the Almighty lavishes the gifts of\nhis love, with him, with thee, bring us\nby thy prayers to dwell for ever in the\ncelestial abode.\u201d\n\nAnother fountain near the porch bears also its inscription:\n\n _Hic putens fons signatus. Parit unda salutem.\n Aeger junge fidem. Sic bibe, sarnus eris._\n\nDuring the cholera of 1855 more than sixty thousand pilgrims flocked\nto this chapel in the space of three weeks. All the priests of the\ndiocese come here annually to celebrate the mysteries of religion,\nespecially in the month of September when it is most frequented. Then\nthe holy hill is covered by the ascending pilgrims, the chapel is\nilluminated, the bells are rung, and group after group from different\nvillages enter to pray and sing their pious hymns, which have a\ncertain wild flavor that is delightful. Their varied attitudes and\ncostumes, the rude melody of their voices, the numerous bas-reliefs\nand paintings on the walls, the altar of the Virgin hung with\nex-votos, and the robes of the Madonna herself, overloaded with\nornaments of gold and silver which sparkle in the countless tapers,\nmake up a picture one is never weary of studying.\n\nIt was on descending from this consecrated hill we stopped to look\nback at the sanctuary whence streamed still the soul-stirring hymns. A\ngroup was gathered about the archway of the fountain. The base was\naflush with the vines. From Limoux came the sound of earthly cares.\nHarvests covered the plain. The heavens aglow crowned all. It was here\nwe took leave of the Valley of the Aude.\n\n\n [172] By this water the Virgin has cured a thousand ills.\n\n\n\n\nFREE TRANSLATION OF A CHORUS IN THE \u201cHECUBA\u201d OF EURIPIDES.\n\nBY AUBREY DE VERE.\n\n\n Thou of the ten years\u2019 war!\n City of marble palaces\u2014no more\n Hard by the mountains art thou throned a Queen,\n Beside the sounding shore.\n Where is thy crown of olives ever-green?\n How is thy regal head with anguish bowed!\n Ah! woe is me, enveloped in a cloud\n Of leaguering foemen are thy smoking walls,\n Blood-stained and desolate thy halls.\n\n In the deep hush of night\n Fate fell upon us \u2026 in the hour of joy;\n In the first flush of our triumphant might,\n Glory, and Victory.\n The bowl was circling, and the festive floor\n With wild flowers sprinkled o\u2019er.\n We wove the mazy dance in choral bands,\n With eyes responsive and united hands\n And thrilling melodies.\n\n My husband on the bed,\n Warrior out-worn, was lying; and his breast\n Filled with the dewy rest:\n For thou, O raven-plumed power,\n Wert o\u2019er him waving thy Lethean wings,\n Flinging thy poppied odors o\u2019er\n His languid breast and eyes;\n All grateful rites complete, and pious sacrifice.\n\n But I my ringlets dark\n (A young and happy bride)\n Was braiding, not unconscious of my charms,\n Before the mirror wide:\n Now for the first time freed from war\u2019s alarms\n To lay me by his side\n Whose breast was filled with dreams of peace:\u2014but hush!\n A long and piercing cry\n Comes ringing thro\u2019 the sky,\n A sound of struggling men and clashing arms.\n\n With robe unbound\u2014with hair\n Streaming upon the air;\n Zoneless as Spartan maid, Pallas, to thee;\n O Virgin Deity!\n I rush in tearless agony\u2014I bear\n The maids\u2019 and matrons\u2019 prayer.\n In vain\u2014ah! what availed\n Those wild embraces or that mute despair?\n Ah! what availed? These eyes, these eyes beheld\n The husband slaughtered on the household hearth\n In sight of all his gods; but when the wave\n With its unheeding rave,\n Was bearing me from thee, my place of birth,\n As from mine eye down sank high tower and gate,\n Ruined and desolate.\u2026\n At last my agony\n Burst forth into one long and fainting cry\u2014\n I fell upon my face\u2014I knew myself a slave.\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS OF A YOUNG IRISHWOMAN TO HER SISTER\n\n(FROM THE FRENCH.)\n\n\nAPRIL 22.\n\nYesterday was the day which the Lord hath made, the day of happiness\nand of rejoicing in God. Rose at half-past three, and was at Ste.\nCroix before the time. Kneeling by Ren\u00e9, my heart overflowing with\nfelicity, I enjoyed during those too rapid moments all the delights of\nthe Christian life. The procession and Benediction were magnificent;\neverything that has relation to worship, here possesses a unique and\nimpressive solemnity. Heard two Masses, and then that of the Paschal\nCommunion of the men. I love this spectacle\u2014these long files of\ncommunicants, so eloquent a protest against the impieties of the age!\nWas present at High Mass. Dear Kate! congratulate your Georgina:\ntaking all together, I spent nine hours yesterday in church. But my\nday was much less sanctified in reality than in appearance; I am so\neasily distracted. The music transported and the crowds bewildered me.\nMonseigneur officiated pontifically at the High Mass, after which we\nhad the Papal Benediction. The sermon pleased me much. \u201cWhen Christ\nshall be glorified, you also shall be glorified with him.\u201d It was\nsweet and comforting to hear, and I was greatly touched. \u201cThe measure\nof your sufferings here below is the measure of the happiness which\nGod has in store for you. Our body will be glorified by the absence of\nall suffering; our understanding, by the Beatific Vision; our heart,\nby the possession of every possible happiness and felicity; our will,\nby the accomplishment of its desires. God will to all eternity do the\nwill of his saints.\u201d Then the Benediction, the procession chanting\nthe _Laudate Pueri_ and the _In exitu Isra\u00ebl_, the hymn of\ndeliverance\u2014what splendor! O festival of Easter! so solemn and so\nbeautiful, how dear thou art to me.\n\nAnd so Lent is over, and, to indemnify me for my long fast, here is a\nletter from my Kate. I read it on my knees, like a prayer, and\nafterwards aloud to the assembled family (except, of course, the\nprivate details). It is settled that we are all to be present when you\ntake the veil. Kate dearest! my elder sister, my second mother, who\nhave imparted to me so much of your own soul, the blessed thought of\nyou follows me at every step.\n\nMme. de T\u2014\u2014 has made splendid presents to all her children. I like\nthis fraternal custom. We had been secretly preparing the prettiest\nsurprises imaginable, and in the morning saluted each other as they do\nin Poland: \u201cChrist is risen!\u201d Ren\u00e9 has presented me with two beautiful\nvolumes, a novelty, a marvel\u2014the _R\u00e9cit d\u2019une S\u0153ur_, by Mrs. Craven,\n_n\u00e9e_ de la Ferronays. Call to your remembrance one of our loveliest\ndays in Italy, at the Palazzo Borghese, where this family long\nremained; we have often spoken of it since. This is such attractive\nreading that it costs me a great effort to tear myself from the book.\nThe weather is glorious; we take long walks through gardens full of\nlilacs in blossom. O spring! the renewal, the awakening of nature, how\nsweet and fair it is, and with what joy I have hailed its coming! The\nchildren are not to be kept within the house any longer; they are\ncaged birds prettily fluttering their wings against the bars until\nthey are free in the fields.[173] Little whisperings are made to Aunt\nGeorgina to receive into her _coup\u00e9_ these darling nightingales.\nExcursions are to be the order of the week.\n\nOur poor have largely shared in our Paschal rejoicings. I took\nPicciola with me to see Benoni. What a festival it was to her kind\nheart! She had laden herself with playthings, cakes, and bonbons, and,\nin a spirit of heroic sacrifice, with a pretty cage which she sat\ngreat store by, in which sang two canaries. The joy of the poor family\nwas surpassed by the sweet child\u2019s delight. I watched her with\nadmiration as she went to and fro in the lowly abode, warbling with\nthe _brother of the little Jesus_, as she calls the darling. What a\nsunbeam in this dwelling! I wish Madeleine were my daughter. Kate\ndearest, pray that my wishes may be realized. I am writing to you in\nmy room, near the open window. A delicious perfume of lilac fills the\nair; I love nothing in the world so much as children and flowers.\nLately I have frequently made Alix play. My sister-in-law Johanna has\nhad a severe cold, and I have laid claim to her pretty family during\ntheir recreations. Marguerite, the eldest of the little girls, is not\nmore than eight years old, and is always called Lady Sensible, which\nmakes her cheeks glow with pleasure. Alix is four; she is fresh as a\nrose of May. I love to press my lips against her pure forehead, and\nimbue myself with the soft innocence which exhales from this young\nsoul. With her deep-blue eyes, her thick, fair hair, and her\nangel-look, Alix is really charming, and it seems to me that if she\nwere mine I should have floods of tenderness to shed upon her.\n\nMonseigneur is about to leave for Rome. I shall be presented to him\nbefore his departure. _Au revoir_, dear Kate! May God protect us! When\nshall I see Ireland again? When shall I return to the land from whence\nmy ancestors, those sons of a royal race, were banished? The faith is\nworth more than a throne.\n\n\nAPRIL 29.\n\nRen\u00e9 has undertaken to give you an account of my presentation, dearest\nKate, so I need not say anything about it. Nothing is spoken of here\nbut the dead and dying. Mme. de St. M\u2014\u2014 has lost her two little girls\nin two days; it makes one tremble. I have sent Fanny your letter of\nWednesday; it seemed as if I should profane your holy pages by\ntranscribing them. Our friends wrote to me yesterday; you ought to\nhave read their letters before I did. Lady W\u2014\u2014 tells me that she shall\ntreasure like a relic the consolations of Kate. Dearest, you say well\nthat this world could not be fit for our sweet Mary; but your\naspirations after eternity alarm your earthly Georgina. Live to love\nme, to be my guardian angel!\n\nYou will not read _Le R\u00e9cit d\u2019une S\u0153ur_, dear, busy one? This book\ncontains beauties of the highest order; it is like the expression of\nthe splendor of the beautiful. How those hearts loved, and how much\nthey suffered! But love like theirs must give strength to bear such\nsufferings. How can I describe to you these incomparable volumes? Your\nfaithful memory has well recalled to you all the personages; imagine,\nthen, the mutual outpourings of those great souls, the marriage of\nAlbert and Alexandrine, so closely followed by so much heart-rending\nanguish; that family, so numerous and so united, and which appeared to\nhave so many titles to happiness, seeing death descend upon their\nhappy home, gradually destroying and pitilessly mowing down those fair\nlives. Albert first of all\u2014the gentle, tender, pious, poetic\nAlbert\u2014dying on the 29th of June, 1836, after two years of married\nlife and four years of the most pure and sanctified love; then the\nCount de la Ferronays, that noble figure, that grand character, a soul\nof antiquity moulded in a Christian heart, who died at Rome on the\n17th of January, 1842, and obtained immediately a miraculous\nconversion\u2014an endless consolation for those who wept for him; Eug\u00e9nie,\nso saintly, so detached from the world, the most loving and devoted of\nsisters, died next, far from all her own people, at Palermo, whose\nmild climate had failed to restore strength to that fading flower; a\nyear after, at Brussels, on the 10th of February, the pure and\nbeautiful Olga; in 1848, on the 9th of February, Alexandrine, the most\nattractive heroine of this narrative, the inconsolable widow, mounting\nto such heights in the love of God that she would have refused to live\nover again the happiness of her union with Albert\u2014an exceptionally\nsaintly soul, full of heroic devotion, since she offered her life to\nGod\u2014who accepted the offering\u2014for that of the P\u00e8re de Ravignan; and,\nlastly, Mme. de la Ferronays, the mother, the wife who had been, as it\nwere, on the cross for so many years, and always serene, always\ngenerous, dying in the arms of her Pauline on the 14th of November,\n1848, the same year as her daughter-in-law. By the side of these souls\nwho have passed away figure several personages of the time: M. de\nMontalembert, the intimate friend of Albert, and the ever-faithful\nfriend of Alexandrine, whom he called his \u201csister\u201d; M. Gerbet, the\nauthor of _L\u2019Esquisse de Rome Chr\u00e9tienne_;[174] P\u00e8re Lacordaire, Mme.\nSwetchine, P\u00e8re de Ravignan, Confalonieri, the learned M. Rio\u2014all this\nrelated by _a sister_, Mrs. Craven, of whom Mme. \u2014\u2014 spoke to us so\nmuch. Remark these two thoughts from St. Augustine: one, the motto,\nis, \u201cWe never lose those whom we love in him whom we can never lose\u201d;\nthe other, written by Albert in his journal and several times\nunderlined: \u201cAll which ends is not long.\u201d There is also this other, of\nAlexandrine\u2019s: \u201cI do not believe that affections are injurious to\naffections. Our soul is made in the image of God, and in her power of\nloving she possesses something of the infinite.\u201d What a family!\u2014an\nassembly of chosen souls, all of them winning and sympathetic, all\nknowing how to love as those souls only know who love God above all\nthings. I should like to know Mrs. Craven. I pity and admire her: I\npity her for having seen all those die whom she so loved, for having\nwitnessed the departure of souls so intimately united that they were\nas if melted into one alone; I admire her for having had the power of\nretracing so many memories at the same time sweet and distressing, and\nwhich at every page must have renewed her grief. Is not Albert\u2019s\noffering of his life for the conversion of Alexandrine the most\nadmirable type of Christian love?\n\nWe are going to _eternize_ ourselves at Orleans, dear Kate. My\nmother-in-law finds the _Rue Jeanne d\u2019Arc_ very agreeable; the\nchildren attend some of the cours.[175] We are not too far from the\ncapital; all say in chorus, It is good to be here! When I say _all_, I\nexcept the gentlemen, who, in their hearts, prefer the country, but do\nnot say a word to that effect.\n\nA letter from Margaret, charmed to be at Rome, \u201cthat fatherland of\nsorrow.\u201d Amid the ruins of the queen of cities she walks with her\nimmense disappointment. Oh! what trial. No woman better deserves to be\nloved. Do you remember M\u00e8re Athanase saying of Margaret: \u201cBeautiful as\nEve in Paradise, attractive as Rachel, a musician like Miriam the\nsister of Moses, she is also learned as Anna Comnena, and a poetess\nlike Marie de France\u201d? I answered: \u201cMay I be the good Samaritan to\nthis wounded soul!\u201d\n\n_Duchesse_ is much afflicted; a new frock _quite untakable_, as she\nsays, is the cause. On Marguerite\u2019s gravely asking, \u201cIs not Th\u00e9r\u00e8se\ngoing out again? what misfortune has happened to her?\u201d Arthur replied:\n\u201cLady Sensible, look well at Th\u00e9r\u00e8se; there is a wrinkle on her\nforehead. She has lost \u2026 her toilette.\u201d And the giddy boy twirled\nMarguerite round and round, who cannot understand, serious little\nthing that she is, how any one should be in trouble for so small a\nmatter. This reminds me of the following verses, copied by H\u00e9l\u00e8ne in\nher journal:\n\n \u201cUn frais cottage anglais, voil\u00e0 sa Th\u00e9ba\u00efde\n Et si son front de nacre est marqu\u00e9 d\u2019une rid\u00e9,\n Ce n\u2019est pas, croyez moi, qu\u2019elle songe \u00e0 la mort;\n Pour craindre quelque chose, elle est trop esprit fort.\n Mais c\u2019est que de Paris une robe attendue,\n Arrive chiffonn\u00e9e et de taches perdue.\u201d[176]\n\nA thousand kisses to my Kate.\n\n\nMAY 3.\n\nO month of graces and of heavenly favors, how I welcome your return!\nTo-day, my beloved Kate, Ren\u00e9 and I have piously celebrated the\nanniversary of your birth. May God bless you, my very dear one, and\nmay he bless all that you do! Oh! how many times have I thanked God\nthat he has granted me to receive the love that Joseph had for\nBenjamin. Kate, I am too happy. Ask our Lord that I may not lose the\nfragrance of these days of peace and gladness; that I may not be an\nunprofitable servant; that I may do good, much good; that I may labor\nfor the salvation of souls. O souls, souls! You know how, when a\nchild, I cried when I found that I could not be a missionary. I wanted\nto be one of the laborers among the _whitening harvests_. I have kept\nmy desire, and Ren\u00e9 shares my aspirations. Adrien, who heard us\nyesterday talking together, called out: \u201cQuick, quick! a professor of\nHindostani and Chinese for these two apostles.\u201d My mother-in-law was\nvery much amused by this sally, and the conversation became general. A\ngood work has come out of it: there were in the house only four\nassociates of the Propagation of the Faith, and now there are thirty,\nand I am chief of the _dizaines_, or sets of ten, by unanimous vote.\nIt is not to Asiatic idolaters that I am desirous of preaching the\nGospel, but, wherever my duty shall place me, to those who are\nignorant of it; and by way of a beginning I have this winter been\nteaching the catechism to three little children, beggars by\nprofession. I shall continue the same thing in Brittany. Dearest, can\nI do too much for Him who overwhelms me with such magnificent\nprofusion?\n\nThe opening of the month of Mary has been very beautiful; the altar\nsplendidly lighted; lovely hymns. Noted an enchanting voice of a young\ngirl, which caused me some distractions.\u2026 Kate, where is our dear\noratory in Ireland, and my place close to yours? My country, my\ncountry! Some one has said, Our country is the place where we love.\nThe true country and fatherland of the Christian is heaven. Ren\u00e9\nspeaks like an angel of the love of heaven, and this, too, makes me\nafraid. Oh! how well I understand the saying of Eug\u00e9nie de Gu\u00e9rin,\n\u2018The heart so longs to immortalize what it loves\u2019\u2014that is to say, the\nheart would fain have no separation, but life or death with the object\nof its love. Dear Kate, to whom I owe my happiness, may this day be\nalways blest!\n\nI leave you now, as my mother-in-law sends Picciola to request my\ncompany. \u201cIf,\u201d says the gentle little ambassadress, \u201cit is to Madame\nKate that you are writing, tell her especially that I love her with\nall my heart; and let me put a kiss upon the page.\u201d\n\nBy the side of this sweet, pure kiss I place my tender messages, or\nrather _ours_, loving you as we both do.\n\n\nMAY 6.\n\nThe spiritual enjoyments of this fairest of months are infinitely\nsweet to me, my sister. I had minutely described your oratory to Lucy\nand H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, and these two affectionate girls have prepared me a\nheartfelt enjoyment. In a small, unoccupied drawing-room I found all\nmy souvenirs of Ireland, \u2026 all \u2026 excepting only your dear presence, my\ndevoted Kate. Tell me how it is that so many hearts agree together in\nstrewing with flowers the path of your Georgina.\n\nThe _Odeurs de Paris_, by Louis Veuillot, is much spoken of. This book\nis a sequel to the _Parfum de Rome_\u2014a sort of set-off or contrast\nbetween the unseemliness of Babylon and the beauties of Sion. I wanted\nto read it, but Adrien dissuaded me, and Ren\u00e9 read me the preface,\nwhich contains some remarkable thoughts. The modern Juvenal says of\nParis: \u201cA city without a past, full of minds without memories, of\nhearts without tears, of souls without love\u201d; and elsewhere: \u201cTo paint\nParis, Rousseau discovered the suitable expression of \u2018a desert of\nmen.\u2019\u201d There is also a touching complaint respecting the continual\nconfusion and, as it were, overturning of this city, which Gabourd\ncalls the city of the Sovereign People: \u201cWho will dwell in the\npaternal house? Who will find again the roof which sheltered his\nearliest years?\u2026\u201d Read the _Souvenirs_ of Mme. R\u00e9camier, and\n_Marie-Th\u00e9r\u00e8se_, by Nettement. The latter is written with a royalist\nand Christian enthusiasm which delighted me. My mother-in-law is\npassionately fond of poetry, and has selected me as reader. I am\ngradually becoming her pet bird; she is so kind and good in her\ncontinual solicitude for _her youngest daughter_! Master Arthur,\n_l\u2019enfant terrible_, confided to Picciola that I was grandmamma\u2019s\n_spoiled child_. The fact is that, having my time more free than my\nsisters-in-law, who are absorbed by their maternal cares, I can occupy\nmyself more in anything which may please Mme. de T\u2014\u2014, whose innate\nrefinement knows how to appreciate the smallest attentions. Then,\nyesterday my mother-in-law sent me a nice little packet, carefully\nsealed; guess what I found in it? A Shakspere and a Lamartine, bound\nwith my monogram, and a choice little volume by Marie Jenna, a name\nwhich pleases me. This is full of heavenly poetry. There are pieces\nwhich are worth their weight in gold, if gold could pay for this\ndelicious efflorescence of the poet\u2019s soul. How I love Lamartine when\nhe says:\n\n \u201cMoi-m\u00eame, plein des biens dont l\u2019opulence abonde,\n Que j\u2019\u00e9changerais volontiers\n Cet or dont la fortune avec d\u00e9dain m\u2019inonde\n Pour une heure du temps o\u00f9 je n\u2019avais au monde\n Que ma vigne et que mon figuier!\n Pour ces songes divins qui chantaient en mon \u00e2me\n Et que nul or ne peut payer!\u201d[177]\n\nAh! yes; no happiness is worth the happiness of loving and praising\nGod.\n\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne waited for the month of Mary to reveal her beautiful vocation\nto her mother\u2014this choice of heaven which will necessarily be at the\nsame time the glory and the martyrdom of our hearts. None of the\nausterities of her future life will take by surprise the newly-chosen\none; she has prepared herself for everything. It is on the 10th, four\ndays hence, that she will speak.\u2026 Help us with your prayers, my\ndearest Kate!\u2026\n\nI am hastening off with Ren\u00e9 to _Sainte Croix_. A thousand loving\nmessages.\n\n\nMAY 9.\n\nThe evening of the day before yesterday was a beautiful triumph: the\nfestival of Joan of Arc had begun. All day long the belfry resounded;\na touching and patriotic as well as Christian idea seemed, as it were,\nto call back the past to life; and in the evening a large crowd\nfollowed in the torch-light procession, which was beautiful to see\nfrom the memories which are attached to it. With more than four\ncenturies between, these souvenirs are still living with an\nimperishable life. O pure and fair Joan of Arc! my chosen heroine, how\nI love the fidelity of Orleans to thy dear memory! Scarcely had the\ncort\u00e8ge reached the cathedral when \u2026 but let me transcribe for you the\ndescription of these splendors by a more skilful hand than mine\u2014by the\npencil of an artist, and an artist of genius. This is what was spoken\nby Mgr. Mermillod, on the 8th of May, 1863: \u201cYesterday evening,\ngentlemen, under the vaulted roof of your basilica, I followed your\npriests and your pontiff, who were proceeding towards the portico. The\ninterior of your church was in silence and obscurity; one little light\nalone was gleaming before the tabernacle, announcing the Master\u2019s\npresence. When I reached the threshold, tears filled my eyes, while my\nheart beat with an indescribable emotion. I had before me, in an\nincomparable scene, a vision of your history, of your heroic\nsplendors, of your providential destinies. You, gentlemen, were there,\nranged in this place; your children, your wives, your aged men, the\ngreat ones and the lowly ones of your city, were present at this\nsolemn assembly. Suddenly the clarions sound, bands of inspiriting\nmusic fill the air, drums beat, the artillery thunders, the bells\nfling into space their triumphant clangor, and the choir of Levites\nraises on high the hymn of victory. The standard of Joan of Arc is\nadvancing, borne by the magistrates of the city, hailed by all the\nunited voices of the army and the church. Is not this the most\neloquent address, the most moving panegyric, the living incarnation of\nan undying remembrance?\u2026 Your cathedral becomes radiant; these grand,\nsculptured masses light up with sparkling brightness, pennons,\narmorial bearings, and banners glitter like stars. Your bishop\ndescends the steps, the first magistrate advances, and each gives the\nother the kiss of peace: I there beheld an apparition of religion and\nour country.\n\n\u201cThe pontiff invokes the name of the Lord, the multitude answers;\nsoldiers, priests, and people bend the knee; the benediction falls\nupon these souls.\u2026 My gaze mounted from earth towards heaven, and it\nseemed as if I could perceive above the towers of your basilica forms\nmore luminous than earthly fires, the ancient witnesses and workers of\nthe greatness of your France\u2014Ste. Genevi\u00e8ve, Ste. Clotilde, St. R\u00e9my,\nSt. Michael, Ste. Catherine, Ste. Margaret, Joan of Arc; your own\nsaints, St. Aignan and St. Euvertus, blessing you by the hand of their\nworthy successor. Clergy and people intoned the psalm of thanksgiving:\n\u2018Praise the Lord, ye peoples: praise him, O ye nations! for God hath\nremembered his goodness; he hath confirmed his loving-kindness towards\nus. The truth of the Lord endureth for ever. Praise the Lord.\u2019\n\n\u201cI seemed to hear the stones of your cathedral, the ramparts of your\ncity, your own souls, the saints of heaven, the past, the present, all\nyour centuries, unite in one immense acclamation, and repeat the song\nof gladness: \u2018Glory to the Father, who is strength; glory to the Son,\nwho is sacrifice; glory to the Holy Spirit, who is light; glory to\nGod, who made worlds for himself, the church for eternity; France for\nthe church, and Joan of Arc for France!\u2019\u201d\n\nDear Kate, what can I say to you after this? Who would venture to\nspeak after Mgr. Mermillod, \u201cwrite after Ch\u00e2teaubriand, or paint after\nRaphael\u201d? Yesterday the town was rejoicing; it was the anniversary of\nthe deliverance. Was present at the panegyric by M. l\u2019Abb\u00e9 Freppel,\nprofessor of sacred eloquence at the Sorbonne. He asks for the\ncanonization of Joan of Arc. His text was a sentence out of the Book\nof the Machabees. Divisions: 1. The life of Joan of Arc was marked by\nall the virtues which characterize sanctity. 2. She uttered prophecies\nand performed miracles. It was very fine and elevated. There was an\nimposing assemblage. At half-past twelve we went out and hurried to\nthe hotel to see the procession pass by. What a _cort\u00e8ge_! All the\nparishes, each headed by its banner; the court, the authorities, the\ntroops, the corporations, and I know not what. It was indeed a day of\nexcitement. Dearest Kate, in the midst of this _encombrement_[178] I\nthought of you. Our drawing-rooms were overflowing with people; from\ntime to time I went noiselessly away to H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, whom a headache\nexcused from appearing, and we spoke of God and the sweetness of his\nservice. I am so fond of these conversations. In the evening, Month of\nMary: I would not dispense myself from this for anything in the world.\n\nI am going to read _Sainte C\u00e9cile_, by Dom Gu\u00e9ranger. Letter from\nLizzy, who announces a most joyful piece of news: all the M\u2014\u2014s are\nabjuring Protestantism. \u201cMake haste and sing the hymn of St. Ambrose\nand St. Augustine; Ellen consents to say the _L\u00e6tatus_; it is Mary who\nhas obtained this miracle.\u201d When I told you, dear Kate, that one ought\nto sing alleluia over her tomb, it was truly a prophetic saying. What\nconsolation for Fanny and her mother!\n\nI am sending to the post; I wish not to delay your happiness.\n\n\nMAY 11.\n\nTo write to my Kate is the condition _sine qu\u00e2 non_ of my existence. A\nbeautiful sermon yesterday by M. Baunard, a young and eloquent curate\nof _Sainte Croix_, on visits and conversations, \u201cin which the\nChristian ought always to have three charming companions\u2014Charity,\nHumility, and Piety.\u201d Went to the museum with Ren\u00e9 and Adrien, the\nmost learned and agreeable of _ciceroni_. I was captivated by the hall\nof zo\u00f6logy, and that of botany also.\n\nTo-morrow H\u00e9l\u00e8ne will have with her mother the conversation which I\ndread. Ren\u00e9 proposed to his niece to select this day, which will\nrecall to Gertrude (Mme. Adrien) a remarkable favor due to the\nprotection of Our Lady of Deliverance. Pray for all these hearts which\nare about to suffer, dear Kate. We set out for Paris on the 1st of\nJune; my mother has taken an entire house there. We are going to\nbreathe the burning atmosphere of the capital, as Paul says, wiping\nhis forehead; and your Georgina adds: We are going to see Kate. All\nthe beauties of the much-vaunted Exposition would affect me little if\nyou were not in Paris, dear sister of my soul. What gladness to\nembrace you, to speak to you! This paper irritates me; it answers me\nnothing. It is _you, you_ that I need; I thirst for your presence. And\nthen a new separation, a new rending away\u2014you will take the veil, and\nbe no more of this world. Kate, I want not to think of it.\n\nCould you to-morrow have several Masses said at _Notre Dame des\nVictoires_? H\u00e9l\u00e8ne begs that you will; there she is, near my bureau,\nleaning her pretty, pensive head against an arm-chair. Ah! we\nunderstand each other so well; I love her so much, and am scarcely\nolder than she is. I was mistaken as to her age; she is not yet\neighteen, and was like a sister given me by God to console me for\nhaving my Kate no longer; and she also is now to go away.\n\nMay all the angels of Paradise be with you, and may they be to-morrow\nwith H\u00e9l\u00e8ne!\n\n\nMAY 13.\n\nThanks, dear Kate! The heavenly spirits were almost visible in our\nhome during the eventful day. Adrien and Gertrude received, with a\nprofound faith, the confidences of H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, and I know not whether to\nadmire most the heroism of the parents or that of the young virgin.\nHer father\u2019s grief is inexpressible; he had formed the brightest\nprojects for the future of his daughter. She was his especial darling;\n\u2026 but he is a Christian of the ancient days, and says with Job: \u201cThe\nLord gave and the Lord taketh away \u2026\u201d Gertrude is like Mary at the\nfoot of the cross, mute and immovable, with death in the heart, and\nyet happy at the divine choice. Adrien undertakes to prepare his\nmother; \u2026 it is for _her_ that I fear most.\n\n\u201cThis is my Calvary,\u201d said H\u00e9l\u00e8ne to me this morning. \u201cTo see them\nsuffer through me! And I cannot hesitate!\u2026\u201d I have read _Sainte\nC\u00e9cile_, and I made Gertrude read it, who thanked me with a smile that\nwent to my heart. Ren\u00e9 is afflicted. \u201cThis,\u201d he says, \u201cis the first\nbird that leaves the nest, to reenter it no more. There will be from\nthis time a great void in our _r\u00e9unions_, a source of distress to my\nbrother\u2014a subject we shall fear to touch upon. Georgina, you were\nsaying that we had not a single shadow in our sky!\u201d Alas! I feel only\ntoo keenly how painful it is, but also how happy H\u00e9l\u00e8ne will be!\nThanks for having made me understand this, dear Kate. Gertrude, the\nwounded eagle, takes refuge with me to speak about her daughter.\n\nGood-by for a short time, _carissima sorella_.\n\n\nMAY 15.\n\nA splendid benediction yesterday, on account of the Perpetual\nAdoration. The sanctuary was enkindled with light. Behind the altar,\n_a cathedral_ of lighted tapers\u2014yes, dear, the towers of _Sainte\nCroix_ in miniature; all around it pyramids of lights, clusters of\nflowers with long, luminous stems, lustres hanging at an infinite\nheight, the arches and smaller arcades, etc., illuminated. An _O\nSalutaris_ and a _Regina C\u0153li_ were sung that seemed to carry one\naway. I stood on the earth, but my heart was in heaven; and near to me\nRen\u00e9, absorbed in God, brothers and sisters, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, Th\u00e9r\u00e8se,\nMadeleine, and _grandmother_, who was in tears.\u2026 How touched I was!\nAdrien had spoken.\u2026 It was a thunder-clap! And the choir chanted the\nglories of the King of Virgins, and all those beloved countenances\nbeamed with fervor, as we bent our heads beneath the benediction of\nthe Almighty!\u2026\n\nThis morning Mme. de T\u2014\u2014 asked for H\u00e9l\u00e8ne. Their conversation lasted\ntwo hours. After _d\u00e9jeuner_[179] my mother said, smiling: \u201cIt is\ndecided we have a Carmelite!\u201d The children opened their eyes in\nwonder. Lucie began to sob; Picciola, pale and trembling, kissed the\nhappy H\u00e9l\u00e8ne a hundred and a hundred times over. The sacrifice is, as\nit were, accomplished.\n\nJohanna, the dear Creole, is astonished at the promptitude of this\ndecision. The babies will no more be persuaded to leave the side of\nthe tall cousin \u201cwho did not know that she was so much loved,\u201d she\nsays. This morning she received a long, beautiful letter from an\nintimate friend inviting her to a marriage. It is impossible to\nrefuse; this will be the last worldly festivity at which that sweet\nface, made to delight the angels, will be seen. The word _marriage_\nmade Mme. de T\u2014\u2014 start, and she afterwards said to me: \u201cI had planned\na brilliant earthly alliance for H\u00e9l\u00e8ne; how much there is of _human_\nand _material_ within us that I should still regret it when a divine\nalliance is secured to her! Here, Georgina, read me again the chapter\non abandonment to God.\u201d I read, and, seeing her meditative afterwards,\nI opened a book of Ozanam which Lucy lent me. I will give you the\nChristian theory of marriage from this great mind, who too soon\ndisappeared from a world that wondered at his works: \u201cIn marriage\nthere is more than a contract; above all, there is a sacrifice, or\nrather two sacrifices: the woman sacrifices that which God has given\nher of irreparable, that which causes the solicitude of her mother\u2014her\nfirst beauty, often her health, and that power of loving which women\nonly once possess; the man on his part sacrifices the liberty of his\nyouth, the incomparable years which will return no more, the power of\ndevoting himself for her whom he loves which is only to be found at\nthe beginning of his life, and the effort of a first love to make\nhimself a lot both sweet and glorious. That is what a man can do but\nonce, between the age of twenty and thirty years, a little sooner or a\nlittle later, perhaps never! Therefore is it that I speak of Christian\nmarriage as a double sacrifice. There are two cups: in one is found\nbeauty, modesty, and innocence; in the other, love intact,\ndevotedness, the immortal consecration of the man to her who is weaker\nthan himself, whom yesterday he knew not, and with whom to-day he\nfinds himself happy to spend his days; and it is needful that these\ncups should be equally full if the union is to be happy and deserving\nof the blessing of Heaven.\u201d Is not this an admirable page? While\nreading it I thought of Albert and Alexandrine, those two immortal\ntypes of Christian marriage. What a life was theirs, what happiness,\nso short but perfect, and which made the poor widow say, \u201cI have\nmemories of happiness which seem to me as if they could not be\nsurpassed\u201d!\n\nGood-night, dearest Kate!\n\n\nMAY 20.\n\nThe house is transformed into a convent, dear Kate; so, at least,\nArthur declares, finding in this fact an excellent reason for H\u00e9l\u00e8ne\u2019s\nbeing detained in it. Since her departure has been seriously thought\nof, every one is wanting to have the enjoyment of her company, and she\nis literally torn away first by one and then by another; and if you\ncould see her lending herself with her bright smile to all the\nexactions of this affection, tyrannical as it has become!\n\nWe took a long excursion yesterday into the open country, among the\nwheat; the rustling of the ears of corn, the charm of the sunny\nsolitude, the verdure with its soft lights and shadows, all the\nrenewal of the spring, the beauty of the landscape, which showed in\nthe far distance the fine towers of the cathedral\u2014all this smiled upon\nus; and yet sadly, like an adieu, we shall return, we shall look again\nnext year upon this same picture, but without H\u00e9l\u00e8ne.\u2026 Why is she so\nengaging, so sympathetic?\n\nLetter from Margaret, who will be at Paris in June. What joy, dear\nKate! It seems to me that our friend is more tranquil; she describes\nlike a poet her enthusiasm for Italy and for the Pope. At Florence she\nmet with our poor mistress Annah, who had some trouble to recognize in\nthis brilliant lady the pale little girl of former times. Annah is\ngiving English lessons. Lord William, seeing Margaret\u2019s affectionate\ndemonstrations, proposed to her to secure the independence of the aged\nmistress, which he has done, to the great satisfaction of the two\npersons interested. I like that, and am convinced that Margaret\ndeceives herself.\n\nAnother happiness, darling Kate: here is your letter, in the joyful\nhands of Picciola, who recognizes your handwriting. Five days without\nsaying a word to you! Ren\u00e9 sends you quite a volume. Love always your\nGeorgina.\n\n\nMAY 26.\n\nWas present at the ordination. What an imposing ceremony! I had never\nseen one, and I followed all the details with the greatest interest.\nSixty young men giving themselves to God, devoting themselves to a\nlife of sacrifice! I prayed for and envied them: how much good will\nthey not be able to do! What life is so full as that of a holy priest?\nThat which most moved me was the moment when priests, deacons, and\nsubdeacons fell prostrate; then the imposition of hands, the Mass said\nby all these voices, which must have trembled with emotion and with\nhappiness, the kiss of peace, the communion, and, lastly, the _Te\nDeum_, that heavenly song. Oh! that all these souls to-day consecrated\nto the Lord may one day sing the _Sanctus_ and Hosanna before the\nthrone of the Lamb.\n\nOn arriving yesterday at _Sainte Croix_ (the weather was splendid) I\nsaw myriads of swallows joyously flying about and warbling among the\ntowers. Ren\u00e9 began to hum, \u201cOh! that I had wings, to fly away to God.\u201d\nYou dear swallows who have made your nests on the roof of the temple\nof the Lord, in the bell-turrets, and among the towers; ye swallows,\nmy sisters, as said the Seraph of Assisi, you who fly so high, have\nyou seen heaven? You who in sweet warblings sing the praises of the\nEternal, have you touched with your wing the portals of the celestial\nEden? Sing, and cease not, O gentle swallows! who know not what it is\nto offend God.\n\nGertrude has confided to me that for some time past she had divined\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne, and, as she treats me entirely as a sister, she has given me\nthe journal to read which she wrote whilst her daughter was at the\nconvent. Observe this passage: \u201cMy beloved girl is seventeen years old\nto-day; her father and I have duly observed this anniversary as a\nfestival. Poor dear child! What will be thy will for her, my God? One\nof these pure creatures, seraphs left upon earth to sanctify it, whose\nlife is spent beneath thy watchful eye, in the shade of the sanctuary?\n\u2026 O my God! Once I thought not that it would be possible for me to\nlive far from her, no more to rest my gaze on her fresh countenance,\nso bright and open. Thou hadst, O Lord! united us so closely that it\nseemed as if my soul had passed into hers. Sweet angel, return to\nspread your white wings over the maternal nest! Oh! I fear lest you\nshould be the first of all to leave it; but if you leave us for God,\nmay you be blessed, my well-beloved!\u201d\n\nO ye mothers! who may sound the depths of your sorrows? Happy as\nmothers are in their enchanted life of love and innocence, yet they\nare also martyrs, and who knows whether the gall in their chalice does\nnot absorb the honey?\n\nBeloved, in a few days I shall embrace you.\n\n\nMAY 29.\n\nGod be praised, who is about to bring us together again, dear sister\nof my soul! It is settled that we are to return on the 1st of July,\nonce more to salute Orleans. H\u00e9l\u00e8ne will at this date enter the\nnovitiate at \u2014\u2014. The town is beginning to lose its inhabitants. H\u00e9l\u00e8ne\nand I traverse it in all directions to have another look at its\ncuriosities: the fine old houses richly and deeply sculptured,\nhistoric dwellings, which remain standing after their inmates have\ndisappeared. We are shown the house of Joan of Arc, of Francis I., of\nAgnes Sorel, of Diana of Poitiers\u2014names with very dissimilar\nassociations. One more visit to Benoni, a pilgrimage to Our Lady of\nMiracles, a halt at my bookseller\u2019s, and my preparations will be\nended.\n\nWrote to Sister Louise. I like to return to her twice in the year, to\npay her this tribute of the heart with my tenderest affection. What a\nfine nature\u2014an ideal! A soul whom the world never touched who had no\nsooner finished her education than she gave herself to God,\nsacrificing even her last vacations. A nature so poetic, so rich and\npure, that God reserved it for himself, and at the same time so\ncharming and devoted that she spent herself wholly in affection upon\nthose around her. Thus have I known and loved her, like an apparition\nfrom another world.\n\nGood-by for the present, dear Kate. Ren\u00e9, my so dear and gentle Ren\u00e9,\nis more happy because of my happiness than I am myself\u2014happiness\nmoistened with tears, the tears of sacrifice. \u201cWhat matters it where\none weeps, or wherefore, since tears buy heaven?\u201d\n\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne has given me a share of her heritage\u2014a paralytic old woman\nwhose succoring angel she has been. Every morning she went to the\nlowly room of the poor invalid, whom she dressed, and then with her\npatrician hands she made the bed, swept the room, and prepared the\nrepast. After this she read to her out of some pious book, conversed\nwith her a few minutes, and on leaving called a little girl of ten\nyears old, who was charged to keep the poor woman company. I shall\ncontinue H\u00e9l\u00e8ne\u2019s work.\u2026 In summer it is a neighbor who, for a slight\nremuneration, does all that is necessary; but Mariette, the _femme de\nchambre_, who is often employed to carry little comforts to the\ninvalid, said to me with tears: \u201cNothing replaces mademoiselle, and\nthe old woman says, \u2018Summer is winter to me, for it takes away my\nsunshine!\u2019\u201d What praise, Kate, is it not? Can you not understand how\nGertrude may well be proud of the treasure which is about to be taken\nfrom her? Cannot you understand also how much I sympathize with\nher?\u2014for my heart is bleeding from the same wound. Be happy, beloved\nKate; we shall meet again where there are no separations to be feared,\nin our true fatherland.\n\n\nMAY 31.\n\nOur departure is postponed; my mother being unwell, enough so to keep\nher bed, and the doctor does not yet know what to say about her. Pray\nfor us, my sister. Ren\u00e9 fears inflammation of the lungs. Mme. de T\u2014\u2014,\nwho is very austere with herself, never complains until the last\nextremity.\n\nO my sweet Mother in heaven! your beloved month is drawing to its\nclose, and these lines are the last which I shall trace before the\nlatest hours of May have fallen into eternity. Oh! I entreat you, you\nwho are all-powerful with the Heart of your Divine Son, Our Lady of\nthe Sacred Heart, hear our prayers!\n\nA thousand kisses, dear Kate.\n\n\nJUNE 3.\n\nA mucous fever has declared itself; the danger is imminent; we are\nscarcely alive. Never was mother more adored. She has been delirious;\nher wanderings were those of a saint. God, the angels, her dear ones,\nboth living and dead, pass in turn before her mind; when she recovers\nher sense of the reality, she finds the most consoling and heavenly\nwords wherewith to comfort us. Her room, now haunted by the shadow of\ndeath, is become our universe, and we fraternally share amongst us the\nsorrowful sweetness of attending upon this beloved sick one. All our\npoor are in prayer; two tapers are continually burning before the\nblack Virgin. Thanks, beloved! I have read your letter to my mother,\nwho said to me:\n\nDear Georgina, I am happy to possess the affection of your good\nsister. I feel myself in reality your mother.\u2026\u201d To tell you Ren\u00e9\u2019s\ndistress would be impossible; as for me, I have in the depth of my\nheart an unconquerable confidence God will spare her to us!\n\n\nJUNE 4.\n\nShe is as ill as she can be. Ren\u00e9 proposed to make a vow. Kneeling all\ntogether around this dying bed, with one voice and one heart we have\npromised to go to _Notre Dame de la Salette_. Now we wait.\u2026 Unite your\nvows to ours, we love her so much! Oh! if you could see her, so\nweakened, and with only a breath of life, and yet in possession of all\nher presence of mind, all her attentive solicitude, thinking of\neverything and everybody, pressing me to take a little rest! This\nscene reminds me of my mother, her peaceful death, whilst she\ncommended us to the Father of orphans. Will not God spare her to us?\nOne cannot lose a mother twice! Picciola has assembled all the babies\nfor a perpetual Rosary.\n\nTears choke me; and yet I still have hope. She has received the Holy\nViaticum, and Extreme Unction; it seems as if she were already in\nheaven.\n\n\nJUNE 5.\n\nAlways the same hopeless state; extreme weakness, and no life left but\nin the look, which beams with love. We are all here, more silent than\nshadows, starting at the slightest sound. I did not know that I loved\nso strongly this mother worthy of my Ren\u00e9. Yesterday evening, seeing\nme leaning over her bed, she made a supreme effort to say to me: \u201cYou\nwill comfort him!\u201d O my God, my God! can it be that mourning is about\nto darken our youth, and that this first year of marriage should\ncontain so great a sorrow?\n\n\nJUNE 7.\n\nNothing but a breath, \u2026 yet I hope still. Something tells me that she\nmust live.\n\n\nJUNE 9.\n\nYes, dearest, she will live; let us thank God. A reaction has taken\nplace; it is now a resurrection. How happy I am! You would scarcely\nrecognize Ren\u00e9, so greatly is he altered; but he smiles now,\nrecovering with our beloved sufferer. Your letter of yesterday brought\nbalm to my heart; and an hour afterwards the good doctor assured us\nthat all danger was over, though the recovery will be very gradual.\nAnd so this beautiful and glorious Feast of Pentecost finds us all\nradiant. My mother has insisted on sending us to the services, but the\nothers could not refuse to let me remain. \u201cGrandmother and Aunt\nGeorgina are Ruth and Noemi,\u201d observed Arthur. My mother heard him,\nand sighed at the thought of her dear ones dead; and now having\ncheered, comforted, and attended to her, I see that she has sunk into\na quiet sleep, and so begin to write to you. My darling Kate, a _Te\nDeum_!\n\nThey are returned. I went to the door with my finger on my lips, and\nnow I am alone again.\u2026 No, Ren\u00e9 is by me, light as a sylph, and\ntogether we watch the blessed slumber which will not be the last.\nKate, I am going to pray with my _brother_, who invites me to do so,\nand at the same time sends his love to you.\n\n\nJUNE 11.\n\nWhat a new and delightful aspect everything has regained! We are now\nlonging to accomplish our vow. Why are you not here, my sweet one, at\nmy side, by this beloved invalid, who so touchingly thanks me for\nhaving made my sister love her? You recollect her handsome\ncountenance, so admirable and harmonious in its lines and contours; it\nhas become fearfully pale and thin, but what we were dreading was so\nterrible that we rejoice without troubling ourselves about anything. I\nam writing to you by the side of the reclining chair on which my\nmother is at this moment reposing; I do not leave her, but have made\nmyself her shadow. Ren\u00e9 is gone to the flower-market; since the\nharbingers of summer have made their appearance my room has never been\nwanting in decorations and perfumes. Oh! this intimate life together,\nthe quiet chats in the evenings, the reading, all this richness of\nyouth and happiness\u2014how fair is earth with all these things!\n\nPicciola enters; my pretty fairy whispers in my ear that she would\nvery much like to look at grandmamma asleep. She is now kneeling at\nher feet, saying her Rosary with the fervor of an angel.\n\nA well-known step, although it makes itself a\u00ebrial in order not to\ndisturb this restoring sleep: it is Ren\u00e9! He smiles and retires: he\nknows that I am writing to Kate. Dear sister of my soul, my better\nself, it is to your prayers that we are indebted for this cure! Lucy\nis anxious. The pretty baby is cutting his teeth; he cries and\nscreams, so they are obliged to keep him at a distance from Mme. de\nT\u2014\u2014\u2018s rooms; and Lucy is not fond of solitude.\n\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne is impatient to know you. How useful she has made herself to\nevery one during these sad days! Kate, dearest, may God be our guard.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n [173] \u201c_Jusqu\u2019\u00e0 ce qu\u2019ils aient la cl\u00e9 des champs_\u201d\u2014the\n key of the fields.\n\n [174] Sketch of Christian Rome.\n\n [175] Courses of instruction on various subjects.\n\n [176]\n \u201cAn English cottage is her hermitage;\n And if a wrinkle marks her pearly brow,\n \u2018Tis not, believe me, that she thinks on death\u2014\n She\u2019s too strong-minded to have fear of aught\u2014\n But that, from Paris, an expected dress\n Crumpled arrives, and spoiled with grievous stains.\u201d\n\n [177] As for myself, abounding in the good things with which\n opulence overflows, how willingly would I exchange this\n gold which fortune disdainfully lavishes upon me for one\n hour of the time when I had nothing in the world but my\n vine and my fig-tree\u2014for those divine dreams which sang\n within my soul, and for which no gold can pay.\u201d\n\n [178] The obstructions or impediments attendant upon crowding\n together.\n\n [179] _D\u00e9jeuner_, late breakfast, is taken about eleven or\n twelve o\u2019clock. The early breakfast is simply a cup of\n coffee or chocolate.\n\n\n\n\nWAS MILES STANDISH A CATHOLIC?\n\n\nIn the quaint old town of Leyden, somewhere in the year 1619, an\nEnglish soldier, who had seen service on the battle-fields of the\nContinent, came in contact with a little community of men of his own\ncountry, hard-working, unhappy people, who had left England to enjoy\ngreater freedom in the practice of their religious ideas than they\ncould expect at home. But if the people of the United Provinces\nharmonized with them in doctrinal standards and principles, their\nlives and practice were far from unison with the English refugees, and\nthese last were planning a settlement beyond the Atlantic.\n\nThe soldier did not share their religious views. He did not join the\nchurch at Leyden or swell the number of the worshippers in the church\nof the Beguines, which, on the principle of religious liberty as they\nunderstood it, the Dutch had wrested from the Sisters to give to the\nstrangers. But, how or why no one knows, the hot-tempered,\ngood-hearted soldier contracted a strong friendship for Robinson, the\npastor of the English flock, and that sturdy upholder of Puritan views\nseems to have entertained a warm affection for the soldier.\n\nWhen the _Mayflower_, after breasting the waves of the Atlantic,\nneared at last the shore on which the colony proposed to begin a\nsettlement in midwinter, daring in the worst season of the year what\nmany had failed to effect with all the advantages of the balmiest\nspring, a compact for civil government was drawn up and signed by the\nchief men of the expedition. On the list is the name of Miles\nStandish. He landed with them; became their military leader; his\nexploits as an Indian fighter are known to all the children in our\nschools. He is the type of those who from the beginning of the\nseventeenth century have done battle with the red man. He died at\nlast, at a ripe old age, in the colony he helped to found, but died\nwithout joining the church established by the pilgrims of Plymouth\nRock, though conformity was as a rule required from all.\n\nNew England historians and scholars seem puzzled to account for the\nfact of his never having joined the church. His life was beyond\nreproach. He brought from his experience of camp and garrison no\nhabits to shock the sober, rigid men with whom his career was cast. It\ncould not be, they admit, that the Pilgrims found any objection to his\nadmission. He evidently never sought it. He was no hypocrite to seek\nadmission as a church-member like Captain Underhill, whose life set\nmorality at defiance, or like Mayor Gibbons, whose questionable\ndealings with pirates show his unworthiness. Contrasted with these\nmen, Standish stands out as a noble, consistent figure. As Dr. Ellis\nremarks: \u201cOf the two captains in the early Indian warfare, and in the\nstraits of dangerous enterprise, the uncovenanted Standish is to be\npreferred.\u201d He is comparing him with Underhill; the comparison will\nstill hold good in regard to Gibbons or Patrick.\n\nSome years since, the writer threw out in our American _Notes and\nQueries_ the suggestion that Miles Standish, the military hero of the\n_Mayflower_, of the Pilgrims, and of Plymouth Rock, was a Catholic. A\ncorrespondent, using the initials J. W. T., which seem to denote an\nhistorical scholar of no mean repute in New England, one who has shown\nreal research and sound judgment, lost all self-command at the\nsuggestion, and raved in this style: \u201cIf Miles Standish was a Roman\nCatholic, he was also a hypocrite; till proof of the latter, he must\nbe considered what the Pilgrims believed him to be\u2014and never before\ndoubted\u2014a Protestant and an honest man. Miles Standish was not the man\nto sail under false colors. He was bold, brave, impetuous, open as the\nday, and not double-faced. His memory should have been safe from\ninsult.\u201d\n\nNo distinct assertions are made, and the grave historical scholar\nforgot to cite authorities. The language infers that the Pilgrims\nbelieved Standish to be a Protestant, and that he professed to be one.\nBut there is no evidence at all to sustain this. The late S. G. Drake,\nwhose acquaintance with the sources of New England history was\ncertainly very great, expressly says on this point: \u201cI do not remember\never having seen it stated that he belonged to any church,\u201d and no one\nhas ever cited an authority that connects him with any Protestant\nchurch. Governor Hutchinson, in his _History of Massachusetts_ (vol.\nii., p. 411), says: \u201cIt seems Standish was not of their church at\nfirst, and Mr. Hubbard says he had more of his education in the school\nof Mars than in the school of Christ. He acquired, however, the esteem\nof the whole colony.\u201d Baylies, in his _History of Plymouth_, says:\n\u201cWhat induced him to connect himself with the Pilgrims does not\nappear. He took up his residence among them at Leyden, but never\njoined the church\u201d (part ii., p. 21). Palfrey, the author of the\n_History of New England_, with all the researches of the present\ncentury, says of Standish: \u201cHe was not a member of the Leyden Church,\nnor subsequently of that of Plymouth, but appears to have been induced\nto join the emigrants by personal good-will, or by love of adventure,\nwhile to them his military knowledge and habits rendered his\ncompanionship of great value\u201d (vol. i., p. 161). Later on in the same\nwork, Palfrey reiterates the assertion: \u201cStandish was no religious\nenthusiast. He never professed to care for, or so much as to\nunderstand, the system of doctrine of his friends, though he paid it\nall respect as being theirs. He never was a member of their church\u201d\n(vol. ii., p. 407-8). At the laying of the corner-stone of the\nStandish monument on Captain\u2019s Hill, Duxbury, Oct. 7, 1872, the Rev.\nDr. Ellis, endeavoring as a clergyman on that day to say all that\ncould be said, makes him only a sort of \u201cproselyte of the gate,\u201d but\nadmits distinctly that \u201che was not a man of \u2018professions,\u2019 nor, so far\nas we know, of \u2018confessions.\u2019 He was never \u2018sealed\u2019 or \u2018covenanted.\u2019\nWe are at a loss for the explanation of this fact, considering the\nstandard and the expectations of his associates.\u201d[180] On the same\noccasion, Charles Deane, who certainly did not speak without\nexamination of his subject, said: \u201cHe was not a member of Plymouth\nChurch, and there are strong suspicions that the doctrine of the\nperseverance of the saints had not taken strong hold of him.\u201d[181]\n\nIt was not that Standish preferred the platform of Massachusetts Bay.\nHe went to Boston, but never seemed to harmonize with them or relish\ntheir system of management. He was no adherent of Mrs. Hutchinson,\nRoger Williams, or the Baptists; no one ever claimed him as a disciple\nof Fox; no treasured Book of Common Prayer or any other proof of\nadherence to the Church of England has been preserved to justify\nEpiscopalians in claiming him.\n\nWhere, then, is his Protestantism? He certainly avowed himself a\nmember of no Protestant denomination whatever, and made no professions\nof the kind; so that, if he really was a Catholic, there can be no\ncharge of hypocrisy, for there is not the slightest tittle of evidence\nthat he ever pretended to be a Protestant. He was an extremely\nvaluable man to the little community at Plymouth, and rendered\nimportant services. At that time, to have proclaimed himself a\nCatholic would have compelled the Pilgrims to exclude him, and exposed\nhimself to annoyance when visiting other colonies or England. That the\nleaders knew him to be a Catholic, too firm in his faith to be shaken,\nwould explain much that seems now inexplicable to New England writers.\n\nThe question, then, comes up, whether there is any direct ground for\nsupposing the famous Captain of the Pilgrims to be a Catholic. In his\nwill, he left to his eldest son, Alexander, \u201call my lands as heir\naparent, by lawfull decent, in Ormistock, Boscouge, Wrightington,\nMaudsly, Newburrow, Crawston, and in the Isle of Man, and given to me\nas right heir by lawfull decent, but sereptuously detained from me, my\ngrandfather being a second or younger brother from the house of\nStandish of Standish.\u201d[182]\n\nThis gives a clue to his family, and another is found in the name of\nthe town which he planted\u2014Duxbury. Some of the earlier writers of this\ncentury made a fanciful derivation for this. Duxbury, according to\nthem, was from _Dux_, captain; that Duxbury meant Captain\u2019s town, and\nwas an allusion to his position in the colony.[183] But turning to\nEnglish authorities, we find at once in Lancashire an ancient family\nof Standish, of which there are two branches, Standish of Standish\nHall, and Standish of Duxbury. Their arms\u2014three silver plates on a\nfield azure\u2014meet you on tombs and on the churches erected by them\ncenturies ago.\n\nWhen the young king Richard II. rode out to meet Wat Tyler at the head\nof his rebels, John Standish was one of the king\u2019s esquires\u2014the very\none who slew Tyler. A Sir John Standish won fame by his prowess at\nAgincourt, and the name occurs frequently during the French wars of\nHenry V. and Henry VI. When the eighth King Henry sought a divorce\nfrom his faithful wife, Queen Catharine, Henry Standish, a Franciscan,\nBishop of St. Asaph\u2019s (1519-1535), a most learned man, assisted the\nunhappy queen throughout the shameful trial. After the change of\nreligion, the Standish family adhered to the old faith, one of them\nwriting vigorously in its defence; and down to this day they are\nreckoned among the Catholic families of England. Standish Hall, the\nseat of the elder branch, is close to Wigan, twenty miles northeast of\nLiverpool; and Duxbury Hall, the seat of the younger branch, is only\ntwo miles distant from Standish Hall. There have been frequent\nlitigations between the two branches, and in one of these, doubtless,\nthe immediate ancestor of the Plymouth soldier lost the property\nalluded to in his will.\n\nThe family remained Catholic, and after the fall of James II. was\namong his sturdy adherents. The famous Lancashire plot, formed in 1692\nwith the object of replacing James on the throne of England, was\nhatched in Standish Hall.\n\nThe wrong of which the gallant soldier of Plymouth complained was one\nthat he could have had redressed promptly, even if not in accordance\nwith the rules of justice. Had he appeared as a Protestant claimant\nfor the broad acres of an old Catholic house, courts and juries would\nhave bent law and fact to place him in possession. How the feeling\noperates we have seen by instances in our own day. The feeling in\nfavor of the Tichborne claimant in England was deeply imbued with the\ndesire to place the heritage of an old and well-known Catholic family\nin the hands of one who was to all intents and purposes a\nProtestant\u2014one whose Catholicity, if he ever had any, had completely\nvanished in a brutalizing Australian life. In the claim of Earl\nTalbot, a Protestant, to the earldom of Shrewsbury, so long identified\nwith the Catholic cause, we see what slight evidence, or show of\nevidence, satisfied the House of Peers. Had the circumstances been\nreversed, a Catholic claiming a Protestant peerage, the doubts of the\ntribunal would have required tenfold proof, and the investigation\nlasted a generation.\n\nMiles Standish, by his own avowal, belonged to an ancient Catholic\nfamily, which has clung to the faith to this day. He evidently scorned\nto change his religion to enable him to recover what he deemed his\njust rights. Such seems to be a position that solves all difficulties.\nAmong the old Catholic families of the British Isles, after the change\nof religion was completed, and the line of distinction between\nProtestant and Catholic sharply drawn, it became a matter of honor and\npride to adhere, during the evil days of the penal laws and the\nbutchery of the clergy, to the faith so heroically retained.\n\nHere and there, one who gave the reins to his wild passions, some man\nsunk in vice like Mervyn, Lord Audley, or the Duke of Norfolk at the\nclose of the last century, would conform to the state church, though\nevery decent Protestant shrank from contact with them; or some\nnobleman deprived of his estates, like Lord Baltimore, would renounce\nhis faith to recover a province like Maryland, wrongfully detained\nfrom him; or, like Lord Dunboyne, give up the faith, even after\nteaching it for years as an honored priest, in order to live as seemed\nto become his title; or, led by ambition, to rise at court like\nWaldegrave; but for one to join a body of dissenters there is on\nrecord scarcely an example.\n\nDescendants of old Catholic families emigrating to America, like the\nDongans, Townleys, and others, fell away; but in the Old World a sense\nof honor made them cling to the oppressed faith when to desert it\nseemed to imply cowardice or vice. The opening words of Moore\u2019s\n_Travels of an Irish Gentleman in Search of Religion_ embody this\nfeeling.\n\nAs a necessary consequence, the conversion of one of the members of an\nancient Catholic house by the Protestant party was a triumph, and the\nnew-comer was well rewarded. The conversion of one of the Standishes\nwould have found mention somewhere among the events of the day, and\nthere would be some trace of office or rank bestowed on the man who at\nlast conformed. Yet the county annals of Lancashire and the memoirs of\nthe time chronicle no such defection on the part of Miles Standish,\nand it is equally evident that no post was bestowed upon him as a\nreward.\n\nThat Miles Standish was one who, turning his thoughts to the great\nreligious questions then rife, fell into doubts as to the solidity of\nthe claims of the Catholic Church, and with all zeal and fervor\nembraced some form of Protestantism, is a theory too wild for\nconsideration. The whole mass of Pilgrim testimony establishes the\nfact that he was one who took no interest in the religious systems of\nProtestantism; that he was utterly devoid of any such enthusiasm in\nthem as would mark a convert from conviction.\n\nFrom what we know of his origin, the presumption is strong that he was\nand always remained a Catholic, and we cannot shield his memory from\ninsult except by adopting this presumption. Neither a life of vicious\nindulgence nor ambitious hopes, and certainly no conviction, led him\nto renounce the religion of his family and embrace Protestantism.\n\nLet us, then, gather what is known of the life of this Catholic\nsoldier of early New England annals.\n\nHe was born about 1584, at Duxbury, in Lancashire, England, as is\nsupposed, from the fact that he preserved the name in the town he\nestablished; but was, as he claims in his will, great-grandson of a\nsecond or younger brother of the house of Standish of Standish. This\nis a well-known Catholic house in Lancashire, known as early as the\nreign of Edward I., the elder branch of two in that county, the other\nbeing the Standishes of Duxbury. With this last he claims no\nconnection, although the inference is probable that he was born at\nthat place. As his just inheritance at Standish was, he asserts,\nsurreptitiously detained from him, it may be that his father, unjustly\ndeprived of his patrimony, took refuge at Duxbury under the protection\nof the other branch. Both branches were Catholic, John Standish being\na distinguished writer against the Reformation. A Robert Standish\nfigures in Parliament in 1654; Captain Thomas Standish, of the Duxbury\nhouse, was killed at Manchester fighting bravely for the king. The\nStandishes of Duxbury, as their genealogy shows, intermarried with the\nold Catholic houses of Howard and Townley. Richard Standish was made a\nbaronet after the Restoration, in 1676.\n\nThe estates to which he asserts his rights lay, as expressed in the\nwill, in Ormistock, Bouscouge, Wrightington, Maudsley, Newburrow,\nCranston, and in the Isle of Man.\n\nThe latest history of Lancashire, by Baines, unfortunately gives no\ndetailed pedigree of the house of Standish of Standish, that of\nDuxbury being given to some extent, though not in the line of descent\nof the younger sons. As, however, he does not claim at all to have\nbelonged to the Duxbury branch, it is useless to look there for him.\n\nStandish Hall, the seat of the branch from which he was descended, \u201cis\na large brick house, irregular in form, to which is attached an\nancient Catholic chapel, still used for that purpose\u201d (Baines, _Hist.\nLancashire_, iii., p. 505). Standish forms a parish in the Hundred of\nLeyland. \u201cThe extensive and fertile township of Duxbury, at the\nnorthern extremity of the parish of Standish, stands on the banks of\nthe Yarrow, by which the township and parish is divided from the\nparish of Chorley\u201d (_Ib._, p. 517).\n\nOrmistock is evidently Ormskirk, an adjoining parish, in which Baines\nmentions that there are two Catholic chapels (iv., p. 244). In the\nBuscouge of the Plymouth record we easily recognize Burscough, where\nonce flourished a famous priory, suppressed by Henry VIII. The\nLancashire historian notes that there was formerly a Catholic chapel\nat Burscough Hall (iv., p. 256). Of the next place mentioned in\nStandish\u2019s will, Baines says: \u201cAdjoining Wrightington Hall stands a\nsmall Catholic chapel for the use of the family\u201d (iii., p. 481);\nMawdsley or Mawdesley is an extensive flat and fertile township\nbetween Croston and Wrightington (iii., p. 404); Newbury and Croston\nare in the same Hundred (iii., 171, 391-5).\n\nHe was thus of Catholic stock, and born and brought up amid families\nwhere the old faith is still cherished to this day. Almost every place\nmentioned in his will is linked with Catholic life in his time and the\npresent.\n\nOf his early life not a tradition or trace has been preserved. In that\nday the younger men of Catholic families constantly went abroad to\ngain an education and to seek service in the Continental armies, many\ntoo to study for the priesthood, and return to England, unawed by the\nterrible fate that awaited them if they fell into the hands of the\nmyrmidons of English law.\n\nThat Miles Standish should have sought service abroad is therefore\nnatural. Ignoring his Catholic origin, New England writers have sought\nto explain his military career on the Continent. All seem to assume\nthat he served in the Low Countries. Baylies, in his _History of\nPlymouth_ (part ii., p. 21), says explicitly that \u201che served as an\nofficer in the armies of Queen Elizabeth in the Low Countries, when\ncommanded by her favorite, the Earl of Leicester.\u201d\n\nCaptain Wyman, at the laying of the corner-stone in 1872, goes\nfurther: \u201cIn early life he was trained to the hardships and trials of\nwar, having been commissioned at the age of twenty a lieutenant in the\narmy serving in the Low Countries against the armies of the\nInquisition.\u201d The Rev. G. E. Ellis and Charles Deane on the same\noccasion limit themselves to the assertion that he served in the Low\nCountries (pp. 21, 24).\n\nPalfrey is less positive, as he was writing history, not pronouncing\neulogies. \u201cThe \u2018cautionary towns\u2019 of the Netherlands had been\ngarrisoned by British regiments for thirty years, and Miles Standish\nhad _probably_ been employed on this service\u201d (_History of New\nEngland_, i., p. 161). \u201c_Probably_ while serving in an English\nregiment in the Netherlands he fell in with the company of English\npeasants\u201d (ii., pp. 407-8).\n\nThere seems to be no really authentic foundation for all this theory.\nStandish died in 1656, aged 72, and must have been born, according to\nthis, in 1584. Leicester was sent to the Low Countries with eleven\nthousand men in 1585-7; but we can scarcely believe that this\nprecocious scion of a Catholic house served as an officer in this\ncampaign when only one year old, or three at the most.\n\nThe assertion that the Catholic soldier was commissioned a lieutenant\nat the age of twenty, that is, in 1604, when James was ruining the\nCatholic families by extorting all the arrears of fines, and producing\nthe spirit of exasperation which culminated in the Gunpowder Plot, can\nscarcely find any support in sober history. The armies of the\nInquisition which James was fighting in 1604 elude research.\n\nSavage, in his _Genealogical Dictionary_, though on what authority we\nknow not, says that Standish had been at Leyden some years before\n1620. All that is positively known is that he had seen military\nservice on the Continent, and was living in Leyden with his wife Rose\nwhen the followers of Robinson proposed to emigrate. A strong\nfriendship, not based on harmony of religious views, existed between\nMiles Standish and the pastor of the exiles. Writing subsequently to\nPlymouth after receiving tidings of Standish\u2019s first Indian fight,\nRobinson says: \u201cLet me be bould to exhorte you seriously to consider\nye dispossition of your Captaine, whom I love, and am persuaded ye\nLord in great mercie and for much good hath sent you him, if you use\nhim aright. He is a man humble and meek amongst you; and towards all\nin ordinarie course.\u201d[184] This strong feeling of personal friendship\nwas reciprocal. In his will Standish writes: \u201cFurther, my will is that\nMarrye Robenson, whom I tenderly love for her grandfather\u2019s sacke,\nshall have three pounds in som thing to goe forward for her two yeares\nafter my decease.\u201d\n\nWhether he had served in the Spanish armies or the Dutch, or in\nEnglish garrison, he was to all appearance simply a resident of Leyden\nwhen this friendship grew up. It evidently led to the proposal or\noffer to accompany those of Robinson\u2019s flock who were to venture to\nmake the first attempt at colonization in North America.\n\nHis wife Rose, of whom we know only her name, agreed evidently to join\nhim in the voyage. True wife of a brave man, she was ready to face all\ndanger and to share all hardships with him. Nothing is recorded from\nwhich to glean whether she was some fair English girl from his own\nLancashire, or some one whom he won on the Continent. Her name, her\nfaith, and her country are alike unknown. We know that they embarked\ntogether at Delft Haven, and formed part of the memorable body on the\n_Mayflower_. Among them Miles Standish was a man of importance. When\nthe compact for their government in America was drawn up, he signed\nit, and the place of his signature shows the esteem in which he was\nheld and his recognized position among them.\n\nThat document is purely a civil one, and contains nothing that could\nnot be signed by the strictest Catholic.\n\nReaching in November the poorest, sandy part of the coast, the little\ncolony had a fearful career of hardship. Standish was one of the\npioneers in exploring the land. After they landed at Plymouth Rock in\nDecember, he saw his companions sink under their hardships and breathe\ntheir last. Though his own rugged health triumphed over everything,\nhis wife Rose sank beneath the unwonted trials, and died on the 29th\nday of January, 1621, leaving him alone in the diminishing body of\nsettlers, without a tie to bind him to them or the settlement which\nthey had undertaken. But he was not one to falter or easily give up.\n\nDuring that winter of terrible suffering so heroically borne he was\none of the six or seven who were untouched by disease, and his care\nand devotion to the sick and afflicted are mentioned with gratitude.\nWhen spring at last gladdened them, and they resolutely set about the\nlabors of building, cultivating, and otherwise preparing for a\npermanent residence, Miles Standish had been made the first military\ncommander of the colony, and, as we may infer from some statements, he\nturned his engineering skill to a peaceful channel, laying out the\nlines of the new town and surveying the plots taken up by the\nsettlers. The first military organization of Plymouth dates from\nFebruary, 1621. It was not formidable in numbers, but it was necessary\nto make it as imposing as possible. Standish felt all this. He threw\nup defensive works, a little fort on the hill above the dwellings\nmounted with five guns, and prepared to make the Indians respect the\npower of the settlers.\n\nAs the best linguist, he was sent out to meet the deputations of\nIndians who came to observe the new-comers; and he was constantly sent\nto explore the country or test the feelings of the natives. It was\ndoubtless a specimen of Standish\u2019s style of correspondence with them\nthat we find recorded in Governor Bradford\u2019s reply to arrows hid in a\nsnake-skin which Canonicus sent to the settlement. The snake-skin\nfilled with powder and ball was an answer which announced to the\nsavages that Standish was ready to meet them.\n\nThe settlements of Weston\u2019s lawless people near them increased\nill-feeling among the Indians, and apparently gave them a poor opinion\nof the courage and power of the Plymouth settlements. Standish in his\nexcursions soon became aware of this, and felt convinced that a\ngeneral conspiracy against the colonists was on foot. An attempt on\nhis own life at Manomet, now Sandwich, confirmed this belief. A\nminister named Lyford, who came over, sought to have him superseded in\noffice, declaring that he looked like a silly boy. And outside the\nlittle community of Plymouth slighting views prevailed of this\noffshoot of a fighting race.\n\nFrom his slight frame, the Weston people at Wessagusset (now Weymouth)\nseem to have given Standish the nickname of Captain Shrimp, and the\nIndians had taken up the slighting tone and openly braved him. Feeling\nthat the danger was imminent, Standish went in March, 1623, to\nWessagusset with eight men, to suppress the plot by striking a blow\nthat would convince the Indians of his prowess and of the force of the\ncolony. He found the warrior who had attempted to take his life, and\nwhen the Indian taunted Standish, he with two of his men attacked the\nIndian party without firearms, and after a desperate struggle Standish\ndespatched his antagonist with his own weapon wrested from his hand,\nand the whole band was cut off. This encounter established Standish\u2019s\nreputation. The Weston colony broke up, and an ascendency was soon\nacquired over the Indians.\n\nIt was on receipt of the intelligence of this first collision with the\nnatives that Robinson, after deploring the fact that they had not\nconverted some Indians before killing any, expressed his affection to\nStandish, and urged the leaders of the colony not to molest him, as\nthough there were some ground, which he did not care to express, why\nhe anticipated that in some way their military leader might not be\naltogether at ease in the place.\n\nBut Standish seems to have had no idea of abandoning his associates.\nThe ship _Anne_, bearing the third body of emigrants, had among the\nnumber a young woman named Barbara, whom he subsequently married, and\nthus formed new ties in the land. He is said first to have sought the\nhand of Priscilla Mullins, but, having sent Alden to open the matter\nfor him, found that he had acted unwisely, as the lady bade Alden\nspeak for himself. Longfellow bases on this incident his \u201cCourtship of\nMiles Standish.\u201d He was elected one of the governor\u2019s assistants, and\nfor nineteen years held that responsible position. De Rasiere leaves\nus a pen-picture of the colony assembling by beat of drum at\nStandish\u2019s door, \u201ceach with his musket or firelock. They had their\ncloaks on, and placed themselves in order three abreast, and were led\nby a sergeant. Behind came the governor in a long robe; beside him on\nthe right hand came the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left\nhand the captain, with his side-arms and cloak on, and with a small\ncane in his hand; and so they march in good order, and each sets his\narms down near him. Thus they are constantly on their guard night and\nday.\u201d This military organization was Standish\u2019s work.\n\nBut his labors were not confined to organizing the colony for military\npurposes, or maintaining peace with Indian neighbors or troublesome\nwhite neighbors. In 1625, he was despatched to England to obtain a\nsupply of goods, and learn what terms could be made to obtain a\nrelease from the English merchants who had advanced money as partners\nin the undertaking. He reached London to find it ravaged by the\nplague. He negotiated with some advantage for the colony with the\nEnglish partners, and in spite of the disordered condition of affairs\nhe obtained advances, and brought over some goods for trading, and\nother most needful commodities as he knew requisite for their use. He\nheard, however, of the death of his old friend Robinson at Leyden, and\nwas the bearer of that sad intelligence to the colony.\n\nWe next find him as a trader. To put the settlement on a better\nfinancial footing, after releasing themselves through his exertions\nfrom the London partners, Standish, with seven other settlers, in\nJuly, 1627, entered into an agreement with the colony to farm its\ntrade for a term of six years. They assumed the debts of the colony,\nand agreed to bring over certain goods annually, in consideration of a\nsmall payment in corn or tobacco from each colonist. They put up a\nhouse on the Kennebec, and made it the centre of a prosperous trade.\n\nIn 1630, leaving Plymouth, he crossed to the north side of the harbor,\nand took up his residence on a spot still called Captain\u2019s Hill, where\nhis house has stood till our day, and the spring remains as kerbed\nwith stone in his time. This place, probably after his birth-place in\nEngland, he called Duxbury, a name it still retains.\n\nWe find him reducing Morton; marching to defend the Pokanokets, allies\nof Plymouth, against the Narragansetts; going to Boston to maintain\nhis colony\u2019s rights to the Kennebec trade after a collision there with\na Boston trader; sent in 1635 to recover Penobscot from the French;\ncommanding the Plymouth quota in the Pequot war; engaged against the\nNarragansetts in 1651, against the Mohawks and their allies in New\nYork; and finally, in 1653, when very old, appointed to command the\ntroops which Plymouth raised in anticipation of hostilities with the\nDutch of New Netherland.\n\nThis was his last public service. He died in his house at Duxbury,\nOctober 3, 1656, leaving several sons, and his widow Barbara. His\ndescendants at the present time must be many. \u201cNature endowing him\nwith valor, quickness of apprehension, and good judgment, had\nqualified him for business or war. Of his other peculiarities, nothing\nhas been recorded except that he was of small stature and of hasty\ntemper. He had no ambition except to do for his friends whatever from\ntime to time they thought fit to charge him with\u2014whether it was to\nfrighten the Narragansett or Massachusetts natives, to forage for\nprovisions, or to hold a rod over disorderly English neighbors, or to\ntreat with merchants on the London exchange. In the misery of the\nearly settlement especially, the reader does not fail to reflect what\nrelief must have been afforded by reliance on a guardian so vigilant\nand manful\u201d (Palfrey).\n\nOn the 7th of October, 1872, the Standish Monument Association,\nincorporated by the State of Massachusetts, laid the corner-stone of a\nmonument to this Catholic soldier, a round tower, to be surmounted by\na bronze figure of the first captain of Plymouth colony. The Ancient\nand Honorable Artillery Company of Boston were there, Freemasons, Odd\nFellows, Good Templars, military delegations, the governor,\nmagistrates, Protestant clergymen, and citizens; but there is no\nrecord that any bishop or clergyman of the faith professed by the\nStandishes of Standish assisted at the ceremony. The Catholic element\nwas ignored. It should have been safe from insult.\n\nBut it may be asked, how can we claim Miles Standish as a Catholic? He\nwas of a known Catholic family, then, since, and now Catholic. Though\nassociated with Robinson\u2019s flock, he never became a member of their\nchurch in Leyden, Plymouth, or Duxbury. His Catholic convictions give\nthe simplest reason for this, which one of the New England historians\nregards as \u201can anomaly in human nature\u201d (Baylies). If amid all the\ntemptations from the associations around him he thus persistently\ndeclined to connect himself even nominally with the Protestant Church,\nit shows that he still clung to that of his family.\n\nBut why should a Catholic thus isolate himself from all the\nministrations of the church, and throw himself into a Protestant\ncommunity? Deprived of the heritage he claimed, he had to seek his\nfortune elsewhere. In England, the number of Catholics in proportion\nto the population was less than in Holland; but he probably found life\nmore congenial with these countrymen of another faith than with men of\nthe same faith but of another country. Circumstances, too, control our\npaths in life. Catholics count in this country by millions, yet there\nis many a Catholic thrown almost entirely into Protestant circles.\n\nBut Standish, it may be said, married out of the church, and allowed\nhis children to be brought up as Protestants. So did Gerard, one of\nthe founders of Maryland, although there were priests in the colony\nand no Protestant minister; so did Matthew Carey; so did Chief-Justice\nTaney\u2014yet all are regarded as Catholics, though we regret their\nindifference to the salvation of their children. It will not do on\nthese grounds to deny his Catholicity.\n\nThere was not, so far as we know, a single apostate Catholic in the\ncommunity at Plymouth, not one who, having tasted the pure Gospel,\nknown the divinely given faith and the divinely instituted worship,\nturned to wallow in the mire of man-made creeds and worship devised by\nshallow men. Standish cannot be accused of being in league with known\napostates. Yet even had he been guilty of such a step, we cannot judge\nhim too harshly, for even in our days one may address a notorious and\nscandalous apostate in terms of eloquent welcome, and yet be deemed\nCatholic enough to lecture before pre-eminently Catholic bodies, and\naddress the young graduates of our literary institutions as one fit to\nguide their future career.\n\nBut, it may be said, he must have lived in utter neglect of his duties\nas a Catholic. Who can tell this? Like Le Baron, the French surgeon\nwrecked and captured on the coast, he may have clung to the faith to\nthe end, performed his devotions as he might, and died with the\ncrucifix over his heart. The opportunities for approaching the\nsacraments from time to time were given him, and his position gave him\ngreater ease in embracing those opportunities. The trading-houses of\nPlymouth in Maine stood near similar French posts, where Capuchins and\nRecollects were maintained. The report of Mgr. Urban Cerri and the\nFrench colonial documents show that, for the benefit of Catholics in\nNew England, English-speaking priests were sent to those points and\nmaintained in Canada on the frontiers. Who can say that Standish, who\nwas frequently in Maine on colonial matters and for trade, meeting\nthese priests and speaking French, for his powers as a linguist are\nmentioned, did not avail himself of the opportunity of hearing Mass\nand approaching the sacraments. It is not likely that when he did he\nwent with a file of soldiers and a drum-beating, or that he made a\nspecial report to the Plymouth government. It would be a fact of which\nevidence would not be heralded.\n\nIn his last days, 1651, Father Druillettes visited Boston and Plymouth\nwith his Plymouth friend Winslow, where he must have met the aged\nStandish.\n\nHis library, it may be urged, as shown by the inventory, contains no\nCatholic works, and several devotional and doctrinal works of the\nPuritan school. As his wife was a Protestant, we may well suppose this\npart of the family library to have been her reading. Surely, when all\nNew England authorities concur in admitting \u201cthat he never cherished\nany strong impressions of their religion,\u201d or took any interest in it,\nwe may put down Rogers\u2019 _Seaven Treatises_, Wilcock\u2019s works,\nBurrough\u2019s _Christian Contentment_, Davenport\u2019s _Apology_, and the\n_Comentary on James Ball Catterkesmer_, as her reading and not his;\nwhile we readily recognize the soldier\u2019s taste in C\u00e6ser\u2019s\n_Comentaryes_, Banft\u2019s _Artillery_, the _History of the World_,\n_Turkish History_, _Chronicle of England_, _Ye History of Queen\nElizabeth_, _The State of Europe_, the _Garmon_ (German) _History_,\nand Homer\u2019s _Iliad_.\n\nThe whole case is now before the reader. Miles Standish has been\nalways classed as a Protestant, but there is certainly grave doubt on\nthe point. He never renounced the Catholic faith in which he was\nundoubtedly born; and therefore, we Catholics have some claim to his\nname and fame. No descendant of his, to the writer\u2019s knowledge, is now\na Catholic, but some have been in our day pupils of Catholic\ninstitutions. These will, we trust, follow up our labors, and bring\nfrom the records of the past more conclusive evidence of the lifelong\nCatholicity of Miles Standish.\n\n\n [180] _Historical Magazine_, April, 1873, p. 251.\n\n [181] _Standish Monument_, Boston, 1873, pp. 21, 25.\n\n [182] _Hist. Mag._, March, 1871, pp. 273, 274.\n\n [183] Howe\u2019s _Massachusetts Collections_.\n\n [184] Bradford\u2019s _History_.\n\n\n\n\nVITTORIA COLONNA\n\n Lived in court\u2014\n Which rare it is to do\u2014most praised, most loved,\n A sample to the youngest, to the more mature\n A glass that feated them, and to the graver\n A child that guided dotards.