Chapter XII (7)

This is but a dismal result of progress, of civilization; modern society with all its boasting seems to have {418} achieved little for happiness. After this witness for the uneducated class, Miss Parkes proceeds to show the difficulties that encompass the educated strivers after bread, and here difficulties seem to increase, from the danger incurred by exposing young women to intercourse with a corrupted social state; "it is better," says Miss Parkes, "to be starved in body than made worse in the moral and spiritual life," and in this we can but agree with her, as also in the conclusion that this fact renders many an occupation ineligible which would otherwise be good in itself. The lady's remarks on the changes of eighty years are interesting, as her accounts of "educated destitution" are graphic and painful in their truth. Her remarks are sensible, and her plans proposed are so modest and unassuming they seem rather suggestions, "helps to thought," than projects, and as such we cordially recommend them; for though American society is not yet in the state depicted of the superabundant populations of Europe, we cannot fail to recognize that if the _same principles_ are exercised on this side of the Atlantic as have been exercised on that, the same results will follow when population becomes denser; it behooves us, then, to be wise in time, and acknowledge some higher law than that provided by an inexorable system of political economy, if we would be happy. Men and women are not necessarily blind agents of capitalists, mere creators of a wealth which they do not share in due proportion to their intelligence and their industry. They are moral beings, if they would but know it, if they would but exercise and cultivate their moral powers; beings capable of controlling themselves, and, by enlightened industrial arrangements, of providing for themselves and for their neighbors. The tendencies of Miss Parkes are evidently to the formation of joint-stock societies, making the laborer at once a worker and a capitalist. This _might_ be so contrived as to form another style of "guild" of auld lang syne, when Catholic workmen protected each other from want. Christian love, and earnest thought, endeavoring, to form associations for mutual interchange of kind offices, and for encouraging each other in practices of piety and good will to men, are essentially Catholic; it is only when based on a purely selfish motive, and with purely earthly aims, that they lose their charm and best security. We confess that for ourselves we do not expect to see any great improvement in the condition of the worker, whether male or female, in Europe or elsewhere, by combination or otherwise, while the effort for improvement is unsustained by a recurrence to first principles, and unbased on _positive_ religious forms and dogmas. As long as the _world_ is unchristian it must remain _selfish_, and the weakest will go to the wall, in every form of of civilization, whether named co-operative or competitive. But once recognize that man's most essential life resides in his _soul_, and that he is bound to provide for the wants of that soul as his first object, "guilds" take form and shape, and the _laborer_, rising in dignity, performing his labor as an ordinance of God, "loving his neighbor as himself," establishes, or may establish, associations, in which the weaker shall be protected, and the poor recognized as the representatives of Christ. This we shall see exemplified on another page in speaking of the "_Rosines_" instituted by Rosa Governo, who had been a servant.

Miss Davis's book on the Higher Education of Woman, is addressed more especially to the middle classes, for whom she requires education has a means of obtaining a livelihood. The discrepancies between the education accorded to English girls and boys are greater than those existing between American boys and girls; still there is much room for improvement. Girls are too apt to be superficial, "to read too much, and think too little;" and even here in free America, some may be found who think they should lose {419} caste being useful, thorough, and energetic. To such as these we particularly recommend Miss Davis's book, for it sifts all such fallacies, and regards the question of woman's place in the social order, primarily considering them as "children of God, members of Christ, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven; and, secondarily, as wives, mothers daughters, sisters" (p. 36). Miss Davis writes modestly, suggestively, not dogmatically; feeling her way as it were at every step. Her descriptions are of course English, but much that she says of the _necessity_ of suitable employment for woman, not only for a maintenance but for _healthy existence_ as a moral and intellectual being, is applicable to every nation, and will afford useful hints to any one who has pondered seriously on woman's present position and future prospects.

We regret that we cannot speak so favorably of the tone of Mr. Ludlow's book, valuable as is the information it affords as to what the collective energy of women can effect when strong religious motive is the prompter of their actions. The author gives a consecutive account of the work of women in the church from the time all the apostles to the present era, tracing their usefulness, their power of varying their action according to the exigencies of the day in which they lived; the devotedness of the ancient deaconesses the learning of the nuns, when the world was the prey of the Goths and Vandals and their successors; the intellectual activity that characterized the communities while the outer world was sunk in barbarism; the books they spent their lives in copying, and the works they themselves composed. Then he gives an account of the active orders, or, perhaps, rather associations, as of the Béguines--

"who, without renouncing the society of men or the business of life,
or vowing poverty, perpetual chastity; or absolute obedience, yet
lead, either at their own homes or in common dwellings, a life of
prayer, meditation, and labor. Matthew Paris mentions it as one of
the wonders of the age for the year 1250, that 'in Germany there
rose up an innumerable multitude of those continent women who wish
to be called Béguines, to that extent that Cologne was inhabited by
more than 1,000 of them.' Indeed, by the latter half of this
century, there seems to have been scarcely a town of any importance
without them in France, Belgium, Northern Germany, and Switzerland."
(P. 118.)

