Chapter II: The Weather-cross (5)

A new era in literature and art was about to dawn; its first bright rays were for Italy, that "land of taste and sensibility." With a pontiff who could say, "I have always loved accomplished scholars and _belles-lettres_; this love was born with me, and age has but increased it; for literature is the ornament and glory of the church; and I have always remarked that it knits its cultivators more firmly to the dogmas of our faith;" with such a pontiff, the intellectual movement that then pervaded Italian society was nobly sustained and enlivened, until at last the golden age again reappeared on earth. All sorts of encouragements, such as honorary employments, lucrative offices, pecuniary gratuities, and even ecclesiastical preferments, were lavished upon talent and genius. Every latent energy luxuriantly budded forth and blossomed in the genial sunshine of such munificence.

The academies of literary men philosophized on the banks of the Tiber or in the cool recesses of a fragrant villa. The lovers of the arts, the votaries of the muses, and the cultivators of polite literature sat side by side at the sumptuous banquets frequently given in the Vatican. At these grand entertainments all topics were convivially canvassed, and fancy soared aloft to delight the guests by her sublime improvisations. Popular favorites, like the poet of Arezzo and the "celestial" Accolte, read their productions in public halls to admiring multitudes; while the best scholars of the age, yielding to the invitation of Leo, filled the professorships of the great universities. Italy was then, in the beautiful words of Audin, "the promised land of the intellect;" [Footnote 174] and Rome the centre of learning and the nursery of great men. No wonder, then, that the snow-capped Alps presented but a feeble barrier to the transalpine scholar, and that every day some new Hannibal descended their craggy flanks and pushed forward to the seven-hilled city, to pay a courteous visit to the accomplished pontiff, and gratify a long-entertained desire of conversing with the celebrities of the age. The whole world thus recognized that

"The fount at which the panting mind assuages
Her thirst of knowledge, quaffing there her fill,
Flows from th' eternal source of Rome's imperial hill." [Footnote 175]

[Footnote 174: _Vie de Luther_, vol. i. p. 179.]

[Footnote 175: Byron, _Childe Harold_, Canto III.]

Since the days of Petrarch, the Italian muse had all but hushed her lovely strains; her lyre was silent and unstrung. Politiano came, swept its music-breathing chords, and sent its sweet notes on the wings of the zephyrs throughout the Italian peninsula. All listened with rapture to the enchanting strains of the Tuscan siren, and, after a moment of hesitation, prepared their pens to write on every theme and to illustrate every department of science and letters. The classic models of heroic poetry, fresh from the Aldine presses or half consumed by the dust of ages, were taken down from their shelves and studied with passionate ardor. The children of song were delighted with the epic muse, and were now hard at work at their great poems. {703} Mozarello elaborates his _Porsenna_; Querno, the archpoet, cadences the twenty thousand verses of his _Alexias_; Vida, like Horace of old, draws up the rules of the metrical art, and sings his _Christiad_ in verses of Augustan purity and elegance; Ariosto, the Homer of Ferrara, condenses into his _Orlando Furioso_ a vein of poetry so remarkable for its grace and energy as to leave it doubtful whether the palm of superiority should be awarded to him, or to the author of the _Jerusalem Delivered_. [Footnote 176] The terrible eventualities of tragedy and the more pleasing casualties of comedy were brought upon the stage by Trissino, Ruccellai, and Bibbiena; the protean burlesque assumed its most humorous forms under Berni's magic pen, and the shafts of satire were keenly pointed by Aretino, whose virulent epigrams drew upon him such an amount of physical retaliation that a contemporary writer calls him "the loadstone of clubs and daggers." [Footnote 177]

[Footnote 176: Laharpe. _Cours de Littérature_, vol. i.
p. 435.]

[Footnote 177: See Addison, _Spectator_, No. 23.]

Guicciardini wrote the history of his country with the elegant diction of the great historians of Rome; Giovio's periods were so flowing as to make Leo X. declare that next to Livy he had not met with a more eloquent writer. The _Prince_ of Macchiavelli enjoys a world-wide reputation, and his _History of Florence_ is so remarkable for the beauty of its style, that it is said to have had more influence on Italian prose than any other work, except the _Decameron_ of Boccaccio. Besides these reigning stars, there was a host of other literary celebrities who shed a brilliant lustre on Leo's golden reign. There was Fracastoro, who, at the early age of nineteen, had won the highest academic degree of the Paduan university, and was nominated to the professorship of logic; Navagero, whose aversion to an affected taste was so intense that he annually consigned to the flames a copy of Martial; Aleandro, who was only twenty-four when the celebrated Manuzio dedicated to him his edition of the _Iliad_, alleging as a reason for conferring this honor on a person so young, that his acquirements were beyond those of any other person with whom he was acquainted, and it is well known that the Venetian typographer was the friend and correspondent of almost all the literary characters of the day; Augurelli, whom a contemporary historian calls the most learned and elegant preceptor of his time; Castiglione, who was called by Charles V. the most accomplished gentleman of the age; Leonardo da Vinci, who, long before the philosopher of Verulam, proclaimed experiment the base of the physical sciences, and, before the astronomer of Thorne, taught the annual motion of the earth; and Calcagnini, who wrote an elaborate work to defend this startling thesis. The correction of the calendar was investigated by Dulciati, and even hieroglyphics found an expounder in the encyclopedic Valeriaro, who wrote no less than fifty-eight books on that abstruse subject. Literature, indeed, was a universal hobby; it was the royal road to distinction in an age when the love of the well-turned period and the mellifluous sonnet was epidemic. The lady cultivators of polite letters were numerous, and not only accomplished proficients but formidable rivals. The sonnets of Veronica Gambara rank among the best; Vittoria Colonna, in lively description and genuine poetry, excelled all her contemporaries with the sole exception of the inimitable Ariosto; and Laura Battifera is represented as the rival of Sappho.