\n \u2014_Cymbeline._\n\n\nTwelve miles from Rome, on an almost isolated knoll of the Alban range\nof hills, more than thirteen hundred feet above the sea, which\nglimmers in the distance beyond the Campagna, rises the picturesque,\nmedi\u00e6val town of Marino. Many quiet Romans spend the _villeggiatura_\nthere, to enjoy its pure air and the shady promenades and beautiful\nviews around it; but few foreigners do more than visit, on the way, a\nclassical spot, a deep and wooded glen at the foot of the hill, where\nthe representatives of the Latin tribes used to meet for deliberation\non public matters down to the year 340 B.C., and which is noted for\nthe tragic end of Turnus Herdonius, an influential chief of the\nleague, who was treacherously accused, condemned, and drowned, at the\nrequest of Tarquin the Proud, in the clear pool of water\u2014called by\nLivy _caput aqu\u00e6 Ferentin\u00e6_\u2014which wells up so innocently from under a\nmoss-covered rock overspread by an ancient, crooked beech-tree at the\nhead of the little valley.\n\nWe do not intend to sketch the history of Marino or describe its local\nmonuments, however interesting, but will simply remark that during the\nmiddle ages it passed successively from the Counts of Tusculum to the\nFrangipanis, the Orsinis, and, under Pope Martin V., to the Colonnas,\nin whose favor it was erected into a dukedom in 1424. The large\nbaronial palace of the sixteenth century which stands in the middle of\nthe town is full of curiosities and ancestral portraits of this\npowerful family, although the rarer and more interesting ones have\nlong since been removed to the princely headquarters near the _Santi\nApostoli_, in Rome. The stone-work and towers which still surround\nMarino and add so much to its feudal aspect, were raised in the year\n1480, and the ruins of the castle, with its battlements and proud\narmorial signs upon the walls, are on the most precipitous side of the\ntown, overlooking the noisy little stream of Aqua Ferentina. It was in\nthis castle\u2014which, having been made by the Colonnas their principal\nstronghold in that part of the Roman States, was then in the pride of\nall its freshness and strength of portals, merlons, and\nmachicolations\u2014that a daughter was born in the year 1490 to Don\nFabrizio Colonna and his wife, the Lady Agnes of Montefeltro. As soon\nas possible she was held up at a window to be seen by her father\u2019s\nretainers and saluted with the discharge of artillery, peal of\ntrumpets, and shouts of men-at-arms.\n\nThis infant was Vittoria Colonna, who became one of the most\ncelebrated women of the sixteenth century, and who is even remembered\nin Italy to this day for her learning, her poetry, beauty, conjugal\naffection, piety, and sorrows; and yet, strange as it may seem,\nalthough hardly singular\u2014for illustrious names of the same period have\nfallen into a like obscurity\u2014no date more precise than that of the\nyear can be assigned to her birth; and certainly one of the benefits\nderived by biographers from the reforms which followed the Council of\nTrent is the better keeping of baptismal registers, by means of\nwhich\u2014in countries, at least, where the church was not persecuted nor\nwar made on parochial books\u2014sometimes the very hour, often the day of\nthe week, always that of the month, of an individual\u2019s birth may be\nfound.\n\nVittoria was the eldest, and only female, of six children. Her father\nwas not only a great nobleman of the States of the Church, but the\npossessor of many Neapolitan fiefs; and soon after Charles VIII. of\nFrance, who had attempted the conquest of the kingdom of Naples, began\nto experience an evil turn of fortune, Don Fabrizio was detached from\nhis service by Ferdinand of Spain, who succeeded in driving the French\nout of the southern part of Italy. Most of his life was spent in\ncourts and camps, and but little time was passed in his castles,\nwhither he went either to enjoy the chase or when called by domestic\nconcerns, such as this one that gave a daughter to his house. Her\nmother was a child of Frederic, Duke of Urbino, head of an illustrious\nfamily which for three centuries had ranked among the lesser\nindependent princes of Italy. Some of Vittoria\u2019s ancestors of this\nline had figured in a conspicuous manner in history, especially as\npatrons of letters, and during a certain period the court of Urbino\nwas the most refined and intellectual of the Italian peninsula. She\nfelt its influence through her accomplished mother; but her father\u2019s\nfamily was also remarkable for an hereditary genius and aptitude in\nevery branch of learning; and a long list could be made of men of\nerudition, and of writers more or less distinguished, belonging to the\nColonna lineage, at the head of which would stand \u00c6gidius Romanus, or\nGiles of Rome, General of the Augustinians, and for his profound\nknowledge surnamed _Doctor fundatissimus_, whose work, _De Regimine\nPrincipum_, composed for his pupil, Philip the Fair of France, was the\nmodel in its general subject and didactic form, but without the\nimmoral maxims, of Macchiavelli\u2019s treatise, _Del Principe_.\n\nAccording to the custom among the great in that age, Vittoria, while a\nmere child, being only four years of age, was affianced to one not\nmuch older than herself. This was Ferdinand Francesco d\u2019Avalos. His\nnoble family, of Catalan origin, had come over to Italy with the\nSpanish invaders in 1442, and risen to considerable importance; Don\nAlonzo, son of Inigo, who accompanied Alphonsus I. in his expedition\nand died at Naples, having been created Marquis of Pescara, a\nfortified town of the Abruzzi at the mouth of a river that empties\nitself into the Adriatic. This very honorable betrothal was made at\nthe suggestion of King Ferdinand, who hoped in this way to attach\nFabrizio more strongly to himself. Except this affair, hardly anything\nis known of Vittoria\u2019s early years, nor who were her instructors; but,\njudging from subsequent events, she must have been surrounded by\nwhatever advantages wealth, social influence, and political position\ncould procure; and the literary ardor which marked the fifteenth\ncentury having passed from colleges and universities into the ranks of\nprivate life, her education was such as to ensure her the highest\nmental culture, united with every accomplishment befitting her\nstation. At the age of five she was transferred to the tutelage of her\nfuture husband\u2019s family and placed in care of her sister-in-law, the\nDuchess of Francavila, who was castellan for the king of the fortress\nand island of Ischia, at the entrance of the Bay of Naples. This\nimportant charge could only have been entrusted to a woman of superior\ntalents, and justifies the praises which Vittoria has given in several\nsonnets to the \u201cmagnanimous Costanza,\u201d as she delights to call her.\nThe duchess loved study, and cultivated the society of the learned,\nbeing herself well acquainted with Latin, Spanish, and Italian, in\nwhich last language she wrote a work on the misfortunes and trials of\nthe world\u2014_Degli Infortuni e Travagli del Mondo_. It was in the midst\nof enchanting scenery, of the fame of martial deeds, and of an elegant\nconversation that Vittoria\u2019s youthful happiness was passed. She grew\nup beautiful in person, lovely in mind, and adorned with every grace\nof manners. She was tall and of an easy carriage, the blood in her\nveins forming over her white skin a delicate cerulean tracery, while\nher face was set in a mass of auburn hair which has been sung\u2014such a\ncolor being rare in Italy\u2014by some of the best writers of her day. Of\nher personal appearance, those who have mentioned it can never say\nenough. That her charms were not the poetical exaggerations of devoted\nadmirers we know from several sources, and particularly from the very\nsober prose of a curious diary[185] kept by a certain Giuliano Casseri\nwho had occasion to see Vittoria at Naples. She was considered by\nall\u2014except, of course, by her own sex\u2014the handsomest woman of the age:\n\n Her ivory forehead, full of bounty brave,\n Like a broad table did itself dispread,\n For Love his lofty triumphs to engrave,\n And write the battles of his great godhead:\n All good and honor might therein be read;\n For there their dwelling was. And, when she spake\n Sweet words, like dropping honey, she did shed;\n And \u2018twixt the pearls and rubies softly brake\n A silver sound that heavenly music seemed to make.\n \u2014_Spenser._\n\nAfter a few years passed in this family, Vittoria returned to Marino\nto prepare for her marriage, which took place at Ischia in 1507, with\nall the pomp and splendor that the two great families and their\nnumerous friends could command. The list of marriage gifts and the\nnames of the personages who witnessed the matrimonial contract are\ninteresting\u2014apart from the subjects themselves\u2014for the light they\nthrow upon high society in Italy at a period when it easily surpassed,\nin the means of luxurious living and all the amenities of social\nintercourse, that of any other country in Europe.\n\nThe Avalos family, like that of Colonna and Montefeltro, was famous\nfor its attention to classical literature and its patronage of learned\nmen. Tiraboschi, in his _History of Italian Literature_, says of this\nyoung Marquis of Pescara that he was no less a diligent student\nhimself than a munificent patron of learning in others. Tall,\nnaturally of romantic ardor, he had moved among men who always\ninspired him with a taste for the profession of arms, and he rose to\nbe one of the greatest captains of his age.\n\nThe first three years of their married life were spent very happily\neither at Ischia or at Naples. Their affection was mutual and tender.\nThey had ratified the choice of their parents, and their marriage was\none of those which are said to be made in heaven. In fact, between her\nbetrothal and final engagement, when the brilliant qualities of her\nmind and the exquisite beauty of her features began to be the talk and\nadmiration of every one, several great offers had been made to her\nfather in hopes of detaching his daughter from Avalos, and among these\nsuitors were the Dukes of Savoy and Braganza. But while a malicious\npen has told us that the reason they were not accepted is that one was\ntoo old and the other too far away, the gentle maiden herself assures\nus that she remained firm to the first love from the purest sentiment\nof devotion:\n\n _A pena arean gli spiriti intiera vita,\n Quando il mio cor proscrisse agni altro oggetto._\n\nIn 1512, when war broke out with France, the young Marquis of Pescara\nwas summoned to serve his king, and accompanied his wife\u2019s father, who\nwas Grand Constable of Naples, her uncle, the renowned Prospero\nColonna, and her five gallant brothers to the scene of action.\nVittoria, meanwhile, remained at Ischia; but before many months had\npassed she had cause of grief far heavier than that of separation\u2014her\nhusband was wounded and a prisoner. It was at the battle of Ravenna\n(11th of April, 1512), which has been so tersely described by Macaulay\nas one of those tremendous days in which human folly and wickedness\ncompress the whole devastation of a famine or a plague, that Fabrizio,\nwho commanded the Spanish vanguard, and Pescara, who was master of the\nhorse, surrendered their swords. The latter was carried to Milan and\nplaced in the fortress of Porta Gobbia. When the news was brought to\nIschia, Vittoria and Costanza gave way to their grief, but with a\ndignified moderation becoming their lofty ideals of sacrifice and\nduty, and without any of that wild emotion so common to the tender\nsentiment in the sex.\n\nThe illustrious prisoner consoled himself during confinement by\ncomposing for his wife a _Dialogue on Love_. His captivity did not\nlast long, and he was liberated after paying a heavy ransom. He then\nreturned to his beloved home, where he was welcomed by all classes as\na veritable hero, and a little of the fast-fading glamour of chivalry\nshowed itself among the Italians in the attention which was directed\nto his scarred face, so much so that one of his fair admirers, the\nDuchess of Milan, exclaimed that she too would like to be a man, if\nonly to receive a wound across the cheek, and see how it would add to\na fine appearance. All this is very ridiculous, but that it had a hold\nupon certain minds at this age, and may therefore be noted, is shown\nfrom many other circumstances of the same kind; for instance, the\ndelight of Francis of Guise in being surnamed _Le Balafr\u00e9_, from a\nsevere cut received at the siege of Bologna, in 1545.\n\nWhen Pescara was again called (in 1513) to join the forces collected\nin Lombardy against the French, his wife returned to Ischia, where she\ncontinued a diligent course of reading. Besides studying the classics,\nshe cultivated Italian poetry, from which her fame, in our day at\nleast, has chiefly arisen, and in her graceful verses displayed a\ncharm and musical rhythm not equalled since the strains of Petrarch\u2019s\nmuse were heard.\n\nHer husband sometimes came to see her, but his visits from the camp\ncould not be frequent, and most of the time she was left alone in the\nmidst of the little court at Ischia, consumed by that species of\ndomestic grief so poignant to a loving heart when the marital union\nhas not been blessed by issue. Vittoria mentions this particular\nsorrow, this absence of maternal joy, in a very touching sonnet (No.\n22). Finally, despairing of children of her own, she prevailed upon\nher husband in 1515 to adopt as his son and heir his young cousin, the\nMarquis del Vasto.\n\nIn 1521 we find Vittoria at home. The year before she lost her father,\nwhom Italians delight to mention as having lived a life full of\ngrandeur and glory; but more impartial writers dispute the\n_intaminatis fulget honoribus_, and assert that his desertion of the\nlosing for the winning party, when he passed over from Charles to\nFerdinand, was done without principle, and merely to save his\nNeapolitan fiefs. He was a great friend of Macchiavelli, and the\nwell-known contempt and hatred of this political fiend for what he was\npleased to call the barbarous domination of the foreigner probably\ninfluenced him to think that it mattered little whether he served\nFrenchman or Spaniard, since neither had a right to or deserved his\nservices. It was to him that the subtle Florentine addressed his seven\nbooks on the _Art of War_. His wife, the lovely and pious Agnes,\nsurvived him only two years, dying after a pilgrimage to Our Lady of\nLoretto. One of Vittoria\u2019s most beautiful sonnets is on her mother.\n\nPescara, being again called to arms, hurried to the north of Italy,\nand after the battle of Sessia behaved with exquisite courtesy towards\nthe wounded and expiring Bayard. At the battle of Pavia, on Feb. 24,\n1525, Pescara was grievously wounded. Although he greatly contributed\nby his skill and valor to the fortunes of that day, he could not\nconceal his disappointment at not being more generously rewarded by\nthe emperor, and was soon afterwards approached by Morone, the\nexperienced minister of the Duke of Milan, with an offer of the\nkingdom of Naples for himself if he would join a league which was\nbeing formed among the Italian princes to free Italy of foreign\nrulers, whether French, Spanish, or German. Historians differ in their\naccounts of his conduct in this delicate affair. Writers in the\nimperial interest from that time to this assert that he indignantly\nrejected the proposal, which involved both treachery and\ningratitude\u2014even although he had not received the full measure of his\nmerits\u2014and Sandoval says that he showed himself among those\ndouble-dealing Italians \u201c_verdadero Espa\u00f1ol, Castellano viejo_.\u201d\nCertain it is that Pescara used to consider himself more a Spaniard\nthan an Italian, was prouder of his Spanish blood than of his\nNeapolitan title, and often regretted that he was not born in the land\nof his ancestors. On the other hand, Italian writers say that he fully\ncommitted himself, and was perfectly willing to abandon and turn\nagainst his sovereign, but that at the last moment he quailed, and\nbasely betrayed his companions to the vengeance of the emperor, for\nwhich reason the rancorous Guicciardini (xvi. 189) calls him, with\nalmost incredible insolence, \u201c_Capitano altiero, insidioso, maligno,\nsenz\u2019 alcuna sincerit\u00e0_.\u201d More moderate historians say that he was\nmerely dazzled by the prospect of a crown, perhaps even entertained\nthe proposition, and would probably have thrown himself into the\nmovement but for the protest and heroic abnegation of his wife. The\ntruth seems to be, as Gregorovius remarks, that national antipathy has\nbiassed the judgment of Italian writers. Immediately after the battle\nof Pavia, Charles V. wrote a most flattering autograph letter to\nVittoria. Her answer from Ischia, May 1, 1525, is written in a fair\nhand, and preserved among the papers of the Gonzaga Archives at Mantua.\n\nPescara received three wounds, and lay for some months suffering from\ntheir effects, which he imprudently aggravated by copious draughts of\nice-water. He was too weak to travel, and, growing worse, sent a hasty\nmessenger to his wife to come to Milan and receive his last breath.\nShe started immediately, but was met at Viterbo by the fatal\nintelligence that he had died on Nov. 25.[186] His funeral took place\non the 30th, and the body was afterwards transported to Naples and\nburied in the church of St. Dominic. Paulus Jovius, a contemporary,\nwrote his life\u2014_Vita Ferdinandi Davali Pescarii_\u2014in elegant Latin. A\nliterary memorial of Spanish domination in another extremity of\nEurope, and of the days when, the great school of war being\ntransferred from classical Italy to the Netherlands, the gests of\nillustrious soldiers were eagerly studied by military men\u2014although, as\na rule, no longer in the learned language of C\u00e6sar\u2019s _Commentaries_\u2014is\npreserved to us in the _Historia del fortissimo y prudentissimo\nCapitan Don Hernando de Avalos, Marques de Pescara_, published at\nAntwerp in 1570.\n\nVittoria\u2019s first impulse, following this shock, was to take the\nreligious habit, but she was prudently dissuaded by the learned\nSadolet, Bishop of Carpentras, who was then in Rome, from a measure\nwhich would seem to proceed rather from overwhelming grief than mature\ndeliberation. She did, however, retire for a time to the convent of\nSan Silvestro _in Capite_, which was closely connected with the\nfortunes of the Colonna family. It was during this pious retreat that\nshe began that _In Memoriam_ to her dead husband which we will mention\na little further on.\n\nThe first seven years of her widowhood were passed in inconsolable\ngrief. She resided at different periods either with her father\u2019s\nfamily at Rome, Marino, or in some other of their castles, or at\nNaples and Ischia with the relatives of her late husband. Being still\nin the prime of life, in the bloom of beauty, and well provided for by\nPescara\u2019s will, her hand was sought in marriage by several\ndistinguished suitors; but she turned a deaf ear to all proposals of\nthis kind, vowing that her first love still reigned supreme.\n\n _Amor le faci spense ove l\u2019accese._[187]\n (Love lit his torch, and quenched it in the flame.)\n\nWhen the Emperor Charles V. was in Rome in 1536, he made a ceremonious\nvisit, the more honorable as his stay was so short in the Eternal\nCity, to the widow of his faithful general. In 1537 she made a tour\namong several cities in northern Italy, and was everywhere received\nwith the greatest distinction. We find her with the Ducal Estes at\nFerrara, with the celebrated Veronica Gambara[188] at Bologna, and\nwith the erudite Ghiberto, Bishop of Verona. From a letter of Pietro\nAretino it appears that she was bent about this period on making a\npilgrimage to Jerusalem, but was dissuaded by her adopted son and\nhusband\u2019s heir, Del Vastro, who feared that her health would very\nseriously suffer. During this time, also, she assisted Bernardo Tasso\n(father of the poet), who acknowledges the benefit he received from\nher religious sentiments.\n\nIn 1538 she was back again in Rome, and one of the most interesting\nepisodes of her life\u2014her friendship with Michael Angelo\u2014was then\nbegun. The austere artist, who was sixty-four years old, felt animated\nby a fervent but chaste affection, such as he had never before\nexperienced. It brought him the poet\u2019s crown to add to his other\ncrowns of painter, architect, and sculptor; for it is chiefly upon his\nsonnets to Vittoria that his literary reputation rests. The few years\nof this sacred friendship were the happiest in his life; and it is no\nsmall part of our heroine\u2019s reputation to have inspired in this\nwonderful man a muse so chaste and powerful. His poetic addresses to\nher, though marked, says Harford, by the highest admiration of her\nmind and heart, are throughout expressive of the most reverential\nrespect. They gratefully acknowledge her condescending courtesy, and\nthe beneficial influence of her piety and wisdom upon his own\nopinions, fluctuating between vice and virtue, but he never presumes\neven to refer to her personal attractions. It was only after her\ndeath, and then but in a single sonnet, that he relaxed in a slight\ndegree his habitual reserve and sang of her earthly beauty. But the\nstrain is still elevated far above the expressions of carnal love, and\ndescribes a celestial countenance not unworthy of the Beatrice of\nDante.\n\nHow highly she was esteemed by all classes is shown, among many other\nsources, from the words of an unprejudiced foreigner then in Rome, the\nSpanish artist d\u2019Olanda, who says in his journal that she is one of\nthe noblest and most famous women in Italy and in the whole world;\nbeautiful, chaste, a Latin scholar; adorned with every grace that can\nredound to a woman\u2019s praise; devoting herself since her husband\u2019s\ndeath to thoughts of Christ and to study; supporting the needy; a\nmodel of genuine piety. From a letter of Cardinal Pole, dated April 2,\n1541, we learn that she visited Ratisbon, but neither the motives nor\nany details of this long journey have been discovered; only it is\nknown that she was received with honor by the emperor _and by the\ncitizens_. Her fame, then, had already passed the Alps. On her return\nfrom Germany she rested for a while in the convent of San Paolo at\nOrvieto, whence she wrote to Cardinal Pole, expressing how much\ndelight she found in the rules and society of the sisters, whom she\ncalls \u201ca company of angels.\u201d It was while in this holy place that the\napostate Ochino sent her a letter, in which he tried to explain and\napologize for his conduct; but she indignantly forwarded it to Cervini\nat Rome, to be lodged with the ecclesiastical authorities, as it was\nunbecoming in her to receive any communication from such a reprobate.\nWith fine womanly tact she had long before discovered the weak points\nin the character of this gifted but miserable man, consumed by pride\nand lust, and, after hearing him preach, she used often, as though\nstruck by some vague apprehension of a hidden conflict in that\neloquent soul, pray for his final perseverance.\n\nAnd yet it is from her intercourse with several persons\u2014Valdez,\nOchhino, Vermigli (Peter Martyr), and some others, who _afterwards_\nbecame heretics, that her English biographers especially have striven\nto make her out a Protestant! There is not one sentence in her\nvoluminous writings which can be honestly made to bear an uncatholic\nsense. But we perceive everywhere a love of the church, a respect for\nthe pope\u2014whom she styles, in the most orthodox language, \u201cthe Vicar of\nChrist\u201d\u2014an admiration for celibacy and the religious life,[189] and,\nfinally, a tender devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. If this be\nProtestantism, Protestants are welcome to it; and God grant they may\nmake the most of it! Cardinal Pole, who was many years her junior,\nused to honor her as his mother, and assiduously cultivated her\nfriendship. She left him a legacy of 10,000 scudi in her will, but he\nmade it over to her niece. At Viterbo she displayed a lively interest\nin all matters of education, and took the greatest pleasure in\nteaching the pupils entrusted to the religious community of St.\nCatherine.\n\nVittoria returned to Rome at the beginning of the year 1547, and\nretired to the palace of Julian Cesarini, who was married to Julia\nColonna. While here she fell very ill, and, feeling her end approach,\nshe was filled with the pious sentiments of one of her own sonnets,\ncomposed but a short time before, and which will show her constant\npreparation for death and serve as a specimen of her style. The\ntranslation is by Harford:\n\n \u201cWould that a voice impressive might repeat,\n In holiest accents to my inmost soul,\n The name of Jesus; and my words and works\n Attest true faith in him, and ardent hope;\n The soul elect, which feels within itself\n The seeds divine of this celestial love,\n Hears, sees, attends on Jesus; grace from him\n Illumes, expands, fires, purifies the mind;\n The habit bright of thus invoking him\n Exalts our nature so that it appeals\n Daily to him for its immortal food.\n In the last conflict with our ancient foe.\n So dire to nature, armed with Faith alone,\n The heart, from usage long, on him will call.\u201d\n \u2014Sonnet 29.\n\nShe died towards the end of February, 1547\u2014the exact date is not\nknown\u2014in the odor of sanctity, as one of her Italian biographers says.\nBy her will she made Ascanio Colonna her heir, left one thousand scudi\nto each of the four convents in which she had so often lived, provided\nfor all her servants, and disposed of a large sum in charity, besides\nmaking other pious bequests. Her signature to this instrument is in\nLatin, in these words: _Ita testavi ego Vitoria Columna_.\n\nStrange it is, perhaps, but yet a worthy ending of a life of humility\nand mortification, even in the midst of the glories of the world, that\nno monument is raised over her remains. In fact, her body cannot be\nidentified; for having requested to be buried in the religious habit\nof the nuns of _Sant\u2019Anna de\u2019 Funari_, and in their midst, it was\ncommitted to the common vault of the community, where it lies\nundistinguished from the others that repose there.\n\nHer poetry may be classified into a series composed during her\nhusband\u2019s life and the first years of her widowhood, and another\nwritten when she had devoted herself to a stricter manner of living.\nThe former is taken up with conjugal love, descriptions of nature, and\nmiscellaneous subjects; the latter is exclusively given up to\nreligious ideas: one is the profane, the other the sacred, series. As\nan example of the lofty energy with which her mind poured its whole\ncurrent of feeling into the channel of Christian devotion, we present\nher 28th sonnet in Harford\u2019s translation:\n\n \u201cDeaf would I be to earthly sounds, to greet,\n With thoughts intent and fixed on things above,\n The high, angelic strains, the accents sweet,\n In which true peace accords with perfect love;\n Each living instrument the breath that plays\n Upon its strings from chord to chord conveys,\n And to one end so perfectly they move\n That nothing jars the eternal harmony\n Love melts each voice, Love lifts its accents high,\n Love beats the time, presides o\u2019er ev\u2019ry string;\n Th\u2019 angelic orchestra one signal sways.\n The sound becomes more sweet the more it strays\n Through varying changes, in harmonious maze;\n He who the song inspired prompts all who sing.\u201d\n\nAs an impartial critic we must confess that, however refined the\nlanguage, beautiful the sentiments, and learned the imagery, there is\ntoo much classical grandiloquence in her love-songs to permit us to\nforget the head that composed, and allow us to think only of the heart\nthat inspired, them. When Pescara went forth on his first military\nexpedition, she described her grief in a long rhymed letter of\nthirty-seven stanzas, in which all that is heroic in ancient Greece\nand Rome is summoned to witness her disconsolate state. The opening\naddress\u2014_Eccelso Mio Signore!_ (My high-engendered Lord!)\u2014while it\nshows the reverential homage which the wife in those days was expected\nto offer to her husband, and which, with all its formalism, was better\nthan the disrespectful familiarity of a later age, is the prelude to a\nstyle altogether too much like that of the eccentric Margaret, Duchess\nof Newcastle, whose biography of her husband\u2014her Julius C\u00e6sar, her\nthrice noble, high, and puissant Prince, as she used to call him\u2014is\nthe acme of connubial admiration. After the death of Pescara, Vittoria\ndepicted her own grief and his great, good qualities in a flow of\nverses full of beauty, dignity, and pathos. Upwards of one hundred\nsonnets are devoted to his memory. Trollope, with the conceit of his\nclass, calls these touching expressions of sorrow \u201cthe tuneful\nwailings of a young widow as lovely as inconsolable, as irreproachable\nas noble\u201d; but the more generous feelings and, doubtless, the Catholic\ninstincts of her French biographer discover in this exquisite threnody\na form of prayer to God for peace to the living and eternal rest to\nthe dead. After seven years of widowhood a great change took place in\nher nature. She gave herself up entirely to higher influences; and the\ndifference of style is remarkable between her worldly and her\nreligious poems. The first are, as we have said, devoted to the love\nof a mortal object; the second to a divine dilection. This series is\nentitled _Rime Spirituali_. She begins it:\n\n \u201cSince a chaste love my soul has long detained\n In fond idolatry of earthly fame,\n Now to the Lord, who only can supply\n The remedy, I turn \u2026\u201d\n \u2014Sonnet 1.\n\nAnd again we observe in the following production her resolve to\nabandon pagan allusions and confine her poetry to sublimer subjects:\n\n \u201cMe it becomes not henceforth to invoke\n Or Delos or Parnassus; other springs,\n Far other mountain-tops, I now frequent,\n Where human steps, unaided, cannot mount.\u201d\n\nAll writers on Italian poetry are agreed that for delicacy and grace\nof style Vittoria ranks next to Petrarch.\n\nSeveral medals and portraits have perpetuated her features at\ndifferent periods of life. Of the former, two were made while her\nhusband was living\u2014both heads being represented\u2014and two during her\nwidowhood. A most beautiful medal was struck at Rome in 1840 on\noccasion of the marriage of Prince Torlonia to Donna Teresa Colonna,\nbut the face is more or less ideal. Several portraits were painted\nduring her lifetime, but it is difficult to trace them all. Some are\nlost, and others are doubtful originals. The thoroughly genuine one\n(say the Romans) is that in the Colonna Gallery. It is a fine type of\nchaste and patrician beauty. It was taken when she was about eighteen;\nalthough how it can in this case (and it certainly represents her\nstill in her teens) be ascribed to Muziano, as it is by Mrs. Roscoe,\nwe cannot understand, because this artist was born only in 1528, when\nVittoria was already thirty-eight years old. The fact is that the\nartist is unknown; but there should be some acuteness even in\nconjecture. Although it would be highly flattering to the vanity of\nher race, and of the Romans in general, to believe that her portrait\nwas sketched by Michael Angelo and painted by Sebastiano del Piombo,\nthey reject with horror the celebrated picture by their hands in the\nTribune at Florence in which others see her face and figure. The best\njudges, however, call it simply \u201cA Lady, 1512\u201d; and our ideal of\nVittoria revolts from the voluptuous features and disgusting pectoral\ndevelopment of this portrait; but if it were possible to determine it\nin her favor (?) we should have to exclaim:\n\n \u201cAppena si pu\u00f2 dir, quest\u00e0 furosa.\u201d\n\nAll writers on Italian literature mention our heroine at considerable\nlength; but of separate biographies the principal ones are the\nfollowing: Gio. Batt. Rota, _Rime e Vita di D. Vittoria Colonna,\nMarchesana di Pescara_, 1 vol. 8vo, 1760; Isabella Teotochi Albizzi,\n_Ritratti_, etc., Pisa, 1826 (4th ed., copy in Astor Library); John S.\nHarford, _Life of Michael Angelo Buonarotti_ \u2026 _with Memoirs of \u2026\nVittoria Colonna_, 2 vols., London, 1857 (Astor Library); Cav. P. E.\nVisconti, _Vita di Vittoria Colonna_, Rome, 1840; Le F\u00e8vre Deumier\npublished a memoir of her in French in 1856; T. A. Trollope, _A Decade\nof Italian Women_; Mrs. Henry Roscoe, _Vittoria Colonna_, 1 vol.,\nLondon, 1868. In 1844 the _Accademia degli Arcadi_ at Rome decreed to\nhave a bust of Vittoria made and placed in the museum of the Capitol.\nIt was inaugurated with great pomp on May 12, 1845; and thirty-two\npoems in Latin and Italian were written to celebrate the event, and\nafterwards collected into a volume and published. The following is the\nsimple inscription beneath the bust:\n\n A. Vittoria Colonna.\n N.MCCCCXC. M.MDXLVII.\n Teresa. Colonna. Principessa. Romana.\n Pose.\n MDCCCXLV.\n\n\n [185] Published only in 1785.\n\n [186] Philippe Macquer, in his esteemed work, _Abr\u00e9g\u00e9\n Chronologique de l\u2019Histoire d\u2019Espagne et de Portugal_\n (1759-65), 2 vols. 8vo, says that there is ground for\n believing that he was poisoned by his enemies, which\n we think is very likely to have been the case.\n\n [187] 18th Sonnet.\n\n [188] One of the most distinguished females of the age, and\n for love of letters and literary success ranking next\n to Vittoria. She was born in 1485; her father, the\n Count Gianfrancesco Gambara of Brescia; her mother,\n Alda Pia of Carpi; her husband was Ghiberto, Lord of\n Correggio. She died in 1550.\n\n [189] Writing to Michael Angelo from the convent of\n St. Catherine at Viterbo, as late as 1543, she calls\n the nuns, her companions, \u201cthe spouses of Christ.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nALLIES\u2019 FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOM[190]\n\n\nThe appearance of the third part of Mr. Allies\u2019 great work offers an\noccasion for expressing the interest with which we have regarded it\nsince the publication of the first volume in 1865. The author is well\nknown on both sides of the Atlantic, and the present work has been\nnoticed from time to time in this magazine.\n\nIt consists of a series of historical lectures grouping and\nclassifying the leading features of that wonderful movement which\nbegan shortly after the foundation of the Roman Empire, and has\nsurvived its downfall more than a thousand years.\n\nMr. Allies proposes to examine minutely and accurately into these\nfacts. Those who are familiar with his other works will fully\nappreciate his ability to cope with his present task, while the need\nof a calm and studious presentation of this period of history is\nsufficiently evident.\n\nThe religious movement of the sixteenth century boasts, and not\nwithout reason, of having been a radical departure from the spirit of\nthe age which preceded it. It broke with the past; first, in regard to\nparticular questions, concerning which it took issue with existing\nbelief. But the separation which ensued in the religious sphere soon\nextended to the whole range of man\u2019s spiritual faculties. The\nfollowers of the new prophets were associated together in communities\nand nations, and became entirely estranged from the ancient system.\n\nThis isolation was bound to produce in a short time wide divergence of\nsentiment, and an ever-increasing estrangement from the past.\n\nAmericans going abroad find themselves constantly misinterpreting and\nbeing misunderstood by foreigners.\n\nWe live in another era, and under circumstances so different that it\nis only by earnest and thoughtful preparation that we can qualify\nourselves to judge of other nations.\n\nAny person who will pause for a moment will realize the difficulty of\nconceiving what the present state of the world would have been had the\nmovement towards a high material development, which preceded\nProtestantism, been conducted under Catholic auspices alone. Of\ncourse, such a conception is impossible to the common ignorant\nProtestant; but even enlightened minds outside the Catholic Church\nmust acknowledge that it is not easy to acquire a full sympathy with\nthe intellectual epoch which preceded Protestantism. Wherever the new\nreligion became dominant, a thorough break was effected between past\nand present. The American freeman resembles his English\ngreat-grandfather far more closely than the Protestant of the\nseventeenth resembles the Catholic of the fifteenth century. The\nFrench communist still speaks the language in which the feudal tenant\naddressed the seigneur of the last century; but it would be rash to\naffirm his capacity to understand the sentiments of his peasant\ngrandfather.\n\nThe change wrought by the sixteenth century extends throughout the\nworld, and affects the deepest, most powerful, and most mysterious\nrange of sentiment. This change occurred just as the literature of\nmodern times had begun to take shape and form. Everything has borne\nthe stamp either of its action or of the reaction against it. It was a\nveritable Lethe; and those who passed through it forgot the images,\nexpressions, and thoughts of preceding generations.\n\nThe results of this tendency were entirely overlooked by the partisans\nof Luther and Calvin. But the most superficial student of history\nnowadays perceives in them irrefragable proof of two things: first,\nthat the movement of the sixteenth century was something altogether\nnew in the world; and, secondly, that it was completely subversive of\nthe entire order which preceded it. To deny either of these\npropositions is to bid defiance to truth and farewell to reason. And\nwhereas Catholics have been abused for predicting these facts, there\nare not wanting Protestants who glory in acknowledging them, now that\nthey can no longer be controverted.\n\nHowever, we do not wish to bring them forward in our condemnation of\nProtestantism, but simply to illustrate another fact which is equally\ntrue.\n\nProtestantism, amongst other evils, has brought a spirit of scepticism\ninto historical research which is one of the most ghastly symptoms of\nits present stage of dissolution. We do not mean a spirit which\ndemands proof, but a spirit which no amount of proof can satisfy\u2014which\ndenies facts unquestionably true, and endeavors to cast discredit upon\nthe most authentic records.\n\nIt is not hard to perceive the cause or to trace the development of\nthis spirit.\n\nThe cause is that Protestantism was in every sense a break in history.\nIt was an abnormal and morbid occurrence. The consequences of its\ndenial\u2014its protest\u2014extended into every order of truth. But nowhere was\ntheir influence more fatal than in the domain of history. It lost the\nthread of sacred history by denying the authority of the Roman Church.\nBut the isolated position into which it was thrown soon rendered it\nunfit to interpret any tradition. In fact, it had no tradition; it was\nobliged to make one in accordance with its own needs. At first its\ndoubts were all directed against the Papacy, because the Papacy was\nirreconcilable with its existence. Then the histories of the saints\nwere condemned, because Protestantism had nothing of the kind to show.\nBut the irreverent critic of the claims of the Sovereign Pontiff at\nlast attacked the Scripture, which was thrown to him as bearing its\nown credentials. Far worse than this\u2014the Bible having been destroyed,\nthe sacred person of the Author of Christianity has been exposed for\ndissection. Nothing is deemed too blasphemous either to deny or assert\nof him. But now that he has been judged by the high-priests of the new\nreligion, and condemned as an impostor, something has to be done with\nthat vast system which civilized the world and endured for sixteen\ncenturies, on the theory that Christ was what he proclaimed himself to\nbe\u2014the Lord of all things, and that his revelation was true.\n\nAfter practically demonstrating that Protestantism is a denial of\nChristianity, we might expect the age to pause in its career of\ndenial. This, however, at present seems to be expecting too much.\nHaving denied the authority which Christ has commissioned, the\nrevolution soon came to deny Christ. Having denied him, it has\nproceeded to deny him from whom Jesus was sent.\n\nIt only remains to deny every other fact which conflicts with the\nnegative theory. It is, therefore, considered necessary to express\ndoubt with regard to every historical fact connected with\nChristianity. A notable instance of this is before our eyes in Mr.\nHare\u2019s _Walks in Rome_, a book quite free from the more offensive\nforms of Protestant vulgarity. Mr. Hare has spent many years in Rome,\nand learned from its antiquarians the history of its secular\ntraditions. He knows that the scene of St. Peter\u2019s imprisonment is as\nwell attested as any other which he describes in his work. In the\ncourse of his remarks on the Mamertine Prison, he says:\n\n\u201cIt was by this staircase that Cicero came forth and announced the\nexecution of the Catiline conspirators to the people in the Forum by\nthe single word _Viverunt_\u2014\u2018they have ceased to live!\u2019 Close to the\nexit of these stairs the Emperor Vitellius was murdered.\u201d\n\nHe discusses the age of the structure, and cites Amp\u00e8re to prove it to\nbe the oldest building in Rome. The author further says: \u201cIt is\ndescribed by Livy and by Sallust, who depicts its horrors in his\naccount of the execution of the Catiline conspirators. The spot is\nshown to which these victims were attached and strangled in turn. In\nthis dungeon, at an earlier period, Appius Claudius and Oppius the\ndecemvirs committed suicide (B.C. 449). Here Jugurtha, king of\nMauritania, was starved to death by Marius. Here Julius C\u00e6sar, during\nhis triumph for the conquest of Gaul, caused his gallant enemy\nVercingetorix to be put to death. Here Sejanus, the friend and\nminister of Tiberius, disgraced too late, was executed for the murder\nof Drusus, son of the emperor, and for an intrigue with his\ndaughter-in-law Livilla. Here, also, Simon Bar Givras, the last\ndefender of Jerusalem, suffered during the triumph of Titus.\u201d\n\nThus far the writer is dealing with facts of pagan tradition, which\nhas been dead for centuries. Observe the change of tone when he comes\nto facts of the living Christian tradition\u2014facts which he is evidently\ninclined to believe, but which must not be spoken of with the\nconfidence appropriate to pagan narrative:\n\n\u201cThe spot is more interesting to the Christian world as the prison of\nSS Peter and Paul, _who are said_ to have been bound for nine months\nto a pillar, which is shown here.\u201d A little further on: \u201cIt is hence\nthat _the Roman Catholic Church believes_ that St. Peter and St. Paul\naddressed their farewells to the Christian world\u201d (pp. 94-96).\n\nThe testimony of the Egyptian hieroglyphs is unquestioned. The most\nfabulous antiquity is readily admitted for Indian and Chinese history.\nIt is gratuitously assumed that the time of stone implements was not\ncoincident with the use of metals in other nations, though the\ncontrary may be witnessed on our own frontiers. If human remains are\nfound along with those of extinct animals, it is assumed that they\ndied together. No demand upon belief is too great unless it be in\nconnection with Christianity. This tendency is to make men imagine\nthat the era of our Saviour\u2019s advent was purely mythical, and that the\nevents of his time are as obscure as those of the siege of Troy.\n\nWe think that we have accounted for the existence of this tendency in\nthe nature of Protestantism, as developed in Strauss and the \u201cmore\nadvanced\u201d German speculators. But after having created this artificial\ncloud in history, the same parties seek to give the impression that\nChristianity was but a natural development out of the union of Eastern\nwith Western thought. Having endeavored to reduce it to a myth by\ndenying or questioning history, the process is reversed, and history\nis appealed to in order to prove that Christianity was a purely\nnatural phenomenon which can be readily explained.\n\nIt is, according to these rash theorists, a syncretism of the best\nthoughts of Egypt, India, and Greece, produced principally by the\nagency of the Alexandrian schools. This explanation is mainly\nsatisfactory to them because it would explain the rise and\nestablishment of Christianity without a miracle.[191] The hypothesis\nwas eagerly embraced for this reason. Just so Strauss leaped for joy\nat the hypothesis of Darwin, because it professed to account for the\nexistence of men without creation. But just as Darwin, while able to\nproduce both specimens and remains of man and ape, could never find\nthe intermediate animal, or even any trace of him, so this forged\naccount of the origin of Christianity breaks down in the very fact\nwhich is necessary to give it even the semblance of value, viz., the\nwarrant of historical facts. In order still further to misrepresent\nthe origin of Christianity, it is necessary to observe the testimony\nof history as to the moral condition of the pagan world. Tacitus and\nSuetonius are pagan authors, therefore it will not do to impeach their\nwritings in the same manner as the Gospels and the Christian Fathers.\nBeing heathens, their works are certainly genuine, and they are to be\nheld as truthful men\u2014a presumption to which the Evangelists and\nFathers are in no way entitled. But we notice the tendency to overlook\nthe frightful picture presented by these historians, and the attempt,\nby a judicious comparison of the best specimens of paganism with the\nworst scandals or most austere characters of church history, to draw\nconclusions injurious to Christianity.\n\nThis whole process of doubting the records, misstating the origin, and\ndenying the real nature of early Christianity, is a fraud which will\nnot bear scrutiny; it is maintained by men who avow their willingness\nto accept any hypothesis which conflicts with the ancient faith, and\nto lend the prestige of their talents to any effort against it.\n\nThe historical warfare has been vigorously carried on in Germany by\nboth sides. The movement has penetrated into the English universities.\nIts echoes have been heard in our own midst, in the utterances of\ncertain writers who, being possessed by the spirit of snobbishness,\ncleave to outlandish modes of thought because of their foreign or\nnovel character.\n\nMr. Allies\u2019 work is a thoughtful and profound exposition of facts, and\nbrushes away the cobwebs with which hostile criticism has sought to\nenvelop the history of Christianity. The author does not aim at a\nconnected narrative. The chapters of his work are lectures, each one\nof which is an essay, complete in itself. The reader is presumed to be\nacquainted with the general outlines of history, and the author\ndirects his efforts to answer such questions as naturally arise with\nregard to the introduction of Christianity and the foundation of that\norder which appeared under the title of Christendom in the Middle Age.\n\nAccordingly, after giving his idea of the philosophy of history, Mr.\nAllies draws a graphic picture of the state of the Roman world. The\ncivil polity of the Augustan age, the majesty of the Pax Romana,\nappear in their splendid proportions. The reader is brought face to\nface with all that is known of that epoch. Its ideas of manhood and\nmorality are set forth from the testimony of eye-witnesses. Then\nfollows a sketch of the work to be accomplished by Christianity,\nentitled the New Creation of Individual Man. This is succeeded by a\nseries of lectures viewing the results which were to be expected from\nthe influence of Christianity upon human character. Here we find also\nthe testimony of eye-witnesses of the growth of the new religion, and\nan instructive comparison between Cicero and St. Augustine,\nillustrative of two most important ages of history. The fifth lecture\nof this first volume is on the New Creation of the Primary Relation\nbetween Man and Woman; and the seventh lecture deals with an equally\nChristian doctrine, viz., the Creation of the Virginal Life.\n\nA recent German writer, laboring under a delusion not uncommon in his\ncountry, doubts whether the improved morality which appeared after the\nintroduction of Christianity was really due to that religion or to the\nGerman race. This characteristic doubt is left undecided by the\nwriter, but will probably soon be settled adversely to Christianity by\nsome more adventurous Teuton. The public, for whose benefit these\nspeculations are likely to be extended, will do well to read a little\nhistory, and will not find Mr. Allies\u2019 chapters amiss.\n\nThe second volume, which appeared in 1869, treats of the developments\nof that spiritual society which sprang into existence with the\noriginal ideas of Christianity and from the same source. The peculiar\ncharacteristics are traced of that hierarchical order which, after\nthree centuries of bloody persecution, came forth from its\nhiding-place in perfect organization, to receive at once the homage of\nConstantine and to become the guide of civilization and the supreme\nruler of nations for more than a thousand years.\n\nThe position of the church at the time of Constantine was that of\ncomplete victory. The portent in the sky which appeared to that\nemperor was not more miraculous than the spectacle afforded by\nChristianity. Starting from a distant point in an obscure race,\nwithout means, without facilities of communication, it had not only\nrevolutionized the pagan world but it had maintained its own unity as\na corporate body in the face of wholesale treason from within, and\nintense intellectual opposition, accompanied with three centuries of\nproscription, from without. Three centuries ago another movement\nstarted in our modern world. It had all the prestige of the\ncivilization which germinated along with it. It has had the support of\nthe civil power. It has had the best blood and most vigorous races to\nwork for it. No earthly element of success has been refused to it.\nWhat is the result? Where is its unity? The very idea is abandoned.\nWhere are its original convictions? Not one remains. What is its\npresent influence? It has none. What is its prospect in the future?\nEntire destruction.\n\nNothing is better calculated to give us a correct idea of the\ndifference between Protestantism and Christianity than this sort of a\ncomparison. Such, however, is not Mr. Allies\u2019 design. He aims, in his\nsecond volume, to show that Christianity had a definite theory and\nconstructive spirit with regard to society. As he contrasts in his\nfirst volume the pagan notion of individual man with the Christian\nideal, and shows a creative power in the latter producing results\nundreamed of in the heathen character, so the author traces, in his\nsecond volume, the social ideas brought in by Christianity.\n\nThe unity of the church, as taught and described by the fathers, was\nan idea no less remarkable in its marvellous working than in its utter\nnovelty. This conception was based on the fundamental principle of\nChristianity, that its divine Founder had authorized a corporate body\nto teach the world those truths which he came to bring, and that the\npower of God was pledged to the infallibility of his church. This\ndoctrine is the only constructive idea that has ever been broached\nwith regard to society. Protestantism was a direct assault upon the\nvery nature of Christianity, and is to be held responsible for the\nabsence of this idea in modern civilization.\n\nMr. Allies develops the history of this Christian idea with great\naccuracy, filling out his comparison between Christian and pagan\nthinkers in all departments of thought, and establishing the claims of\nthe new faith to be a creation fresh from the Author of all things,\nand not a development out of the putrescent civilization of the\nancient world.\n\nThat Christianity produced a type of character wholly distinct and\npeculiar, is a fact of which there can be no doubt on the part of\nthose who have the slightest disposition to consult authentic records.\nThat it possessed a vitality and organizing power of which there is no\nother instance, is equally certain. But we often hear the sayings of\nEpictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and the later Stoics quoted, as exhibiting\na tone of thought almost equal to that of Christianity, and by the\nenemies of religion vaunted as something far above the morality of the\nGospel. No reader of Plutarch can escape the impression of his gentle\nand refined philosophy. Though full of grievous errors, it has a\nflavor of truth, a respect for purity, and an appreciation of virtue\nwhich are not to be found in the earlier historians.\n\nThe great error of those who would make Christianity a development of\nheathen thought is simply, then, mistaking the cause for the effect. A\ngreat change was undoubtedly to be expected from the blending of Greek\nand Roman speculation with the Jewish and Egyptian religions. This\nchange actually took place. But its product was acted upon by\nChristianity, and did not become a factor of the new religion. Mr.\nAllies gives us the summary of ancient philosophy, which he traces\ndown to its contact with Christian truth. We are able to see the\nvanity of that false reading of history which seeks to represent\nChristianity as a mendicant receiving crumbs from Plato, Pythagoras,\nPhilo, and the Stoics. We perceive from their writings and the tone of\ntheir disciples the barrenness and emptiness of Attic thought, up to\nthe time when it received the few corrections and additions from\nChristian doctrine which enabled it to appear for a short time as a\nrival of heavenly truth.\n\nThe author goes with laborious scrutiny through that labyrinth of\nerror which is included under the title of Neo-Platonism. Outside the\nCatholic Church, few scholars have read even the principal works of\nSt. Thomas Aquinas. Charles Sumner was said to possess them; Disraeli\nthe elder and George Eliot refer to them. But the former never showed\nthat he understood their contents, and the last-named writers show\nthat they have not. Although such a study is absolutely necessary\ntowards acquiring a correct knowledge of the intellectual life of the\nMiddle Age, it is rarely undertaken by non-Catholics. To study the\nremains of Neo-Platonism is a task of equal subtlety, and yet nothing\nis more common than to hear shallow speculators on history affirm that\nChristianity was greatly affected by the Alexandrian school. But the\ndifference is no less marked when we come to find out what the views\nof the leading Neo-Platonist actually were. This \u201cdistracted chaos of\nhallucinations\u201d was the highest effort of paganism. It was an attempt\nto reconcile and weld together all the elements of the old world, as a\nbarrier to the new and irresistible power which was everywhere gaining\nground. It was the development which was to have been expected. It was\nthe fusion of East and West to which Christianity has been credited.\nBut, instead of acting upon, it was radically affected by,\nChristianity; and, instead of bringing forth Christianity, it was the\ndeadliest foe of the Gospel. It is from this old armory of Alexandria\nthat modern error draws and refurbishes the clumsy weapons which\ndropped thirteen centuries ago from the hands of the first opponents\nof Christianity. It is a good place to go for this sort of\nbric-\u00e0-brac. It contains a sum of all the aberrations of the human\nintellect. Here, stripped of its modern garb, we find the cosmic\nsentimentalism of Strauss. Here the absolute being of the German\npantheists stares us in the face. Here, from Iamblichus and Porphyry,\nwe hear the same mournful and unhealthy drivel which is printed and\nsewed up in gilt morocco by enterprising and philanthropic publishers\nof the present day. On rising from the perusal of Mr. Allies\u2019 third\nvolume, we see clearly the end of that wonderful and brilliant\nHellenism which, while ever occupied \u201ceither in telling or in hearing\nsomething new,\u201d slighted the real truth which had come into the world,\nand served but as a pit to its own pride.\n\nToo much praise cannot be given to Mr. Allies for the labor bestowed\nupon his history of the actual development of the philosophy of Greece\nin the Roman Empire. He has traced each school of thought from year to\nyear, and reproduced a correct summary of its beliefs. The Neo-Stoic\nphilosophy, which is especially vaunted by the enemies of\nChristianity, is studiously delineated. The points of agreement and\ndifference are clearly noted between its four great chiefs\u2014Seneca,\nMusonius, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. The analogies and contrasts\nbetween the developed Stoic school and the Christian teachers who were\nits contemporaries, are also brought into relief.\n\nIn order to portray the effect of the Neo-Pythagorean doctrines and\nthe revived Platonism, the author gives a complete analysis of that\nmost singular and interesting character, Philo the Jew\u2014singular, in\nthat he was the only one of the ancient Hebrew race who became a great\nphilosopher; interesting, because he shows us the precise difference\nbetween Platonism and Jewish belief, and the immeasurable superiority\nof the unreasoning Jew, who believed only that which he had received\nby tradition, over the highest flight of heathen genius unaided by\nrevelation. The lecture on Philo closes with a summary of the interval\nbetween his time and Plutarch\u2019s, and the change during that epoch from\nthe old Roman world of Cicero, together with the cause of this change.\n\nFollowing this, another lecture presents the state of the pagan\nintellect and the common standing ground of philosophy, from the\naccession of Nero to that of Severus.\n\nTowards the close of his reign, under the auspices of the Empress\nJulia and from the labors of Philostratus, came forth the new gospel\nof paganism in the life of Apollonius of Thyana. This work, upon the\nstrength of which modern infidels have sought to attribute a mythical\norigin to the Gospels, was a counterfeit of the truth, in which\npaganism sought to construct an ideal teacher, to oppose to that\nMaster who was now beginning to be known throughout the world. This\nsketch of Apollonius of Thyana is very complete, and shows a new phase\nof thought yet more strikingly affected by that hated and persecuted\npower which was daily growing in the midst of the Roman world. Having\ncompleted his study of pagan belief and sentiments as far as the reign\nof Severus, the author is fully prepared for the difficult and\nthankless task of reviewing the struggle between Neo-Platonism, as\nrepresented by Iamblichus, Porphyry, and Plotinus, and their\nfollowers, against divine truth. The third volume closes with a\ngraphic summary of the intellectual results from Claudius to\nConstantine, and a comparative glance at the relative power of the old\norder and the new to reconstruct a society in stable and harmonious\nproportions.\n\nWith this lecture, which seems to foreshadow the contents of a fourth\nvolume, Mr. Allies\u2019 work stops for the present. Its publication in\nparts has placed it at a great disadvantage, inasmuch as ten years\nhave passed since the first volume appeared. It may seem premature to\nreview a work not yet complete, but enough has been published to\nestablish the claim of the author to a most useful and successful\ncontribution to the needs of the time. He has grown into his task, and\nhas accumulated both facts and reflections. There is little reason to\nfear that the remaining volume will not be equal to the three which\nhave preceded it.\n\nThe style is unpretending, and the whole work extremely modest. In\nthis respect, it will not meet the approval of those who prefer\nrhetoric to exact truthfulness. Historical works must be plentifully\nillustrated, either by the engraver or the imagination of the author,\nto make them popular nowadays.\n\nBut the intelligent reader who will take pains to examine carefully\nMr. Allies\u2019 volumes will be well repaid, and the author himself can\nrest in the conviction that he has written a solid and useful book,\nwhich deserves a place in every library.\n\n\n [190] _The Formation of Christendom._ By T. W. Allies. Part\n Third. London: Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer. 1875.\n\n [191] It is also necessary on account of its vagueness, and\n eminently fits in or rather mixes with the confusion of\n mind which is so marked a characteristic in this school of\n speculators.\n\n\n\n\nSIR THOMAS MORE.\n\n_A HISTORICAL ROMANCE._ FROM THE FRENCH OF THE PRINCESSE DE CRAON.\n\n\nX.\n\n\nIn that portion of the attic of Whitehall Castle looking toward the\nwest they had, according to the king\u2019s orders, erected an altar in\norder to celebrate Mass. Three persons had assembled there, and were\nreflecting on the singularity of the hour and the choice of the place\nwhere they found themselves called by this religious ceremony.\n\nLady Berkley, seated upon a high cane chair, had carefully gathered\nabout her feet the long train of her silk dress, to avoid having it\nsweep over the floor covered with dust, and she observed with great\nattention the old tapestries, which had been nailed all around the\naltar in order to conceal as far as possible the unsightly appearance\nof the rafters of the roof.\n\nHeneage, with his arms crossed, not far from her, waited, having\nnothing to do, while Dr. Roland Lee, invested with the pontifical\nvestments, kneeled on the step of the altar, inwardly grieved at this\nnew whim of the king, which he found as inconvenient as disrespectful;\nbut being very pious, he endeavored to pray to God and occupy himself\nonly with the holy sacrifice he was going to offer up.\n\nThey had waited very nearly an hour in this position, when Norris\nentered with a light in his hand.\n\n\u201cThe king,\u201d he said in a loud voice.\n\nThe assistants immediately arose to their feet, and the king appeared,\nfollowed by Lady Boleyn, with Anne Savage carrying her train, gleaming\nwith embroidery.\n\nOn entering she cast a glance upon the surroundings of this improvised\nchapel, and she was far from finding them to her liking. But Henry\nVIII. gave her no time for reflection; he placed two chairs in front\nof the altar, and, putting himself in one, he made a sign to her to\nkneel upon the other; then, having called Sir Roland, he announced to\nhim that he had to proceed with the marriage.\n\nAlthough he had presaged nothing good from the singular preparations\nhe had seen made in this attic chapel, yet poor Dr. Lee was far from\nanticipating such an order as he now received; he found himself in a\nhorrible state of perplexity, and stood without making any reply.\n\n\u201cCome!\u201d said the king after a moment\u2019s silence, \u201ccommence the\nprayers.\u201d\n\nBut Roland turned toward him, and still continued to stand on the step\nof the altar; he said with a great deal of dignity:\n\n\u201cNo, your majesty cannot marry, the ecclesiastical authorities not\nhaving yet decided.\u2026\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat say you, Roland?\u201d interrupted the king brusquely. \u201cGod alone has\npower to judge the conscience of princes, and mine has decided that I\nshould marry. Go on and do what I command you now.\u201d\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d replied Roland, who feared that his days were numbered, \u201cyour\nmajesty has all power over my poor body, and I am your very unworthy\nand very devoted subject; but I cannot solemnize your marriage without\nhaving proof that you are at liberty to contract it.\u201d\n\nHenry bit his lower lip.\n\n\u201cRoland!\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d replied the other, as if he thought the king had called him.\n\n\u201cThe imbecile!\u201d exclaimed Henry VIII. to himself; but he saw it would\nbe better to dissimulate.\n\n\u201cRoland,\u201d he replied, with an inflection of voice as different as his\nnew intention, \u201cdo you think I would command you to do anything wrong?\nI have received from Rome the bulls of our Holy Father, who recognizes\nthe nullity of my marriage with Catherine, _the wife of my brother_,\nand permits me to select for my spouse any other unmarried woman in my\nkingdom. However, in order to avoid scandal, he bound me to do it\nsecretly.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen I have nothing to say,\u201d replied Roland Lee, relieved of an\nimmense weight; \u201cbut your majesty will, of course, first show me the\nproofs.\u201d\n\n\u201cObstinacy!\u201d thought the king. \u201cHow, Sir Roland,\u201d he cried, assuming\nan air of extreme mortification, \u201cthe word of your king, then, is no\nlonger sufficient? Is it necessary for me to go and bring you a thing\nwhich I affirm to have in my possession? Roland,\u201d he added in a severe\ntone, \u201cuntil now your conscience alone has spoken, therefore I have\nnot been offended; but take care that, instead of commending your\ncourse, I no longer see in you other than an incredulous obstinacy. I\npledge you my royal word on the truth of what I have stated.\u2026 But add\nnot a word more.\u201d\n\nRoland dared not reply, and, unable to believe the king would dare to\nprevaricate in that manner before such a number of witnesses, he\nbegan, although much disturbed, to say the Mass.\u2026 But the quiet\nsolemnity of prayer influences the most obdurate heart: man is so\ninsignificant in the presence of God.\n\nHenry felt more and more troubled. Queen Catherine\u2019s letter, Norris\u2019\ndescription of her departure, the scene of the previous evening,\npassed one after another before his eyes and continued to torture his\nmemory. The words of the holy daughter of Kent, \u201cThe woman you wish to\nmarry will dishonor your couch and perish on the scaffold,\u201d arose\nunconsciously to his lips, and aroused in his soul a gloomy jealousy.\nHe cast a glance upon Anne Boleyn; their eyes met, and the miserable\nwoman was terror-stricken at the expression of fury that gleamed from\nhis eyes. Then he looked around him. The sun had arisen, and brought\ninto bold relief the old and faded tapestries surrounding the altar.\n\n\u201cIs this place worthy of me?\u201d he thought to himself. \u201cIs it thus I\nhave prayed with Thomas More?\u2014that quiet, peace, order, and respect?\u2026\nThere one is happy; here they are consumed, devoured by remorse!\nHappiness of the just, I execrate thee, because I have not been able\nto attain thee!\u201d\u2026 Thus all that was good excited his envy; even\nCatherine, whom he had driven from the door of his palace a wanderer\non the earth, seemed to him happier than himself.\n\nBut it was still worse when the venerable priest, turning towards him,\nbegan the ancient and solemn rites of marriage between the children of\nGod, and came to these words: \u201cYou, Henry of Lancaster, do confess,\nacknowledge, and swear before God, and in presence of his holy church,\nthat you now take for your wife and legitimate spouse Anne Boleyn,\nhere present.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said the king mentally, \u201chell would be better than the life that\nI lead.\u201d He trembled, and answered in a loud voice:\n\n\u201cYes!\u201d\n\n\u201cYou promise to keep to her faithfully in all things, as a faithful\nhusband should his wife, according to the commandment of God?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d he answered again.\n\n\u201cAnd you, Anne Boleyn, you also confess, acknowledge, and swear before\nGod, and in presence of his holy church, that you now take for your\nhusband and legitimate spouse Henry of Lancaster, here present.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d stammered Anne Boleyn, who had no relatives, no friends around\nher\u2014no one except two valets and a _femme de chambre_.\n\n\u201cYou promise to keep to him faithfully in all things, as a faithful\nwife should her husband, according to the commandment of God?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d she answered more distinctly.\n\nThen the priest took the nuptial ring, and, placing it in the hand of\nthe king, made a sign to give it to his wife.\n\nHenry VIII., leaning toward Anne Boleyn, gave it to her, seeming\nscarcely conscious that he did so. The sight of this ring recalled the\none he had given Catherine on a former and similar occasion, the\nsanctity of the engagements he had contracted with her, the love he\nthen bore her, her youth, her sincerity, her charms, her virtues, the\ntranquillity of his own conscience; now, he had dissipated all these\nblessings\u2014dissipated them wilfully and through his own fault; he felt\nhimself despised and despicable. His legitimate wife driven forth and\ndiscarded, while he took another by means of a disgraceful falsehood\nwhich must be very soon discovered. He no longer had children; he had\nrenounced at the same time all the rights of a man, a father, a\nhusband, in order to recommence, at his age, a new career, already\nbranded with disgraceful recollections and shameful regrets.\n\n\u201cMay the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob unite\nyou, and may he shower his benedictions upon you! I now pronounce you\nman and wife, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the\nHoly Ghost,\u201d said the priest, making the sign of the cross over them.\n\n\u201cAmen!\u201d responded the assistants.\n\n\u201cNo benedictions! Don\u2019t talk to me about benedictions, wretches!\u201d\nreplied Henry in a stifled voice.\n\n\u201cIt is truly just and reasonable,\u201d continued the priest, ascending the\nsteps of the altar and extending his hands towards heaven, \u201cit is\nright and salutary, that we return thee thanks at all times and in all\nplaces, O Lord, most holy Father, Almighty God eternal, who by thy\npower hast created the universe out of nothing; who in the beginning\nof the world, after having made man in thine image, gave him, to be\nhis inseparable companion, the woman whom thou hast formed from\nthyself, in order to teach him that he is never permitted to put\nasunder those whom thou hast united in the sacrament thou hast\ninstituted. O God! thou who hast consecrated marriage by so excellent\na mystery that the nuptial alliance is the figure of the sacred union\nof Jesus Christ and his church; O God! by whom the woman is united to\nthe man, and who givest to this intimate union thy blessing, the only\none which has not been taken away, neither by the punishment of\noriginal sin nor the sentence of the Deluge; O God! thou who alone\nhast dominion over the hearts of men, and who knowest and governest\nall things by thy providence, insomuch that no man can put asunder\nthose whom thou hast joined together\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen shall I get out of this place?\u201d murmured Henry VIII.\n\n\u201cNor injure those whom thou hast blessed\u2014unite, we pray thee, the\nsouls of these thy servants, who belong to thee, and pour into their\nhearts a sincere friendship, to the end that they may become one in\nthee, as thou art the only true and all-powerful God. Regard with a\nfavorable eye thy servant, who, before being united to her spouse,\nimplores your protection. Grant that her yoke may be a yoke of love\nand peace; grant that, chaste and faithful, she may follow the example\nof the holy women of old; that she render herself amiable to her\nhusband, like Rachel; that she may be wise as Rebecca; that she may\nenjoy a long life, and be faithful like Sara; that the author of\nprevarication may find nothing in her that proceeds from him; that she\nmay abide firm in thy law and in the observance of thy commandments;\nthat, at last, being attached only to her husband, she defile not the\nmarriage-bed by any illicit connection.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo you understand what the priest advises you?\u201d said Henry VIII.,\nangrily regarding Anne Boleyn, and speaking almost loud enough for her\nto hear him.\n\n\u201cThat, in order to sustain her weakness, she may fortify herself by an\nexact and well-regulated life; that she may conduct herself with such\nproper modesty as will ensure respect; that she inform herself of her\nduties in the heavenly doctrines of Jesus Christ; that she may obtain\nfrom thee a happy fecundity; that she may lead a life pure and\nirreproachable\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cI will not suffer her to do otherwise,\u201d thought the king.\n\n\u201cThat at length she may arrive at the rest of the saints in the\nkingdom of heaven. Grant, Lord, that they may both live to behold\ntheir children\u2019s children until the third and fourth generation, and\nattain a happy old age, through Jesus Christ our Lord, thy Son, who\nliveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world\nwithout end.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmen!\u201d responded the assistants.\n\n\u201cIt is over at last,\u201d said the king, rising precipitately.\n\nHe motioned Anne Boleyn to follow him; but she made no reply, and he\nsaw that she was weeping, and had put her hands over her eyes to\nconceal her tears.\n\nHe then left her, and immediately went out.\n\n\nXI.\n\n\nOn returning to his apartments, the king found in his cabinet Cromwell\nand Cranmer, who, pompously invested with the garb of his new\nepiscopal dignity, came with Cromwell to thank the king for having\nconferred on him this exalted position.\n\nThe sight of these two intriguers produced a disagreeable impression\non Henry. He was very wearied already by the scene through which he\nhad just passed, and longed to be alone. Instead of that, he found\nhimself face to face with two new instruments of torture.\n\nCromwell regarded the king attentively, and was astonished at the\nexpression of dissatisfaction visible on every feature of his face.\n\n\u201cWhat does he want now?\u201d mentally inquired this unprincipled man.\n\u201cHave we not procured the accomplishment of all his desires? Is he not\nnow the very legitimate spouse of the brilliant Anne Boleyn,\nMarchioness of Pembroke?\u201d But he thought it advisable under existing\ncircumstances to let the king speak first, and contented himself with\na profound salutation.\n\n\u201cWhat more do you want of me?\u201d asked the king very brusquely.\n\n\u201cHe is not very approachable this morning,\u201d thought Cromwell; \u201cbut\nnever mind, he will not escape us for all that.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe come,\u201d replied Cromwell, \u201cto congratulate your majesty on the\nclemency and magnanimity you displayed yesterday evening towards that\ndaughter of Kent; and Dr. Cranmer has come to lay at your feet the\nassurance of his gratitude and his entire devotion.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d replied the king, happy to attribute his anger to something he\ncould confess; \u201cyou are clever men, and richly deserve to be driven\nfrom my presence for having risked compromising me with that fool to\nwhom you have made me listen! I am beginning to get tired of your\nfooleries; Sir Cromwell, understand that well!\u201d And he emphasized the\nlast words with a marked intention and an expression of anger and\nscorn.\n\n\u201cThe marriage has not improved matters much, it would seem,\u201d said\nCromwell to himself; but he considered it proper to display a little\ndignity. \u201cI understand,\u201d he replied immediately, \u201cthat your majesty\nmay have at first taken some offence at the insolent audacity of that\nwoman of Kent; but I am astonished that you should be so unjust as to\nthink ill of your servants on account of it, and especially since\nnothing could have been more fortunate in putting us on the track of\nthe infamous intrigues of the queen and her partisans.\u201d\n\n\u201cInfamous intrigues! infamous intrigues!\u201d cried the king. \u201cThat is a\nword which may be very readily applied, and often it is not to those\nwho most deserve it.\u201d\n\nAn angry flush mounted to Cromwell\u2019s pale visage; he felt that it was\ntime to calm the storm about to burst upon him.\n\n\u201cI implore your majesty to believe,\u201d he replied in an extremely\nmortified tone, \u201cthat I advance nothing without proof; and I ask now\nwhat he will say when he shall know that the queen, Thomas More, and\nthe Bishop of Rochester, concealed in the church, assisted with us at\nthe examination of the holy daughter of Kent, in order to assure\nthemselves that their instrument resounded loudly in the ears of your\nmajesty.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you say, Cromwell? The queen was in the Abbey last night? And\nhow did she gain admittance there? What! she has heard all? She has\nenjoyed my humiliation? Why have I not known it? I would have punished\nher audacity and wickedness on the spot; but I will surely have my\nrevenge.\u201d\n\n\u201cSire,\u201d replied Cromwell, \u201cthe queen is but a woman, and you should\npardon her. The real culprits are the Bishop of Rochester and More,\nwhose ingratitude toward your majesty exceeds all conception. The\nqueen\u2019s partisans laud More above the clouds, and publish it abroad\nthat he has retired from your majesty\u2019s service because his conscience\nwould no longer permit him to remain there. It is time to put an end\nto such excesses, and the honor of your majesty requires that they\nshall no longer go unpunished.\u201d\n\nCromwell intended by this discourse to excite the king\u2019s wrath and at\nthe same time strike at his ruling passions\u2014pride, and the fear of\nlosing his authority. Thus he held him in his hands, and changed him\nfrom one to the other, like a piece of soft wax melted before a hot\nfire.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d cried the king, \u201cyes, I swear it, I will chastise them! The\nwhole world shall learn what it is to try to resist me!\u201d He was nearly\nstifled with rage, which entirely transported him and rendered him\nincapable of reflection.\n\n\u201cYou will assist me, Cromwell,\u201d he cried, \u201cyou will assist me! I shall\nhave need of you to help me tame this insolent clergy, who will raise\na loud howl when they hear I have banished Catherine and married Anne\nBoleyn without their participation.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is caught,\u201d thought Cromwell. \u201cPoor fish! you have too many vices\nto hope to escape my nets! I am very happy to see,\u201d he replied with a\nsatisfied air, \u201cthat your majesty has not been cast down or\ndiscouraged by the trifling difficulties you have until the present\nencountered. It is time your courage got the better of your\ngenerosity, and that you should throw off the yoke which has been so\nlong imposed on you.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, that is just what I want!\u201d cried the king; \u201cbut it is a very\ndifficult question to deal with.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot the least in the world,\u201d replied Cromwell; \u201clet your majesty\ncontinue as you have begun, and you will very soon see every obstacle\nfall before you. Not long since they declared your marriage was\nimpossible; to-day it is accomplished.\u2026 The clergy will not recognize\nit!\u2026 Make Parliament proclaim it; then demand of them the oath of\nfidelity to the new queen, to her children, and to the supreme head of\nthe church; because we must not lose sight,\u201d continued Cromwell, \u201cof\nthe fact that there is no longer any necessity for discretion now;\nafter the injury done to the Sovereign Pontiff of the church, there\nremains no other way to proceed than to cast off his authority at once\nand substitute another in his place.\u201d\n\n\u201cSoftly, softly,\u201d said the king; \u201cunless the necessity be forced upon\nme, I do not wish to go to such an extremity.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis is not an extremity,\u201d replied Cromwell, who had the plan already\nperfectly arranged, and enjoyed in advance all the ecclesiastical\nbenefits he counted on appropriating to himself; \u201cit is a decisive\nvictory, simple and easy to carry out. Is it not, Cranmer?\u201d\n\n\u201cI think so,\u201d said Cranmer, who had taken the habit of a bishop only\nthat he might be better able to serve his ambition and avidity.\n\n\u201cSoftly,\u201d continued the king, with an air of importance; \u201cit is very\nevident that neither of you are statesmen, and that you are not\nexperienced in such matters, nor acquainted with their difficulties.\u201d\n\n\u201cI think, however, I know very well how to manage my own,\u201d said\nCromwell under his breath.\n\n\u201cWe know quite as much about it as some others,\u201d thought Cranmer.\n\n\u201cIt will first be necessary,\u201d continued Henry, \u201cto see if there will\nbe no means of arranging it otherwise. It is possible that Catherine\nmay submit, that she may ask to become a _religieuse_, that they may\ndecide at Rome that it is not necessary to enforce the law so urgently\nin my case. At any rate, I wish to try them,\u201d he added in a determined\nvoice, \u201cby demanding, as is customary, Cranmer\u2019s bulls of the pope.\nAfterward\u2014ah! well, we will see.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, sire,\u201d replied Cromwell, \u201cconsider well that, by this act of\nsubmission, you destroy all the terror you have inspired, and that if\nCranmer holds his rank and powers as Archbishop-Primate of England\nfrom any other than yourself, he will be obliged to publicly\nacknowledge the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, and to take from him,\nas usual, the oath of fidelity.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d hurriedly interrupted Cranmer, who feared that this remark of\nCromwell would make the king hesitate, and retard his installation,\n\u201cthis oath is only a simple formality, \u2026 an ancient usage.\u2026 Nothing\ncould prevent me later from taking another to the king in the form and\ntenor adopted.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! well; yes, still\u2014\u201d said Cromwell, whose talent above all\nconsisted in never finding, nor letting the king find, any difficulty\nin following his advice.\n\n\u201cThese honest individuals!\u201d thought the king; \u201can oath weighs no more\non their conscience than a gnat on the back of a swallow.\u201d\n\nWith this remark his patience was exhausted with them.\n\n\u201cWell, it is all right,\u201d he said; \u201cwe will return to this subject\nafter the council. Go now; I need rest; but keep an eye on Thomas More\nand the Bishop of Rochester,\u201d he added, turning toward Cromwell.\n\nThey then had to retire, and leave the king by himself, a prey to his\nown reflections.\n\n\u201cThey are gone at last!\u201d cried Henry, throwing himself into a\n_fauteuil_. \u201cI am rid of them! These are, then, the agents of hell\nwith whom hereafter I must manage the affairs of my kingdom.\u201d\n\nAnd he angrily pushed from under his feet a footstool, which was\nhurled against a chair they called the \u201cqueen\u2019s chair,\u201d because she\nhad shown a preference for it.\n\nHenry recollected it; he arose abruptly, and changed his position in\norder to avoid seeing the vacant chair, that annoyed him.\n\n\u201cAlways Catherine,\u201d he cried; \u201cnothing but Catherine! I cannot take a\nstep without being reminded of her! So much trouble, and only to make\nmyself so wretched!\u2026 That doll-baby, Anne Boleyn, was weeping!\u2026 A weak\ncreature, and with no energy!\u2026 She is not equal to the position to\nwhich I have elevated her. To weep the day that I married her, when\nfor her I have torn myself from the arms of the clergy, the people,\nthe pope, and the emperor!\u2026 I shall not be happy with this woman;\u2026 she\nwearies me already!\u2026 It will be necessary to make all this known\nbefore the coronation; \u2026 otherwise there will be no time to recede.\u2026\nTo acknowledge that I have done wrong \u2026 it is impossible.\u2026 More, could\nyou, then, have been right? Shall I always be more unhappy in\nfollowing my own will than in conquering it?\u2026 That wretch! always\ncalm, always contented.\u2026 I see him now, down in his obscurity, seated\nquietly in his cabinet, working, loving God, not fearing death, \u2026\nsmiling at poverty and all the circumstances of life, which, as he\nsays, have no power to annoy him.\u2026 And I\u2014I roll here on these velvet\ncushions, with remorse in my heart, despair in my soul; and why, when\nI have obtained the object I wanted?\u2026 Hell has already begun for me!\u2026\nIf it is so, I should not, at least, be ashamed to acknowledge it!\u2026\nMarch on!\u201d\n\nThe king, rising then precipitately, left his cabinet, and ordered\npreparations for a grand hunting party, and for the assembling of the\nladies for a ball and supper in the evening.\n\n\nXII.\n\nWhilst they were dancing at court, and sought, in dissipation of mind,\nto drown remorse of heart, a few leagues distant one of the victims of\nHenry VIII. lay on his death-bed, rapidly approaching his end.\n\nThe night before some travellers had knocked at the gate of Leicester\nAbbey. It was opened, and the Archbishop of York had alighted from his\nmule, on which he was no longer able to sustain himself. He was\ncarried by the good monks to a chamber, and laid in bed, where he\nstill remained confined and nigh unto death.\n\nAll was gloom around this bed; two wax lights only burned on a table\nat the extremity of the room, whilst several monks were on their knees\npraying for the dying. Not a sound disturbed the silence around them\nsave the slight noise made by the rosary as they turned it in their\nhands, and the labored respiration of the sick man.\n\n\u201cMonsieur Kingston,\u201d he suddenly cried in a broken voice, \u201cI conjure\nyou, say to the king that I have never betrayed him, that my enemies\nhave misrepresented me, that I have always been faithful to him!\u2026 Tell\nhim this, I conjure you!\u2014ah! tell him this.\u201d\n\nBut Sir William Kingston, lieutenant of the Tower, had left the room\nand returned to the lower hall among his guards, with whom he had been\nsent, by order of the king, to seek his prisoner at the castle of the\nCount of Shrewsbury, and bring him to the Tower.\n\nFatigued by the journey, some of them were stretched on the floor,\nwhile others slept on their arms, leaning against the wall, as if\ndeath still required them to guard their prey.\n\nWolsey receiving no reply, turned himself over with a groan, and saw\nthe shadow of a man standing near his bed.\n\n\u201cWho is that?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cIt is I,\u201d replied Cavendish, still remaining behind the curtain, and\nwho endeavored in silence to conceal his tears.\n\n\u201cHow are you now?\u201d said Wolsey.\n\n\u201cWell, my dear lord, if your grace was well also,\u201d responded the\nfaithful servant.\n\n\u201cAh! my dear friend,\u201d replied the cardinal, \u201cas for me, I am very\nsick. I am rapidly approaching my end; but what most distresses me is\nto have nothing to leave you, and not to be able to assure you of a\nsubsistence.\u201d\n\n\u201cDo not trouble yourself about that,\u201d said this devoted servant, who\napproached and took the trembling hand of the dying man; \u201cin a few\ndays you will be better, and we shall not lose you.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat time is it?\u201d said Wolsey.\n\n\u201cMidnight.\u201d\n\n\u201cMidnight!\u201d replied the archbishop. \u201cHow short the time is! Before\neight o\u2019clock I shall have to leave this world. God calls me to\nhimself, and I can remain no longer with you. Monsieur Vincent,\u201d he\ncontinued after a moment\u2019s silence\u2014\u201cMonsieur Vincent, say to the king\nthat it was my intention to have left him all my property; but he has\nhimself deprived me of that pleasure, since they have seized, by his\norders, everything that I possessed.\u201d\n\nOn hearing his name called, Monsieur Vincent hurried to the bedside;\nbut at these last words he shook his head in token of incredulity and\nimpatience. He was an employ\u00e9 of the king\u2019s treasury, and his heart\nwas as hard as the coin he had charge of.