"The first of these fellowships was composed of weavers of either
sex; and so diligent were they with their work, that their industry
had to be restricted, lest they should deprive the weavrers' guilds
of their bread. Wholly self-maintained at first, they rendered
moreover essential service in the performance of works of charity.
As soon as a Béguinage became at all firmly established, there were
almost invariably added to it hospitals or asylums for the
reception, maintenance, or relief of the aged, the poor, the sick.
To this purpose were devoted the greater part of the revenues of the
sisterhood, however acquired, another portion going to the
maintenance of the common chapel. The sisters moreover received
young girls to educate; went out to nurse and console the sick, to
attend death-beds, to wash and lay out the dead; were called in to
pacify family disputes." (P. 118.).

"The Béguines had no community of goods, no common purse for
ordinary needs. Nevertheless, those among them who were wholly
destitute, or broken down with infirmities, were maintained at the
public expense, or out of the poor fund; mendicancy was never
allowed, unless in the extremely rare case of the establishment not
being able to relieve its poorest members." (P. 120.)

This is refreshing testimony to woman's powers, and were a similar _devoted principle_ now at work, many of the problems troubling earnest, thoughtful female minds might be solved. "The striking feature of her self-maintenance by labor" is a very valuable evidence, for now that machinery is called in to _help_ the race, we cannot believe that under its rightful application, Christian women could effect _less_ at the present time than they did in ancient days. A similar devotedness, a similar idea of the duty of living for God, a similar appreciation of the divine institution of industry as a means of sanctification, would produce equal or even superior effects, since intelligence is more diffused now than formerly, and mechanical assistance more within the reach of the many. {420} That which is needed is simply the spirit of _godliness_, and to him that _asketh_ this is _promised_. Shall we then longer look calmly on the evils that beset the sex, when the means are at hand to remedy them, whenever we sincerely wish for them?

Mr. Ludlow proceeds to trace the educational fellowships, the Ursulines, Angustinians, and others. He says that in the sixteenth century female orders generally devoted themselves to education, even when founded on the old Franciscan basis of manual labor. Then comes the enumeration of the charitable sisterhoods, in all their varied modes of assuaging human misery or diminishing temptation to sin; in all their efforts for succoring the poor, the sick, the infirm, and for recalling the lost sheep to the fold. The information contained in the volume renders the book valuable in spite of Mr. Ludlow's prejudices, broadly and oftentimes coarsely expressed. We dare not repeat his blasphemies relative to the adoration of the blessed eucharist, to the vow of chastity, or to other dogmas; they are introduced, as he acknowledges, to free the author from the imputation of Romanizing tendencies, to which the involuntary testimony he bears to the _right action_ of the church has subjected him. We pity him, that he did not see the force of his own evidence, that he was not led to the truth, rather than to the vilifying it. We give but _one_ instance of the manner he has adopted in order to prove himself no Romanist; it will suffice to show the want of candor which reigns throughout the book when the _Romish_ Church is touched upon. Having described, _con amore_, the institution of the Béguines as "being exempt from almost all the inconveniences of a _convent life_" (to which he appears to entertain an insuperable objection), he attributes at first their fall to the jealousy of the regular congregations. Yet after a while, the innate force of truth compels him to confess that the institution fell by its own fault. The free fellowships departed from the _spirit_ of their foundation. "In place of the self-supporting industry and active charity which at first characterized them, there crept in the opposites of these--reliance upon others' alms and indifference to good works! So complete was the change that the very term Béghard, _prayer_, surviving in our 'beggar,' has come to designate clamorous pauperism" (pp. 136, 137) He continues on another page:

"But the Béguine sisterhoods of the north were too numerous, too
useful, too much in harmony with the spirit of their age and
country, too deeply rooted in the affections of the people, to
perish before the canons of the council or a papal bull. Nor,
indeed, it was soon seen, did Rome's safety require that they should
perish. The existence of free _brotherhoods_ was, indeed,
inconsistent with that of Romanism itself; for every community of
men, not bound by rule or vows, not subject to a clerical head, must
be of necessity an asylum of free thought, such as a monastic church
with an infallible head could not, without the greatest danger,
allow. Sisterhoods, on the other hand, although equally unbound by
vow or rule, might safely be tolerated; since, through the priestly
director or confessor, generally an essential part of the
organization of any Béguinage, they could be kept in dependence,
tempted on into monachism. And thus, parallel with the current of
censure against Béghardism and Béguinism as a system, there begins
to flow another current of toleration, and even, as the danger
diminishes, approval, for those 'faithful women who, having vowed
continence, or even without having vowed it, choose honestly to do
penance in their hospitals, and serve the Lord of virtues in spirit
of humility.'"

The Béguines were finally absolved from censure by the Council of Constance, 1414 (pp. 139, 140). The mind which does not see in this account that one set of Béguines were suppressed on account of disorder and that the others were retained from the desire of promoting virtue, is singularly blinded by prejudice, notwithstanding that he walks, as he says himself (p. 139), "in the brightness of Luther's most blessed name."