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Notwithstanding this general enthusiasm for the amenities of literature, great attention was bestowed upon the more arid study of languages. Already the Latin muse had come to dwell again beneath the beautiful sky of Ausonia; and the humanists, fleeing from the savage fury of the triumphant Ottomans, sang, in the gardens of Florence and on the banks of the Tiber, the fall of Troy and the adventures of Ulysses. Leo X. was not only a Latin scholar, he was also a refined hellenist. Moreover, he knew what vast treasures of patristic lore are contained in the Greek fathers, and hence, as a lover of sacred and profane literature, he lavished his treasures on the revival of that beautiful tongue. A little colony, fresh from the Morea, was installed in a magnificent mansion on the Esquilian hill, and a Greek seminary was opened to impart to the Italians the true pronunciation and the very genius of the Homeric idiom. The famous Lascaris, at the invitation of Leo X., relinquished his position at the French court, in order to direct the studies of his young countrymen and superintend the editions of the Greek classics that were issued from the Roman press. The Hebrew was taught at Rome by Guidacerio, who published a grammar of that language and dedicated it to Leo X.; the Syriac and Chaldaic were taught at Bologna by Ambrozio, a regular canon of the Lateran, who at fifteen could converse in Greek and Latin with as much ease and fluency as any of his contemporaries, and who subsequently mastered eighteen languages. A useful and authentic lexicon was first given to the learned world by Varino. A new Latin version of the Bible from the Hebrew having been announced by Pagnini, Leo X. requested an interview with the author, and was so well pleased with his competency as well as with the elegance and accuracy of the work, that he defrayed all the expenses of transcription and publication. Erasmus, who corresponded with Leo, and, more than any one else, knew his great desire to promote biblical studies, inscribed to him his _New Testament_ in Greek and Latin with corrections and annotations. Giustiniani commenced, in 1516, a new edition of the Bible in Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, and Chaldaic. If to this we add that the famous Cardinal Ximenes dedicated to Leo X. his herculean work, the Complutensian Polyglot, we shall have some idea of the efforts made in the beginning of the sixteenth century toward the promotion of scriptural and philological studies. [Footnote 178]

[Footnote 178: It may here be remarked, in passing, that,
before the Reformation, the Bible was translated into not
only the classic and oriental languages, but also the
vernacular of every nation of Europe. For particulars, see
Cantu, _Histoire Universelle_, vol. xv. p. 12.]

It has been said that a genuine love of literature invariably evinces its existence by an insatiable thirst for books, "those souls of ages past." This love Leo X. possessed to an eminent degree; he was a second Nicholas V. At his request and under his patronage, sterling bibliophiles set out from Rome to overrun the world in quest of manuscripts. The monasteries of Britain and Germany and the ruins of the Byzantine libraries were diligently searched; ample pecuniary remuneration was everywhere offered for unpublished works; and as kings and princes encouraged this hunt after books, it may easily be fancied that volumes teemed in from every quarter. The Vatican was made the recipient of these literary treasures; and, thanks to the zeal of the popes, it now possesses the most valuable collection of manuscripts in the world.

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Leo X. was not only a man of letters, he was also well versed in antiquities. Prior to his elevation to the pontificate, his greatest delight was to shut himself up in his library or museum, and there pore over his hoarded treasures. This antiquarian taste he inherited from his illustrious ancestors, whose collections were famous throughout all Italy. One day, while he was yet a cardinal, a statue of Lucretia was exhumed; his joy was supreme, and in the heat of his enthusiasm, he strung his lyre and commemorated the happy event in beautiful iambics. On another occasion, a piece of sculpture, representing the ship of AEsculapius, was, owing to his exertions, discovered in the Tiber. This was considered by his omen-liking friends as an augury of his future dignity. The discovery of the famous group known as the Laocoön was an epoch in Rome. That evening, the bells were rung to announce the event; the poets, among whom was Sadoleti, lucubrated all night, preparing their hymns, sonnets, and canzoni, to welcome the reappearance of the masterpiece. Next morning, all Rome was on foot, and the public works were suspended while the antique statue, festooned with flowers and verdure, was carried processionally to the capitol, amidst the sound of vocal and instrumental harmony. Such was the joy of the Roman artists on the discovery of a relic of ancient art.

The twin arts painting and sculpture shared largely in the munificence of the pontiff. Bramarte, Michael Angelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, the princes of modern art, were the worthy emulators of Phidias and Apelles. In immortalizing their names and that of their patron, they immortalized their age and their country. At their call, genius again returned to earth, and exhibited, in the chiselled marble and on the glowing canvas, such animated representations as filled the eye with wonder and stirred the deep foundations of the heart. Bramarte planned and commenced St. Peter's, which, in the estimation of the sceptic Gibbon, is the most glorious structure that has ever been applied to religion; for

"Majesty,
Power, glory, strength, and beauty, all are aisled
In the eternal ark of worship undefiled."

Michael Angelo, whose very fragments have educated eminent artists, continuing the noble structure, placed the pride of Roman architecture in the clouds, and drew the design of the Last Judgment, which connoisseurs pronounce a miracle of genius. Raphael covered the Vatican with his inimitable frescoes and sketched his Transfiguration, which was hailed by the Roman people as the type of the beautiful, a paragon of art, and the masterpiece of painting. The profound Da Vinci painted the Last Supper and thus afforded Christian families a neat ornament for their refectories and a piece of artistic finish for their drawing-rooms. Sansovino's productions, according to the historian of the arts, were among the finest specimens of the plastic art, and Romano's were worthy of his "divine" master.