\n\nHaving learned that Wolsey was very sick when he left the castle of\nthe Count of Shrewsbury, and fearing he might die on the road, the\nking had despatched this man in all haste to secure the money and\nvaluables he supposed Wolsey might have concealed among his friends.\n\n\u201cI have told you the truth,\u201d replied the archbishop, who remarked his\nmovement. \u201cI have nothing left in London, and but for the assistance\nof Monsieur Arundel I should have died of starvation at Asher. I\nimplore you, then, that the king may have compassion on my poor\nservants, and allow them the wages now due them.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will see, my lord,\u201d said the dissatisfied scribe, who was waiting\nfor an avowal which he had continued to solicit, without any\nconsideration, ever since his arrival; \u201cwe will see. But the treasury\nis so very much impoverished at this time!\u2026 However, we will do what\nwe can. We will ask the king, if it is convenient.\u201d\n\n\u201cMonsieur Vincent, I implore you!\u201d replied the cardinal.\n\n\u201cMaster Vincent,\u201d said Cavendish, \u201cI beg you to leave the room; your\npresence annoys and excites him. Have mercy, then, and leave him in\npeace.\u201d\n\nThe scribe hesitated, but he did not go; he returned to the corner of\nthe chamber and began to write as before.\n\nCavendish followed him with a look of indignation. It seemed very hard\nthat his master could not even be permitted to die without this\navaricious surveillance.\n\n\u201cCavendish,\u201d asked the archbishop immediately, \u201cdo you think she will\ncome?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey expect her every moment, my dear lord,\u201d he replied; \u201cshe will\nremain three days here.\u201d\n\n\u201cO Cavendish!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy dear master!\u201d\n\nAnd he fell on his knees by the bed. He bathed with tears the hand of\nthe archbishop, which he held in his own.\n\n\u201cShe will not see me, my son! She will not forgive me!\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! my dear, my beloved lord.\u201d He could say no more, being entirely\novercome by grief.\n\n\u201cRemember, my son, remember,\u201d continued Wolsey, \u201cthat it was my\ninfernal policy that persuaded the king of the possibility of his\ndivorce! Is that she? I hear a noise. My God! I am dying. Spare me,\nthat I may ask her forgiveness; yes, her forgiveness, even as God has\nforgiven me. O my God!\u201d he cried suddenly, fixing his eyes on a\ncrucifix he had made them hang on the wall in front of him,\u201d had I\nonly served thee as faithfully as I have served this prince in whom I\nhave placed all my hopes and centred all my affections! Weak mortal\nlike myself, what had he to offer me that I should attach myself to\nhim? Vain splendor of an ephemeral power, where have you led me? O\nman, crowned with a diadem! cast a glance upon the bed of a dying man,\nand reflect. Why have I not despised your favors and the gifts you\nhave offered me? How fatal they have proved to me! To-day, solitary\nand alone, I must appear before my God, with hands empty and void of\nall those virtues and merits which you have prevented me from\nacquiring. Why have I not come here in my youth, among these humble\nmonks, and learned to extinguish the pride that has governed my entire\nlife? Listen, all you who are here present! Come and behold my\nemaciated limbs; see the flesh that covered them already destroyed by\nthe breath of death, that has struck them! And my tongue that now\nspeaks to you, and which was thought capable of dictating the decrees\nof conquerors, will soon be silenced for ever.\u201d\n\nBut exhausted by so violent an effort, he sank into a state of\ninsensibility.\n\nSeized with terror, the monks gathered around his bed, recalling the\npower and _\u00e9clat_ with which the name of Wolsey was surrounded, and\nwhich had so many times resounded even through the most remote walls\nof their solitude.\u2026\n\nYes, it was she\u2014it was indeed Queen Catherine. She had reached this\nmonastery, where she intended remaining several days before deciding\non the place of her retreat. Henry VIII., in order to entirely prove\nthat she had become to him an object of perfect indifference, had not\neven offered her an asylum.\n\n\u201cShe is free,\u201d he said; \u201clet her do what she pleases. That is the\nwidow of my brother, the Princess Dowager of Wales. Hereafter she must\nbear no other name.\u201d\n\nHowever, they had opened all the gates, and the father abbot, preceded\nby the cross and followed by all his _religieux_ carrying lighted\ntorches, went before the queen and conducted her into the\nchapter-hall, which had been prepared for her reception.\n\nThere she found carpets, cushions, an arm-chair covered with velvet,\nand everything the good monks could imagine would be agreeable and\ntestify their devotion.\n\nCatherine felt touched to the heart by these testimonials of respect\nand affection.\n\nShe seated herself a moment in order to thank them; then, rising with\nthat calm and majestic dignity which so eminently characterized her,\nshe said:\n\n\u201cGood fathers, it is no more your queen whom you receive in your\nmidst; it is a fugitive woman, an outraged mother, separated from all\nthat she holds most dear in the world. Do not treat me, then, with so\nmuch honor. I have more need of your tears and prayers than of your\nrespect and homage.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas! madam,\u201d replied the father abbot, \u201clife is very short, and the\njudgments of God are inscrutable. You come beneath the shadow of this\nsanctuary to seek an asylum, while the first author of all your woes,\na man of whom you have had great cause to complain, has sought here a\nrefuge to die.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d said the queen. \u201cVenerable father, explain yourself!\u201d\n\n\u201cYesterday, madam,\u201d replied the abbot, \u201cthe Archbishop of York arrived\nhere in a dying condition. He was accompanied by Cavendish, his\nservant, and the lieutenant of the Tower, who is conducting him to\nLondon, there to be tried on the charge of high treason.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe here!\u201d cried the queen, overwhelmed with astonishment. And\nCatherine, a Spaniard and a mother, felt the hatred she had borne\nWolsey revive in her soul with extreme violence. The feeling she had\nvainly sought to extinguish rekindled with renewed strength every time\nshe received a new outrage, or when the name and conduct of the\nminister who had sacrificed her to his political views and interests\nwas brought to her recollection.\n\nA sudden tremor seized her.\n\n\u201cWolsey here!\u201d she repeated. \u201cNo matter where I go, this man follows\nme!\u2026 Here!\u201d she said again.\n\n\u201cYes, madam,\u201d replied the father abbot, \u201chere, dying, but more worthy\nof pity than hatred; he weeps, he bemoans his past life, he implores\nGod\u2019s mercy. It is sufficient to see him to be touched with\ncompassion. For two days we have watched him by turns; he has not\nceased to pray God, and I know that to see you will be a great\nconsolation to him.\u201d\n\n\u201cSee him?\u201d replied the queen. \u201cNo! oh! no, never. God forgive him the\ninjury he has done me; but I will never see him.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill Queen Catherine forget the charity of Jesus Christ?\u201d replied the\nfather abbot in a severe tone. \u201cCan that virtue be more than a vain\nappearance which is stranded by coming in contact with a resentment,\njust, perhaps, but none the less criminal?\u2026 I conjure you, madam,\u201d he\ncontinued, falling on his knees before the queen, \u201crefuse not to see\nhim. Already, without doubt, he knows that you are here. He desires to\nsee you and ask your forgiveness. All of our brothers ask it with\nhim.\u201d\n\nCatherine remained silent, but she advanced a step forward, which the\nfather accepted as a mute consent; and passing immediately before her,\nhe conducted her into the chamber where Wolsey was lying.\n\nShe advanced to the middle of the room, and was struck by the\nspectacle presented to her view. Cavendish supported the dying man in\nhis arms, and wiped the cold sweat from his face, now as white as the\nsheet on which he lay. A convulsive movement agitated occasionally his\nextended limbs, and it was from that alone they saw that life was not\nyet extinct.\n\nCatherine approached at once, and remained standing in silence, in the\nface of this enemy, heretofore so powerful and so formidable.\n\nShe made no movement, and her eyes only were fixed on the dying. \u201cAnd\nI too will die!\u201d she said in her heart. \u201cThe day will come when I\nshall cease to suffer. O material life which envelops me! cease also\nto burden _my_ soul, and let it flee into eternity. Let me find a\nrefuge even in the bosom of the tomb.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\n\u201cMy daughter, my daughter!\u201d she suddenly cried, as though beside\nherself; \u201cgive her back to me, you who have torn her from my arms!\u201d\n\nA shudder passed over the form of Wolsey; he had heard that voice. It\nseemed as though a burning fire had touched him. He rose up in his\nbed, and, gazing at the queen with wildly staring eyes, \u201cYour\ndaughter, madam!\u201d he cried, \u201cyour daughter!\u2026 Alas! it is I who have\ndone all. You accuse me, and yet, as God is my judge, I threw myself\nat the feet of the king, and tried to turn him from his evil\nintention; but it was too late, and I had not foreseen the fatal\nconsequences of a policy which I believed would be advantageous and\nbeneficial. Alas! how differently I regard it at this terrible hour.\nPardon me! pardon me!\u2026 I conjure you, that I may not bear to the foot\nof the throne of the Sovereign Judge the fearful weight of the\nmalediction of the widow and the orphan!\u201d And he stretched towards her\nhis hands, which he was no longer able to raise.\n\n\u201cMay God forgive you,\u201d responded the queen, \u201cmay God forgive you! But\nwhat can there be in common between you and me, unless it is\nsuffering? You will soon be delivered from your woes; but I\u2014I must\nlive!\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d cried Woolsey with expressions of the most profound\nwretchedness, \u201cyou hear it, brothers, already the voice of God\npunishes me by the mouth of this woman. And thus,\u201d he continued,\nfixing his terrified gaze on the queen, \u201cI die at enmity with you, and\nyou will not have compassion on the condition to which I am reduced!\nHow can one human being call down upon another without trembling the\nvengeance of the Most High? Are we not all formed of the same flesh\nand blood? Are you not horror-stricken at the thought of the judgments\nI must suffer and the account I must render?\u201d\n\nCatherine felt her blood congealed by the frightful eloquence of this\nexpiring man\u2014this man whom but a moment separated from death and\neternity.\n\nAt the thought of the nothingness of all created humanity, she felt\nthe hatred she had borne Wolsey entirely effaced.\n\n\u201cYour reasoning enlightens me!\u201d she cried. \u201cWho are we that we should\nwish to be revenged?. Weak and blind, should we precipitate ourselves\ninto the bottomless pit? We have received an injury, and shall we\ninflict one in return? Who are we, and what is our duty?\u201d\n\nShe then advanced toward him, and, taking in her own the hands of her\nenemy, she said:\n\n\u201cI forgive you, I forgive you from the most profound depths of my\nheart.\u2026 May God, the sovereign Creator of all things, bless you, and\nblot out from the awful book of his justice your slightest fault! May\nhe open to you the mansions of eternal bliss! Then remember me, and\nask of him that my eyes also may soon be closed to the light of that\nday which you have rendered insupportable. Tell him that I want to\ndie, and beg him to recall to himself the soul that he has given me;\nsay that my eyes are weary with tears, and my heart worn with\nsuffering; that sorrow has multiplied my days, and that I have lived\nduring the night, keeping tearful vigils; that I have only enjoyed the\nblessings of life long enough to regret them; that I am ready, that I\nlisten, I wait to hear his voice, in order that I may arise and\ndepart.\u201d\n\nWolsey drank in with avidity all of her words, and his eyes followed\nevery movement of the queen\u2019s lips; but suddenly the fire of his\nburning glance was extinguished, his head fell forward on his\nbreast\u2014he had ceased to breathe!\u2026\n\nWhat pen can describe, what pencil portray, the terrible and solemn\nmoment when a man is called to leave for ever the world that gave him\nbirth\u2014the moment when those who, having surrounded him with the most\nconstant care, loving words, and affectionate attentions, fall\nprostrate around the silent couch, which now contains no more than the\ndespoiled and lifeless clay which a beloved and cherished being seems\nto have cast aside like a soiled garment? Let the cold sceptic come,\nand, passing through that throng of afflicted friends, let him place\nhis hand on the heart that has ceased to beat, and then turn and dare\nstill to tell them that man has been created to die, and nothing more\nremains of him after death!\u2026 It is easy in the intoxication of joy,\namid the false glare of vanity and of worldly dissipations, to put our\ntrust in falsehood and array ourselves against the truth; but the day\nand the hour will come when she will appear clothed in dazzling robes\nof light, and the splendor of her irradiated countenance will strike\nwith terror and annihilation the last one of her wretched and\npresumptuous enemies.\n\n\n\n\nSOME ODD IDEAS.\n\n\n\u201cOur intelligence,\u201d says the celebrated Montaigne, \u201cis a kind of\nvagabond instrument, daring and dangerous, to which it is difficult to\nassociate order or appoint limits. It is a hurtful weapon to its owner\nhimself, if he does not know how to use it discreetly.\u201d\n\nNo one can doubt the truth of this observation who has ever studied\nthe workings of his own individual mind with some little attention.\nAnd even when we cannot perceive the beam in our own eye, how very\nevident is the straw in our neighbor\u2019s! Though unsuspecting of the bee\nin our own bonnet, how quickly we hear it buzzing in his!\n\nA specimen of some of the extravagant vagaries of human wit may\nperhaps interest and amuse. To begin at the beginning: thinkers have\nendeavored to imagine what was going on before the Creation.\n\nIn the seventeenth century, a mystic writer composed a work on the\noccupations of God before the creation of the universe! Nearly all of\nit is incomprehensible, but a few sentences will give an idea of its\nstyle:\n\n\u201cTo ask what God was doing before the Creation is an impertinence, a\npuerility.\u2026 It is certain that the eternal God who made this earth by\nthe power of his word had no need of the world and all the creatures\nit contains\u2014he had lived and reigned before Time began, happy and\ncontented in the paradise of his essence and in the essence of\nhimself.\u2026 He was contemplating his only Son, not made, not created,\nbut begotten from all eternity; in the eternal Word he contemplated\nthe archetype, the world of the world, angels, souls, and all things.\nIn conclusion, we may say that God, before the creation of the world,\ndid something and did nothing.\u2026\u201d\n\nSingular problems, most daringly resolved, have been presented\nrespecting the epoch of the Creation. Chevreau, in his _Histoire du\nMonde_, 1686, tells us that, according to some writers, the earth was\ncreated in the spring; according to others, equally good authorities,\non a Friday, the 6th of September, at four o\u2019clock in the afternoon!\n\nA learned Italian of the last century, Monsignor Baiardi, in the\ncourse of a conversation with the Abb\u00e9 Barth\u00e9lemy, mentioned that he\nwas about writing an abridgment of universal history, and that he\nintended to commence his work with the solution of one of the most\nimportant problems of astronomy and history. His desire was to\ndetermine the exact spot in the firmament in which God had placed the\nsun when he made the earth. \u201cAnd,\u201d says Barth\u00e9lemy, \u201che had just\ndiscovered it, and showed it to me on a globe.\u201d\n\nOur common father has been the subject of an infinite number of\ncurious suppositions, not to say crack-brained fancies. The\nTalmudists, for instance, have constructed the following programme of\nAdam\u2019s first day of life:\n\nIn the first hour, the Creator kneaded the clay of which man was made,\nand moulded the outlines of his form.\n\nIn the second hour, Adam was perfected and capable of action.\n\nIn the fourth hour, God called to him, and commanded him to give names\nto the beasts, birds, and fishes.\n\nIn the seventh hour, the marriage of our first parents took place.\n\nIn the tenth hour, Adam sinned.\n\nIn the twelfth hour, the penalty of labor began.\n\nJames Salien, a Jesuit of the seventeenth century, tells us in his\n_Annales Ecclesiastici_ that, \u201cwhile man was being created, the divine\nhands, ambrosial face, and admirable arms of his Creator were visible\nto him.\u201d\n\nThe Arabs have a tradition that Adam, when first created, stretched\nfrom one extremity of the earth to the other. But after he had sinned,\nGod pressed him down with his almighty hand, and thus diminished his\nheight to nine hundred cubits. The Creator, it is added, did this at\nthe request of the angels, who regarded the gigantic mortal with\nstrange fear.\n\nAccording to Moreri, Adam possessed a profound knowledge of all the\nsciences, especially of astrology, many secrets of which he taught to\nhis children, besides engraving two tables of observations on the\nmovements of the planets. All the learned doctors of the Middle Ages\nare agreed in ascribing the possession of immense science to Adam. The\nangels themselves, they say, were inferior to him in knowledge; and\nthey relate as proof of this that God, having heard them speak of man\nwith contempt, determined to confound them by asking them what were\nthe names of certain beasts which he called into his presence at that\nmoment. The angels could not answer; man, summoned to the task, gave\neach animal its due appellation without hesitation.\n\nAdam, being thus endowed with unlimited knowledge, would have been\nculpable towards his posterity if he had left none of it behind him.\nWe are accordingly told that he composed two works, one upon the\nCreation, the other upon the Divinity. Having been present, we may\nalmost say, at the first, and conversed familiarly with the second, he\nwas able to tell us something interesting about both, and it is our\nmisfortune that the two works have been lost. It is, however, said\nthat they survived the Deluge, for a Mahometan author relates that\nAbraham, being in the country of the Sabeans, opened Adam\u2019s chest, and\nfound in it not only our progenitor\u2019s writings but also those of Seth.\n\nOpinions are various concerning the form the tempter assumed to\ndeceive poor Eve. It has been asserted that Samma\u00ebl, the prince of\ndevils, came to her mounted on a serpent as large in girth as a camel;\nand then again it is said that Satan borrowed the form of the serpent,\nand made it more seductive by the addition of a sweet maiden\u2019s face!\nThis tradition has been adopted by poets and painters.\n\nAs the name of the forbidden fruit is not mentioned in the Book of\nGenesis, conjecture has had full scope. Northern nations believe that\nit was an apple; southern people that it was a fig or citron. Rabbi\nSalomon thinks that Moses concealed the name of the fruit purposely,\nfearing that, if it were known, nobody would ever eat of it.\n\nAccording to St. Jerome, Adam was buried in Hebron; other learned\nauthors say on Calvary; either assertion is difficult of verification,\nfor both Hebron and Calvary only date from the Deluge. \u201cBarcepha\nalleges,\u201d says Bayle, \u201cthat a highly esteemed Syrian doctor had said\nthat Noe dwelt in Judea; that he planted in the plains of Sodom the\ncedar-trees with which he afterwards built the ark; and that he\ncarried Adam\u2019s bones into the ark with him. When he came out of the\nark, he divided these bones among his three sons; the skull fell to\nthe share of Sem, and when the descendants of Sem took possession of\nJudea, they buried it in the very spot where the tomb of Adam had once\nbeen situated.\u201d The reader will doubtless feel that Barcepha\u2019s\nallegation settles the question!\n\nIn 1615, a shoemaker of Amiens published a treatise entitled _De\nCalceo Antiquo_. In this history of shoes, the writer begins at the\nbeginning of the world, and gravely informs us that Adam made the\nfirst pair from the prepared skins of beasts, the secret of tanning\nhaving been taught him by God himself!\n\nIn the last century, Henrion, a French Orientalist, and a member of\nthe Institute of France, conceived the idea of composing an exhaustive\nwork on the weights and measures of the ancients, and presented a\nspecimen of his labors to the Academy of Inscriptions, to which he\nbelonged. It was a kind of chronological scale of the differences in\nman\u2019s stature from the epoch of Adam\u2019s creation to the time of our\nSaviour.\n\nAdam, he stated, measured one hundred and twenty-three feet, nine\ninches; Eve, one hundred and eighteen feet, nine and three-quarter\ninches; Noe, one hundred and three feet; Abraham, twenty-seven feet;\nMoses, thirteen feet; Hercules, ten feet; Alexander, six feet; Julius\nC\u00e6sar, five feet.\n\nHe remarked upon this scale that \u201cthough men are no longer measured by\ntheir stature, if Providence had not deigned to suspend such an\nextraordinarily rapid rate of diminution, we, at this day, should\nscarcely dare to class ourselves, with respect to our size, among the\nlarge insects of our globe!\u201d\n\nTowards the middle of the seventeenth century, an attempt was made to\nwrest from Adam the honor of being the first man. Isaac de la Peyr\u00e8re\npulished a work in 1655, entitled _Pr\u00e6adamit\u00e6, seu Exercitatio super\nversibus 12, 13, 14 Capitis V. Epistol\u00e6 B. Pauli ad Romanos_, in which\nhe endeavors to prove that there were two creations of men\u2014the first\non the sixth day, when God created _man_, _male and female_; which, he\nasserts, means _men and women_ in all parts of the earth, _progenitors\nof the Gentiles_. The second creation, he says, did not take place\nuntil some time after, when God made Adam to _be the father of the\nJews_. Those who adopted this idea were called Preadamites. La Peyr\u00e8re\nlived to abjure his opinions at the feet of Pope Alexander VI.\n\nSuch are a few of the many odd ideas upon the Creation and the first\nman which human wit, that \u201cdangerous instrument\u201d when not kept within\ndue limits, has been continually devising ever since the beginning of\nhistory. The logic of the nineteenth century rejects them all;\nnevertheless, while we laugh at the extraordinary suppositions of our\nancestors, it is pleasant to observe that, even in the most\nextravagant about our common father, the sentiment of the first man\u2019s\ninnate nobleness is always present. Adam always shines forth greater\nand grander than his sons\u2014stronger, both physically and mentally. The\nold fathers of the church, nay, even the pedants of the Middle Ages,\nadhered to the Scripture text, and believed that in the \u201clooks divine\u201d\nof the first human pair\n\n \u201cThe image of their glorious Maker shone,\n Truth, wisdom, sanctitude, severe and pure.\u201d\n\nIs it not curious that the queerest crank of all concerning Adam\u2014that\nwhich strives to prove that he was an ourang-outang\u2014should have been\nreserved for our own days of culture, of philosophical research and\nscience?\n\n\n\n\nNEW PUBLICATIONS.\n\n\n SPIRITUALISM AND ALLIED CAUSES AND CONDITIONS OF NERVOUS\n DERANGEMENT. By William A. Hammond, M.D. 8vo, pp. 366. New\n York: G. P. Putnam\u2019s Sons. 1876.\n\nIt is evident, from the appearance of this work so speedily after the\npublication of a larger volume on _Diseases of the Nervous System_,\nthat Dr. Hammond has contracted the _caco\u00ebthes scribendi_ in its worst\nshape. He is not easy unless the pen is in his hand, and so delightful\nmust be to him the sensation of a _calamus currens_ that, we fear, he\npauses not to reflect over the fate of the cyclical writer of old\nwhose long-continued parlurient efforts resulted in the production of\na ridiculously small animal. For all that, he must be quite jealous of\nhis reputation as a strong-minded and rational man, since he has\nundertaken the vindication of reason, even at the expense of\nreasoning. We give him credit indeed for research, but of that\ndoubtful sort which delights in jumbling together facts gathered from\nthe most opposite sources\u2014\n\n _Rudis indigestaque moles_\u2014\n\nin order that a boastful parade of erudition might impart weight to\nhis otherwise feather-light conclusions. A certain lack of method in\nthe handling of his subject is what first impresses the reader of Dr.\nHammond\u2019s latest lucubration, and stamps the writer as illogical in\nthe last degree. So-called spiritual manifestations are by him\nincluded in the same category as the pious acts of the saints, who\ndoubtless would reject with horror the fantasies of Katie King and the\n_friponnerie_ of Home. Under the head of \u201ccuring mediums\u201d we read of\ncures wrought by some obscure personage called St. Sauveur, which, if\ntrue, we are willing to accept, but which, like all unauthenticated\ncases of the sort, we are free to admit or disallow as the weight of\nevidence justifies. But, we ask, what relevancy to the heading of this\nchapter can possess the case of a woman laying an egg, or of another\ngiving birth to two rabbits? If any such there be, we confess our\ninability to discover it; for certainly in those cases there is no\nquestion of curing. Neither can we perceive what induced the author to\nadopt Kerdac\u2019s absurd division of spiritual agents into \u201cphysical\nmediums,\u201d \u201cseeing and auditive mediums,\u201d and \u201ccuring mediums,\u201d since\nclearly the first caption covers the whole ground. This is a sin\nagainst that canon of method which forbids one branch of a division to\noverlap another. Then the doctor never can discriminate between\nessential differences and accidental resemblances; and if a so-called\nmedium should, by slight of hand or electro-magnetism, produce\nphenomena resembling the miraculous achievements of the saints, pop\nthey both go into the same category of frauds or victims to a\nhallucination. He never dreams as being within the range of possible\nthings that personal sanctity on the one hand has any power which does\nnot belong on the other to deception or mental imbecility. It is\nrefreshing to see how he gets these things mixed together, and with\nwhat complacent readiness he relegates all believers in the\nsupernatural to the regions of blind ignorance and grovelling\nsuperstition, while he calmly stands on the undimmed hill-tops, or\nsublimely soars through the placid atmosphere of pure reason. Dr.\nHammond rejects _\u00e0 priori_ the possibility of an occurrence not due to\nthe operation of natural agents, and hence he is necessitated\nconstantly to indicate or suggest an explanation of what is most\nmarvellous and obscure. This, of course, is a very difficult\nprocedure, and hence we need not be surprised at the following\ningenious, if not entirely logical, scheme he has devised for making\nstraight paths that are crooked, and smooth those that are rough.\nWhenever he has in hand the consideration of a general principle, he\nillustrates it by reference to a case which the common tenets of\nscience can readily elucidate. This elucidation he deems amply\nsufficient to establish the principle, and then he tacks on, as to be\naccounted for in the same manner, a mass of cases of every shade and\ndegree of intricacy, often having no relation to the principle by the\nlight of which he pretends to judge them, or to the case he adduces in\nillustration of the principle. The chapter on somnambulism will serve\nas an example of this sort of paralogism. He divides this exceptional\ncondition of consciousness into natural and artificial. Somnambulism\nproduces two typical instances of both. In the one case a young lady\nrises in her sleep, dresses herself, goes into the parlor, lights the\ngas, and intently gazes on the picture of her deceased mother.\nSulphurous fumes are disengaged under her nose, quinine is placed on\nher tongue, the corners of her eyes are touched by a lead-pencil, and\nstill she remained motionless and insensible. The same person soon\nafter acquired the power of placing herself in the somnambulic state\nby concentrating her attention on a passage of a philosophical\ntreatise. These cases are, we will grant for sake of reasoning,\nexplicable on the principle of automatism, but what, we ask, does the\ncase of St. Rose of Lima possess in common with these, or how can the\nprinciple of automatism be made to apply to her case? This saintly\npersonage dwelt in a climate where mosquitoes were numerous and\nvicious, yet she enjoyed entire immunity from their sting, while\nworshipping in a little arbor built by her own hands; and this, she\naverred, was done in consequence of a pact by virtue of which the\nblood-thirsty little insects agreed to strike their notes in praise of\nthe divine Being. Either the statement of G\u00f6rres and its verification\nin the bull canonizing St. Rose must be rejected _in toto_, or\nadmitted without any slipshod attempt at explanation as that which Dr.\nHammond offers. He pretends that if such a thing did happen, it must\nbe in consequence of the saint\u2019s hypnotizing the mosquitoes, and thus\nobtaining control over them. But is it possible that hypnotized\nmosquitoes would continue to drone out their peculiar music even to a\nlivelier measure than usual, or would ferociously attack all other\npersons except St. Rose?\u2014for, as Dr. Hammond facetiously(?) remarks,\nshe was not filial enough to include her mother in the bargain. We\nhave here, then, a case which differs essentially from that of the\nsomnambulic lady mentioned, and one that stubbornly refuses to be\naccounted for in the same manner. The somnambulic young lady exhibited\na condition strikingly abnormal; there was complete loss of\nsensibility and power to observe what was taking place around her,\nwhile the mosquitoes became more tuneful than ever, and followed the\nnatural bent of their instinct towards all but the little saint, who\nmade them join her in singing the praises of their mutual Creator. Yet\nDr. Hammond would have us believe either that the story is untrue or\nthat the mosquitoes were hypnotized. And this is his mode of\nconducting warfare against the supernatural: _Doctus iter melius_. The\nblunt scepticism of Paine or Hobbes is more tolerable than this\nskim-milk reasoning. He does not hesitate even to intimate that the\nprophet Daniel possessed this mesmeric power, and thus escaped the\nfangs of the enraged and hungry lions into whose den he was cast. The\nsame inconsequence of reasoning may be traced in the conclusion drawn\nfrom the experiments of Kircher and Czermak; Kircher having noticed\nthat a hen with tied legs ceased to struggle, when a chalk-line was\ndrawn before its eyes, in the belief that the line was the string\nwhich tied it, and that so long as the line remained all efforts at\nself-deliverance were useless. The good Father Kircher sought no\nfurther explanation of the phenomenon till Czermak, in 1873, proved\nthat a true state of hypnotism or artificial somnambulism had been\ninduced. To place the matter beyond doubt, he modified and repeated\nthe experiment, so that now we cannot but accept this explanation, and\nsay of Kircher\u2019s merely:\n\n \u201cSi non e vero e ben trovato.\u201d\n\nThis hypnotic condition of the lower animals once allowed, Dr. Hammond\nrushes to the conclusion that therein is to be sought and found the\nonly true solution of the control which at times the saints of the\nchurch exercised over them. This is certainly the most perverse logic\nthat can be conceived of. As well might we infer from the fact that\ncertain characteristic features attend death by strangulation, and\nthat these have been scientifically studied, therefore all animals\ndied this death, and so reject as apocryphal all circumstances\npointing to another possible mode of exit from life\u2019s cares. The\nreasoning is entirely parallel to Dr. Hammond\u2019s when he says that\nCzermak having demonstrated the hypnosis of hens and craw-fish, and\nhimself a similar condition in dogs and rabbits, therefore whatever we\nread or hear of in reference to a completely different state of things\nwe must equally set down to hypnosis as the cause. It is on this\naccount he scouts the notion of bees depositing their honey on the\nlips of St. Dominic, St. Ambrose, and St. Isidore, or of following\nthem into the desert and obeying their commands. If, indeed, we accept\nthe lamp which science kindly furnishes, and, enlightened by its\nlight, call those miraculous occurrences the effect of hypnosis, we\nmay perchance escape the charge of credulity.\n\nIn this last sentence we confess to have fallen into an error which,\nhowever, we will not correct for the sake of the salutary reflection\nit has stirred up within us. We said: \u201cUnless we accept the lamp which\nscience kindly furnishes,\u201d etc., thereby seeming to intimate that we\nare enemies to science, whereas nothing could be farther from our\npurpose. True science is founded on the eternal principles of truth,\nand, itself shining out with God\u2019s holy light, can never go astray.\nBut there is a pseudo-science, a spurious affair, which has donned the\ngarb of truth and assumed its name, and which men, calling it science,\nwonder and are amazed that science and religion so often find\nthemselves in antagonism. If men were always careful to discriminate\nbetween what is founded on unquestionable facts on the one hand, and\nthe airy hypotheses of highly imaginative scientists on the other, and\nnot bestow the dignified appellative of science on these latter, they\nwould not be so easily captivated by the gilded sophistries of Draper,\nor allured by the glitter of Hammond\u2019s showy erudition. This _en\npassant_.\n\nIn speaking of the cures said to have been accomplished by St.\nSauveur, Dr. Hammond makes this striking and pregnant remark: \u201cIf St.\nSauveur had really been the great healer he is said to have been, we\nshould find his doings recorded in a thousand contemporaneous volumes,\nand every school-boy would have them at his tongue\u2019s end. Neither do\nfacts go begging for believers, nor will they remain concealed in\nobscure books.\u201d Now, these two sentences fairly teem with fallacies.\nIn the first place, the alleged performances of St. Sauveur are by no\nmeans regarded as authoritatively established or widely known, as Dr.\nHammond himself subsequently indicates; how, then, even if true, could\nthey have found their way into a thousand contemporaneous volumes?\nBesides, the age in which St. Sauveur lived differed in this respect\nfrom ours: that the recital of even the most marvellous occurrences\nspread very slowly, and never very widely; how, then, even if true,\ncould the exploits of St. Sauveur have ever obtained much notoriety at\nthe time? And chief of all, there is that inherent spirit of\nscepticism in every man which prompts him, often in the face of the\nmost positive evidence, to reject whatever is stated to have taken\nplace in derogation of physical law, or else to assign a purely\nphysical reason for it. It is this sceptical tendency which will ever\nstand in the way of the ready and universal acceptance of supernatural\nevents, however well attested, and, in this respect, essentially\ndistinguishes them from facts of the natural order. It is the\noperation of this tendency which has driven Dr. Hammond himself into\nhis illogical position, and will leave him there till he subordinates\nthis prejudiced feeling to the higher promptings of his intellect.\nLong before him Voltaire gave expression to this sentiment when he\ndeclared that he would more willingly believe that the whole city of\nParis had been deceived, or had conspired to deceive, than he would\nthat a single dead man had risen from the grave. Herein lies the whole\nphilosophy of Dr. Hammond\u2019s position, if philosophy it can be called.\nHe sets out with the conviction that a supernatural occurrence is\nimpossible, and he is consequently determined to reject all testimony\nof whatsoever sort, no matter how weighty, and which he would readily\nallow in scientific affairs, which goes to support their authenticity.\nHistorical testimony is of no avail, the good sense and discrimination\nof individuals goes for naught, when weighed against the flimsiest and\nshallowest so-called scientific explanations. Whenever a saint either\nperformed a miracle or was himself the subject of a miraculous\naffection, Dr. Hammond concludes that he was epileptic or cataleptic,\nor suffering from some derangement of the nervous centres. Of St.\nTeresa he remarks: \u201cThe organization of St. Teresa was such as to\nallow of her imagining anything as reality; and the hallucination of\nbeing lifted up, as I shall show hereafter, is one of the most common\nexperienced by ecstatics.\u201d He thus places the saint in the light of a\nfeeble-minded woman, of weak judgment and puny intellect, whereas all\nwriters agree that in the various reforms she introduced into her\nreligious community she exhibited the rarest good sense, moderation,\nand vigor of mind. The same remark is applicable to St. Thomas of\nVillanova. But enough. Rational criticism should be expended on other\nsubjects. The _savant_ who compares Bernadette of Soubirous to the\nmonks of Mount Athos, who go into ecstasy by placing their thoughts on\nGod and their eyes on their navel, cannot expect much dignified\ncriticism. The book is calculated to produce an unfavorable impression\nagainst the church in the minds of sciolists and those who are apt to\nbe influenced by the authority of a name. We have already expressed\nour views on Dr. Hammond\u2019s psychological attainments, and this present\nvolume, so far from inducing us to alter them, rather inclines us to\nthink that our strictures were unduly lenient. The comments which our\nJune article elicited from the press go far to show that the\nintelligent portion of the community will not accept as genuine\nscience a mere jingling Greek nomenclature\u2014_e Gr\u00e6co fonte parce\ndetorta_\u2014and that, Draper and Hammond to the contrary, commonsense is\nnot yet so rare as but yet to be common. The style of the book is\ngood, the English pure, and the description graphic. It is well\nadapted, consequently, for popular reading, and will no doubt have a\nwide circulation\u2014_tant pis_.\n\n\n GERMAN POLITICAL LEADERS. By Herbert Tuttle. New York: G. P.\n Putnam\u2019s Sons. 1876.\n\nIf Mr. Tuttle were one of the hired scribes of the Berlin Press\nBureau, we should have looked for just such a book as he has written.\nA genuine \u201cmud-bather\u201d could not have shown himself either a more\nunfair partisan or a more flippant and inaccurate narrator.\n\nHad the book appeared on its own merits, and not as one of a series of\nbiographies, edited under the supervision of Thomas Wentworth\nHigginson, we should have passed it by like any other piece of\nbook-making; for it is merely a catch-penny performance, and was most\nprobably never meant to be anything else. This volume is of itself\nsufficient to show how utterly worthless is the claim put forth by\nPutnam\u2019s Sons that the whole series is to be made reliable in every\nstatement of fact. Bismarck, we are told, was a youth of very tender\nnature, and is even yet a devout and pious Christian. \u201cHis domestic\ntastes were always strong; his longing for a wife and household of his\nown would seem to have been very acute, till in 1847 it was satisfied\nby his marriage with Joanna von Putkammer.\u201d\n\nThe truth is, Bismarck was a wild and reckless youth, who\ndistinguished himself at the university by fighting some twenty-five\nduels and by taking the lead in the boisterous and riotous debauches\nhabitual with so many German students. As a young man he continued\nthis mode of life on his paternal estates, where he was known as Der\nTolle Bismarck\u2014Mad Bismarck. His favorite drink at this time was a\nmixture of porter and champagne. His letters to his sister show that\nthe \u201cacute longing for a wife\u201d is only in the imagination of Mr.\nTuttle. \u201cHis whole career,\u201d says this writer, \u201cprevious to entering\nthe Prussian ministry, was one of study and preparation, \u2026 at the\nuniversity he was a profound and philosophical student of history,\nparticularly that of his own country.\u201d He never took a degree, and he\nwas a profound and philosophical student of nothing except fencing,\nboxing, and hunting. Mr. Tuttle does not even quote correctly the\nsayings of Bismarck, which are known to every newspaper reader.\nBismarck said: \u201cGermany must be made with blood and iron\u201d; and Mr.\nTuttle makes him say: \u201cThe battles of this generation are to be fought\nout with iron and blood.\u201d\n\nThe sketch of Dr. Falk is a still sorrier performance. In an attempt\nto sum up the relations of the church and the state in Prussia from\n1817 to 1862, he says: \u201cAccordingly the Catholics made grave advances\nalong the whole line of social, educational, and political interests.\u2026\nThe church, or the ecclesiastical element, wielded paramount authority\nin the public councils\u201d (p. 29). Nothing could be more false, nor\nwould one who knows anything of Prussian history commit himself to a\nstatement which can be excused from malice only by being supposed to\nproceed from gross ignorance.\n\nWe might cite fifty passages from this book in which bitter and vulgar\nprejudice against the Catholic Church has led the author into palpable\nand unpardonable blunders. Dr. Krementz is the \u201cobstinate and\ndisobedient bishop of Ermeland.\u201d \u201cThe complaints of the Ultramontanes\nare both extravagant and absurd.\u201d The leaders of the Catholic party\n\u201cas the servants of an infallible spiritual master, were apparently\nplaced above those restraints of moderation, courtesy, and\ntruthfulness which apply in secular matters.\u2026 They led their hearers\ninto tortuous mazes of sophistry, they wrapped the subject in clouds\nof paltry fallacies, at the command of bishops whose gospel is light.\u201d\nDr. Falk\u2019s courage \u201chas stood the ordeal required of every statesman\nwho excites the hatred and exposes himself to the vengeance of the\npupils of the Jesuit Mariana. He has been threatened with\nassassination quite as often as the emperor and Bismarck.\u201d\n\nThe fact that a book written by an American, for Americans, and\npublished by a leading American house, should evince the most thorough\nand earnest sympathy with the relentless persecution of the Catholic\nChurch in Germany, throws a very unpleasant light upon our\nmuch-talked-of love of fair play and religious liberty.\n\nThe will to make martyrs and confessors of the bishops and priests of\nthe United States is not wanting to Mr. Tuttle or Mr. Higginson, if\nthe language of this book may be taken as an evidence of their real\nsentiments. The only Catholic leader whose biography is given in this\nvolume is Lewis Windthorst, and this is the character which he\nreceives: \u201cHe would be the most daring and consistent of sceptics if\nhis interests had not made him the most faithful of believers. Even\nhis religious professions spring from one form of unbelief. To be a\nfree-thinker requires the exercise of faith in human reason and in\nmost of the results of human inquiry, while by espousing the Catholic\nreligion he proclaimed his disbelief in all positive and uninspired\nknowledge. He doubts everything that is true and believes only what is\ndoubtful.\u201d Since he cannot deny the ability of Windthorst, he makes\nhim a hypocrite; and then, suddenly forgetting what he has just said,\nhe supposes Windthorst to be a sincere believer only to declare him a\nfool.\n\nWe must repeat it. If Mr. Tuttle, during the four years which he has\npassed in Berlin, had been a pensioner of the \u201creptile fund,\u201d he could\nnot have written more unworthily.\n\n\n FAITH AND MODERN THOUGHT. By Ransom B. Welch, D.D., LL.D.,\n Professor in Union College. With introduction by Tayler\n Lewis, LL.D. New York: G. P. Putnam\u2019s Sons. 1876.\n\nContrary to the intention of the author, the title of his work is\nabsurdly tautological, when interpreted by its contents. The\nimpression conveyed by the title page would lead us to expect, did in\npoint of fact lead us to expect, at least an orderly and careful\nanalysis of the subjects chosen. In this we have been disappointed,\nnot by the good-will with which the author labors, but by his want of\nsuccess. The work is composed of six chapters which might have been\npublished independently of one another. Of these the first is valuable\nas an aggressive demonstration of the materialistic and irrational\ntendency of certain modern professors. The fifth and, perhaps, the\nsixth possess a similar value; while the rest of the book, although\nfairly written, is comparatively worthless.\n\nThe author is manifestly devoted to Christianity; his mind is\nsensitive to the repulsive features of modern heathenism; he seeks to\ndefend the nobler order of ideas. But the trouble is that his brief is\nnot full. He does not know his case. His theological speculations are\ncrude even to rawness, and the _point d\u2019appui_ of his structure is not\nonly vague and inconsistent, but is shored up with declamation which\nserves to impart an additional appearance of insecurity to that which\nis already feeble. It is rather ludicrous to behold an evangelical\nProtestant, at this late day, endeavoring to undo the whole work of\nthe Reformation, by trying to make faith appear reasonable, or by\nseeking other grounds for it than his own interior inspiration.\nNevertheless, this is a step in the right direction. The writer claims\nto be a searcher after truth. If so, we can scarcely imagine that he\nwill rest satisfied with his present work. The faith which gave to\nChristianity its organization, and which converted the ancient world,\nis no such vague chimera as the shadowy and subjective persuasion to\nwhich the author clings. The pious wish and conviction to which Dr.\nWelch adheres may serve to occupy and quiet his own active mind; but\nit is less than impotent to compel the assent of others. Dr. Welch\nseeks to call attention to the ideas contained in the Bible. He must\nhave sense enough to perceive that this very attempt is something\nbeyond his ability, and implies a living power having the right and\ncapacity to speak for the Bible. Men will not listen to Dr. Welch in\nhis well-meant endeavor to obtain a hearing. The inconsequent and\nabortive assumption on the part of the author of that duty which used\nto be accomplished by the teaching church, and which belongs to her or\nelse to nobody, and the futile effort to give a coherent account of\nhow he gets from a conviction of the necessity of revelation to belief\nin evangelical Protestantism, will nullify that part of the work which\nis good and render it merely another stumbling-block in the way of\nthoughtful men. We trust that it will do as little harm as possible,\nand that the author will eventually find some other occupation more\ncongenial to his vigorous and reverent spirit than his present task of\nattempting to hold himself and others in unstable equilibrium.\n\n\n ACHSAH: A NEW ENGLAND LIFE-STUDY. By Rev. Peter Pennot.\n Boston: Lee & Shepard. 1876.\n\nThis is a capital story, or \u201cstudy,\u201d as the author very rightly calls\nit, of New England life. The character are all _sui generis_, such as\nonly a small, narrow, sufficiently well-to-do New England town could\nproduce, while one of them, Deacon Manlius Sterne, is a creation.\nNever have we seen that peculiar union of service of God and service\nof Mammon, which Christ pronounced to be impossible, so admirably\nportrayed as in this typical New England deacon, who himself would be\nthe first to quote our Lord\u2019s words condemning such service to a\nbusiness rival, but who at the same time could very easy satisfy his\nown conscience on the matter, and find what he would consider a\nreligious way out of the difficulty. God\u2019s religion looks a very small\nand mean affair among these New England Christians. This very book, we\ntake it, is a revolt against the sham and littleness of such a life.\nThe writer seems possessed of the best intentions, though not of the\nprofoundest knowledge of Christianity. His reflections, for instance,\non the death of Dr. Steinboldt are a little out of place in a\nChristian\u2019s mouth. Thus, he apostrophizes death: \u201cSent of God, to rich\nand poor alike, to kings and emperors and peasants, to all nations and\npeoples, this good physician comes to fulfil Christ\u2019s crowning promise\nof rest to all who are \u2018weary and heavy laden.\u2019\u201d To which we say, all\nvery well; only that in the present instance \u201cthis good physician\u201d\nhappens to come in the form of suicide to a murderer, who, to add to\nhis delinquencies, was a quack.\n\nIt was a mistake of the author, too, to make one of his characters, an\nexcellent Catholic apparently, attend Protestant service on the\nSunday, instead of going to the Catholic chapel in the town and\nhearing Mass. However, he is evidently very favorably inclined towards\nCatholics, so we will not quarrel with him on so palpable a slip.\n\n\u201cIt has pleased God to give us no very clear idea of the great future,\nand so we speculate and wonder and dream, each after the fashion of\nhis own heart; _and one is quite as likely to be right as another_.\nThank God that he has elevated the mysteries of life and death above\nthe realms of human reason, and left each to aspire to the future of\nhis own imagination, to long for the heaven of his own desires.\u201d This\nsounds to us little above the Turk\u2019s dream of Paradise, who, by the\nbye, according to our author, \u201cis quite as likely to be right\u201d as the\nChristian. All this is a mistake. Our Lord has left us something far\nmore definite to long for than the heaven of our own imagination and\ndesires.\n\nAgain: \u201cMadame Wandl, though a \u2018bigoted Catholic,\u2019 was more charitable\nthan these free and enlightened Dickeyvillians, and, when the two\ntalked together on matters of religious faith, it was the harmonious\nmeeting of two extremes of belief, one elevating the humanity of\nChrist to the level of godliness, the other reducing the character of\nGod to the level of a perfect and idealized humanity. Those who read\nthis page will instantly decide which was right, but out of every ten,\nfive will decide in one way and five in another; and as for me [the\nauthor], I don\u2019t propose to create a majority one way or the other by\nthrowing myself into the balance, but shall rest contented if I can\npreach Christ\u2019s gospel of love acceptably and intelligently to my\npeople\u201d (pp. 222, 223).\n\nIt seems to us very plain from this and other passages that the Rev.\nPeter Pennot is far from having made up his mind as to who Christ is.\nHe tells us practically, in the passage just quoted, that he will not\nsay that Christ is at once true God and perfect man. Until he\nsatisfies himself on this point, it is to be feared that his preaching\nof Christ\u2019s gospel of love will not bear much fruit. It is one thing\nto preach the Gospel of the Son of God, another to preach the gospel\nof a being about whom we entertain great doubts.\n\nWe have been led aside by such points as these from the main story.\nThe author writes so earnestly and honestly that we cannot but look\nupon his uncertainty with regret. For the rest, _Achsah_ is as\nenjoyable a story as we have read for many a day. The author seems to\nus to have all the gifts of a novelist. He has wit, humor, pathos, and\nan unforced sarcasm that is very telling. His story runs along without\na halt. There is a pleasant, innocent love-plot, and some highly\nsensational matter is introduced in a very unsensational manner.\n\n\n MEDITATIONS AND CONSIDERATIONS FOR A RETREAT OF ONE DAY IN\n EACH MONTH. Baltimore: Kelly, Piet & Co. 1876.\n\nThis little book has been composed for the benefit of those who have\nor wish to have the most excellent practice of putting aside one day\nin the month for a religious retreat. Whatever cultivates in us the\nhabit of serious reflection upon the affairs of the soul is of\ninestimable value, since without some practice of meditation and\nself-examination it is almost impossible to lead a religious life; and\nwe know of nothing better adapted to create in us this reflective\ncharacter of mind than what is called the monthly retreat. This\ndevotion is general in religious communities, but it may also be\neasily followed by persons in the world without interfering with the\ndaily routine of life enough to attract the attention of any one. The\ncollection of meditations before us will, we hope, encourage many to\nmake proof of the efficacy of the monthly retreat. We would suggest,\nhowever, that in another edition an introduction be added, giving\nexplanations concerning the nature and practice of this devotion,\npointing out how persons engaged in worldly occupations may most\neasily perform these monthly exercises.\n\n\n SCIENCE AND RELIGION: A Lecture Delivered at Leeds, England.\n By Cardinal Wiseman. St. Louis: Patrick Fox, 10 South Fifth\n Street. 1876. (For sale by The Catholic Publication Society.)\n\nThis lecture is one of the ablest and most interesting lectures of the\nlate Cardinal Wiseman. It proves in a conclusive and at the same time\nmost agreeable manner that \u201cscience has nowhere flourished more, or\noriginated more sublime or useful discoveries, than where it has been\npursued under the influence of the Catholic religion.\u201d In\ndemonstrating this truth, the eminent writer has given a great number\nof facts not generally known to the reading public, which prove the\ndeep indebtedness of science to Catholic Italy for many of its most\nvaluable truths and discoveries.\n\nThe publisher has done his part in a praiseworthy manner.\n\n\n REVOLUTIONARY TIMES: Sketches of our Country, its People and\n their Ways, one hundred years ago. By Edward Abbott. Boston:\n Roberts Brothers. 1876.\n\nThis is a very interesting and tastefully printed volume of two\nhundred pages, containing a great many items of interest with regard\nto the habits and customs of our American forefathers in the beginning\nof our national history, a glance at the state of literature, the\npress, and education, with many entertaining sketches of the\n\u201cworthies\u201d of that period.\n\nFrom the chapter on \u201cPolitical Geography\u201d we cull the following\nextract, which gives an idea of the style of the work:\n\n\u201cThe colonization of the West was yet a dream of the Anglo-Americans,\nthe designs of France and Spain standing in the way of its fulfilment.\nThe present great State of Ohio had not a white settlement. St. Louis\nwas a Spanish town. What is now Indiana had but a single settlement,\nthat at Vincennes. Detroit was a far-distant outpost sheltering a few\nhundred pioneers. This whole region was an unbroken waste, saving at\nthese few scattered points, which were in large measure military and\ntrading stations. Over all the Indian had free range. Adventurers were\nexploring the lakes and the rivers, and currents of emigration were\nonly slowly setting in; and on the 9th of October, 1776, three months\nafter the Declaration of Independence, two Franciscan monks,\nindefatigable missionaries of the Roman Church, took possession of the\nPacific coast by the founding of their mission of San Francisco, the\ngerm of the modern city of that name.\u201d\n\n\n THE NEW MONTH OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. From the\n original French. By S. P. Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham\n & Son, 29 South Tenth Street. 1876.\n\nThis neat and beautiful little manual cannot but be of service to\nevery lover of the Sacred Heart, especially at this season of the\nyear. This month is prolonged into thirty-three days, corresponding\nwith the thirty-three years of our Saviour\u2019s life upon earth, and is\nfurnished with appropriate meditations and pious practices, calculated\nto inspire devotion and excite the love of Christians towards the\nHeart of their Divine Lord. It is sufficient to say of this little\nwork what the venerable Archbishop of Cincinnati says of it in his\nrecommendation\u2014that \u201cit is perfectly free from all blemish on the\nscore of faith, morals, and piety.\u201d Truly, a high commendation.\n\n\n NOTIONES THEOLOGIC\u00c6 CIRCA SEXTUM DECALOGI PR\u00c6CEPTUM. Auctore\n D. Craisson. Parisiis: Benziger Bros.; New York: The same.\n\nA certain remnant of Jansenistic rigorism among the French clergy is\nassigned by the author of this treatise as one of the reasons which\ninduced him to write on the subjects indicated by the title of his\nbook. In the work itself we have failed to discover anything of\nimportance which may not be found in almost any text-book of moral\ntheology.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CATHOLIC WORLD.\n\nVOL. XXIII., No. 138.\u2014SEPTEMBER, 1876.\n\nCopyright: Rev. I. T. HECKER. 1876.\n\n\n\n\nTHE RISE OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE UNITED STATES.\n\n\nThe Constitution of the United States has these provisions:\n\n \u201cNo religious test shall ever be required as a qualification\n to any office or public trust under the United States.\u201d\u2014ART.\n VI.\n\n \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of\n religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.\u201d\u2014FIRST\n AMENDMENT.\n\nIt is thus the case that, as originally framed, the Constitution\nsimply provided that \u201cno religious test shall ever be required as a\nqualification to any office or public trust under the United States,\u201d\nbut did not, in terms, prohibit Congress from erecting a state\nreligion or interfering with the free exercise of religion otherwise\nthan as regards office. The First Amendment was therefore adopted, in\norder that, as amended, the Constitution should forbid Congress from\nintermeddling in any way whatever with religious matters; and it has\nhence passed into the general understanding that the government of the\nUnited States has no religious character or powers whatsoever, but is\npurely a secular organization, contrived and devised for purely\nsecular ends. As stated in the eleventh article of the treaty of Jan.\n3, 1797, between the United States and Tripoli, \u201cthe government of the\nUnited States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian\nreligion\u201d (_Rev. Stats. U. S._, \u201cTreaties,\u201d p. 756).\n\nIt being thus the case that religious liberty, as we now understand\nit, did not spring full-orbed and complete into existence in the\nUnited States, it may be of interest to trace the stages of its\ndevelopment. The provision that \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting\nan establishment of religion\u201d owes its immediate origin to the\nrepresentations of the conventions of a number of the States upon\nadopting the Constitution of the United States (1 _Stats._ 97), such\nStates being New Hampshire, New York, and Virginia (4 _Journ. Cong._,\n1782-8, App. pp. 52, 53, 55). Back of these representations lay a\nfirst cause which can only be understood by a reference to the\ncondition of the colonies at the outbreak of the Revolution. From _A\nView of the Constitution of the British Colonies in North America and\nthe West Indies, at the time the Civil War broke out on the Continent\nof America_\u2014a work published in London in 1783 by Anthony Stokes (a\nloyalist Welshman, who, as a barrister in the British West Indies from\n1762 to 1769, and the royal Chief-Justice of Georgia from 1769 to\n1783, had peculiar opportunities of becoming conversant with his\ntopic)\u2014we learn that the Church of England was established by law in\nmost of the colonies in 1776. The _View_ says: \u201cThe clergy in America\ndo not receive tithes, but in most of the colonies before the civil\nwar (except the New England provinces, where the Independents had the\nupper hand) an Act of Assembly was made to divide the colony into\nparishes, and to establish religious worship therein according to the\nrites and ceremonies of the Church of England; and also to raise a\nyearly salary for the support of each parochial minister\u201d (p. 199).\nWith the exception of South Carolina, our author does not specify by\nname the colonies in which this system obtained, but from other\nsources we have that information. The charter of New Hampshire\nprovided \u201cthat liberty of conscience shall be allowed to all\nProtestants, and that such especially as shall be conformable to the\nrites of the Church of England shall be particularly countenanced and\nencouraged,\u201d which substantial establishment existed in that colony up\nto the Revolution (Town of Pawlet _v._ Clark, 9 Cr. 292). The first\nconstitution of New York, that of April 20, 1777, recognizes a like\nestablishment by providing for the abrogation of \u201call such parts of\nthe common and statute law, and acts of Assembly, as establish any\ndenomination of Christians or their ministers.\u201d Dr. David Ramsay, the\ncontemporary historian of the Revolution, says: \u201cIn Connecticut all\npersons were obliged to contribute to the support of the church as\nwell as the commonwealth.\u2026 The Congregational churches were adopted\nand established by law\u201d (1 _Hist. U. S._, p. 150); also: \u201cThe Church\nof England was incorporated simultaneously with the first settlement\nof Virginia, and in the lapse of time it also became the established\nreligion of Maryland. In both these provinces, long before the\nAmerican Revolution, that church possessed a legal pre-eminence, and\nwas maintained at the expense not only of its own members but of all\nother denominations\u201d (_id._ p. 220). As to the establishment of the\nChurch of England in Virginia, see also Terrett _v._ Taylor, 9 Cr. 43.\nFrom art. 34 of the first constitution of North Carolina, that of Dec.\n18, 1776, which inhibits taxation \u201cfor the purchase of any glebe, or\nthe building of any house of worship, or for the maintenance of any\nminister or ministry,\u201d it is inferrible that a like establishment\nexisted in that colony. In South Carolina Chief-Justice Stokes\nmentions the Church of England as established by law (_View_, p. 199),\nand the constitution of that State of March 19, 1778, secured \u201cthe\nchurches, chapels, parsonages, glebes, and all other property now\nbelonging to any societies of the Church of England, or any other\nreligious societies\u201d (art. 38). In Georgia the Church of England was\nestablished by colonial statute of March 15, 1758 (_Watkins\u2019 Dig._\n52). In Massachusetts a colonial statute of 1716 established a\ncompulsory religious establishment which remained up to the framing of\nthe State constitution in 1780, the Assembly providing all towns\ndeclining to do so for themselves with \u201ca minister qualified as by law\nis provided\u201d\u2014namely, \u201can able, learned, orthodox minister, of good\nconversation\u201d\u2014and imposing taxes for his support (Chalmers\u2019 _Colonial\nOpinions_, p. 49; I Ramsay, _Hist. U. S._, p. 150).\n\nFrom the foregoing it will be gathered that at the outbreak of the\nAmerican Revolution some form of church establishment ordained by law\nwas familiar to the people of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New\nHampshire, New York, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South\nCarolina, and Georgia. \u201cIn Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and\nNew Jersey there never was any established religion\u201d (I Ramsay, _Hist.\nU. S._, p. 232). One of the incidents of the religious establishments\nin the colonies where they existed was that the clergy thereunder were\ngovernmental appointees. In Massachusetts, under the act of 1716, the\nAssembly settled ministers in the unprovided towns; in Maryland the\nproprietary had the advowsons (Chalm. _Col. Op._, 42); and in the\nprovincial establishments or king\u2019s governments, as New Hampshire, New\nYork, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, the royal\ngovernor had the right of collation or appointment (Stokes\u2019 _View_, p.\n199). Another incident was the church rates or taxes, above referred\nto. At the outbreak of the Revolution, then, two-thirds of the\ncolonies were face to face with a religion established or favored by\nlaw; with a clergy appointed by government; and a general taxation to\nuphold one and maintain the other. The dissatisfaction thus engendered\nis best evidenced by the care which the people of the colonies, then\nStates, took, in framing their constitutions, to forbid the\ncontinuance of such a system where it then existed, or to prevent its\nadoption where it was not as yet known.\n\nThe New Jersey constitution of July 2, 1776, provided \u201cthat there\nshall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this province\nin preference to another\u201d (art. 19); \u201cnor shall any person within this\ncolony ever be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or any other rates for\nthe purposes of building or repairing any church or churches, place or\nplaces of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry,\ncontrary to what he believes to be right or has deliberately and\nvoluntarily engaged himself to perform\u201d (art. 18); and so sacred were\nthese provisions deemed that an oath was prescribed for all members of\nthe legislature, engaging them never to assent to any law, vote, or\nproceeding to annul, repeal, or alter any part or parts thereof (art.\n23).\n\nThe Virginia constitution of July 5, 1776, declares \u201cthat religion, or\nthe duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging\nit, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force and\nviolence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free\nexercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, and\nthat it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance,\nlove, and charity toward each other\u201d (art. 16); and while this does\nnot in terms equal the New Jersey provisions _ante_, the Supreme Court\nof the United States has construed it as equipollent, saying in\nTerrett _v._ Taylor, 9 Cr. 43: \u201cConsistent with the constitution of\nVirginia, the legislature could not create or continue a religious\nestablishment which should have exclusive rights and prerogatives, or\ncompel the citizens to worship under a stipulated form or discipline,\nor to pay taxes to those whose creed they could not conscientiously\nbelieve.\u201d\n\nThe constitution of Delaware of Sept. 20, 1776, provides: \u201cNo man\nshall, or ought to, be compelled to attend any religious worship, to\ncontribute to the erection or support of any place of worship, or to\nthe maintenance of any ministry, against his free-will and consent.\u2026\nNor shall a preference be given by law to any religious societies,\ndenomination, or modes of worship\u201d (art. 1, \u00a7 1).\n\nThe North Carolina constitution of Dec. 18, 1776, provides \u201cthat there\nshall be no establishment of any one religious church or denomination\nin this State in preference to any other; neither shall any person, on\nany pretence whatsoever, be compelled to attend any place of worship\ncontrary to his own faith or judgment, nor be obliged to pay for the\npurchase of any glebe, or the building of any house of worship, or for\nthe maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he\nbelieves right or has voluntarily and personally engaged to perform\u201d\n(art. 34).\n\nThe Georgia constitution of Feb. 5, 1777, says: \u201cAll persons whatever\nshall have the free exercise of their religion, provided it be not\nrepugnant to the peace and safety of the State; and shall not, unless\nby consent, support any teacher or teachers, except those of their own\nprofession\u201d (art. 56).\n\nThe New York constitution of April 20, 1777, abrogates \u201call such parts\nof the common and statute law, and acts of Assembly, as establish any\ndenomination of Christians or their ministers.\u201d\n\nThe early constitutions of Maryland, South Carolina, and Massachusetts\nenunciated substantially the same principles as the other organic laws\nabove set forth, but did not entirely destroy the connection of church\nand state. The Maryland constitution of Aug. 14, 1776, says: \u201cNor\nought any person to be compelled to frequent, or maintain, or\ncontribute, unless on contract, to maintain any particular place of\nworship or any particular ministry: (yet the legislature may, in their\ndiscretion, lay a general and equal tax for the support of the\nChristian religion; leaving to each individual the power of appointing\nthe payment over of the money collected from him to the support of any\nparticular place of worship, or minister, or for the poor of his own\ndenomination, or the poor in general of any particular county).\u201d\n\nThe South Carolina constitution of March 19, 1778, says: \u201cNo person\nshall by law be obliged to pay towards the maintenance and support of\na religious worship that he does not freely join in or has not\nvoluntarily engaged to support\u201d (art. 38), but in the same article\nordains that \u201cthe Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed, and\nis hereby constituted and declared to be, the established religion of\nthis State,\u201d extending this description to \u201call denominations of\nChristian Protestants in this State.\u201d\n\nThe Massachusetts constitution of March 2, 1780, says: \u201cNo\nsubordination of any sect or denomination to another shall ever be\nestablished by law\u201d (part i. art. 3), but allowed taxation to support\n\u201cpublic Protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality in all\ncases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily\u201d (_id._),\nwith this qualification, however: that \u201call moneys paid by the subject\nto the support of public worship and of the public teachers aforesaid\nshall, if he require it, be uniformly applied to the support of the\npublic teacher or teachers of his own religious sect or denomination,\nprovided there be any, on whose instruction he attends; otherwise it\nmay be paid towards the support of the teacher or teachers of the\nparish or precinct in which the said moneys are raised\u201d (_id._)\n\nIf we state correctly\u2014as we have not those documents by us\u2014the New\nHampshire constitution of June 2, 1784, provided that \u201cno person of\nany one particular religious sect or denomination shall ever be\ncompelled to pay towards the support of the teacher or teachers of\nanother persuasion, sect, or denomination, \u2026 and no subordination of\nany one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by\nlaw\u201d (part i. art. 6), but that, subject to these provisions, the\nlegislature might authorize local taxation to support \u201cpublic\nProtestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality\u201d (_id._); and the\nPennsylvania constitution of Sept. 28, 1776, provided \u201cthat no man\ncan, of right, be compelled to attend, erect, or support any place of\nworship or to maintain any ministry against his consent, \u2026 and that no\npreference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishments\nor modes of worship.\u201d In Connecticut and Rhode Island the royal\ncharter continued the fundamental law until 1818 in the former and\n1842 in the latter State; but, lest it may be thought that in these\nStates no opposition to an established church was manifested, it is\nproper to remark that, upon ratifying the Constitution of the United\nStates, the Rhode Island Convention suggested as a highly desirable\namendment \u201cthat no particular religious sect or society ought to be\nfavored or established by law in preference to others\u201d (1 Elliot Deb.\n334); and in the Connecticut Convention Oliver Wolcott, in urging the\nratification of that instrument, refers to an inclination in that\nassemblage to favor a like amendment, and says: \u201cKnowledge and liberty\nare so prevalent in this country that I do not believe that the United\nStates would ever be disposed to establish one religious sect, and lay\nall others under legal disabilities. But as we know not what may take\nplace hereafter, and any such test would be exceedingly injurious to\nthe rights of free citizens, I cannot think it altogether superfluous\nto have added a clause which secures us from the possibility of such\noppression\u201d (2 Elliot Deb. 202).\n\nWe may thus say that, upon becoming States, the American colonies\ndeclared with one voice that no religious establishment should possess\na legal pre-eminence in their several jurisdictions. In the Federal\nConvention Charles Pinckney proposed to make it a part of the\nConstitution of the United States that \u201cthe legislature of the United\nStates shall pass no law on the subject of religion\u201d (_Journ._, May\n29), and thus apply to the general government the rule previously\nadopted by the States, which proposition failed. Mr. Pinckney then\nsubmitted this proposition: \u201cNo religious test or qualification shall\never be annexed to any oath of office under the authority of the\nUnited States\u201d (_Journ._, Aug. 20), which was unanimously adopted\n(_Journ._, Aug. 30), Mr. Madison giving us this much of the debate:\n\u201cMr. Pinckney moved to add: \u2018But no religious test shall ever be\nrequired as a qualification to any office or public trust under the\nauthority of the United States.\u2019 Mr. Sherman thought it unnecessary,\nthe prevailing liberality being a sufficient security against such\ntests. Mr. Gouverneur Morris and Gen. Pinckney approved the motion.\nThe motion was agreed to, _nem. con._\u201d (5 Elliot Deb. 498). Upon the\nfinal revision the words \u201cthe authority of\u201d were struck out (_Journ._,\nSept. 12). When the Constitution was submitted for ratification,\nconsiderable uneasiness was manifested at the failure of Mr.\nPinckney\u2019s resolution that \u201cthe legislature of the United States shall\npass no law on the subject of religion,\u201d and upon ratifying the\ninstrument the New Hampshire, New York, and Virginia Conventions urged\nthe adoption of an amendment to that effect. The North Carolina\nConvention, while declining to ratify at its first session, assigned\nthe same emendation as desirable, as did also the Rhode Island\nConvention upon ratifying; though, as the First Amendment had then\nbeen proposed by Congress and was before the people, the action of\nRhode Island was not one of the causes leading to its submission. The\nNew Hampshire Convention recommended this amendment: \u201cThat Congress\nshall make no laws touching religion or to infringe the rights of\nconscience\u201d (4 _Journ. Cong._, 1782-8, App. p. 52). The New York\nConvention: \u201cThat no religious sect or society ought to be favored or\nestablished by law in preference to others\u201d (_id._ p. 55). The\nVirginia (_id._ p. 53), North Carolina (_id._ p. 60), and Rhode Island\n(1 Elliot Deb. 334) Conventions severally proposed \u201cthat no particular\nreligious sect or society ought to be favored or established by law in\npreference to others.\u201d In the Maryland Convention it was suggested as\na desirable amendment \u201cthat there be no national religion established\nby law\u201d; but, that body concluding to ratify the Constitution without\nproposing amendments at that time, no final action was had on the\nproposition (2 Elliot Deb. p. 553); and thereupon the change was made.\n\nThus it became a part of the Constitution of the United States that\n\u201cCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.\u201d\nIn many, perhaps we may say most, other particulars the Constitution\nwas, when framed, an experiment, but in this the fathers of the\nrepublic had the lamp of experience to illuminate their path. While a\nmyth to us, an established church had been a substantial reality to\nthem, and their verdict thereupon was, that upon every ground of\njustice, interest, and harmony no religious sect or society ought ever\nto be favored or established by law in preference to others in these\nUnited States.\n\nThe second clause of the First Amendment, that Congress shall make no\nlaw prohibiting the free exercise of religion, is substantially\nincluded in the other provisions cited at the opening of this paper,\nand need not be here specifically considered. It is a _casus omissus_\nprovision which speaks for itself. The provision that \u201cno religious\ntest shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public\ntrust under the United States\u201d opens, however, another field of\ninquiry.\n\nAt the outbreak of the American Revolution the colonists were deeply\nimbued with the intolerant spirit of their English ancestors as\nrespects Roman Catholics, infidels, and Jews, and naturally impressed\nthose feelings on their earlier governmental declarations and\ninstitutions. As the struggle progressed this aversion wore away, and\non the final settlement of the present American system of polity we\nfind the fathers of the republic formally renouncing their original\nprepossessions in favor of religious tests. So far as regards Jews and\ninfidels, the citations now to be given will need no special comment;\nbut as respects Roman Catholics, it is proper to premise that the\nancestral antipathy of the colonists to those of that faith had been\nparticularly sharpened by the old French war, closing by the peace of\n1763.\n\nIn 1705 the following questions were propounded to the\nAttorney-General Northey: \u201cWhether the laws of England against Romish\npriests are in force in the plantations, and whether her majesty may\nnot direct Jesuits or Romish priests to be turned out of Maryland?\u201d In\nreply he first takes up 27 Eliz., c. 2, making it high treason for any\nBritish-born Romish priest to come into, be, or remain in any part of\nthe royal dominions, and says: \u201cIt is plain that law extended to all\nthe dominions the queen had when it was made; but some doubt hath been\nmade whether it extendeth to dominions acquired after, as the\nplantations have been.\u201d He next considers II William III., c. 4,\nsubjecting any popish bishop or priest who shall exercise any\necclesiastical function in any part of the British dominions to\nperpetual imprisonment, and says: \u201cI am of opinion this law extends to\nthe plantations, they being dominions belonging to the realm of\nEngland, and extends to all priests, foreigners as well as natives.\u201d\nLastly, he says: \u201cAs to the question whether her majesty may not\ndirect Jesuits or Romish priests to be turned out of Maryland, I am of\nopinion, if the Jesuits or priests be aliens, not made denizens or\nnaturalized, her majesty may, by law, compel them to depart Maryland;\nif they be her majesty\u2019s natural-born subjects, they cannot be\nbanished from her majesty\u2019s dominions, but may be proceeded against on\nthe last before-mentioned law\u201d (Chalm. _Colonial Op._, 42). And that\nthis was the accepted state of the crown law as late as May 29, 1775,\nappears from an address of that date of the American Congress to the\ninhabitants of Canada, wherein they are asked to make common cause\nwith the other colonies, and told: \u201cThe enjoyment of your very\nreligion on the present system depends on a legislature in which you\nhave no share and over which you have no control, and your priests are\nexposed to expulsion, banishment, and ruin whenever their wealth and\npossessions furnish sufficient temptation\u201d (1 _Journ. Cong._, p. 75,\nWay & Gideon ed., Washington, 1823). It was also the case that a\nnumber of the royal charters under which the colonists had been\naccustomed to live denied religious liberty to Roman Catholics. The\ncharter of New Hampshire provided \u201cthat liberty of conscience shall be\nallowed to all Protestants\u201d (Town of Pawlet _v._ Clark, 9 Cr. 292);\nthat of Massachusetts read: \u201cFor the greater ease and encouragement of\nour living subjects, inhabiting our said province or territory of\nMassachusetts Bay, and of such as shall come to inhabit there, we do,\nby these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, grant, establish,\nand ordain that for ever hereafter there shall be a liberty of\nconscience allowed in the worship of God to all Christians (except\npapists) inhabiting, or which shall inhabit or be resident within, our\nsaid province or territory\u201d (Chalm. _Col. Op._, 48). The charter of\nGeorgia, as of force up to 1752, ordains: \u201cThere shall be a liberty of\nconscience allowed in the worship of God to all persons inhabiting, or\nwhich shall inhabit or be resident within, our said province, and that\nall such persons, except papists, shall have a free exercise of\nreligion\u201d (White\u2019s _Hist. Coll. Ga._, p. 9). The charter of Rhode\nIsland\u2014which recites that it was granted the petitioners therefor\nbecause \u201cthey have freely declared that it is much on their hearts (if\nthey be permitted) to hold forth a lively experiment that a most\nflourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained, and that\namong our English subjects, with a full liberty in religious\nconcernments\u201d; and ordains \u201cthat all and every person and persons may,\nfrom time to time, and at all times hereafter, freely and fully have\nand enjoy his own and their judgments and consciences, in matters of\nreligious concernments, throughout the tract of land hereafter\nmentioned, they behaving themselves peaceably and quietly, and not\nusing this liberty to licentiousness and profaneness, nor to the civil\ninjury or outward disturbance of others; any law, statute, or clause\ntherein contained, or to be contained, usage, or custom of this realm,\nto the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding,\u201d and which, to us,\nseems to guarantee absolute freedom of conscience\u2014was interpreted by\nthe colonial government as excepting Roman Catholics, Dr. Ramsay\nsaying: \u201cSince the date of the charter the form of the government has\nsuffered very little alteration. An act was passed, in 1663, declaring\nthat all men of competent estates and good conduct, who professed\nChristianity, with the exception of Roman Catholics, should be\nadmitted freemen\u201d (1 _Hist. U. S._, p. 156).\n\nWith this much we come to the Continental Congress which met at\nPhiladelphia Sept. 5, 1774, to consider the relations of the colonies\nto the parent state. It at once became apparent that one prime\ngrievance alleged against the crown was the act of Parliament (14 Geo.\nIII., c. 83), passed early in that year, respecting the boundaries and\ngovernment of the Province of Quebec, as Canada was called after its\ncession to England by the peace of 1763, which extended the limits of\nthat province southward to the Ohio, westward to the Mississippi, and\nnorthward to the boundary of the Hudson\u2019s Bay Company; qualified Roman\nCatholics to sit in the provincial council; applied the French laws,\ndispensing with juries to civil cases, and the English practice to\ncriminal; and secured the Catholic clergy their estates and full\nliberty in their religion. Massachusetts was particularly indignant at\nthis statute, and the Congress had scarcely organized before the\nfollowing resolution was presented with others from Suffolk County in\nthat State: \u201c10. That the late act of Parliament for establishing the\nRoman Catholic religion and the French laws in that extensive country\nnow called Quebec is dangerous in an extreme degree to the Protestant\nreligion and to the civil rights and liberties of all America; and\ntherefore, as men and Protestant Christians, we are indispensably\nobliged to take all proper measures for our security\u201d (1 _Journ.\nCong._, p. 11). On the 10th of October Congress, having considered\n\u201cthe rights and grievances of these colonies,\u201d \u201c_Resolved_, N. C. D.,\nThat the following acts of Parliament are infringements and violations\nof the rights of the colonists; and that the repeal of them is\nessentially necessary in order to restore harmony between Great\nBritain and the American colonies, viz., \u2026 the act for establishing\nthe Roman Catholic religion in the province of Quebec, abolishing the\nequitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there, to the\ngreat danger (from so total a dissimilarity of religion, law, and\ngovernment) of the neighboring British colonies, by the assistance of\nwhose blood and treasure the said country was conquered from France.\u2026\nTo these grievous acts and measures Americans cannot submit\u201d (_id._\npp. 20-22).\n\nThe main work of the Congress of 1774 was the famous \u201cContinental\nAssociation,\u201d which is, in brief, a solemn engagement on the part of\nthe colonies to break off commercial relations with Great Britain\nuntil such time as divers obnoxious acts of Parliament were repealed.\nIt opens by arraigning the British ministry for adopting a system of\nadministration \u201cevidently calculated for enslaving these colonies,\u201d\nand proceeds to specify among other instruments to this end \u201can act\nfor extending the province of Quebec, so as to border on the Western\nfrontiers of these colonies, establishing an arbitrary government\ntherein, and discouraging the settlement of British subjects in that\nwide-extended country, thus, by the influence of civil principles and\nancient prejudices, to dispose the inhabitants to act with hostility\nagainst the free Protestant colonies whenever a wicked ministry shall\nchoose to direct them\u201d (_id._ p. 23). The Congress also resolved upon\naddresses to the people of Great Britain, to the inhabitants of the\ncolonies represented in the Congress, to the king, and to the people\nof Canada. That to the people of Great Britain says: \u201cKnow that we\nthink the legislature of Great Britain is not authorized by the\nConstitution to establish a religion, fraught with sanguinary and\nimpious tenets, or to erect an arbitrary form of government in any\nquarter of the globe\u201d (_id._ p. 27). It then charges that at the close\nof the French war a plan of enslaving the colonies was concerted\n\u201cunder the auspices of a minister of principles, and of a family\nunfriendly to the Protestant cause and inimical to liberty,\u201d and says:\n\u201cNow mark the progression of the ministerial plan for enslaving us.\u2026\nBy another act the Dominion of Canada is to be so extended, modelled,\nand governed as that, by being disunited from us, detached from our\ninterest, by civil as well as religious prejudices, that by their\nnumbers daily swelling with Catholic emigrants from Europe, and by\ntheir devotion to administration so friendly to their religion, they\nmight become formidable to us, and, on occasion, be fit instruments in\nthe hands of power to reduce the ancient, free, Protestant colonies to\nthe same state of slavery with themselves. This was evidently the\nobject of the act; and in this view, being extremely dangerous to our\nliberty and quiet, we cannot forbear complaining of it as hostile to\nBritish America.\u2026 Nor can we suppress our astonishment that a British\nParliament should ever consent to establish in that country a religion\nthat has deluged your island in blood, and dispersed impiety, bigotry,\npersecution, and murder through every part of the world\u201d (_id._ p.