The Béguines, according to our author, were eventually merged into {421} Tertiaries, or more regularly organized religious bodies, of whom he gives so interesting an account that we can but wonder and admire the more that the account comes, from such a source. There is, however, in the author's mind, a notable ignorance of the "purity of intention" enforced by the church as necessary to the sanctification of good works, and this accounts for much misconception on his part. He says that when Madame de Miramon, a young widow, began her religious life in works of active charity, "her director exhorted her to make a 'retreat' for a year, in order to devote herself to her own perfection, without exercising her charity toward her neighbor." This Mr. Ludlow styles "a trait characteristically Romish," in which we must presume he is right, for if he represents the anti-Romish party, we must say, judging by his book, there is little apprehension shown by that party that "good good works," to be acceptable, to be sanctifying to the agent, must be wrought in God, and therefore that a year spent in the repression of self-seeking, in acts of humiliation and self-abasement, might be and probably was necessary to insure that the future acts of the pious lady should be performed in that "pure intention" which would draw down upon them the fructifying blessing of divine grace. We are fain to confess that this is, as "the gentleman says, characteristically Romish;" and much we rejoice at so beautiful a characteristic of our faith.

We cannot follow Mr. Ludlow through all his accounts, which we regret the more as he gives important evidence to the fact, that in every age of the church pious women have been found to comprehend the needs of the age in which they live, and to associate with the special purpose of providing the assistance necessary. In a barbarous age, when vandalism overturned human learning, "nunneries, like monasteries for men, became schools or store houses of learning, sometimes even centres of intellectual activity. At the beginning of the sixth century, the nunnery founded by St. Cesarius at Arles contained two hundred nuns, mostly employed in copying books. Their rule bound them to learn 'human letters' for two hours a day, and to work in common, either in transcribing or in female labor" (p. 106). The convents of Tours, founded in the sixth century by Queen Radegund, and the Swabian nunnery of Gaudesheim, in the latter half of the tenth century, the glory of female monachism, were specially centres of intellectual activity. In the latter dwelt the poetess Hrotsvitha, herself not the first authoress of her convent, whose Latin plays seem to have especial attraction for Mr. Ludlow, for his panegyric is couched in these words, "Hrotsvitha, at least, was no hooded Pharisee" (pp. 119, 111).

During the Crusades and European wars, the communities of the Tertiarian hospitaller nuns, under various names, excite his admiration, though he thinks "the worship of these nuns may not be the highest and best, but it is surely genuine" (p. 142). Thanks even for that admission, Mr. Ludlow. The Béguines, of whom we have already spoken, and the educational nuns spring up at the hour of need, and for the present day "the institute of 'Rosines' of Turin presents an interesting feature." These latter have no vows, no seclusion. They are a genuine working association of women, only with a strong religious element infused in their work. They were founded by Rosa Governo, who had been a servant. There Mrs. Jameson found (see Communion of Labor) "nearly four hundred women, from fifteen years of age upwards, gathered together in an assemblage of buildings, where they carry on tailoring, embroidery, especially of military accoutrements for the army, weaving, spinning, shirt-making, lace-making, every trade, in short, in which female ingenuity is available. They have a well-kept garden, a school for the poor children of the neighborhood, an infirmary, including a ward for the aged, a capital dispensary, with a small medical library. {422} They are ruled by a superior, elected from among themselves; the work-rooms are divided into classes and groups, each under a monitress. The rules of admission and the interior regulations are strict; any inmate may leave at once, but cannot be readmitted. Finally, they are entirely self-supporting, and have a yearly income of between 70,000f. to 80,000f., that is, about from £2,800 to £3,200. No female organization is more pregnant with hope than this" (p. 181). With this we conclude our notice of Mr. Ludlow's book, although he has also accounts of some few Protestant associations, imitated and modified from the foregoing.

We cannot but rejoice at so much welcome testimony, from an outsider, to the benefits flowing from the female religious institutions of the church of Christ, and feel encouraged to believe that whatever may be the necessities of the times, bands of holy women will rise up to administer thereunto.

