Chapter X: Part II (6)

In 1687, King James II. published his celebrated Declaration of Indulgence, by which, after expressing his conviction that consciences could not be forced, and religious persecution always failed of its object, he proceeded to suspend the execution of all penal laws against the Catholics and Dissenters alike, to authorize all religious bodies to hold public worship after their own fashion, and to dispense with all religious tests as qualifications for any civil or military office. Whatever may be said of the constitutionality of this declaration, it was unquestionably in accordance with the principles of freedom and justice which have since been recognized completely in this country, and are gradually becoming established in Great Britain and all other constitutional states. The Declaration of Indulgence might to-day be accepted in every particular as the platform of the English liberals or _The New York Tribune_. The Protestant party in James's day, however, was any thing but the party of religious freedom or liberal ideas. Church and state, in their minds, must be one--and that one the Protestant church. The declaration was violently resisted. A year later (April 27th, 1688,) James issued a second declaration, repeating the points of the former one, and proclaiming his unalterable resolution to carry it into effect. By an order in council he subsequently commanded that this paper should be read on two successive Sundays at the time of divine service by the officiating ministers of all the churches and chapels of the kingdom. "The clergy of the Established Church," says Macaulay, "with scarcely an exception, regarded the indulgence as a violation of the laws of the realm, as a breach of the plighted faith of the king, and as a fatal blow levelled at the interest and dignity of their own profession." The order was generally disobeyed. The Archbishop of Canterbury and six of his suffragans presented a petition to the king, recounting their objections to the declaration and their reasons for refusing to order its publication in church. For this they were committed to the tower, and tried before the court of king's bench on a charge of seditious libel. In the midst of the most intense popular excitement they were acquitted, and that day, the 30th of June, 1688, is often referred to as the crisis of the English revolution. So far as it was a political movement, this affair of the bishops represents a victory of the people over the arbitrary authority of the crown. So far as it was a religious movement, it represents a triumph of the secular power over what are called the great Protestant principles of liberty of conscience and freedom of worship. Though the bishops may have been political martyrs, they stand nevertheless as the representatives of religious intolerance, proscription, and persecution.

And what is the case of the bishops in Spain? Since the overthrow of Isabella, the country has been in a state little better than anarchy. The regency of Serrano, though it probably commands the adhesion of a majority of the people, has never been generally acquiesced in. Republicans, Carlists, Isabellistas are strong enough to cause the regency grave apprehension, and are only kept down by military power. The Carlists especially display a vitality which proves them to possess a strong hold of some kind upon the country, and to be much more than the little band of miserable conspirators which Madrid despatches represent them. It is difficult to know the truth about them; for we get little news from Spain, except such as filters through the offices of the regency at Madrid. It is said, however, that the clergy in general are favorable to the Carlists, which, considering the manner in which the churches and convents have been plundered by the existing authorities at the capital, is not at all unlikely. To put the clergy entirely at the mercy of the civil power, the regent issued, on the 5th of August, the following extraordinary decree:

"DECREE.

"At the proposal of the minister of grace and justice, and with
the approbation of the council of ministers, I ordain as follows:

"Article 1st. That an exhortation shall be made, and I hereby
make it to the most reverend archbishops and the right reverend
bishops to send immediately to the government, as is their bounden
duty, a circumstantial account of all those ecclesiastics of their
respective dioceses who have abandoned the churches to which
they were appointed, in order to combat the political situation
established by the Constitutional Cortes.

"Article 2d. The most reverend archbishops and right reverend
bishops are charged to send to the government, immediately
after their acquaintance with this decree, and without delays
or excuses being listened to, a statement of the canonical and
public measures they may have adopted, during the separation and
abandonment of the rebel priests, with a view not only to correct
and restrain them, but also to repair the most grievous scandal
produced among the faithful by such disloyal and reckless conduct;
and the government reserves to itself, after examining the reports
which the prelates may transmit to the ministry of grace and
justice, the adoption of such other measures as it may consider
expedient.

"Article 3d. It being notorious that many ecclesiastics excite the
innocent minds of some people against the laws and decisions voted
by the Cortes, and also against the order which I have issued
for their fulfilment, let the most reverend archbishops, right
reverend bishops, and ecclesiastical administrators send round
their dioceses for circulation, within the precise term of eight
days, a short pastoral edict, exhorting their flocks to obedience
to the constituted authorities; and the said prelates shall,
without loss of time, transmit a copy of the said edict to the
secretary of the said ministry.