\n30). The memorial to the colonists also refers to the Quebec act, \u201cby\nwhich act the Roman Catholic religion, instead of being tolerated, as\nstipulated by the treaty of peace, is established,\u201d and says: \u201cThe\nauthors of this arbitrary arrangement flatter themselves that the\ninhabitants, deprived of liberty, and artfully provoked against those\nof another religion, will be proper instruments for assisting in the\noppression of such as differ from them in modes of government and\nfaith\u201d (_id._ p. 37). To reassure the colonists, it concludes: \u201cThe\npeople of England will soon have an opportunity of declaring their\nsentiments concerning our cause. In their piety, generosity, and good\nsense we repose high confidence, and cannot, upon a review of past\nevents, be persuaded that they, the defenders of true religion and the\nasserters of the rights of mankind, will take part against their\naffectionate Protestant brethren in the colonies, in favor of our open\nand their own secret enemies, whose intrigues for several years past\nhave been wholly exercised in sapping the foundations of civil and\nreligious liberty\u201d (_id._ p. 38). The petition to the king represents\nas one of the obstacles to a restoration of harmony between the\ncolonists and the crown the act \u201cfor extending the limits of Quebec,\nabolishing the English and restoring the French laws, whereby great\nnumbers of British Frenchmen [_sic_] are subjected to the latter, and\nestablishing an absolute government and the Roman Catholic religion\nthroughout those vast regions that border on the westerly and\nnortherly boundaries of the free Protestant English settlements\u201d\n(_id._ p. 47); reminds the monarch that \u201cwe were born the heirs of\nfreedom, and ever enjoyed our right under the auspices of your royal\nancestors, whose family was seated on the British throne to rescue and\nsecure a pious and gallant nation from the popery and despotism of a\nsuperstitious and inexorable tyrant\u201d; and adjures him \u201cfor the honor\nof Almighty God, whose pure religion our enemies are undermining,\u201d and\n\u201cas the loving father of your whole people, connected by the same\nbonds of law, loyalty, faith, and blood,\u201d to withstand the ministerial\nplan (_id._ p. 49).\n\nThe terrific arraignment of the Roman Catholic religion made in these\nvarious state papers will show to what an extent the colonists were\nunfavorably disposed toward that faith at the inception of the\nRevolutionary struggle. The fourth and last address, however, adopted\nremains to be noticed, and in this appears the first indication of\nthat spirit of universal religious liberty and toleration which\nafterwards became one of the main animating impulses of the American\nsystem of government. The _Journal_, unfortunately, does not disclose\nthe name of the wise and just man who drew up this document, but the\ninternal evidence points to John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, who\nafterwards prepared the Articles of Confederation (1 _Secret Journ._,\np. 290). Oct. 21, Thomas Cushing of Massachusetts, Richard Henry Lee\nof Virginia, and Mr. Dickinson were appointed a committee to prepare\nan address to the inhabitants of Quebec, and, as adopted, this urges\nthe Canadians to make common cause with the other colonists, setting\nbefore them their rights as British subjects, and saying: \u201cWhat is\noffered to you by the late act of Parliament in their place? Liberty\nof conscience in your religion? No. God gave it to you; and the\ntemporal powers with which you have been and are connected firmly\nstipulated for your enjoyment of it. If laws, divine and human, could\nsecure it against the despotic caprices of wicked men, it was secured\nbefore\u201d (1 _Journ._, p. 42). The address then imagines the president,\nMontesquieu, urging his countrymen to unite with the English\ncolonists, and concludes: \u201cWe are too well acquainted with the\nliberality of sentiment distinguishing your nation to imagine that\ndifference of religion will prejudice you against a hearty amity with\nus. You know that the transcendent nature of freedom elevates those\nwho unite in her cause above all such low-minded infirmities. The\nSwiss cantons furnish a memorable proof of this truth. Their union is\ncomposed of Roman Catholic and Protestant states, living in the utmost\nconcord and peace with one another, and thereby enabled, ever since\nthey bravely vindicated their freedom, to defy and defeat every tyrant\nthat has invaded them\u201d (_id._ p. 44).\n\nMay 10, 1775, another Congress met. Blood had been shed; it was seen\nthe sword must decide the event; and from this time the American\nCongress may be said to have remained in permanent session until the\ngovernment under the Constitution was inaugurated. May 26, 1775, John\nJay, Samuel Adams, and Silas Deane were appointed a committee to\ndraught a letter to the people of Canada, which, as adopted, urged\nthem to unite with the other colonists, declaring \u201cthe fate of the\nProtestant and Catholic colonies to be strongly linked together\u201d; and\nadding: \u201cThe enjoyment of your very religion, on the present system,\ndepends on a legislature in which you have no share and over which you\nhave no control; and your priests are exposed to expulsion,\nbanishment, and ruin whenever their wealth and possessions furnish\nsufficient temptation\u201d (_id._ p. 75). This failing, Congress came\ncloser by directing Robert Livingston, Robert Treat Paine, and J.\nLangdon, Nov. 8, 1775, to proceed to Canada, and there use their\nutmost efforts to procure the assistance of the Canadians in Gen.\nSchuyler\u2019s operations, and to induce them to enter into a union with\nthe other colonies, the instructions mentioning as one inducement to\nbe held out: \u201cAnd you may and are hereby empowered farther to declare\nthat we hold sacred the rights of conscience, and shall never molest\nthem in the free enjoyment of their religion\u201d (_id._ p. 170). This\nalso failing, a third effort was made to the same end by appointing\nBenjamin Franklin, Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll of Carrollton\u2014the\nlatter not a member of Congress at the time, but selected as a Roman\nCatholic (2 Ramsay _Hist. U. S._, p. 65)\u2014commissioners to Canada, May\n20, 1776, instructing them: \u201cYou are farther to declare that we hold\nsacred the rights of conscience, and may promise to the whole people,\nsolemnly in our name, the free and undisturbed exercise of their\nreligion; and, to the clergy, the full, perfect, and peaceable\npossession and enjoyment of all their estates; that the government of\neverything relating to their religion and clergy shall be left\nentirely in the hands of the good people of that province and such\nlegislature as they shall constitute; provided, however, that all\nother denominations of Christians be equally entitled to hold offices,\nand enjoy civil privileges and the free exercise of their religion,\nand be totally exempt from the payment of any tithes or taxes for the\nsupport of any religion\u201d (1 _Journ._, p. 290). This failed in turn,\nbut the fathers were long loath to relinquish their hopes of the\naccession of Canada. The Articles of Confederation provided that\n\u201cCanada, acceding to this confederation, and joining in the measures\nof the United States, shall be admitted into and entitled to all the\nadvantages of this Union; but no other colony shall be admitted into\nthe same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine States\u201d (art.\n11); and guaranteed that each State should be protected in its\nreligion by the common strength of all (art. 3). It is further\nmemorable that the King of France co-operated with the Americans in\nthe attempt to secure the accession of Canada to the Union, and that\nin accordance with the royal instructions the Count d\u2019Estaing\npublished an address on the 28th of October, 1778, in his majesty\u2019s\nname, to the Canadian French, adjuring them by every tie of lineage\nand religion to make common cause with the United States. The priests,\nin particular, were besought to use their influence to this end, and\nreminded that they might become a power in a new government, and not\nbe dependent on \u201csovereigns whom force has imposed on them, and whose\npolitical indulgence will be lessened proportionally as those\nsovereigns shall have less to fear\u201d (2 Pitk. _U. S._, p. 68). This,\nhowever, like all the invitations of the American Congress, was in\nvain. The contemporary fact was\u2014and no doubt the British crown\nofficers took care to have it well known throughout Canada\u2014that while\nEngland was enacting laws to exempt the Canadians from her\nanti-Catholic statutes, and to indulge them with full liberty of\nconscience in their ancestral Catholic faith, the American Congress\nwas solemnly resolving and declaring \u201cthat we think the legislature of\nGreat Britain is not authorized by the constitution to establish a\nreligion fraught with sanguinary and impious tenets in any quarter of\nthe globe.\u201d \u201cNor can we suppress our astonishment that a British\nParliament should ever consent to establish in that country a religion\nthat has deluged England in blood, and dispersed impiety, bigotry,\npersecution, murder, and rebellion throughout every part of the\nworld.\u201d So sharp a contrast had a powerful effect on the sixty-five\nthousand Roman Catholics who then inhabited Canada, according to\nStokes (_View_, p. 30), and is, in all human probability, the reason\nwhy that extensive country is not a part of the United States to-day.\nThat invaluable contemporary authority, Dr. Ramsay, assures us that\nthe predilections of the Canadian masses were in favor of a union with\nthe other colonies, but \u201cthe legal privileges which the Roman Catholic\nclergy enjoyed made them averse to a change, lest they should be\nendangered by a more intimate connection with their Protestant\nneighbors.\u201d\n\nThe founders of the republic seem early to have perceived the mistake\nof yielding to what they termed in their first overture to Canada \u201cthe\nlow-minded infirmity\u201d of religious prejudice, and the severe recoil of\nthat error in this case had much to do with their subsequent\nprohibition of religious tests.\n\nRecurring now to the States, we find a religious test prescribed as a\nqualification to office in a number of the early constitutions. The\nNew Jersey constitution of July 2, 1776, provides \u201cthat no Protestant\ninhabitant of this colony shall be denied the enjoyment of any civil\nright merely on account of his religious principles; but that all\npersons professing a belief in the faith of any Protestant sect, who\nshall demean themselves peaceably under the government as hereby\nestablished, shall be capable of being elected into any office of\nprofit, or trust, or being a member of either branch of the\nlegislature, and shall fully and freely enjoy every privilege and\nimmunity enjoyed by others their fellow-subjects\u201d (art. 19). The North\nCarolina constitution of December 18, 1776, says \u201cthat no person who\nshall deny the being of God, or the truth of the Protestant religion,\nor the divine authority of either the Old or New Testaments, or who\nshall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and\nsafety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place\nof trust or profit in the civil department within this State\u201d (art.\n32). The Georgia constitution of February 5, 1777, says that the\nmembers of the legislature \u201cshall be of the Protestant religion\u201d (art.\n6). The South Carolina constitution of March 19, 1778, provides for \u201ca\ngovernor and commander-in-chief, a lieutenant-governor, both to\ncontinue two years, and a privy council\u2014all of the Protestant\nreligion\u201d (art. 3); that \u201cno person shall be eligible to sit in the\nHouse of Representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion\u201d\n(art. 13); and \u201cthat all denominations of Christian Protestants in\nthis State demeaning themselves peaceably and faithfully shall enjoy\nequal religious and civil privileges\u201d (art. 38). In this State the\ngovernor was sworn \u201cto the utmost of his power to maintain and defend\nthe laws of God, the Protestant religion, and the liberties of\nAmerica\u201d (Grimke\u2019s _Laws So. Ca._, 297). The Delaware constitution of\nSeptember 11, 1776, provided the following oath to be taken by all\nmembers of the legislature: \u201cI, A. B., do profess faith in God the\nFather, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, and in the Holy Ghost; and I\ndo acknowledge the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be\ngiven by divine inspiration\u201d (art. 22). The Maryland constitution of\nAugust 14, 1776, provided that \u201ca declaration of a belief in the\nChristian religion\u201d (Bill of Rights, art. 35) should be a\nqualification to office; and \u201cthat every person, appointed to any\noffice of profit or trust shall, before he enters on the execution\nthereof, \u2026 subscribe a declaration of his belief in the Christian\nreligion\u201d (Const., art. 55). The New Hampshire constitution of January\n5, 1776, while not expressly prescribing a religious test, is\nunderstood by the provision continuing the body of the colonial law in\nforce to have required all members of the legislature to be of the\nProtestant religion. The spirit occasioning the above tests was\nremarkably manifested in the convention framing the New York\nconstitution of April 20, 1777. An article granting \u201cto all mankind\nthe free exercise of religious profession and worship\u201d being under\nconsideration, John Jay, afterwards the first Chief-Justice of the\nSupreme Court of the United States, moved to add the following:\n\u201cExcept the professors of the religion of the Church of Rome, who\nought not to hold lands in, or be admitted to a participation of the\ncivil rights enjoyed by the members of, this State until such time as\nthe said professors shall appear in the Supreme Court of the State,\nand there most solemnly swear that they verily believe in their\nconsciences that no pope, priest, or foreign authority on earth has\npower to absolve the subjects of this State from their allegiance to\nthe same; and, farther, that they renounce and believe to be false and\nwicked the dangerous and damnable doctrine that the pope, or any other\nearthly authority, has power to absolve men from sins described in and\nprohibited by the holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, and particularly that\nno pope, priest, or foreign authority on earth has power to absolve\nthem from the obligation of this oath,\u201d which was lost\u2014yeas, 10; nays,\n19; one county divided (Sparks\u2019 _Life of Gouverneur Morris_, vol. i.,\np. 124). The Pennsylvania constitution of September 28, 1776, required\nmembers of the General Assembly and civil officers to sign \u201ca\ndeclaration of belief in one God, the creator and governor of the\nworld, the rewarder of the good and the punisher of the wicked,\u201d and\nalso to make \u201can acknowledgment that the Scriptures of the Old and New\nTestament are given by divine inspiration\u201d (Stokes\u2019 _View_, p. 81).\n\nIt will thus appear that the early constitutions of New Jersey, North\nCarolina, Georgia, South Carolina, and New Hampshire made a profession\nof Protestantism, and those of Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania\nmade a belief in Christianity, a qualification for office; and so the\nfundamental law of those States remained until after the ratification\nof the Constitution of the United States.\n\nIn 1787 the Federal Convention met, and, as has already been stated,\nwhile declining to make it a part of the Constitution that \u201cthe\nlegislature of the United States shall pass no law on the subject of\nreligion,\u201d did insert in that instrument the provision that \u201cno\nreligious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office\nor public trust under the United States.\u201d Or, in other words, the\nFederal Constitution did not inhibit Congress from creating a\nreligious establishment, but did forbid it to prescribe a religious\ntest as a qualification to office; while, _per contra_, the State\nconstitutions, while prohibiting such an establishment, admitted such\ntests. We have seen how the States conformed the Federal Constitution\nto their own in the article of the inhibition of an established\nchurch, and are now to inquire how the State constitutions modelled\nthemselves upon the Constitution of the United States so far as\nrespects the prohibition of religious qualifications for office.\n\nWhen the Federal Constitution was proposed for ratification to the\nState conventions, considerable opposition was manifested in some of\nthose bodies to this prohibition. It was alleged that, as the\nConstitution stood, the Pope of Rome might become President of the\nUnited States, and there was even a pamphlet published to sustain that\nobjection (4 Elliot Deb., p. 195). In the North Carolina Convention,\nin particular, a hot debate occurred. Mr. Abbott said: \u201cThe exclusion\nof religious tests is by many thought dangerous and impolitic. They\nsuppose that if there be no religious test required, pagans, deists,\nand Mahometans might obtain offices among us, and that the senators\nand representatives might all be pagans\u201d (_id._ p. 192). Mr. Iredell\nreferred to the deplorable results of religious tests in all ages, and\nsaid: \u201cAmerica has set an example to mankind to think more modestly\nand reasonably\u2014that a man may be of different religious sentiments\nfrom our own without being a bad member of society.\u2026 But it is\nobjected that the people of America may, perhaps, choose\nrepresentatives who have no religion at all, and that pagans and\nMahometans may be admitted into offices. But how is it possible to\nexclude any set of men without taking away that principle of religious\nfreedom which we ourselves so warmly contend for?\u2026 I met, by accident,\nwith a pamphlet this morning in which the author states as a very\nserious danger that the Pope of Rome might be elected President. I\nconfess this never struck me before; and if the author had read all\nthe qualifications of a President, perhaps his fears might have been\nquieted. No man but a native or who has resided fourteen years in\nAmerica can be chosen President. I know not all the qualifications for\npope, but I believe he must be taken from the college of cardinals;\nand probably there are many previous steps necessary before he arrives\nat this dignity. A native of America must have very singular good\nfortune who, after residing fourteen years in his own country, should\ngo to Europe, enter into Romish orders, obtain the promotion of\ncardinal, afterwards that of pope, and at length be so much in the\nconfidence of his own country as to be elected President. It would be\nstill more extraordinary if he should give up his popedom for our\npresidency. Sir, it is impossible to treat such idle fears with any\ndegree of gravity.\u2026 This country has already had the honor of setting\nan example of civil freedom, and I trust it will likewise have the\nhonor of teaching the rest of the world the way to religious freedom\nalso. God grant both may be perpetuated to the end of time!\u201d (_id._ p.\n193 _et seq._) Gov. Johnston said: \u201cWhen I heard there were\napprehensions that the Pope of Rome could be the President of the\nUnited States, I was greatly astonished. It might as well be said that\nthe King of England or France or the Grand Turk could be chosen to\nthat office. It would have been as good an argument.\u2026 It is\napprehended that Jews, Mahometans, pagans, etc., may be elected to\nhigh offices under the government of the United States. Those who are\nMahometans, or any others who are not professors of the Christian\nreligion, can never be elected to the office of President or other\nhigh office but in one of two cases: First, if the people of America\nlay aside the Christian religion altogether, it may happen. Should\nthis unfortunately take place, the people will choose such men as\nthink as they do themselves. Another case is, if any persons of such\ndescriptions should, notwithstanding their religion, acquire the\nconfidence and esteem of the people of America by their good conduct\nand practice of virtue, they may be chosen\u201d (_id._ p. 198). Mr.\nCaldwell said: \u201cThere was an invitation for Jews and pagans of every\nkind to come among us. At some future period this might endanger the\ncharacter of the United States.\u2026 I think that in a political view\nthose gentlemen who formed this Constitution should not have given\nthis invitation to Jews and heathens\u201d (_id._ p. 199). Mr. Spencer\nsaid: \u201cReligious tests have been the foundation of persecutions in all\ncountries. Persons who are conscientious will not take the oath\nrequired by religious tests, and will therefore be excluded from\noffices, though equally capable of discharging them as any member of\nsociety\u201d (_id._ p. 200). Mr. Spaight, who had been in the Federal\nConvention, said: \u201cNo test is required. All men of equal capacity and\nintegrity are equally eligible to offices. Temporal violence may make\nmankind wicked, but never religious. A test would enable the\nprevailing sect to persecute the rest\u201d (_id._ p. 208). Mr. Wilson\n\u201cwished that the Constitution had excluded popish priests from office\u201d\n(_id._ p. 212). Mr. Lancaster said: \u201cAs to a religious test, had the\narticle which excludes it provided none but what had been in the\nStates heretofore, I would not have objected to it.\u2026 For my part, in\nreviewing the qualifications necessary for a President, I did not\nsuppose that the pope could occupy the President\u2019s chair. But let us\nremember that we form a government for millions not yet in existence.\nI have not the art of divination. In the course of four or five\nhundred years I do not know how it will work. This is most certain:\nthat papists may occupy that chair, and Mahometans may take it. I see\nnothing against it. There is a disqualification, I believe, in every\nState in the Union; it ought to be so in this system\u201d (_id._ p. 215).\n\nIn the Massachusetts Convention there was considerable debate on the\nsame clause. Mr. Singletary \u201cthought we were giving up all our\nprivileges, as there was no provision that men in power should have\nany religion; and though he hoped to see Christians, yet, by the\nConstitution, a papist or an infidel was as eligible as they\u201d (2\nElliot Deb., p. 44). Several members of the convention urging that the\nprovision \u201cwas a departure from the principles of our forefathers, who\ncame here for the preservation of their religion; and that it would\nadmit deists, atheists, etc., into the general government,\u201d Rev. Mr.\nShute said: \u201cTo establish a religious test as a qualification for\noffices in the proposed Federal Constitution, it appears to me, sir,\nwould be attended with injurious consequences to some individuals, and\nwith no advantage to the whole.\u2026 In this great and extensive empire\nthere is and will be a great variety of sentiments in religion among\nits inhabitants. Upon the plan of a religious test the question, I\nthink, must be, Who shall be excluded from national trusts? Whatever\nanswer bigotry may suggest, the dictates of candor and equity, I\nconceive, will be, _None_. Far from limiting my charity and confidence\nto men of my own denomination in religion, I suppose and I believe,\nsir, that there are worthy characters among men of every\ndenomination\u2014among the Quakers, the Baptists, the Church of England,\nthe papists, and even among those who have no other guide in the way\nto virtue and heaven than the dictates of natural religion. I must\ntherefore think, sir, that the proposed plan of government in this\nparticular is wisely constructed; that as all have an equal claim to\nthe blessings of the government under which they live and which they\nsupport, so none should be excluded from them for being of any\nparticular denomination in religion. The presumption is that the eyes\nof the people will be upon the faithful in the land; and, from a\nregard of their own safety, they will choose for their rulers men of\nknown abilities, of known probity, of good moral characters. The\nApostle Peter tells us that God is no respecter of persons, but in\nevery nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is\nacceptable to him. And I know of no reason why men of such a\ncharacter, in a community of whatever denomination in religion,\n_c\u0153teris paribus_, with other suitable qualifications, should not be\nacceptable to the people, and why they may not be employed by them\nwith safety and advantage in the important offices of government. The\nexclusion of a religious test in the proposed Constitution, therefore,\nclearly appears to me, sir, to be in favor of its adoption\u201d (_id._ p.\n118).\n\nThese utterances form so excellent a commentary on the last clause of\nthe sixth article of the Constitution of the United States that it is\nto be regretted that we know no more of their admirable and sagacious\nauthor than that he was the Rev. Daniel Shute, of Hingham, in Suffolk\nCounty, and voted on what the original journal calls \u201cthe decision of\nthe grand question\u201d in favor of ratifying the Constitution; as did\nalso his colleague, Major-General Benjamin Lincoln.\n\nRecurring to the debate, Col. Jones \u201cthought that the rulers ought to\nbelieve in God or Christ, and that, however a test may be prostituted\nin England, yet he thought, if our public men were to be of those who\nhad a good standing in the church, it would be happy for the United\nStates\u201d (_id._ p. 119). Major Lusk \u201cpassed to the article dispensing\nwith the qualification of a religious test, and concluded by saying\nthat he shuddered at the idea that Roman Catholics, papists, and\npagans might be introduced into office, and that popery and the\nInquisition may be established in America\u201d (_id._ p. 148). Rev. Mr.\nBackus said: \u201cI now beg leave to offer a few thoughts upon some points\nin the Constitution proposed to us, and I shall begin with the\nexclusion of any religious test. Many appear to be much concerned\nabout it; but nothing is more evident, both in reason and the Holy\nScriptures, than that religion is ever a matter between God and\nindividuals; and therefore no man or men can impose any religious test\nwithout invading the essential prerogatives of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nMinisters first assumed this power under the Christian name, and then\nConstantine approved of the practice when he adopted the profession of\nChristianity as an engine of state policy. And let the history of all\nnations be searched from that day to this, and it will appear that the\nimposing of religious tests hath been the greatest engine of tyranny\nin the world. And I rejoice to see so many gentlemen who are now\ngiving in their rights of conscience in this great and important\nmatter. Some serious minds discover a concern lest, if all religious\ntests should be excluded, the Congress would hereafter establish\npopery or some other tyrannical way of worship; but it is most certain\nthat no such way of worship can be established without any religious\ntest\u201d (_id._ p. 149).\n\nIn the Conventions of Virginia (3 Elliot Deb., p. 204), and\nConnecticut (2 _ib._ p. 202), and in the South Carolina Legislature (1\n_id._ p. 312), the same clause was discussed, but more briefly, and\nafter the final ratification of the Constitution the principle of the\nprovision seems to have been universally conceded as correct. The\nGeorgia constitution of May 6, 1789, the first new State constitution\nadopted after the inauguration of the government under the\nConstitution of the United States, omitted the qualification that\nmembers of the General Assembly should be of the Protestant religion;\nthe South Carolina constitution of June 3, 1790, the next adopted,\nomitted the same test, as also all the former provisions making the\nProtestant religion the State faith, and provided that \u201cthe free\nexercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without\ndiscrimination or preference, shall for ever, hereafter, be allowed\nwithin this State to all mankind\u201d (art. 8, sec. 1), and from this time\nforward it may be taken as the case that as fast as the States\nremodelled their constitutions of the Revolutionary era the\nreligious-test provisions were formally omitted, and in the interim\npassed _sub silentio_.\n\nThe immediate cause of this universal abrogation of religious\nqualifications for office was, as we have seen, the sixth article of\nthe Constitution of the United States, but beyond this were some\npotent operative causes. The loss of Canada was one. Dr. Ramsay, who\ntells us that he had access to all the official papers of the United\nStates up to 1786, when he ceased to be a member of the Congress under\nthe Confederation (pref. 2 _Hist. U. S._), says: \u201cThe province was\nevacuated with great reluctance. The Americans were not only mortified\nat the disappointment of their favorite scheme of annexing it as a\nfourteenth link in the chain of their Confederacy, but apprehended the\nmost serious consequences from the ascendency of the British power in\nthat quarter\u201d (_id._ p. 71). It was felt too late that the indiscreet\nutterances of the Congress of 1774 respecting the Roman Catholic\nreligion had led to this loss.\n\nAnother operative cause was the yearning desire of the early statesmen\nof the United States to invite and secure foreign immigration. As\nearly as the address of Congress of Oct. 21, 1774, it was noticed that\nthe population of Canada was \u201cdaily swelling with Catholic emigrants\nfrom Europe\u201d; and after the peace of 1783 showed that Canada was to\nremain a British possession, it was seen that to impress an\nanti-Catholic character on the government of the United States would\ntend to build up that province at the expense of the United States,\nand that only by proffering religious as well as civil liberty could\nthis country hope to divert that emigration to its own shores. Some of\nthe States had already suffered, when colonies, from legalizing\ninequalities in religion, and that, too, had no doubt its weight;\nRamsay telling us that the legal pre-eminence of the Episcopal Church,\nand its maintenance at the expense not only of its own members but of\nall other denominations in Virginia and Maryland, \u201cdeterred great\nnumbers, especially of the Presbyterian denomination, who had\nemigrated from Ireland, from settling within the limits of these\ngovernments\u201d (1 _Hist. U. S._, p. 220).\n\nAnother cause operating in favor of a removal of religious tests to\noffice was the eminent services rendered the States in the\nestablishment of their independence by two Catholic powers, France and\nSpain. It is currently supposed that it was not until after the\nAmericans, by their capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga in 1777, had\ndemonstrated their power that they received efficient assistance from\nthose nations; but the contrary is the case. Before the Declaration of\nIndependence Silas Deane was sent to France for assistance, and\ncontemporaneous with the Declaration large supplies of money and arms\nwere furnished by that power. Arms, clothing, and ammunition for\n25,000 men and 100 field-pieces were asked by Congress, and the\nresponse of his Christian majesty was 2,000,000 livres in money and\nsmall arms, 200 field-pieces, the best in the royal arsenals, a credit\nfor 1,000,000 livres with the clothier-general of the French forces,\nand the services of Monsieur Coudray, the best military engineer in\nthe royal army, and as many of his officers as were needed (1 Pitk.\n_Hist. U. S._, pp. 387, 500). Spain also assisted the Americans with\n1,000,000 livres as early as May, 1776 (_id._ p. 411). Still another\n1,000,000 livres were added by France before the treaty of 1778; and\nto appreciate fully the various pecuniary aids given by this power to\nthe United States during the struggle, the reader may well consult the\ntreaties with that power of 1782 and 1783 (_Rev. Stats._, \u201cTreaties,\u201d\npp. 214-9). Prior to 1778 some 3,000,000 livres were advanced, and\nfrom that time to 1782 some 18,000,000 more were granted and an\nendorsement given to Holland for 10,000,000 in addition. In 1783 a\nfurther grant of 6,000,000 livres was made, making 37,000,000 in all.\nAll expenses of commissions, negotiations, etc., were borne by France\nand made a present to the United States, as also all the interest\naccrued during the entire war on the debt, and the total principal of\nthe sums forwarded in 1776, for all of which benefactions the most\nlively acknowledgments were made by the United States in the treaties\nreferred to above. Nor were French fleets and armies wanting. In July,\n1778, a French squadron of twelve line-of-battle ships and four\nfrigates reached the United States under Count d\u2019Estaing (2 Ramsay\n_Hist. U. S._, p. 258). In 1779 the same commander appeared off the\nGeorgia coast with 20 ships of the line and 11 frigates, and some\n3,500 French troops, infantry and artillery; and at this time occurred\nthe bloody assault on the British entrenchments at Savannah, where\nGen. Lincoln, at the head of 600 Continentals, and d\u2019Estaing at the\nhead of the French infantry, charged side by side, 200 of the\nAmericans and 637 of the French being left on the field. In July,\n1780, still another French fleet arrived at Rhode Island with 6,000\ntroops (2 Pitk. 117). In 1781 Count de Grasse arrived with 28 ships of\nthe line and 3,200 French troops under the Marquis de St. Simon (2\nRamsay, p. 427). In 1782 a French fleet of 34 ships of the line,\nhaving on board 5,500, rendezvoused in the West Indies to draw off the\nBritish by an attack on Jamaica, and here sustained an appalling\ndefeat at the hands of Admiral Rodney. The French troops were so\ncrowded on the vessels that in one ship alone 400 men were killed, and\nthe total slaughter amounted to thousands (_id._ p. 5). In the same\nyear we find 7,000 French regulars at Yorktown; and from the\ncontemporary accounts the French engineers and artillery were\neminently instrumental in forcing the surrender of Cornwallis,\nparticularly Major-General du Portail, Brigadier-General Launcy, Col.\nGouvion, and Capt. Rochefontaine, who were thanked and promoted by\nCongress and warmly commended to their sovereign (_id._ p. 438; 4\n_Journ._ 290).\n\nNor was Spain backward in her efforts. Before the Declaration of\nIndependence she sent the Americans 1,000,000 livres (1 Pitk. 411). In\n1777 she forwarded several cargoes of naval stores, cordage,\nsail-cloth, anchors, etc., from Bilboa (_id._ p. 528). In 1779 she\ndeclared war against Great Britain, and carried on a campaign in\nFlorida with such vigor as to drive out the British from that\nprovince. In 1780 an immense Spanish armament appeared in the West\nIndies to co-operate with the French in creating a diversion in that\nquarter, the combined fleet numbering thirty-six ships of the line,\ncrowded with troops (2 Ramsay, 374). In 1782 a grander attempt was\nmade in the same field, the combined French and Spanish navies\nnumbering sixty ships of the line, with an immense number of frigates\nand smaller armed vessels, and conveying thousands of land forces. The\nfirst attempt failed by the appearance of a mortal disease which\ndecimated the Spanish troops, and the latter by the bloody defeat of\nthe French by Admiral Rodney. In the course of the war the Spanish\nnavy received a terrible blow at Cape St. Vincent, though the Spanish\nadmiral, Don Juan de Langara, fought till his flag-ship was a mere\nwreck and his fleet was sunk or taken. One vessel in particular, the\n_San Domingo_, of 70 guns and carrying 600 men, blew up, and all on\nboard perished (_id._ p. 372).\n\nTo sustain American independence, in short, French and Spanish blood\nwas poured out like water. The arms, the gold, the ships, the armies\nof the two great Catholic powers were given in unstinted measure to\nthe United States, and on the establishment of the present polity of\nthe republic it would have been disgraceful beyond measure to have\nfixed therein a stigma on the faith of those friends in time of need.\nIn answering the congratulations of the Catholic clergy and laity on\nhis first accession to the presidency, Gen. Washington said: \u201cI\npresume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part\nwhich you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution and the\nestablishment of their government, or the important assistance which\nthey received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is\nprofessed\u201d (_Cath. Al._, 1876, p. 63). Possibly, also, the demeanor of\nthe French troops may have removed many misapprehensions and\nprejudices against their religion. Madison, who was an eye-witness of\ntheir march through Philadelphia, where Congress was then in session,\nin 1782, _en route_ to Yorktown, highly applauds their regularity and\ndecency of conduct in his letters of that date (Mad. Papers); and\nspeaking on the same subject Dr. Ramsay, also then in Congress, says:\n\u201cThe French troops marched at the same time and for the same place. In\nthe course of this summer they passed through all the extensive\nsettlements which lie between Newport and Yorktown. It seldom, if\never, happened before that an army led through a foreign country, at\nso great a distance from their own, among a people of different\nprinciples, customs, language, and religion, behaved with so much\nregularity. In their march to Yorktown they had to pass through 500\nmiles of a country abounding in fruit, and at a time when the most\ndelicious productions of nature growing on and near the public\nhighways presented both opportunity and temptation to gratify their\nappetites. Yet so complete was their discipline that in this long\nmarch scarce an instance could be produced of a peach or an apple\nbeing taken without the consent of the inhabitants\u201d (2 _Hist. U. S._,\np. 434). Allies of this character were in high favor with the American\npeople, and most gratefully remembered at the time of the final\nsettlement of civil government in the United States, not to speak of\nthe influence of the Continental soldiery, who, no doubt, bore in mind\ntheir brethren in arms at Savannah and Yorktown, and recalled\nWashington\u2019s general order whereby the black cockade of the American\narmy was mounted with a white relief in honor of Catholic France (2\nRamsay, p. 358).\n\nTo conclude, then, the provisions of the Constitution of the United\nStates bearing on religion are not mere ill-considered generalities,\nbut positive convictions based upon long and sore experience. The\nprohibition of a national religion or of any governmental interference\nwith spiritual persuasions owes its origin to the actual existence in\nformer days of church establishments, the hierophants wherein were\nappointees of the political power, and the expenses whereof were\ncompulsorily borne by those of other creeds. And the inhibition of\nreligious tests for office arises out of the fact that the history of\nthis country demonstrates it equally impolitic, ungrateful, and\ndishonest to require such qualifications in these United States.\n\n\n\n\nASSISI.\n\n\u201cSt. Francis be my speed!\u201d\n\n\nThink of being taken into Umbria, preternatural Umbria, where every\nolive-sandalled mountain is full of mysterious influences, and every\nleaf and flower of the smiling valleys seem to breathe out some sweet\nold Franciscan legend, by a steam-engine bearing the name of Fulton!\nIt was hard. Not but we have the highest respect for\u2014nay, a certain\npride in\u2014that great inventor; still it seemed a positive grievance to\nfind anything modern in what was to us a world of poetry and medi\u00e6val\ntradition. We wished, if not to gird ourselves humbly with the cord\nlike Dante, at least to put ourselves in harmony with one of the most\ndelicious regions in the world, where at every step the lover of the\nclassic, of art, or of the higher mystic lore finds so much to suit\nhis turn. The name of Fulton sounds well along the Hudson, but to hear\nthe shriek of an engine awaken the echoes of the Apennines, and see it\ngo plunging insensibly through the very heart of poetical Umbria,\nalong the shores of \u201creedy Thrasimene,\u201d through \u201cthe defiles fatal to\nRoman rashness,\u201d was a blow difficult to recover from. It required the\noverpowering influences of this enchanting region, as every one will\nbelieve, to restore our equanimity.\n\nUmbria is a mountainous region of the Ecclesiastical States that\ngradually ascends from the Tiber toward the Apennines, now called the\nDuchy of Spoleto. It is full of sweet, sunny valleys enclosed among\nmajestic mountains, with a range of temperature that produces great\nvariety of vegetation, from the pine and the oak to the orange and\naloe, the olive and the vine. Its cliffs are crowned with sanctuaries\nwhich are resonant night and day with prayer and psalmody, or old\ntowns, each with the remembrance of some saint whose shrine it guards\nwith jealous care, or some artist or poet whose works have made it\nrenowned, or some venerable classical recollection that clings to it\nlike the vine which gives so much grace and freshness to the\nlandscape. There is Spoleto, whose gates closed against Hannibal;\nArezzo, where Petrarch was born; Cortona, with its \u201cdiadem of towers\u201d\nand its legend of St. Margaret; _Perugia dolente_, which Totila only\ntook after a seven years\u2019 siege, and which Charlemagne placed under\nthe sweet yoke of the Papacy; Montefalco, like a falcon\u2019s nest on the\ncrest of the mountain, famous for its virgin saint and its frescos of\nBenozzo Gozzoli; and picturesque Marni, where the Blessed Lucy when a\nchild played with the Christorello. We pass Orvieto, with its\nwonderful proofs of past cultivation; the lake of Bolsena, with its\nisle where a queen died of hunger, and its shores verdant with the\nglorious pines sung by Virgil, at the foot of which Leo X., when a\nguest at the Farnese villa, used to gather around him the artists and\npoets of the day, to indulge in intellectual converse till \u201cthe azure\ngloom of an Italian night\u201d gathered around them with hues that spoke\nof heaven.\n\nBut over all hovers especially the grand memory of St. Francis, with\nwhich the whole of this beautiful region is embalmed. Along its\nvalleys and mountain paths he used to go with Fra Pacifico, the poet\nlaureate of Frederick II., singing their hymns of praise, calling\nthemselves God\u2019s minstrels, who desired no other reward from those who\ngathered around them but the sincere repentance of their sins. There\nis the lake of Perugia, where he spent forty days alone on an island\namong the sad olives, fasting in imitation of our Saviour, in\ncontinual communion with God and the angels\u2014a spot now marked by a\nconvent whose foundations are washed by the waters of the lake. There\nis the blue lake of Rieti, to which, in his compassion for God\u2019s\ncreatures, he restored the fish alive, with the four Franciscan\nconvents on the hills that enclose it. There is Gubbio, with the\nlegend of the fierce wolf he tamed, to which the people erected a\nstatue\u2014an unquestionable proof of its truth. There is the\n\n \u201cHard Rock\n \u2018Twixt Arno and the Tiber,\u201d\n\nwhere\n\n \u201cHe from Christ\n Took the last signet which his limbs two years\n Did carry.\u201d\n\nAbove all, there is Assisi with his tomb, one of the most glorious in\nthe world after that of Christ, around which centred all the poetry\nand art of the thirteenth century. We caught our first glimpse of it\nat Spello\u2014Spello on its spur of red limestone\u2014where we were shown the\nhouse of Propertius, \u201cthe poet of delicate pleasures,\u201d in full sight\nof Assisi, where was born one who sang of a higher love. Assisi stands\non an eminence overlooking the whole country around, and we could not\ntake our eyes off it all the way from Spello, till, glancing towards\nthe valley below, we saw the towers and dome of _Santa Maria degli\nAngeli_, which encloses the sacred Porziuncula. We were now in the\nvery \u201cland of wonder, of miracle, and mysterious influences,\u201d the\nfirst glimpse of which one can never forget. Think of a railway\nstation close by the Porziuncula! We went directly there on descending\nfrom the cars.\n\nSt. Mary of the Angels is a vast church that stands almost solitary in\nthe plain. It is modern also, and out of keeping with the venerable\ntraditions of the place, which was a disappointment. The old church\nwas nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1854. The present one is of\nnoble proportions, however, and has been compared to the garments of a\nqueen that now clothe the humble sanctuary of the Porziuncula which\nstands beneath the dome, the first thing to strike the eye on entering\nthe church. We hastened towards it at once, to pray where St. Francis\nso often wept and prayed, and where so many generations since have\nwept, and prayed, and found grace before God. It was here Picca, his\nmother, often came to pray before he was born, and where his birth was\nannounced by mysterious songs attributed to the angels. St. Francis\nloved this spot above all places in the world; for it was here he was\ncalled to embrace the sublime folly of the cross, and where he laid\nthe foundations of the seraphic order. It was here, in the year 1222,\nhe beheld Christ and his holy Mother surrounded by a multitude of\nangels, and prayed that all who should henceforth visit this chapel\nwith hearts purified by contrition and confession might obtain full\npardon and indulgence for all their sins. This was the origin of the\ncelebrated indulgence of the Porziuncula, which the grave Bourdaloue\nregarded as one of the most authentic in the church, because granted\ndirectly by Christ himself. The treasures of the church were not dealt\nout so generously in those days as now, and thousands came hither from\nall parts of Christendom, in the middle ages, to gain this wonderful\nindulgence. When St. Bernardine of Siena came in the fourteenth\ncentury, he found two hundred thousand pilgrims encamped in the valley\naround. St. Bridget spent the whole night of one 1st of August praying\nin the Porziuncula; and still, when the great day of the _Perdono_\ncomes (it lasts from the Vespers of the 1st of August till the Vespers\nof the following day), thousands flock down from the mountains and\ncome up from the extremity of southern Italy. The highway is lined\nwith booths where eatables and religious objects are sold. Processions\ncome with chants and prayer. The great bell of _Predicazione_,\noriginally cast for Fra Elias, is heard all over the valley from the\n_Sagro Convento_, announcing the indulgence. When the church doors\nopen, an overwhelming crowd pours in with cries, and invocations, and\n_vivas_ for the Madonna and St. Francis with true Italian exuberance\nof devotion.\n\nThe Porziuncula has wisely been left in its primitive simplicity, with\nthe exception of the front, on which Overbeck, in 1830, painted the\nabove-mentioned vision to St. Francis with true pre-Raphaelite\nsimplicity. The remainder is just as it was in the time of the saint;\nonly its rough walls have been polished by the kisses of pilgrims, and\nhung with pious offerings. Lamps burn continually therein as if it\nwere a shrine.\n\nBack of the Porziuncula is the low, dark cell St. Francis inhabited,\nand where he ended his days. It was here, while he was dying, two of\nthe friars sang his Hymn of the Sun, which breathes so fully his love\nfor everything created. And when they ceased, he himself took up the\nstrain, to sing the sweetness of death, which he called his \u201csister,\nterrible and beautiful,\u201d in the spirit of Job, who said to corruption:\nThou art my father; to the worm: Thou art my mother and my sister.\n\nThen we were taken into the recess where St. Francis so often\nchastised his body, which he regarded as his beast of burden that it\nbehoved him to beat daily and to lead around with a halter. When\ndying, he is said to have begged pardon of this old companion of the\nway for inflicting so many stripes on it for the good of his soul.\nThere is also the _Cappella delle Rose_ with the _Spineto_\u2014a little\ncourt once filled with coarse brambles, but now aflush with roses.\nHere St. Francis, being tempted to renounce a life in which he was\nconsumed with watchings and prayers, for his only reply threw himself\namong the thorns, which, tinged with his blood, were immediately\nchanged into roses. They bloom here still, but without thorns, and\ntheir petals are stained as with blood. If transplanted elsewhere, the\nstains are said to fade away and the thorns to come forth again. It\nwas twelve of these roses, six red and six white, the saint bore with\nhim into the Porziuncula when the great _Perdono_ of the 2d of August\nwas granted\u2014roses that for ever will embalm the church, and that have\nbeen immortalized by artists all over Italy and Spain.\n\nThe immense convent of Observantine friars adjoining is now solitary\nand desolate. The Italian government has turned the inmates out of\nthis cradle of their order, with the exception of two or three, who\nare left as guardians of the church. The hundreds of poor, once fed at\ntheir gates in time of need, now take revenge on the passing\ntraveller, and fasten themselves on him with pertinacious grasp. But\nwho can refuse a dole where St. Francis has made Poverty for ever\nglorious?\n\nFrom St. Mary of the Angels we went winding up the hill to Assisi. Its\nbase is clothed with the olive, the vine, and the fig, but its sides\nare as nude and destitute as the Bride of St. Francis. Above, on the\nright, rises the tall campanile of _Santa Chiara_ over the tomb of St.\nClare. At the left is the fortress-like edifice of the _Sagro\nConvento_ on the Hill of Paradise, once known as the _Colle\nd\u2019Inferno_, where St. Francis desired to be buried among malefactors.\nThis monastery against the mountain side stands on a long line of\ndouble arches that seem hewn out of the very cliff. It is one of the\nmost imposing and most interesting monuments in Italy, and astonishes\nthe eye by its bold, massive, and picturesque appearance, quite in\nharmony with the old medi\u00e6val city. It has been called the _Sagro\nConvento_ ever since its consecration by Pope Innocent IV. in 1243\u2014the\nSacred Convent, _par excellence_. _Santa Chiara_ and this convent of\nSt. Francis seem like two strongholds at the extremities of the town\nto protect it from danger. Between them it rises in terraces, crowned\nby a ruined old citadel of feudal times. The declining sun lighted up\nits domes, and towers, and venerable gray walls as we ascended, and\nmade it seem to our enraptured eyes a seraphic city indeed.\n\nHalf way up the hill we came to the Spedalicchio\u2014the ancient \u2019Spital\nwhere St. Francis so often came to take care of the lepers. It was\nhere, as he was borne on a litter to the Porziuncula by the friars, a\nfew days before his death, he begged them to stop and turn him around,\nnot to take a last look at the city he loved\u2014for the eyes that had\nwept so many tears were now blind\u2014but to bless it with uplifted hands,\nin solemn, tender words that have been graven over one of the gates:\n\n_Benedicta tu civitas a Domino, quia per te mult\u00e6 anim\u00e6 salvabuntur,\net in te multi servi Altissimi habitabunt, et de te multi eligentur ad\nregnum \u00e6ternum._\u2014A city blessed of the Lord art thou, because by thee\nmany souls shall be saved, and in thee shall dwell many servants of\nthe Most High, and from thee many shall be chosen to reign for ever\nand ever!\n\nWith what emotion one enters its gates!\u2026 We drove through old, narrow,\nascending streets, silent and monastic, named after the saints; past\nold rock-built houses of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with\nthe holy names of Jesus and Mary over nearly every door; flower-pots\nwith pinks and gillyflowers in all the windows, even the poorest, or\non ledges, or set in rings projecting from the walls; and women\nspinning under the old archways like St. Clare, who, we are told, even\nwhen wasted and enfeebled by her austerities, sat up in bed and span\nlinen of marvellous fineness.\n\nOur hotel was close to the _Sagro Convento_, and, though extremely\nfatigued, we at once hastened to the church, not to examine its\ntreasures of art, but to pray and find repose of heart overburdened by\nthe flood of memories that come over one in such a place as Assisi.\nThen we returned to our room, and sat at the window looking off at the\nsetting sun and golden sky, and the shining dome of St. Mary of the\nAngels, and the broad plain where was held the famous Chapter of Mats\nin St. Francis\u2019 time, with its narrow river winding through it. It was\nlike the page of a beautiful poem laid open before us. St. Francis\nloved these hills clothed with the pale olive, this valley covered\nwith harvests and the vine, the free air and azure heavens, the\nrunning stream, a fine prospect; and we sat long after the rich,\nglorious convent bells rang out the Ave Maria, gazing at the fair\nscene before us. Purple shadows began to creep up the rugged sides of\nthe hill, the golden light faded away in the wrest, the dome over the\nPorziuncula grew dim, and the valley was covered with the rising\nmists. It was time to close the window.\n\nWe spent most of the following day in the church. It is the very\ninflorescence of Christian art, a great epic poem in honor of St.\nFrancis. A pope laid the corner-stone. All Christendom sent its\nofferings. The most celebrated architects and painters of the time\nlent the aid of their genius. One would think it had grown out of the\nhill against which it is built. Its azure vaults starred with gold,\nits ribbed arches that bend low like the boughs of a gloomy forest,\nthe delicacy of its carvings, its marble pavement, its windows with\ntheir jewelled panes, and above all its walls covered with mystic\npaintings that read like the very poetry of religion, need almost the\ntongue of angels to describe them. M. Taine says: \u201cNo one, till he has\nseen this unrivalled edifice, can have any idea of the art and genius\nof the middle ages. Taken in connection with Dante and the _Fioretti_\nof St. Francis, it is the masterpiece of mystic Christianity.\u201d It was\nthe first Gothic church erected in Italy.[192] It is built in the form\nof a cross, in memory of the mysterious crucifixion of St. Francis.\nIts walls are of white marble, in honor of the Immaculate Virgin; and\nthere are twelve towers of red marble, in memory of the blood shed by\nthe Holy Apostles. It consists of two churches, one above the other,\nand a crypt beneath, where lies the body of St. Francis. The upper\nchurch is entered from a grassy terrace on the top of the Hill of\nParadise. The lower one opens at the side into an immense court\nsurrounded by an arcade. This under church, with its low Byzantine\narches, full of the mysterious gloom and solemnity so favorable to\npensive contemplation and prayer, has often been supposed typical of\nthe self-abasement and mortified life of St. Francis. Its delicious\nchapels, with their struggling light, are well calculated to excite\nsadness, penitence, and tears. The crypt beneath, with its horrible\ndarkness, its damp walls and death-like stillness, and its one tomb in\nthe centre awaiting the Resurrection, is a veritable limbo; while the\nupper church, with its lofty, graceful, upspringing arches, all light\nand joy, is symbolic of the transfigured soul of the seraphic Francis\nin the beatitude of eternal glory.\n\nBut how can we go peering around this museum of Christian art, as if\nin a picture-gallery? It would be positively wicked. The knee\ninstinctively bends before the saintly forms that people the twilight\nsolemnity of the lower church. It was thus we gazed up at Giotto\u2019s\nmatchless frescos of the three monastic virtues on the arches over the\nhigh altar, which stands directly above the tomb of St.\nFrancis\u2014Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience\u2014fit crown indeed for that\n\u201cmeek man of God.\u201d We remember seeing them during the Forty Hours\u2019\nDevotion, when the candles lit them up wondrously; the figures came\nout in startling relief; the angels seemed actually hovering over the\ndivine Host below. The most celebrated of these paintings is the\n_Spozalizio_ sung by Dante\u2014the mystic espousals of St. Francis with\nPoverty, the lady of his choice.\n\n \u201cA Dame to whom none openeth pleasure\u2019s gate\n More than to death, was, \u2018gainst his father\u2019s will,\n His stripling choice: and he did make her his\n Before the spiritual court by nuptial bonds.\u201d\n\nThis was not an original conception of Giotto\u2019s or Dante\u2019s. They only\ngave a more artistic expression to the popular belief. There was not a\ncottage in Umbria that did not believe in these espousals of St.\nFrancis with Lady Poverty, who had, says the Divine Poet, lived more\nthan a thousand years bereft of her first bridegroom, Christ; and it\nwas from the lips of the poor and lowly they gathered the significant\nallegory. It was also before their time St. Bonaventura wrote: \u201cSt.\nFrancis, journeying to Siena in the broad plain between Campiglia and\nSan Quirico, was encountered by three maidens in poor raiment, exactly\nresembling each other in age and appearance, who saluted him with the\nwords: \u2018Welcome, Lady Poverty,\u2019 and suddenly disappeared. The brethren\nnot irrationally concluded that this apparition imported some mystery\npertaining to St. Francis, and that by the three poor maidens were\nsignified Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience, the sum and beauty of\nevangelical perfection, all of which shone with equal and consummate\nlustre in the man of God, though he made the privilege of poverty his\nchief glory.\u201d\n\nDante with all his pride, and Giotto with his repugnance to poverty,\neven when consecrated by religion, chose one of the most democratic of\nsubjects when they depicted these sacred espousals of St. Francis; for\nit was the people he identified himself with in this union. He wedded\nfor better and worse the sorrows and misery, the misfortunes and\ngroans, of Italy,[193] and when dying,\n\n \u201cTo his brotherhood,\n As their just heritage, he gave in charge\n His dearest Lady, and enjoined their love\n And faith to her.\u201d\n\nThe church teaches that the poor are Christ\u2019s suffering members; that\nit is he who is hungered and athirst in the sick and destitute; to him\nis every alms given. St. Francis gave his whole being to Poverty thus\nidentified with Christ\u2014a bride chosen only by a few elect souls in\nthese days of luxury and self-indulgence, but in whom the Christian\nphilosophers of the middle ages found an infinite charm. Plato\nrepresents Love with bare feet and tattered, disordered garments, to\nsignify the forgetfulness of self that gives all and reserves nothing.\nIt is in this sense the choice of evangelical poverty is one of the\nhighest expressions of love to God in the Catholic Church.\n\n\u201cO hidden riches! O prolific good!\u201d exclaims Dante. And no one ever\nunderstood its value more than St. Francis, the _glorioso poverello di\nChristo_, who was, says Bossuet, \u201cperhaps the most desperate lover of\npoverty ever known in the church.\u201d\n\n \u201cO Lord Jesus!\u201d cries St. Francis, \u201cshow me the ways of thy\n dear Poverty.\u2026 Take pity on me and my lady Poverty whom I\n love with so much ardor. Without her I can find no peace.\n And it is thou, O my God! who hast inspired this great love.\n She is seated in the dust of the highway, and her friends\n pass her by with contempt. Thou seest the abasement of this\n queen, O Lord Jesus! who didst descend from heaven to make\n her thy spouse, and through her to beget children worthy of\n thee, who art perfect. She was in the humility of thy\n Mother\u2019s womb. She was at the manger. She had her part in\n the great combat thou didst fight for our redemption. In thy\n Passion she alone did not abandon thee. Mary, thy Mother,\n remained at the foot of the cross, but Poverty ascended it\n with thee.[194] She clung more closely than ever to thy\n breast. It was she who lovingly prepared the rude nails that\n pierced thy hands and feet; she who didst present thee with\n gall when thou wast suffering from thirst.\u2026 Thou didst die\n in her loving embrace.\u2026 And even then this faithful spouse\n did not forsake thee. She had thy body buried in the grave\n of another. She wrapped thy cold limbs in the tomb, and with\n her thou didst come forth glorious. Therefore thou hast\n crowned her in heaven, and chosen her to mark thy elect with\n the sign of redemption. Oh! who would not choose Lady\n Poverty above all other brides? O Jesus! who for our sakes\n didst become poor, the grace I beg of thee is the privilege\n of sharing thy poverty. I ardently desire to be enriched\n with this treasure. I pray thee that I and mine may never\n possess anything in the world of our own, for the glory of\n thy name, but that we may only subsist, during this\n miserable life, on that which is given us in alms.\u201d\n\nHow foreign this seems to the spirit of our age; and yet it is the\nscience of the cross, of which we need an infusion to counterbalance\nthe general worship of Mammon. Coleridge seems to have caught a\nglimpse of the beauty and dignity of poverty when he wrote:\n\n \u201cIt is a noble doctrine that teaches how slight a thing is\n Poverty; what riches, nay, treasures untold, a man may\n possess in the midst of it, if he does but seek them aright;\n how much of the fiend\u2019s apparent bulk is but a fog vapor of\n the sickly and sophisticated mind. It is a noble endeavor\n that would bring men to tread the fear of this phantom under\n their firm feet, and _dare_ to be poor!\u201d\n\nGiotto represents St. Francis receiving his bride from the hands of\nChrist himself. Her head is crowned with roses and light, but her feet\nare bleeding from the thorns of the rough way. Her cheeks are hollow\nand pale, but her eyes are full of fire. Her garments are worn and in\ntatters, but she is beautiful with modesty and love. Hers is the\ntempered spiritual beauty of one who has been chastened by misfortune,\nbut there is nothing of the degradation of human passion. It is the\npoverty of country life, free, modest, unabashed, but ennobled by an\nexpression that religion alone can give. Worldlings attack her with\nblows, and a dog, that last friend of the poor, is barking at her with\nfury. Angels, beaming with joy and admiration, encircle these\nmysterious nuptials. Below, in one corner, are the vices of the times\npersonified\u2014the rapacity of the nobility, and the greed of monks who\nhave become unmindful of their obligations. At the left is the\nyouthful Francis sharing his mantle with a beggar, while an angel\nabove is ascending with the garment to heaven. The central figure in\nthe painting is the radiant form of Him who took upon himself the\nlikeness of the poor, on whose condition he now confers fresh dignity\nby perpetuating a love of poverty in the person of Francis and his\norder. Over all are angels of sacrifice offering to God the riches\nthat have been abandoned for the love of him.\n\nPhilosophy, poetry, and religion are all in this wonderful allegory,\nwhich has shone here nearly six hundred years as a memorial and a\nperpetual admonition to the followers of St. Francis.\n\nChastity is represented under the veiled form of a maiden who has\ntaken refuge in the tower of a fortress, defended by a triple wall,\nand guarded by Innocence and Fortitude. She is kneeling in the\nattitude of prayer, while angels bring her a crown and a palm. Before\nthe castle gates are depicted the divine means of purifying the human\nsoul: Baptism, with the cardinal virtues in attendance, and an angel\nbearing the robe of innocence; Penance, in her hood and garb of serge,\nor, as some say, St. Francis receiving new members into his fold,\namong whom may be seen Dante in the habit of the Third Order; and\nangels of Expiation consigning unseemly vices to the purifying flames\nof a yawning gulf.\n\n_Sancta Obedientia_, the least pleasing of these paintings, is\nrepresented by the monastic yoke placed on the shoulders of a novice.\nPrudence and Humility are at his side; the former, entrenched behind a\nbarrier with mirror and compass, has two faces, one examining the past\nand the other considering the future. Humility is bearing a torch. The\nold Adam of the human heart, under the form of a centaur, is put to\nflight by these virtues.[195]\n\nIn the midst of these three priceless jewels is represented St.\nFrancis radiant with holiness, in a rich deacon\u2019s dress, on a throne\nof gold, and surrounded by angels who hymn his praise. Never was\nmortal more glorified on earth than the humble St. Francis, out of\nwhose tomb has grown this richest flower of medi\u00e6val art.\n\nOn the wall of the left transept is a sublime painting of the\nCrucifixion by Pietro Cavallini\u2014one of the most important monuments of\nthe school of Giotto, who was one of the first to soften the\nrepresentations of the awful sufferings of Christ by an expression of\ndivine resignation and beauty of form. The Byzantine type of the\ntwelfth century, still scrupulously adhered to, was repulsive and\nexpressive only of the lowest stage of human suffering, as all know\nwho have seen the green, livid figures of Christ on the cross by\nMargaritone, who died of grief at seeing his standard of excellence\nset aside and despised. Cavallini, whose piety was so fervent that he\nwas regarded as a saint, had scruples, however, about condemning as an\nartist what he had knelt before in prayer, though he widely departed\nfrom the old school. Nothing could be more beautiful or pathetic than\nthe angels in this picture, who are weeping and wringing their hands\nwith anguish around the dying Saviour.\u2026 Among the figures below is\nWalter de Brienne, Duke of Athens, then (in 1342) at the head of the\nFlorentine republic, for whom this picture was painted. He is on\nhorseback with a jewelled cap, clothed in rich robes, and, strange to\nsay, with a nimbus around his head, which seems to have been a symbol\nof power as well as sanctity in those days.\n\nIt was one of Cavallini\u2019s Christs[196] that spoke to St. Bridget at\nSt. Paul\u2019s without the walls of Rome; and he was the architect of the\nshrine of Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey.\n\nAt the foot of the altar beneath the Crucifixion is buried Mary of\nSavoy, granddaughter of Philip II. of Spain, a member of the Third\nOrder of St. Francis, who often came here to venerate his tomb and\nseek counsel of St. Joseph of Copertino, then an inmate of the _Sagro\nConvento_.\n\nAll the chapels of this lower church are famous for their frescos by\nnoted artists. Simone Memmi, the friend of Petrarch, and painter of\nLaura, has covered one with the life of St. Martin, who, like St.\nFrancis after him, divided his cloak with a beggar, remaining for ever\na symbol of the divine words: I was naked and ye clothed me. The\nMaddalena Chapel is covered with the legend of the\n\n \u201cRedeemed Magdalene,\n And that Egyptian penitent whose tears\n Fretted the rock, and moistened round her cave\n The thirsty desert,\u201d\n\nby Puccio Capana, who became so attached to Assisi that he settled\nthere for life.\n\nThe melancholy Giottino adorned the chapel of St. Nicholas with his\nusual harmony of color. On the arches of the chapel of St. Louis of\nFrance a Franciscan tertiary, Adone Doni, painted the beautiful Sibyls\nwhich Raphael admired and imitated at _Santa Maria della Pace_ in\nRome. Taddeo Gaddi, the godson and favorite pupil of Giotto, has also\nleft here many touching and beautiful paintings. In fact, all the\nrenowned artists of the day seemed to vie with each other in adorning\nthis monument to the memory of St. Francis, and some of their works\nwere offerings of love and gratitude. To the artistic eye they are\nmodels worthy of study, but to us pilgrims so many visions of beauty\nand holiness.\n\nIn the sacristy is the most authentic portrait of St. Francis in\nexistence, by Giunta Pisano\u2014a lank, wasted form that by no means\nreflects the charm the saint most certainly had to attract so many\ndisciples around him, to say nothing of his power over the beasts of\nthe earth and the birds of the air. Two marble staircases lead down to\nthe sepulchral chamber where lies the body of St. Francis. This crypt,\nor third church, as it is sometimes called, is of recent construction,\nand, though not in harmony with the upper churches, is a prodigious\nachievement, dug as it is out of the rock on which the whole edifice\nrests. It is of the Doric order, and in the form of a Greek cross, and\nlined with precious marbles. It is dark and tomb-like, being lighted\nonly by lamps around the bronze shrine, which stands in the very\ncentre. The body of St. Francis had lain nearly six hundred years in\nthe heart of the mountain, shrouded in a mystery that had given rise\nto many popular legends. When brought here in 1230, it was still\nflexible as when he was alive, and the mysterious stigmata distinctly\nvisible. This was four years after his death. It was then shown to the\npeople in its cypress coffin, amid the flourish of trumpets and the\nshouts of the multitude, and put on a magnificent car drawn by oxen\nwhich were covered with purple draperies sent by the Emperor of\nConstantinople, and escorted by a long procession of friars with palms\nand torches in their hands, chanting hymns composed by Pope Gregory\nIX. himself. Legates, bishops, and a multitude of clergy followed. But\nthe car was guarded by the magistrates of Assisi, and so fearful were\nthe people lest the body of their saint should be taken from them\nthat, when it arrived at the _Colle d\u2019Inferno_, they would not allow\nthe clergy to take possession of it, but buried it themselves in the\nvery bowels of the earth. Hence a certain mystery that always hung\nover the tomb.\n\nIt is related that the third night after his burial the mountain was\nshaken by an earthquake and surrounded by an unearthly light. The\nfriars, hastening to the place where they knew their patriarch lay\nhidden, found the rock rent asunder and the saint standing on his tomb\nwith transfigured face and eyes raised to heaven. Gregory IX. is said\nto have come to witness the prodigy, and left this inscription on the\nwall: _Ante obitum mortuus; post obitum vivens_\u2014Before his death,\ndead; after death, living.\n\nIt became a popular belief that this body, which bore the impress of\nthe Passion of Christ, would never see corruption, and that he would\nremain thus, ever living and praying, in the depths of his\ninaccessible tomb.\n\nIn 1818 Pius VII. authorized the Franciscans to search for the body of\ntheir founder. After continued excavations in the rock for fifty-two\ndays, or rather nights (for they worked in the silence and secrecy of\nthe night), they came to an iron grate that protected the narrow\nrecess where lay the saint. It was then the crypt was constructed to\nreceive the sacred body. The same old grate is before the present\nshrine, and the sacristan thrust his torch through the bars, that we\nmight catch a glimpse of the remains of one\n\n \u201cWhose marvellous life deservedly were sung\n In heights empyreal.\u201d\n\nAround this glorious tomb all the Franciscans of Assisi, before they\nwere suppressed by the present Italian government, used to gather\nevery Saturday at the vesper hour, to chant, with lighted tapers in\nhand, the Psalm _Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi_, sung by St. Francis\nwhen he was dying. It has been set to music by one of the friars in a\ngrand air known as the _Transito_ because it celebrates the _transit_\nof the saint to a higher life. This became one of the attractions of\nthe place which kings and princes considered it a favor to hear, but\nof course it is no longer sung. Let us hope that this forced\nsuspension is only transitory.\n\nAt the door of the crypt are the statues of Pius VII., in whose\npontificate it was constructed, and Pius IX., a member of the Third\nOrder, who has surrounded it with twelve bas-reliefs representing the\nlife of the saint.\n\nA long flight of stone steps leads from the lower court to the terrace\nbefore the upper church, which is grassy and starred with daisies.\nThis church is as lofty and brilliant with light as the other is\ngloomy and low-browed. Cimabue and Giotto adorned its walls with\npaintings that are now sadly defaced, but they have a fascination no\nmodern artist can inspire, and we linger over them as over the\nremembrance of some half-forgotten dream, hoping to catch a clearer\nview before they fade for ever away. Above are scenes from the Holy\nScriptures\u2014a glorious _Biblia Pauperum_, indeed, it must have been\nwhen fresh from the artist\u2019s hands; and this is especially the church\nof the people, as the lower one is that of the friars. Below is the\nwondrous life of St. Francis, a poem in twenty-eight cantos, by\nGiotto, the painter of St. Francis _par excellence_, who never seemed\nweary of his favorite subject.\n\nThere are over one hundred stalls in the choir, delicately carved by\nSanseverino, with curious intarsia-work representing the popes,\ndoctors, and saints of the Franciscan Order.\n\nThe beautiful lancet windows of the thirteenth and fourteenth\ncenturies are \u201csuffused with lessons sweet of heavenly lore,\u201d glorious\nin color, which gives marvellous hues to Cimabue\u2019s angels who hover in\nthe arches with \u201cvaried plume and changeful vest.\u201d The lower church is\nthat of poor mortals who struggle with earth and grope for the light.\nThis one depicts the glory of the saints, and is a symbol of Paradise.\n\nConnected with the church is the _Sagro Convento_, which is entered by\nan arched passage lined with portraits of distinguished Franciscans.\nThere are four large cloisters, now solitary but for the ascetic forms\npainted on their walls, and the silent tombs of the dead friars. Long\ncorridors, lined with saints of the Order, lead to the narrow cells\nintended for the living. Two refectories were shown us, one large\nenough to contain two hundred and fifty persons, with _Silentium_ in\ngreat letters on the wall over the fine Cenacolo by Solimena. Opposite\nthe latter is a Crucifixion by Adone Doni, with Jerusalem and Assisi\nin the background, and SS. Francis and Clare at the foot of the cross.\nNarrow tables extended around the room, with seats against the wall on\nwhich the _Benedicite_ is carved.\n\nBut the most striking feature of this vast monastery is the immense\ngallery on the western side, like an arcade on the brink of a\nprecipice, with a torrent in the depths below. This was constructed by\nSixtus IV., whose statue is at one end. It affords a grand view over\nthe whole Umbrian valley. Montefalco, Spello, and Perugia are in full\nsight; below is the Porziuncula; in the distance the purple Apennines,\nwith the glorious Italian sky over all. One needs no better book of\ndevotion than this page of nature.\n\nOn the other side of the monastery the windows look down on the garden\nof the friars with charming walks on the side of the mountain amid\nolives and cypresses.\n\nIt was not till the second morning we began to explore Assisi. What\nqueer old lanes, up and down hill, we passed along, the walls covered\nwith moss and ferns out of which green lizards darted! The streets\nwere grassy and noiseless, being mostly inaccessible to carriages.\nCoats-of-arms are sculptured over many of the massive old portals,\naccompanied, perhaps, with some religious symbol. On one was _Viva\nGesu e Maria!_ Another had _Ubi Deus ibi pax_. Every few moments we\ncame to a lovely fresco of the Madonna\u2014too beautiful a flower to bloom\non the rough highways of life. Everything was old and quaint, and in\nharmony with the traditions of the place; everything redolent of the\nmiddle ages and of the memory of St. Francis. Assisi is full of\nmonuments that perpetuate some incident of his life. There is _San\nFrancesco il Piccolo_\u2014Little St. Francis\u2014an oratory on the site of the\nstable where he was born, with the inscription:\n\n Hoc oratorium fuit bovis et asini stabulum\n In quo natus est Franciscus mundi speculum;\n\n\u2014This chapel was the stable of an ox and ass, wherein was born\nFrancis, the mirror of the world.[197]\n\nThe _Chiesa Nuova_\u2014the _New Church_, but over two hundred and sixty\nyears old\u2014was built by Philip III. of Spain on the site of the house\nof Pietro Bernardone, the father of St. Francis, and has always been\nunder the protection of the Spanish crown. It is in the form of a\nGreek cross, with five domes in memory of the five mystic wounds of\nthe saint. Over the entrance are graven the arms of Spain. A flock of\nwhite pigeons was around the door. A young friar with mild, pleasant\neyes came forward in his brown habit to show us the church. Some\nportions of the original house of Bernardone have been preserved;\namong others, a low, round arch with an old door held together by iron\nclamps. And at the left is the low cell in which St. Francis was\nconfined three days by his father for selling some of his goods to\nrepair San Damiano. In it is a statue of the saint, kneeling with\nfolded hands, before which we found flowers and a burning lamp. Around\nthe central dome are statues of celebrated Franciscans: St. Louis of\nToulouse, St. Clare, St. Diego, and St. Elizabeth of Hungary. In the\npresbytery is shown St. Francis\u2019 chamber.\n\nIn the bishop\u2019s palace is the room where St. Francis stripped off his\ngarments in the presence of his father, and the bishop covered him\nwith his mantle. It contains a painting of the scene.\n\nThere is an oratory where once dwelt Bernard de Quintavalle, the first\ndisciple of Francis. Here he saw the saint upon his knees all night,\nweeping and exclaiming, _Deus meus et omnia_\u2014My God and my all! and\nconceived such a veneration for him that he\n\n \u201cDid bare his feet, and in pursuit of peace,\n So heavenly, ran, yet deemed his footing slow.\u201d\n\nThe church of St. Nicholas is where they consulted the Gospel to know\nwhat manner of life they should lead.\n\nOn our way to all these places, so touching to the heart of a\nCatholic, we passed the theatre named for Metastasio, who was enrolled\namong the citizens of Assisi, and whose father was a native of the\nplace. We visited likewise the portico of the temple of Minerva, now a\nchurch, which is one of the finest specimens of Greek art in Italy.\nGoethe stopped at Assisi on purpose to visit it, but, like our own\nHawthorne after him, passed by the marvels of art around the tomb of\nSt. Francis.\n\nIt must not be supposed that all this while we have forgotten St.\nClare, the moon in the heavens of the Franciscan Order, of which St.\nFrancis is the sun, as Lope de Vega, the celebrated Spanish poet, and,\nby the way, a Franciscan tertiary, says:\n\n \u201cCielo es vuestra religion\n Y como sol haveis sido,\n Quereis que haya luna Clara\n Mas que su mismo appellido.\u201d\n\nWe now went to visit her shrine, which is in the church of _Santa\nChiara_, on the very edge of the hill at the western extremity of\nAssisi. The so-called piazza in front is rather a broad terrace from\nwhich one looks directly down on the tops of the olives below. The\nchurch is of the purest Gothic style of the thirteenth century, with\nenormous flying buttresses to preserve it from earthquakes. Its lofty\ncampanile with open arches is one of the prominent features of Assisi.\nAdjoining is the monastery of Clarists, that looks more like a castle\nwith ramparts and battlements. We entered the sculptured portal\nbetween two lions growling over their cubs, and found ourselves in a\ngreat church without aisles, almost without ornament, cold, severe,\nand deserted. It was once nearly covered with paintings, of which only\na few remain. Over the main altar are encircled some of the celebrated\nvirgin saints who early gave their souls to heaven: Agnes, Cecilia,\nCatherine, Lucy, Clare\u2014a _Corona Virginum_ indeed, full of delicacy\nand expression, painted by Giottino. In a side chapel is an\ninteresting old picture of St. Clare, said to have been painted by\nCimabue thirty years after her death. It represents her with noble but\ndelicate features, a fair complexion and smiling lips, and majestic in\nform. In fact, she was of uncommon stature. The body of her sister\nAgnes is in a tomb over the altar.\n\nThis church was first known as St. George\u2019s, but took the name of St.\nClare after her body was brought here for burial. Here the\ncanonization of St. Francis took place. Through a grate that looks\ninto the nuns\u2019 chapel, we saw by the light of a candle the old\nByzantine crucifix\u2014of the tenth century, at least\u2014which spoke to\nFrancis at San Damiano: _Vade, Francisce, et repara domum meam qu\u00e6\nlabitur_. It is painted on wood, with the Maries and St. John at the\nfoot, and angels hovering over the arms of the cross.\n\nA broad staircase leads down from the nave to the subterranean chapel\nrecently constructed for the shrine of St. Clare. Her sacred remains,\nby the permission of Pius IX., were, in 1850, taken out of the narrow\nrecess in the rock where they had lain five hundred and ninety years.\nAll the bones were found perfect. One hand was on her breast, the\nother at her side with the remains of some fragrant flowers. On her\nhead was a wreath of laurel, the leaves still green and flexible; and\nscattered around her were leaves of wild thyme. These remains were\nborne solemnly through the city she and St. Francis have made so\nillustrious. Children strewed the way before them with flowers and\ngreen leaves, after the fashion of Italy, and young maidens followed\nwith lilies in their hands. In this manner they were taken to the\n_Sagro Convento_, stopping at six convents on the way, and brought\nback at night by the light of torches. They are now in a beautiful\nGothic chapel, partly due to the liberality of Pius IX. Two nuns in\ngray showed us the shrine. St. Clare lies on a rich marble couch, with\na lily in her hand, and the rules of her rigid order on her breast,\nsurrounded by lamps. We also saw some of the long, fair hair cut off\nat the Porziuncula, and some of the fine linen she spun with her own\nhands.\n\nPassing through an old gateway a little beyond _Santa Chiara_, we left\nthe city and strolled leisurely down the long, steep side of the\nmountain, along a charming road lined with hedges and groves of\nolive-trees. The fields were bright with poppies, the trees melodious\nwith birds, and the burning sun of Italy as intense as the soul of St.\nFrancis, who must often have trod the same path. At length we came to\na Madonna in a niche, at the corner of a group of buildings, with a\nfew faded flowers before her, and, in a minute more, to an old church\nand monastery that looked as if they needed again the restoring hand\nof St. Francis. This is San Damiano, homely and simple, but like a\nbird\u2019s nest on the mountain-side, half hid among olives which, gnarled\nand twisted and split asunder, looked as old as the convent itself. It\nseemed a fit dove-cot for the gentle Clare and her companions, whom\nSt. Francis established here in quietness and solitude.\n\nA small court leads to the church, before which is a portico with a\nfresco of St. Clare repulsing the Saracens. These Saracens were in the\nemploy of Frederick II. On their way to attack Assisi, ravaging the\ncountry as they went, they came to San Damiano, and scaled the convent\nwalls in the night. The poor nuns, in their terror, took refuge around\nthe bed of St. Clare, who, though ill, rose by the aid of two sisters,\nand, taking the Blessed Sacrament in her hands, she went forth on the\nbalcony, chanting in a loud voice: \u201cThou hast rebuked the heathen,\nthou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever\nand ever!\u201d This unexpected apparition in the darkness of night, amid\nthe light that streamed around the uplifted Host, so terrified the\ninfidel band that they took immediate flight. All Assisi resounded\nwith hymns of joy. But a few days after they returned anew, vowing to\ntake the city. Then Clare and her companions covered their heads with\nashes, and, prostrating themselves before the altar, wept and prayed\ntill the enemy was dispersed by the valiant citizens. This was on the\n22d of June, 1234, on which day the inhabitants of Assisi vowed an\nannual pilgrimage to San Damiano in gratitude for their deliverance.\n\nEverything in this convent has been left in its primitive simplicity.\nThe bell is merely suspended from the wall. The rafters are bare. The\nbuildings are of unpolished stone. Everything bears the impress of the\nevangelical poverty its inmates embraced. But nature supplies what is\nlacking in art. The site is delicious. The view from the terrace is\nlovely, with the dear Porziuncula in the distance, and the fertile\nvalley radiant in the sun.\n\nSeveral steps lead down into the little, sombre church, which is only\nlighted by two small windows. There are some old frescos on the wall,\na few votive offerings falling to pieces, tarnished wooden\ncandlesticks on the altars, and faded flowers, as if fresh ones would\nbe out of keeping. In an oratory at the right is a miraculous\ncrucifix, carved out of wood by a Franciscan friar in the sixteenth\ncentury. The head is said to have been finished by an angel while the\nartist slept, and, in fact, has a wonderful expression, which changes\nwith different points of view. On the steps of the altar beneath sat a\nchild with olive complexion and coal-black eyes, eating a crust. She\nlooked as if she might have been left behind by the Saracens. Not\nanother soul was in the church. She had doubtless strayed in from a\nneighboring house with the usual liberty of the free-and-easy\nItalians, who have nothing of the awe of northern nations in the house\nof God.\n\nOn the left side of the church are several objects that belonged to\nSt. Clare\u2014a bell with too sharp a sound for so sweet a saint, her\nbreviary, and the ivory ciborium, curiously carved, with which she\nrepulsed the infidel host.\n\nGoing through the chancel, we came to the choir of the first Clarists,\nprecisely as it was in the thirteenth century\u2014small, dim, and of\nextreme simplicity. The pavement is of brick. The stalls are plain\nwooden seats, now worm-eaten, which turn back on wooden pivots. There\nis only one narrow window with little panes set in lead. The decayed\ndoor turns on a wooden bar inserted in grooves. Old lecterns stand in\nthe centre, and the list of St. Clare\u2019s first companions, who sang\nhere the divine praises, hangs on the wall. In one corner is the\nrecess where the wall gave way to hide St. Francis from the fury of\nhis father. The saint is here painted in the red Tuscan vest of the\ntime, such as we see in pictures of Dante.\n\nBy this time the guardian of the church had arrived, and he took us\ninto the refectory, which is gloomy and time-stained, with low Gothic\narches, once frescoed. There are two windows with leaded panes, and\nworm-eaten tables around the blackened walls, with the place in one\ncorner occupied by St. Clare. At one end is painted the miracle of the\nloaves, now half effaced; for it was here Pope Innocent IV., who had\ncome to visit the saint, commanded her to bless the frugal repast.\nConfused, she knelt down and made the sign of the cross over the\ntable, which was miraculously imprinted on each of the loaves.\n\nThen we went up the brick stairs, through narrow passages, past the\nsmall cell of Sister Agnes, with its one little window looking down\ninto an old cloister with a well in the centre, and came to St.\nClare\u2019s oratory, where she performed her devotions when too infirm to\ndescend to the choir. Close by is the room where she died, poor and\nsimple, unpainted beams overhead, and the pavement of brick. The lover\nof art finds nothing here to please the eye, but to the religious soul\nthere is a world of moral beauty. Here Pope Innocent IV. came to see\nher on her death-bed. \u201cKnow, O my soul!\u201d she exclaimed as she was\ndying, \u201cthou hast a good viaticum to go with thee, an excellent guide\nto show thee the way. Fear not. Be tranquil, for He who created thee,\nand has always watched over thee with the tender love of a mother for\nher child, now comes with his sanctifying grace. Blessed be thou, O\nLord! because thou hast created me.