It is refreshing, too, as an evidence that the gratitude which woman owes to the church, she is willing to repay in self-devotedness to the _wants_ of the members of that church. No woman who has ever reflected for one brief hour on the emancipation from slavery that has been wrought for her by the ministry of the church, can fail to recognize that in the Church alone is her _real_ protection, her true safety. The pagan woman--what was she? You may see her type in the Eastern harem, the Hindoo suttee, the Indian burden-bearer. The few women of antiquity who broke their chains did so at a fearful cost. The Aspasias, the Diotemes, the Semiramises, the Zenobias, the Cleopatras--alas! a cloud obscures their greatness; and even heathenism condemns while it admires them. Respectable women were _slaves_; if not nominally so, yet slaves in intellect, slaves by inferior position, slaves through _ignorance_; slaves because their _souls_ could find no scope for exertion. And now what are the tendencies of the age? I fear we must confess that they are purely materialistic, that they point rather to the reign of physical power than that of moral force; and if so, what must woman expect save a return in some shape, modified by existing machinery, to the old idea of enslavement under another name? The laws of the church are already annulled by society in respect of marriage. The power of easy divorce exists in the Eastern states, and polygamy flourishes in Utah. These are matters calculated to make Catholic women reflect ere they march too readily with the tendencies of the age. The church, and the church only, raised the standard of woman, and that incidentally, by proclaiming that she had a _soul_ to save, and that the powers of the soul were will, memory, and understanding. Christian men were obliged to concede to her the exercise of these powers, by the same authority through which they claimed the right to exercise them for themselves. But now, the world is for the most part not Christian, and we must look well to the principles that it puts forth; its associations or co-operations, if founded on a merely selfish principle, must end in disorder. It requires the strong religious element spoken of by Mrs. Jameson as existing among the Rosines, and the "pure intention" which induced Madame de Miramon to obey her director and make the year's retreat he prescribed, in order that her future acts might be begun, continued, and ended in God, to insure that a community life or association shall produce good. That joint-stock companies may for a while flourish and contribute to the wealth of the shareholders is doubtless true; but if the wealth thus obtained is made merely to contribute to material enjoyment, it will rather injure than profit the possessor, whether that possessor be man or woman. Strong moral power is produced by exercise, by endurance, renunciation, rather than by gratification. {423} Strong intellectual power is produced by deep thought, head study, unremitting exertion, as strong physical power is produced by labor, continuous activity, hard fare, and unluxurious habits. We must not lose sight of these facts when we seek to improve the condition of either man or woman; and desirable as are associations for mutual benefit, we must not forget that if they are to be permanent, they most aim at something higher than improving in temporalities. The union of the natural law with the supernatural law should form the especial study of every thinking member of the church; and to women's associations it seems a study peculiarly desirable, as woman owes her present improved condition entirely to the effects produced by that supernatural action on her previous condition. If we might be allowed to suggest a subject of thought to such Catholic women as see the evils depicted by Misses Parkes and Davis, and wish to assist in their removal, it would be that they should meditate and study the practical bearing of the ancient associations of the church to mitigate the then existing evils, and having caught the spirit of devotedness from the many examples therein presented, should proceed to consider what form of devotedness is demanded by the present needs--and in the spirit of the church assemble to promote the needful work.

That there is much to be done, all must confess; but in what way it is to be done is not altogether so evident. Only tracing from all history "that woman's work in the church" is to see the difficulties of the times, to enter with warm sympathy into its distresses, and having purified the human tenderness with which she is gifted by casting it into the furnace of divine love, to direct that tenderness, enlightened by intellectual culture and strengthened by acetic practice, into the channels needing assistance. We can but feel confident that Catholic women will now as heretofore ponder over the position of their sex with regard to labor and intellectual culture, and that to meet its requirements such institutions will be formed as will push forward "progress" in the most approved system compatible with the solemn duties of _Catholicity_: that is, uniting the human privilege to the far higher and loftier privilege involved in being a member of the church of Christ.

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ORIGINAL.

MY TWO MITES.

"This poor widow hath cast in more than they all."

Widowed of the world, that once did me betroth.
Unto the treasury of God brought I,
In after days,
A heart and mind--my all--two mites in worth,
And cast them in. What wealth, if they should buy
Such priceless praise!

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{424}

MISCELLANY.