Such was the flourishing state of the arts and the great impulse given to all branches of learning just before the memorable epoch when the fetters of the human intellect were, forsooth, burst asunder by the great Saxon hero, the unfrocked monk of Wittemberg, against whom Leo X. hurled the bolt of excommunication. If this grand impetus was not followed up, if the pen was forgotten for the sword, and the altars of Apollo were deserted for those of the homicide Mars; if the era of the reformation "was truly a barbarous era," [Footnote 179] it most certainly was not owing to incapacity on the part of the Roman pontiffs, since sectarians themselves proclaim them "in general superior to the age in which they lived," [Footnote 180] while historians of the depth of Neander are struck with admiration to find the popes "ever attentive to the moral and religious wants of their people;" [Footnote 181] but it must be attributed to the immediate effects of the so-called Reformation, that spirit of blind fanaticism which was equalled only by the wholesale brigandage and all-destroying vandalism of the sainted evangelicals.

[Footnote 179: Schlegel, _Philosophy of History_.]

[Footnote 180: Roscoe, _Life and Pontificate of Leo X_.]

[Footnote 181: Neander, _General History of the Christian
Religion and Church_.]

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A kind dispensation of Providence it was, that saved Leo X. the sight of the harrowing scenes that Europe then presented. He had already occupied the throne of St. Peter eight years, eight months, and nineteen days, during all which time he had faithfully guarded the interests of the church against royal encroachments, and the liberty of his dominions against foreign aggression; he had presided over the last seven sessions of the oecumenical council of Lateran, and conferred on an English monarch the title of _Defensor fidei;_ and now, in the forty-seventh year of his age, cruel death takes him from the affection of his subjects, the love of his cardinals, and the veneration of men of letters. Sad was the day when it was told that Leo X. was no more. Artists and humanists dropped a tear for their friend and benefactor; the sculptor and the painter commemorated their deceased Maecenas in the virgin marble and on the glowing canvas, while the historian wrote the annals of his reign and the poet embalmed his memory in immortal verse. Rome erected his monument, and posterity, admiring the virtues of the Christian, reverencing the eminent qualities of the pontiff, and idolizing the protector of letters and art, has called the age in which he lived the golden age of Leo the Tenth.

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Translated From The Spanish.

Little Flowers Of Spain.

By Fernan Caballero.

"Humble flowers of religious poetry, and derivations of popular
expressions and proverbs," is the title given by the authoress
to the article headed "Cosas (humildes) de España"
--_Humble Things of Spain_.

If there exists an individual who has read all that we have written--and the case, though not probable, is nevertheless not impossible--he must have noticed that our zeal, our labor, and our specialty is to find out origins and causes, draw inferences and conclusions, and trace things to their why and wherefore. We are really apprehensive lest in this branch we may become too notable.

Our system is the same that is followed nowadays by writers of history. Let it be understood that we do not meddle with such weighty subjects, nor venture into profound depths, and that our employment of the aforesaid modern system is solely in questions of the humble schools. Our information is all obtained from popular traditions, romances, and beliefs. The data which it is our delight to place in relief, all the world has handled as the Indians did gold before their conquerors gave it value; as future generations will give value to the things of which we treat when they lament their loss.

{707}

Our explorations in these rich mines have been rewarded. We have ascertained that the first tree that God planted was the white poplar; therefore the white poplar is the most ancient of trees--the vegetable Adam. We have learned that the serpent went straight, erect, and proud of his triumph in Paradise, until the flight into Egypt, when, encountering the Holy Family, he attempted to bite the child Jesus, and the indignant St. Joseph prevented him with these words, "Fall, proud one, and never rise again!" From that good day to this he has crawled. We have learned, moreover, that snakes and toads are permitted to exist solely for the purpose of absorbing the poisons of the earth. We have found out that the evergreen trees are endowed with their privileges of life and beauty in recompense for having given shelter and shade to the Mother and Child whenever they stopped to rest in their flight from the sword of Herod; that the rosemary enjoys its fragrance and always blossoms on Friday, the day of Our Lord's Passion, because the Blessed Virgin, when she washed the little garments of the babe, used to hang them to dry upon its branches; also, that for this very reason it has the gift of attracting peace and good-hap to the dwellings that are perfumed with it on Holy-night. That everybody has sympathy, affection, and even reverence for the swallows, because compassionately and with such sweet charity they pulled out the thorns that were piercing the temples of the divine Martyr. That the red-owl, which, grieved and appalled, witnessed the cruel crucifixion of the God-man, has done nothing ever since but repeat the melancholy cry "Cruz! Cruz!" That the rose of Jericho, which was white before, owes its purple hue to a drop of the wounded Saviour's blood that fell into its cup. That on Mount Calvary, and all along the way of agony, the gentle plants and fresh herbs wilted and died when our Lord passed by bearing his cross, and that these places were presently covered with briers. That the lightning loses its power to hurt in the whole circumference that is reached by the sound of praying. That at High Mass on Ascension-day, at the moment of the elevation, the leaves of the trees incline upon each other, forming crosses, in token of devotion and reverence. When newborn infants smile, in dreams or waking, we know that it is to angels, visible only to them. A murmur in the ears is the noise made by the falling of a leaf from the tree of life. When silence settles all at once upon several persons forming a company, it is not, as the wise ones say, because "the carriage is running upon sand," but because an angel has passed over them, and the air that is moved by his wings communicates to their souls the silence of respect, though their comprehension fails to divine the cause. Likewise, we have ascertained that the tarantula was a woman extravagantly fond of the dance, and so inconsiderate that when, on one occasion, she was dancing, and His Divine Majesty [Footnote 182] passed by, she did not stop, but continued her diversion with the most frightful irreverence. For this she was changed into a spider with the figure of a guitar delineated upon its back, and possessed of a venom that causes those who are bitten by it to dance and dance until, fainting and exhausted, they fall down in a swoon.