\u201d\n\nOne of the nuns asked to whom she was speaking so lovingly. \u201cDear\ndaughter,\u201d replied she, \u201cI am talking to my blessed soul.\u201d Then\nturning to another sister, she said: \u201cSeest thou not, my daughter, the\nKing of Glory whom I behold?\u201d And their eyes being opened, they saw a\ngreat company of celestial virgins clothed in white coming down out of\nheaven with the Queen of all saints at their head. And her soul at\nonce departed to join them.\n\nThe death of St. Clare is the subject of one of Murillo\u2019s\nmasterpieces, a picture that resumes, as M. Nettement says, all the\nhopes and fears of Italy. The earth is wrapped in darkness. The\nsick-chamber, with its inmates, is veiled in obscurity. But the\nheavenly Jerusalem opens, dispersing the gloom and lighting up with\nits splendor the face of the dying nun, which beams like a star on\neverything around her. Such is the church, threatened on the one hand\nby the thick darkness of the world, but cheered on the other by a\nnever-failing light from heaven like a great hope.\n\n Ave, Mater humilis,\n Ancilla Crucifixi,\n Clara, virgo nobilis,\n Discipula Francisci,\n Ad c\u0153lestem gloriam\n Fac nos proficisci. Amen\n\nA steep mountain-path through the woods leads north of Assisi to the\n_Eremo delle Carcere_, composed of a cluster of houses among the\nilex-trees, and five or six cells hollowed in the cliffs, to which St.\nFrancis and his first disciples used to retire when they wished to\ngive themselves up to the bliss of uninterrupted contemplation. No\nplace could be more favorable for such a purpose. The wooded mountain,\nthe wild ravine, the profound silence, the solitary paths, the sky of\nItaly\u2014and God. What more did they need? There is the cave of St.\nFrancis with the crucifix, carved with skill and expression, which he\nused to carry with him in his evangelical rounds, and the couch of\nstone on which he took his slight repose. Near by is the evergreen oak\nwhere the birds, who once received his blessing, still sing the\npraises of God. A place is pointed out where the demon who had tempted\nhim cast himself despairingly into the abyss; and below is the _Fosco\ndelle Carcere_, where flowed the turbulent stream which so disturbed\nthe hermits in their devotions that St. Francis prayed its course\nmight be stayed; and for six hundred years it has only flowed before\nsome special disaster to the land. As may be supposed, it has not\nfailed, as we were assured, to flow in abundance ever since the day\nVictor Emanuel set his foot in the Pontifical States.\n\nEvery branch of the Franciscan Order has a house at Assisi, but most\nof these communities have been dispersed by the Italian government.\nPeople are at liberty to dress in purple and fine linen, and indulge\nin every earthly pleasure; but to do penance, to put on sandals and a\nbrown habit, and \u201cclothe one\u2019s self in good St. Francis\u2019 girdle,\u201d is\nquite another affair. Besides, the Franciscans are traditionally the\nfriends of the people, and the influence they once exerted against the\nGerman emperors who oppressed Italy may not be forgotten. Frederick\nthe Second\u2019s ministers said the Minor Friars were a more formidable\nobstacle to encounter than a large army. The tertiaries of the middle\nages exercised great influence in the moral and political world. They\ncreated institutions of mutual credit in the thirteenth century. At\nthe voice of St. Rose, who belonged to the third order, Viterbo rose\nup against Frederick II.\n\nThis branch of the seraphic order embraced all classes of society. One\nhundred and thirty-four emperors, queens, and princesses are said to\nhave belonged to it, among whom were Louis IX. of France, the Emperor\nCharles V. of Germany, Maria Theresa of Austria, etc. Christopher\nColumbus, Raphael, and Michael Angelo were also tertiaries. Princes\nassumed the cord on their arms, like Francis I., Duke of Brittany, who\nadded the motto: _Plus qu\u2019autre_, as if he, more than any one, revered\nthe saint whose name he bore. Giotto has painted a Franciscan\nascending to heaven by means of his girdle, and Lope de Vega makes use\nof the same image in his ode to St. Francis:\n\n \u201cVuestra cordon es la escala\n De Jacob, pues hemos visto\n Por los nudos de sus passos\n Subir sobre el cielo empireo\n No gigantes, sino humildes.\u201d[198]\n\n\n [192] The upper church is of the Gothic style; the lower\n one, Lombard; and the crypt, Grecian.\n\n [193] Ozanam.\n\n [194] Dante\u2019s actual words:\n\n \u201cWith Christ she mounted on the cross,\n When Mary stayed beneath.\u201d\n\n [195] In this allegory we have followed, in part the\n interpretation of M. Ozanam.\n\n [196] This is carved.\n\n [197] Several other saints have had the happiness of being\n born in a stable, as St. Joseph de Copertino and St.\n Camillo de Lellis; the latter from a pious wish of his\n mother that he might come into the world like the Son of\n God.\n\n [198] Your cord is the ladder of Jacob; we have seen not\n the mighty, but the lowly of heart, mount up by its knots\n to the empyreal heaven.\n\n\n\n\nSIX SUNNY MONTHS.\n\nBY THE AUTHOR OF \u201cTHE HOUSE OF YORKE,\u201d \u201cGRAPES AND THORNS,\u201d ETC.\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nA LITTLE PLOT.\n\n\nThe next morning the girls set their possessions in order, brought out\nthe few books they had thought worth while to take with them, and the\nlittle ornaments they had bought by the way, and scattered them about\nthe rooms.\n\nAmong these objects was a large and populous photograph-book, which\nIsabel displayed to the Signora, introducing the strangers to her, and\nrecalling to her memory the friends whose faces had changed beyond her\nrecognition.\n\n\u201cThis is Louis Marion,\u201d she said; \u201cand I shouldn\u2019t be surprised if we\nwere to see him here before long. We must introduce him to you\u2014that\nis, if he should call on us. He used to be a great friend of ours,\nbut, for some reason or other, he grew a little cool before we left,\nand didn\u2019t even come to say good-by. I never could understand what was\nthe matter. May be it wasn\u2019t anything; and we were in such a bustle of\npreparation and taking leave of everybody that there was no chance to\nask for explanations.\u201d\n\nThe Signora looked with interest at this picture; for the person,\nthough a stranger, had been much in her mind of late. His looks\npleased her. It was a good face, not too handsome, but with fine eyes,\nand an appearance of strength softened here and there by some delicate\nfinish. She had hoped most decidedly that he would come, and a letter\nwhich she had received that morning made her desire his coming more\nthan before.\n\n\u201cI have no patience with Isabel Vane,\u201d the writer declared\nenergetically. \u201cShe is so wrapped up in herself, and so insensitive,\nthat delicacy is quite thrown away on her. She is one of those persons\nwho think no one can talk except those who will interrupt and talk\nloudly, and so, with the greatest apparent unconsciousness, she\nmonopolizes all the attention of their friends, and sets Bianca aside\nas if she were a nobody. It never occurs to her that a gentleman may\nadmire her sister; and yet Bianca is very much admired, in an odd,\nprovoking kind of way. Most people, you know, attend to the loudest\ntalker; and in the presence of Isabel her sister was sometimes almost\nneglected, even by those who were constantly thinking of her. Anybody\nwith two eyes could see that Louis Marion liked her, and I am sure she\nthought he did, and that there was a sort of tacit understanding\nbetween them. They didn\u2019t talk much together, but I\u2019ve seen them\nmanage to be near each other, and where they could hear each other\u2019s\nvoices, and one of them never left the company without glancing back\nand receiving a glance in return. At length, I don\u2019t know how it came\nabout, but Isabel seemed to take his attentions to herself, and may be\nshe said something about him to Bianca. Then a coldness grew up\nbetween her and Marion, and a thousand little complications helped it\non, and he began to absent himself from the house, and Bianca\npretended not to see him unless he came to speak to her, and so they\nseparated, and all in consequence of the stupid conceit of a girl whom\nI could shake with a good will.\u201d\n\nWe need not quote the letter further, though the writer, in the\nfulness of her heart, added several pages of amplifications on the\ntheme, all which the Signora had read and re-read.\n\nBianca was arranging books on the table when the photograph-book was\nopened. She continued her employment a few minutes; but when they\napproached the page where Louis Marion\u2019s picture was she turned away,\nand when his name was mentioned she was leaning out of the window,\nmuch interested apparently, in something going on in the street.\n\n\u201cWhose photographs are these?\u201d the Signora asked.\n\n\u201cOh! they are all family friends,\u201d was the reply. \u201cI might say they\nare mine, for I asked for the most of them. Neither papa nor Bianca\nwould have thought of it. But they belong to the firm.\u201d\n\nThe Signora prided herself on being a rather exceptionally honest and\nstraightforward woman; but at this moment a very complicated little\nplot was forming itself in her mind. She could guess with how tender\nan interest Bianca might regard this photograph, but how impossible it\nmight be for her to show anything but the utmost indifference to it,\nand how, sometimes, it might be a pleasure to contemplate it when she\nwould not venture to do so. She could guess that it had been really\ngiven for her sake, though she had not been the one to ask for it, and\nwhat faint bloom of a downcast smile the gentleman might have seen in\nher face when it was put in its place.\n\n\u201cIt is a darkish face, and the least in the world too small for the\nplace,\u201d the Signora said; \u201cand so is this one next it.\u201d\n\nA word of cool depreciation is enough to take the lustre from a star\nwith most people, and Miss Isabel Vane was no exception. If one abuses\na person\u2019s friends or ridicules their possessions, they may be stirred\nto anger; but that dispassionate, slighting way gives the deadliest of\nshocks to friendship.\n\n\u201cIt scarcely does him justice,\u201d the young lady owned; \u201cand, as you\nsay, the photographs are a little too small for their places. I must\nask Marion for another when he comes, if he should come. The other I\ndo not care about. He was simply put in to fill up. I must buy four\nmore to put in these vacant places.\u201d\n\n\u201cStay!\u201d the Signora said. \u201cI have some which are worth more than\nmerely to fill the vacant places; they will adorn the book.\u201d\n\nShe brought from her room a little box of card-photographs, and began\nto select from them. \u201cHere is the Holy Father on his knees before what\nseems to be the statue of St. Joseph holding the Child; and here are\nfour cardinals and a patriarch. See how well they fit in! Do you mind\nmy taking these two out?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! no.\u201d Isabel was too much pleased with these notable additions to\nher gallery to care for the two indifferent acquaintances who made\nroom for them. But as the Signora carelessly, and quite as a matter of\ncourse, tossed the two cards into the box where their substitutes had\nbeen, she saw that Bianca had turned from the window and was regarding\nthem. Even in the half glance she cast she could know that the turning\nhad been sudden, and that the girl\u2019s head was held very high.\n\nThe Signora rose. \u201cWell, children, if we are going to _Santa Croce_ we\nmust start in an hour. It is a great _festa_ there, and I think there\nwill be a crowd. Didn\u2019t Bianca promise to braid my hair in a wonderful\nnew way? I remembered it this morning, and have only given my locks a\ntwist about the comb, and they are on the point of falling about my\nshoulders in the most romantic manner.\u201d\n\nShe would not seem to see the faint shade of disturbance with which\nBianca followed her from the room. She well knew that in seeming to\nslight the one that tender heart held dear she had chilled the heart\ntoward herself; but that was not to last long, neither the pain nor\nthe displeasure. She slipped a white dressing-sack on, seated herself\nbefore the long mirror, and shook her hair down. \u201cNow, my dear, make\nme as beautiful as you like,\u201d she said; and, taking the box of\nphotographs she had brought with her on her lap, began to turn them\nover. \u201cYou had better take charge of these,\u201d she remarked, laying the\ntwo at the top aside before beginning her survey of the others.\n\nBianca said nothing, but her hands, combing out the long, fair locks,\nwere a little unsteady, and her face blushed in the mirror, a swift,\nstartled blush.\n\n\u201cThree strands, my dear,\u201d the Signora said. \u201cI never fancied a braid\nof any other sort for the hair. More than three strands always seems\nto me like a market-basket on the head of a market-woman. I always\nthought very elaborate hair-dressing vulgar and unbecoming. I like the\nway yours is done this morning.\u201d\n\nBianca\u2019s hair was in a few large satin-smooth curls tied back with a\nribbon of so fresh a green as to be almost gold, and the Signora knew\nthat, after a careful brushing, five minutes had accomplished all the\nrest. There were no curl-papers nor hot irons; it was only to brush\nthe tress about the pretty fore-finger, and it dropped in glossy coil\non coil.\n\n\u201cMany people do not like curls,\u201d Bianca said. \u201cBut it seems a pity to\nstraighten out and braid curly hair. I think nature meant such hair to\nhave its own way, just like vine tendrils, though the use may not be\nso evident.\u201d\n\nShe spoke with a certain quietness, not cold, yet not cordial, and\nkept her eyes fixed on the braid her skilful fingers were weaving\nrapidly.\n\nThe Signora took up the photographs she had laid aside, glanced at\none, and dropped it, then looked at the other for some time in\nsilence. \u201cWhat fine, earnest eyes he has!\u201d she said at length. \u201cThere\nis even something reproachful in their expression, as if he were\nlooking at one who had doubted him. I do not doubt you, sir. On the\ncontrary, I am disposed to have the utmost confidence in you.\nMoreover, I shall be happy to see you in Rome.\u201d\n\nShe laid the photograph carefully on the other, and, closing her eyes,\nresigned herself entirely to the care of her pretty handmaiden. There\nwas silence for a few minutes while the braids were being finished;\nthen she felt a soft hand slip down each cheek with a caressing touch.\n\u201cOpen your eyes, _carissima mia_,\u201d said a voice as soft, \u201cand tell me\nhow these are to be arranged. Will you have them looped or in a\ncrown?\u201d\n\nThe thin ice was quite melted; and when the hair-dressing was\nfinished, Bianca went off to her own room, bearing the treasure that\nhad been put into her possession in such an artful manner. \u201cIt makes\nme feel very twisted to act in such a crooked way; but if it is a\ncrooked it isn\u2019t a dark way. And the dear child is so happy!\u201d the\nSignora thought.\n\nA shower was passing to the south when our party came out of the\nchurch at noon, and the sun was so veiled that they sent their\ncarriage on, and walked from _Santa Croce_ to St. John Lateran. They\ncould see a pearly stream of water pouring down far away from a dark\nspot in the sky to a dark spot on the earth; but the clouds over their\nheads were as tender and delicate as the shadows of maidenhair ferns\nabout a fountain. They lingered till every one had passed them, and,\nwhen they came to the last mulberry-tree of the beautiful avenue,\nthere was left only a _contadino_ lounging on the stone bench there.\nHe was a spectacle of faded rags and superb contentment, and seemed to\nhave neither desire nor intention to leave the place for hours; but\nwhen he saw them look longingly at the seat, he rose, saluted them\nwith an indescribably shabby hat, in which were stuck three fresh\nroses, and relinquished the bench to them.\n\nBianca sighed with delight as she glanced about, but said nothing. The\nothers seemed disposed to talk.\n\n\u201cI heard this morning, Signora, what made me understand your\nadmiration for the Italian language,\u201d Mr. Vane said. \u201cWhile you three\nwere in the church I went outside the door, and presently, as I stood\nthere, I heard two men talking behind me. Of course I did not\nunderstand a word they said, but I listened attentively. I never heard\nsuch exquisite spoken sounds in my life. The questions and replies\nmade me think of the beautiful incised wreaths and sprigs on your\ncandelabra. There wasn\u2019t a syllable blurred, as we constantly hear in\nour own language; but I am sure every word was pronounced perfectly.\nWhen the two seemed to be going, I looked round and saw two Capuchin\nmonks with bare ankles, and robes faded out to a dull brick-color.\u201d\n\n\u201cThose same faded robes may cover very accomplished men,\u201d the Signora\nsaid. \u201cSome of them are fine preachers. I wish we had more preaching\nin Rome. One very seldom hears a sermon. The first one I heard made\nthe same impression on me, as to the language, that the talk of these\nmonks has made on you. I did not understand, but I was charmed. It\nreminded me of\u2014Landor, wasn\u2019t it? writing of Porson:\n\n \u201c\u2018So voluble, so eloquent,\n You little heeded what he meant.\u2019\n\nThat was in St. Philip Neri\u2019s Church.\u201d\n\n\u201cDulness is inexcusable in a Catholic preacher in any language,\u201d Mr.\nVane said. \u201cIf they should not have much talent of their own, they\nhave such a wealth to draw from\u2014all the beautiful legends and customs,\nand the grand old authors, and the lives of the saints. A dull\nProtestant preacher has the Bible, it is true; but, as a rule, I find\nthat only the eloquent ones use that source of wealth freely, or know\nhow to use it. One of the most eloquent Catholic preachers I ever\nheard used to make his strongest hits by simply refraining from\nspeech. I recollect one sermon of his where he spoke of St. Augustine,\nwhom I thought he was going to describe, but whom he made appear more\nbrilliant by not describing. \u2018His genius,\u2019 he began, then stopped,\nseemed to search for words, at last threw his head back and clasped\nhis hands. \u2018Oh! the genius of St. Augustine,\u2019 he exclaimed. Of course\nthe tribute was more splendid than the most rolling period could have\nbeen. Nearly all his effective climaxes were like that\u2014noble words\nbreaking up into silence, like a Roman arch into a Gothic.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou will have to renounce your Gothic, Bianca,\u201d the Signora said; \u201cat\nleast, while you are in Rome. You won\u2019t even want to see it here, and\nyou may lose your taste for it as church architecture. I sometimes\nthink I have, though I was once enthusiastic about it. Now the single\ncolumn or the massive pier, with the round arch above, seems to me the\nperfect expression of a perfect and serene faith. It is a following of\nthe sky-shape. The complications and subtilty of the Gothic are more\nlike the searching for truth of an aspiring and dissatisfied soul.\nWhen I go from under the noble arches and cupolas of _Santa Maria\nMaggiore_ to the church of _St. Alphonsus Liguori_, just beyond it, I\nreceive an impression of fretfulness and unrest.\u201d\n\n\u201cI should be sorry to give up _Notre Dame de Paris_ and the two\nchurches at Rouen,\u201d Bianca murmured half absently, her soft, bright\neyes gathering in all the beauty within their ken.\n\nIsabel was differently employed. She was busy noting facts in a little\nplethoric book with yellow covers and an elastic strap that she always\ncarried in her pocket. \u201cDo you know how long and how wide this open\nspace between the two basilicas is?\u201d she asked of the Signora, holding\nher lead-pencil suspended.\n\n\u201cOh! it is long enough for a nice walk, you see, and broad enough to\nsee everything at the other side without bumping your eyes. That is\nthe city wall opposite, you know.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like to know how many acres there are,\u201d Isabel said to herself.\n\u201cI believe I could measure it by my eyes. Let me see! It\u2019s a foot to\nthat stone. Five and a half feet make a rod, pole, or perch. Five and\na half that distance would go to the next tree. A rod, then, from me\nto the tree. Now for a rood! Sixteen and a half\u2014no! How I do forget!\nThree barley-corns make one inch, twelve inches make a foot, five and\na half feet make a rod, pole, or perch, sixteen and a half rods,\npoles, or\u2014bah! that isn\u2019t it. Signora, will you be so good as to tell\nme how many rods make a rood?\u2014that is, if it is rods that they make\nroods of. I used to know it, but there\u2019s a hitch somewhere.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow should I know, my dear?\u201d asked the Signora with mild surprise.\n\n\u201cOh! don\u2019t measure things, Bell!\u201d pleaded her sister. \u201cRemember London\nTower.\u201d\n\nFor Miss Vane had presumed to ask the superb \u201cbeef-eater\u201d who escorted\nthem through the Tower how thick might be the walls, the solidity of\nwhich he was enlarging upon, and the cool stare with which he drew the\neyes of the whole party upon her, and the gently sarcastic \u201cI do not\nknow; I have never measured them,\u201d with which he replied, had silenced\nher for the whole afternoon. \u201cThat was because I had asked something\nhe could not answer,\u201d she said, in telling the story. \u201cAnd his manner\nwas so imposing that it was hours before I could rid myself of the\nimpression that I had put a very absurd and improper question. He\ndidn\u2019t refuse sixpence, though, for a piece of ivy from Beauchamp\nTower,\u201d she added, shrugging her shoulders.\n\n\u201cBell,\u201d whispered her sister, \u201cI\u2019ll tell you about the rods and roods,\nif you won\u2019t measure any more.\u201d Then, having received the promise, she\nexplained the \u201chitch,\u201d which has doubtless left its little tangle on\nmany a youthful memory.\n\nA woman with a white handkerchief on her head came along, and beckoned\nto the ragged man with the roses, who was still lounging near, and the\ntwo went off together.\n\n\u201cDid you notice how she beckoned?\u201d the Signora asked. \u201cI always notice\nthat here. They beckon as if indicating the feet, the palm of the hand\nbeing downward, the fingers toward the ground. We beckon with the palm\nand fingers upward, indicating the head. It used to confuse me, and I\nfancied myself sent away with a refusal when I was invited to enter.\nYou will have to learn their signs. A certain shrug and raising of the\neyebrows mean no. Another no\u2014an odious one to me\u2014is to wag to and fro\nthe uplifted forefinger of the right hand. This is nearly always\naccompanied by a compression or puckering up of the mouth. But, my\ndear friends, it is time for luncheon. Shall we go?\u201d\n\nThey rose slowly, and slowly strolled across the open space where art\nand nature lived peacefully together. No busy hands and spades\nuprooted the plots of wild-flowers, infantile little pink convolvuli,\nsnowy daisies, and all their blue and yellow kin, that had sprung up\nhere and there in the gravelled plain, or the detached tiny plants\nthat make each its own solitude, spreading its small leaves out over\nthe pebbles, and raising its delicate head freely, as if to induce the\npasser-by to pause and admire for once the exquisite grace of the\nweeds he despised.\n\n\u201cI wonder if any one but Ruskin ever stopped to look at weeds!\u201d the\nSignora said. \u201cIt was he, I think, taught me. I first thought of it on\nseeing an illustration in _Modern Painters_. It was a bit of\nweed-covered earth seen close, as one would see it when lying on the\nground\u2014only a little tangle of leaves and grasses; but, touched by his\npen and pencil, its beauty was revealed.\u201d\n\n\u201cI sometimes think,\u201d Bianca said, \u201cthat it is a mercy we cannot see\nall the beauty there is about us; for, if we did, we should do nothing\nbut stand and stare for ever.\u201d\n\n\u201cOne might do worse than stand and stare at beauty for ever,\u201d her\nfather replied. \u201cI\u2019ve no great opinion of business.\u201d\n\nShe slipped her hand in his arm before answering, knowing that\ninaction was a subject that always found him a little sensitive. \u201cThat\ndepends, you know,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen the business is to make your tea\nor hem your handkerchief, why it wouldn\u2019t do for me to be going into\ntrances.\u201d\n\nIsabel took his other arm. \u201cBut when the business is measuring places\nfor the pleasure of knowing and telling how large they are, or when it\nis taking the census, or any of those countings of units, then he\ndespises it.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhen the business is poking a nose in other people\u2019s business, I\ncertainly object to it,\u201d he said.\n\nWalking along, he drew the two fair hands that clung to him into his\nown, and clasped them together against his breast, smiling down into\nthe girls\u2019 upturned faces; and for a moment the three, in their mutual\naffection and confidence, forgot the Signora. She walked on in front\nof them, her eyes cast down, and seemed to desire to remain apart. A\nsilence fell upon them all\u2014perhaps a sense of the silence about them,\nor perhaps that silence that always follows an expression of deep and\ntender affection, as when through the light and varied chat of a\ncompany is heard the tone of a musical instrument, and all the talk\nceases for a moment; or, it may be, some touch from within or from\nwithout had reminded them that it was the day of the Holy Cross.\n\nThe drive home was very quiet, the Signora pointing out now and then\nsome object of superlative interest as they passed it. \u201cThis is St.\nClement\u2019s, an ancient church over a still more ancient church. Mustn\u2019t\nit be delightful to go digging under your house some day to repair a\ndrain, or do some such thing, and presently come across the arch of a\nburied door, then, digging farther, find the whole door, then a mosaic\npavement and a column of verde-antique, and so on, till a whole temple\nis revealed where you expected to find only earth and stones? Some\nsuch thing happened here. There is the Roman Forum a little beyond.\nNeed I introduce this ruin to you?\u201d\n\nShe pointed to the Colosseum, and then left them to their reflections.\n\u201cDrive through the _Via della Croce Bianca_,\u201d she said to the\ncoachman, \u201cand under the _Arco dei_ _Pontani_. Then pass _Santa Maria\nin Monti_, and go up _Via de\u2019 Santa Pudentiana_.\u201d\n\nShe saw them look eagerly at the beautiful fragments of Pallas Minerva\nand Mars Ultor she had chosen the route to show them; but they asked\nno questions, and she volunteered no explanations.\n\nWhen they reached home the windows were all closed, and the curtains\nand _persiane_ half drawn for coolness, and there was such a fragrance\nin the rooms that they all exclaimed. Every tall vase was crowded full\nof roses pink and yellow, and every little one held a bunch of deep\npurple violets.\n\n\u201cCould any one leave a prettier card?\u201d the Signora asked, displaying\nher treasures. \u201cWhen I find heaps of violets and roses in the spring,\nI always know who has been here during my absence. It is Mr. Coleman,\u201d\nnaming her bachelor friend of the semi-weekly cup of tea. \u201cI bespeak\nfor him a kind place in your regards. He is faithful, honest,\nobliging, and refined. I am under obligations to him for many\nkindnesses.\u201d\n\n\u201cMarion says that violets are the Mayflowers of Italy,\u201d Isabel\nremarked; \u201cthat they come as plentifully at the same time, and are\nsold as universally, as the trailing arbutus in New England.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd see what a deep blue they are!\u201d the Signora said, leading the\nconversation away from Marion. \u201cThese came from the Villa Borghese. I\nknow by the color. Oh! the fields are full of flowers now. You will,\nperhaps, see some this evening. There are almost always a few people\ncome in this night of the week\u2014people who never find me at any other\ntime. It isn\u2019t a reception, you know. I don\u2019t bind myself. Among them\nwill be your Italian teacher; so you can arrange when to begin\nstudying. I sent him a note this morning. And, stay! Apropos of\nviolets, I have something lovely to show you.\u201d\n\nShe opened a little case that the servant had given her as she\nentered. \u201cThese were left while we were out. I had ordered some\nchanges to be made in them. See! they are the Borghese violets set in\ndew and petrified.\u201d\n\nThe case contained a brooch, a pair of bracelets and sleeve-buttons,\nall of plain and highly polished silver, in each of which was set a\nlarge, deep-purple amethyst.\n\n\u201cWhy did I never think of a silver setting?\u201d Bianca exclaimed. \u201cI\nalways admired amethysts till they were set; then I found them spoilt.\nIt was the ugly purple and yellow contrast. These are lovely, and just\nsuit you, _Signora mia_. How I wish I could wear such things!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd why can you not?\u201d Mr. Vane asked, with all the simplicity of a\nman who can admire results without understanding what produces them.\n\n\u201cBecause they would make me look like a starless twilight,\u201d the girl\nreplied. \u201cI should be obliged to paint my cheeks if I put on such\ncolors. Poor me! I could wear only rubies, or opals, or diamonds,\nperhaps emeralds set in diamonds.\u201d\n\nHer father\u2019s face assumed that sad and troubled expression a man\u2019s\nface always wears when one he loves wishes for something out of his\npower to give. \u201cAre you not rather young, my dear, to wear much\njewelry?\u201d he asked doubtfully.\n\n\u201cHe thinks I am pining for trinkets,\u201d she said smilingly. \u201cCertainly,\npapa, I am altogether too young, and am, moreover, disinclined to wear\nit. Don\u2019t look so sad about it! My ribbons and flowers satisfy me\nquite. I shall beg some rosebuds of the Signora for this evening, and\nyou shall see how much prettier they will be than rubies, besides\nhaving perfume, which rubies have not.\u201d\n\nIsabel had arranged the bracelets around her neck, and fastened the\nbrooch in her lace ruffle.\n\n\u201cThey do make one look three shades darker,\u201d she said, and sighed\ndeeply in taking them off. \u201cI would like to go dressed in jewels from\nhead to foot,\u201d she added.\n\nBut, as Isabel was always sighing to possess every beautiful thing she\nsaw, and, if it were possible, would have had the Vatican for her\nabode and St. Peter\u2019s for a private chapel, nobody took her longings\nvery much to heart; the less so, moreover, as she managed to live a\nvery gay and happy life in spite of those unsatisfied longings.\n\nOther pretty things had come in during their morning\u2019s absence: a pile\nof books, old copies of the Italian poets newly bound over in white\nvellum with red edges to the leaves, a pile of Roman photographs which\nwere to be sent to America, and a collection of little squares of\nmarbles, porphyries, and alabasters, a stone rainbow, destined also\nfor America.\n\n\u201cBut we need photographs in Rome,\u201d the Signora said. \u201cLooking at them,\nwe discover a thousand beauties which we missed when we saw the\noriginal.\u201d\n\nA strange croaking sound drew the attention of the girls to the\nwindows, and they saw a little caravan of crates carried past on\ncarts, going from the railway station to the great markets of the\ncity. Out of the holes in these crates protruded heads and necks of\nevery sort of fowl\u2014turkeys, hens, ducks, and pigeons. The poor\nwretches, huddled and crowded together, seemed to know that they were\non their way to execution, and to implore the pity of the bystanders.\n\nBianca pressed her lips together and said nothing; Isabel leaned out\nand contemplated them with a smile. \u201cThose dear turkeys!\u201d she said\nwith the greatest affection.\n\n\u201cYou like them?\u201d the Signora asked, rather surprised that any one\nshould choose pets so grotesque.\n\n\u201cYes, immensely!\u201d was the reply. \u201cThey\u2019re so nice roasted.\u201d\n\nAnd then, obliterating this painful and awkward reminder of what lay\nunder the surface of their daily comforts, came a piercingly-sweet\nchorus of trumpets, twenty trumpets playing together. A regiment was\npassing, going from a camp in one part of the city to a camp in\nanother part. The men were dressed in gray linen, and, in the\ndistance, were hardly to be distinguished from the street, and their\nbearing was not very soldier-like; but the wild and sunny music gave a\nsoul and meaning to them, and, rising through the hot and silent noon,\nstirred even the most languid pulses.\n\n\u201cWar will never be done away with till trumpets are abolished,\u201d Mr.\nVane said. \u201cI have no doubt that even I should make a very good\nfighter if I had a band of them in full blast at my elbow while the\nbattle lasted. It wouldn\u2019t do for them to stop, though. Fancy a charge\nfor which no trumpet sounded! It would no more go off, you know, than\na gun would without powder. Why doesn\u2019t somebody take care of that\nchild?\u201d he concluded abruptly.\n\nFor a soiled little wretch was sitting directly in the street, on a\ncushion of dust, and staring contentedly at the soldiers as they\npassed, as unconscious and unafraid as if it had been a poppy sprung\nup there between the paving-stones, instead of a human being with a\nbody out of which the soul might be kicked or crushed.\n\n\u201cSomebody is taking care of it,\u201d Bianca said. \u201cEverybody is taking\ncare of it.\u201d\n\nIn fact, the long line of soldiers made a tiny curve to accommodate\nthis bit of humanity, and the tide of life passing at the other side\nmade another, like a brook around a stick or stone. At length a woman,\nnot too much afraid, certainly, snatched the child away, and, in the\nface of the world, administered a sound castigation, the meaning of\nwhich, it was to be hoped, the child understood.\n\n\u201cI never saw such countryfied things happen in any other city,\u201d Mr.\nVane said. \u201cIt is, perhaps, one reason why life here is so\npicturesque. Nobody, except the small class of cultivated people,\nbehaves any differently in public from what they do in private, and\nthe common people do not pretend to be what they are not.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish sometimes that they were a little less sincere,\u201d the Signora\nremarked coldly. \u201cOne could spare that portion of the picturesque\nwhich offends against decency. They seem to have no respect for public\nopinion; though, perhaps,\u201d she added, \u201cpublic opinion here is not\nworthy of much respect. It tolerates strange customs, certainly. The\nworkmen hammer away and saw stone all day Sunday at the house\nopposite, and nobody protests, that I know of. Some clergymen did\nthink of complaining against the work going on on Sunday in the\n_piazza_ above, but it would have been in vain for them, of course.\nLet us go to luncheon, please. I am in danger of becoming ill-natured,\nso many things here annoy me. Do you remember the old Protestant\nmissionary hymn about \u2018Greenland\u2019s icy mountains\u2019? Two lines of it\noften occur to me here:\n\n \u2018Though every prospect pleases,\n And only man is vile.\u2019\n\nI shall think better of them when I have had something to eat. Hunger\nmakes one critical. I fancy that critics are always badly-fed people.\nI\u2019m very sure that if Dr. Johnson had had a comfortable dinner before\nhe sat down to my last book, he would never have cut it up so\u2014the\nbook, I mean. A good roastbeef would have taken the edge quite off his\nblade. A dinner,\u201d said the Signora, waxing eloquent as she seated\nherself at a very pretty and plentiful table\u2014\u201ca dinner is the most\npowerful of engines, and wealth is powerful only because it will\nprocure dinners. A person whom you have fed is obliged to serve you,\nand the person whom you are going to feed never finds you ugly or\nuninteresting.\u201d\n\nBianca contemplated her friend with an expression of grieved\nastonishment. \u201cHow can you talk so with all these flowers in the room\nlistening to you?\u201d she exclaimed.\n\n\u201cBesides, you are going to feed me, but I never saw you so near being\nugly. I think, indeed, you are a little bit ugly.\u201d\n\nThe Signora laughed pleasantly. \u201cIf I had known that the dearest\nflower in the room was going to find a reproachful tongue for me, I\nshould never have uttered such shocking opinions. Never shake your\nsunny locks at me. It was not I who said it; \u2018twas hunger. It was\nBailey\u2019s wolf. You do not know Clive Bailey? He will come this\nevening, and I think you may be interested in him. I must tell you\nabout his wolf. The poor fellow was, at the age of twenty, left poor\nindeed; suddenly found himself without a cent in the world, after\nhaving been brought up with the expectation of a competency, and\nstudiously educated to do nothing. Fortunately, his taste had led him\nto read a good deal, and he had also a fancy for writing fiction. It\nwas being thrown into the sea to learn to swim. He began to write for\nthe cheap newspapers, always intending to find some other employment;\nbut what with the necessity of writing a great deal to keep himself\nalive, and the shock to his sensitive nature of finding himself in\nsuch a situation, he only succeeded in living the life he had stumbled\ninto, without power to make another. It was the old story of poor\nwriters, with, however, a pleasant ending in this case. He managed to\nsqueeze a fair novel out of intervals in his drudge-work, and that won\nhim a better market. In the height of his success he gathered those\nfirst sketches into a volume, and published them, giving the name of\nthe author as A. Wolf, Esq. When somebody, not knowing the book to be\nhis, asked him what Wolf it was who wrote those sketches, he answered:\n\u2018The wolf at my door.\u2019 And he insists that the same wolf is the most\nvoluminous writer the world has ever produced, and that the\ntitle-pages of at least half the books written should bear his name.\n_Buon appetito!_\u201d\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\u201cA FLOCK OF SHEEP THAT LEISURELY PASS BY.\u201d\n\n\nSeveral persons came in that evening from seven to nine. First\nappeared Mr. Coleman, a mild-looking, bald-headed man of an uncertain\nage. Isabel immediately absorbed him. Next followed a new-comer in\nRome, on whose card was inscribed \u201cMr. Geo. Morton.\u201d After having seen\nhim once, the Signora was guilty of dubbing him Mr. Geometrical\nMorton. \u201cHe is ridiculous, but excellent,\u201d she told her friends while\ndescribing him. \u201cHe never laughs, because he thinks there is nothing\nlaughable in creation, every whim of nature, human or inanimate, being\nthe result of a mathematical principle, and every disorder only order\nunder an extraordinary form. Of course this is neither new nor\npeculiar; but he announces it as if it were new, and has a peculiar\nmanner of clapping his measuring instruments on to everything. Not a\nbit of cirrus can pass over the sky nor your mind, but instantly he\nwill tell you the philosophy of it. In fine, he strips everything to\nthe skeleton, and cannot see that it is a bore, but calls it truth, as\nif the flesh and drapery were not truths also, as well as more\ngraceful. I had a quarrel with him when he was here last\u2014or rather, I\ngot out of all patience, and scolded him almost rudely, and he\nlistened and replied with the most irritating patience and politeness.\nI suppose he thought there was some mathematical reason for my being\nangry, and was studying it out with his great, solemn eyes. He\u2019s kind\nand honest, I am sure, and as handsome as a picture. I pity the woman\nhe will choose for a wife, though. If she should scold, he will bring\nout the barometer; if she weep, the rain-gauge; if she should be merry\nand affectionate, he will consult the thermometer. Ugh! he makes me\nfeel all three-cornered.\u201d\n\nThis gentleman made his salutations with the most perfect gravity and\ncourtesy, and, after considering the situation a moment, seated\nhimself by Bianca.\n\n\u201cWell, what conclusions have you arrived at concerning Rome?\u201d he\nasked, after a few preliminary remarks.\n\n\u201cNone,\u201d she replied; \u201cbut I have made a good many beginnings; or I\nmight say I have arrived at some fragmentary conclusions.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs what?\u201d he persisted gently, desirous to make her talk; for she had\nshrunk so shyly from him that her father had come to her other side,\nwhich was _unique_. The young man had not often the opportunity to\nstudy a shy feminine specimen.\n\n\u201cOh! well,\u201d she said doubtingly, then laughed; \u201capropos of papa\u2019s\nchecked clothes, which distress me, I have discovered that the clergy\nare the only well-dressed men in Rome. The others do not look like\ngentlemen. But the long robe, whatever the color of it, and the cloak\nthey are always arranging, are so graceful, the hat is so picturesque,\nand, above all, the buckles on the shoes please me.\u201d\n\n\u201cBelow all, you mean,\u201d her father remarked.\n\nThe young man looked the least in the world disconcerted; for he wore\nevery day a suit of the same objectionable check cloth. Besides, he\nwas not prepared to take on himself the instruction of a young woman\nwhose tall father chose to assist at the lessons, and put in his word\nin season and out of season.\n\nAt this moment Mr. Clive Bailey made his appearance. His bright,\nclever face lighted up at sight of the new-comers, whom he had been\nexpecting with interest, having heard a great deal about them.\n\n\u201cI hope you intend to make Rome your home,\u201d he said to Mr. Vane. \u201cThe\nSignora has suggested such a possibility.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou compliment me more than you do our country,\u201d Mr. Vane replied. \u201cI\nhave been told that it would be unpatriotic for me to prefer any other\ncountry to America as a residence. People talk that way. At the same\ntime I should like to stay, and I have an impression that North\nAmerica, as a whole, will not be aware of my absence.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! I don\u2019t mean to disparage any country,\u201d Mr. Bailey said promptly;\n\u201conly the climate is so hard. Those northeast winds whistle through my\nbutton-holes. By the way, a friend of yours asked me to-day if you had\narrived, and would have come up to-night to see, if he had not been\nengaged: John Adams. You recollect him?\u201d\n\n\u201cJohn Adams? Of course I recollect him. But what brought him here? I\nnever heard him speak of Italy but to abuse it.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh!\u201d the young man said, lowering his voice a little, and glancing at\nthe Signora, who was near them, \u201che was brought by the same reason\nthat brought him before, and will keep him this winter\u2014to wit, to\nwoo.\u201d\n\n\u201cTo woo! To who?\u201d retorted Mr. Vane.\n\n\u201cNot a whit of your to who!\u201d replied the other with a laugh.\n\n\u201cWhat are you quoting Wordsworth for?\u201d asked the Signora, overhearing\nthe last part of their talk.\n\n\u201cApropos of Mr. Adams, Signora,\u201d Mr. Vane said, looking at her\nattentively.\n\nShe blushed and seemed annoyed, and, as if about to say something,\nfinally turned away without speaking. It displeased her to have her\nname used in connection with that of any gentleman, and, besides, she\ndid not mean to marry Mr. John Adams.\n\nHere the door opened with a little breeze and three persons entered: a\nbright-eyed, beautiful young lady with a somewhat Jewish cast of face,\nwho produced the impression that a bird had fluttered in, and,\nfollowing her, a young girl of not more than sixteen, and an elderly\nwoman, evidently a companion.\n\nThe Signora met the new-comer cordially.\n\n\u201cMy dear countess, I do not know whether you are more welcome or\nunexpected.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have but two minutes,\u201d the young lady said in the prettiest\nbreathless manner. \u201cI am just on my way to dine out, and stop to ask a\nfavor. But first let me introduce my friends.\u201d\n\nThey were a young baroness from the Azores Islands, who had spent ten\nyears in Egypt with her father, and was now on her way to her native\ncountry to join her husband, and her lady companion.\n\n\u201cShe has to leave Rome the day after to-morrow,\u201d her friend explained,\n\u201cand wants an introduction to Monsignor M\u2014\u2014. She wishes to take some\nthings from him to a friend of hers; and you know one doesn\u2019t often\nhave an opportunity to send to the Azores direct. Now, dear Signora,\nif you would be so very kind as to introduce her to Monsignor. You\nknow I am not acquainted with him.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will take her to him to-morrow morning,\u201d the Signora said. \u201cBut\nthey need not go now, if you do.\u201d\n\n\u201cI was going to ask your hospitality for them while the carriage takes\nme, for I have to call for cousin Anne. And now, will you do me the\nfavor to make me acquainted with the friends who have come to live\nwith you? I must apologize for my abrupt coming and going.\u201d\n\nShe made her apologies in the most graceful and simple way, and looked\nat Bianca a little lingeringly in meeting her, as if struck by her\nface. \u201cI meant to call on you first,\u201d she said to the sisters, \u201cand\nwill come to-morrow, if you permit me.\u201d\n\nThe Signora followed her out to the landing. \u201cI want a glimpse of your\ndress,\u201d she said. \u201cYou know I never go out after dark; and yet I do so\nlike to see a lady dressed for the evening.\u201d\n\nThe countess smilingly threw back the long white cloak that covered\nher from head to foot, and displayed a beautiful silk robe of so pale\na blue as to be almost white. Pink roses fastened the rich lace in the\nsquare bosom and loose sleeves, and looped the braids of dark hair,\nand she wore no jewels but some large strung pearls on her neck and\nwrists.\n\n\u201cIt is lovely!\u201d the Signora exclaimed, and looked admiringly after the\nlady as she tripped down the stone stairs, holding her rustling robes\nup about her.\n\nGoing back, she found Mr. Coleman and Bianca trying to entertain the\nrather stupid lady companion, Isabel taking her first lesson in\nmathematics, and the girl baroness, a dark, plain, talkative little\ncreature, chatting away in very good English to Mr. Vane.\n\n\u201cI never saw my husband but once,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were always betrothed\nsince we were babies, but his father, the old Baron of Santa Cruz, had\nhim sent to school in Lisbon, and I was always in a convent. My mamma\nwas dead, and I had no brothers nor sisters, and papa was in Egypt. He\nhas a high office there. Then Pedro came home from Portugal, and I\nwent to papa. Two years ago we met in Rome and were married, so that I\ncould go to him later with my companion. Papa couldn\u2019t leave to go to\nthe Azores, and Pedro couldn\u2019t come again for me.\u201d\n\nShe told the story in a very childish, simple way, and seemed to\nregard her marriage as quite a business-like and proper arrangement.\n\n\u201cYou think that you will like Fayal as well as Cairo?\u201d Mr. Vane asked\nkindly, pitying this child-wife who seemed to have so little of family\naffection to surround her in the most important time of her life.\n\n\u201cI cannot think, I cannot remember it,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I try, it is\nParis or Rome that comes up, and I get confused. If I should not like\nit, I shall ask Pedro to take me somewhere else. He has written me\nthat he will always do everything I wish him to do.\u201d\n\nMr. Vane scarcely felt a disposition to smile at this perfect trust.\nHe found it pathetic.\n\n\u201cBut I would like to go to your country,\u201d she resumed with animation.\n\u201cPedro\u2019s sister Maria went there for a journey when she married, and\nshe wrote me the most wonderful things. Perhaps she did not tell the\ntruth. She may have been writing something only to make me laugh. You\nwill not laugh if I tell you?\u201d\n\nMr. Vane promised to maintain his gravity at all risks.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d she said confidentially, \u201cMaria wrote me that the snow there\nis whiter than sea-foam on the rocks, and that one can walk in it and\nnot be wet, and that carriages drive over and make a solid road of it,\njust as if the streets were paved with smooth, white marble, and that,\nat the sides, it piles up and stays in shape, like heaps of\neider-down. It isn\u2019t true, is it?\u201d\n\nShe looked at him doubtfully and searchingly while he assured her of\nthe correctness of the picture.\n\n\u201cAnd, more than that,\u201d he said, \u201cI have seen the snow so deep and\nsolid that men would cut it in great blocks like Carrara marble, and,\nwhen they were standing in the place they had dug, you couldn\u2019t see\ntheir heads over the top of the drifts. Did you ever see ice?\u201d\n\n\u201cI saw some this morning, but it wasn\u2019t white,\u201d she said. \u201cA carload\nof it went past the hotel. It was grayish and crumbly. The men had cut\ngrass and weeds and piled over it to keep it from the sun.\u201d\n\nMr. Vane, too, had seen this pitiful apology for the glorious crystal\nblocks of New England ice-cutters as he looked from his window that\nmorning, and had indulged for the moment a feeling of scornful pride.\n\u201cFancy that mat of fresh grass and wild-flowers trembling over one of\nour ice-carts or snow-drifts!\u201d he had said to Bianca. \u201cYes,\u201d she had\nreplied, but at the same moment had pointed out to him a lovely\ncompensation for the absence of these frigid splendors in the land of\nthe sun. Beneath their window passed two men, bearing each on his head\na large basket, one flat, and covered with camellias laid singly, a\npink by a white one, each flower glistening with freshness; the other\ndeep, and heaped with pink roses and buds, among which might be seen\nyellow roses tied in large, nodding bunches. Yes, the snow of the\ntropics was a snow of flowers.\n\nThe Signora passed near enough to Isabel and her companion to catch a\npart of their conversation. \u201cSince you entered this room,\u201d the\ngentleman was saying, \u201cyou have doubtless, either consciously or\nunconsciously, gone through with a good deal of swift reasoning. Some\npeople you have liked more, others less, and in both cases the\nfeeling, as you would call it, has been the result of a certain\ncalculation as exact as anything in mathematics could be. You have\nbeen pleased with one for certain manners, or looks, or for certain\nqualities which you believe him to possess; and there are also exact\nand mathematically calculable reasons why these things should please\nyou.\u201d\n\nIsabel looked edified, but puzzled. \u201cIf, then,\u201d she ventured, \u201cthere\nis so much more reason in us all than we are aware of, why need we\ncorrect ourselves? I should think we might be all the better satisfied\nwith what goes on in our minds, and let them arrange their own\nprocesses without troubling ourselves.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d he said with earnest gravity. \u201cThere are good reasons and bad\nreasons; and by knowing why we may correct the bad reasons. For\nexample, your tooth aches; the reason is because there is a defective\nspot in it. You go to the dentist, and the pain ceases. Or you do not\nfancy a person; the reason is because that person does not flatter\nyou, and you are fond of flattery. You correct your inordinate love of\npraise, and thus appreciate the worth of one who tells you the truth,\nand also make it more easy for him to praise you sincerely.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut all this takes so much time,\u201d she said, seeing that he waited for\na response.\n\n\u201cIt is for such uses that time was given us,\u201d he replied.\n\nShe struggled for another objection, her mind rapidly becoming swamped\nin the conversation. \u201cThen you think that we can arrange and order all\nour feelings, and make our hearts as regular as clocks; and if we lose\na friend, by examining why he died, and why we grieve for him, we can\nreason ourselves into indifference.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d he said again. \u201cWe can undoubtedly subdue the violence of\nunreasonable grief by such examination, but there are deep and\nineradicable reasons why we should grieve when we lose those dear to\nus.\u201d\n\nThe girl\u2019s eyes brightened. \u201cWhy,\u201d she said, \u201cit all seems to me only\na difference of terms. You mean just what everybody means, only you\nsay everything, and others haven\u2019t time nor wit for that. It all\namounts to the same thing in the end. We say, \u2018Such and such a thing\nis natural,\u2019 where you say it is mathematical, _voil\u00e0 tout_.\u201d\n\nHe began to say something about the natural including both good and\nbad, while his meaning was to exclude the bad; but the Signora took\npity on his victim, and stopped his eloquence by offering him a cup of\ntea.\n\n\u201cHe will take the tea,\u201d she thought, pouring another cup, \u201cbecause the\nbeverage is agreeable to the palate and refreshing to the body, and,\nby consequence, enlivening to the mind, and he will see the whole\nsubject worked out to its smallest part as he stirs in the sugar. He\nwill put in sugar because\u2014because\u2014dear me! I wonder what is the good\nreason for putting sugar in tea! How uncomfortable it all is! I should\ngo mad with such a man about me all the time. And yet how well-bred,\nand earnest, and handsome he is! If only it might happen that he would\nmellow with time, and learn to take subjects by their convenient\nhandles, and not spread them out so! He makes me remember that I am a\nskeleton, with\u2014pah! How glad I am I don\u2019t know all about my bones!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat are you studying out, Signora?\u201d asked Isabel at her elbow.\n\n\u201cI am trying not to see everything crumble at once into its elements,\u201d\nshe replied distressfully. \u201cMy dear, if you will make that man talk\nlike a human being, I shall be thankful. Find out if he has a heart,\nor only a triangle instead; and just watch his fingers to see if there\nare little scales and figures marked along the insides of them. He is\nworth rescuing. I like him.\u201d\n\nThe little baroness went, and more people came in. It was after _Ave\nMaria_, and they were obliged to light the candles, and close the\nwindows and shutters on the street. But the great _sala_ needed not to\nbe closed, for no one could see into it, and so the exquisite twilight\nwas left free to enter, with only the soft light of a single hanging\nlamp to shame its tender radiance. This inner light, the steady,\ndeep-hued flame of olive oil, burning in an antique bronze lamp, made\nthe room softly visible, and, shining out into the garden, turned the\nyellow gold of the jasmine blossoms into red gold here and there, and\nmade the snow-white of the orange-flowers look like a sun-lighted\ndrift of the north.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n\n\nA JOURNEY TO THE LAND OF MILLIARDS.[199]\n\nThere is much in a title. Many an insignificant if not objectionable\nindividual is widely welcomed and sweetly smiled upon because he\nboasts a \u201chandle to his name\u201d; and that which is true as regards man\nis equally so of books. Many a shallow and worthless production, like\nthe monstrosities produced in the floral world by fancy\nhorticulturists, becomes \u201cthe rage\u201d from its pretentious or, as the\ncase may be, its unpronounceable name.\n\nThere is, then, much in the title of a book; and yet, had M. Victor\nTissot sent into the world his _Voyage au Pays des Milliards_ under\nthe sober superscription of \u201cTravels in Germany,\u201d although it might\nnot so immediately have attracted the public eye, it must ultimately\nhave secured the attention and interest it so justly merits, and which\nhave necessitated the issue of nine editions in the course of a few\nweeks.\n\nThis interest is sustained throughout the book by the varied\ninformation it contains respecting facts connected with Prussianized\nGermany, which are related not only with that happy fluency of style\nwhich is the gift of most literary Frenchmen, but also with a justice\nof reasoning and fairness of appreciation of which one of his nation\ndealing with such a subject might not always be found capable.\n\nThe work professes to be simply _notes de voyage_ addressed to a\nfriend; a series of sketches which introduce the reader in a familiar\nmanner\u2014\u201clooking at everything, listening everywhere\u201d\u2014to this new\nGermany, such as she has sprung forth, sword in hand, from the brain\nof Herr von Bismarck.\n\nThe first part of the book relates to Southern and Central Germany.\n\nFrance, before the time of her misfortunes, was wont to say with her\nold university professors, _Qui non vidit Coloniam non vidit\nGermaniam_,[200] but now the proverb is changed, and it must rather be\nsaid, \u201cHe who would see Germany must see Berlin.\u201d In the vast Germanic\nbody, Berlin has alike usurped the place of head and heart; she it is\nwho conceives, meditates, contrives, commands; she who deprives and\nbestows, legislates and executes; and she who distributes glory.\nTowards her flow the life and warmth of that Germany which is now no\nmore the land of picturesque and simple legends, sweet ballads, Gothic\ndreams, holy cathedrals, but the land of blood and iron. The knight\nAlbrecht D\u00fcrer no more finds his steps arrested in the enchanted\nforest of poetry and art, but rides rough-shod over the high-roads of\nEurope, armed with a needle-gun, and with a spiked helmet on his head.\n\n\u201cHad we but known,\u201d sighed France, after the war\u2014\u201cif we had only\nknown!\u201d Yes, often enough has it been repeated that her ignorance\nrespecting her neighbors, of all that they were secretly designing and\nsilently doing, was one chief cause of her disasters.\n\n\u201cHad we but known!\u201d \u201cWell, then,\u201d writes M. Tissot, \u201cfor the future\n_let us know_! Let us be aware that the Germans ransack our country in\nevery sense; that they study our language, manners, customs, and\ninstitutions; following us step by step, and spying us everywhere,\nuntil they know France more thoroughly than we know it ourselves. For\nthirty years past has their spyglass been busily scrutinizing every\ncorner of our land.\u2026 Let us then learn to do among them what they do\namong us: the weak place in the breastplate of the German Colossus is\nnot very difficult to discover.\u201d\n\nIn going forth to repel invasion, Germany has suffered herself to be\ncarried away by the spirit of conquest, and has returned home with a\nrear-guard of vices which before she knew not, and under a despotism\nwhich it had cost her the struggle of centuries to break. Having\ndeparted from the path of humanity and civilization, she has gone back\nto her wild forests despoiled of her studious leisure and with the\ntradition of her ancient domestic virtues well-nigh lost; while, a\nprey to all the material appetites, she forgets God, or else denies\nhim, and no longer believes in anything except the supreme triumph of\nher cannon.\n\nFrom fear of being attacked by the revolution, she enters into an\nalliance with it. In proof of this, we have but to observe with what\ngratified attention the socialists, not only in Germany but all over\nEurope, watch the moral decomposition which is going on in this\natmosphere of materialism and of pride. They know very well that the\nday is sure to come, and is perhaps not far distant, when \u201cthey will\nmake a descent into the arena with their knotted clubs; and that this\nargument will suffice to put to flight the gentlemen whose wisdom has\ndiscovered the soul to be composed of cellular tissue, and has shut up\npatriotism in a membrane.\u201d\n\nThe Catholics also act with energy in the strength of their (for the\nmost part passive) resistance to an oppressive and unjust power, whose\nhypocritical excuses render it as contemptible as its tyranny makes it\nodious in the eyes of every upright man, whether Catholic or\nProtestant.\n\n\u201cFrom a distance,\u201d says M. Tissot, \u201cit might be easy to deceive one\u2019s\nself into a doubt as to the dangerous nature of so many alarming\nsymptoms, but on the spot I know for a certainty that an attentive\nlistener cannot fail to hear the pulsations of a nation disturbed to\nits very depths, and ill at ease. Is it,\u201d he asks, \u201cas a means of\nescape from impending dangers, and to prepare the minds of the people\nfor a skilful diversion, that the parliamentary orators and the\nofficial Prussian press keep them in a continual ferment of warlike\nexcitement, and appear to regret the milliards left behind on the\nbanks of the Rhone and the Garonne? This is the opinion of thoughtful\nminds, for it is on the field of battle only that a reconciliation\nbetween the Catholics and their adversaries can be expected to take\nplace.\u201d\n\nBefore visiting the imperial capital, the traveller on whose work the\npresent observations are principally based begins with the southern\nstates, \u201cbeing desirous of interrogating those ancient provinces which\nhave sacrificed their autonomy to a gust of glory, and of asking if\nthe mess of pottage is still savory, or whether, awakening from recent\nillusions, there is not some regret for the good old times.\u201d\n\nAfter visiting Ulm, with its enormously increased fortifications;\nStuttgart, the sunny capital of W\u00fcrtemberg; and the little university\ntown of Heidelberg\u2014respecting all which places M. Tissot has much to\nsay\u2014the impression resulting from his observations is that South\nGermany was duped and alarmed into submitting to Prussia. With regard\nto Frankfort, no longer the free city of past times, his conviction is\nthat the real population, quite as much as that of Metz and\nStrassburg, detests the sight of the spiked helmets and the sound of\nthe Prussian fifes and drums (the latter shaped like small saucepans),\nconstantly passing through the streets.\n\nThe particulars of the Prussian occupation of this city in 1866 are\nstill fresh in the memory of its inhabitants. \u201cThe history of those\ndays,\u201d M. Tissot tells us, \u201chas never been written.\u201d We will give in\nhis own words the account he received from an eye-witness:\n\n \u201cOn the 6th of July, the Senate announced to the townspeople\n the impending entry of the Prussians, \u2018whose good discipline\n was a sure guarantee that no one would be exposed to\n inconvenience.\u2019\n\n \u201cIn spite, however, of this \u2018good discipline,\u2019 all the\n banking-houses hastened to place themselves under the\n protection of the foreign consuls, and hoisted American,\n English, French, or Swiss colors. The streets were as\n deserted as a cemetery.\n\n \u201cThe Prussians did not arrive until nine in the evening,\n when they made a triumphal entry. At their head, with his\n sword drawn, rode General Vogel von Falkenstein; music\n played, drums beat; there was noise enough to wake the dead.\n Billeting tickets had been prepared for this army of\n invaders, who, however, preferred to select their own\n quarters. The troops divided into squadrons of 50, 70, 100,\n or 150 men, and, led by their officers, forced their way\n into houses of good appearance. The inmates, who had, in\n some cases, retired for the night, ran bewildered through\n their rooms. The officers, finding ordinary candles on the\n tables, held their pistols at the throats of the women, and\n ordered them to bring wax-lights. But their first care was\n to demand the keys of the cellar, after which they passed\n the night in drinking the best wines, making especial havoc\n among the champagne.\n\n \u201cNext day, General Vogel von Falkenstein, surnamed _Vogel\n von Raubenstein_, or the bird of prey, caused to be read and\n posted up in the streets a proclamation establishing the\n state of siege. He suppressed all the newspapers, prohibited\n all private _r\u00e9unions_, and announced moreover a long list\n of requisitions.\n\n \u201cOn the 18th of July, General von Falkenstein, who the day\n before had compelled the town of Frankfort to purchase from\n the contractor of the Prussian army many thousands of\n cigars, now demanded that there should be delivered to him\n 60,000 \u2018good pairs of shoes,\u2019 300 \u2018good saddle-horses,\u2019 and\n a year\u2019s pay for his soldiers\u2014promising, in return, to make\n no other requisition upon the inhabitants.\u2026 On the 19th they\n brought him six millions of florins; but as, in the course\n of that same evening, General von Falkenstein was called to\n command elsewhere, the Senate received anew, on the morning\n of the 20th, a note expressed as follows:\n\n \u201c\u2018Messieurs the senators of the city of Frankfort are\n informed that their town is laid under a contribution of war\n for the amount of twenty-five millions of florins, payable\n within twenty four hours.\n\n \u201c\u2018MANTEUFFEL.\n \u201c\u2018HEADQUARTERS, FRANKFORT, July 30, 1866.\u2019\u201d\n\n \u201cThree of the principal bankers of Frankfort were\n immediately delegated to present themselves before General\n Manteuffel, to remind him of the promises given by his\n predecessor, and to entreat him to withdraw this fresh\n imposition. All that they obtained was a delay of three\n times twenty-four hours.\n\n \u201c\u2018I know,\u2019 said Manteuffel to them, \u2018that I shall be\n compared to the Duke of Alva, but I am only here to execute\n the orders of my superiors.\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018And what shall you do if, between now and Sunday, we have\n not paid?\u2019 asked a member of the deputation\u2014\u2018you will\n not\u2014\u2014?\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018I read the word on your lips,\u2019 rejoined the General;\n \u2018alas! yes, I shall give up the town to pillage.\u2019\n\n \u201c\u2018In that case, why do you not at once, like Nero, set fire\n to the four corners of Frankfort?\u2019\n\n \u201cTo this sally General Manteuffel contented himself by\n answering: \u2018Rome arose only more fair from her ashes.\u2019[201]\n\n \u201cBefore quitting the General, the deputation asked whether\n this imposition would be the last.\n\n \u201c\u2018On my part, yes; I give you my word of honor for it; but\n another general may come and replace me, with orders of\n which I know nothing.\u2019\n\n \u201cThe threat of the pillage and bombardment of the city\n spread with the rapidity of lightning; the burghers and\n bankers contributed together to pay the ransom.\n\n \u201cFive days later, General de Roeder sent for the President\n of the Chamber of Commerce, to whom he read the following\n telegram, which he had just received from M. von Bismarck:\n\n \u201c\u2018Since the measures hitherto taken have not been found\n sufficient to obtain their object, close, from this evening,\n all the telegraph and post-offices, the hotels, inns, and\n all public establishments; prohibit the entry into the town\n of any persons, and of every kind of merchandise.\u2019\n\n \u201cThese few facts, selected from innumerable others of a\n similar kind, and which are of warranted authenticity, are\n sufficiently edifying.\u201d\n\nWe may add, that with memories like the foregoing we cannot wonder\nthat Frankfort, once the free, is now the irreconcilable, city.\n\nBut we hasten on to glance at the capital, where, more plainly than\nanywhere else, may be seen the impress of events more recent still.\nSpace fails us to do more than merely refer to the descriptions given\nof the material city, its public buildings, its homely palace, its\nlong, monotonous lines of streets, \u201cruled straight by the cane of the\ncorporal-king,\u201d and built right and left of the pestiferous Spree; the\ncolossal arsenal, piled with the captured arms of France, and which is\nto Berlin what their cathedral is to other European cities. Leaving\nall this, and much besides, we will briefly consider the effects of\nthe late war and of the milliards of France upon the people of\nGermany.\n\nOn entering Berlin the visitor, as he leaves the railway carriage, is\ngreeted by the sight of a large placard posted up at the four corners\nof the station, and bearing the appropriate warning, \u201c_Beware of\nThieves_.\u201d This is a small indication of a momentous fact; for if,\nfrom her very beginning, Prussia has chosen Mars for her tutelar\ndivinity, her worship of Mercury since the last war has left him but a\ndivided throne.[202]\n\nLike the arsenal, the _Bourse_ sums up the recent history of Prussia.\nThe greed of gain has in fact taken entire possession of the people,\nand in no other European city is covetousness so ferocious or the\nthirst for gold so ardent as in the Prussian capital. Princes,\nministers of state, and high functionaries of the crown meditate\nfinancial combinations, and launch into speculative investments, from\nwhich they intend to secure large profits; tradespeople and\nmanufacturers invent skilful falsifications, whether in figures or in\nmerchandise; students of the university arrange lotteries\u2014all, great\nand small, rich and poor, are alike in search of prey.\n\nIn a pamhlet published by Herr Diest-Haber, under the characteristic\ntitle of _Plutocracy and Socialism_ (\u201cGeldmacht und Socialismus\u201d) are\nto be found revelations which are anything but edifying, and supported\nby proofs, respecting the more than questionable probity of certain\nministers of high position in the state. Gustaf Freitag, also, wrote\nin 1872: \u201cGreat evils have resulted to us from victory. The honor and\nhonesty of the capital have greatly suffered. Every one is possessed\nby a senseless passion for gain: princes, generals, men in high\nadministrative positions, all are playing an unbridled game, preying\non the confidence of small capitalists, and abusing their position to\nmake large fortunes. The evil has spread like fire; and at the sight\nof this widely extended corruption it is impossible not to fear for\nthe future.\u201d\n\nThe army is also tainted. In 1873, an aid-de-camp of a small German\nprince, whose services in the war had brought him nothing, thought\nwell to indemnify himself, and by forging his master\u2019s signature\npocketed the sum of 300,000 thalers from the coffers of the state.\n\nBut the example is set in high quarters, where in everything might is\nmade to overrule right. Could it be expected that so many thrones\nconfiscated, without a thought of justice; so many provinces seized,\nto form the lion\u2019s share; so complete an overthrow of the most\nordinary moral principles; treaties torn up like false bank-notes; a\npolicy at the same time so crafty and audacious, could fail to find\nsedulous imitators in a people naturally prone to rapine?\n\nThe arrival of the five milliards upset the equilibrium of the German\nbrain. Every form of speculation sprang from the ground like fungi\nafter a shower; everything\u2014breweries, grocery companies, streets,\nroads, canals\u2014was parcelled out in shares. Houses were sold at the\nexchange, and in the course of two hours had five or six times changed\ntheir owner. In eight months, the price of tenements was doubled;\nfifty or sixty persons would dispute the possession of a garret. In\n1872, the average number of persons inhabiting a house of three or\nfour stories (the usual height in Berlin) was from fifty-five to\nsixty-five, or ten persons to a room. Masons made fortunes, worked ten\nhours, went in a cab from the stone-yard to the _restaurants_, and\ndrank champagne in beer-glasses. A simple brick-and-mortar carrier\nearned five thalers a day; and small bankers\u2019 clerks, at the present\ntime out of situation and shoe-leather, paraded in white kid gloves in\nthe first boxes of the theatre\u2014not to speak of far worse extravagances\nstill. Societies of share venders fiercely quarrelled with each other\nover the purchase of feudal castles in the neighborhood, which were to\nbe transformed into _casinos_ on a large scale, with theatre in the\nopen air, artificial lakes and mountains, Swiss dairies, and games for\nevery taste. But this dream of the Thousand-and-one Nights did not\nlast a year. The temples of pleasure are bankrupt, and \u201cthe police\nhave seized Cupid\u2019s quiver.\u201d The whole of Germany\u2014\u201cthe nation of\nthinkers,\u201d as her philosophers love to call her\u2014was dazzled by the\ndeceitful mirage, and so fierce was the eagerness for gain that at one\ntime it was scarcely prudent to go to the exchange without a revolver.\nFights were of constant occurrence, and ardent speculators would\ncollar each other like stable-boys.[203] Before the close of 1872,\nnearly eight hundred and fifty different shareholding investments had\nsprung up. The middle classes, the representatives of honest and\nlaborious industry, have been the principal victims of these hollow\nspeculations; and in a public report made by the Governor of the Bank\nof Prussia, January 1, 1873, it was stated that in the course of two\nyears several millions of thalers had been extorted by unscrupulous\nadventurers from the credulous public.\n\nIn various ways it is evident that, if France paid dearly for her\ndefeat, Germany is paying far more dearly for her glory, besides\nhaving so mismanaged matters that peace to her is more costly than\nwar. Herr Schorlemer-Ast lately declared in the Reichstag that the\nfinancial burdens of the empire, from her system of complete and\npermanent armament, are crushing all classes. \u201cThe milliards,\u201d he\nsays, \u201cthat we have received are already converted into fortresses,\nships-of-war, Mauser rifles, and cannon; the military budget has this\nyear increased by nineteen millions of marks, \u2026 and into this budget\nwe cast all our resources, all our reserves, all our savings, but\nnever can we meet its demands; and thus the land becomes more and more\nimpoverished.\u201d There is another method, also, by which the \u201ceminently\nmoral\u201d government of the Emperor seeks to increase its resources, and\nthis is by lotteries. A Protestant minister observing to his majesty\nthat these lotteries were a very bad example, the latter replied, \u201cYou\nare mistaken; they are instituted to punish already on earth the\ncupidity of my people: the great prize is never drawn.\u201d\n\nFresh imposts are also created; but the time for these is scarcely the\npresent, when, according to the testimony of Germans themselves,\ncommerce languishes, the manufacturing interest is passing through a\ncrisis of which it is impossible to foresee the end, and on all sides\narise murmurs and complaints. And yet we hear of proposals like that\nof Herr Camphausen in the Reichstag, namely, to \u201cdemand more labor\nfrom the artisan and pay him less for it.\u201d A profitable subject,\ntruly, for communist declamation must this be; and well might Bebel,\nthe notorious socialist of Leipzig, say, \u201cPrussia is doing our work\nfor us; we need but fold our arms and wait,\u201d and his colleague,\nLiebknecht, declare that \u201cM. de Bismarck has done more for the radical\ninterest than five socialist ministers could have done. The people see\nwith bitterness how little has been gained by sacrifices so great. The\nexpense of living has doubled since the war, but the salaries have not\nincreased in proportion.\u2026 In the manufacturing districts there is\nfearful distress.\u2026 Families of five or six persons obliged to starve\non a thaler a week! See what the milliards have done for us! No wonder\nthat month after month sees ten or fifteen thousand Germans emigrate\nto other lands.\u201d\n\nWe pass over the dark portraiture of \u201cmisery and crime\u201d in Berlin, and\nalso the information respecting the reptile agency of the official\npress, the political dye-house of the empire, whose business it is to\ncolor all communications with the hue required by the prime minister.\nNor have we space to dwell on the state of education in Prussia, which\nis far behind the rest of Germany,[204] nor the falsification of\nhistory and even geography in its educational books. We cannot,\nhowever, forbear producing the lesson with which the studies of the\nday begin in the primary schools.\n\nThe master holds up before his pupils the Emperor\u2019s portrait, asking,\n\u201cWho is this?\u201d\n\nMaking a reverential bow, they answer, \u201cHis majesty the Emperor.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do we owe to him?\u201d resumes the teacher, in a grave and\nimpressive tone.\n\n\u201cWe owe him obedience, fidelity, and respect; we owe him all that we\nhave and all that we possess.\u201d\n\nWould any child, unless a German or a Russian, find its loyalty\nincreased after two or three weeks of this daily exercise? We doubt\nit.\n\nThe Catholic clergy proving a hindrance to the government in the\napplication of its new catechism, the law on secular instruction was\npassed to force them out of the schools: the state, henceforth sole\nmaster, can form at the will of C\u00e6sar, not Christians, but soldiers or\nslaves, which are more in accordance with its taste\u2014all that is taught\nbeing made to converge to the one end of blind and absolute submission\nto secular power.\n\nGod being set aside to make way for the Emperor and his Church\ntrampled under foot for the good pleasure of the prime minister, we or\nour children may see the fulfilment of the prediction written thirty\nor forty years ago by Heinrich Heine, in which, after announcing the\nreconstitution of the Germanic Empire, he says: \u201cThe Empire will\nhasten to its fall; and this catastrophe will be the result of a\npolitical and social revolution, brought about by German philosophers\nand thinkers. The Kantists have already torn up the last fibres of the\npast, the Fichteans will come in turn, whose fanaticism will be\nmastered neither by fear nor instinct. The most of all to be dreaded\nwill be the philosophers of nature, the communists, who will place\nthemselves in communication with the primitive forces of the earth,\nand evoke the traditions of the Germanic pantheism. Then will these\nthree choirs intone a revolutionary chant at which the land will\ntremble, and there will be enacted in Germany a drama in comparison to\nwhich the French Revolution shall have been but an idyl.\u201d\n\n\n [199] _Voyage au Pays des Milliards._ V. Tissot. Paris: Dentu.\n\n [200] He who has not seen Cologne, has not seen Germany.\n\n [201] \u201cI have this dialogue from one who was present.\u201d\u2014_M.\n Tissot._\n\n [202] M. Tissot\u2019s book contains some painful pages having\n relation to the votaries of Venus also, to which we\n need do no more than allude.\n\n [203] The _Tribune_ for August 1, 1872, has the following:\n \u201cNever has the liquidation been so quiet as to-day.\n Not a single box on the ear was given in full\n exchange, nor had the syndic to interfere on account\n of abusive language.\u201d\n\n [204] \u201cPrussia is of all Germany the country which contains\n the largest number of persons unable to read and\n write,\u201d is the testimony of Herr Karl Vogt.\n\n\n\n\nA QUAINT OLD STUDIO IN ROME, A QUEER OLD PAINTER, AND A LOVELY PICTURE\n\n\nThe exterior does not indicate the remotest relationship with a\nstudio. I must have misunderstood the _p\u00e8re\u2019s_ directions. I wish\nthese artists would show some consideration for errant humanity, and\nnumber their quarters. Now, that wall which begins on the street and\nbacks in behind the rubbish-pile might pass for a parapet but for the\ngreen door with a bell-rope dangling from the upper panel, which\ncompromises its military character at once. It might pass for a\nconvent wall. Indeed, the little church which seems to have been\npushed entire right out of the farther end might be accepted as a very\nrespectable declaration to that effect. But a more accurate\nobservation of the premises is fraught with diffidence in the latter\nconjecture. A portion of an unpretentious dwelling-house, which is\nincorporated with that part of the wall abutting on the Via del\nColosseo, and the appearance at one of the windows of a fossilized old\nwoman who proceeds to hang out linen, dispel effectually the monastic\nprobability intimated above. But why indulge in speculations? The most\nsummary, and after all most rational, way of solving my doubts is to\napproach the green door, pull the bell-cord, enter, and, _si\nmonumentum qu\u00e6ris_, _circumspice_. Pulling the bell-rope produced an\ninquiring bark from a dog within. Then the door opened slowly, and\njust wide enough to admit a visiting card, insinuated edgeways. But,\nas if not liking my appearance, it closed with a short but very\ndecisive slam. I took a short survey of my person, with the view of\nassuring myself that there was nothing in my dress or carriage which\nwould excite a suspicion bearing reference to burglary. I had just\ncome to a conclusion very flattering to my integrity, when a shrill\nfemale voice screamed from across the way, \u201c_Tira! spingi!_\u201d\u2014Pull!\npush! I turned my immediate attention to the practical application of\nthese laconic instructions. Nothing to pull but the bell-rope, nothing\nto push but the door. Another tug at the hemp, a canine response from\nwithin, the door opened as before, I pushed, entered, and the slamming\nprocess was repeated. I turned around with the view of confronting the\nslammer\u2014a rope, a pulley, and a weight. He has a taste for mechanics,\nthought I. At the top of a few steps I saw a friendly-looking\nhouse-dog, who sniffed apologetically, and then whisked himself about,\nas if expressing a hearty welcome. If I had not had positive reason\nafterwards to arrogate to myself this compliment, I should have gone\naway with the conviction that the dog sniffed with satisfaction\nbecause the mingled odor of lemon, of orange, and of a hundred\nfragrant flowers which floated on the air was inexpressibly\ngratifying. I found myself in a quadrangular enclosure not unlike the\ncloister of a convent. The central plot was planted with orange and\nlemon trees, and with every kind of vegetable. It only lacked the\ntraditional well in the centre, with the iron-bound bucket resting on\nthe edge, and the iron rods for pulley, wrought into the form of a\ncross, to make it a perfect little cloister. \u2018Tis true that the\nresemblance might be impaired by the large chicken-coop in the corner,\nwhich emitted a chorus of cackling suggestive of a prosperous\nbarnyard. But a flourishing coop is no contemptible accessory to the\neffects of a religious community; and as for its encumbering the\ncloister, that is very easily explained. The consideration of the\ncivil power for religious communities has disencumbered them of all\ntheir property outside the walls, and even extended itself to\neverything within that is worth taking care of. A marble pavement of\nvariegated pieces, formed into mosaics of no definable pattern,\nextends around the garden. The walls of the house are studded with\nfragments of sarcophagi and frieze-work\u2014here the hand of a child,\nthere a lion\u2019s head, yonder a foot\u2014while these are interspersed with\nlamps of terra-cotta, such as are found in the Catacombs; and, high\nabove all, a row of Roman vases let into the wall as far as the neck\ngives it the appearance of a battery of cannon. The well, which, sunk\nin the centre of the garden, would have completed the picture of a\ncloister, is over against the wall. An attempt had been made to apply\na fly-wheel and a crank, with some other complicated machinery of\nropes and pulleys, to the process of drawing water, but evidently\ndidn\u2019t approach a success, as the crank is rusty and the rope frayed\nwith age and exposure. On the other side of the garden stands a large\ncistern of water literally alive with gold-fish. The house itself is\nbuilt around the garden, save the portion enclosed by the wall. It is\nbut one story high generally. It seems, however, that the builder,\nsome time after the completion of the lower story, wanted to try the\neffect of another story; so, with an utter disregard of architectural\ndesigns and proportions, he raised the four walls at the fenestral\napertures of which the fossil appeared. I ascertained afterwards that\nthis addition forms the \u201capartments\u201d of her antiquity. On the corner\ndiagonally opposite arises a similar portion, which is reached by\nstairs on the outside\u2014evidently the residence of the lord of the\npremises. A railing extends around the roof, while vines on trailers\nand a great fig-tree, which towers out of the garden and up to the\nroof, give the establishment quite an Oriental aspect. We only want a\npatriarch taking his evening promenade on the roof, and we have Syria\nin the shadow of the Colosseum. While I was contemplating all this the\ndog barked impatiently, ran ahead to an open door underneath a pent\nroof, and then trotted back, giving me to understand that he was very\nimpatient to usher me in there. A Maltese cat appeared on the scene,\nwalked furtively around me, inspected me from head to foot, and\nfinally came to a halt in front of me and fixed his great, amber eyes\nupon me with an inquiring look, as which should say, \u201cAre your\nintentions peaceful?\u201d My addressing him by the name of \u201cpuss\u201d seemed\nto satisfy him, and he trotted on with the dog.\n\nThe first object which met my gaze as I entered the door caused me to\nstart back with a shudder; for I was not prepared for such a sight. On\na table, stretched at full length, lay a human skeleton, with the head\nturned towards the door. It seemed to have taken that position of\nitself, with a view of seeing who passed in and out. The floor was\nlittered with cartoons and bits of old lumber. In a corner stood an\nancient-looking painting of a skeleton seated in a meditative\nattitude\u2014one bony leg crossed on the other, the elbow planted on the\nknee, and the chin resting on the hand. It had not the appearance of a\ncaricature, for the lipless mouth and fleshless jaws wore a solemn and\nawful expression, which the most intemperate and frivolous fancy could\nnot associate with the ridiculous. The walls, too, were covered with\ncartoons of different sizes, some of which were very beautiful. One\nespecially struck me with admiration. It represented the Eternal\nFather gazing out into the chaotic darkness which preceded the great\nact of volition, \u201c_Fiat lux_.\u201d The perfection of the _actus purus_ and\n_existentia_, which are identical in God, was powerfully expressed in\nthe intensely active expression of the eyes and forehead. While all\nthis occurred to me, a consciousness of the spirit of love, which\nmellowed and softened the sternness of that face, affected me. Passing\nanother door, I found myself in a large room painted a Pompeian red.