"_Article 4th. The most reverend archbishops and the right
reverend bishops are likewise charged to withdraw the faculties of
confessing and preaching from those priests who are notoriously
displeased with, who have not hesitated to make an ostensible
display of opposition to the constitutional regimen._

"Article 5th. The government will render account of this decree to
the Cortes.

"FRANCISCO SERRANO.

"MANUEL RUIZ ZORRILLA,
"_Minister of Grace and Justice_."

It is difficult to imagine a bolder usurpation of authority. If priests are found guilty of political offences, the regent has the _power_ (we do not speak of the right) to proceed against them just as he would against lay citizens. Not satisfied with that, he wishes to impose ecclesiastical penalties also for political heterodoxy, to constitute himself the hierarchical superior of all the bishops and archbishops in Spain, to dictate the terms of their pastoral addresses, and to make the church a mere instrument of oppression in the hands of the civil power. He orders the prelates to turn informers. He instructs them to lay punishments upon the parochial clergy in plain violation of canon law. Worse than all, in the 4th article of his decree, he commands the bishops to take away the faculties of hearing confessions and preaching from all priests who are even "displeased with the constitutional regimen." Comment upon such an order is entirely superfluous. If it were obeyed, probably three fourths of the parishes in Spain would be without pastors. As a matter of course, the bishops have tacitly refused to comply with this decree, and Serrano threatens to proceed against the most obnoxious of them for disobedience.

Now, let any impartial person compare the cases of the English and the Spanish bishops, and tell us which represents the more perfectly the cause of just government and enlightened principles. Both refused obedience to an order of the chief civil authority of the realm because they held it to be an unwarrantable intrusion upon the dignity and independence of their order, and a violation of the laws. Herein the cases are parallel. The difference between them is just this, that the order of James, though it was unconstitutional, was a good and liberal measure in itself, while the order of Serrano is not only illegal but tyrannous. How can _The Tribune_ say that "in the Spanish case, the cause of freedom will be represented rather by the government who prosecutes seven bishops for resistance of the secular authority, than by the prelates who are to be placed on their defence"? To our view, Serrano appears as the champion of civil and ecclesiastical despotism, and the bishops are martyrs in the cause of political freedom and religious independence.

James II. calculated that the power of the throne would be sufficient in any case to insure the conviction of his seven bishops; but the prosecution failed; the dissenting sects, which would have benefited from his indulgence equally with the Catholics, united with the Anglican Church to withstand him; the people fell on their knees before the bishops in the streets; and in six months the king was a fugitive. Will Spain pursue the parallel to this point? No government can afford to be unjust. No government, especially which bases its authority upon the consent of the people can last long after it has become arbitrary and oppressive. Men love equity instinctively, and the decree of the Spanish regent will be worth more to the Carlists than an army of soldiers.

LINES ON THE PONTIFICAL HAT PRESERVED IN MADAME UZIELLI'S PRIVATE ORATORY.

O high exalted instinct of the soul!
That evermore doth find
A grace and hidden splendor not their own
In things of curious kind;

Casket, or signet-ring, or coat of mail,
Or ermined robe of state,
That once belonged to history's champions,
The good, the wise, the great!

This relic fair, which love most Catholic
Devoutly treasures here,
To me, beholding it, than rubied crown
More glorious doth appear.

For cinctured round with spiry wheaten ears
And clustering grapes of gold,
Types of the pure oblation offered now
For bloody rites of old,

Here, (by no freak of fancy,) underneath
Its rim of mystic red,
It shaded from a Roman summer's sun
The sacred snow-white head

Of our dear Pius; as from church to church,
Amidst the kneeling throng,
Serene he passed--a vision of delight,
The ancient ways along!

Angels of Rome! oh! shield that head beloved
From danger and all fears;
Watch o'er the pontiff brave, the sovereign good,
The priest of fifty years!

And when his hour arrives, so long postponed
By Christendom's fond prayer,
May he in heaven's own hierarchy throned,
Be still our glory there!

_Oratory, Birmingham._ E. CASWALL.

FOREIGN LITERARY NOTES.