[Footnote 182: The Blessed Sacrament.]

In effect, we have learned many other things: some of them we have already written; the rest we mean to write; that is to say, "If the rope does not break, all will go on as usual."

{708}

But, among these things, there is one which we are going to communicate immediately, for fear lest we die of cholera, and it descend with us into the tomb; for it barely survives at present, and with it would perish its remembrance.

In times when faith filled hearts to overflowing, offerings and _ex-votos_ were brought by thousands to the house of God. Now that we are enlightened, we have other uses for our gold, our rare objects, and fine arts; for, as the poet says,

"En el sigh diez y nueve
Nadie á tener fé se atreve,
Y no huy que en milagros cred." [Footnote 183]

[Footnote 183: In the nineteenth century, no one dares to
have faith and there is no one who believes in miracles.]

It is well--or, better said, it is ill.

The first ostrich eggs procured by the Spaniards, in their voyages to Africa, were regarded as marvels, and deposited, either as offerings or _ex-votos_, in the churches, where, bound and tied with gay ribbons, they hung before the altars and were looked upon as ornaments of great value. And even now, before modest altars in humble villages are sometimes seen these enormous eggs; presenting with their worn and faded decorations the appearance of porcelain melons. By whom were they brought? where were they found? who hung them here? are questions that assault the mind of the beholder, and send his thoughts and fancy into the vast field of conjectures impossible to verify, but all sweet, romantic, and holy.

The imagination of the Spanish people is an _instinct_. They cannot see a material object without attaching to it an ideal. Out of the fervor of their own heart they made a symbol of this.

The belief adapted to the ostrich egg, hung in front of the altar, is one that will be sagely qualified by sanctimonious devotees of literal truth as superstitious and fanatical. We offer it to the Protestant missionaries who favor us with their propaganda, as a killing weapon against the benighted and malignant papists.

It is said that the mother-bird cannot hatch these eggs, which appear to be of marble, because it is impossible for her to cover them, and because there is not heat enough in her body to warm them through; but that she has in her look such fire, kindled by her great desire to free her offspring, that by keeping her eyes continuedly and without distraction fixed upon the eggs, the ardor and concentration of her love penetrates the hard shell and delivers her little ones. And they hung these eggs before the places where the holy sacrifice of the mass is offered, to teach us to keep our eyes fixed upon the altar with equal desire, equal love, and exclusive attention and devotion. O poets! if you would fulfil your mission, which is to move the heart, learn less in palaces, and more from the people who feel and believe.

Among sayings and proverbs that have been accepted everywhere without having to show their parentage, is the well-known expression, _Ahi me las den todas:_ May I get them all there.

One of the creditors of a certain dishonest fellow, that owed all the world and paid nobody, laid his complaint before the judge, who sent an alguacil to suggest to the debtor the necessity of paying at once.

For response to the intimation, the debtor gave the alguacil, who was a very dignified man, a slap on his face. The latter, returning to the tribunal, addressed the magistrate thus: "Sir, when I go to notify an individual on the part of your worship, whom do I represent?" "Me," answered the judge. "Well, sir," proceeded the alguacil, touching his cheek, "to this cheek of your worship they have given a slap." "May I get them all there," replied the judge.

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Here is the etymology of another saying, _Quien no te conozea te compre:_ Let some one buy you that don't know you. Three poor students came to a village where there was a fair. "What shall we do to amuse ourselves?" asked one as they were passing a garden in which an ass was drawing water from a well. "I have already hit upon a way," answered another of the three. "Put me into the machine, and you take the ass to the fair and sell him." As it was said, so it was done. When his companions had gone, the student that had remained in the place of the ass stood still. "Arre!" [Footnote 184] shouted the gardener, who was at work not far off.

[Footnote 184: Geho!]

The improvised ass neither started nor shook his bell, and the gardener mounted to the machine, in which, to his great consternation, he found his ass changed into a student. "What is this?" he cried. "My master," said the student, "some ill-natured witches transformed me into an ass, but I have fulfilled the term of my enchantment and returned to my original shape."

The poor gardener was disconsolate, but what could be done? He unharnessed the student, and, bidding him go with God-speed, set out sorrowfully for the fair to buy another beast. The very first that presented itself was his own, which had been bought by a company of gipsies. The moment he cast his eyes upon it, he took to his heels, exclaiming, "Let some one buy you that don't know you."

_Yo te cono cí ciruelo_--I knew you when you were a plum-tree--is a common saying. The people of a certain village bought a plum-tree of a gardener, for the purpose of having it converted into an effigy of St. Peter. When the image was finished and set up in the church, the gardener went to see it, and, observing the somewhat lavish coloring and gilding of its drapery, exclaimed:

"Gloriosisimo San Pedro,
Yo te cono cí ciruelo,
Y de tu fruta comi;
Los misagros que tu hagas
Que me me los cuelgan á mi!"

"Most glorious Saint Peter!
I knew you when you were a plum-tree,
and ate of your fruit;
the miracles you do,
let them hang upon me."