_A most Important Discovery in Photography_.--That photographic productions cannot be relied upon as permanent appears a fact only too well established. The public have been convinced of it by seeing folios of choice productions and scores of treasured portraits pass gradually into "the sere and yellow leaf" of their age, and finally disappear. A few years, more or less, generally works the change. Photographers, too, have lost all faith in the absolute permanence of their productions, and have long been looking for this desirable quality in some ideal process for which their experimentalists were industriously striving and working, and for which they were most anxiously looking, rather than to any modification of the old silver process, which they have now wrought up to such a pitch of perfection. This fading has been pretty clearly shown to be, at least mainly, due to the action of the hyposulphites. The print lasts a longer or shorter time in proportion to the degrees in which the fixing agent--hyposulphite of soda--has been removed from the paper; but the slightest trace of it will assuredly bring about the destruction of the photograph. The only chance of absolute permanence appears to be in its complete elimination, although even then there are other elements of evil which may be suspiciously regarded. We have hitherto relied for this purpose upon the mechanical action of water, and some able men have run counter to the general experience by affirming that absolute permanence could be obtained by proper and sufficient washing. Mr. Carey Lea, for instance, asserted, about a year since, that he had tested properly-washed prints with a very delicate and certain test for the hyposulphites without discovering their trace, and in prints which he considered had been properly washed. This test was that of placing a few drops of an alcoholic solution of iodine in several ounces of water, and applying the same with a camel's-hair brush to photographs on starch-sized paper. The presence of the starch, if freed from the hyposulphite by sufficient washing, was indicated by a violet or purple stain where the solution was applied; but in prints not thus washed the presence of hyposulphite was indicated by the absence of such stain, which could be at once removed from the well-washed print by plunging it into a solution of hyposulphite. On the other and, Mr. Dawson, of King's College, in a recent number of The British Journal of Photography denies the power of more washing to give permanence, "unless the prints have been soaked for some time in hot water so as to remove _all_ the size--even then, supposing the paper non-albumenized, the elimination of the whole of the hyposulphite is problematical." He adds--"Some photographers, we are aware, do treat their prints with a final wash in hot water; but this, of course, although unquestionably conducive to the permanence of the proof, does not remove the whole of the size in which the hyposulphite is locked up; and if it did, the paper would be as little cohesive as blotting-paper, and prints would lose much in vigor and brilliancy. In the case of prints on albumen, or albumenized paper, hot water, we may reasonably suppose, has no more powerful effect in removing hyposulphite from albumen than cold water, if, indeed it has so much; and it can only be by acting on the texture of the paper itself, and removing the size therefrom, that it can exercise a beneficial influence at all." To demonstrate the truthfulness of his ideas on this subject, some prints which had been washed in cold running water, and with the utmost care and attention, for over twenty hours--and the final drippings from which, when subjected to the tincture of iodine test, displayed no trace of the hyposulphite--were experimented with, and still gave up to boiling water, in which they were steeped, at least one-fortieth part of a grain of the destructive element to the half sheet of paper, clearly showing that the cold water had not really removed it all, although it had eliminated all that it could reach or had influence over. Now whether Mr. Dawson and his supporters or Mr. Lea and his supporters be right, {425} whether photographs fade so universally because they are rarely or never sufficiently washed after the process of fixing, or because it is impossible to remove all trace of the hyposulphites from the paper by washing, it is certain that they do fade, and few dispute the final cause of such a fading. Therefore, a discovery which destroys these mischievous agents altogether cannot but be regarded as most important, and such a discovery is our pleasing duty to announce as having been recently published by Dr. Angus Smith, F.R.S., in the pages of The British Journal of Photography, from which we quote: "Considering that the cause of the destruction of photographs, apparently by the action of time only, was in reality caused by the amount of hyposulphite remaining in the paper, D. Reissig, of Darmstadt, contrived a mode of washing it out by centrifugal force. For indicating the presence of sulphur assets, he used a small galvanic arrangement with one cell, and decomposing the acid, had the sulphur thrown on a piece of polished silver, which became readily blackened in the solution. Dr. Theodore Reissig, my assistant, examined several faded photographs for me by his brother's method, which, however, appeared unnecessarily delicate, as it was found the amount of sulphur was very large, and roughly, we thought, in proportion to the amount of decay. I did not determine how much was hyposulphite and how much sulphate. As I had been interesting myself in bringing into use some of the remarkable properties of peroxide of hydrogen in oxidizing metals and organic bodies in fluids, it seemed to me that we might readily use it for oxidizing the hyposulphites. I am supposing that the sulphate alone will not be injurious." Dr. Smith then shows how this powerful, oxidizing agent may be used to convert the mischievous hyposulphites into the innocuous sulphate, and Mr. Dawson, in the same number of the journal, gives the following experimental illustration: "Dissolve in a wineglass any quantity of sulphate of soda, and add to the solution a few drops of tincture of iodine. The solution will remain permanently discolored, showing that sulphate of soda does not dissolve iodine. In another wine-glass, half filled with plain water, drop sufficient tincture of iodine to strike a permanent dark sherry color throughout the liquid; then add, drop by drop, a weak solution of hyposulphite of soda till the color is discharged, taking care to add as little excess of hyposulphite as possible. So far this experiment shows that iodine is soluble in hyposulphite of soda. Now, fill up the glass with an aqueous solution of peroxide of hydrogen, and observe the effects. After a few minutes the iodine is no longer held in solution, and the liquid will resume the dark sherry color it had before adding the hyposulphite of soda." Every chemist will readily explain this. To apply this new chemical agent to this new use, take the print, after fixing and washing, and soak it for a short time in a solution of the peroxide of hydrogen of the strength of say one ounce of a ten-volume solution in forty ounces of water.--_Popular Science Review_.

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ORIGINAL.

NEW PUBLICATIONS

PASTORAL LETTER OF THE SECOND PLENARY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE. The Archbishops and Bishops of the United States, in Plenary Council Assembled, to the Clergy and Laity of their charge. Baltimore: John Murphy & Co. 8vo pamphlet. For sale by L. Kehoe, New York.

This is the first official utterance of the Archbishops and Bishops of the United States in Plenary Council assembled, to the clergy and laity of their charge. As such it will be listened to with an attention due to the importance of the subjects on which it speaks, and to the character and motives of the august assembly from which it proceeds. It is the warning voice of the shepherds of the people, raised after long and matured deliberation to remind the flock of its duties, pointing out the dangers which threaten, the quarters from which they spring, and the means by which they are to be avoided. It is the herald of that full legislation which in a few months will be promulgated for the Catholics of the United States. The outlines of that {426} legislation are traced with rapid pen in this document; the details, which have been already filled in, will, after having received the approval of Rome, be presented to the public stamped with the seal of the Fisherman. The great object of this Pastoral Address is to impress upon the minds and hearts of Catholics those cardinal principles and duties of cheerful obedience to the divinely constituted authority of the "bishops placed to rule the Church of God;" in order that when the decrees of the Council are published, all--bishops, priests, and the laity--may co-operate in heart and hand in giving them practical effect. _All_ are members of the same mystical body of Christ, the Church; and therefore _all_ should in their respective positions and functions unite in harmonious action for the well-being of the whole, according to the order established by the divine head and founder. "For there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord; and diversities of operations, but the same God, who worketh in all; and hath set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him" (Cor. xii. 1).