\nMy first impression was that I had walked into the laboratory of an\nalchemist\u2014a very justifiable impression. A long table in the middle of\nthe room was crowded with vials of all sizes and every variety of\nform, containing liquids of the strangest colors. Crucibles, mortars,\nglass tubes, bellows, scales, and spirit-lamps were scattered over the\ntable confusedly. A row of shelves garnished one of the walls, and\nupon them were arranged, in something like order, busts of different\nsizes and casts in plaster of arms, legs, feet, and hands. From the\nbeams of the ceiling dangled a number of little cherubs of Berninian\npropensities\u2014that is to say, they were very plump, very short, and\nkicked and doubled themselves up into the most impossible attitudes\nfor little fellows of their exaggerated proportions. These, coupled\nwith several chunks of half-wrought clay tumbled promiscuously into\none corner, and a number of modelling tools, a sponge, and an elevated\nstool, would perhaps incline the visitor to the belief that he was in\nthe sanctum of a sculptor. The other three walls were covered with\npictures representing a variety of subjects, sacred and profane. Here\na muscular, sightless Samson coped with the pillars of the temple of\nthe Philistines, to the seemingly intense interest of a demure\ncardinal on the opposite wall. There Justice poised her scales in\nfront of a sketch, which the most unpractised eye would have no\ndifficulty in recognizing as the work of Fra Angelico, portraying the\nLast Judgment. The activity of the devils as they scourged the damned\ninto the bottomless pit is striking. Farther on a \u201cBattle of the\nCentaurs\u201d afforded an interesting anatomical study. But the sweetest\npicture of all was a little one not over a foot square, which\nrepresented with vivid simplicity the dispute between the two hermits,\nSt. Paul and St. Anthony. The latter holds up one hand\nargumentatively, and points with the other to the untouched loaf,\nwhile his earnest face seems to say: \u201cPaul, take up the loaf and break\nit.\u201d Paul looks respectful, but not overcome. He leans upon his long\nstaff with both hands, and contemplates the loaf with a face\nbetokening his resolution not to touch it, at least until more\nconclusive arguments be adduced; and, after all, it is a quiet,\ndomestic sort of a picture. Beside this was another of about the same\ndimensions\u2014one that pleased the eye not so much as the heart. It was\nSt. Jerome in the wilderness. The crucifix is suspended high upon a\nthin sapling, and the great doctor kneels off at a distance, and prays\nwith his hands joined before his breast. It is one of those prayerful\npictures which recall Fra Bartolomeo, but the coloring was Timoteo\nVite\u2019s, and none else\u2019s. In the corner of the room nearest the window\nI observed a ladder, made of iron bars, fastened into the wall, which\nterminated in a trap-door in the ceiling. At the foot of this ladder,\nright under the window, stood what seemed to be a sedan-chair. It was\ncovered on all sides with oilcloth turned wrongside out. Before this\nchair stood an easel, on the easel a small picture, which I perceived\nwas being touched by a brush; and I observed, furthermore, that the\nbrush was manipulated by a hand of powerful proportions, such a hand\nas would have been enough of itself to build up that strange old house\nfrom the foundation-stone. Then a man\u2019s head, adorned with gray locks\nand an old cap with a pair of turned-up flaps, emerged from the\ndarkness, and I saw a pair of dark, bright, benevolent eyes smiling up\nat me. The face was bronzed, the beard gray and not heavy, but growing\nin a heavy instalment around the mouth and chin, then light on the\nunder jaws, and developing into a bushy abundance in the direction of\nthe ears. It was a pleasant, happy face, still possessing the\ningenuous expression of the happy boy. As he worked himself out of the\nnook in which he was ensconced, and stood up to welcome me, giving me\nat the same time a grip of that powerful hand which I associated above\nwith the construction of the house, but which then referred me to a\nblacksmith-shop, I had an opportunity of surveying his figure.\n\nI should have said, rather, I saw an old dressing-gown of brown stuff\nwhich buttoned closely at the chin, was tied around him with a rope,\nand terminated in a pair of heavy brogans. I introduced myself by\nstating that the _p\u00e8re_ had requested me to call and see how the\npicture was doing. \u201cAh! there it is,\u201d said the old man, and a smile of\nhappy excitement mantled upon his face as he looked at the little\npicture on the easel, _La Notte del Correggio_. He gazed more intently\nthan before, and then sank down quietly on one knee and scanned the\nface of the kneeling Virgin Mother, in whose face is reflected that\nwonderful intense light which concentrated in the face of the Child,\nas if desirous of seeing underneath the coloring. \u201cThe spirit of\nCorreggio is here,\u201d continued he in a musing strain; \u201cno man living\npossessed his secret of blending colors into one another. I will not\ntouch the face of the Child.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen you believe,\u201d said I, \u201cthat this is an original?\u201d\n\n\u201cI _feel_ it,\u201d added he warmly. \u201cCorreggio may repeat himself, but he\ncannot be copied, at least in two pictures, his _Giorno_ and his\n_Notte_. The dominating, character of Correggio\u2019s paintings in oil,\nthat something which proclaims him on the instant, is the coloring,\npenetrating and brilliant as enamelling\u2014of such a kind that the lights\nassume an indefinable splendor, the shadows have a depth and\ntransparency which no painter, and much less a copyist, ever produced,\nsave Correggio. There\u201d\u2014and he arose and drew the curtain over the\nwindow, until the room was nearly dark\u2014\u201cyou need no light to see that\npicture; it has its own light in the divinity which is effulgent from\nthe face of the Infant. Tell me the copyist who effected this, and I\nwill venerate him as Correggio\u2019s other self.\u201d\n\nA word of explanation is necessary here. The _Notte_ is a picture\nrepresenting the Nativity. The Child is in the arms of the kneeling\nMother. \u201cThe radiant Infant, and the Mother who holds him, are lost in\nthe splendor which has guided the distant shepherds. A maiden on one\nside, and a beautiful youth on the other, who serves as a contrast to\nan old shepherd, receive the full light, which seems to dazzle their\neyes; while angels hovering above appear in a softened radiance. A\nlittle farther back Joseph is employed with his ass, and in the\nbackground are more shepherds with their flocks. Morning breaks in the\nhorizon. An ethereal light breaks through the whole picture, and\nleaves only so much of the outline and substance of the forms apparent\nas is necessary to enable the eye to distinguish objects.\u201d This\npicture is at present in the gallery of Dresden, and the foregoing is\nthe description of it given by Kugler. The same writer adds in a note:\n\u201cSmaller representations of this subject, with similar motives and\ntreated in the same manner as the Dresden picture, exist in various\nplaces. An excellent little picture of the kind is in the Berlin\nmuseum, No. 223, and is there ascribed to the school of Correggio.\u201d\nThat Correggio himself reproduced smaller representations of this\nscene, preserving only the three prominent figures of the Infant, the\nMother, and St. Joseph, is notorious. It was a favorite subject of the\ngreat master\u2019s, as is evident in the very counterpart of the _Notte_,\nbecause of its wonderful light\u2014St. Jerome, or _Giorno_\u2014\u201cDay.\u201d Coindet,\nin his _Histoire de la Peinture en Italie_, speaking of the _Notte_,\nsays that, on account of the celestial light which emanates from the\ndivine Child, the picture \u201chas been called \u2018Night,\u2019 just as the St.\nJerome is often called \u2018Day,\u2019 by the Italians, who thus express the\nstriking light of that picture. Is it necessary to say that that light\nis as harmonious as it is brilliant, and that the celebrity of those\ntwo pictures, \u2018Night\u2019 and \u2018Day,\u2019 is due above all to the perfection of\nthe chiaroscuro?\u201d\n\nThe picture which the old man was restoring is one of the \u201csmaller\nrepresentations\u201d spoken of by Kugler. It required no restoration as\nfar as the coloring was concerned. That was deep and brilliant as\never. Not the lights but the shadows needed retouching, and the old\nman showed himself a good artist, as well as a reverent admirer, when\nhe said he would not touch the face of the Child. The wonderful\ndurability of the coloring, which every one knows to be one of the\ngrand characteristics of Correggio\u2019s productions, is admirable in the\nlittle picture. M. Coindet says that frequent analyses of some of\nCorreggio\u2019s paintings, with the view of discovering the secret of this\ndurability, have produced results more curious than useful. Upon the\nchalk, he says, the artist appeared to have laid a surface of prepared\noil, which then received a thick mixture of colors, in which the\ningredients were two-thirds of oil and one of varnish; that the colors\nseemed to have been very choice, and particularly purified from all\nkinds of salts, which, in process of time, eat and destroy the\npicture; and that the before-mentioned use of prepared oil must have\ngreatly contributed to this purification by absorbing the saline\nparticles. It is, moreover, commonly believed that Correggio adopted\nthe method of heating his pictures either in the sun or at the fire,\nin order that the colors might become, as it were, _interfused_, and\nequalized in such a way as to produce the effect of having been poured\nrather than laid on. Of that lucid appearance which, though so\nbeautiful, does not reflect objects, and of the solidity of the\nsurface, equal to the Greek pictures, Lomazzo says that it must have\nbeen obtained by some strong varnish unknown to the Flemish painters\nthemselves, who prepared it of equal clearness and liveliness, but not\nof equal strength. The history of the little picture in question is\nnot known to any precision. It was brought to Rome from Madrid by the\nlate Cardinal Barili, who received it as a present from a Spanish\nnobleman while he was nuncio to the court of Madrid. After the death\nof the cardinal it was exposed for sale with many other pictures,\nmostly of indifferent merit. The probabilities are that it would have\nfallen into the hands of some son of Jewry, and disappeared, perhaps\nfor ever, into a dark and dingy lumberroom of the Ghetto. A better\nfate was in store for the gem. The _p\u00e8re_ saw it, admired it,\npurchased it, and rested not until he had placed it in the hands of\nthe venerable artist in the quaint old studio, of whom no better\neulogium can be pronounced than that implied by the members of the\nAcademy of St. Luke, who, having been requested by Prince Borghese to\nhold a consultation on the restoration of Raphael\u2019s \u201cDeposition,\u201d\nunanimously chose the old man to do it. He has since been entrusted\nwith the delicate and important commission of restoring the principal\npictures in the gallery of the Vatican. That he did justice to the\nlittle _Notte_ requires no proof. He possesses the necessary\nrequisites for such a task\u2014the skill of an artist, the love of an\nartist, and the humility of an artist. The picture is now in New York\nCity, and, as an old painter once said laconically, in pronouncing his\nopinion on a painting, \u201c_ex ipsa loquitur_\u201d\u2014it speaks of itself. But I\nhave left the old man standing outside the parenthesis, palette in\nhand, and a smile irradiating his countenance which would be the\ninstant destruction of legions of blue fits. He saw me look\ninquiringly at the prayerful St. Jerome, and divined my desire of\nknowing something, about it.\n\n\u201cPainted by Timoteo Vite,\u201d said he, \u201cand I\u2019m to copy it for the good\n_p\u00e8re_ and send it off to America. Going to be in good company, too!\u201d\nAnd he pointed his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the\nlightsome \u201cNight.\u201d\n\nThen I turned towards the \u201cDispute of the Hermits.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat was an effort of mine when I was eighteen. I never thought it\nwould go to the New World when I worked at it.\u201d\n\nLaying down the palette, he asked me if I wished to walk around the\nhouse. I was only too glad of the invitation. As we passed out of the\ndoor he pointed towards the ladder in the corner, and said laughingly:\n\n\u201cJacob\u2019s ladder when it rains; only there are no angels ascending and\ndescending. My room is above\u2014an old man\u2019s contrivance.\u201d\n\nAs we walked up on the roof, he narrated with the complacency of a\nlittle boy how he built the house himself; how he was somewhat\ndiscouraged in digging the foundation when the folks laughed at him;\nhow he built the outside wall first, to hide himself from the\nobservation of the passers-by, and after that he got along finely. At\nthis juncture I stopped to examine a large cage on the roof. It\ncontained several white mice.\n\n\u201cThey are pleasant little fellows, especially when the moon shines,\u201d\nsaid my host, and, stooping down, he opened the little door, whereat\nseveral of the little creatures ran out into his hand.\n\nReplacing them with some difficulty\u2014for they seemed reluctant to be\nshut up again\u2014we went down the stairway and over to the part of the\nbuilding opposite the studio. As we passed the door I looked in again\nat the grim skeleton, and then turned away quickly. But he laid his\nhand gently on my shoulder, and said:\n\n\u201cYou young people don\u2019t like the sight of skeletons, because they tell\nan unpleasant truth very plainly. I call that skeleton the Naked\nTruth; it\u2019s a splendid antidote against a disease called pride.\u201d\n\nAs we passed the chicken-coop he had to caress a few favorite\nbantlings. Then came an old storeroom, then a carpenter-shop, then a\nblacksmith-shop, where he told me he did all his own carpentering and\nsmithing; then a hole in the wall containing a wheelbarrow, pickaxes,\nand spades, with which he amused himself in the evening, as, indeed,\nthe lovely little garden attested. The gold-fish in the cistern seemed\nto be his especial favorites. When he dipped his hand in the water\nthey all flocked around and nibbled it vigorously. Nor did they evince\nthe slightest disinclination to be caught. I remarked that the cistern\nwas large enough to bathe in.\n\n\u201cPrecisely,\u201d he answered; \u201cI made it for that purpose\u2014the fish were a\nsecond thought. I learned to swim in there. It is very pleasant on a\nwarm evening.\u201d\n\nI asked him how long he labored in building up his little home.\n\n\u201cSeven years, like Jacob; only the patriarch had the advantage of me\nthere, too\u2014he got a Rachel in the end, and I have only\u2014\u201d He paused and\nlooked about him. The friendly dog and cat had appeared on the scene,\na hen began to cackle boisterously, which left no doubt in the minds\nof the neighbors that the great feat of laying an egg had just been\nachieved. The little shadow which saddened his face for a moment\npassed away in an instant, and he completed the sentence\u2014\u201cthis\nlive-stock.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd your art,\u201d I subjoined.\n\n\u201cAnd my art,\u201d he admitted pleasantly. \u201cSay,\u201d he added, as he saw me\nmoving towards the steps which led down to the garden door, \u201cdo you\nthink the good _p\u00e8re_ would like to sell that picture?\u201d\n\nI thought not\u2014I was sure he would not; and, with a promise to come and\nsee him often, I left him. I have gone to the old studio repeatedly\nsince, and each visit has been a new confirmation of my first\nimpression\u2014that he was the happiest old artist in the Eternal City.\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS OF A YOUNG IRISHWOMAN TO HER SISTER.\n\n(FROM THE FRENCH.)\n\n\nJUNE 13.\n\nWhat a lovely day, my sister! Everything is singing, around and within\nme; my mother is making rapid progress in her convalescence. Baby has\nfive double teeth, and Lucy is radiant; Adrien, Gertrude, and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne\nleft us this morning to be present at the marriage of which I have\nalready told you; Ren\u00e9 and his brothers are gone out; Berthe and all\nthe darlings in the country; Lucy is going out, and your Georgina is\nby the side of the reclining-chair. Poor mother! how sweet it is to\nwatch her revive. Johanna\u2019s Bengalese birds, brought hither to enliven\nour dear invalid, are hopping about gaily in their gilded cage; my\nbeautiful exotics are flowering in the _jardini\u00e8re_; everything is\nliving, animated, radiant. My mother can now converse; all her wishes\nare now for her complete recovery, that the _two sisters_ may meet.\nBut first we shall fulfil our vow, and go to tread the holy mountain\nupon which the Blessed Virgin Mary placed her heavenly foot, and hang\nour _ex voto_ in the beloved sanctuary. To revisit La Salette without\nyou, my Kate, will be to me both sweet and bitter.\n\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne has no secrets from me; she permits me to read her\njournal\u2014pious effusions of a soul belonging wholly to God. If I did\nnot fear to be indiscreet, I would transcribe for you these pages, all\npalpitating with divine love.\n\nYesterday I took all the small population to the fair. The displays in\nthe open air, under gigantic chestnut-trees, made them wild with\ndelight, but Aunt Georgina willingly shut her eyes and ears. In the\nevening there is so much noise and animation, it rather reminds one of\n_Vanity Fair_. How sweet is solitude when one returns! Kate, as time\ngoes on, the more my happiness increases in solidity and depth. Ren\u00e9\nappears to me still more attractive, more gentle, good, and handsome\nthan ever. I fear the future, since happiness is an exception.\n\nMargaret tells me to-day of her arrival in Paris; you will see her\nbefore I do. \u201cI can but bless God,\u201d she writes, \u201cfor having mingled\nwormwood with the honey of my golden cup; I should have loved earth\ntoo well.\u201d Poor Margaret! I persist in my opinion that she is\nmistaken, and that her imagination deceives her. Can you imagine what\na whole life would be without sunshine and without love?\n\nMme. de T\u2014\u2014 has long been insisting that I should consent to set out\nwith Ren\u00e9, but I should not forgive myself if I were to leave her\nside, feeling that I am necessary to her. It fatigues her to speak,\nand I understand her look. How good is God to have given me another\nmother! Lucy is going to spend two months with hers. Her communicative\ngaiety, her cheerful spirit, and her lively chatter make her valuable\nto us, not to speak of her excellent qualities. To amuse our beloved\ninvalid we got up a little drama yesterday, and some _tableaux\nvivants_. It was superb.\n\nHere I have been interrupted to give my mother some music. I played\nher the _Symphony in La_.\n\nAnd hereupon, dear Kate, I make you my best curtsy, and hasten away to\nRen\u00e9.\n\n\nJUNE 16.\n\nThanks to \u201cthis ingenious art of painting speech and speaking to the\neye,\u201d we already know that H\u00e9l\u00e8ne has apparently enjoyed herself very\nmuch on her last appearance in the world. Adrien and Gertrude have\ndespatched quite a volume to my mother. Gertrude will carefully keep\nthe white and vapory toilette of her daughter, who had, she says, a\ncharming expression, like that of an exiled angel, in those\ndrawing-rooms where she was the admired of every eye. They announced\ntheir return for the 18th. It seems to us all as if they had been\nabsent for months. Separations, departures\u2014these are the real crosses\nof life.\n\nRead the _Beatitudes_, by Mgr. Landriot. It is very fine, this\neloquent commentary on the magnificent words of our Saviour. The\n_beati qui lugent_ too often finds its application.\n\nThe last four days I have been to H\u00e9l\u00e8ne\u2019s paralytic. The poor woman\nwas quite confused at my eagerness, while I was so happy to wait upon\nher that I would willingly have done so on my knees. My charities will\nnot be rewarded in heaven; I have too much sense of pleasure in them,\ntoo much enjoyment. God is present to me in the poor. \u201cMay God bless\nyou, my ladies!\u201d This is the most delightful adieu I have ever heard.\n\nRen\u00e9, to whom I have given a detailed account of my morning, says that\nhe should be curious to see me doing the house-work for my good old\nwoman. I have probably done it very badly, but then I shall soon\nbecome used to it. Benoni keeps his sweetest smiles for me, and I am\nteaching him your name. A thought of Mgr. Dupanloup often comes into\nmy mind: \u201cThe borders of the Ganges, which send us Oriental pearls,\nhave not given us simplicity; I have found it in the heart of a\nchild.\u201d Picciola is rich in it\u2014in this sweet and charming simplicity\nwhich is the sister of innocence. \u201cWould you not consent to give her\nto me?\u201d I said yesterday to Berthe. This morning the pretty dove came\nleaping into my room, exclaiming, \u201cNow I have two mammas!\nGood-morning, mamma!\u201d\n\nAdieu for the present, my sweet one.\n\n\n20.\n\nDearest, we set off to-morrow. My mother declares that she will not be\ncompletely cured except at La Salette. H\u00e9l\u00e8ne is enthusiastic about\nit. What a festival! What joy!\n\nI am pressed for time. We are packing up. All is commotion; every one\ncoming and going; everybody calling everybody else. Picciola runs from\nroom to room with outstretched hands, offering her services. I send\nyou a kiss. Unite yourself to us. Ren\u00e9 will write to you when we are\nin the train; an impossibility to me. I shall pray for Ireland.\n\n\nLA SALETTE, June 20.\n\nWhy cannot we die here, dear Kate? It is truly the vestibule of\nheaven. I have no need to describe to you the landscape, the chapel,\nmy emotion on finding myself again in the same place where we had\nprayed together so much. My mother is making wonderful progress, and\nwould fain not set out again any more. Ren\u00e9, to whom I had described\nit all, assures me that the reality surpasses my poetic pictures. How\nsweet and good a thing it is to pray together, and to be at the very\nwell-spring of graces! H\u00e9l\u00e8ne is overflowing with joy. Adrien and\nGertrude weep no more.\u2026 And we are soon to see and embrace you again,\nto spend a month near to you. I think we shall be in Paris on the 12th\nof July. Dearest Kate, I regret you here! Oh! the inconstancy of my\npoor heart, so happy to give up to God the better part of itself, and\nthen desiring to take it back again. The gifts of the Lord alone are\nwithout repentance. O sweet, delightful, perfect friend! nothing can\nseparate our souls, always fraternally united in the adorable Heart\nwhich gave itself for us.\n\nLa Salette! La Salette! To say to one\u2019s self that here, where we\ntread, Mary has passed; that her voice, more melodious than all the\nharps of Eden, has been heard upon these heights; that this sky has\nbeheld her tears, her propitiatory and beloved tears, mysterious\npearls which should be gathered up by a seraph; to pray here, where\nthe Mother of the Saviour has herself taught prayer; oh! what\nfelicity: _Ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum habitare fratres in unum!_\nBeloved, I have prayed for you, and soon now I shall see you. \u201cDear\nGeorgina,\u201d my mother said to me yesterday, \u201cmay God reward you for the\nsacrifice you have made for me!\u201d Between this super-excellent mother,\nRen\u00e9, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, and myself there passes a continual interchange of\nthoughts and feelings, and I could even say amongst us all.\n\nYours now and always, my sister.\n\n * * * * *\n\n\nAUGUST 12, 1867.\n\nWhat, already? so soon? and we must resume our correspondence! Again I\nhave quitted you, my Kate, my visible angel guardian \u2026 H\u00e9l\u00e8ne is also\ngone. The heavenly Spouse has placed in his own garden this delicate\nand charming flower, for which this world had no dew that was pure\nenough. \u201cLet us be saints,\u201d she writes to me; \u201cit is only at this\nprice that we may purchase heaven.\u201d And I answer her: \u201cIt is also only\nat this price that this life is endurable; that the departures, the\nseparations, the pain of absence, too sensible an image of death, can\nbe courageously accepted.\u201d Dear Kate, where shall we find each other\nnow? May God protect you! Brittany enchants me. I walk along the\nbeach; make people tell me all the legends of the country; hunt with\nRen\u00e9; but most often slip away into the little village church, or into\nthe chapel of the ch\u00e2teau. We have an organ, and consequently superb\nfestivals. Our almoner is a college friend of my brother\u2019s; he has\nbeen kind enough to undertake Arthur\u2019s education for a time, and we\nare all very glad of this arrangement; this good _abb\u00e9_ is really a\nlearned man; the little girls are profiting largely by his stores of\ninformation, and we are busy with collections, botany, maps, etc. This\n_savant_ is moreover a traveller: he is lately returned from the new\nworld! And hence we have stories of most exciting interest. My\nPicciola dreams about them. In short, the new-comer has already turned\nall the heads of the infantine world, and our Breton life will be at\nthe very least as animated and joyous as our life at Orleans.\n\nI am expecting Margaret, who says that she is coming to visit me,\nwithout naming the day. Our habitation is beautiful, antique, vast;\nwith halls like those described by Sir Walter Scott. It is surrounded\nby immense woods, and brightened by a profusion of flowers. There too\nis the sea, blue and profound, image of life, with its waves and\nhidden rocks. I never look at it without an inexpressible longing to\npass over it to behold again my Ireland. Kate, Kate, what a charm do\nnot memories possess!\n\nRen\u00e9 is writing to you. I have not described to you my rooms, so\nexquisitely ornamented according to my own taste. Let us praise God,\nmy sister!\n\n\nAUGUST 13.\n\nAn unexpected visit; some Irish friends, the W\u2014\u2014s. \u201cWe come to\nreconcile ourselves,\u201d said Lady Helen gracefully to me. My\nmother-in-law gave them a most cordial reception, and they remained\nwith us two days. You may imagine how happy I was. What details we had\nto communicate! Marie de S\u2014\u2014 is at rest in God; no one had written to\ntell me. Beautiful and holy soul, remember us on high! The old men,\nalmost centenarians, whom we left in our dear native place, are living\nyet, and death has stricken down another victim, in the brightness of\nyouth and future prospects, George D\u2014\u2014, only six days older than I am,\nand who died far from his home. He was brought back by his mourning\nfamily to the vault at V\u2014\u2014, where his brother already reposed. He died\na really holy death, \u2026 that is a consolation. They say that his father\nis distracted with grief. Dear Isa, whose aspirations tended towards\nthe cloister, is giving up her happiness to remain in the world, there\nto pray, suffer, and comfort her family in their sorrows. Gerty is\ngrown even prettier than she was\u2014a lily. How much I have been\nquestioned about my Kate!\n\nA letter to-day from Lizzy who lovingly reminds me of my promise. It\nwill be for next spring, I think. I took our guests to the village,\nthe presbytery, the church, the asylum, and the hospital; all of which\nare either founded or supported by the liberality of Mme. de T\u2014\u2014. A\ncarriage!\u2026\n\nIt was Margaret, dear Kate; not my Margaret of former times,\nwarmhearted and open, talkative and gay, but Margaret pale, suffering,\nand yet finding again a spark of joy as she pressed me in her arms. I\nam going to devote myself entirely to her; she must be cured, and if\npossible undeceived. Aid me with your prayers!\n\n\nAUGUST 25.\n\nThis dear festival of St. Louis makes me want to write to you. It is\nfive o\u2019clock; Ren\u00e9 is sleeping soundly; I have slipped on a\ndressing-gown, and now, after a prayer, I come to you, my beloved\nKate, my sister by nature and affection. A balmy breeze reaches me\nthrough the half-open window, the a\u00ebrial concerts are beginning, the\nuniversal prayer ascends to God. My soul is glad, like nature. After\nmany hesitations, much feeling my way, and on Ren\u00e9\u2019s advice, I\naddressed myself to Lord William himself.\u2026 It was a very delicate\nmatter, and my timidity was up in arms; but Margaret\u2019s life was in\nquestion. How I set about it I do not in the least know; my good angel\nwas with me. The excellent lord thanked me almost with tears; the\nmelancholy of our friend was too evident to him, and he had tried in\nvain to break through the wall of ice that had grown up between them.\nAll is now at an end; and we have convinced Margaret, who is reviving\nagain to happiness. I know not what evil tongue had so poisoned the\ngolden cup of \u201c_the prettiest woman in England_.\u201d The truth is that\nLord William\u2019s brother wanted to marry the young, portionless maiden\nof whom I spoke to you, whose views were above this world and fixed on\nheaven. Filial piety keeps her where she is, for she attends upon her\ngrandfather\u2014blind, like Homer and Milton, and like them a poet, says\nLord William, who, being himself enthusiastic about poetry, was a\nfrequent visitor to his relative, the aged bard, and thus\nunconsciously gave rise to the absurd story too easily believed by\nMargaret. How she regrets not having sooner sought into the truth of\nthe matter! I am enchanted at this explanation, and also because my\nmother insists that our \u201cdear English\u201d shall not leave us for a month.\nWe are planning excursions without end. Lord William and Ren\u00e9 are\ninseparable; my sisters dispute as to which shall have Margaret, who\nis more ravishingly beautiful than ever. Her fine voice rings\nmajestically in the chapel; yesterday we went _en masse_ to surprise\nMme. de T\u2014\u2014 because it was her _f\u00eate_. You cannot imagine the effect\nof our choirs. Ren\u00e9, Adrien, Edouard, everybody, the English peer too,\nsang. Your Georgina played the organ\u2014not without tears of emotion.\u2026 My\nmother said she was _in heaven_. All day long bouquets and _hommages_\nwere arriving; these good Bretons are so grateful, so pious! To-morrow\nwe go to Auray, next week to Solesmes, \u2026 a long way, \u2026 but I would\nwillingly go to the world\u2019s end.\n\nMargaret almost worships the babies. Alix scarcely leaves her; Gaston\nhas his private and his state visits to her. My Picciola is so\nintelligent that English has soon become easy to her. I converse with\nher in my mother\u2019s tongue; we pray together. Am I not happy, dear\nKate? Everything smiles upon me. Often I meditate upon the benefits\nwhich I have received from an all-merciful Providence, and especially\nupon my happiness in my friends. Apropos to this subject, I recollect\na sad but charming remark of Louis Veuillot\u2019s upon departures, those\ngreat sadnesses of life: \u201cThere are flowers of friendship that we have\nsown, and which spring up, but which we must abandon when their\nfragrance is sweetest!\u201d\u2026 He goes on to speak of forgetfulness; the\nmourning wreath thrown by the oblivious world on the tomb of vanished\nfriendships, and sorrowfully says, \u201cAll the flowers of human life are\nperishable!\u201d Is it an illusion of my youth to believe that my\naffections are like the flowers of heaven, inaccessible to decay,\nstrong against storms?\u2026 After the love of God, the first and greatest\ngood, the surest element of even terrestrial happiness, I have\nfriendship, and I rejoice in it with enchantment; then I have the love\nof my good Ren\u00e9, so pure and Christian a love, which makes of our two\nsouls one single being, in an indissoluble union; then reading, with\nits varied emotions, study, the faculties of enthusiasm, of\nadmiration, of comprehension.\u2026 Oh! how fair is life. When I speak of\nfriendship, it is the tender affection of my Kate that is especially\nin my mind\u2014a tenderness to which I owe all that I am. Dearest and best\nbeloved, I sometimes ask myself how it is that you have been to me a\nsister so _unique_, and finding no other motive for this choice\naffection than your loving charity, I bless God, who has permitted\nthis to be in his merciful designs, which I cannot sufficiently adore.\nWhen I make my thanksgiving after communion, I am fond of taking a\n_general survey_ in my heart, so as to include in it names and\nmemories, and after speaking to Jesus of all the souls in whom I am\ninterested, I never fail to ask our rich and mighty Sovereign to\nbless, together with me, all who love or have ever loved me.\u2026\n\nGod guard you, _carissima_!\n\n\nAUGUST 29.\n\nNews from Ireland: Ellen is in great trouble; her son has a mucous\nfever which leaves small hope of his life. Alas! everywhere there is\nmourning and death. Poor friend! so Christian and so pious, so\ncourageous under trials, how she must suffer, in spite of her\nfortitude and resignation! Have you often met with people so\nsympathetic as this amiable Ellen?\u2014a heart of gold, full of tenderness\nand devotion, in so delicate a frame. It seems to me as if the tears\nwhich she drives back by her mother\u2019s bed of suffering (who is still\nin great danger, as Margaret has written you word), and by the cradle\nof her beautiful little Robert, fall on my heart. Let us pray for her!\n\nRen\u00e9 is telling you about our pilgrimage to Auray. What happiness to\nbe there with these good and dear friends, and with my mother, whose\nhealth is most satisfactory! Why are not you also here, dear Kate? Oh!\nI never cease to miss you, although I repeat to myself that nothing is\nwanting to my felicity.\n\nYesterday was the feast of St. Augustine, the great doctor of love.\nWould that I could love like him!\u2026 M. Bougaud has written the life of\nSt. Monica, which I am told is very fine. Adrien left the book at\nOrleans. I had read the introduction, which is written in an excellent\nand elevated style. \u201cIt is the poem of the most incomparable love that\never was.\u201d O Saint Augustine, pillar of the church, defender of the\nfaith! pray for those who fight; obtain for them that love which\npurifies and sanctifies suffering, that holy and perfect love which\nalone is the life of the soul! I have a special affection for St.\nAugustine. His was so ardent and enthusiastic a nature; his lofty soul\nso great, so indomitable, and so athirst for happiness; then, after\nhis conversion, how courageous was his faith, how apostolic his\neloquence, and, above all, how mighty was his love of God, which, as\nit were, consumed him! In all this we behold with admiration the\ninfinite mercy of the Creator. Do you recollect Ary Scheffer\u2019s lovely\npicture of St. Monica and St. Augustine by the sea? One could spend\nhours before those already transfigured countenances, studying their\nthoughts, which are rendered almost visible by the genius of the\nartist.\n\nRead a letter by Mgr. Dupanloup on the death of Cardinal Altieri. We\nstill live in the times of men like Borromeo and Belzunce; the church\nnever grows old. Cardinal Altieri was Bishop of Albano. The cholera\nbroke out in that small town with such violence that a hundred persons\ndied in a night. Mgr. Altieri assembled his servants and asked if they\nwere willing to follow him to Albano. He set out, accompanied by one\nalone, and his almoner, and taking with him his will, to which he\nadded a codicil. After three days, spent in heroic acts of charity and\ndevotedness, he was attacked by the malady, and died in the arms of\ntwo other cardinals, who, happening to be at Albano when the scourge\nappeared, had not quitted the post of honor. This death is a great\nloss to the church. Mgr. Altieri was Camerlinga of the Roman Church,\nthe highest dignity after the Pope. Louis Veuillot, in his biography\nof Pius IX., says: \u201cThere is no name and no character more Roman than\nthat of Altieri.\u201d The cardinal was only sixty-two years of age. Pius\nIX. at once desired to find him a successor. A messenger of the Holy\nSee was sent to Mgr. Apollini: \u201cIt is necessary to set out immediately\nfor Albano.\u201d \u201cI am ready,\u201d was Mgr. Apollini\u2019s reply. Is it not fine?\nWhat page of Homer equals this page in the history of the church? The\nZouaves are also doing wonders of charity at Albano: making themselves\n_Gray Sisters_ for the living, and burying the dead; they are sublime.\nMay God have pity on poor Italy! Mgr. Dupanloup concludes his letter\nby a few words full of sadness and apprehension. O my God! will not\nthe eloquence of genius, the supplications of thy saints, the\nsufferings of thy martyrs, disarm thine anger? By the side of these\nsolemn scenes yesterday\u2019s paper contained a curious article: the\n\u201cmiracles\u201d of the Zouave Jacob, of whom you must have heard, dear\nKate. What times we live in! On the one hand we have spiritism,\nmagnetism, all sorts of communications with demons, and on the other\nthe wonderful development of noble thoughts, institutions of all kinds\nin aid of every form of misfortune, men of the highest genius raising\nimperishable monuments to the glory of God and the church! If our time\nis one of great errors and many troubles, it is also a time of great\nvirtues and noble acts of devotion. Margaret told us that when passing\nthrough P\u00e9rigord she stopped at Cadouin, where the holy _Sudarium_ of\nour Lord is offered to the veneration of the faithful. Before this\naugust relic she prayed with indescribable emotion for our\nincomparable Pontiff, who is following in the footsteps of our Saviour\nup Mount Calvary. The revolution is about to march against Rome; what\nwill be the consequence? \u201c_Tu es Petrus._\u201d \u2026 With this word one can\nunderstand the peace, serenity, and confidence of Pius IX. Suffer not,\nO Lord! that so many wandering and guilty sons shall die fighting\nagainst their own Father!\n\n * * * * *\n\n\nSEPTEMBER 6.\n\nThe sacrifice is consummated: Ellen has witnessed the death of her\nbaby\u2014her joy and pride. \u201cHer husband comforted and sustained her like\na Christian,\u201d Lizzy writes. The paroxysm of her maternal anguish was\nfearful.\n\nA child should never die before its mother; it is against nature, and\nis almost more than the heart can endure; the help of God is\nnecessary; let us pray for her, my Kate. This dear, much-tried,\nheartbroken mother thought of me in her sorrow, and sent me a few\nlines. You will read them and will weep with me over this page of woe.\nI seem still to see that charming group: Ellen coaxing Robert to try\nand take his first steps, and he sending us kisses. All these joys,\nthat golden dawn, those earliest days\u2014who can bring them back to\nEllen? May God console her, and may the sweet angel who strengthened\nJesus at Gethsemani tenderly wipe away her tears! Margaret is as\ngrieved as I am. Our trip to Solesmes is somewhat delayed; we are\nexpecting more guests. I have just finished a splendid chasuble, which\nI take the liberty of sending to your address, my dearest Kate\u2014in the\nfirst place, that you may admire it, and, secondly, that you may\nkindly let Mme. G. know about it, as she will have to complete my\nwork. Have I mentioned to you a letter from the Bishop of Orleans to\nthe faithful of his diocese on the festivals of Rome, and the\napproaching opening of an \u0153cumenical council? It is splendid; there is\nmagic in his style.\n\nYou do not forget Zo\u00eb de L\u2014\u2014? Margaret met her in Paris, _poor_, and\nlooking terribly aged. Through some inexplicable folly, she made an\nabsurd marriage, and the change of position, her unexpected\ndisappointment, the trials of heart and mind she has undergone, have\naltogether upset her. \u201cIt was ten minutes,\u201d Margaret writes, \u201cbefore I\ncould recognize her.\u201d Perhaps you could see her, dear Kate, and cheer\nher up a little. _La belle Anglaise_ and I want to be of service to\nher, and you must be our medium; Ren\u00e9 is writing to his banker, to\nplace the necessary sum at your disposal. I will enclose the card on\nwhich Margaret wrote the address of this unfortunate Zo\u00eb.\n\nDearest Kate, pray for Ellen. There is, then, no such thing as perfect\nhappiness in this world. If it were not for the compassion I feel for\nthose whose troubles affect me so deeply, I should be too happy. How\nkind Ren\u00e9 is! He is angelic! I cannot note down to you, or I should\nhave to write volumes, the thousand intimate and charming details\nwhich make my life a paradise.\n\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne rarely writes; when she does, it is as a seraph might. She is\nhappy; she has entered into the place of repose which she has chosen,\nin the _hollow of the rock_, where the dove loves to hide; she has\nfound her ideal. Gertrude reads on her knees the poetic effusions of\nher child.\n\nDear Kate, may all heaven be with you!\n\n\nSEPTEMBER 15.\n\nMy dear one, excursions are robbing me of all my leisure, but not of\nthe time to think of you. A pouring rain has interfered with our\nprojects for to-day, and all the children have fled to _Mme.\nMargaret_, who takes a lively interest in these juveniles. Yesterday\nwas the birthday of this delightful friend. We busied ourselves in\npreparations, whilst, at my request, Lord William drew his somewhat\nwondering Margaret away to the park. A solitary little drawing-room\nwas rapidly transformed; it looked so pretty in the evening, with a\nprofusion of flowers and lights, wreaths of ivy twining round the\nmirrors, and an illumination of the _heroine\u2019s_ initials! She was\ngreatly touched and delighted; Picciola recited some beautiful verses\nwritten by Edouard, and we presented her with bouquets, carvings, and\npaintings. A concert brought the entertainment to a close. Mme. de T\u2014\u2014\nwill not hear of the departure of our dear friends. \u201cSisters ought not\nto leave each other before they are compelled,\u201d she says. Kind,\nexcellent mother! Yesterday we walked along the coast so often sung by\nthe poet Brizeux, whom Ren\u00e9 quotes with so much Breton fire and\nfitness. \u201cLook there,\u201d Adrien whispered to me, \u201cat all that pretty\nlittle brood!\u201d Under the shadow of an oak about a hundred paces from\nus a dozen children were preparing a _d\u00eenette_.[205] How handsome they\nlooked in their tatters, with their healthy and intelligent faces!\nArthur had a bright thought: he proposed to Picciola, who was carrying\nthe _cake-basket_, to share theirs among the poor little children. All\nthe babies joined in the festivity, and bonbons and delicacies were\nfreely distributed. Margaret sketched this pretty picture in her\nalbum. You see our walks are not without their charm.\n\nOn Monday, I visited a pious canoness who lives alone in a sumptuous\nresidence. I was delighted with the kind and cordial welcome she gave\nme, and spent with her three of the most enjoyable hours I ever passed\nin my life. Mme. de Saint A\u2014\u2014 is fifty-three years of age, though she\nappears older; she has been exquisitely beautiful. Now she is better\nthan that\u2014she is a saint; and next to the deep joys of the Eucharistic\ntable, I do not think there is any greater enjoyment than to converse\nwith such as she. The old castle overlooking the ocean has an antique\nand lordly aspect, with a certain character as of something religious,\nlike a cenobite whom death has forgotten, kneeling by the borders of a\nlake. The sea in this place forms a sort of inland bay, or quiet lake,\nin which the great trees of the park seem to take pleasure in\nreflecting themselves. The dwelling has been visited by the dukes of\nBrittany, and one wing of the castle still bears their name. We\nascended the steps of the staircase of honor, up which the noble\nmail-clad warriors so often rode mounted on their chargers. The room\nof Mme. de Saint A\u2014\u2014 is entirely white, like the soul of the pious\nlady. It opens into the chapel. On each side of the altar several\nfuneral epitaphs show this temple of prayer to be also the temple of\nmemories. Mme. de Saint A\u2014\u2014 showed us some water-colors worthy of\nRedout\u00e9, painted by her great-grandmother; and some wood-carving which\nexcited the liveliest admiration of the gentlemen. It was impossible\nto quit this Eden; we admired the grottoes and plantations, and\nremained for _d\u00e9jeuner_. We seemed to be in another world in this\nThebaid of the coast. We kissed the trunk of an immense chestnut whose\nprotecting boughs had overshadowed many generations, and which has a\nhigher title to glory from having in \u201993 preserved from revolutionary\nfury the stone statue of the Madonna which now guards the chapel. I\nshall never forget this visit\u2014twenty leagues from our residence\u2014nor\nthe expression of that saintly face, the look and words which\naccompanied the kind pressure of my hand at the moment of departure.\n\nMme. de Saint A\u2014\u2014 has lost all her dear ones by death. God and the\npoor still remain to her, a heritage worthy of her heart. Her artistic\nand literary tastes are a great resource for her in her solitude,\nwhich is occasionally shared by some friends at a distance, who are\nfaithful to this \u201c_fragment of the past_,\u201d as she said in showing us\nthe castle.\n\nOne hall, that of \u201cthe libraries,\u201d contains treasures. Adrien, who is\nan enthusiastic and learned arch\u00e6ologist, eagerly examined its\ncontents. Several rare manuscripts have passed into his possession; we\ncame home laden with riches. My share is a beautiful water-color\ndrawing. Shall we ever see this hermitage again?\n\nDear Kate, Ren\u00e9 and Margaret have finished their letters before me.\nAdieu and _\u00e1 Dieu_!\n\nDreamed of Ireland, her emigrants, her martyrs. Oh! how dear our\nsacred island is to me.\n\n\nSEPTEMBER 20.\n\nKind, loving, and beloved sister, three letters in your welcome\nhandwriting are come to me at the same time. Thanks for what you have\ndone for Zo\u00eb; she has written to tell me about it, and of your zealous\nendeavors to make her more courageous. I have no more anxiety about\nour poor friend since you are in her neighborhood.\n\nRen\u00e9 has procured for me _Femmes Savantes et Femmes Studieuses_,[206]\nby Mgr. Dupanloup.\n\nIt is an excellent book, elevated and at the same time practical, and\nquite in accordance with the views of my dear husband. Our studies\ntogether are truly profitable? The good _abb\u00e9_ is very alarming just\nnow. He says that blood will be shed in France, much blood; with other\nsinister predictions. May God guard you, dearest Kate!\n\nThe village is in mourning: five deaths this week. One is that of the\nfather of seven children; Margaret is placing six of them with the\nSisters at P\u2014\u2014. The rich English lady makes herself almost worshipped\nby our Bretons.\n\nEllen has written to me; she is more calm, but wonders that she can\nlive.\u2026 Her mother, broken down by this last blow, sank three days\nafter Robert. To force her away from the sad associations of home her\nhusband is taking her to Scotland, where they will remain until the\nspring. I wish they were with us; we would try to comfort them. Ah!\nKate, how I pity mothers.\n\nFinished the full-length portrait of Ren\u00e9 for our mother. How I have\nenjoyed working at it\u2014dear, kind husband! At this moment he is playing\nThalberg\u2019s _Mo\u00efse_, and I hasten to join him. I should not be Irish if\nI did not love poetry and music.\n\nLove me as I love you, dear sister.\n\n\nSEPTEMBER 28.\n\nI am in a state of transport, dearest! For eight days past we have\nbeen almost constantly in the carriage, and have seen Solesmes and its\njewels of stone, the handiwork of artists full of faith such as our\ntimes do not find in their successors. Only imagine, dear Kate: I saw\nnothing at Solesmes but the church and Sainte C\u00e9cile! On coming out I\nclosed my eyes, the better to recall those visions of beauty before\nwhich death would seem more sweet. Beneath an arched roof on the right\ntwo personages are placing Our Lord in the sepulchre; these are\nNicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, the former in a rich Oriental\ncostume and the latter in a dress of the time of Louis XI., which\nlooks singular enough at first sight. Sitting before the tomb, St.\nMary Magdalene, bending low, with her head resting on her hands,\nabandons herself to grief. It is very beautiful Kate. Of all that I\nhave seen that looked _living_ in sculpture, nothing ever impressed me\nso much. This Magdalene is the jewel of the whole. She seems to live\nand breathe; nothing could render the expression of sorrow and of\nprayer in her countenance, nor the naturalness of her posture; one\nfeels as if she might raise her arms, and that her mouth might utter\nher lamentation; one _feels_ that her eyes are overflowing with\ntears.\u2026 Follow me now into the chapel on the left. Here is the\nswooning of the Blessed Virgin, in a deep niche over the altar. Again,\nour Lady, kneeling in ecstasy, supported by St. Peter and St. John, is\nabout to receive communion from the hands of her risen Son. In this\nmystic idea there is to my mind exquisite poetry. Almost all the\napostles and the holy women are there; the figures in this group are\nvery numerous, and there are among them heads of an ideal beauty. I\nhave looked so long at these more than artistic, almost heavenly,\nworks, that they will long remain in my mind. The entombment of the\nBlessed Virgin faces that of Our Lord, and is strikingly effective.\nThe position of our Lady is admirable, and there is something heavenly\nin her countenance, which love transfigures even in death. St. John,\nSt. James the Less, Dom Bougner, an abbot of Solesmes, who by a pious\nanachronism had himself represented in this solemn scene, and another\nsaint, hold the corners of the shroud. All four are excellently\nrendered. St. Peter is leaning over our Lady, and contemplates her\nwith an indescribable expression of love. This figure is one of the\nmost attractive of all. Behind are the holy women, whose looks betoken\nthe deepest grief, and some of the apostles, who are speaking to each\nother. All these figures are admirably grouped; not one lessens the\neffect of the rest, and the whole scene is of touching grandeur. It\nwas difficult to tear one\u2019s self away from the contemplation of those\nanimated and speaking forms.\u2026 There are other groups: Jesus in the\nmidst of the doctors, the Assumption, the Coronation; wonderful works\nby men who have remained almost unknown. Why were you not there, dear\nKate? This is always the cry of my heart, which wants you everywhere.\n\nTo see Dom Gu\u00e9ranger formed part of our plan. When one has read his\n_Sainte C\u00e9cile_ and his admirable pages on the _Temporal Power of the\nPopes_, it is a happiness to listen to him in his monastic humility.\nWhat a fine head he has!\u2014a countenance so expressive of both intellect\nand sanctity, and such vivacity and genius in his look! We were\npresent at the Benedictine Office, but went first to Sainte-C\u00e9cile, a\nmonastery of Benedictine nuns which Dom Gu\u00e9ranger is building at some\ndistance from the abbey. It will be splendid: magnificent cloisters,\nand in the middle of the great quadrangle one of those marvellous\nfountains that we used to admire in the pictures of the cloisters in\nSpain.\n\nBenediction, in the abbey church, was very beautiful. At the moment\nwhen the benediction is given a dove descends upon the altar; the\nsight is striking when the heart is already predisposed to heavenly\nemotions. When, at the conclusion, the monks stood up to chant the _Te\nDeum_, that song of the eternal Jerusalem which I never hear without a\nthrill of inward joy, I felt an indescribable impression of happiness\nand peace. Oh! how sweet it must be to serve God thus, and spend one\u2019s\nlife in study and in prayer.\n\nDearest Kate, may God bless you, may he bless us all, and may he\ndeliver Ireland!\n\n\nOCTOBER 2.\n\nTo-day Sarah B\u2014\u2014 takes a lord and master. God grant that she may be\nhappy; that her heart, so upright, delicate, and loving, may not be\ndisappointed! She is in communication with Margaret, to whom she has\nrelated the causes of her _almost_ rupture with Mary. Both had\nsuffered greatly from the loss of that affection which for twenty\nyears had filled their life; this marriage draws them nearer together.\nMass has been said for her, in this sweet corner of our Brittany, this\noasis. Margaret is about to leave us. What bitterness is linked to\nevery separation! How often our heart is divided, our life cut in\ntwain, and our happiness destroyed! We went on Monday to C\u2014\u2014, where we\nhave an aunt, superior of a convent of the Visitation. \u201cConvents do\nnot change, like the world,\u201d said Ren\u00e9, when we came out from the\nparlor; \u201cit even seems to me that these ascetic faces do not grow old.\nAnd I know men of forty years of age who appear to be sixty, so much\nhave passions worn them out. Why is not every Christian house a\nmonastery? Why do not all men love our good God?\u201d\u2026 My aunt was very\naffectionate; promises of prayers were mutually exchanged.\u2026 I am\nprayed for in many sanctuaries, in many retreats, pious homes of\nrefuge for wounded souls and for timid doves, dwellings where lilies\nbloom, and where the Holy of Holies makes his habitation. And\neverywhere, on every coast on which a Catholic hand has planted the\nCross of Christ, I am prayed for, in virtue of this great communion of\nsaints, this dogma so divine and so full of comfort, the sweetest of\nall, it seems to me, giving hope for those who do not yet pray for\nthemselves! Oh! can I wonder that the religious life, to which our\nSaviour promised a hundred-fold in this world and paradise in the\nnext\u2014this life of self-renunciation and of sacrifice\u2014has stolen my\nKate from me? Madame de P\u2014\u2014, Lucy\u2019s mother, is seriously ill; and her\nson the _abb\u00e9_, the _grand-vicaire_, the holy priest, the joy and\nconsolation of her heart, is with her. All the _Edwards_ have just\nleft us; Gaston has been ill, and is recovering slowly. His pale,\ngentle face so little resembles that of the rosy boy who smiled so\ngaily upon us only a few weeks ago, that we are all pained at the\nchange. I trust God will spare this pretty little angel to dear Lucy;\nbut were the hosts of heaven to open their ranks to receive this\nlittle brother, who, however, pitying the mother, would think of\npitying the child? Oh! what have I said? In my desire for heaven I was\nalmost forgetting earth!\n\n_Lady Sensible_, Margu\u00e9rite, is gravely working in the embrasure of\nthe window at a set of baby-linen which she will have made entirely\nherself. This child will be a remarkable woman; there is something\nsingularly attractive about her; she talks little, but thinks much,\nand her words are full of solidity and good sense. She is charmingly\npretty; last winter, in her little dress of black velvet over a blue\nsilk skirt, she looked like the daughter of a king.\n\nDearest, here is your letter, in the white hands of Picciola, and a\nletter from H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, triumphantly brought to me by Alix! Kind little\nangels! who possess the understanding of the heart, and so read mine.\nThanks, dear sister; may our Mother in heaven repay to you all the\nlove you bear me!\n\nMargaret leaves to-morrow; she is gone to say good-by to her poor\npeople. What a kind, sweet friend she is! and now the ocean is soon to\nseparate us.\n\nPray for the travellers, beloved Kate, and for your own Georgina.\n\n\nSEPTEMBER 13.\n\nThis autumn set in icy cold; to-day the weather has been mild and the\nsun splendid; it was like a resurrection; my spirit revived with\nnature. How I miss Margaret! She has had a prosperous journey. \u201cThe\naspect of everything is changed.\u201d God be praised!\n\nA kind visit this morning from a neighbor, the Baroness de T\u2014\u2014, mother\nof three sweet children, whom she brings up herself. This charming\nwoman is in deep mourning for her brother; riches are no shield from\nthe unlooked-for strokes of death. In positions where people are in\npossession of everything, it must be dreadful suffering to be helpless\nto detain here below, at the price of all one\u2019s gold, those who are\ncarried off by death. We are said to be on the point of a grievous and\nterrible crisis; I can easily believe it; it is the general\nexpectation of minds. Everything suffers; all families are stricken in\nthose dearest to them, all is trouble and distress. M. V. R. is dead\nat Dublin, without confession, without hope, without God! Is there no\nangel for these poor wanderers, to make one ray of light shine before\ntheir eyes? Nelly, the mourning Nelly, confides her grief to me: \u201cWhat\na night of anguish! and what tears I shed! No priest beside this dying\nbed; my mother in despair, I on my knees, my eyes dried up with\nweeping, doubting if it were a dream or a reality, and wondering\nwhether so many ardent prayers must be in vain! The only religious\nornament in the room was a little picture I had drawn when a child,\nand which my poor uncle had not observed, or else tolerated it on my\naccount; its subject was the conversion of a sinner. This seemed to me\nprovidential. I could not believe that this life, so troublous, so\nagitated, and so sinful, so far from God and from the practice of\nreligion, could go out without one spark of divine light to illuminate\nit, or without some thought of penitence finding entrance, which might\nobtain pardon before eternity.\u2026 Alas! I have but one hope, and I cling\nto that in the fulness of my trouble like one who is shipwrecked to a\nfragment of the vessel; it is that, in passing judgment on a soul, God\nis mindful of all the prayers that will be offered for it!\u201d\n\nPoor Nelly! how well I understand her. I hope, I hope; who knows what\npasses in that supreme moment, in that terrible grappling of death\nwith life, between divine mercy and the sinner, who may in one instant\nmake an act of perfect contrition and love?\n\nWould you like to have a page out of H\u00e9l\u00e8ne\u2019s journal, the receptacle\nof her inmost and most secret confidences, which she left with her\nmother, and which Ren\u00e9 and I read with enthusiasm? \u201c\u2018Knowest thou the\nland where the orange tree blossoms?\u2019 was the vague question of the\nmelancholy Mignon to all around him; and I, for my part, ask\neverywhere, \u2018Knowest thou the land whither flows all my love? Knowest\nthou the land to which mount my desires? Knowest thou Carmel, the\nsacred mountain where I shall possess my God?\u2019 I also could say,\n\u201cKnowest thou this beloved home, where I have so often sat with\ngladness in my heart? Knowest thou this mother who loves me with so\ntrue a love, this father so fond and tender, these kind, indulgent\nbrothers, this noble-hearted grandmother, all this charming family who\nhave made my life so sweet and golden?\u2026 O nature! and I am about to\nleave all these! I communicated this morning, the Feast of St. Teresa,\nthe illustrious and seraphic lover of God, the fairest flower of\nCarmel, the glory of the church, a soul so strong and lofty in her\nperfection that she no longer desired any happiness in this world, and\nrepeated, \u2018Lord, let me suffer or die!\u2019 Edouard Turquety, the sweet\nCatholic poet, has written some beautiful verses on this sublime\nthought. O great St. Teresa, eagle of love! whose flight reached to\nsuch heights, draw me after you; detach me from earth, gain for me\nthat I forget for God all which is not God!\n\n \u201c\u2018Emporte-moi, douce pens\u00e9e,\n Effusion d\u2019un c\u0153ur jaloux,\n Je suis la veuve d\u00e9laiss\u00e9e\n Emporte-moi vers mon Epoux.\u2019\u201d[207]\n\nDear Kate, do you not doubly\nlove our H\u00e9l\u00e8ne?\n\n\nOCTOBER 21.\n\nDo you know the _Meditations on the Way of the Cross_, by the Abb\u00e9\nPerreyre? I find in this book a comprehension of suffering which can\nonly belong to a superior mind, and one which has drunk from one of\nthe bitterest cups of life. There are passages in it which seemed to\nthrill me, especially this thought, that \u201ctrial breaks souls and\nforces them to shed around them floods of love.\u201d I like to pass before\nyour kind eyes all that I read and admire. Ren\u00e9 yesterday quoted me a\nbeautiful thought of Mgr. of Orleans on La Morici\u00e8re: \u201cA man is a\nprism; the rays of God pass through him; it is not he who is\nbeautiful\u2014it is the rays, it is God; but without him we should not see\nthem.\u201d Read on Sunday, by the same genius, the postscript to the\nletter of M. Rattazzi; it is admirable for its power, expression, and\nlofty feeling. The Archbishop of Rennes has written a few lines to\nMgr. Dupanloup full of warmth and energy. It is said that our troops\nare going to Rome. God grant that it may be so, for his own glory, for\nthe safety of Pius IX., and for the honor of our poor France! Oh! must\nit be written on the page of our history that the eldest daughter of\nthe church has forfeited her mission, and that she has failed to say\nto the abettors of the revolution, \u201cYou strike not my father with your\nsacrilegious hand without first passing over my body\u201d? I am indignant\nand amazed at beholding the Catholic world remain as if stupefied when\nit ought to rise as one man to defend the holy Pontiff. Ren\u00e9 and his\nbrothers have all served under the Breton hero in the cause of Pius\nIX. Adrien\u2019s two sons are gone to fight under his banner; they set out\nof their own accord, after receiving the blessing of their father,\nmother, and grandmother. Pray for them, my Kate! Gertrude is on her\nCalvary. Our Brittany will be worthily represented at Rome. _Sursum\ncorda!_ God keep you, my well-beloved!\n\n\nOCTOBER 31.\n\nSplendid weather! the air full of warm, poetic odors. I have been\nrather unwell, but am better again; do not be uneasy about me,\ndearest. Good news from every quarter, but sadness at home, for\nGertrude and Adrien are leaving us, having heard that one of their\nsons is ill at Rome; so they hasten thither with all speed. I should\nlike to accompany them, it is so delightful to travel. Mgr. of Orleans\nhas written to his clergy, requesting prayers for the Pope and the\narmy of Italy. There is just now a certain movement of religious\nenthusiasm in France. Numerous volunteers are enrolling themselves in\nthe pontifical army, and there are among them those who leave their\nchildren, their young wife, or their betrothed; and the bishop says\nthat if there are at the present time mothers weeping over a son who\nhas died a martyr in the holiest of causes, there are those who weep\nstill more bitterly because they have no son.\u2026 Is not this the highest\nexpression of Christian patriotism? Rome is the fatherland of the\nCatholic universe; happy indeed are her defenders!\n\n_Evening._\u2014I have just come in from a long walk, alone, on the sands.\nRen\u00e9 is gone with his brother as far as Tours, whence he will not\nreturn before to-morrow; my mother had to write, and to pray; the good\n_abb\u00e9_ had undertaken the charge of all the children; the _grown-up\npeople_ were variously occupied; I wanted to enliven my solitude, and\nhave been to visit my poor people, and in the presence of immensity\nhave lifted up my soul. It was the hour of twilight, which had\ntherefore a double attraction. I love solitude in the evening; the\nsoul, disposed by the calm of nature for meditation and prayer, rises\nwithout effort to God. I do not like to shorten these moments, and\nwillingly prolong them until it is dark. There is always a certain\nsolemnity which attaches to things that end. If we thought of it well,\nhow much we should be impressed by the close of a day! How many souls\nthere are who will not see another! How many sheep have this very day\nquitted the green pastures of the Good Shepherd! How many tears have\nthe angels gathered up! Tears of the mother shed over the coffin of\nher first-born, over a son who is fighting, over a youth who is going\nastray; tears of sorrow, of repentance, of holy joy, tears of all,\nalas! and for every cause. Is there a human eye that knows not tears?\nOh! how many things one day contains. It may be a prodigal child\nbrought back; an upright life sanctified by sacrifice, a martyrdom, a\nconsecration to God. It may be an overflowing of evil and impiety,\nand, on the other hand, prayer poured out in floods before the altar.\nA great church-festival, a first communion, a far-distant island\nconquered to the Gospel, a battle gained over the enemies of the\nfaith\u2014these, these are a day! Oh! the history of a day would be long.\u2026\nWhilst the glittering world, returned from its pleasures and\nfestivities, slumbers beneath its gilded ceilings, the world of\ncharity has already made the angels smile, the world of poverty has\nalready suffered, the world of industry is at work, the apostolic\nworld embarks on the vast ocean or sets foot on unknown shores, the\nworld of science studies and sounds the deep abyss of learning, the\nworld of prayer, the truly Catholic world, prays to God, sings his\npraises, writes, speaks, teaches, lives for God! Everything revives,\nand in this immense concert of humanity, wherein are heard so many\ndiscordant notes, to which so many voices are daily wanting, the\nEternal Ear distinguishes the most imploring notes\u2014the notes of\nsupplication and repentance. Evening comes, and the day ends; a\nuseless day for many of God\u2019s creatures, a golden day for some. And\nthe angels of night spread the shadows over cities and solitudes,\nwhile the angel of justice and the angel of mercy, two white-winged\nseraphs, inscribe in the Book of Life the good and evil of this day;\nwhile, in the splendor of eternal light, the heavenly concert\nincessantly continues.\u2026 Oh! when shall we behold this day?\u2026 Pale dawns\nof this world, fleeting hours, days without beauty, you are but a\npoint in a life, and this life has but one day; and this day, what is\nit \u201cin the ocean of ages,\u201d what is it in Eternity?\n\nH\u00e9l\u00e8ne speaks to me of heaven: \u201cOh! day of deliverance, cloudless day,\nwhen I shall behold my God, when I shall drink of the torrent of\neternal delights, and mingle my feeble voice with the harmonies of the\nheavenly Jerusalem, my soul sighs for thee!\u2026\u201d\n\nEdward and Lucy return to us to-morrow, glad and happy; their mother\nis recovered. Good-night, my Kate!\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED.\n\n\n [205] A \u201clittle dinner,\u201d in which everything is usually on a\n small scale.\n\n [206] \u201cLearned and Studious Women.\u201d\n\n [207] Bear me away, sweet thought,\n Fruit of a jealous heart;\n From lonely widowhood,\n Oh! bear me to my Spouse.\n\n\n\n\nONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.\n\nIt was the December of 1775. The British colonies in America were\nagitated with wild excitement. News had been received of the\nunsuccessful attack on Quebec by the Continental troops under\nMontgomery and Arnold, and of the fall of the brave Montgomery.\n\nThe friends of the colonial cause had set great hopes on the success\nof this enterprise, which would give them the command of the St.\nLawrence, and deprive the British of a most important arsenal for\ntheir permanent supply of troops and munitions of war. They were\ngrieved and desponding over the disastrous result, while the\nloyalists, rejoicing at the check thus given to the progress of the\nrebellion, looked confidently for its speedy close, the restoration of\nthe royal governments, and the return of the several provincial\ngovernors who had discreetly abdicated at the first outbreak, and\nretired to safer quarters. No doubt their enthusiastic public\ndemonstrations of joy assisted in fanning to a flame the smouldering\nelements of resistance among the colonists, who, exasperated at the\npersistently oppressive measures devised and forced upon them by the\nmother country, were even beginning to utter whispers of an entire\ndisruption, and a formal assertion of rights, in a declaration of\nindependence.\n\nNear a pleasant village in the northern part of New Jersey there\nstood\u2014and may be standing yet, for the builders of those days had an\neye to permanency in the solid structures they reared\u2014a farmhouse of\nspacious dimensions, built in the favorite gambrel-roofed style then\ncustomary in country dwellings. Mr. Foote, the owner of the mansion,\nand of many broad acres around it, was a fine specimen of a country\ngentleman after the old English pattern. Bigoted in his attachment to\neverything English, he clung tenaciously to all the customs and\ntraditions which his father, in transplanting them to American soil,\nhad cultivated with an ardor all the more vehement for the difficulty\nof assimilating them to an order of things so entirely different from\nthat in which they had formerly existed. These traditional treasures\nhe had bequeathed to his children as a sacred legacy of far more value\nthan the paltry lands, tenements, and appurtenances they would inherit\nfrom him, and so his son continued religiously to regard them.\n\nEarly in life he married a lady from the neighboring village who had\nbeen reared in the same sentiments of devotion to the mother country.\nAfter a few years of happy domestic life in their retired home, she\ndied, leaving him with a family of five lovely daughters. Some years\nlater he married a widow from Philadelphia, whose only child by her\nformer marriage was the wife of a banker in that city, Mr. von\nFrancke.\n\nNot far from the dwelling of Mr. Foote, and still nearer to the\nvillage, was the residence of Mr. Thorpe, a handsome building\nconformed to the fashion of European suburban mansions. He was also an\nEnglishman in his tastes and habits, but of a less tenacious cast than\nhis neighbor, whom he often annoyed by assailing some of his cherished\nwhims and humors. Nevertheless, they lived on terms of the most\ncordial intimacy and friendship.\n\nMr. Thorpe married the only child of Mr. Earle, a banker in\nPhiladelphia, who was the senior partner of Mrs. Foote\u2019s son-in-law.\nShe was a beautiful and highly accomplished lady. Endowed with rare\nability, discrimination, and firmness, no sophistry could mislead the\nnice sense of justice which governed all her decisions. Her father\u2019s\nposition and financial operations had opened a wide circle of\nacquaintance in all the cities of the new world, and his fine social\nqualities, combined with the fascinations of his gifted daughter\u2014whose\nmother had died when she was too young to realize the loss\u2014attracted\ncrowds to his hospitable mansion. Great was the surprise in the\nfashionable city circle among whom she moved when she chose from the\nhost of her admirers a plain country gentleman, of unquestionable\nmerit, it was true, but of very simple, not to say rustic, manners and\nretiring habits.\n\nShe brought to her secluded home all the refined graces and elegant\nembellishments of her former one, and sustained perfectly, in the\nmidst of her rural associations, the quiet dignity that had always\ndistinguished her; while she continued to exercise the generous\nhospitality to which she had been accustomed in her father\u2019s house.\n\nSome years previous to the beginning of the war of independence, her\nfather retired from active business, left his affairs in the hands of\nhis partner, Mr. von Francke, and went to share his daughter\u2019s home,\nnow adorned with seven fair sons, so tenderly beloved by their\ngrandfather that he could not bear to be separated from them. New\nJersey was then, as it is still, a thoroughfare between the States of\nthe Atlantic coast. From the first settlement it had been the most\nturbulent of the provinces. Always violently agitated by territorial\nand political questions, it was prepared to enter with vehemence into\nthe merits of those which had arisen between the colonies and the\nmother country. In none of them were the exciting topics of the day\ndiscussed more fiercely, _pro_ and _con_, than in this.\n\nDuring the stirring events of the years immediately preceding and\nfollowing the memorable \u201c\u201976\u201d the house of Mr. Thorpe, much to the\nchagrin of his intolerant neighbor, became the rendezvous of many\nprominent men, most of them old friends of his father-in-law, of all\nshades of political opinion, and of every religious and non-religious\nparty.\n\nThrough the holidays of Christmas and New Year\u2019s the two families\nalways entertained a multitude of friends, and there was a round of\nfestivities between them, in which the neighboring villagers\nparticipated. Mr. Foote, who, as might be expected, was a Tory of the\nmost malignant type, selected his guests from the class who were in\nsympathy with him, and accused his more moderate neighbor of treason,\nbecause he, his father-in-law, and his lovely wife tolerated persons\nof different views, and acknowledged the force of their objections to\nBritish rule.\n\nFifty years later it was my good fortune, among the felicitous chances\nof a specially favored childhood, to pass the greater portion of three\nyears under the roof of a house built after the precise pattern of Mr.\nFoote\u2019s, though of somewhat smaller dimensions, in a little village on\nthe south bank of the St. Lawrence. Here his youngest daughter, Anna,\nresided, and shared her home with her step-sister, Mrs. von Francke,\nfrom Philadelphia, the widow of Mr. Earle\u2019s partner, who occupied a\nsuite of rooms set apart for her use, and was always attended by her\nwaiting-woman, a smiling German matron somewhat advanced in years and\nvery fond of children.\n\nIt was my delight the moment school hours were over and the ceremony\nof dinner despatched\u2014for the habits of the stately old English home,\nand the late dinners with their successive courses of fish, flesh, and\nfowl, were as rigidly preserved through all the changes and chances of\nfounding a home in the wilderness as they had been under more\nfavorable circumstances\u2014to mount the stairs with \u201cAuntie Francke,\u201d now\nmuch past eighty, but as sprightly as myself, and while my companions,\nthe daughters of the house, were indulging in a wild game of romps\noutside, draw my little arm-chair\u2014she had a half-dozen of them\nprovided for the small members of the household\u2014to her side in the\ncorner of the cheerful wood fireplace, and listen to her stories of\nother times.\n\nAs I have said, she was then past eighty, but the certainties of a\nposition which placed her out of the reach of such cares and anxieties\nas surround ordinary lives, united with a serene temperament alive to\nall tender sympathies, had preserved the youth of her heart to atone\nfor the ravages of time and adorn the decaying shrine with undying\nverdure and sweetness.\n\nAfter the lapse of more than fifty years, how well do I remember the\ngraceful attitudes of the erect form, the carefully-adjusted drapery\nof her rich, old-time costume, and, above all, the loving gleam of her\nmild black eye as it rested upon me at such times! The maternal\ninstinct of her affectionate heart, never having found its proper\nobject in offspring of her own, overflowed towards all the young\nwithin her reach, and her room was a perfect museum of winking and\ncrying dolls, strange puzzles, dissected pictures, flocks of\nmagnetized ducks and geese, with miniature ponds wherein to exercise\nthem by aid of a steel pencil\u2014of all wonderful toys, in short, which\nshe procured on her annual trips to Philadelphia, and was wont to set\nas traps to catch the little folk she so dearly loved. Her\nwaiting-woman was an apt assistant in pursuit of such small game; and\nit has often been a wonder to me since how, with their precise,\nmethodical ways and exquisitely tidy, punctilious habits, they could\nendure much less enjoy, the dire confusion and anarchy which resulted\nfrom these captures.\n\nFor my own part, I was by nature a quiet, reserved child. Though I\ncould join tolerably well in a wild frolic, I preferred the\nchimney-corner and a story, for which I was a most persistent beggar\nwhen there was any chance of success. From my earliest childhood\nstories relating to history, and especially to the history of our own\ncountry, enthralled me beyond all others. This fancy had been fed by\nconstant association in my own home with grandparents who had borne an\nactive part in the scenes of the Revolution. They entertained many old\nfriends whose memories were also stored with incidents and anecdotes\nof that period. Thus their interest was kept alive and their\nconversation constantly directed to the political and social events of\nthose days, which opened the mind of their eager young listener,\nalmost prematurely, to subjects of grave import quite beyond what\nwould seem natural or appropriate for one of tender years.\n\nWhat a treasure, then, was \u201cAuntie Francke\u201d to me when I was taken\nfrom my quiet home in the woods, and left a trembling, homesick little\nstranger\u2014much less as to size, indeed, than in age\u2014under the\nhospitable roof of these dear friends of my mother in former years! On\nthe score of that friendship I was received there to attend the\nvillage school with the daughters of the family, all older than\nmyself. Mrs. von Francke\u2019s room became at once my solace and delight,\nand even the _Tales of the Arabian Nights_ melted into utter\ninsipidity before the wondrous sketches she could give of \u201cthe times\nthat tried men\u2019s souls.\u201d For she had entertained daily at her home in\nPhiladelphia, as familiar friends, General Washington, Pulaski, De\nKalb, Rochambeau, La Fayette, De Grasse\u2014all the foreign worthies, in\nshort, together with a host of our own countrymen whose names will be\nhousehold words as long as our nation exists. Her husband was brought\ninto constant intercourse with such men by virtue of his occupation,\nand his inclination led him to extend to them most freely the\nhospitalities of his home.\n\nWhen my companions would break into my chosen hiding-place in search\nof me, and find me the fascinated listener of their aged relative,\nthey would warn her to beware what yarns she spun for my amusement;\n\u201cfor,\u201d they said, \u201cshe will surely write them down and keep the\nrecord. If you could see what she puts upon her slate in school that\nhas no relation to the horrors of arithmetic, you would believe she is\nto be of the unhappy number who take such notes!\u201d\n\nWhether acting upon the hint or no, I did indeed, when pondering in my\nown little nest of a room over what I had heard, jot down from time to\ntime many scraps in the words of my kind old friend, from portions of\nwhich the following sketch is gathered.\n\n * * * * *\n\nOn the 24th of December, 1775, a large assemblage met at the house of\nMr. Thorpe. The guests, many of them former friends and acquaintances\nof Mr. Earle, were brought together from different cities of the\nAtlantic States, with a sprinkling of the country friends of Mr. and\nMrs. Thorpe. At the same time an equally large party assembled at the\nresidence of my step-father, Mr. Foote, among them, of course, my\nhusband and myself. The object of both was to celebrate the festivals\nof Christmas and the New Year according to old-time customs. It was\narranged that they should all join in Christmas festivities at Mr.\nFoote\u2019s, and open the New Year with Mr. Thorpe.\n\nAt that period, when the minds of the country were fermenting over\nquestions of vital importance, it was not to be hoped that such\nleaders of the disaffected as were entertained under Mr. Thorpe\u2019s\nfriendly roof\u2014with whom it was half-believed that he and his family\nwere in perfect accord\u2014would mingle very harmoniously with the guests\nselected by Mr. Foote for their high-toned loyalty to king and church.\nI confess to having watched the social results of intercourse between\nsuch discordant elements with great trepidation. Thanks, however, to\nthe crystallizing power of courtly etiquette, now lamentably on the\ndecline, the mutual irritation was suppressed or kept within limits of\nstrict decorum, and the wonted hilarities of the joyous season were\nundisturbed by anything more serious than certain heart-burnings\nconnected with questions of precedence on the line of march to the\ndining-hall. These questions were decided according to the political\npreferences of the respective hosts, quite irrespective of rank and\nstation. Of course the decision rankled none the less fiercely on that\naccount. I noticed, however, that at the table of Mr. Foote his\nneighbor\u2019s guests accepted their allotments, even when placed \u201cbelow\nthe salt\u201d\u2014as the most prominent among them were sure to be\u2014with a\ngraceful nonchalance which, if assumed, was a height of self-control\nunattainable by the haughty friends of their host.\n\nIt was amusing to see how the \u201ctables were turned\u201d when it became the\npart of Mr. Thorpe to play the host. I was placed near my step-father,\nand listened carefully to his remarks addressed _sotto-voce_, as the\ndifferent courses were brought in and removed, to his particular\nfriend, the former private secretary of the ex-governor of New Jersey.\n\n\u201cTo think,\u201d he exclaimed indignantly, \u201cof that young upstart Carroll,\nan acknowledged papist and open promoter of disaffection and\ndisloyalty, being invited to take precedence of such as you in the\nhouse of a friend of mine!\u201d\n\n\u201cI yield the precedence with pleasure, I assure you,\u201d was the reply.\n\u201cThis young Carroll is a man of no ordinary mark. Of his political\nerrors, if errors they must be called, I can only say it is to be\ndeplored that British rule should have furnished him with the weapons\nhe wields so powerfully against it. He is likely to prove a weighty\nand influential foe in politics and in his profession. I have been\npresent in court when he was unwinding webs cunningly woven by leaders\nof the Maryland bar; and, analyzing them thread by thread, he would\nexpose their flimsiness with such convincing clearness and simplicity\nthat the most unlettered juryman could comprehend it as fully as the\nlearned jurists. He has wonderful command of language, and, with no\nattempt at eloquence, astonishing power in swaying the judgments and\nfeelings of his audience.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe more shame for him!\u201d exclaimed Mr. Foote; \u201cwhen he might exert so\npotent an influence for king and country, that he should stoop to\npervert his powers, and become the demagogue of a vile mob, for\npurposes of paltry private ambition!\u201d\n\n\u201cThat could hardly be his object. The suggestions of private ambition\nare all in the opposite direction. He has everything to lose in the\nprobabilities before him, and but little to gain from the bare\npossibility of success in the future for the cause he has embraced.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, thank God! there is scarcely the bare possibility of such a\nresult. With the whole power of Great Britain against them, the rebels\nhave little to hope for, and the punishment of this nefarious\nrebellion will be speedy and sure! Already the first note of triumph\nis sounded in the defeat of their troops before Quebec!\u201d\n\n\u201cPerhaps you are right,\u201d his friend replied; \u201cbut I have not been a\ncareless observer of what is passing, and, if I do not greatly mistake\nthe temper of this people, that disaster will only inspire them with\nnew energy and determination. I regard the selection of George\nWashington to command their forces as a far more threatening token for\nBritish interests than this defeat at Quebec is for theirs. With such\na leader, and the great mass of the people perfectly united through\nthe length and breadth of this immense country to sustain him\u2014even\nadmitting that in the oldest settlements they are sparse, and those\nsettlements widely scattered, and that their chief strength for the\nstruggle lies in the very weakness and insufficiency of their\nresources\u2014I confess I have grave misgivings that the conflict will be\nfearful and the victory dearly bought.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo doubt they will fight desperately, and will be sure of every\npapist in the country to a man! We have been altogether too tolerant\nwith these seditious subjects of the pope. The rascals have crept in\nsilently, until the provinces are filled with them. Scarcely a place\nof any size, except Boston, can be found that has not a popish\nMass-house in full operation. They are gaining influence rapidly, too,\nwith the American people. Observe, for instance, the company invited\nby our host. Yonder, next to that arch-traitor from Boston, John\nHancock, and the plebeian philosopher, Ben. Franklin, sit a number of\nprinters, five of whom, from as many different cities, are rank\npapists, kindred spirits of the guild, though not very polished. It is\nsurprising to notice how many of the pope\u2019s emissaries are printers!\nConvenient for disseminating error and sedition, you know; make good\nfighters, too. Then, on the opposite side of the table, are those\nfiery Irishmen, Fitzsimmons, Barry, and Moylan, with a long line of\ntheir fellows\u2014rebels and papists all! Moylan has three brothers, I am\ntold, of the same stamp. Near to us are French and Germans, of whom I\nknow nothing but that they too belong to the pope, so it is fair to\nsuppose they favor the rebellion. Then there is the Maryland\ndelegation, led by Carroll\u2014a pretty strong showing for his Holiness at\nthe New Year\u2019s banquet of a private Protestant gentleman! It is too\nlate to remedy the evil now, but it ought to have been taken in hand\nlong ago. If it had been dealt with effectually in the beginning, I\ngreatly doubt whether the colonies would now be in the condition we\ndeplore.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is not easy to deal with it effectually. The province of\nMassachusetts Bay was very vigilant and severe from the start to keep\nthem out, or to exterminate them when they crept in, but they are\nthere now in considerable force.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, indeed; for I have been credibly informed that they not only\nlent their aid in that villanous tea-riot, but that the Puritan ranks\nat Lexington and Bunker Hill were largely increased by the pestilent\ndogs, who fought like tigers, and could not be made to understand when\nthey were soundly whipped! Well, well! we shall see what is to come.\nIt looks dark enough now, and, if matters are to go on as they\nthreaten, I shall accept the invitation of the home government to\nloyal subjects, and remove my family to Nova Scotia.\u201d\n\nHere he struck the key-note of the strain that thrilled my heart with\napprehension. I fell into a painful reverie, which so absorbed me that\nI heard no more. I knew well that secret agents had been through the\ncountry describing large and desirable tracts of land in Canada and\nNova Scotia, to be given to all who would withdraw from the sections\nin revolt; and proclamations to that effect had also been recently\npublished.\n\nShould he fulfil his threat, my beloved mother would be removed to a\ngreat distance from me, and the difficulties of travelling in times of\nsuch disturbance were so great that it must be long before I could see\nher again, if ever. Then I grieved to think of a separation from my\ndear Anna, the youngest and loveliest of the five sisters, many years\nmy junior, and my special darling. I had been permitted to take her\nhome with me after the holidays every year, and keep her through the\nremainder of the winter. Now I was no longer to enjoy that privilege.\nBesides all this, I knew that a strong attachment existed between her\nand Charles Thorpe, which had been forming from their childhood with\nthe full approbation of their parents. What troubles might now be in\nstore for them also!\n\nIndeed, as I meditated upon the public, social, and domestic aspect of\naffairs, I could see nothing cheering or encouraging. Here was this\nlittle rural village, whose inhabitants were entirely divided among\nthemselves\u2014a type of the national condition: fathers against sons,\nwives opposed to their husbands, sons and daughters-in-law against\ntheir fathers-in-law. It seemed to form a present and dismal\nrealization of the description given by our Lord.\n\nThe minds of old and young, and of all classes in society, were so\npervaded with a sense of impending evil as to cast a dark shadow over\nthe festive season, and cause its gay assemblies to take the character\nof political meetings, where matters of fearful import were discussed\nwith bated breath.