_Ya saco raja_--He has got a share--is often said, and we trace it to Estremadura, where the live-oak groves are divided into rajas; _raja_ being the name of an extension yielding acorns enough to feed a given number of hogs. When the _rajas_ are public property, they are distributed at a trifling rent to the poorer householders, who are, as will be supposed, very anxious to have them. But to obtain one is difficult, for the _ayuntamientos_, or town councils, generally give them to their _protégés_ and hangers-on; and, from this circumstance, "He has got a hog-pasture," has come to be said of any person that by skill, cunning, audacity, or good luck succeeds in obtaining an advantage difficult to get, or of which the getting depends upon some one else.

_El que tiene capa escapa_--He that wears a cloak escapes--dates from the giving way of the new bridge at Puerto Santa Maria, under the weight of the great crowd that had collected upon it. To prevent thefts and disturbances, Captain-General O'Kelly issued an order to the effect that no person wearing a cloak should be allowed to cross the bridge. In consequence of this order, no one wearing a cloak fell into the river.

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It is usual to indicate that a person is poor by saying, _El esta á la cuarta pregunta_--He is at the fourth question. This assertion is derived from the interrogation of witnesses for the defence in suits when, among other circumstances, that of poverty is wished to be proved. This extreme being comprehended in the fourth question, as follows: "Does the witness know, of his own knowledge, that the party he represents is poor, and possesses neither landed property nor income; so that he has absolutely no means of support except the product of his own labor?"

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The Pearl And The Poison.

From The French.

Chanced it, where along the strand
Softly foaming broke the sea,
Lay an oyster on the sand
'Mid her neighbors merrily:
And her shelly doors, ablaze
With the sapphire's thousand rays,
She had opened to the sigh
Of the zephyrs flitting by.
Fell into her bosom there
Just a single drop of rain--
Just a rain-drop dull and plain:
When, behold! a jewel rare--
A sudden pearl exceeding fair!

Chanced it on the heath hard by
That a viper, lurking dread,
Uttered then her hissing cry--
To the zephyr raised her head:
When upon her dart accurst
Fell a rain-drop like the first:
Just a drop of poison more
To recruit her venom's store.

With twofold nature are our hearts endued,
Nor open less to evil than to good:
Responding kindly to the tiller's care,
The soil becomes what skilful hands prepare.
Dear parents, take you heed. If yours the will
To guard your children's sacred innocence,
Be timely care and foresight the defence;
And drop by drop instil
Into their little spirits thoughts of good,
To be their daily food.
If you are wise, through years to come
A pearl of a child will make you blest:
If not, you'll cherish in your home
A very poison to your rest.

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Foreign Literary Notes.

The testimony of so distinguished an authority as M. E. Littré, of the French Institute, is now added to that of Digby, Maitland, Montalembert, and so many others, to show that the middle ages were not "barbarous." M. Littré, as is well known, is very far from being a Catholic; but, treating the subject with his great erudition from a purely historical point of view, he shows, in his _Etudes sur les Barbares et le Moyen Age_, that, after the frightful degeneration of the Roman world--a degeneration aggravated and precipitated by the violent immixtion of barbarous peoples--the period of the middle ages was an era of renovation in institutions, in letters, and in morals; a renovation, slow, it is true, but certain and continuous; a renovation entirely due to Catholicity, revivifying by powerful and fecund impulsion the antique foundation formed by pagan society, and augmenting it by all that Christianity possesses superior to paganism. On this beneficial and constantly civilizing influence of the church, which formed the moral unity of a world whose material unity had disappeared, re-educating people fallen into infancy, rescuing letters by her schools, clearing the forests by her monks, founding social and political institutions worthy of the name, and the like of which the Roman empire had never seen--for the reason that all its conceptions of man and of liberty were false, and it could never raise itself to the idea of a spiritual power that was independent of the lay power--on all these points, so worthy the attention of the historian, there are, particularly in the first two chapters, some admirable pages. M. Littré speaks with admiration of the spread of monachism in the west, and distinctly recognizes the many great blessings that followed in its train. He (p. 3) reproaches Gibbon with having ignored the importance of the religious fact of Christianity. And yet his "naturalism" has led him astray from the conclusion to which the invincible logic of his own presentation of facts must bring him.

----

A valuable addition to biblical criticism is, unquestionably, the lately published _Saint Paul's Epistle to the Philippians_. A revised text, with introduction, notes, and dissertations. By J. B. Lightfoot, D.D., Hulsean Professor of Divinity, and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. London, Macmillan. 8vo, 337 pp. This book forms the second volume of an exegetical work that is to embrace all the epistles of St. Paul. Galatians has already been published. The present volume is particularly valuable for its introduction of the results of the latest archeological and historical research. The commentaries on Seneca and the doctrines of the Stoics are interesting, as also the remarks on the [Greek text] in verse 13 of first chapter.

----

A distinguished priest of the Oratory, H. de Valroger, has recently published an able and learned disquisition on biblical chronology. He terminates it thus: "No more than the Bible has the church laid down a dogmatic system of precise dates strictly connected and confining the primitive history of the world and of man within narrow and inflexible limits. No more than the Bible does the church deprive astronomers, geologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, or chronologists of the liberty of ascertaining scientifically the period of time elapsed since the creation of the world and of man, or since the deluge, which terminated the first of the reign of humanity."