Such being the object of the Pastoral Letter, it very naturally commences (Sec. I.) with the "Authority of Plenary Councils;" and (Sec. II.) with "Ecclesiastical Authority" in its general relations, and with the correlative obedience thereto binding on the Christian conscience. As human policy and human action have, even in secular matters, their religious as well as their civil aspects, the principles are laid down which mark out the boundary line between the civil and ecclesiastical powers (Sec III.); a boundary line which notwithstanding the experience and lessons of past centuries, is often obliterated or lost sight of. After having, in brief and emphatic language, called attention to these general truths relating to authority and consequent obedience founded on the natural and divine laws, the episcopal legislators devote several sections to the more prominent questions and wants which affect the Catholic Church in the United States. Sec. IV. calls attention to the afflicted condition of the Pope and to the obligation incumbent on his spiritual subjects, for whom he daily prays and works, of relieving him. Sec. V. to the "Sacrament of Matrimony," that great and sacred link by which society is in its nearest and dearest associations held together, but which is so much exposed to be severed, if not wholly destroyed, in our days. Sec VI. to the press, that giant engine for good or for evil, wielded, alas! with such fatal efficacy against the faith and morals of the "little ones and the weak ones" of the fold, and yet which, properly directed might be made the instrument most powerful for truth and for good. Sec. VII. deals with the "education" of youth, on which indeed the future of society and religion depends. Sec. VIII. with the subject of '"Catholic Protectories and Industrial Schools." Sec IX. with the necessity of cultivating "vocations" in the ministry. Secs. X. and XI. are addressed, respectively, to the "Laity" and the "Clergy." Sec XII. points to the condition of the emancipated slaves, and to the means to be used by the Church in ameliorating it. Sec XIII. glances at those most favored spots in the bosom of the Church, where the sun shines most brightly, and the fairest lilies spring to be woven as a garland in her triumphant crown--to "Religious Communities." The "conclusion" epitomizes the whole by saying:

"We have taken advantage of the opportunity of the assembling of so
large a number of bishops from every part of our vast country, to
enact such decrees as will tend to promote uniformity of discipline
and practice among us, and to do away with such imperfect observance
of the rites and approved ceremonies of the church as may have been
made necessary by the circumstances of past times, but which no
length of prescription can ever consecrate, and thus to give the
services of our religion that beauty and dignity which belong to
them, and for which we should all be so zealous.

"For the furtherance of these important objects, we have caused to
be drawn up a clear and compendious series of statements upon the
most essential points of faith and morals, with which we have
embodied the decrees of the seven Provincial Councils of Baltimore,
and of the first Plenary Council, together with the decrees enacted
by us in the present Council, which, when they have been examined
and approved of by the Holy See, will form a compendium of
ecclesiastical law for the guidance of our clergy in the exercise of
their holy ministry.

"The result of our labors, when thus returned to us, will be
promulgated more fully in our Provincial Councils and Diocesan
Synods and we will then take advantage of the opportunity to bring
more fully under the notice of the clergy, and the people committed
to our pastoral charge, the details of what we have done, and the
exact nature of the means {427} by which we hope to give increased
efficiency to the whole practical system of the church in this
country.

"We have also recommended to the Holy See the erection of several
additional episcopal sees and vicariates apostolic, which are made
necessary by our rapidly increasing Catholic population and the
great territorial extent of many of our present dioceses."

It does not become us to review, but only two direct attention to this most remarkable and important document. Abstracting from the authority of those from whom it emanates, and viewed merely as the pronouncement of so many men distinguished for learning, experience, and piety, it will be read with respectful consideration by the educated portion of our community, whether Catholic or Protestant. On the former, however, it has a higher and holier claim--as the legislative exponent of those appointed to keep garrison on the watch-towers of Israel, to give timely warning of danger, from whatever part of the horizon it approaches, to lead and guide them in their journey through this earthly desert to the promised land of heaven. In some of the plenary councils (for instance, of Africa about the time of St. Cyprian or of St. Augustine, or of Asia before that of St. John Chrysostom) a greater number of bishops were assembled. In plenary councils, too, weightier matters may have come under consideration; as, for example, doctrinal questions at the Council of Orange, not, however, to be finally settled without the after-sanction all the Infallible Church. But never, we may venture to say, has any provincial council in other parts of the church been called to legislate for so vast a territory, more on questions of discipline and practice affecting the present and future prospects of a population so widespread and so varied in its origin, its habits, and its pursuits. Some of the bishops traveled by sea and land over thousands of miles, and were heard to facetiously say that "as they had come so far it were a little thing to step across and see the Pope at Rome." They were all, as we said, picked men, "chosen among hundreds" of learned and pious priests; actuated solely by the motive of doing the best their collective prudence suggested for their people. Hence their opinions on questions with which they were all practically acquainted in their respective dioceses, merit to be heard by all classes with the deepest respect. Doctrinal matters were not discussed at Baltimore; these are reserved for the supreme authority of general councils and of the Holy See. But practical remedies are suggested for social and moral evils in a quiet, calm, and steady tone, which sounds upon the ears of Catholics like the voice of the Holy Spirit, and wakens in the hearts of the well-minded children of the church an echo such as we may imagine the gentle voice of the divine Master to have awakened in those who listened to his sermon on the mount. The council does not confine itself to the enunciation of general principles, but enters into minute, practical details on each subject. Had we space we would wish to quote much; but we confine ourselves to what it says on the section on the press:

"We cheerfully acknowledge the services the Catholic press has
rendered to religion, as also the disinterestedness with which, in
most instances, it has been conducted, although yielding to
publishers and editors a very insufficient return for their labors.
We exhort the Catholic community to extend to these publications a
more liberal support, in order that they may be enabled to become
more worthy the great cause they advocate.