\n\nIt was well known that Mr. Thorpe, his father-in-law, and their\ndistinguished guests, with other leaders of the disaffected who were\nconstantly arriving and departing, held conclaves every night that\nextended far into the \u201cwee sma\u2019 hours,\u201d many of which my husband was\nsummoned to attend, to the intense displeasure of my irascible\nstep-father, who denounced them all as a pack of infamous traitors,\nfor whose treasonable practices hanging was the only proper remedy.\nUpon the whole, rankling irritation on the one part, and gloomy\nforebodings on the other, took the place of the cheerfulness proper to\nthe season; and when the parties at the two houses dispersed to go\ntheir several ways, the leave-taking was a sad one for all.\n\nAnother year passed, and the Christmas of 1776 arrived. What changes\nthose few months had wrought! Mr. Thorpe and his three oldest sons,\nJohn, Nathan, and Charles, had joined the Continental army early in\nthe year. The father commanded the regiment of militia in which his\nsons served as privates. In one of the first engagements John was\nkilled. Soon after Mr. Thorpe himself was brought home wounded and\ndying. He survived long enough to bequeath the cause to his wife and\nher father, and to receive the assurance that their lives and those of\nhis surviving sons, with all their earthly possessions, should be\ndevoted to its interests.\n\nMr. Foote had fulfilled his threat, and removed his family to Nova\nScotia about the time when his life-long friend joined the \u201crebel\u201d\narmy. I had a brief and mournful interview with my mother before they\nleft, and a stormy parting with my surly step-father, who was too much\nincensed against my husband and myself, for embracing the cause he so\ncordially hated, to be even coolly civil. His indignation was\nincreased by the suspicion that we had influenced my mother\u2019s\nsympathies in the same direction, though she very carefully abstained\nfrom manifesting any such tendency out of respect for his honest\nthough misguided prejudices.\n\nWith him went a multitude of Church-of-England folk who were greatly\nregretted in that neighborhood; for they very generally acted from a\nsincere conviction of duty, and did not meddle unpleasantly with the\nopinions and decisions of their neighbors. A still greater number of\nMethodists went from New Jersey and Maryland to Canada and Nova\nScotia, and their departure was the occasion for universal rejoicing\nto the friends of the country. The only regret was that they left a\nsufficient faction of their brethren to act as spies and informers in\nevery village and neighborhood, and to bring all who differed from\nthem in politics into serious trouble. We used to think we defined\ntheir position and character when we said, \u201cThey are all hand and\nglove with the _Hessians_!\u201d\n\nThe Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July in that year had\nplaced the day high in the calendar of those which mark the most\nglorious epochs in the world\u2019s history. Meantime, discouragements had\naccumulated along the track of our army, until they culminated in that\ndreary autumnal retreat through New Jersey before the British forces\nwhich dispersed the hopes of our people as the winds scatter the\nleaves of the season. A little later the British took possession of\nRhode Island. In the despair which followed these disastrous events\nsociety became utterly disorganized; and when Lord Howe and his\nbrother-commanders of the British land and marine forces issued\nproclamations offering full indemnity and protection to all who would\n\u201creturn to their allegiance,\u201d multitudes, among whom were many who had\nbeen accounted our most steadfast friends, accepted the offer from\nalarm, even while their sympathies and best wishes were with the cause\nthey thus abandoned. Not one Catholic was of their number; they had no\nfaith in British promises.\n\nGreat was the revulsion when our troops rallied to such glorious\npurpose at Trenton and Princeton! Those who had fallen away in the\nhour of adversity, and found to their sorrow how utterly worthless\nwere Lord Howe\u2019s paper \u201cprotections\u201d to shield them from the vile\noutrages of the plundering Hessians, now returned in crowds, offering\nthemselves and all they possessed to General Washington to further his\nefforts. His headquarters were made that winter in a town near the\nlittle village where Mrs. Thorpe resided. Mr. von Francke visited him\nfrequently at his quarters during the winter as the financial agent of\nmany friends of the cause in New England and the Southern States. I\nimproved those occasions to accompany him and visit my dear friend,\nMrs. Thorpe.\n\nShe was exerting all her energies, time, and money to prepare clothing\nfor the soldiers and necessary supplies for the army. The buzz of\nspinning-wheels and the clack of domestic looms were heard in her\nhouse from day-dawn until late at night. That house was a workshop of\ntailors and shoemakers, and her agents ransacked the country for\nleather wherewith to make shoes. Every friend who visited her was\npressed into the service, and during each precious moment the busy\nneedles were plied and the knitting-needles clicked while we were\nvisiting and chatting of the past, the present, and the prospects of\nthe future. Most religiously did she thus fulfil the promise made to\nher dying husband, and seemed to find solace for her great sorrow in\noccupying herself constantly to aid the struggle for which her beloved\nones had given their lives.\n\nMy heart ached for poor Charles, dejected and lonely in his separation\nfrom Anna, and grieving over the stern refusal of her father to permit\nany intercourse between them unless he would abandon the rebels and\njoin the standard of King George. To add to his distress, he had\nheard, through a friend of Anna, that her father had determined she\nshould accept the suit of an influential officer of the government in\nNova Scotia, a very dissolute man, who was captivated by her beauty\nupon their first meeting at a dance in the house of the governor.\nCharles knew so well her father\u2019s despotic rule over his family that\nhe feared she might be compelled to comply with his commands.\n\nDeeply as I sympathized with the young people, I could not afford them\nthe aid they entreated for communicating with each other through my\nletters to my mother. The principles of my religion forbade that I\nshould do any act to encourage disobedience to a father. Yet I could\nnot regret that the kindness of General Washington made amends for my\nrefusal, by furnishing better facilities for their purpose than I\ncould have furnished.\n\nThe three following years passed on, marked by fluctuating fortunes\nand many hardships for our devoted troops and their dauntless leader.\nThe surrender of Burgoyne in the autumn of \u201977, and the alliance with\nFrance which followed, had awakened bright hopes of a speedy and\nsuccessful termination of the conflict, but crushing reverses and\nbitter disappointments soon came.\n\nThe state of the currency baffled the strongest efforts and exhausted\nthe resources of wise and able financiers. My husband, who was\naccounted extremely clever in affairs connected with the exchequer,\nwas often driven to his wits\u2019 end to provide for fearful\ncontingencies, and then to confess his utter inability to meet further\ndemands.\n\nMr. Earle placed his large fortune at the disposal of his country, and\ndied soon after. His daughter gave better treasures when, with Spartan\nfirmness, she yielded all her noble sons, one after another, for its\ndefence.\n\nIn the terribly hard winter of 1779-80 General Washington again\nestablished his headquarters in New Jersey, in Mrs. Thorpe\u2019s immediate\nneighborhood, and I went frequently to visit her when it was necessary\nfor Mr. von Francke to go on financial missions to that place. Upon\none of these occasions, early in the spring, what was my surprise to\nbe greeted on the threshold by my beloved Anna, and to find that she\nwas the happy bride of my desponding young friend of yore, Charles\nThorpe, now a dashing lieutenant and prime favorite with the\ncommander-in-chief. Their happiness was not unclouded, however; for\nthey had been married without her father\u2019s knowledge or consent. He\nhad made every arrangement for her immediate marriage with the man\nwhom he had chosen and whom she despised, and sent her to Boston to\nprocure her _trousseau_. Very opportunely, General Washington made a\njourney to Boston about that time, with Charles in company as one of\nhis _aides_. The wedding took place at the house of the friend with\nwhom she was stopping. Many of Mr. Earle\u2019s distinguished friends were\npresent, and General Washington gave away the bride.\n\nHer father was so enraged when he heard of it that he forbade her to\nenter his house again, or to expect that he would ever own her as his\ndaughter.\n\n * * * * *\n\nWhen Mrs. von Francke reached this point in her story, she gave a\nbunch of keys and spoke some words in German to her waiting-woman, who\nsoon brought forth from some hidden recess a small mother-of-pearl\ncasket, with silver binding and clasps, of exquisite workmanship, and\na package neatly folded and enclosed in an embroidered white linen\ncase. The casket was first opened, and displayed a superb set of pearl\njewelry, consisting of various ornaments for the coiffure, ear-rings,\nnecklace, bracelets, brooch, waist-clasp, and buckles for the\nslippers. It was presented to Anna by Mr. von Francke when she\ndeparted for Nova Scotia. From the other package, after undoing many\nfastenings, designed to shield its contents from any possible contact\nwith the air and dust, she drew a magnificent white satin dress, made\nin the old-time fashion, with an immensely wide skirt\u2014for the\ncrinoline of those days attained an amplitude far beyond the most\nextravagant expansion achieved a few years since by the leaders of\n_ton_\u2014and a very long train. Around the lower part of the skirt a\nheavy pattern in leaves and flowers was embroidered with pure silver\nspangles and bugles[208] drawn on with silver thread; a tiny pair of\nwhite satin shoes which would rival in size the celebrated glass\nslippers of the fairy tale, embroidered with material and pattern to\nmatch the dress, with the toes pointed, and the points turned back\nuntil they nearly reached the pearl buckle on the instep; a splendid\nwhite thread-lace over-dress, much in the mode of the modern\n_polonaise_; a very long veil of the same material, attached by the\ninevitable orange-flowers\u2014these completed the suit, and, with the\npearls, formed the bridal costume fifty years before of Anna Foote,\nnow Mrs. Charles Thorpe.\n\nAfter showing me two miniatures, painted on ivory in the most finished\nand delicate style, and mounted in elegant gold lockets\u2014the one of\nAnna in her bridal dress, and the other of Charles in the full\nmilitary costume of that day\u2014the articles were all carefully returned\nto their receptacle and Mrs. von Francke resumed her narrative.\n\n * * * * *\n\nDuring the long visit I paid Mrs. Thorpe at that time\u2014the spring of\n1780\u2014the village where the army was quartered, and the town near by,\nwere the scenes of many parties, balls, and entertainments of every\nkind.\n\nThe French minister, M. Luzerne, successor of the first minister from\nFrance, M. Gerard, came to pass some weeks at the headquarters of the\ncommander-in-chief. He was accompanied by many distinguished\nforeigners. Among them was Don Juan de Miralles, resident at\nPhiladelphia, from the Spanish court. He had visited us frequently in\nthat city with Count Pulaski and MM. Gerard and Luzerne. He was a most\naffable and accomplished gentleman and an exemplary Christian.\n\nUpon their arrival the gay festivities were kept up with renewed zeal\nand brilliancy. But while in full activity they were brought to a sad\nand sudden close by the death of this gentleman after an illness of\nonly two days. Mr. von Francke brought a Spanish priest to attend his\nlast hours and conduct the funeral solemnities, which were celebrated\nin the most imposing and impressive manner. General Washington and his\nstaff, all the foreign officers and ministers in full costume, walked\nas chief mourners. Many members of Congress came to pay this last\ntribute of respect to one who had, by his shining virtues and gentle\nmanners, endeared himself to all who knew him.\n\nWhen Charleston, S. C., was taken by the British in May, 1780, Nathan\nThorpe was severely wounded. He was carried to the house of a German\nCatholic in that city to whom Mr. von Francke had given him letters of\nintroduction. There he lingered between life and death, as it were,\nfor many weeks. He was faithfully attended night and day by a disabled\nIrish Catholic soldier, who brought an Irish priest to instruct him\nand administer the last consoling rites of the church to him in his\nextremity. His youth and a robust constitution prevailed, however, and\nhe recovered. During this interval an attachment had been formed\nbetween him and a lovely daughter of his kind host, to whom he was\nmarried the ensuing autumn. As his health was not sufficiently\nreinstated to permit his return to the army, he entered upon the\npractice of his profession as a lawyer in Charleston, and finally\nachieved brilliant success and a large fortune therein.\n\nIn June of that year Knyphausen, with his Hessians, made a destructive\nraid through New Jersey, sparing neither friend nor foe; not even\ntheir Methodist cronies and instigators escaped rough treatment and\nsevere losses, for which they received but slight commiseration from\ntheir fellow-sufferers, whose interests they had done all they could\nto injure and betray. Mrs. Thorpe\u2019s property was seriously damaged and\nmany valuable animals slaughtered by the merciless ruffians.\n\nIn July of the same year the French fleet under Count de Grasse\narrived, and was welcomed with great joy by the whole country. The\nFrench troops commanded by Count Rochambeau were transported on these\nvessels. Soon after their arrival we became acquainted with that\nillustrious commander. I saw him for the first time at the celebration\nof Mass in our humble chapel. He was accompanied by Marquis La Fayette\nand Count de Grasse. After Mass Mr. von Francke, who had been in\ncorrespondence with them before, introduced me to them, and invited\nthem to dine with us in our home, which invitation they accepted, and\nfrom that time they never failed to visit us when they were in\nPhiladelphia.\n\nIn August the Continental forces, under General Gates, fought the\nbloody battle of Camden, S. C., and were defeated chiefly through the\nshameful failure of the militia to do their duty. The Maryland\nregiments, however\u2014many of whom were Catholics\u2014under their brave\nCatholic commander, Baron de Kalb, fought with unyielding firmness and\ndesperation, atoning as far as possible for the poltroonery of their\nProtestant comrades of Virginia and North Carolina.\n\nWhen even General Gates fled from the field, the Catholic soldiers\nadvanced steadily and firmly to fight or die with the glorious De\nKalb, who, when he saw others flying, drew his sword, and, shouting to\nhis dauntless soldiers of the Maryland and Pennsylvania lines, \u201cStand\nfirm, my boys, for I am too old to fly!\u201d fell soon after, covered with\nwounds. The whole nation was in mourning when the news of his death\nwas received. Demonstrations of sorrow were made in every city, and\nrequiem Masses offered in the Catholic churches for the repose of his\nsoul. Congress voted that the country should rear a fitting monument\nto his memory. It is still cherished by every true American heart, and\nwill be as long as our people are faithful to themselves and to their\ncountry. He was one of Mr. von Francke\u2019s dearest friends for many\nyears, and we mourned for him as for a brother.\n\nThrough the remainder of that year, and during the spring and summer\nof 1781, discouragements in every form, and disasters that would have\nutterly dismayed a less determined people, surrounded our hapless\ncountry. The baseless currency became so depreciated as to be almost\nworthless. The iniquity of speculators, and the flood of counterfeits\npoured upon the colonies by Lord Howe, greatly increased difficulties\nsufficient in themselves to overwhelm the nation. Yet the courage and\nresolution of the people never faltered, and were fully responded to\nand sustained by the firmness of their representatives in the\nlegislative assemblies of the different States and in Congress.\n\nThe heavy clouds began to break and our national prospects to brighten\nin the early autumn of 1781. We had so often seen our fairest hopes\nsuddenly blighted that we hardly dared to accept such promising tokens\nas seemed to be given from time to time only to save us from utter\ndespair. Now, however, we were destined to witness a consummation,\nsudden, unlooked-for, and beyond the wildest expectations of the most\nsanguine, in the entire defeat and surrender of the British troops\nunder Cornwallis, on the 19th of October in that year\u2014an event which\nvirtually closed the war and secured our independence.\n\nIntelligence of this astounding event was conveyed through the whole\ncountry, with the speed of the wind, by special couriers despatched in\nevery direction. It was said that the fine horses of Methodist\nTories\u2014which had been spared by the British troops when they captured\nall that were of any value belonging to our people\u2014performed splendid\nexploits of speed in disseminating the glorious news, to the\nunutterable indignation of their crestfallen owners!\n\nOur nation, so long accustomed to desolating evils, now burst forth\ninto frantic demonstrations of joy. Bonfires blazed on every hill.\nPublic parades, and processions with banners, crowded the streets of\nevery town. Illuminations and fireworks turned the darkness of night\ninto noonday splendor. The rural populations, old and young, flocked\nto the villages and cities to join in the universal expressions of\njubilant patriotism. Services of thanksgiving were held by\nProtestants. High Masses were offered in Catholic churches, and the\n_Te Deum_ was chanted there by Catholics marching in procession under\nthe floating colors of the triumphant \u201cStars and Stripes.\u201d\n\nThe members of Congress, of the Supreme Executive Council, and the\nAssembly of Pennsylvania, by special invitation of the French\nminister, attended in our church in Philadelphia during the\ncelebration of divine service and thanksgiving for the capture of Lord\nCornwallis. Our French pastor, Abb\u00e9 Baudole, delivered an eloquent\naddress upon the occasion.\n\nNew Jersey was more noisy than all the other States in her public\nmanifestations of triumph. Nor was it unfit that she should be, since\nnone had suffered so much in furnishing a common battle-ground and\nthoroughfare for the conflicting forces. Neither was it strange that\nshe showed little toleration for the Tories at whose hands she had\nreceived persecutions, injuries, and insults of untold numbers and\nmagnitude. Here, as elsewhere, the Catholic voice, the first that was\nraised in support of the conflict for independence, was also the first\nto plead, through both clergy and laity, for toleration and leniency\ntoward these relentless foes of our country in her darkest hours.\n\nEarly in November we entertained a large and joyful party at our\nhouse. At our request General Washington and his lady presided at the\nreception of the guests. All the French and German officers with their\nattendants, the foreign ministers, and many of our own distinguished\ncountrymen, military and civic, were present. Charles and Anna Thorpe\nwere of my household at that time.\n\nA succession of splendid private entertainments and public banquets\nwas given in Philadelphia.\n\nThe joyful excitement was kept up by the nation through the following\nwinter, and Mr. von Francke was absent frequently as the invited guest\nat public festivals which would not excuse him from attendance,\nalthough his health was rapidly declining.\n\nIn May, 1782, my rejoicing was quenched for ever by the painful event\nwhich left me a widow. The long-sustained strain and mental anxiety to\nwhich my husband was subjected during all those years of national\nembarrassment had so worn upon his frame that, when final success was\nassured and the strain no longer required, he sank into a decline, for\nthe arrest of which all remedies proved unavailing, and survived only\na few weeks. No hero that gave his life on any of those bloody\nbattle-fields was, more truly than he, a martyr for his country.\n\nMrs. Thorpe, Charles, and Anna were with me during the distressing\nscene and until I had consigned my beloved to his final resting-place.\nHe had for so many years belonged to the public that it claimed the\nright to conduct the ceremonial, outside of the church; and it was\ncelebrated with most impressive solemnity, both as a religious and\ncivic rite.\n\nFrom that time Philadelphia became intolerable to me. I closed my\nhouse and accompanied my kind and gentle friend to the home in New\nJersey which was always open to the afflicted. Here I remained until\nCharles removed to St. Lawrence County, N. Y.\u2014then a dense\nwilderness\u2014with his family. He had received a grant of lands from the\ngovernment, which he exchanged for an extensive territory in that\nvicinity.\n\nTo that wilderness I came with my dear Anna to share the hardships and\nprivations inseparable from the attempt to found a home in such a\nregion. With these trials, wholly new to us, we have also received and\nenjoyed many blessings. She is surrounded by a blooming group of sons\nand daughters, and blessed with smiling, prattling grandchildren. We\nhave seen a fine village grow up around us, and our country has been\ncrowned with unexampled prosperity.\n\nThe one sole cloud over Anna\u2019s happiness has been the stern refusal of\nmy obstinate step-father, who still lives at a very advanced age, to\nforgive the daughter he so cruelly banished from his heart and home. I\nhave often thought that, if the colonies had been subdued, he would\nhave welcomed her back long ago. She has written many letters to him,\nbut they are always returned unopened. My own dear mother died the\nyear following Anna\u2019s marriage. I saw her but once after her removal\nto Nova Scotia. The separation from her was one of the greatest trials\nof my life. Few indeed who have lived so long have suffered less from\nsevere afflictions than I, and my heart swells with gratitude daily\nwhen I recall the varied blessings which the beneficent hand of\nProvidence has poured upon my lengthened pilgrimage.\n\n * * * * *\n\nSome years later, when Mrs. von Francke was past ninety, I was on a\nvisit to the dear friends of whom I have discoursed in this rambling\nsketch, when they received a message from Nova Scotia that the aged\nMr. Foote was dying, and could not leave the world in peace until he\nhad seen and been reconciled with his long-banished daughter. He\nrequested that Charles should go with her.\n\nThere was bustling and packing in great haste. In a few hours after\nthe message arrived they were on board a steamer, bound for Quebec,\n_en route_ for Nova Scotia. Mr. Foote lived some weeks after their\narrival, and would not allow them to leave him for an hour. They\nremained until after the funeral.\n\nMrs. von Francke survived her step-father but a few months. All the\nelder members of the family have long since passed away.\n\nIt is many years since I have seen the lovely home of my childhood, or\nthat other one, on the bank of the dear old St. Lawrence, where I\npassed so large a portion of childhood\u2019s happy hours; but the memories\nconnected with both, and with the dear friends who made those hours so\nhappy, will never pass away.\n\n\n [208] Elongated beads.\n\n\n\n\n CONSUELO.\n\n\n When, from the countless stars\n That gem the azure vault above,\n One flames and dies\n Across our skies,\n We mourn so bright a light\n Is lost to sight;\n And then\u2014one brighter comes in view.\n In trackless wastes\n Our stars point true,\n And, dying,\n Ever thus renew.\n\n When, from the countless _homes_\n That deck this earth of ours,\n One altar fire\n Flames but to expire,\n We mourn a loved hearth\n So lost to earth;\n And then\u2014we build a new.\n Wandering the world,\n Our hearth-fires woo,\n And, dying,\n Ever thus renew.\n\n\n\n\nSIR THOMAS MORE.\n\n_A HISTORICAL ROMANCE._ FROM THE FRENCH OF THE PRINCESSE DE CRAON.\n\n\nXIII.\n\n\nIn the meantime Sir Thomas More had returned to his home at Chelsea.\nHe felt at first a slight decree of uneasiness on account of the\nindiscretions of the Holy Maid of Kent, the evident malice with which\nCromwell had drawn them out, and the eagerness with which he had\ninterpreted them.\n\nBut as he was accustomed to resign into the hands of God the entire\ncare of his future, and as there appeared to be nothing with which he\ncould reproach himself in the short and accidental relations he had\nhad with that woman, he soon recovered his former tranquillity, and\nthought no more but of how he might be able to render some new service\nto the queen. He knew she had set out for Leicester Abbey, and he had\nalready found means of writing to the abbot, whom he remembered having\nreceived at the chancelry on some particular business concerning the\nrights of the abbey, and the father abbot had appeared, as well as he\ncould remember, to be an honest and intelligent man.\n\nFeeling satisfied that the queen had, ere that time, received his\ncommunications, he had gone towards evening to take a walk with his\nchildren in the country.\n\nThey were all seated on the green slope at Chelsea. The Thames flowed\nat their feet; the freshness of the verdure, the perfumed breeze that\narose from the meadow, the balmy sweetness of the air, all united to\nrender the moment a delicious one.\n\n\u201cSee, dear father,\u201d said Margaret, who was sitting at his feet (she\nalways kept as near him as possible), \u201csee how beautiful the river is!\nHow it comes with its silver waves to kiss the rich and verdant meadow\nwhich extends so far before us! Look at those flocks of sheep,\nfollowing the shepherds to the fold; how docile they are and obedient\nto their voices! And those dogs, how active and intelligent! Oh! how I\nlove the evening, when the horizon yet burns with the red glow of the\nsun as he descends to light up other skies.\u201d And Margaret paused to\nadmire in silence the pure and inspiring beauties of nature by which\nshe was surrounded, while her eyes sought those of her father, as if\nto interrogate him.\n\nMore smiled as he regarded her.\n\n\u201cWell, my dear daughter,\u201d he said, \u201cwhy not speak thy whole thought?\u201d\n\nFor he loved to listen to the forcible sentiments she sometimes\nexpressed, so characteristic of her melancholy and enthusiastic\ntemperament.\n\n\u201cWhy ask that, father?\u201d she replied; \u201cfor my thought is sad\u2014sad as all\nthings that end. The day has gone, never more to return! It is like a\nprecious pearl that has been unstrung from a necklace where all are\ncarefully numbered.\u201d\n\n\u201cThou art right, my daughter, and may be the happiness I have enjoyed\nthis day in the midst of you will never more return!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat sayest thou, my father?\u201d cried Margaret, alarmed. \u201cNay, wouldst\nthou leave us, then, and couldst thou live without thy children?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, my child, no; but observe you not how the days of man are like\nthe swift shuttle that flies to and fro in the hands of the weaver,\nand which he uses to trace, one after another, divers designs?\u201d\n\n\u201cThis one pleases me much,\u201d said Margaret, smiling, \u201cand I would like\nit to stop here.\u201d\n\nAs she said this, she extended her hand toward Roper, who brought her\na large bouquet of daisies[209] he had gathered for her in the fields.\n\n\u201cHere is my name written on my forehead by the hand of Roper,\u201d she\ncontinued; and she placed the pretty white flowers amid the dark\ntresses of her lovely hair.\n\nThe father admired his beautiful young daughter, in whom, indeed,\nyouth and beauty were united in all their brilliancy. Her small hands\nrested one upon the other; her white robe hung in graceful folds\naround, defining her perfectly-moulded form; her eyes, calm and serene\nin expression, yet shone with a thousand fires; one could read in\ntheir depths the strength and vigor of this young soul just entering\nupon life. Those features so calm and lovely, that union of charms and\nperfections, brought joy and happiness to the depths of the devoted\nfather\u2019s soul. He gazed at her in silence.\n\n\u201cA ray of eternal beauty lights up this beautiful countenance,\u201d he\nsaid to himself. \u201cThis flower is born of my blood; it is being of my\nbeing, soul of my soul. Oh! blessed, blessed for ever be this child\nwhom the Lord hath given to me! Margaret, my daughter,\u201d he said after\na moment\u2019s silence, \u201ctell me, I pray you, what is beauty?\u201d\n\n\u201cBeauty?\u201d replied Margaret, smiling at the unexpected question; and\nshe raised towards him her eyes, whose lovely expression anticipated\nher answer.\u2026 \u201cWell, \u2026 beauty is an undefinable thing,\u201d she continued.\n\u201cWe recognize it in everything. Our souls are made to see it, to\nadmire and love it; but I cannot, I believe, define it. It is there,\nand immediately we are enraptured with it. It is a ray of the glory of\nGod; it is his power which flashes before our eyes, and our hearts are\nat once transported. The beautiful animal, full of life, strength, and\nagility, whose light and rapid steps seem scarcely to bend the\ndelicate herbage of the field, his glossy coat permitting you to count\nhis veins and admire the graceful and elegant proportions of his form;\nthe plants rich with flowers and weighty with fruits; the birds with\nvariegated plumage and tints of a thousand colors; the pure, azure\nskies of summer, the stars of night\u2014such is beauty, my father; I feel\nit, but I cannot describe it to you otherwise.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, my dear child, what think you of the Being who has drawn all\nthese things out of nothing, and who, by his powerful word, has given\nthem everything, and preserves and watches over them all?\u201d\n\n\u201cThat he is,\u201d replied Margaret earnestly, \u201cthe source and the\nveritable plenitude of all beauty; and that if we could see him either\nwith the eyes of the body or those of the soul, we should be perfectly\nhappy, since he must be, and is necessarily, the sovereign perfection\nof all that delights in this world. And if you speak to me of\neloquence, that moral beauty of soul which subdues and carries\neverything before it, I find in it but a new expression of that\nSovereign Intelligence who has placed in our hearts the faculty of\nfeeling and loving beauty, the strength and elevation of thought,\nwhich an Intelligence superior to our own is charged by it to\ncommunicate to us.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, my dear child, what think you of the unbeliever?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do I think of him?\u201d said Margaret, intently regarding Sir\nThomas. \u201cI will tell you: I do not think he exists.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow say you! that he exists not?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, he does not exist, because he cannot. God has created us free,\nbut that freedom has bounds. We cannot uncreate or make ourselves\ncease to be, and in the same way we cannot destroy our reason beyond a\ncertain point; we may deny the truth with our lips, but we cannot\nprevent our hearts from believing it; we may arrange, assert, relate,\nor invent a falsehood, but we cannot convince ourselves that it is\ntrue. The sad science of the atheist compels him to remove God as far\nas possible from himself; to call him by a name formed of several\nstrange syllables which do not represent him under any form to his\nmind; then when he has come to drive him beyond the bounds of his\nnarrow intelligence, he denies his Creator with that tongue, with that\nlife, and in the name of that reason which he received from him. Such\na man must be a liar, although he would not be willing to walk proudly\nin the public ways with the tablet of liar attached to his shoulders.\u201d\n\nMore smiled at the strong comparison of Margaret; and as he derived an\nextreme pleasure from these philosophical conversations, he continued\nthus:\n\n\u201cYou believe, then, there are no atheists?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d replied Margaret, \u201cthere is not one in good faith, because the\nmost ordinary reason is enough to prevent all doubt that the admirable\nchain of all being, over whom man is established master and king, has\nnot been created by itself, and that it is the work of a Sovereign\nIntelligence who has foreseen and established all things by a science\nof prevision and of power far beyond all that we are able to see, all\nthat we can feel, and all that we possess.\u201d\n\n\u201cNevertheless, Margaret, they will tell you that there is a force, a\nblind power, who has created all that.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d replied Margaret ironically, \u201cI will ask them what they\nunderstand by a \u2018blind power\u2019; for power means, it seems to me, that\nwhich _can_; but that which is blind can do, can will naught. Those,\nthen, who by a happy chance see, wish, and know something, I would ask\nto add to the stature of a man the height of one cubit; to organize a\nhead that understands how to solve mathematical problems, to compose\nmusic, poetry, to learn, remember, and speak. What think you, my\nfather: would it not be very convenient to have in your cabinet some\nof those thinking heads, arranged on a shelf, as are pitchers and\npipkins? Miserable creatures!\u201d she continued, indignantly, \u201chow they\ndegrade and dishonor mankind! And how do they dispose of their\nconsciences? Why have they a conscience which commands them to do\nright and reproaches them for doing wrong, if it is not that man, born\nimmortal, must one day render an account of all his deeds, and receive\nfrom God either a reward or punishment? No, it is not in weakness of\nthe intellect that we must search for the origin of atheism, but in\nthe corruption of the heart. If, then, the atheist denies God, he\nthereby testifies to his justice and power, even as the faithful bear\nwitness to his goodness and mercy in acknowledging and honoring him.\nThe one fears him because of the crimes he has committed; the other\nhopes in him because of the virtues he practises: behold the sole and\nonly difference between the two men.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, my dear daughter,\u201d replied More; \u201cbut the greater number of men\nwho call themselves atheists follow only their own reasoning, as do\nyou this moment, being almost always most profoundly ignorant of\nthemselves and of their own nature, and entirely indifferent about the\nmeans of being instructed. Occupied solely with the present life, they\nattach themselves to mere sensual enjoyments, and, feeling that it\nwould be necessary to abandon these in order to deliver their souls\nfrom the yoke of matter, they prefer thus to vegetate in forgetfulness\nof themselves and of all their duties.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, my father, you see that you agree with me on the point from\nwhence I started out, which was that there are really no atheists,\nthat the word is false, that it is taken in a false acceptation, and\nthat it can only be properly defined in this way: \u2018_One who in his own\nheart is a liar._\u2019\u201d\n\nWhile Margaret was conversing thus with her father, and the rest of\nthe family were enjoying the repose of innocence and freedom, a man\nsilently turned around the foot of the hill and followed slowly the\npath leading through the meadow. His face was darkly clouded with\ncare; envy and malice were hidden in the depths of his heart. He\nreflected within himself in what manner he should approach the host\nwhom he came to visit, and whom he perceived sitting on top of the\nhill. Thus in an immortal poem we find the fallen angel thrice making\nthe circuit of the terrestrial paradise, seeking where he should enter\nin order to attack the man favored of God.\n\n\u201cFather, here is some one coming!\u201d cried the youngest of More\u2019s\ndaughters.\n\nAnd she ran, followed by the house dog, with which she had been very\nbusy fixing on its neck a collar of leaves.\n\n\u201cIt is a gentleman dressed all in black, who has a beautiful chain\nhanging round his neck.\u201d\n\nAs she finished speaking Cromwell appeared.\n\n\u201cAh! it is you, Master Cromwell,\u201d said More, rising graciously. \u201cLet\nme welcome you among us. How fares it with you?\u201d\n\nFor the more Sir Thomas thought he had to complain of any one, the\nmore he exerted himself by his kind and polite manner to assure him\nthat he felt no bitterness in his heart; this was the cause of the\ncordial reception he gave Cromwell, whom he would otherwise have\navoided.\n\n\u201cWell, I thank you,\u201d replied Cromwell, casting, as was his custom, a\nfurtive glance on all around him.\n\nHe at once encountered the eyes of Margaret, which were fixed upon him\nwith an expression of anger and scorn; for she could not endure him,\nhaving learned from the Bishop of Rochester how he had conducted\nhimself in the hall of convocation, with what impudence he had sat\nhimself in the midst of the assembly, and the man\u0153uvres he had used to\nextort from the bishops an oath which must be followed by such fatal\nconsequences.\n\nHe laughed to himself at the young girl\u2019s displeasure, and made her a\nprofound salutation. But she did not return it; and passing from the\nother side, she went and seated herself near her stepmother, who was\nknitting the leg of a stocking\u2014the only employment in which she was\npassably skilled.\n\nCromwell remarked this movement; and if he was indifferent to it, he\nat least drew from it an inference as to the feeling of the family\nwith regard to present affairs.\n\n\u201cSir Thomas,\u201d he said in a tone tinged with raillery, \u201cI come, on the\npart of the king, to announce great news to you; it depends on\nyourself whether you find it good or bad. The king, our most gracious\nsovereign, is married, and he has espoused my lady Anne Boleyn.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe king married!\u201d said Sir Thomas. \u201cThe king married!\u201d he repeated.\nBut he felt that Cromwell, who was aware of his great attachment to\nthe queen, had only come to enjoy his discomfiture, or to watch him\nwith some malicious design. He at once put himself on his guard, but\nturned visibly pale.\n\n\u201cHe is married,\u201d continued Cromwell. \u201cThe clergy laughed at him; but,\nby my troth, he has in his turn laughed at them! It was necessary that\nall this should come to an end. Yesterday his majesty advised the\nlords of his Privy Council of the decision he has taken of having the\nnew queen publicly acknowledged. The communication should be made\nto-day in Parliament, and they will proceed immediately after to\nreceive the oaths of all the members touching the succession to the\nthrone, the supremacy of the king, and the separation from the Church\nof Rome.\u201d\n\n\u201cCromwell, can it be?\u201d said Sir Thomas More, struck with\nconsternation. \u201cHow rapidly all this has been brought about! And the\nqueen, where is she?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich one?\u201d replied Cromwell, already affecting the tone of the\ncourt.\n\n\u201cQueen Catherine!\u201d added More with a profound sigh.\n\n\u201cAh! I understand. More obstinate than ever,\u201d replied Cromwell in a\ntone of badinage. \u201cShe has retired to Easthampstead. We are occupied\nwith her case now in council; she will be summoned to Dunstable, where\nan ecclesiastical commission will cut short all of her demands. Oh!\nall is over so far as she is concerned.\u201d\n\nMore felt pierced to the heart, and each new expression of Cromwell\nwounded him afresh. He could not doubt but this cruel man had been\nsent to take an exact account of his slightest gesture and most\ninsignificant word; he therefore vainly endeavored to restrain his\nfeelings, but sorrow and the honest frankness of his nature carried\nhim beyond the limits of prudence.\n\n\u201cMaster Cromwell,\u201d he said with dignity, \u201cI know not why the king has\nsent you to me; but I think you know me so well that it would be\nuseless for me, standing face to face with you, to disguise my\nsentiments; I therefore candidly acknowledge that what you have told\nme penetrates me with a mortal sorrow. My heart is deeply attached to\nQueen Catherine, but I am, by my duty, still more devoted to the king.\nIt is with the deepest grief that I see those who surround him, far\nfrom telling him the truth, think only of flattering him, that they\nmay obtain new favors from his hands. And you, who are his adviser, I\nexhort and conjure you never to tell him what he _can_ do, but what he\nought to do; because, if the lion knew his strength, who would be able\nto subdue him? Until this time, as you know, we have not walked in the\nsame road, nor have our eyes been turned to the same end; but now that\nI have entirely withdrawn from public life, when I can no longer cause\nyou suspicion, when my sole and only desire is to live in obscurity,\nsurrounded by my children, occupying myself with naught but the\naffairs of my eternal salvation, it seems to me I can disclose to you\nmy inmost thoughts. I esteem you too highly to fear that you would\nabuse my confidence. Use your influence, then, with the king, if there\nyet be time, and try to arrest the disasters with which church and\nstate are threatened!\u201d\n\nCromwell felt confounded; come as a master, a triumphant enemy, he\nendeavored, but was unable, to recover himself in the presence of the\ncalm and magnanimous virtue of a great man who seemed to place with\nconfidence his destiny in his hands, and to esteem him sufficiently to\nexhort him still to fulfil his duty to his king and country. He\nexperienced a momentary inspiration of good; but corrupt souls stifle\nsuch inspirations with the same facility that they are followed by the\npure in heart. An instant\u2019s reflection sufficed for him to recover his\naccustomed arrogance.\n\n\u201cThat is an easy thing for you to say,\u201d he replied, \u201chaving now, as\nyou have just remarked, retired from public life. But for me it is\nvery different; every day convinces me how dangerous it would be to\nresist the king, and I confess that I am by no means tired of life,\nand do not desire to lose my head on the scaffold, nor to die in\npoverty like that poor cardinal of defunct memory. That is why I must\ncontinue to act as I have done in Parliament, and I advise you to do\nthe same; for, hearken, Sir Thomas: I have not come here of my own\naccord, but on the part of the king, to announce to you his\nintentions, and at the same time say to you that he has learned with\ngreat indignation of the correspondence you have kept up with that nun\ncalled the Holy Maid of Kent; that, notwithstanding, he will exercise\ntoward you the utmost clemency, that he will strike your name from the\nbill of high treason which is entered against her, if he has reason\nhereafter to be satisfied with your conduct, and if you will publicly\nabjure the prejudices you have until this time manifested against\nQueen Anne, his spouse.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat say you, Master Cromwell?\u201d cried Sir Thomas More. \u201cI am\nimplicated in the proceedings they have instituted against that\nwoman?\u201d\n\nAnd the unhappy father looked round upon his children, who had\ngathered around him, and whom terror and alarm had rendered\nmotionless.\n\n\u201cMaster Cromwell,\u201d he continued after a moment\u2019s silence, \u201cyour visit\nis a cruel one; my children, at least, were not guilty, if any one\nelse here is.\u201d And his eyes rested on Margaret, who stood pale and\ntrembling with horror and surprise.\n\nBut Cromwell knew very well what he had come to do; it was part of his\ndesign that the grief and solicitations of More\u2019s children should\nbreak down his resolution, and induce him to yield to all they wished\nto demand of him.\n\n\u201cMargaret! my beloved child,\u201d said More, especially concerned for her,\n\u201cgrieve not. I fully hope to prove, as clearly as the light of day,\nthat I have nothing with which to reproach myself toward my king, and\nthat I am an entire stranger to the follies of that woman. Listen,\nMaster Cromwell,\u201d he continued, turning towards him, without\nmanifesting the least emotion, \u201cI pray you say to the king, my\nsovereign, that nothing could afflict me more than to know I had\nincurred his displeasure. Nevertheless, I hope to prove that he is\nmistaken with regard to the acquaintance I have had with that woman. I\nhave seen her but once, in the Sion Convent, in a chapel, and then\nbecause the fathers urged me to converse with her a few moments, and\ntell them what I thought of her virtue. She appeared to me simple and\ntrue in her conversation. The replies she made to the few questions I\naddressed her seemed to proceed from an humble heart and a pious soul.\nSince that day 1 have not seen her. This winter some one spoke to me\nabout her, and told me she had made some predictions about the king,\nand asked me if I wanted to hear them. To which I replied\u2014and I\nremember it perfectly\u2014that I wanted to hear nothing about it, and, if\nit was true she had anything to reveal to the king, it seemed to me at\nleast entirely superfluous for any other man to inquire into it. This\nis the whole truth, and I beg you, Master Cromwell, to say to the king\nI hope to prove it in the most undeniable manner.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis woman is only an instrument,\u201d replied Cromwell, affecting not to\nreply to what Sir Thomas had said; \u201cthey have only used her and her\npretended revelations in order to cause the conduct of the king to be\ncensured by his people. I very much fear they will be severely\npunished\u2014those, at least, who have employed her for that purpose.\u201d\n\n\u201cI know not what will come of it,\u201d replied Sir Thomas in a cold and\nquiet manner. \u201cIf it is true that there is a criminal impostor\ndisguised under the appearance of virtue, they would do well to expose\nand punish her rigorously.\u201d\n\nAnd there the conversation ended. However much Cromwell desired that\nit should be prolonged, he neither knew how to renew nor to continue\nit. He concluded, therefore, to affect a degree of zeal and\nfriendship, and summoned all his hypocrisy to his assistance.\n\n\u201cDear Sir Thomas,\u201d he said, \u201cas you said but now, we have not always\nbeen of the same way of thinking. Some day I may change my opinions;\nbut at this time I cannot begin to tell you how much anxiety I feel on\naccount of the king\u2019s anger in your regard. It appears that they have\nexcited him most terribly against you. You must have some secret enemy\nwho is using these means for the purpose of lessening you in his\nestimation and making you lose his favor.\u201d\n\nMore listened, thinking if indeed it could be Cromwell who spoke in\nthis manner.\n\n\u201cVerily,\u201d he answered, \u201cI must fain think as you do, for I have naught\non my conscience touching that woman; and would to God I was in his\nsight as free from sin as I feel myself free from any thought of wrong\nor any transgression against our sovereign lord and king!\u201d\n\n\u201cSir Thomas, you have let your attachment to Queen Catherine show too\nplainly, and it is right well known that you are against the spiritual\nsupremacy of the king.\u201d\n\nMore made no reply. Tears arose in his eyes. He looked at Margaret.\nThe young girl held one of her stepmother\u2019s long iron\nknitting-needles, and seemed mechanically trying to sharpen the point\nwith the end of her finger, which she turned rapidly around it. If\nMargaret had held a poignard, it was evident that she would have\nwished to plunge it into the heart of the traitor who stood before\nher. She said nothing, but her flashing eyes followed every movement\nhe made. The others sat motionless, and Cromwell felt oppressed by the\nattention of all these souls weighing upon his own. He no longer knew\nwhat to say; he looked around, he hesitated, he tried to resume the\nconversation, and again broke down.\n\nSir Thomas, always kind, always considerate, wished to relieve him\nfrom this painfully embarrassing situation.\n\n\u201cMaster Cromwell,\u201d he said, \u201cI see that you find it somewhat painful\nto tell me all you have learned that would be disagreeable to me;\ntherefore let us retire from here. If it please you to sup with us, we\nwill return to the house.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not think Master Cromwell is hungry,\u201d said Margaret, changing\ncolor. \u201cHe is one of those men who subsist on evil as well as bread;\nit is a stronger and more bitter nourishment, the savor of which\nagrees better with their ferocious natures.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou are charming, charming, damsel!\u201d replied Cromwell, turning toward\nher with that trifling manner, coarse and familiar, which he\nconsidered suitable to adopt in his intercourse with women farthest\nabove himself.\n\n\u201cMargaret does not like compliments,\u201d replied Sir Thomas More, who\nendeavored to repair, without seeming to have noticed them, the\nexpressions of anger and scorn Margaret had permitted to escape her.\n\u201cShe is very sensitive,\u201d he added.\n\n\u201cAnd very frank, it seems to me,\u201d answered Cromwell quickly, in a tone\ninsolent and easy.\n\n\u201cA little too much so, perhaps,\u201d replied Sir Thomas gently; \u201cbut that\nis better than to be deceitful.\u201d\n\n\u201cAre all these fields yours?\u201d asked Cromwell.\n\n\u201cNo, indeed, sir. I own very little land around my dwelling; besides,\nI gave a portion of it to Margaret, my daughter, when she became\naffianced to young Roper.\u201d\n\nSaying this, Sir Thomas turned and walked with Cromwell and his family\ntowards the house. On their arrival Sir Thomas conducted Cromwell into\nhis private cabinet.\n\n\u201cListen, sir,\u201d he said, after he had closed the door: \u201cI would not\nwish to conceal from you that you have deeply wounded me by declaring\nin presence of my children that I had been accused of high treason. I\nhave not been chief-justice so long without learning that this is the\nweight they will let fall on my head, and I know perfectly well that\nthis accusation of high treason is like a glove, which they can make\nto fit any hand. As to what I think about the supremacy of the king,\nthat I shall reveal to no man living. But, at least, be so good as to\ntell me how this action against me began, and who are my accomplices.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe nun,\u201d replied Cromwell (perfectly well instructed in the\nparticulars of an affair he had invented and intended to direct)\u2014\u201cthe\nnun is accused of high treason toward the king. Her accomplices are\nMaster Richard, Dr. Baking, Richard Risby, Biering, Gold, Lawrence\nThwaites, John Adisson, and Thomas Abel. As to yourself and the Bishop\nof Rochester, you are accused of connivance; but, after what you have\ntold me, I doubt not you will be able to prove your innocence easily,\nand your name will be stricken out at the commencement of the\nprosecution.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Bishop of Rochester!\u201d exclaimed Sir Thomas, his hands resting on\nthe table, and entirely absorbed in reflection. He recalled the night\nwhen Fisher, seated in the same chair now occupied by Cromwell, had\nimplored him not to accept the seal of state, and, upon his refusing\nto take his advice, prayed God never to permit them to be separated,\nbut that their lives might terminate in the same manner and at the\nsame moment. Lost in the recollection of his tender friendship, More\nforgot the frightful character of Cromwell, which no one, however,\nbetter understood than himself. He took him affectionately by the\nhand.\n\n\u201cDear Cromwell,\u201d he exclaimed, \u201chow is this? The Bishop of Rochester?\nAh! I implore you have his name removed. Let them be revenged on me,\nbut not on him. Mercy for my friend!\u201d\n\nSir Thomas was on the point of telling Cromwell that he had heard them\nboth accused on that fatal night at Westminster; but on reflection he\nforebore, supposing him to be entirely ignorant of their presence in\nthe church.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d continued Sir Thomas, \u201cif I have offended the king, let them\npunish me; but Rochester, what has he done? Devoid of ambition,\noccupied entirely with the duties of his bishopric, devoted to the\nking, at whose birth he attended, loved, esteemed by him, how can they\nsuspect him of wishing to injure his beloved sovereign? Master\nCromwell, I beseech you intercede for him!\u201d\n\nThat prayer was very well understood by Cromwell, but he feigned not\nto hear it. He had not come to sympathize with, but rather to enjoy\nthe sufferings of a just man, one whom he still feared, although he\nhad entirely supplanted him.\n\n\u201cSir Thomas,\u201d he replied, \u201cI cannot see why you supplicate me in\nbehalf of the Bishop of Rochester, as though I were able to do\nanything in the matter. Justice is there, to be rendered to him, and\nto you also, if you prove that you are entirely innocent of this\ncharge.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn sooth,\u201d said Sir Thomas, \u201cI swear to you that I know nothing about\nit. I have never considered it of sufficient importance to investigate\nthe character and veracity of that woman. I believe, and am very well\nconvinced, that being the creatures and the children of God, in whom\nwe exist and from whom we have received all things, he will sometimes,\nin his goodness, manifest his will to us by some extraordinary means\nand supernatural ways, and also that he can change or interrupt in a\nmoment events of which he has himself marked out the course; but, at\nthe same time, I believe that this truth can be abused either by\nweakness of the mind, by error, or by folly. That woman, then, is\nperhaps guilty of no other crime than of having mistaken dreams for\nrevelations; and if it is thus, I find that the more importance we\ngive to trivial things, the more dangerous we make them, if in the\nbeginning they were the cause of any inconvenience.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is true,\u201d said Cromwell; \u201cbut the king is very much wroth, and\nintends that this woman and all those who have believed in her shall\nbe punished.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat alters the case,\u201d replied Sir Thomas; and he paused\nthoughtfully.\n\n\u201cHowever,\u201d said Cromwell, \u201cthere is a very sure way of conciliating\nhis majesty, which is by praying my lady Anne to be your intercessor.\nIf you wish it, I will request her, in your name, to intercede with\nthe king for the Bishop of Rochester.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said Sir Thomas.\n\nHe felt as though Cromwell had thrust a dagger into his heart. He\nbowed his head and was unable to utter a word. To save his friend by\ncondescending to a base action\u2014he had not courage to accept the\ncondition.\n\n\u201cThat is an assured way,\u201d said Cromwell (and the vile wretch\nsecretly applauded himself on the astute and skilful means he\nemployed)\u2014\u201cinfallible; a word from her will suffice.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d cried More, \u201cno! The honor of my friend is as dear as my own. He\nwould not will it.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe would not will it!\u201d replied Cromwell, in an ironical tone. \u201cWhat!\nwould you, then, consider yourselves dishonored because she had\ninterceded for him?\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! Cromwell,\u201d cried Sir Thomas, regretting what he had said, \u201cI\nimplore you do not betray my situation!\u201d\n\n\u201cI am far from betraying you, sir, since I offer you a very sure and\nvery simple means of removing all that is dangerous in that situation.\nI can promise you that if you satisfy the king on this point, and if\nyou testify that you accept and recognize him without any repugnance\nas supreme head of the church, not only will he pardon your fault, but\nhe will overwhelm you with new favors.\u201d\n\nOn hearing this proposal Sir Thomas looked steadily at him.\n\n\u201cSir,\u201d he said, \u201cI thank you. I now understand what they ask of me,\nand why they have placed my name and that of my friend on the list of\nthe accused, which, in reality, would not be able to reach or injure\nus. Now I have no longer any doubt. When will the trial begin?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you say?\u201d interrupted Cromwell. \u201cWhat! you refuse?\u201d\n\n\u201cI refuse nothing,\u201d said Sir Thomas modestly; \u201cI only ask when the\ntrial will take place, and when I must present myself at the bar.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut reflect on the wrong you do!\u201d replied Cromwell.\n\n\u201cI have considered everything,\u201d responded Sir Thomas.\n\n\u201cAh! well, then, do as you please.\u2026 To-morrow the commission will\nassemble in the Tower, and I very much fear, from your obstinacy, that\nyou will remain there.\u201d\n\n\u201cIn that event I will make my preparations to-night,\u201d replied Sir\nThomas.\n\nAt that moment Margaret hurriedly entered and announced supper,\nCromwell took advantage of the occasion. He saw with great vexation\nthe firmness of Sir Thomas, and, having promised the king that he\nwould make him yield, he supposed the young girl would assist him in\nrenewing the conference.\n\n\u201cDamsel,\u201d he said, inclining toward her,\u201d I am glad you have come;\nfor, although you have treated me but ill, I am here to render an\nimportant service to your father. Persuade him, then, to listen to me,\nand not consent to separate himself from you, perhaps for ever!\u201d\n\n\u201cMy God!\u201d cried Margaret, \u201cmy father separate himself from us? What do\nyou mean? Speak! what do you mean? With how many maledictions, then,\ndo you come prepared to strike our house?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo-morrow Sir Thomas is summoned to appear before the council. Let\nhim promise to take the oath the king requires, and his life will be\nspared!\u201d\n\n\u201cStop, sir!\u201d cried Sir Thomas. \u201cMy children are not in the habit of\njudging my conduct nor of designating the path I should follow! Your\npity is of the cruellest, sir! May God grant you a more sincere friend\nand a more genuine compassion than that you have offered me to-day!\nGo, Margaret; go tell your mother I wait for her.\u201d\n\nTo this formal and decided expression of her father\u2019s will Margaret\ndared not reply; she left the room, but felt that a fearful calamity\nhad befallen her, of which she knew not yet the entire extent, and she\ndescended slowly, pausing on each step of the stairway, wrapped in\npainful reflection.\n\nSir Thomas soon entered the hall with Cromwell, to whom he gave the\nfirst place at table, and who accepted without remorse such cordial\nhospitality on the part of a man whom he had resolved to corrupt or\nruin entirely.\n\n * * * * *\n\nWhen night was far advanced, and Cromwell had departed from the abode\ninto which he had entered only to bring sorrow and desolation, Sir\nThomas returned to his cabinet, which he loved like an old servant\nwhom we never regret so much as when it becomes necessary to part with\nhim. He entered, with anxiety and sadness in his soul, and took his\naccustomed seat; he put the light he carried in the same place where\nhe had placed it for so many years, and from whence it had shone on so\nmany vigils and so many good actions, and he looked around him.\n\n\u201cTo-morrow,\u201d he exclaimed, \u201cto-morrow I shall have to leave this abode\nwhere I have so long tended and seen my father die, where I have\nwelcomed my first dear wife, where my children have been born!\u2026 When\nthe swallow leaves her nest, she has a hope of returning to it again;\nbut I, can I indulge in that sweet delusion? Is it not certain that my\nruin is resolved on, and that the king\u2019s indignation means death?\nTo-morrow, when the day shall have dawned, I must assume a cheerful\ncountenance, a serene composure, and say to them: \u2018Adieu, my cherished\nchildren! I will return very soon.\u2019 I will return very soon! Shall I\nbe able to utter words that are so foreign to my heart? And\nMargaret\u2014Margaret will weep for me all the days of her life. I shall\nnever behold her young children, nor bless them when for the first\ntime their eyes are opened to the light of day, and I shall never hear\nthem try to repeat my name. Alas! why must it be that the king is\nannoyed at my breathing the air?\u2014a man, too, confounded among a\nmillion of his subjects! Of what importance to him are the thoughts\nthat lie hidden in the bottom of my heart? Why, Lord,\u201d he cried,\nraising his hands toward heaven, \u201chast thou not stricken me from his\nmemory, and why hast thou suffered this prince of the earth to\nremember my name? Grant me an asylum where I may be able to finish out\nthe days thou hast allotted me; the birds of the air find a shelter,\nthe bears and ferocious beasts of the earth possess their dens, and no\none comes to force them away! However, let thy will be done, and not\nmine.\u201d\n\nMore remained for a long time leaning on the table. He then arose and\nwalked the floor to and fro. He moved from place to place in the room;\nfor he would be there no more, if they should summon and compel him to\ncave for ever his modest and beloved abode.\n\n\u201cThey are all asleep,\u201d he said. \u201cI have consoled them. They have seen\nCromwell with me, but they have not suspected that he brought the\ndeath-warrant of their father. A few hours of peace still remain for\nthem, and to-morrow\u2014to-morrow they will weep and feel that I am no\nlonger with them! My eyes will no more behold my beloved ones; I shall\nno more hear their voices. They will seek me, but they will find me no\nmore on earth.\u201d\n\nHere Sir Thomas was unable longer to contemplate with calmness the\npicture his imagination presented of the desolation and abandonment of\nhis children. Looking around to be assured that he was entirely alone,\nhe sank into a chair, and, bursting into tears, abandoned himself to\nthe most bitter grief.\n\nFor a long time he remained thus. At length he arose; seeing that the\nclock in his cabinet was about to strike the hour of midnight, he\nreturned to his table.\n\nTaking up an enormous portfolio, he opened all the drawers. He took\nout a great number of papers and divers packages of letters; some of\nthe latter were letters written by Margaret when a child, and he had\npreserved them as souvenirs of the progress of her youthful intellect;\nothers were from the Bishop of Rochester; the greater number concerned\na multitude of persons who had claimed or still sought his counsel and\nadvice, his good offices, to reconcile their families, terminate their\ndisputes, save them from dishonor, prevent their ruin by means of his\ncredit and his money, and still more by the confidence and respect\ninspired in all by his virtues.\n\nHe untied the letters and threw them into the fire, where they were\nimmediately consumed; for he knew with whom he had to deal, and how\nthe most innocent things, the most trivial acts, would be brought up\nand construed into crimes against those who had held any intercourse\nwith him. Those which concerned these persons he destroyed without\nregret; but when they had been entirely devoured by the flames, he\nturned with sadness to those of Margaret and the Bishop of Rochester,\nand could not summon sufficient resolution to cast them into the fire.\n\nHe looked at them and turned them over in his hands; they had given\nhim so much pleasure! Those of his daughter had been dictated by the\ntenderest love; the virtues of his friend shone in every page of his,\nand proofs of attachment were inscribed upon every line, recalling the\njoys, the sorrows, and different events that had occurred during his\nentire life!\n\n\u201cCome!\u201d he said with bitterness, \u201cwhen Margaret shall no longer have a\nfather, who will then have any use for these letters? Who will\ntreasure them up? And thou, O my friend! No, we shall not remain\nseparated; for, O my God! thou hast declared that he who giveth up\nthat which he loves for thy sake shall find it again; and if man, thy\ncreature, gives thee an atom, thou wilt return him an entire world.\nHave we not received all things from thee? And what thou takest from\nus for a moment, is it not to return it to us again in eternity?\u201d\n\nHe cast the letters into the fire, but turned away that he might not\nsee them consumed. He then examined his book of accounts, and saw that\nthey were correct. Besides, his estate was so small he found but\nlittle difficulty in administering it. After retiring from office he\nhad divided his lands between his children, and each one of them knew\nthe lot assigned her.\n\nWhen he had finished all that, he again began to walk the room, and\nwent toward the window; the night was intensely dark and the heavens\nobscured by a mass of black clouds.\n\n\u201cWell! I have some time yet,\u201d he said, and turned to sit down.\n\u201cEverything is arranged; Margaret will send my books. Now I am\nprepared to depart. It would seem that I am dead, and they come\nalready to blot all traces of my existence from this place. Ah! how\nharrowing is the thought. My God! my courage fails. Help me, Lord!\nAnimate by a breath of thy strength the weakness of thy servant; for I\nam the work of thy hands! Have mercy on me and succor me; for sorrow\nhath fallen upon me and I am utterly cast down!\u201d\n\nAs he pronounced these words he thought he heard a sigh; he paused to\nlisten, but heard nothing more, and came to the conclusion that his\ntroubled imagination had deceived him. Again, however, he heard a\nslight noise; he then arose and proceeded to listen at the door\nopening into the library. Opening it very softly, what was his\nsurprise on seeing Margaret! Her back was turned towards him, and a\nlamp burned beside her. He perceived that she had taken a number of\nbooks from the shelves, as she had a pile of them around her, and was\nleaning earnestly over the one she was reading. So intently was she\nabsorbed that she did not hear her father enter. He advanced slowly\nuntil he stood behind her chair, and saw that she was reading a book\nof jurisprudence written in Latin according to the general custom of\nthe times, and which contained detailed reports of all the trials for\nhigh treason; her handkerchief was lying beside her, and it was\nsaturated with her tears. Sir Thomas turned pale; he was obliged to\nrest his hand on the table, which groaned under his weight.\n\nMargaret turned around in alarm.\n\n\u201cMy father!\u201d she cried, \u201chere at this hour!\u201d And she ran to him and\nfolded her arms around him, while her tears began to flow afresh.\n\n\u201cMargaret, what do you here?\u201d he asked as he sank into a chair.\n\n\u201cMy father, my father!\u201d She burst into a torrent of tears, and could\nsay no more.\n\n\u201cI thought you slept,\u201d she added.\n\n\u201cMargaret, you should be in bed!\u201d said Sir Thomas, endeavoring to\ncontrol his feelings.\n\nShe fell on her knees before him, and, burying her face in her hands,\nsobbed aloud; her hair, loosened from its fastening, hung in\ndishevelled masses down to her feet.\n\n\u201cMargaret, you are weak!\u201d said More in an altered voice. \u201cIs this the\nfruit of the lessons I have given you?\u201d\n\n\u201cDare you, then, say that I am weak, and reproach me because I weep\nfor my father?\u201d she replied, raising her head haughtily. \u201cDo you no\nlonger remember that I have never known a mother\u2019s love, and that,\nsince the day I left my cradle, you alone have directed all my\nmovements, that in you alone have been centred all my affections, and\nto you have I always confided the most secret thoughts of my heart?\nYou say that I am weak, when not a word of complaint has escaped my\nlips, when I have concealed my tears, weeping in the darkness of\nnight, and when I have sat at table face to face with your\nexecutioner!\u201d\n\n\u201cMargaret, my Margaret!\u201d cried Sir Thomas; and he bowed his head on\nthe shoulder of the child he so cherished, and pressed her to his\nbosom.\n\n\u201cHave I asked you,\u201d she continued, turning away from him, \u201cwhat you\nwould do to escape from these tigers thirsting for blood? Have I\nadvised you to recoil before them and lick the prints of their feet?\nNo; I have come in silence to take counsel of the dead, some advice as\nto the crimes of the human race, because I have thought you would\nconceal your secret in your heart, and I would not be admitted to\nshare it; that you would tell me what you did not believe, and I would\nnot receive the truth from you. The truth!\u201d she cried vehemently, and\nwith a strength only lent her by excitement and suffering. \u201cI know it\nnow! I know, I feel, I have found out that very soon I shall see you\nno more; that I shall be alone upon the earth where I have found such\njoy and happiness in existing; that nothing will remain to me, and the\nfuture will be to me without a hope, and darkened for ever!\u201d\n\n\u201cMargaret,\u201d said Sir Thomas, \u201chave compassion on your father!\u201d\n\nShe then said no more, and they sat in silence, she with her arms\nclasped around his neck. She wept, and the tears continued to course\nslowly down her cheeks, whilst the lamp she had brought cast a feeble\nglimmer of light throughout the lengthy apartment, and over the rows\nof books arranged on the shelves; and thus the hours fled rapidly\ntoward the fatal moment which she saw advancing with an agony\nindescribable.\n\nO wicked and voluptuous prince! raise your head from your bed of down,\ndraw aside the triple draperies of silk and gold that surround you;\nfor your crimes keep vigil around your couch, and the justice of God\nnumbers every tear you have caused to be shed! Far better would it be\nfor you to sleep on an infected dunghill, in some obscure retreat;\nthat your limbs, weary with toil and the heat of the mid-day sun,\nshould tremble beneath the frosts of night, and that your hands were\npure and free from iniquity in the presence of the most high God; for\nwe cannot believe that man oppresses man without justice being meted\nout to him, or that the weak shall remain the prey of the strong. The\nday will come when a terrible vengeance shall fall upon the head of\nthe impious, and he will see arrayed before him all the crimes he has\ncommitted. Then shall he cry aloud: \u201cWhy have I ever lived, and why\nhas my mother ever borne me in her womb?\u201d But light then will no\nlonger be measured, night will have disappeared, century will no more\nfollow century, and time shall be no more.\n\n\nTO BE CONTINUED\n\n\n [209] _Margarita_, _Anglic\u00e8_ Margaret, is the Latin word\n for daisy.\u2014TRANSL.\n\n\n\n\nA PROTESTANT BISHOP ON CONFESSION.\n\nBY A CATHOLIC LAYMAN.\n\n\nBishop Atkinson, of North Carolina, in a \u201cCharge\u201d to the clergy of his\ndiocese, took occasion to inveigh against auricular confession. To\nthis Bishop Gibbons replied. The Protestant prelate now appears in \u201cA\nDefence,\u201d the purport of which we propose here to examine. Omitting\nany comment on the personal retort, we make our first quotation from\nthe eighth page of this pamphlet:\n\n\u201cTo object to the power of the priest to forgive sins is, according to\nthis [the Roman Catholic] view, equivalent to objecting to the power\nof Christ to forgive sins. Is this to be maintained? Is this true?\u201d\nSince to doubt Christ\u2019s declaration is to call his power in question,\nwe affirm that this _is_ true and is to be maintained. If the words of\nChrist are fallible, it must follow that he who spoke them is also\nfallible. \u201cWhose sins ye shall forgive they are forgiven,\u201d and\n\u201cWhatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven\u201d:\nFalsify these statements, and we make God a liar. Of the exercise of\nthis power St. Paul says to the Corinthians: \u201cIf I forgave any, for\nyour sakes forgave I it, in the _person_ of Christ\u201d; and in condemning\nthe incestuous Corinthian he judges him \u201cwith the power of our Lord\nJesus Christ.\u201d Now, if St. Paul was indeed acting with the power of\nour Lord Jesus Christ, and in his _person_, his absolution and\ncondemnation were identical with Christ\u2019s. If not, his arrogations\nwere blasphemous and vain. But Bishop Atkinson asserts that \u201cpriestly\nabsolution and the absolution of Christ are two entirely distinct\nthings,\u201d because the priest cannot have God\u2019s infallible knowledge of\nthe state of the soul, on which condition forgiveness depends.\n\nHere is a confounding of things wholly different\u2014the power of\nabsolution, and knowledge infallible. Forgiveness _does_ depend upon\nthe state of the soul, and, whether it be Christ or one of his\nambassadors pronouncing absolution, the conditions requisite are\nabsolutely one. Nor Christ nor his priest can pardon the impenitent;\nbut infallible _knowledge_ of the state of the soul affects in no way\nthe power of absolution. God reveals to any man his own soul\u2019s\ncondition, but to no man is given the power of self-absolution. So,\nalso, he grants the power of absolution apart from the gift of\ninfallible knowledge. The things are distinct and separate from each\nother. The latter of these powers our Lord alone possesses, but he\nseems not unfrequently, in the exercise of his ministry, to have\npurposely excluded all its influence over the former, to teach us that\nthe two have no necessary dependence. Thus, he invests St. Peter with\nthe power of the keys a short time before the fall of that apostle,\nand administers to Judas the clean Bread of Angels when he knows him\nto be a devil. Could a priest\u2019s want of insight have results more\nappalling? But Bishop Atkinson here proposes a method most ingenious\nfor testing priestly power, a \u201cpractical test\u201d to be applied as\nfollows: \u201cWhen the power of Christ to forgive sins was doubted, he\nwrought a miracle to prove it, and thereby silenced the gainsayers.\nWhen the power of the priest to forgive sins is doubted, as it very\nfrequently and very seriously is, can he work a miracle to demonstrate\nit?\u201d\n\nTo demand a miracle in the sacrament of penance as a \u201cpractical test\u201d\nof sacerdotal power is also to require it in every other sacrament and\nsacerdotal function. Has Bishop Atkinson tested by this rule _his_\nbaptisms, confirmations, communions, and, first of all, his orders? A\n\u201cpractical test\u201d is of general application. When a child is baptized,\nthe Episcopal clergyman thus speaks to the sponsors: \u201cSeeing now,\ndearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate and grafted\ninto Christ\u2019s church, let us give thanks unto Almighty God for these\nbenefits.\u201d Here, should his \u201cpractical test\u201d be demanded to verify\nthis statement, could the bishop produce it? Again, at the end of a\nmarriage he says: \u201c_I_ pronounce you man and wife,\u201d and \u201cWhom God hath\njoined together let no man put asunder.\u201d Is the clergyman then God?\nElse whence this change from first to third person?\n\nHow far, we are asked, in the judgment of a \u201cthorough-going Roman\nCatholic\u201d\u2014one who is blind enough to take God at his word, while all\nthe world smiles at his childish credulity\u2014does the priest\u2019s power of\nabsolution actually extend? In the ordination service of the\nEpiscopalian Prayer-Book stands this Catholic formula:\n\n \u201cReceive the Holy Ghost for the office\nand work of a priest in the church of God, now committed unto\nthee by the imposition of our hands. Whose sins thou dost\nforgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they\nare retained. And be thou a faithful dispenser of the word of God\nand of his holy sacraments; in the name of the Father, and of the\nSon, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.\u201d\n\n * * * * *\n\nNow, the Catholic believes the church means what she affirms; that the\nliteral declaration is the literal truth, since God himself spake it.\nHe therefore receives the priest in Christ\u2019s person, believing that\nthe sins which he remits are remitted. But he knows the conditions\nupon which depends his cure when he seeks divine remedies. He knows\nthat Christ himself cannot pardon the impenitent, and that the humble\npriest is not greater than his Master; but, upon the _same conditions_\nthat the Son of God required, he believes the priest\u2019s decision _must_\nbe ratified in heaven. He remembers, too, the promises vouchsafed to\nthose receiving, and the overwhelming curse pronounced on those\nrejecting, the messenger of Christ\u2014a judgment more dread than that on\nTyre and Sidon.\n\nThough Bishop Atkinson denounces _auricular_ confession, we are not to\nunderstand that he opposes all confession. Nay, he deems it sometimes\nsalutary, \u201csometimes even obligatory, from the ignorance and doubts of\nthe penitent, from the enormity of his crime, from his consequent\ntendency to despair. But it is a _drastic_ medicine, not to be taken\nregularly, for thus taken it enfeebles the patient.\u201d Does Bishop\nAtkinson really mean to tell us that a state of too great sanctity is\none to be discouraged? that some _bile_ of imperfection is essential\nto the health of the moral constitution? and that this the drastic\nmedicine would too thoroughly remove? If not, what does he mean? Did\nhe look upon confession as a wicked imposition, we could readily\ncomprehend his aversion to its practice; but this he denies, directing\nhis attacks against _auricular confession_, which by the Council of\nTrent is thus defined: \u201cA confession of all mortal sins, _however\nsecret, with all their circumstances_, to a priest, in secret.\u201d Here\nthe bishop shudders\u2014that secret mortal sins, with their attendant\ncircumstances, should be matter of confession, and to a _priest_, in\n_secret_! To commit them in broad daylight would not be half so\nterrible! Confessing them in _secret_ is that which most appalls him.\nSuch, he gravely tells us, is not the rightful mode. The proper\nthing to use is a very mild dilution of this potent, drastic\nmedicine\u2014something that will soothe and lull the troubled conscience,\nnot purge it of its guilt. To support his strong assertions, he\nappeals to Holy Scripture and to the early fathers. Here we have a\nlong quotation from a work of Bishop Hopkins. From this we learn that\n\u201cthe apostles exercised their office of remitting or retaining sins;\nfor the sins of those _whom they thought fit_ (mark well the\nrestriction) were remitted in baptism, while the sins of those whom\n_they judged unfit_ were retained.\u201d Again: \u201cThese inspired men\nrequired repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus\nChrist, and then administered baptism for the remission of sins to\nthose _whom they judged_ to be truly penitent.\u201d In a word, they acted\nalways in accordance with _their judgment_. Now, the basis of sound\njudgment is a thorough understanding of the cause to be adjudged, and\nwithout this understanding there can be no prudent judgment. Were our\nLord\u2019s apostles gods who could read man\u2019s secret conscience? And if\nnot, how could they know the matter they were judging, or give a\nrighteous judgment until they knew the matter? And just here we would\nask, What constitutes matter, if not mortal sins? Not venial sins,\nsurely; for these no Roman Catholic is called upon to mention.\n\nBut why, some one may ask, must particulars be stated in making a\nconfession? and what is your authority for the secrecy observed? To\nthis we ask in turn, If a sin be stripped of its aggravating\ncircumstances, will any man maintain that it is honestly confessed?\nand since _God_ does not require us to confess our sins in public,\nshould his faithful representative demand more of the penitent? Yet it\nis to these conditions that the bishop makes objection, and thus his\n\u201cdrastic medicine\u201d is a talent in a napkin, a useless, dormant power\nnot intended to be exercised. But what says the Church of England on\nthis subject of confession? According to the bishop, she has left it\n\u201cstrictly voluntary\u201d; but in her Visitation of the Sick we find this\nrubric: \u201cHere shall the sick man be moved to make a special confession\nof his sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty\nmatter. After which confession the priest shall absolve him (if he\nhumbly and heartily desire it) after this sort:\n\n\u201c\u2018Our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath left power to his church to absolve\nall sinners who truly repent and believe in him, of his great mercy\nforgive thee thine offences; and by his authority committed to me I\nabsolve thee from thy sins.\u2019\u201d \u201cHere _shall_ the sick man be moved to\nmake confession.\u201d Is it left so \u201c_strictly_ voluntary\u201d as the bishop\nhas declared it? And why now to the sick man does the church propose\nconfession, when in the time of health she never urged it on him? Is\nhe now in a condition for this strange and stern requirement? But\nBishop Atkinson would say: \u201cIt is only _weighty_ matter he is called\nupon to tell.\u201d Are not _secret mortal sins_ the weights that now\noppress him? And why is he exhorted to a _special_ declaration? Is it\nnot that death is near? But who is he that reckons the number of his\ndays, and can certify unerringly how long he has to live? The thief in\nthe night does not warn us of his coming. Behoves it not, therefore,\nthat we live as dying men, lest, in an hour we think not, the Son of\nMan should come? If so, the rubric cited is appropriate to all. Thus,\nin his own communion, Bishop Atkinson will find that _special_\nconfession to a priest is recommended, and that this confession has\nall that constitutes _auricular_, except the bond of secrecy which\nsilences the priest. This is left to his honor or personal discretion,\nuntrammelled by all vows. But the bishop further tells us he himself\nhas heard confessions \u201cwhich, if divulged, would not only have caused\nshame and anguish, but very probably have caused\nbloodshed\u2014confessions,\u201d he continues, \u201c_which I keep as sacredly as\nany Roman Catholic can those made to him_.\u201d This, in our humble\njudgment, seems to border on _auricular_.\n\nWe come now to the question of doctrinal development\u2014a process, as the\nbishop thinks, for hatching any novelty that priestcraft may devise.\nTo this system he attributes auricular confession, which, according to\nhis reckoning, was first imposed upon the church by Innocent III. at\nthe Fourth Lateran Council, in 1215. \u201cAnd that this,\u201d says he, \u201cto the\nextent to which it was then carried, was a novelty in the church, is\napparent from the tenor of the canon itself; for it requires _that it\nshall be often read_ publicly in the church, so that none may plead\nignorant of the case.\u201d In the _Book of Common Prayer_, at the\nbaptismal office, appears the following rubric: \u201cThe minister of every\nparish _shall often admonish the people_ that they defer not the\nbaptism of their children,\u201d etc. Here, instructed by Bishop Atkinson,\nwe learn, to our amazement, that the baptism of infants at a very\ntender age was first known in England after the Reformation, when this\nrubric was inserted. By his own line of argument we are forced to this\nconclusion: Had it not been a novelty, what need of this injunction?\nBut, returning to our subject, does Bishop Atkinson forget that there\nexisted heresies _before_ the thirteenth century, and that their\nwatchword, like his own, was \u201cPurity of Faith\u201d? All remnants of these\nsects, of however ancient origin, are in unity with us upon this point\nof doctrine. To the Protestants alone belongs the honor of rejecting\nit, and hence they stand at variance, not only with the Pope, but with\nthe rest of Christendom.\n\nWith regard to the new dogmas that have lately been defined, as\nMoehler well expresses it, our unity of doctrine is in _substance_,\nnot in _form_. As the Infant in the manger and the Victim on the\ncross, identical in _substance_, were yet unlike in _form_, so also\ntruth, in broader light, assumes more striking aspect. Calculus is but\na _form_ of primary arithmetic. As in the natural order, so in the\norder spiritual, development is but the pulse of vigor and vitality.\nEven in the life of heaven itself they go \u201cfrom strength to strength.\u201d\nThe loftiest branches of the oak were once within the acorn; nor could\nthey have developed save as they there existed.\n\nThus, to a grain of mustard-seed our Lord compared the church, and to\nthe mite of leaven that leavened the whole lump. She is \u201cthe pillar\nand the ground of truth,\u201d which if once shaken, truth itself must\nfall. To her alone is man responsible, since God commissioned her to\nteach the world and bring all men to knowledge of his truth. To her\nSt. Chrysostom and St. Augustine bowed; to her St. Ambrose and St.\nBernard yielded entire submission. Like Bossuet and F\u00e9nelon, the\ndoctors of all ages\u2014whatever their contentions and discussions,\nhowever wide their difference of opinion\u2014have ever looked to Rome, and\nsought her final judgment as the decree of God.\n\nBishop Gibbons, in reply to the \u201cCharge\u201d of Bishop Atkinson, remarked\nthe contradictory doctrines that prevail in the Anglican communion\nwith regard to confession; some execrating it as a Romish innovation,\nwhile others, holding tenets identical with ours, preach and practise\nits observance as a sacrament of Christ. Bishop Atkinson professes to\ndiscover a parallel to this in the various opinions of the Catholic\ntheologians with respect to the limits of the Pope\u2019s infallibility.\nLet us see upon what grounds he establishes comparison, and how far\nthe comparison is supported. Papal Infallibility is a dogma of the\nchurch, an article of faith, to be by all accepted under the last\npenalty of excommunication. With the Protestant the force of this\ndogma is experienced, not, indeed, as to the Pope, but with regard to\nHoly Scripture, which, as the word of God, he _must_ hold to be\ninfallible. Now, the general truth that the Bible is infallible the\nCatholic and Protestant both equally maintain. To doubt it would be\nheresy. But admitting, as we do, the general proposition, how many\nminor differences remain to be adjusted! The Catholic believes that\nthe church alone is able to interpret Holy Scripture, and that without\nher guidance men may wrest God\u2019s very word unto their own destruction;\nthat the written Word requires some infallible interpreter before we\ncan rely upon its meaning as infallible, since the Scriptures, though\ninfallible, inspire not every reader with their own infallibility. But\nthe common run of Protestants receive their Holy Bible as if it had\nbeen printed and handed down from heaven in the language, form, and\nbinding with which they are familiar. They forget that, after all, it\nis a mere translation and as liable to corruption as any other text in\nthe hands of a translator. The Pope they think presumptuous; the\nprinter and translator infallible. But even here believers may hold\ndiverse opinions with integrity of faith. \u201cHow far,\u201d one may ask,\n\u201cextends infallibility? Is it only in the spirit, or in the letter\nalso? \u2018Unless a man _hate_ his father and his mother he cannot be my\ndisciple.