----

In the Foreign Literary Notes of our number for June, we noticed an important publication by the Abbé Lamy on the Council of Seleuciae, a translation from one of the numerous productions of early Syrian literature, so rich in works relative to the church, its history, its discipline, and its dogmas. And, in this connection, it may be proper here to note a typographical transposition seriously interfering with a correct reading of the notice in question, namely, the six paragraphs of the first column of p. 432 that precede "Concilium Seleuciae et Ctesiphonti," etc., should follow the second paragraph on the second column of the same page.

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This work of the Abbé Lamy is one out of many recent publications showing the great attention lately given to the monuments of early Syrian literature by theologians of Europe. Especially in Germany is the activity great in this new field. It has long been known that a serious chronological break existed in this literature, covering a period of nearly three hundred years, stretching from the translation of the Scriptures to the classical period of Syrian patristic literature.

Only of late years has this void been partially filled by the important work of Cureton, (W.,) entitled, _Ancient Syriac Documents relative to the earliest Establishment of Christianity in Edessa_. With a preface by W. Wright. London: Williams & Norgate. 1864. This work of Cureton was preceded by his _Spicilegium Syriacum_, containing remains of Bardesan, Meliton, Ambrose, and Mara bar Serapion. London: Francis & Rivington. 1855.

In connection with these may be mentioned Cardinal Wiseman's _Horae Syriacae_, Rome, 1828; Pohlmann, _S. Ephraemi Syri Commentariorum in S. Scripturum;_ Lamy, _Diss. de Syrorum fide et disciplina in re eucharistica; S. Ephraemi Syri Rabulae, Balaei aliorumque opera selecta_. Oxford, Clarendon. 1865.

----

An interesting historical controversy has for some time been going on between M. Cretineau Joly, of Paris, and the Rev. Father Theiner, Prefect of the Archives of the Vatican, concerning the authenticity of the memoirs of Cardinal Consalvi, published by M. Cretineau Joly, in 1864. Father Theiner, in his History of the Concordat, throws serious doubts upon the genuineness of these memoirs. On the other hand, M. Joly, in his lately published _Bonaparte, the Concordat of 1801, and the Cardinal Consalvti_, defends his position, and declares that he translated with the most conscientious exactitude the memoirs in question, "such as they were confided to me at Rome, such as I now possess them in MSS. at Paris, such as any one is free to test by examination."

----

_Logicae, Metaphysicae, Ethicae Institutiones quas tradebat Franciscus Battaglinius, Sacerdos, Philosophiae Lector_. Bologna, typogr. Felsinea. 1869. 1 vol. in 8vo, 712 pp. This work is a collection of the lectures delivered at the Seminary of Bologna, by Professor Battaglini. The spirit of the learned professor's philosophy is, as he himself states, _secundum divi Thomae doctrinas_. No slight task, certainly, to bring the "Angelic Doctor" within the grasp of the young theological student.

The work has attracted the attention of many of the French clergy, and is highly approved by them.

----

There appears to be serious danger that the French people are in a way soon to know all about the Bible. Besides the numerous copies of the sacred Scriptures already in existence in France, the publisher Lethielleux now has in press the first volume of a new edition of the entire Bible, which will give the Latin text of the Vulgate, with the French translation, and a full body of commentaries--theological, moral, philological, and historical, edited so as to include the results of the best works in France, Italy, Germany, and elsewhere, with a special introduction for each book, by the Abbé Drach, D.D., and the Abbé Bayle, Professor of the Faculty of Aix.

----

The mantle of Mai and of Mezzofanti has fallen upon Cardinal Pitra, recently appointed to the important position of librarian of the Vatican. The office could not be filled by one more erudite and worthy of it in every respect, and his holiness could hardly have made a better choice. Cardinal Pitra is well known as the author of several learned works in theological and canonical science. Like a true Benedictine, his life has been devoted to study and scientific

{713}

A succession of articles lately given in the _Revue des Deux Mondes_, by M. d'Haussonville, [Footnote 185] has thrown fresh light on the long and interesting struggle between Pope Pius VII. and Napoleon; between moral and physical force, between the inspiration of heaven and the inspiration of the world. M. d'Haussonville, by the publication of numerous documents until now unpublished, and by the letters and despatches of Napoleon the First, lately given to the world by the present imperial government, has added a new interest to the sad story of the captivity of the holy father, and the negotiations at Savona.

[Footnote 185: Lately elected a member of the French
Academy.]

The dignity, firmness, and elevated piety of the noble pontiff stand out in more striking relief from their necessary comparison with the rude and merciless tyranny of his oppressor, and have wrung the strongest expression of admiration from sources the most unexpected. In an article entitled, "The Papacy and the French Empire," the _Edinburgh Review_ (October, 1868) says:

"The meek resistance of Pius VII. to the overwhelming force
which had crushed every independent power on the continent of
Europe, was therefore a protest worthy of the sacred character
of the head of the Latin Church in favor of the dignity and
liberty of man; and, by the justice of Heaven, the victim
survived the conqueror, the feeble endured, the mighty one
perished."

----

Great activity prevails throughout Europe in the search for and publication of documents, long buried in libraries and private collections of MSS., which are calculated to throw light upon the history and workings of the so-called Reformation. And this activity is probably greatest in Switzerland, where every canton, separately or with an adjoining canton, has its historical society in active and industrious operation. German and French, Catholic and Protestant, vie with each other in their praiseworthy efforts to rescue from decay and ruin old parchments, chronicles, protocols, and letters, that are calculated to throw any light on the events of past centuries. In this direction works the Protestant Berner in the _Helvetia Sacra_, and the _Pius Verein_ promises great results in a collection of which the first volume has lately appeared, entitled, _Archiv für die Schweizerische Reformnationsgeschichte. Herausgegeben auf Veranstaltung des Schweizerischen Piusvereins_. Erster Band. Solothurn. 8vo, 856 pp. The central committee of this society consists of Count Scherer Beccard, of Lucerne, and Prebendary Fiala and Professor Barmwart, both of Solothurn. The volume announced contains chronicles, monographs, and extracts from the archives of Lucerne, the mere enumeration of which would be too much for our space.