"We remind them that the power of the press is one of the most
striking features of modern society; and that it is our duty to
avail ourselves of this mode of making known the truths of our
religion, and removing the misapprehensions which so generally
prevail in regard to them.

"In connection with this matter we earnestly recommend to the
faithful of our charge the Catholic Publication Society, lately
established in the city of New York by a zealous and devoted
clergyman. Besides the issuing of short tracts, with which this
society has begun, and which may be so usefully employed to arrest
the attention of many whom neither inclination nor leisure will
allow to read larger works, this society contemplates the
publication of Catholic books, according as circumstances may permit
and the interests of religion appear to require. From the judgment
and good taste evinced in the composition and selection of such
tracts and books as have already been issued by this society, we are
encouraged to hope that it will be eminently effective in making
known the truths of our holy religion, and dispelling the prejudices
which are mainly owing to want of information on the part of so many
of our fellow-citizens. For this it is necessary that a generous
co-operation be given, both by clergy and laity, to the undertakings
which is second to none in importance among the {428} subsidiary
aids which the inventions of modern times supply to our ministry for
the diffusion of Catholic truth."

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CURIOUS QUESTIONS. By Rev. Henry A. Brann, D.D. 1 vol. 12mo, pp. 272. Newark, N. J.: J. J. O'Connor & Co., 59 and 61 New street. 1866.

This attractive-looking, well-printed volume reflects great credit on the enterprise and taste of the publishers, who, we hope, will be rewarded and encouraged by an extensive sale. We may remark, by the way, that some of our publishers would do well to imitate the Messrs. O'Connor in their style of binding and lettering, which is neat and tasteful but perfectly plain. The flashy style of late adopted in some cases is in most wretched taste, especially when the book treats of grave and serious topics; and it is especially displeasing to all scholars. The only fault in the mechanical execution of the book before us is, that the margin of the page is somewhat too large.

The book itself treats of much more weighty and important topics than the title would suggest. It is an analysis and resume of some of the principal topics treated of in our philosophical text-books. The author has studied attentively and with understanding, and has presented us with an abstract of his studies, expressed in a clear, terse, and methodical style. There are, nevertheless, occasional infelicities of diction, which could easily be corrected, and which are pardonable in a young and unpractised author. The use of the word "conscience" for consciousness appears to us decidedly objectionable, and likely to mislead the English reader not familiar with the Latin word "conscientia," of which it is too verbal a translation. Such an expression as "secundum quid beings" is awkward and quite unnecessary. The same word sometimes recurs too frequently for euphony, and some sentences are carelessly constructed or unfinished. These faults are, however, comparatively slight and infrequent, and do not enter into the texture of the style and diction itself, which is of good and serviceable fabric.

The author follows the school of Plato, St. Augustine, Gerdil, Leibnitz, Gioberti, and the modern ontologists, taking the Abbé Branchereau as his more immediate guide. The general principles and drift of the system of philosophy contained in the prelections of the last-named author we regard as sounds, and we are therefore well pleased to see this system in part reproduced by one who has mastered it, and has also illustrated it from his studies in other authors. There is a certain confusion and incompleteness, however, in the statements and explanations of M. Branchereau upon one or two important points, and the same reappears in the work before us. One of these points relates to the activity of the intellect in its intuition of being. M. Branchereau does not speak distinctly upon the point, but Dr. Brann expresses the opinion that the intellect is active, in contradiction to Gioberti. If by this is meant that the intellect has an active power to originate the intuition of infinite, eternal, necessary being, we apprehend that consequences might be deduced from this statement not in accordance with the Catholic doctrine. Another point relates to the universals, or genera and species. On this point the language both of M. Branchereau and of our author seems not to be sufficiently precise and accurate to guard against the appearance of maintaining the untenable proposition that genera and species are contained in God.

There is one more point of very great importance, where our author has either misapprehended the doctrine of the great writers of whose system he is the expositor, or has intentionally deviated from it, and, as we think, without due consideration. He maintains (p. 255) that material substance is radically spiritual and intelligent. Leibnitz, who is followed by a great number of the ablest philosophers of our day, taught that the ultimate components of matter are simple and indivisible, and so far similar in essence to spiritual substances. Branchereau has very ably sustained this doctrine in his philosophy, and we regard this portion of his treatise as one of the most valuable of his contributions to science. He draws the line, however, in common with all other Catholic writers with whom we are acquainted, sharply and distinctly between material and spiritual substances, as, we think, sound philosophy requires. The theory of our author opens the way to the Darwinian theory of the evolution of all the {429} entities of the universe from identical ultimate elements. We think he would have shown more judgment by abstaining from the expression of an immature speculation of his own on such an extremely difficult and abstruse question. A little less of positive assertion, and a little more diffidence of manner, and deference toward others, throughout the whole volume, would be more graceful in an author just at the outset of his career; especially as he is treating of those profound and momentous questions which task and often baffle the mightiest and most veteran leaders in the intellectual warfare.