\u2019 \u2018If ye shall ask _anything_ in my name, I will do it.\u2019 With\nwhat exact restriction are these words to be received? Can errors\ntypographical, misrenderings, etc., affect in any way the truth of the\ninfallible? Are all the dates and numbers, in their common\nacceptation, infallibly correct? Does inspiration equally pervade the\nwhole Bible, the Old and New Testaments? How must we understand St.\nPaul\u2019s teaching by command and teaching by permission? Was he in each\ninfallible?\u201d All these questions might arise among sincere believers\nholding the general truth that the Scriptures are infallible. As we\nhave before observed, Papal Infallibility is an established dogma, an\narticle of faith, and the questions now at issue among Catholic\ntheologians are precisely of the nature of those among all Protestants\nwith regard to Holy Scripture. When a definition of a dogma of faith\nhas been promulgated to the universal church, it is acknowledged as\ninfallible by all; but the Pope sometimes teaches in a less determined\nspecies, and _then only_ can even the most lax theologians raise the\nquestion how far his teaching binds. Are disputes among the Anglicans\nanalogous to these? Bishop Atkinson would stickle for his sacerdotal\ncharacter; Bishop Whittle, of Virginia, would hoot the very notion. At\nMount Calvary, in Baltimore, a child becomes regenerate in the\nsacrament of baptism; at St. Peter\u2019s, five squares distant, no such\nchange can be effected. At the former Mass is said and the Sacred Host\nis worshipped; at the latter the Host is bread, and to worship it is\nidolatry. For whether it be bread or the golden calf adored, such\nworship is idolatrous. And if the Host be Christ, _not_ to worship is\ndenial of our Blessed Lord\u2019s Divinity.\n\nAre the Quaker and the Mormon more at variance in faith? But Bishop\nAtkinson interrupts us. \u201cI am not the church,\u201d he says, \u201cnor is Bishop\nWhittle, nor the pastors of the churches to which you have referred.\u201d\nBe it granted; but we ask, then, What _is_ your church\u2019s teaching?\nSurely, one of you is wrong, and has the church no voice to decide the\nquestion for us? Can idolatry be taught in her communion with\nimpunity? For, in Dr. Gramnici\u2019s judgment, this is Mr. Richie\u2019s crime:\nthe worship of the creature instead of the Creator. It is too true.\nAll that the Church of England boasts is _latitude_ of doctrine. She\nhas no power of utterance to define or to condemn. The wranglings of\nher children have silenced her for ever. The enormities of Darwin, if\nthey threatened, could not rouse her; nor, roused, has she the unity\nto utter an anathema.\n\nHaving noticed many points on which we differ from Bishop Atkinson, in\nconclusion we remark one on which we quite agree. This is when,\nspeaking of St. Bernard, he styles him \u201cthe great saint.\u201d But the\nquestion upon which he appeals to this great father is hardly one on\nwhich we hoped to find the bishop laudatory. Having chosen him,\nhowever, to plead his cause against _us_, we needs must think that he\nsupports his advocate, and holds him orthodox, at least, upon the\npoint at issue\u2014the Immaculate Conception. Let us hear what St. Bernard\nhas to offer on this point. \u201cThou art that chosen Lady,\u201d says he, \u201cin\nwhom our Lord found repose, and in whom he has deposited all his\ntreasures without measure. Hence the whole world, O my most holy Lady!\nhonors thy chaste womb as the temple of God, in which the salvation of\nthe world began. Thou, O great Mother of God! art the enclosed garden\ninto which the hand of a sinner never entered to gather its flowers.\nThou art the paradise of God; from thee issued forth the fountain of\nliving water that irrigates the whole world. The day on which thou\ncamest into the world can indeed be called a day of salvation, a day\nof grace. Thou art fair as the moon; the moon illumines the night with\nthe light it receives from the sun, and thou enlightenest our darkness\nwith the splendor of thy virtues. But thou art fairer than the moon;\nfor in thee there is neither spot nor shadow. Thou art bright as the\nsun\u2014I mean as that Sun which created the world. He was chosen amongst\nall men, and thou wast chosen amongst all women. O sweet, O great, O\nall-amiable Mary! no tongue can pronounce thy name but thou inflamest\nit with love.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nA DAY AMONG THE KIOWAS AND COMANCHES.\n\n\nIt was rather cold and frosty in the early January morning as we rode\neastward from Otter Creek to the Kiowa and Comanche reservation, in\nthe Indian Territory. Toward noon, however, the sun came out,\nbrilliant and warm. The effect on the transparent covering of the\ntrees and shrubs was dazzlingly beautiful. Some were encased in a\nbright armor, cunningly linked in chains of crescents. I detached a\nperfect \u201cice-plant,\u201d with every curve of the stem, every nerve of the\nleaves, taken in ice. The humblest weeds on the prairie sparkled with\nfrosty diamonds. But as the sun grew warmer they began to bend under\ntheir gorgeous burdens, as if wearied by their splendor, like tired\nbeauties after a ball.\n\nIn the afternoon the weather was as clear and balmy as on a day in\nJune. Our way lay through the most beautiful part of the Indian\nTerritory. We skirted the southern slopes of the Wichita Mountains.\nThese, as if in honor of our coming, exhibited all their jewelry in\nits brightest lustre. Down their dark slopes ran shining streams, like\nchains of silver adorning their broad breasts. Stones of gray and\nyellow and green and purple were heaped together in distracting\nprofusion, the whole seen through the most surpassingly tender of\nviolet tints, too delicate to be compared to the filmiest\nmarriage-morning lace. As we proceeded the country became more and\nmore diversified. Upland and vale succeeded each other in delightful\nvariety. Beautiful glens, wooded slopes, bold mountain-crests, filled\nthe landscape. The day had become warm enough to free the babble of\nthe scores of pretty little streams that flow into the Cache. We rode\nthrough groves of mesquite and forests of oaks. The long, straight\npaths through the oak-woods made one think of the long alleys of\nVersailles. We pass along the Main Cache; the scenery is ravishing. To\nthe right flows the stream. It is thickly wooded; and through the\nEnglish effect, produced by the smoke of a prairie fire in the far\ndistance, it brings back the memory of a railroad glimpse of the line\nof Windsor Forest. Occasional circles of oaks in the midst of noble\nstretches of upland render more striking the likeness to the park\nscenery of old England. To the left are the mountains. They actually\nfurnish the luxury of rocks, covered with moss and mould as green as\nyou could see upon Irish ruins. What a joy was the spectacle of so\nlovely a region to our eyes, that had been starved for months on\nsand-hills and treeless deserts!\n\nWe passed hundreds of lovely sites for cottages, in pleasant nooks,\nsheltered from all cold winds by wooded slopes that opened towards the\nsouth and bounded semi-circular vales of marvellous fertility. Indeed,\nin beauty of scenery and in richness of soil I think this portion of\nthe Indian Territory may be considered the garden of the western\nworld.\n\nBut, alas! nothing earthly is perfect. The brightest prospect has its\nshadow. Over this seeming paradise, where you can see in a day\u2019s\njourney the loveliest characteristics of the most favored climes,\nmalaria spreads its black and baleful wings.\n\nI visited the reservation of the Kiowas and Comanches soon after it\nwas entered by one of the expeditions that operated against the\nhostile bands of these Indians and of the Cheyennes in the winter of\n187-. This force had driven in a number of Kiowas and Comanches. It\nwas a close race between the troops and the Indians. But the latter,\nhaving the great advantage of the start, throwing away all\n_impedimenta_, leaving their line of flight marked by abandoned\nlodges, lodge-poles, ponies, cooking utensils, etc., had won the race\nby a few hours only, and surrendered not a moment too soon. I wanted\nto see all I could see of Indians while opportunity offered. I visited\nthe commanding officer of the adjoining military post, and made known\nto him my wishes. He received me with great courtesy and kindness,\nplaced a vehicle at my disposal, and instructed his interpreter to\naccompany me through the Indian camps. The Indians had pitched their\n_tepies_ in the timbered bottoms along the streams for several miles\naround the fort.\n\nThe interpreter was an \u201cold Indian man.\u201d I found him intelligent and\npolite. He had evidently been well brought up and fairly educated. His\nlanguage was generally good; and when he indulged, occasionally, in a\ngraphic, frontier mode of expression, it was easy to see that this was\nan after-graft, though not the less apt and piquant on that account.\nThe Indians on the reservation were divided into two great classes,\nthose under civil and those under military control. The former were\nunder charge of the agent; the latter under that of the commander of\nthe fort. These were again subdivided into the incarcerated, the\nenrolled, and the paroled (pronounced by the employees of the post and\nreservation, _pay-rolled_).\n\nThe imprisoned were again subdivided into two classes: the more guilty\nand dangerous, who were placed in irons and confined under strict\nsurveillance in the post guard-house; and the Indians of less note and\nguilt, who were in confinement, but not in irons. Of the first the\nprincipal was White Horse, a Kiowa chief, a murderer, ravisher, and as\ngreat a general scoundrel as could be found in any tribe. These really\n\u201cbad Indians\u201d did not number more than half a dozen. The Comanches and\nKiowas belonging to the second subdivision were confined within the\nwalls of an extensive but unfinished stone building, intended for an\nice-house, one hundred and fifty feet by forty. They numbered about a\nhundred and twenty.\n\nI told the interpreter I should like to begin by a visit to White\nHorse.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said he, \u201cwe shall have to see the officer of the day; for the\nsergeant of the guard has orders to let no one visit White Horse\nwithout special instructions.\u201d\n\nTwo old squaws, evidently in great distress, now came up to the\ninterpreter, and, having shaken hands with him, began to talk to him\nwith great eagerness.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re in luck,\u201d said the interpreter to me. \u201cThese are two of his\nmothers who want permission to see him.\u201d\n\n\u201cTwo of his mothers!\u201d I exclaimed. \u201cHow many mothers has he, for\nheaven\u2019s sake?\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly one regular one,\u201d he replied, laughing. \u201cThe other is his aunt;\nbut among these Indians the aunts also call themselves mothers.\u201d\n\nAccompanied by the two squaws, we went to seek the officer of the day.\nWe soon found him. He was a tall, fine-looking, genial, impulsive\nKentuckian, a cavalry officer. He went with us to the guard-house. He\nfirst took the interpreter and myself into the prison-room where White\nHorse\u2019s five companions were confined. They looked greatly dispirited.\nThey all shook hands with us with great warmth. I noticed the\neagerness of the last hand-shaker, who seemed to fear that we might\nleave the cell before he had gone through the ceremony with each of\nus. Poor wretches! I presume they thought their hour was nearly come,\nand, like drowning men, they grasped even at the semblance of straws.\nThey evidently had some rough idea of \u201cmaking interest\u201d with the\nvictor \u201cpale-faces\u201d in a forlorn hope for pardon. They were effusive\nin their manifestations of friendship for the officer, who, with his\nrevolver in his belt and his long cavalry sabre clanking at his heels,\nrepresented Force to them. Force is something Indians understand, and\nthey respect its emblems. Indeed, most of them have been afforded but\npoor opportunities to understand anything else.\n\nThe officer then conducted us to a private room, into which he ordered\nWhite Horse to be brought. A clanking of chains was heard along the\ncorridor, and White Horse, doubly ironed, stood in the door-way. He\nentered, not without a certain untutored majesty of gait, maugre his\nirons. He put out his manacled hands, and energetically went through\nthe ceremony of hand-shaking, beginning with the officer of the day,\nand giving him an extra shake at the end.\n\nWhite Horse was a large, powerful Indian. He wore a dark-colored\nblanket which covered his entire person. I could discern no\nindications of ferocity in his countenance. His face, on the contrary,\nhad rather what I should call a Chadband cast. His flesh seemed soft,\noily, and \u201cpuffy.\u201d\n\nWhite Horse\u2019s mother and aunt were now permitted to enter. The mother\nrushed to her son, threw her arms around him, kissed him on both\ncheeks, while the tears rolled down her face; but she uttered not a\nword. The aunt kissed him in like manner. White Horse submitted to\ntheir embraces, but made no motion of responding affection. He seemed\na little nervous under their caresses, and probably under our\nobservation. The mother took hold of his chain, looked at it for a\nmoment, and then came another paroxysm of silent grief, revealing\nitself in tears alone. They sat on a rough wooden bench, White Horse\nin the centre, his mother on his right, his aunt on the left, each\nholding one of his hands in both of hers. White Horse uttered no\nsound; no gesture betrayed any emotion, yet I thought I could detect a\nmoistening of the eye. This made me feel that I had no business there,\ngazing on his grief and that of the poor Indian women. I suppose I\nought to be ashamed to say it; but the truth must be told, and I must\nconfess that, villain as he was, I could not help feeling for him. Of\ncourse it was a weakness, but I am miserably weak in such matters. I\nbelieve I should have pleaded for mercy towards him, though he showed\nlittle mercy to others. There are few human beings who do not, at some\ntime in their lives, need mercy shown them; and when they themselves\ncry out for it, it must be a great consolation to them to reflect, as\nthey look back, that they, in their time, have not been deaf to the\ncries of others.\n\nI signified a wish to withdraw, and left, accompanied by the officer\nand the interpreter. Before we were permitted to depart, however, we\nhad to shake hands with White Horse and the two squaws. The women\nlooked at us with an appealing expression, as if, in their poor,\nsimple minds, they thought it possible that, in some way or other, we\nmight have an influence on the fate of the son.\n\nWe next visited the unfinished building in which the one hundred and\ntwenty lesser Indian criminals were confined. They were bestowed in a\nsufficiently comfortable manner. Common tents were ranged along the\nwalls, and there were fires burning at proper distances down the\ncentre of the building. The occupants of the tents were mostly engaged\nin gambling with monte cards and in various other ways. Your Indian is\nunfortunately \u201ca born gambler.\u201d They quitted their play, however, and\ncrowded around us, eager to shake hands with us, and uttering the\nIndian monosyllabic expression of satisfaction, which sounds as if\nwritten \u201chow.\u201d This hand-shaking took some time, as every Indian\ninsisted on going through the ceremony. When I supposed I had shaken\nmy way through the crowd, I was touched on the arm, and, turning, met\na face which was evidently not that of an Indian, though its owner was\ngarbed in Indian guise. He put out his hand, saying \u201chow\u201d in the usual\nway. I said to him in rather \u201cBrummagem\u201d Spanish that he was not an\n\u201cIndio.\u201d\n\nHe shook his head and replied: \u201cNo.\u201d\n\n\u201cMejicano?\u201d I asked.\n\n\u201cSi,\u201d he replied with a broad grin.\n\nThe other Indians crowded around us, laughing and nodding their heads,\nejaculating: \u201cMejicano! How! how!\u201d and turning towards each other with\ngestures of wonder or admiration (exactly as I have seen the chorus do\nat the Italian opera). This was no doubt done with a rude idea of\nflattering me on my perspicacity. There are worse judges of human\nnature than the untutored Indian. I suppose there is very little doubt\nthat, had I any power over their fate, the compliment would not have\nbeen thrown away on me, or on most men for that matter.\n\nOf course they wanted tobacco, and we gave them what we had about us.\nThey had a good deal to say to the interpreter. Every one had some\nlittle grievance to complain of or want to be satisfied. At length,\nafter some more hand-shaking, we escaped from them.\n\nOn leaving the prison-house we learned that we should not find the\nprincipal Indians in their camps until later in the day, as they were\nthen collecting in the commanding officer\u2019s office to talk about\nsending a party to find some of the Cheyennes, who, having been driven\nfrom the brakes of the Staked Plains, were supposed to have gone to\nsouthern New Mexico. The interpreter said I should have a good\nopportunity to see the \u201chead men\u201d there; we could visit the camps\nafterwards. To the office we went, and found there about fifteen or\ntwenty chiefs, among them Little Crow and Kicking Bird, the head chief\nof the Kiowas. If ever there were a good Indian\u2014and there are many\nvery honest people west of the Mississippi who think that no live\nIndian can be good\u2014I think Kicking Bird was a good Indian. During the\nrecent troubles he never left his reservation, was constant in using\nhis influence in favor of the whites, and never wavered in his\nfidelity to the government.\n\nHe was a fine-looking Indian, and had as winning a countenance as I\nhave looked upon anywhere. The expression of his eyes was remarkably\nsoft and pleasing. There was a quiet, natural dignity in his manners,\ntempered by great natural grace. I was taken by his appearance from\nthe first, and shook hands with him with pleasure and sincerity, which\nwas not the case on every occasion of hand-shaking that morning.\nKicking Bird, as nearly as one can judge an Indian\u2019s age (an Indian is\ngenerally as great a chronological difficulty as a negro), was then\nabout thirty-five years old. He was somewhat above the middle height,\nrichly but not gaudily dressed. Hanging by a loop from his left breast\nwere a pair of silver tweezers.\n\nAfter the \u201ctalk\u201d was over and the arrangements for sending out the\nparty agreed upon, every chief except Kicking Bird had some private\n\u201caxe to grind\u201d\u2014something to ask for. As the presentation of these\n\u201cprivate bills\u201d was likely to take much time, we withdrew, mounted our\nwagon, and drove to the Kiowa camp.\n\nThe camps of the three tribes, Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches, were\npitched in the fringe of timber that borders Medicine Bluff Creek and\nthe Main Cache. The day was bright and warm for the season. The\nscarlet and white blankets of the Indians, seen here and there among\nthe trees, gave life and color to the landscape. Crowds of children\ngambolled and shouted, and seemed to enjoy themselves intensely. They\nhad no idea they were the children of a doomed and dying race. There\nwas no trace among them of the stoicism of the Indian of maturer\nyears. No crowd of French urchins playing around the Tour Saint\nJacques in the grounds of the Palais Royal, or the gardens of the\nTuileries, was ever more full of gayety and _espi\u00e8glerie_ than these\nlittle savages. They threw their arms about and \u201ckicked loose legs\u201d as\nnaturally and with as much _abandon_ as any white children could have\ndone. Some, more industriously inclined, built little _tepies_, or\nlodges; others made tiny camp-fires, playing \u201cwar-party\u201d; others, with\nminiature bows and arrows, skipped along, shooting at the small birds\nthat crossed their path. Now an urchin, more bold than the rest, would\nhop alongside our wagon and return our \u201chow, how\u201d with compound\ninterest. Emboldened by his example, others would follow, until we had\na crowd of little red-skins of both sexes about us, hopping, laughing,\nand \u201chow-how\u201d-ing. Occasionally they indulged in a general shout of\ngood-natured merriment, which may very probably have been caused by\nsome more than usually good joke at our expense.\n\nOur first visit was to Kicking Bird\u2019s lodge. It was quite roomy, being\na _tepie_ of twenty-four poles. In rear of the lodge, and carefully\ncovered by a paulin, like the carriage of any civilized gentleman,\nstood our friend Kicking Bird\u2019s \u201cbuggy.\u201d\n\nKicking Bird had not yet returned from the talk at the post. His wife,\na buxom young squaw, profusely beaded, brightly blanketed,\nvermilion-cheeked, but not over-washed, did the honors. She had a\nchild about ten months old\u2014a lively, stout little red rascal, whose\nflesh was as firm as vulcanized rubber. The little wretch was just\nbeginning to walk. He was _in puris_, of course. He took wonderfully\nto us. He would try to walk across the lodge to each of us in turn,\nfalling at every other step, and getting up again with a loud crow of\ndetermination. Then he would toddle from one to the other, holding by\nour boot-tops as we stood in a circle around him, and being jumped as\nhigh as arms would admit of by each in turn, to his intense delight\nand the great enjoyment of his mother.\n\nWe walked through the camp and watched the squaws tanning\nbuffalo-hides and preparing antelope-skins. I was very anxious to get\na papoose-board, as a telegram from a medical friend had just informed\nme that there was an opportunity of utilizing such a piece of\nfurniture in the family of a very particular friend. But I could not\nbeg or buy one, even with the help of my friend the interpreter. We\nasked several squaws, but not one of them would sell. I heard\nafterwards that an extravagantly high price, backed by the Indian\nagent\u2019s influence, failed to procure one. The squaws no doubt consider\nit \u201cbad medicine\u201d to sell a papoose-board.\n\nA gaudily-dressed Indian, whose cheeks were streaked with paint of all\nthe colors of the rainbow, approached us. In my civilized simplicity I\nsupposed that this glaring individual was some very big chief indeed.\nI asked the interpreter what great chief he was.\n\n\u201cSome Indian _plug_,\u201d responded that gentleman; \u201cno chief at all.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow comes he to be so extravagantly adorned?\u201d\n\n\u201cThey can wear anything they can beg, buy, or steal.\u201d\n\nMy mistake reminds me of a similar one made by Indians with regard to\nsome white visitors. Col. \u2014\u2014 visited an Indian camp, accompanied by\nsome officers and a cavalry escort. The colonel and the officers were\ndressed in fatigue uniform, with merely gold enough about them to\nindicate their rank to a close observer on close inspection. The\nobserved of all the Indian observers, however, was a \u201cfancy\u201d Dutch\nbugler, with his double yellow stripe and his bars of yellow braid\nacross his breast. To him the most respectful homage and the greatest\nconsideration were paid.\n\nAs we passed one of the Kiowa lodges, a young man, seemingly about\ntwenty-five or twenty-eight years old, came out to meet us with\noutstretched arms. With the exception of Kicking Bird, he was the most\npleasing Indian I met. He was very fair-skinned for an Indian, bright,\nintelligent-looking, with a frankness of manner rare among Indians. He\nwas presented to me as Big Tree, a paroled Indian.\n\nThe interpreter told me that, up to the time Big Tree was taken with\nSatanta, the former was an Indian of no note. He was innocent of\ncrime, and achieved a reputation merely by his accidental associations\nwith Satanta.\n\nNotwithstanding the lesson I had received, when we met some\ngaudily-bedizened Indian I could not refrain from asking who he was.\n\nThe interpreter\u2019s answer was invariably: \u201cOnly some Indian _plug_.\u201d\n\nWe drove to the Comanche camp, and visited the lodge of Quirz-Quip, or\n\u201cAntelope-Chewer.\u201d I had met him at the \u201ctalk\u201d in the morning. He\nrecognized me and shook hands in a very friendly manner. Quirz-Quip\u2019s\ncountenance was not an attractive one. It was at its best then,\nhowever, for he was in high glee at his good fortune in reaching the\nreservation, even with the loss of almost everything he had, and the\ntroops close at his heels. He only got in a few hours ahead of them,\nand they had been gaining on him hourly. As his dinner was ready,\nAntelope-Chewer invited us in to join him in the repast, and I\naccepted the invitation eagerly.\n\nThe lodge was a large and comfortable one. No doubt it had been kept\nstanding on the reservation for the use of the squaws and children\nwhile Antelope-Chewer was on the war-path, and for a pleasant and safe\nresting-place for that gentleman when the troops made the war-path too\nhot for him. Mats were placed around the lodge. On these we sat\ntailor-fashion. Valises, made of buffalo-hide, scraped and painted in\nthe usual Indian fashion, were placed at intervals around the _tepie_.\nThe fire was in the centre, in a hole eighteen inches or two feet\ndeep. The lodge was pleasantly warmed, and there was not the least\nsmoke. Two young bucks occupied about four yards of the lodge. They\nlay stretched at full length on their backs. Each had a bow and arrow,\nwith which he amused himself by toying. The arrow was in its place,\nready to be sped. Ever and anon they would draw the arrows back to the\nhead, and then relax the strings again. I felt that the rascals would\nhave sent the barbs through us with pleasure, if they could only do so\nwith safety. We were unarmed, it is true; but there were thirteen\ncompanies of cavalry and five of infantry within a mile and a half,\nand the chances of ultimate escape were more than doubtful. I should\nnot wish to meet even my worthy friend Quirz-Quip off the reservation,\nif I were unarmed and no help near.\n\nThe young men merely nodded to us as we entered, without changing\ntheir positions or intermitting their bow-play. They gave us a\nhalf-careless, half-supercilious smile, and glanced at each other, as\nif they should say:\n\n\u201cBuffalo-Heart, my boy! what _does_ the governor mean by bringing\nthese fellows here?\u201d\n\nThey seemed to look upon us as a pair of young scions of the old\nFrench _noblesse_ might have looked upon a republican guard detail\nentering their private apartments in their ancestral ch\u00e2teau.\n\nWe shook hands and exchanged grunts with the squaws and children. The\ninterpreter joked Quirz-Quip about his race with the troops. The\nIndian laughed, indulged in several \u201chow-hows\u201d and _buenos_ (the\nComanches use a good many Spanish words), and shook hands with me\nagain with great seeming cordiality. He was evidently very much elated\nby his good fortune in getting to a place of safety, and showed it by\nrepeated chuckles.\n\nDinner being ready, we drew closer to the festive fire-hole in which\nthe viands were cooking. As a not very comely old squaw put forth a\nnot very clean hand and arm to serve the first course, a young\ngentleman who had joined our party made a precipitate retreat. The\nyoung fellow was troubled with a delicate stomach. Another gentleman,\nhaving tasted of the first course, said he found the _tepie_ rather\nclose and withdrew. There remained of our party, then, only the\ninterpreter and my unworthy self to do honor to Antelope-Chewer\u2019s\nhospitality.\n\nThe party assembled around the hospitable stew-pan consisted of the\nold squaw who did the honors of the camp-kettle; a younger squaw,\nplump and dirty, evidently the latest favorite; Antelope-Chewer and\nseveral little Chewers, ranging from six months to twelve years old;\nthe aristocratic young bucks (whose food was handed to them by the old\nsquaw), the interpreter, and the writer. The repast consisted of\nstewed buffalo meat served in the vessel in which it was cooked. Each\n_convive_ takes his clasp-knife in his right hand, seizes one end of\nthe piece of meat with the thumb and forefinger of his left, and cuts\noff a piece of the required size. It is \u201cbad medicine,\u201d as well as\n_mauvais go\u00fbt_, to take more than you can consume. The manner in which\nsalt was used struck me as being an improvement on our civilized mode\nof using it. It was served dissolved in water in a shallow vessel, and\neach guest dipped his piece of meat in the fluid. Of course if this\nmethod were adopted in our hotels or boarding-houses, I should wish to\nhave my salt and water served in an \u201cindividual\u201d salt-vessel.\n\nThere was no bread. The Indians on the reservation had received no\nflour for weeks. We had the Indian substitute for bread\u2014the fat of the\nmeat cut off in strips, pressed, and served separately, cold. There\nare worse substitutes. A cup of coffee (without milk, of course)\nconcluded the repast. It was by no means bad. It was hot and strong,\nthough not quite sweet enough, as the ration of sugar issued to the\nIndians was insufficient. I enjoyed it, however. It is only justice to\nsay that Quirz-Quip\u2019s coffee was much better than some I have tasted\nin railroad eating-houses and \u201cend of the track\u201d towns.\n\nDinner being over, we left the lodge to walk through the camp, and\nespecially to visit and view a bridge made by the Indians themselves\nacross the Medicine Bluff. It was a structure of mud and logs quite\ncreditable to Indian ingenuity and industry. It showed that the\nlessons of their teacher\u2014the beaver\u2014had not been thrown away upon\nthem.\n\nWe invited Antelope-Chewer to come with us to the fort bakery, and we\nwould make him a present of a dozen loaves of bread. He consented, but\nsaid he wanted his squaw to go too.\n\n\u201cHe wants her to carry back the bread,\u201d said the interpreter.\n\nWe agreed, and got into the wagon. Quirz-Quip desired that the plump\nand dirty squaw should ride inside with us. To this we would not\nsubmit, and insisted that she should take the seat beside the driver.\nIndeed, I felt already an itching sensation all over me\u2014no doubt the\neffect of imagination; for the interpreter assured me there was no\ndanger of anything of the kind, unless I should spend a night in a\nlodge. I assured him that such a thing was not at all probable.\nNevertheless, and notwithstanding two or three baths, it was some days\nbefore my epidermis regained its accustomed tranquillity.\n\nWe drove to the Apache camp for our young friends who had fled from\nQuirz-Quip\u2019s hospitality, and returned by the Comanche chief\u2019s lodge\nto pick up the plump and dirty squaw. She had become tired of waiting,\nand had gone away, much to her lord\u2019s disgust and our satisfaction.\n\nWe drove to the bakery and bought a dozen loaves of bread for\nQuirz-Quip. He wished us to drive him back to his camp with the bread.\nThe interpreter told him we could not do it. Then the modest Comanche\nasked us to lend him the wagon to take the bread. The interpreter\nshook his head, and assured him that it was impossible.\n\n\u201cThen,\u201d said Quirz-Quip, \u201chow am I to get the bread to camp?\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you are too lazy to pack it,\u201d said the interpreter, \u201cyou can\nleave, and be confounded.\u201d\n\nAs we drove away, we saw him, with a rueful countenance, spreading out\nhis blanket on the floor to receive the coveted bread but hated load.\n\nOn our return from the camps we passed by the agency. I asked what\nkind of a man the agent was. I was answered that he was \u201ca good sort\nof man,\u201d but \u201che knows nothing about Indians or their ways.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is a Quaker, I suppose.\u201d\n\n\u201cA kind of a _made-up_ Quaker, like a good many of \u2018em.\u201d\n\nWe stopped at the agency door, and I was introduced to the agent. He\nwas a gentleman in his manners, and looked to me like an honest man.\nThere was to be an issue of blankets on the following day. The agent\nkindly said he would be glad to have me present, and if I would come\nhe would send a wagon for me. I accepted at once.\n\nThe Indian agent was as good as his word. He sent a carriage for us\nabout half-past eight next morning. The issue was to take place about\nhalf-past nine. It was nearly half-past eleven, however, before the\nIndians began to arrive. Your Indian is invariably unpunctual. You may\nset what hour you please, but you cannot make him come until he is\nquite ready. By half-past twelve they began coming in considerable\nnumbers and the issue commenced. The women and children were out in\ngreat force, and were in high good-humor, chatting and laughing in the\ngayest manner possible. Each family ranges itself in a semi-circle;\nthe chief, or male head thereof, stood about the centre of the chord.\nEach chief, after receiving the number of blankets to which he was\nentitled, tore in two a double blanket of each color; there were only\nblack and white blankets to be issued that day, no scarlet ones,\ngreatly to the disappointment of the squaws and children. Beginning at\none end of the semi-circle, the chief threw a piece of each color at\nthe head of the person for whom it was intended. It was caught with a\nshout of glee and many remarks, evidently of a humorous nature,\njudging by the laughter with which they were hailed. Sometimes the\ndignified chief, with as near an approach to a smile as his dignity\nwould allow, threw a joke with the blanket at the head of a dependant.\nHis jokes, like those of all persons in power, were always greeted\nwith applause. When the blanket was so thrown as to strike the\nrecipient full in the face, the merriment was uproarious. Our friend\nQuirz-Quip was present, of course. He was very busy, getting all he\ncould, and dividing what he got among his interesting family. He was\nharder to please than if he had always been a good Indian and had\nnever left the reservation to go on the war-path.\n\nThe blankets were of very good quality. They were marked with the\nletters U. S. I. D. It was found necessary to stamp the blankets to\nprevent the Indians from gambling or trading them away to Mexicans in\nthe summer.\n\nHere and there some wretched squaws stood apart from the general\nthrong, as if they were Pariahs among their sisters. They seemed\nutterly forlorn and miserable. They took no interest in the busy scene\nbefore them. Their faces wore an expression of blank hopelessness. The\nworld had nothing for them in the present, nothing in the future. They\ncame to the issue as mere drudges, to carry back the blankets to the\ncamps. They had each an angular piece cut out of the nostril. This is\nthe Scarlet Letter of the Comanches.\n\nWhen the issue was over I visited the Indian hospital and had quite an\ninteresting chat with the doctor. The Indians were then suffering a\ngood deal from colds, influenza, etc., brought on by exposure at\nnight, \u201cmaking medicine\u201d\u2014_i.e._, performing incantations. As we went\nfrom the hospital to the carpenter\u2019s shop, I met young Satanta, a\nparoled prisoner, son of the notorious Satanta who was delivered by\nthe War Department to the civil authorities in Texas to be tried for\nmurders and robberies committed by him within the boundaries of that\nState. Satanta, Jr., was a bright-eyed young man of twenty. He wore a\nlong, straight red feather in his hat, and carried in his hand a bow,\nfrom which ever and anon he discharged an arrow as he went, and picked\nit up again.\n\nAn Indian, who evidently thought he was suffering under a very great\ngrievance, now met us and talked very earnestly and excitedly to the\ninterpreter.\n\n\u201cThat Indian is smarting under the sense of some great wrong, real or\nfancied,\u201d I said.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the interpreter, smiling; \u201che has trouble with another\nIndian about a greyhound pup. I promised this fellow and another a pup\neach (I have the finest greyhounds in the Territory). The other\nfellow, while I was away, took both the pups, and won\u2019t give this\nfellow his. They are just like children in many things.\u201d\n\nThere was little doing in the carpenter\u2019s shop. I was shown some work\ndone by a young Indian which was fair, for an Indian. There were no\nIndians at work, but I was told that Kicking Bird\u2019s son was to begin\nhis apprenticeship the following week.\n\nNor was there anything doing at the school. There were hopes of\nopening it the following month, with twenty Apaches, twenty Kiowas,\nand the same number of Comanches.\n\nThe trader at the military post was also the trader for the Indians.\nThe store was thronged from morning to sunset by Indians of both\nsexes. Comanches, Kiowas, Apaches, hung around in groups, standing in\nthe doorways, blocking up the windows, when they were closed, with\ntheir faces against the panes, or their heads and the upper part of\ntheir bodies thrust in when they were open. The majority of the\ntrader\u2019s store-idlers are women, young girls, and children. They are\nby no means backward in begging. The clerks told me it was not wise to\nleave anything on the counter even for a moment when the red brethren\nand sisters were in the store; they had to be watched as narrowly as\nfashionable white kleptomaniacs.\n\nI was rather pleased with the appearance of the Indian agent. He\nseemed honest and frank. Of his ignorance or knowledge of Indians and\ntheir ways I can say nothing. \u201cOld Indian men\u201d are apt to think that,\nin the way of knowledge of Indians, they have pulled the ladder up\nafter them.\n\nI thanked the agent for his politeness, and said that, if he did not\nthink it impertinent, I should like to ask a question or two for my\nown information and satisfaction. He replied that he would be very\nhappy to give me any information in his power.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said I, \u201cnot to mince matters, you know they say a great many\nhard things about Indian agents.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course I do. When I received this appointment, one of my most\nintimate friends wrote to me not to accept it, warning me that, were I\nas pure as snow, I should be denounced by everybody as a swindler and\na thief before six months.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is said that for several weeks the Indians on this reservation\nhave been without bread. Is this true?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is. The freight contractors have failed to deliver the flour. I\ncannot issue what I have not. To make up for the lack of flour, I\nissue four pounds of beef to each Indian daily.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is charged that the beef is poor. Is this charge true?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is. What can I do? Like a quartermaster or commissary, I can only\nissue what I have on hand. If I had not this beef, the Indians would\nhave nothing to eat. I cannot throw it back on the contractor\u2019s hands,\nand wait for a better quality of meat; for while I was waiting the\nIndians would starve or leave the reservation to find subsistence\nwhere they could.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat is the allowance of coffee and sugar?\u201d\n\n\u201cFour pounds of the former and eight of the latter to one hundred\nrations.\u201d\n\nI now took a friendly farewell of the Indian agent, and went away with\na vague impression that it is not the poor, subordinate official who\nmakes most money out of the Indians, but freighters and \u201cbig\ncontractors,\u201d and perhaps more especially their financial \u201cbackers,\u201d\nthe speculators of the great Eastern cities.\n\nOn our way back to the post we met Kicking Bird returning to his camp.\nHe was mounted on a large cream-colored mule. We stopped, shook hands\nwith him, and chatted a little. The interpreter joked him about riding\na mule. Kicking Bird laughed, and said that as he was going to live\nhereafter like a white man, like a white man he should ride a mule.\n\nIt was the last time I saw Kicking Bird. Shortly afterwards he\ndelivered up to the military authorities a number of the revolted\nIndians. Among them was a brother of one of his squaws. In revenge she\npoisoned the faithful chief.\n\nPoor Kicking Bird! He had given his gorgeous war-bonnet to a veteran\nofficer of the army as a token that he had left the war-path for ever.\nHe proposed to teach his children the white man\u2019s language and the\nwhite man\u2019s peaceful arts. He fell a martyr to his fidelity to the\ngovernment.\n\n\n\n\nDE VERE\u2019S \u201cTHOMAS \u00c0 BECKET.\u201d[210]\n\n\nIt is doubtful whether two years ago even the admirers of Aubrey de\nVere looked for anything strikingly new or startling from his pen. His\nmeasure seemed filled. He was known and read as a poet whose melodious\nverse was the expression of thoughts lofty as well as tender, of\nprofound meditations and large aspirations, of purity without fleck,\nyet cold almost as it was chaste. This were an enviable fame at any\ntime, infinitely more so just now, when the ambition of our poets\nseems to be that of the prodigal, to waste their divine birthright on\nworthless objects, to live riotously, and finally, when all else is\ngone, to feed themselves and their readers on the husks of swine.\nSuddenly _Alexander the Great_ appeared, and in the author we beheld a\nnew man. At once his fame took wings, while he, with the unconscious\nease of one who took his place by right, strode beyond the men of\nto-day, and entered into that narrower circle of larger minds whose\nnames are written in brass, whose works live after them and become\npart and parcel of the English tongue. One sign of Mr. de Vere\u2019s\nundisputed success was significant. It is only such a transcendent\ngenius as that of Dr. Newman that can overleap the barriers which\nprejudice has set around the Catholic name. It is still true, though\nless so than formerly, that the grand old name of \u201cCatholic\u201d blazoned\non a literary scutcheon is regarded as a bar sinister by the\nnon-Catholic press. Yet even this difficulty of caste was overcome by\nMr. de Vere, and his _Alexander the Great_ was hailed by critics of\nevery class and kind of thought to be a return to the palmy days of\nEnglish drama, and a welcome addition to English literature.\n\nTwo years have passed, and a new drama is presented to us by the same\nauthor. From Alexander the Great to Thomas \u00e0 Becket is a long stride\nand a trying one. It is a passage from the height of paganism to the\nheight of Christianity. The hero of the one is the personification of\nthe pride and the pomp, the glory and shame, the greatness and\nessential littleness, of paganism. The hero of the other is one of\nthose men who throughout the Christian era, even up to our own times,\nhave been found to stand up in the face of the princes of this world,\nand, if need be, pour out their hearts\u2019 blood in confessing Christ and\nupholding his kingdom on earth.\n\nWe may as well say at once that in the new drama we miss many things\nwhich in _Alexander the Great_ won our admiration. We miss the\nsustained magic of those lines, almost every one of which is poetry of\nthe highest order, yet so skilfully adapted that whosoever speaks them\nspeaks naturally and in keeping with his character. In no place in\n_Alexander the Great_ could one say, \u201cHere speaks the poet,\u201d \u201cHere the\nrhetorician,\u201d \u201cHere the dramatist.\u201d This much, indeed, is true of\n_Thomas \u00e0 Becket_. We miss, too, the brilliant epigrams, the\nproverbial wisdom of the brief sayings thrown so liberally into the\nmouths of this character and that. We miss the sharp contact and\ncontrast of character so perfectly worked out among the different\ntypes of Greeks. There is no place in the later drama for such a\nconception as Alexander himself, the slow growth and development under\nour eyes of his many-sided character, with his strong resolve, his\ndreams, his daring hopes, his insane ambition, his thorough, practical\nmanner of dealing with things as they pass, his slow-coming doubts,\nhis wonder at the world, at his own mission in it, and at the unseen\npower that rules them both from somewhere. Indeed, we cannot call to\nmind a like conception to this in any drama.\n\nThe reason for the absence of such features as these is plain. In the\none case the poet was freer to follow the workings of his own\nimagination; in the other he is more closely bound down to history, to\nfacts, to the very words often spoken by his characters. And how\nthoroughly he has studied his subject may be seen in the preface to\nthe drama, which is an admirable, though condensed, history of the\nwhole struggle between St. Thomas and Henry II. But in compensation\nfor what we miss we find a robustness, an off-hand freedom betokening\nreal strength, a truth and naturalness of coloring, a noble manner of\ndealing with noble things, a straightforward honesty that winks at no\nfaults, on whichever side they lie, a boldness and vigor that never\nflag from the first line to the last. There is less art than in the\nother, but much more of nature\u2019s happy freedom. Moreover, the interest\nof the drama is none the less really of to-day because it represents\nmen who lived and events which occurred seven centuries ago. Has this\ncentury seen no Henries or his like? Who shall say that we have no\nBeckets? Are there no men to-day ready to stand up in the face of\nprinces calling themselves Christian, to risk land and life and all\nthey have in the cause of Christ, at the same time that they obey\ntheir princes, be they Catholic or non-Catholic, \u201csaving their order\u201d\nand \u201csaving God\u2019s honor\u201d?\n\nThe whole world makes sad reply. And though in these scientific days\nit is not the fashion to dash the brains of God\u2019s priests out in the\nsanctuary, a method equally effectual is adopted to quench, if\npossible, the spirit within them. They are drained of such means as\nbelong to their offices by fine upon fine; every effort is made to\ncompel them, as was the case with St. Thomas, to betray their trust,\nto recognize rebellious, apostate, and recreant priests. And at\nlength, when there is not a penny left, they are either driven into\nexile, as was St. Thomas, or cast into prisons where their martyrdom\nconsists of a thousand petty insults and deprivations, and where, to\ntake up recent examples, they are regaled on soup which is\nscientifically bad. After all, does there not seem something more\nmagnanimous in the fierce brutality of the Plantagenet and his men?\n\nThe whole drama of _Thomas \u00e0 Becket_ turns on the struggle between the\narchbishop and the king, and there is no hesitation on the author\u2019s\npart in deciding which side to take in the contest. Mr. de Vere has\ncertainly the courage of his convictions, and he is bold in their\nexpression in days when St. Thomas is still regarded by the great\nmajority of English readers as a mischievous and meddlesome prelate\nwho courted, if he did not richly deserve, his fate. Let us, with Mr.\nde Vere\u2019s permission, picture to ourselves a moment his lost\nopportunity of making himself infamously famous. Had he, with his\ngreat gifts and acknowledged place in the ranks of _literati_, only\ntaken the other side; had he painted St. Thomas according to the\northodox Protestant reading, how his book would have been devoured,\nand what reviews written of it down all the line of the anti-Catholic\narmy of writers! What comfort Mr. Gladstone would have found in such a\nconvert in his next tilt with the Rock! Were it not a thing simply\nnatural in any honorable man to adhere to the side of truth, and,\nmore, to satisfy himself of the truth where doubts were raised, we\nshould call it noble in Mr. de Vere thus to spurn the example of so\nmany gifted writers of his time whose great ambition seems to be to\npander to the vices around them. Indeed, not the least interest\nattached to this drama lies in the treatment, by a calm, poetic, yet\ndeeply philosophic mind, of the momentous struggle which it\nportrays\u2014the struggle ever old yet ever new between church and state.\n\nThe drama is in five acts. The first opens at Westminster with the\nelection of Thomas to the primacy, embraces his resignation of the\nchancellorship and first rupture with the king, and ends beautifully\nand solemnly with his consecration as Archbishop of Canterbury. This\nact is very interesting. It plunges at once _in medias res_. Not a\nline is wasted, and so natural is the coloring that one lives and\nmoves among the men of long ago as completely as in Shakspere.\nBecket\u2019s friends and foes come and go, and have their say about the\nnew prelate and his appointment to the \u201cRome of the North.\u201d Naturally,\nthe appointment to such a see still filled men\u2019s minds while the\nmemory of Anselm lived,\n\n \u201cStretching from exile a lean, threatening arm\u201d\n\nagainst the first Henry. It is plain from the start that Becket\u2019s\nmitre is not to be wreathed with roses. Even were the king a tamer\nsoul, the new archbishop leaves enemies behind him\u2014time-serving\nprelates who hate an honest man, others who envy him his place,\nnobles, knights, and rascals who have felt his strong hand while\nchancellor. The scene shifts to Normandy and shows us Henry\u2019s court at\nRouen, presided over by his perfidious and vicious queen, Eleanor,\nwhose bitter tongue ever fans the flames that threaten Becket, whom\nshe hates. Here we see Henry at his best, when, as he thinks, all is\ngoing well with his scheme.\n\n \u201cThomas, Archbishop\u2014\n That hand which holds the seal, wielding the staff\u2014\n The feud of Crown and Church henceforth is past.\n \u2026 Henceforth I rule!\n None shares with me my realms.\u201d\n\nHere we have, too, a thrilling picture of his wrath when this pleasant\nscheme is at once knocked to pieces by Becket\u2019s resignation of the\nchancellorship. And now the fight begins.\n\nIn the second act come up the memorable scenes at Northampton with the\nquestion of the \u201cRoyal Customs.\u201d In these trying scenes, where king\nand prelate enter the lists against each other, the dramatist has\nexhibited a power worthy the occasion, and, to our thinking, they are\nthe finest in the drama. We can only glance at them and pass on. The\nforces are marshalled: on the one side the power of the king with the\nbandit nobles\u2014for most of them were little else\u2014and the craven\nprelates; on the other Becket, his oath, and his conscience. The scene\nbetween Becket and the bishops, where they strive to break down his\nresolution, is admirable, as showing the inner character of the man,\nthe steadfast churchman, military half, who has not yet quite lost\nthat outspoken scorn he used so freely while still in and of the\nworld. His brief replies are full of negative meaning, and, when he\ndoes break forth, the scorn of the king is puny beside his words.\n\n \u201cMy lords, have you said all? Then hear me speak.\n I might be large to tell you, courtier prelates,\n That if the Conqueror\u2019s was an iron hand,\n Not less \u2018twas just. Oftenest it used aright\n Its power usurped. _It decked no idiot brow\n With casual mitre: neither lodged in grasp\n That, ague-stricken, scarce could hold its bribe,\n The sceptres of the shepherds of Christ\u2019s flock._\u201d\n\nAnd never were there nobler words than these:\n\n \u201cBishops of England!\n For many truths by you this day enforced,\n Hear ye in turn but one. The church is God\u2019s:\n Lords, were it ours, then might we traffic with it;\n At will make large its functions, or contract;\n Serve it or sell; worship or crucify.\n I say the church is God\u2019s; for he beheld it,\n His thought, ere time began; counted its bones,\n Which in his book were writ. I say that he\n From his own side in water and in blood\n Gave birth to it on Calvary, and caught it,\n Despite the nails, his bride, in his own arms.\n I say that he, a Spirit of clear heat,\n Lives in its frame, and cleanses with pure pain\n His sacrificial precinct, but consumes\n The chaff with other ardors. Lords, I know you.\n\n * * * * *\n\n To-day the heathen rage\u2014I fear them not;\n If fall I must, this hand, ere yet I fall,\n Stretched from the bosom of a peaceful gown,\n Above a troubled king and darkening realm,\n Shall send God\u2019s sentence forth. My lords, farewell.\u201d\n\nAnd surely Becket might have spoken this:\n\n \u201cMy king I honor\u2014honoring more my God;\n My lords, they lie who brand mine honest fame\n With fealty halved. With doubly-linked allegiance\n He serves his king who serves him for God\u2019s sake;\n But who serves thus must serve his God o\u2019er all.\n I served him thus, and serve.\u201d\n\nBut we could quote all this magnificent scene.\n\nIn the third act Becket escapes to France, visits the exiled pontiff\nat Sens, and finally takes refuge at Pontigny. The calm of this holy\nand peaceful abode seems to permeate this portion of the drama,\noffering a happy relief after the late fierce storms. There he abides,\n\u201cmusing on war with heart at peace,\u201d and his spirit, without\nslackening in its strong purpose, grows insensibly calmer, milder, and\nmore humble. From this dwelling he is driven forth by order of the\nking, only, as the king himself bitterly says, to \u201cstand stronger than\nbefore.\u201d The persecution is turning against the persecutor, who\nconfesses in words Shakspere might have written:\n\n \u201cI have lit my camp-fires on a frozen flood,\n Methinks the ice wears thin.\u201d\n\nBut he is a man as full of device as resolution, and at his back are\nmen still fuller of device. The plot thickens, and at last even Rome\nseems to fall from the archbishop, and give him over to the power of\nhis enemies. Something of the old fierce spirit leaps up, and Rome\nitself is not spared, until he is reminded by John of Salisbury, his\ntried and faithful friend, of the Pope that\n\n \u201cWho sits there\n Sits on God\u2019s tower, and further sees than we.\u201d\n\nWhereupon Becket breaks out into a speech full of beauty and of truth,\nwhich we regret our limited space forbids us to quote. At the end of\nit the two cardinals enter to endeavor to find a way for patching up a\npeace between the archbishop and the king. It must be borne in mind\nthat in those days the church was in sore straits: the pope in exile\nat Sens; an anti-pope backed by all the power of the German emperor.\nAs Cardinal Otho truly says:\n\n \u201cA mutinous world uplifts this day its front\n Against Christ\u2019s Vicar! Save this France and England,\n I know not kingdom sound.\u201d\n\nAnd here was Becket, the champion of the church, doing, in the eyes of\nmany, what best he could to drive England also into the enemy\u2019s camp.\nAll these circumstances render the intellectual and spiritual duel\nbetween the archbishop and the cardinals one of intense interest,\nwhich again confirms what we noted in _Alexander the Great_, that Mr.\nde Vere has the true dramatic instinct of bringing together at the\nright place and right time opposing elements. It is the clash of\ncontraries that imparts greatest interest to a drama, and the right\nworking of the conflict that shows the dramatist\u2019s skill. The contrast\nbetween the plausible, keen, politic, Italian nature, as it would be\ncalled by some, of Cardinal William, and the straight, unbending,\nsingle-minded nature of Becket, who is so rooted in his position that\nnothing but death could tear him from it, is perfect. The cardinal\nbuilds up a very strong case in a negative manner against the\narchbishop. He hints at mistakes on the latter\u2019s part; he counsels\nyielding here and there, or rather puts it to Becket why such and such\nmight not be instead of such and such. In fact, his Eminence shows\nhimself a thorough diplomat in cases where the issue was not a duel to\nthe death. It would be amusing, were it not something of a far higher\norder, to see how Becket, with a strong, straight sentence or two,\ncuts mercilessly, half scornfully, through the cardinal\u2019s fine-spun\nwebs one after the other as they appear, scarcely giving them time to\nrise. Cardinal William is at length nettled into breaking quite\nthrough the diplomatic ice, and bids the archbishop resign. Becket\nrefuses to listen to any voice but that which proceeds from the chair\nof Peter, and with this the act closes.\n\nThe fourth act opens with a beautiful scene between the nun Idonea and\nthe aged Empress Matilda, whose character, small part as it plays in\nthe drama, seems to us one of the most finished of all. Henry is back\nin England, only to find\n\n \u201cAll\u2019s well; and then all\u2019s ill: who wars on Becket\n Hath January posting hard on May,\n And night at ten o\u2019 the morn.\u201d\n\nOn the other hand, Becket, with half-prophetic eye, seems to see the\nbeginning of the end. After each new struggle, each new humiliation,\nhe rises greater because humbler, leaving the dross behind him. Here\nis his own estimate of himself:\n\n \u201cOnce I was unjust.\n The Holy Father sees as from a height;\n I fight but on the plain: my time is short,\n And in it much to expiate. I must act.\n\n (_After a pause._)\n\n I strove for justice, and my mother\u2019s honor;\n For these at first. Now know I that God\u2019s truth\n Is linked with these as close as body and soul.\u201d\n\nHow true is this we all know. It only required a Luther to make of\nHenry II. a Henry VIII., and he had not stood so long in doubt as did\nthe latter. The plot deepens. What an admirable touch it is that shows\nhim, when the gravest news arrives from England, falling back a moment\non his happier days at hearing of a smart retort given by his old\npupil, the youthful prince! At last the king and Becket are brought\ntogether, and again in this long, historic meeting Mr. de Vere rises\nfully and easily to the level of the event. The inner vein of deceit\nfor which he was marked shows through the monarch\u2019s speech, and once a\nlurid burst of passion flashes forth like lightning and as quickly\ndisappears. This prolonged scene, at the end of which the mask is\nalmost openly thrown off by the king, ends the act, and is a fitting\npreparation for the consummation which is to follow.\n\nThe fifth act opens with preparations for the return of the archbishop\nto England. His heart and those of his friends are filled with the\ngloomiest forebodings. Ill-rumors thicken around them. Becket himself,\nin a speech of wonderful beauty and pathos, describes the \u201csinking\nstrange\u201d at his heart as, standing still on the French coast, he looks\ntowards England. It is the flesh asserting itself and gaining a\nmomentary victory over the spirit. He sails at length, and history\ntells us how he was received. It was a matter of life or death to his\nfoes. There was only one end to a contest with a man of his\nstamp\u2014either submission on their part or death to him. The drama\nhurries on towards the catastrophe. The queen fans the flame. As\nLisieux says:\n\n \u201cYear by year\n She urged his highness \u2018gainst my lord the primate;\n Of late she whets him with more complicate craft:\n She knows that all she likes the king dislikes,\n And feigns a laughing, new-born zeal for Becket,\n To sting the royal spleen.\u201d\n\nThe short scene in which the barbed words of the queen draw a contrast\nbetween Becket\u2019s triumph and the king\u2019s humiliation is one of the many\ndramatic gems set in this drama. So graphic is the scene as she rises\non the throne, cup in hand, and cries:\n\n \u201cA toast, my lords! The London merchant\u2019s son:\n Once England\u2019s primate\u2014henceforth King of England!\u201d\n\nthat we scarcely need Leicester to tell us:\n\n \u201cBehold her, Lisieux!\n _That smile is baleful as a winter beam\n Streaking some cliff wreck-gorged; her hair and eyes\n Send forth a glare half sunshine and half lightning._\u201d\n\nAt last falls that memorable feast of St. Stephen, and the end comes.\n\n \u201cThe man is changed. Seldom he speaks; his smile\n Is like that smile upon a dead man\u2019s face,\n A mystery of sweetness.\u201d\n\nThe saint is already looking beyond this world. Standing at the\nwindow, as we are told he stood, he looks out and beholds the ground\nrobed in snow. Here is how his poet makes him speak of it:\n\n \u201cHow fair, how still, that snowy world! The earth\n Lies like a white rose under eyes of God;\n May it send up a sweetness!\u201d\n\nWhat other poet in these days could give us so pure and perfect an\nimage as that\u2014a flower plucked, surely, from the paradise of poets?\nThe sweetness is sent up. It rises from the martyr\u2019s blood.\n\nSuch is an outline of this drama. The character, of course, on which\nthe attention fastens chiefly is that of Thomas \u00e0 Becket, and we think\nthat in the portrayal of this great character Mr. de Vere is as happy\nas in his Alexander. Becket is a very easy man to write about, but a\nmost difficult one to set living and real before us. In him for a long\ntime the layman and the clerk struggled for mastery. There is no\npossible doubt that up to the time of his elevation to the primacy he\nwas a man who lived in, and to a very great extent of, the world. He\nrejoiced in pomp and pride, in large retinues, in splendid\nappointments, in ostentatious display. He was not at all averse to\nshowing that the arm of the cleric could tilt a lance with the bravest\nknight. Yet through all the temptations of such a life as his he\nundoubtedly retained his purity of heart, a right sense of his true\nvocation, and an honesty of purpose that never swerved. Certain it is\nthat, in procuring his appointment as primate, Henry thought he had,\nif not exactly a tool, a devoted friend and a sensible man, who would\nnot forget the favors his monarch had showered on him, and would be\ntroubled by no such nice scruples as vexed his predecessor, Anselm.\nBecket had shown himself to be a keen-eyed, resolute, active, honest\nminister, with no sordid touch in his nature, with an intense sense of\nduty to his king and country. Indeed, had he not been a Catholic\ncleric, in days when clerics lawfully assumed many a civil office,\nthere can be little doubt that he would have been pronounced, even by\nProtestant historians, to be one of the best and truest English\nchancellors that ever held the seals.\n\nAt a day\u2019s notice this man, by the express command and desire of the\nking, is sent back to his real duty\u2014the tending of Christ\u2019s fold. He\nobeyed against his will, foreseeing already something of the issue.\nBut the fashion of the world is not brushed off in a day, however\nchanged may be the heart and conduct. To-day he is the gay and\nbrilliant chancellor of England, highest in the favor of his king;\nto-morrow, primate of England, and appointed to that post, as he knew,\nto betray it. The man is not yet a saint\u2014very far from it; and in his\nseizing of this character just as the robes of the world were falling\nfrom him and he had donned the livery of heaven; in his awakening to\nthe new and tremendous responsibility that had fallen upon him; in the\ngradual taming of his fiery and impetuous spirit; in the struggle\nbetween personal love for his royal master, pity for the disasters\nnecessarily brought upon the kingdom by his action, and his clear\nconception of duty throughout all; in the slow braying of this spirit\nin the mortar of affliction until speck by speck all the dross was\nshaken and cast out, and the whole man left clean and pure for the\nsacrifice\u2014in all this Mr. de Vere has shown the skill of a great\nartist. The obvious temptation for a Catholic in treating such a theme\nwas to make Becket a saint too soon. Mr. de Vere has not fallen into\nthis mistake, and the result adds largely to the effect of the drama.\nNot till the very last scene do we feel that Becket lives already\nabove this world, and only awaits his translation. The night before\nhis death the flesh still urged flight when he knew that death was\ncoming surely and swiftly. And when the curtain drops for the last\ntime on that terrible scene of the outraged sanctuary and the murdered\narchbishop, then do we surely feel that the spirit of a saint and\nmartyr has flown to heaven.\n\nThe conception of Henry is almost equally good. The following picture\nof him will be remembered:\n\n \u201cYour king is sudden:\n The tidings of his march and victory reach us\n Like runners matched. That slender, sinewy frame,\n That ardent eye, that swift, onstriding step,\n Yet graceful as a tiger\u2019s, foot descending\n Silent but sure on the predestinate spot\u2014\n From signs like these looks forth the inward man.\n Expect grave news ere long.\u201d\n\nExcellent foils to Becket and to each other are Becket\u2019s two fast\nfriends, John of Salisbury and Herbert of Bosham. The contrast between\nthe two is well drawn by themselves:\n\n \u201cJOHN OF SALISBURY. Herbert, you jar me with your ceaseless triumphs,\n And hope \u2018gainst hope. You are like a gold leaf dropped\n From grove immortal of the church triumphant\n To mock our church in storm! For manners\u2019 sake,\n I pray you, chafe at times. The floods are out!\n I say the floods are out! This way and that\n They come a-sweeping.\n\n \u201cHERBERT. Wheresoe\u2019er they sweep\n The eye of God pursues them and controls:\n That which they are to him, that only _are_ they;\n The rest is pictured storm.\u201d\n\nA mightier hand than Mr. de Vere\u2019s might own so graphic a picture as\nthis:\n\n \u201cGo where I might, except among the poor,\n \u2018Twas all one huge conspiracy of error,\n Conspiracy, and yet unconscious half;\n For, though, beneath, there worked one plastic mind,\n The surface seemed fortuitous concurrence,\n One man the hook supplying, one the eye,\n Here the false maxim, there the fact suborned,\n This the mad hope, and that the grudge forgotten.\n The lawyer wrote the falsehood in the dust\n Of mouldering scrolls; with sighs the court-priest owned it;\n The minstrel tossed it gaily from his strings;\n The witling lisped it, and the soldier mouthed it.\n These lies are thick as dust in March.\u201d\n\nAnd the \u201creptile press\u201d had not yet come into being!\n\nThere is not a weak line in this drama. It will be welcomed by all\nCatholics as a glorious illumination of the history which it pictures.\nOur boys should dwell on it in the schools. From no book can they\ngather a better idea of one of the most marked epochs in English\nhistory. It will, like _Alexander the Great_, bear reading and\nrereading, disclosing each time new beauties of thought and\nexpression. Many of the speeches set one\u2019s veins a-tingling, so vivid\nand real are they. The pictures of churchmen are a study. There is the\nprelate courtier, the prelate politician, the false ascetic, the\nblasphemous apostate, the timid prelate, who trembles between his\nconscience and his king. In striking contrast to these stand out\nBecket and his true men, while to and fro among the cleric gowns stalk\nthe stalwart nobles, half-bandits, most of them, sick in turn of\nprelate and king. Mr. de Vere makes masterly use of these many\nopposite elements, groups, parts, and rearranges them with the highest\ndramatic effect.\n\nThe general tendency of English poetry in these days is downwards. It\nhas gained nothing; it has lost much. It is least strong in its\nhighest, the dramatic form. Without pretending to be at all dogmatic\nin mere literary criticism, we take this last statement to be\nindisputable. The failure, however, is not from lack of effort. There\nis surely some strange fascination about the drama. It would not be at\nall hazardous to say that nine out of every ten men with any literary\npretensions, if they have not actually written dramas, have at least\nhad the ambition and intention at some time or another to write them.\nWhat may be the precise reason for this general tendency towards that\npeculiar form of literature, unless it is that so very few succeed in\nit, we do not know, and do not care to inquire just now. The\nunattainable, however, always possesses a strong fascination for\naspiring minds; and as the dramatic literature of all countries is\nthat which, though the least in quantity, has fastened itself most\nupon the hearts of the people, it is at least a worthy ambition which\naims at this royal road to fame. The discovery of the North-west\nPassage has not been a more fatal lure to mariners than the drama to\nliterary adventurers. Even men of approved position in other branches\nof literature, poets of fame, novelists whose names were household\nwords, statesmen and philosophers, have failed at this last fortress\nthat fame seems to hold only for her most favored sons. Here no art\ncan win an entrance; the sweetest strains cannot charm the locks\nasunder, the profoundest thoughts cannot melt them. Nature and nature\nonly holds the key.\n\nA glance at a few of the writers of the century will reveal how true\nis this. Even Byron with his passionate soul, his strangely mixed\nnature, his bitterness and sweetness, his loftiness of thought and\nexpression combined, his marvellous power over words, has written\ndramas which as poems are splendid, but as dramas wretched. Shelley\nwas the only poet of his day who produced a really dramatic work, but\nits revolting subject unhappily removes it from clean hands. The\nlesser lights of our own day have each in turn attempted a like flight\nonly to meet with disaster. Who thinks of Browning\u2019s _Strafford_ now?\nWho has cast a second glance at Swinburne\u2019s _Chastelard_ or\n_Bothwell_? Notwithstanding the \u201cgush\u201d with which it was at first\nhailed by some English critics, Tennyson\u2019s _Mary Tudor_ has fallen\nflat, both on the stage and off it, and honest men have come to the\nconclusion that it rather detracts from than adds to the well-earned\nand well-worn fame of the author. The only good purpose it has served\nwas to bring to light a real drama on the same subject by the father\nof the author whose latest work now claims our attention. Of that we\nshall have something to say at another time. Even that proverbial\nphilosopher, Mr. Tupper, was seized with the inspiration in this\ncentennial year of ours, and we heard something of a drama wherein\nGeorge Washington was to figure as the hero, but it faded out of sight\nbefore it had well appeared. Sad to say, our own Longfellow\u2019s _Spanish\nStudent_, the only drama he ever published, happens to be about the\nworst of his productions. Mr. Disraeli even, in his wild youth,\nperpetrated a drama which was presented some years since at a second\nor third class London theatre, and, we believe, almost ruined the\nmanagement. At all events it failed. And Bulwer Lytton\u2019s best known\ndrama is not one-fiftieth part as good as his poorest novel.\n\nBold then is the man who would tread this royal road which is strewn\nwith so many a brave wreck. Rash the man who, with name and fame\nestablished, with the well-won laurels of a lifetime on his brow,\nwould add a final and a crowning leaf plucked from this garden of\ndeath. Happy the man who, in face of the thousand dangers that beset\nhis path, goes on his way boldly, grasps and holds the prize that a\nthousand of his fellows have missed. Mr. de Vere has won this prize.\nHis dramas are dramas and nothing else. They are not verses stitched\ntogether without a purpose and a plan. They are not mere description;\nthey are instinct with _act_. We hope and believe that one who has\naccomplished so much and so well in so short a time may, as we do not\ndoubt he can, do much more. The prizes to be won in this, to Mr. de\nVere, new field are as many as the aspirants; but the winners are few.\nAs Catholics we are proud of such a poet. As readers and observers we\nrejoice in these degenerate days at seeing so resolute a return to\nloftier thoughts and purer, to great conceptions, to real English,\nwhich is free at once from the affectation of the archaic and from the\nflimsy jingle that tries honest ears, to a right depicting of scenes\nand events that have stirred the world.\n\n\n [210] _St. Thomas of Canterbury._ A Dramatic Poem. By Aubrey\n de Vere, author of _Alexander the Great_. London: Henry S.\n King & Co. 1876. (For sale by The Catholic Publication\n Society.)\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRISONER OF CHILLON.\n\n\nIt has been the lot of more than one disreputable character to be\nglorified by great poets. From Spenser to Tennyson have the praises of\n\u201cGloriana\u201d been sung, to the no small detriment of truth, and of far\nworthier personages than she who, although in some respects a great\nqueen, was guilty of ferocities almost beyond the capabilities of man,\nand of prolonged and calculating cruelties contrary to the very nature\nbestowed by God on woman. Again, Satan himself is portrayed in\nMilton\u2019s stately poem as a being more magnificent than malignant. He\n\u201chates well\u201d certainly, but his own utter hatefulness, and the base\ningratitude to his Creator of which he is the first example, is\nsufficiently veiled to incline one to feel something akin to\nadmiration or pity for the arch-rebel against God, the crafty seducer\nand pitiless destroyer of the souls of men.\n\nPassing over other instances of false renown, and undazzled by the\nhalo of romance cast around the \u201cPrisoner of Chillon\u201d by Lord Byron\u2019s\nmelodious lines (it would be more plain-spoken than polite to write\nthis word, as here it ought to be written, _i.e._, without the _n_),\nlet us examine, by the sober light of history, into the merits of this\nmore-than-doubtful hero, rendered by his captivity a person of\ninterest, although there is every proof that the story of his arrest,\nin violation of a safe-conduct granted him by the duke of Savoy, is an\ninvention.[211] Still more, however, does Bonivard owe his celebrity\nto Lord Byron, who apparently knew nothing of the \u201cPrisoner\u201d whose\nimaginary sufferings he sang, beyond his name, his Protestantism, and\nthe fact of his imprisonment. The poem opens with a string of\nfictions, among which it is amusing to read that Bonivard was loaded\nwith chains for the religion of his father, and that the said father\nhad died on the rack, a martyr to a creed he refused to abjure, etc.\n\nBut imagination has had the upper hand long enough. Certain of our\ncontemporaries abroad having recently referred to the \u201cPrisoner of\nChillon\u201d as a martyr for liberty of conscience, it is time to bring\ndown from his pedestal this Calvinist apostate, pointed to by\nProtestants as one of their models of virtue, and who, we readily\nallow, turns out to be a fitting companion to similar \u201cmodels\u201d even\nmore famous in their annals.\n\nThe Bonivards were an old _bourgeois_ family of Chamb\u00e9ry, who from the\nthirteenth century had possessed a certain extent of feudal property.\nThus they were subjects of the princes of Savoy, whose worst enemies\nwere then the Genevese and Swiss. Now, it was under the protection of\nthese latter that Bonivard, himself a Savoyard, came, in the vain hope\nof preserving the rich revenues of his priory of Saint Victor, to\nplant his batteries against his native country. At Geneva, he took his\nplace among the first promoters of the freedom of the future republic,\nbut no sooner did the Reformation become a movement of importance,\nfrom the standing of some of its leaders, than Bonivard disappears\nfrom the front, and falls into a lower rank; since, although a writer\nof some power and possessed of real talents, he was utterly lacking in\nenergy and dignity of character, as also in firmness and consistency\nof purpose. In proof of this, it is enough to observe the continual\napplications for money with which he harassed the council of Geneva,\nwhile he was at the same time playing fast and loose between Savoy and\nGeneva, in the first place, and afterwards between Geneva and Berne,\naccording to the advancement of his own interests, self being\napparently the sole object of his worship. This \u201cvain and versatile\nbeggar\u201d[212] was called by one of the chiefs of the republic, the\n\u201c_Stultus_ M. de Sans-Saint-Victor.\u201d\n\nDr. Chapponni\u00e8re, a Protestant, says that \u201cBonivard, exalted by some\nas a hero and a martyr for liberty, and by others charged with every\nvice, merited neither the excess of honor he received on the one hand,\nnor of condemnation on the other.\u201d With regard, however, to this\nverdict, which would represent Bonivard as a man of simple mediocrity,\nwe put the following questions: Was not Fran\u00e7ois de Bonivard a traitor\nto his religion, which he abandoned? to his ecclesiastical character,\nwhich he violated? to his country, which he injured to the utmost of\nhis power? to history, which he falsified? and lastly, to his _wives_,\nwhom he deceived, and one of whom he abandoned to torture?\n\nThe \u201cPrisoner of Chillon\u201d had earned his detention in that fortress by\nfifteen years of open revolt against his lawful sovereign; and if, by\nreason of his six years of imprisonment he is to be accounted a great\nman, it is but just to allow his fourth wife, Catherine de\nCourtaronel, to share his greatness. Like him, she apostatized; like\nhim, she quitted her convent and broke all her vows; like him, she was\ndriven out of Geneva because of her evil life; like him, she was\nallowed to return thither on promising amendment; with him she lived,\nfor some time unmarried, until the two were compelled by the Genevese\nauthorities to submit to a marriage ceremony; like him, she was\naccused of adultery, and, more unfortunate than he, was made, by the\napplication of frightful tortures, to avow herself guilty of the crime\n(which, however, has not been proved), her husband making no attempt\nwhatever to save her from the torture. In consequence of the\nconfessions thus extorted, she was condemned to be drowned; the\nsentence being duly executed.\n\nWe have here a terrible pendant to the six years of prison, and one\nwhich, this time, can neither be imputed (to quote M. Fazg) to \u201can\ninfamous duke of Savoy,\u201d nor yet (to quote Bonivard himself) to \u201ca\nrascally pope.\u201d\n\nThis brief sketch, notwithstanding its incompleteness as to details,\nwhich would, however, only darkly shade the outline here given, is\nsufficient to portray the real Bonivard, the avaricious and\ntime-serving apostate, stripped of the interesting fiction which\nenvelopes the Prisoner of Chillon, and to prove his worthiness of a\nniche by the side of Cranmer, Luther, Calvin, Beza, John of Leyden,\nand the rest of the reforming race.\n\n\n [211] See, especially, Spon, _Histoire de Gen\u00e8ve_, tom. 1.\n pp. 203, 204.\n\n [212] See notice in the _Revue Catholique_ for June, 1876,\n by M. Leyret, to whom the present paper is largely\n indebted. Those who wish for full information on the\n subject will find it in the _Notice sur Fran\u00e7ois de\n Bonivard, Prieur de St. Victor et sur ses Ecrits, par\n M. le Dr. Chapponniere_ (_M\u00e9moires de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9\n d\u2019Histoire et d\u2019Arch\u00e9ologie de Gen\u00e8ve_, tome iv.),\n also in the _Mat\u00e9riaux Historiques_ and the _Notices\n G\u00e9n\u00e9alogiques_ of Galiffe (tome iii.), but above all\n in the remarkable work by Canon Magnin, now Bishop of\n Annecy, on Bonivard and the Chronicles of Geneva\n (_M\u00e9moires de l\u2019Acad\u00e9mie de Savoie, 2\u00e8me S\u00e9ries_, tome\n iii.) who by even his moderation, as well as the\n pitiless logic of facts, crushes the pseudo-confessor.\n\n\n\n\nNEW PUBLICATIONS.\n\n\n SANCTA SOPHIA, OR DIRECTIONS FOR THE PRAYER OF\n CONTEMPLATION, ETC. Extracted out of more than Forty\n Treatises written by the late Ven. Father F. Augustin Baker,\n a monk of the English Congregation of the Holy Order of S.\n Benedict; and methodically digested by the R. F. Serenus\n Cressy, of the same Order and Congregation. Now edited by\n the Very Rev. Dom Norbert Sweeny, D.D., of the same Order\n and Congregation. London: Burns & Oates. 1876. (For sale by\n The Catholic Publication Society.)\n\nNext in importance to the choice of a spiritual director comes, no\ndoubt, the selection of the kind and quality of spiritual reading\nproper for individual souls. Ordinarily they go together, and,\ngranting the first choice to have been well made, the second should be\nleft to be determined by it. One advantage, however, a suitable book\npresents even when compared with a suitable director. It is always\naccessible, a consideration of some importance, when one remembers how\nurgently spiritual writers seek to persuade the soul that in case wise\ndirection can be had at no less cost, she should travel \u201ca thousand\nGerman miles\u201d to find it. It is true that with certain classes of\nreligious reading, and especially with that class to which the _Sancta\nSophia_ belongs, there is danger that indiscreet readers may mistake\ntheir own needs, and nourish pride on what is proper food for humility\nonly. Another peculiarity belonging to them is one which we hardly\nknow whether to class as an advantage or a disadvantage. Put into the\nhands of mature readers for whom they have been esteemed suitable on\naccount of some natural tendency to introversion, and possibly of\nconverts, to which class, by the way, the author of the _Sancta\nSophia_ himself belonged, we have observed these charts of the more\ninterior ways of spiritual life to create a temporary difficulty\nalmost as serious as those they were intended to remove. The clearness\nand certainty with which the road is pointed out, and the obstacles to\nbe surmounted described, fill the mind at first with such a sense of\nsecurity as one feels who places himself in charge of an experienced\nguide to travel to regions by report well known but as yet unvisited.\nThe objects of faith assume a new vividness, and the soul, beholding\nits own struggles and its own weariness reflected in the page before\nit, takes up its line of march with new vigor and readiness to endure\nwhat its predecessors also have endured. But it will be strange if its\nenemy do not avail himself of the very weapons used against him to\nraise the contrary difficulty, and to suggest that the very accuracy\nwith which the internal conflict is described shows that nothing has\nbeen really achieved by the spiritual writers except the dissection of\nthe soul itself, and that, considered as evidence for the existence of\nanything beyond its own struggles, their works are simply worthless.\nHowever, to \u201cwell-minded souls,\u201d as Father Baker would say, such\ntemptations against faith are not in reality more dangerous than any\nother, and may, with the help of prayer and prudent counsel, be fled\nfrom even while their immediate occasion is retained and put to its\nuses. For such souls, once firmly grounded in Catholic faith and with\na natural predisposition for \u201cthe internal ways of the Spirit,\u201d we\nknow no better guide than the _Sancta Sophia_, now so happily\nreprinted. No doubt it is not adapted to general reading; the caution\nof the Benedictine father, Leander \u00e0 St. Martino, is as necessary\nto-day as when it was prefixed to the earliest editions of the work.\nThese instructions, he said, \u201care written precisely, and only for such\nsouls as by God\u2019s holy grace do effectually and constantly dedicate\nthemselves to as pure an abstraction from creatures as may with\ndiscretion be practised; \u2026 consequently, for such as abstain from all\nmanner of levity, loss of time, notable and known defects, vain talk,\nneedless familiarity, and in a word do take as much care as they can\nto avoid all venial sins and occasions of them, and all things which\nthey shall perceive or be warned of, to be impediments to the divine\nunion of their souls with God.\u201d\n\nLet us hope that even the strict application of this rule would not\ntoo greatly narrow the circle of readers likely to be profited by the\nreissue of a volume which those well qualified to judge rate as the\nmost solid and valuable work on prayer ever written in the English\ntongue. A more effectual barrier, perhaps, against indiscriminate\nreaders, is raised by the style of the work itself than by cautions\nsuch as these. For while the quaint, sweet sobriety of its manner most\nhappily matches the gravity of its matter, it is marked by an utter\nabsence of all things likely to gratify curiosity simply, and makes no\neffort to do more than guide souls called to contemplative prayer\nalong the secure road of abnegation and self-denial. Certain blemishes\nwhich pertained to the work in its original state are sufficiently\nguarded against in this edition by notes; and in its present form the\n_Sancta Sophia_ is undoubtedly better fitted than before both to the\nneeds of the contemplative orders for whom it was originally written,\nand to those of devout souls living in the world.\n\n\n MITCHELL\u2019S GEOGRAPHICAL TEXT-BOOKS. Philadelphia: Published\n by J. H. Butler & Co.\n\nOne of the best proofs of the excellence of these text-books is the\ncontinual popularity which they have enjoyed, in spite of the\npublication of so many competing works by other authors. Of course\nthey have been kept up to the times by additions, and improvements\ncorresponding to the increase of geographical knowledge.\n\nThe series consists of eight books, two being occupied with ancient\ngeography, and is progressive, so as to suit every age and capacity.\nFor Catholic schools it is, so far as we can see, not open to any\nobjection, and as good as any set of books not expressly written for\nthem can be.\n\nWe are particularly pleased with Prof. Brocklesby\u2019s _Physical\nGeography_, which forms part of the series. It is full of information\nfor grown persons as well as for the young, is profusely and finely\nillustrated, as is the rest of the series, and will be found to be a\nmost readable and instructive book.\n\nThe maps and charts are throughout the series executed with that\nclearness and beauty which have always characterized Mitchell\u2019s\natlases.\n\n\n THE LIFE, LETTERS, AND TABLE-TALK OF BENJAMIN ROBERT HAYDON.\n\n MEN AND MANNERS IN AMERICA ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. New York.\n Scribner, Armstrong & Co. 1876.\n\nThese two volumes are the first instalments of the \u201cSans-Souci\nSeries,\u201d intended as a companion to the \u201cBric-\u00e0-Brac Series.\u201d The life\nof Haydon the artist is full of painful interest. The present volume\nis a condensation by Mr. R. H. Stoddard of the larger Engglish life.\n\n_Men and Manners in America One Hundred Years Ago_, edited by H. G.\nScudder, tells pleasantly enough how men and women lived and moved and\nhad their being in this country a century ago.\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note:\n\nObvious printing errors, such as upside down or backwards letters and\naccent marks, mismatched open and closed quote marks, duplicate words,\nand incorrect spacing between words, were corrected. Unprinted letters\nand final stops were added. Alternate and obsolete spellings were left\nunchanged.\n\nWords and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like\nthis_.\n\nFootnotes in the text were numbered in order and moved to the end of\nthe article in which the anchor occurs. Footnote anchors in tables\nwere changed to letters. Many table footnotes have multiple anchors.\nAdded missing footnote anchor to [190].\n\nNoted, but left unchanged: Some listings in the Contents are not in\nalphabetical order.\n\nSpaces were used instead of decimal points to separate dollars from\ncents and pounds from shillings in \u201cLabor in Europe and America.\u201d\n\nHyphens occasionally used inconsistently, e.g. text contains both\nchurchyard and church-yard. \u2018Home Rule\u2019 when used as a noun has no\nhyphen; otherwise, it appears as Home-Rule or Home-Ruler.","title":"The Catholic World, Vol. 23, April, 1876-September, 1876.: A Monthly Magazine of General Literature and Science","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":490738}