----

The old Benedictine abbey of La Cava, in Italy, has long been known to possess in its archives a mass of documents and MSS. said to contain treasures of diplomatic and archaeological erudition. They cover the period from Pepin le Bref to Charles V. Father Morcaldi, one of the most distinguished savants of Italy, has undertaken their classification and publication. They will fill, when printed, eight or ten folio volumes, and require from five to seven years for publication.

----

A recent number of the _Literarischer Handweiser_, edited at Münster by Dr. Franz Hülskamp and Dr. Herrmann Rump, contains an article on Catholic journalism in the United States. Here is an extract:

"Since the cessation of the well-known Quarterly, edited by Dr.
Brownson, American Catholics possess but one really first-class
periodical, namely, _The Catholic World_, founded some
four years since, and published at New York, in handsomely
printed monthly numbers. This monthly, founded by Father
Hecker, of the Congregation of the Paulists, a zealous convert,
distinguished for his effective dialectic and polemic ability,
is one of the most welcome manifestations in the field of North
American periodical literature. Already, during the short
period of its existence, it has gained numberless friends, and
bears favorable comparison with the best productions of the
European press. The influence and writings of Father Hecker and
his collaborators are sufficient warrant that _The Catholic
World_ has an important future before it in the field of
defence and polemics, and that it will most probably be for
many the guide to the bosom of the church."

----

{714}

Among new English books announced is _Mary, Queen of Scots, and her Accusers; embracing a Narrative of Events from the Death of James V., in 1552, until the close of the Conference at Westminster, in 1569_. By John Hosack, Barrister in Law. The work is to contain the "Book of Articles" produced against Queen Mary at Westminster, which, it is said, has never hitherto been printed, and will be published by Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh.

If this work be in Mary's defence, it is not the first one--to their credit be it said--produced by the Protestants of Scotland. We confess to some surprise that some one of the many English Catholic writers, with their peculiar facilities for reference to authorities, have not taken up and exposed the scandalous malice of Mr. Froude's attack on the memory of the unfortunate queen. His desperate attempt to advocate the genuineness of the silver casket letters, bold and ingenious though it be, is nevertheless a failure, and its unfairness and sophistry should be exposed.

----------

New Publications.

Life Of Mother Margaret Mary Hallahan, O.S.D.,
Foundress of the English Congregation of St. Catherine of
Sienna, of the Third Order of St. Dominic.
By her religious children.
With a preface by the Right Rev. Dr. Ullathorne.
New York: The Catholic Publication House,
126 Nassau street. 1869.

All who are interested in the extraordinary, not to say miraculous, revival of the Catholic faith in English-speaking countries, will hail with delight the appearance of this book. It is a simple and evidently a truthful narrative of the life of one of those providential personages who, in all great movements, stand out as beacon lights to mark their progress. Margaret Mary Hallahan was born in London in 1802, of Irish parents, who had fallen from a respectable position in life to honorable poverty. She was their only child, and became a complete orphan at the age of nine years. Her education had been provided for, as well as circumstances would permit, by her kind-hearted father, in the schools established in London by the Abbé Carron, a refugee priest of the French revolution. Slender, indeed, were the prospects of a poor Catholic orphan girl in the capital of a country so full of bigotry as was England in 1811. Having spent a short time in the orphan asylum at Somerstown, she was placed under the care of a Madame Caulier, whose harsh discipline was hardly compensated by occasional acts of kindness. In her twentieth year, she was introduced by this lady to the family of Doctor Morgan, once physician to George III. Being then an invalid, he was attended by Margaret during the last six months of his life; and after his death she became the bosom friend of his daughter, Mrs. Thompson, whom she served, rather as a sister than as a domestic, for twenty years. Five years of this time were spent in England and fifteen in Belgium. In the latter country she became a member of the Third Order of St. Dominic, on the feast of St. Catherine of Sienna, in the year 1835.

On her return to England, in 1842, she took charge of the Catholic schools of Coventry, where Father Ullathorne, of the Benedictine order, was pastor. Her days were spent in the education of young children, and her evenings in the instruction, religious and secular, of the poor factory girls of the place. {715} In a short time, there was a visible improvement in the Catholic community of Coventry; and Sister Margaret had the happiness of beholding a religious procession, the first of the kind seen in England since the change of religion, at the head of which was borne her own image of the Blessed Virgin, the only treasure she had carried with her from Belgium. A few pious companions, having united with Sister Margaret in the performance of good works, she and three others, by the advice of Father Ullathorne, and with the authorization of the general of the Dominican order, received the habit of the Third Order of St. Dominic, with a view to living in community, on the 11th of June, 1844. On the 8th of December, 1845, they made their religious profession. Soon after this, Father Ullathorne was appointed by the holy see vicar apostolic of the western district; and, having established his residence at Bristol, it was deemed advisable for the young community, of which he was the father and protector, to remove to Clifton, near his episcopal city. This was in 1848; and when, in 1850, the Catholic hierarchy was reestablished in England, Bishop Ullathorne, now transferred to Birmingham, founded the second convent of the Dominican Sisters at Stow. This became the general novitiate of the order in England, and here were established by Mother Margaret her boarding and free schools, her orphanage, and hospital for incurables. In 1858, she went to Rome to obtain of the holy see the canonical erection of her community into a congregation governed by a provincial prioress. Her request was granted by a brief given in 1859, by which she was named provincial prioress, which office she retained until her death, in 1868. Here we may be allowed to quote the words of her friend, Bishop Ullathorne, in his preface to her life:

"And now behold this lonely and poor woman, made ripe in
spiritual wisdom and in human experience, returning, a stranger
and unknown, to the land of her birth. Yet God has already
prepared a way for her, and she begins a spiritual work which
slowly rises under her hands, from humble beginnings, into the
highest character, and surrounds itself with numerous
institutions of mercy and charity. Foundress of a congregation
of the ancient Dominican order, she trained a hundred religious
women, founded five convents, built three churches, established
a hospital for incurables, three orphanages, schools for all
classes, including a number for the poor; and, what is more,
left her own spirit in its full vigor to animate her children,
whose work is only in its commencement."

The history of her life will amply repay perusal. It is a continual exemplification of her great maxim, _All for God_. The most prominent feature in her administration of the affairs of her order was, that she never allowed external employments, undertaken for the benefit of her neighbor, to encroach in the least upon the hours assigned for prayer and meditation. Her zeal in decorating altars, and in providing all things necessary for the decency of divine worship, knew no bounds.

We heartily recommend the life of Mother Margaret Mary to all our readers.

----

Die Jenseitige Welt.
Eine Schrift Über Fegefeuer,
Hölle Und Himmel.
Von P. Leo Keel, Capitular des
Stiftes Maria Einsiedeln.
Einsiedeln, New York,
and Cincinnati: Benziger. 1869.

The first two books of this work are out, and we anxiously expect the third, on Heaven, a topic on which it is very difficult to write anything worth reading, and on which very little has been written in our modern languages. German books are generally better than others, and a work which merits the praise of German critics is sure to be solid. The present work is highly esteemed in Germany, and we have examined the part which treats of purgatory sufficiently to convince us that the author has written something far superior in learning, and vigor of thought, to the ordinary treatises on religious doctrines which are to be met with. To those clergymen who are Germans, or who read the language, we can recommend this book as well worth its price. It is printed in the neatest and most attractive style.

{716}

Warwick;
or, the Lost Nationalities of America: A Novel.
By Mansfield Tracy Walworth.
New York: Carleton. 1869.

This novel is a remarkable production, exhibiting vivid imagination, extensive and curious research, descriptive power of a high order, chivalrous sentiments, and a lofty moral ideal, in the author. Its principal scenes, events, and characters belong to an ideal world entirely beyond the possibilities of real and actual life, with an intermingling of some minor sketches drawn from nature which show the author's power to depict the real if he pleases to do so. It seems to us that the serious arguments which are interspersed through the book, and the curious speculations respecting the original inhabitants of America, which are not without at least historical and scientific plausibility, would be presented with far greater effect if they were detached from a plot which is too absorbing to leave the mind leisure to give them due attention. The moral effect intended to be produced by the story itself would be also greater if the characters were more real, the events more natural and probable, and the scenes drawn more from real life. The great praise, so seldom deserved, must be given to the author, that he inculcates high moral and religious principles in an eloquent and attractive manner, and will therefore undoubtedly exercise a refining and elevating influence over the mind of many a young reader who would reject graver lessons. Highly-wrought works of fiction have become a necessity to a large class of readers, and here is one which will give their imagination a wild ride on a racer over a safe road. The young and accomplished author of _Warwick_, will, we trust, follow up his literary career, and produce other and maturer fruits of his genius, which will add more renown to the illustrious name he bears.

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The Life Of John Banim, the Irish novelist,
author of _Damon and Pythias_, etc., and one of the
writers of _Tales by the O'Hara Family_.
With extracts from his correspondence, general and literary.
By Patrick Joseph Murray.
Also selections from his poems.
New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co. 1869.

The Ghost-hunter And His Family.
By the O'Hara Family.
New York: D. & J. Sadlier& Co. 1869.

John Banim was born in the city of Kilkenny, on the 3d day of April, 1798. His parents were in humble life, but, through industry and economy, were enabled to bestow upon their son the inestimable advantage of a good literary education, while their precepts and example united to secure for him a thorough Christian training. His genius for novel writing manifested itself at an early age. While in his sixth year, his ready fancy gave birth to a story of no little merit.

"He was not sufficiently tall to write conveniently at a table,
even when seated, and having placed the paper upon his bedroom
floor, he lay down beside it and commenced the construction of
his plot. During three months he devoted nearly all his hours
of play to the completion of his task; and when at length he
had concluded, the writing was so execrable that he alone could
decipher it. In this dilemma he obtained the assistance of his
brother Michael, and of a school-fellow; they acted as
amanuenses, relieving each other when weary of writing from
John's dictation. When the tale was fully transcribed, it was
stitched in a blue cover, and John determined that it should be
printed. But here the important question of expense arose to
mind, and, after long deliberation, the youthful author thought
of resorting to a subscription publication. Accordingly the
manuscript was shown to several of his father's friends, and,
in the course of a week, the subscribers amounted to thirty, at
a payment of one shilling each. Disappointment was again the
lot of our little genius; for in all Kilkenny he could not
induce a printer to undertake the issuing of his story. This
was a heavy blow to his hopes; but honorable even as a child,
he no sooner found that he could not publish the tale than he
waited upon his subscribers for the purpose of restoring to
them their shillings.
{717}
All received him kindly and refused the money, telling him that
they were quite satisfied with reading the manuscript."