Having finished the ungracious part of our critical task, we take pleasure in giving our judgment, that the design of the author in the work before us is one that is praiseworthy, and the manner of its execution such as to make it really valuable to the class of readers he has in view. It is worthy of their attentive perusal, and could not fail to benefit them if they would read and consider it with care. It is an exposition of principles and doctrines in philosophy far deeper, sounder, and more satisfactory to the intellect than is usually found in the English language; and makes accessible to those who are unacquainted with our best Catholic authors a portion of that treasure of thought which is locked up in them out of the reach of the majority of even educated men. We should like to have this book read by our students and literary men generally, and even by our professors of metaphysics in the colleges of the United States. It presents the outlines of a system far superior to that jejune psychologism of the Scottish school which is usually talked, and ought to be welcome to those who are in search of something more solid. It will also be valuable to students of philosophy in our own colleges as a companion to their text-books, as well as to English readers generally who have taste and capacity for relishing on philosophical subjects. We wish it success and a large circulation, and we trust the author will continue his contributions to literature and science.

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THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE By Nathaniel Holmes. 1 vol. 12mo, pp. 601. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1866.

Mr. Holmes attempts, in this finely printed volume from the Riverside Press, to prove that the works of Shakespeare are not Shakespeare's, but Francis Bacon's. His argument is: Shakespeare did not write them because he could not; Francis Bacon, my lord Verulam, did write them because he could. To which it may be replied: Shakespeare could write them, because he did; Bacon did not, because he could not. That Bacon could not, is evident from the character of the man and what we know of his acknowledged writings; that Shakespeare did is the uniform tradition from their first appearance down to the present, and must be presumed until the contrary appears.

Mr. Holmes has proved, what all competent judges have always held, that the author of the works received as Shakespeare's must have had more learning and greater scientific and linguistic attainments than his biographers supposed Shakespeare to have had, but has not proved that he must have had more than Shakespeare might have had. Few persons capable of appreciating the wonderful productions attributed to Shakespeare can doubt that he was up to the scientific lore of his age; knew enough of Latin, Greek, French, Italian, and perhaps Spanish, to read and understand works written in those languages; had some general knowledge of medicine; was familiar with many of the technicalities of English law; was a profound philosopher, with more than an ordinary knowledge of Christian theology and morals. But who can say that Shakespeare might not have had all the learning and science here supposed?

We in reality know next to nothing of the facts of Shakespeare's life. We know the place and date of his birth and death, the age at which he was withdrawn from the grammar-school, and of his marriage; we know that he was in London about the age of thirty, where he chiefly resided till within two or three years of his death, as an actor, play-wright, manager, and a large stockholder in a London theatre. These, and some few business transactions and his retirement, after having accumulated a handsome property, to his native place, where his family appear to have resided, constitute nearly all that we know of William Shakespeare outside of his works; and in these facts there is nothing that proves it impossible or even difficult, {430} with the genius, ability, and quickness the author of Shakespeare's works must have had, for him to acquire all the learning and science those works indicate in their author.

Ben Jonson says Shakespeare had "little Latin and less Greek," but Jonson was a pedant, and his assertion meant simply no more than that he was not profoundly or critically learned either as a Greek or Latin scholar; and there is no necessity of supposing that he was. Latin and Greek were taught in the grammar-schools of his time, and as it is said he was fourteen when called home from school, it is no violent supposition to suppose that he learned enough while at school to read and understand Latin and Greek books, at least sufficiently for his purposes as a poet. We know not how or where he spent the sixteen years between leaving school, or the twelve years between his marriage and his appearance in London, but he might, for aught we know, have easily acquired during those years all the learning and knowledge of modern languages indicated by his earliest plays. It could not take a man of his genius and ability many weeks' study to master as much of law and medicine as his works indicate; and as to his theology and metaphysics, we must remember that he lived before Bacon, Hobbes, and Locke had enfeebled theology and philosophy in the English mind, and obliterated from the memory of Englishmen all traces of Catholic tradition. Shakespeare, if not a Catholic himself, had been trained to a greater or less extent in Catholic principles, and he rarely, if ever, deviates in his philosophy, his theology, or theoretic morals from Catholic tradition, still in his time retained to a great extent in spite of Protestantism by the main body of the English people.

Bearing in mind that Shakespeare wrote his plays for the stage, to be acted, and that he used without scruple any materials from whatever quarter gathered that he could lay his hands on, there is nothing wonderful in their production, except the unrivalled genius of their author. There are many self-educated men, even in our own country, who in the learning and science acquired from the study of books equal Shakespeare, but in that which comes from within no one self-educated or university-educated has ever equalled him; and not unlikely the fact that his genius had never been cramped by the pedantic rules of the university, nor his time frittered away in learning minutiae that never come into play in practical life, and which the student forgets as soon as he goes forth into the world, was in his case are great advantage--at least no disadvantage.