In his latest historical work, (_Isabelle de Castille. Grandeur et Décadence de l'Espagne_,) the distinguished historian, M. Capefigue, says that, besides other debts to Isabella of Castile, Spaniards also owe an association that saved Spain from disorder and anarchy--_La Santa Hermandad_, the holy brotherhood, whose law was that of absolute solidarity. Cervantes, in _Don Quixote_, never lets an occasion pass of praising the brotherhood, with which Isabella also introduced the holy office--the Inquisition. It is our habit, says M. Capefigue, in matters historical, to avoid the adoption of ready-made opinions, and more especially declamations. We must examine with judgment the customs, the institutions, of a period--the necessities of an epoch. Then, frequently, every thing is justified and explained. Power is not inflexible through pleasure or caprice, but through necessity. Ogres only exist in fairy tales. In political history there are no men who from mere caprice eat human flesh. There are two periods in the history of the Inquisition. In the first, it rendered immense services. Ferdinand and Isabella had just delivered Spain. But the Moors still covered the land, and had to be watched. In constant communication with the Arabs in Africa, they ceased not to invoke the aid of their brethren across the strait. Together they conspired to reconquer Andalusia, the promised land of the Arabs, who never ceased longing for the lovely countries watered by the Guadalquivir. Theirs it was to hope and to plot. Spain's it was to detect and punish them. In times of peril for a state, exceptional powers are given, extraordinary tribunals created. At a period exclusively religious, the sign of Spanish nationality was Catholicity. Christian was the synonym of citizen, and the holy office was charged with the police of the state against those who accepted not the law of the land. Not only France but other countries have had their committees of public safety and their revolutionary tribunals. In the second period, the Inquisition--no longer useful to the state--became a tribunal of theology. It pursued heresy, which in societies based on religious principles is always a danger. Most remarkable is it that even in its decline the Inquisition preserved its popularity so largely among the great men of Spain. Lope de Vega was the chief of familiars of the holy office. Calderon was one of its most ardent members, bearing its banners at _autos da fe_. Velasquez gloried in the title. Murillo paints the flowers--the saints that ornament the _san benito_--and Zurbaran takes his grandest heads from the Dominican fathers of the _santa fide_. Without the guard and protection of the Inquisition, Spain would not have effected the great things in her history. Torn by interior dissensions, she would not have had the Americas; the reign of Charles V. would not have been so glorious, nor would she have gained the battle of Lepanto and saved Christian Europe.

* * * * *

The French publisher, V. Palmé, announces as in press the celebrated work of Cardinal Jacobatius, _De Concilio_, forming the introduction to the grand collection of councils.

* * * * *

The 14th, 15th, and 16th volumes of the _Bullarum, diplomatum et privilegiorum sanctorum Romanorum pontificum Taurinensi editio_ have just been published at Turin. The 14th volume includes the years from the sixth to the sixteenth of the pontificate of Urban VIII. (1628-39;) the 15th terminates that pontificate and contains that of Innocent X. (1639-54;) and the 16th embraces the first seven years of Alexander VII. (1655-62.) The bulls and constitutions are published in chronological order. Some idea of their number may be formed from the fact that of Urban VIII. there are 829, of Innocent X. 199, of Alexander VII. 385. Each volume has _index nominum et rerum præcipuarum, index initialis, index rubricarum_.

* * * * *

Late French papers announce the death of the Baron de Croze, formerly deputy from the department of Charente Inférieure, father-in-law of Count Anatole Lemercier, and for some years Cameriere of his holiness Pius IX. The holy father was much attached to Baron de Croze, and frequently held with him long and familiar conversations on politics and history. Some ten years ago, the Baron addressed a memorial to Pius IX., strongly urging his holiness to restore the Coliseum and to appeal to the entire world for the immense sums necessary for so great a work as the restoration of the noblest monument of the antique grandeur of the Romans. "My dear son," replied Pius IX., "I have seen your memorial, and thank you for it; but do you not know that there are two kinds of vandalism, the one of destruction, the other of restoration? Never has the Coliseum been more beautiful than in the moving contrast of the splendor of its past and the magnificence of its ruins. To restore them would, it seems to me, be an artistic sacrilege, and would annihilate the work of ages only to produce a poor and colorless counterfeit. Think no more of it, _caro mio_." And the baron thought no more of it.

* * * * *

The Parisian publishing circulars announce in press and soon to appear the celebrated Theology of Salamanca, _Collegii Salamanticensis Cursus Theologicus_.

* * * * *

In a late German bibliographical catalogue we remark the name of a saint we now see for the first time, and concerning whom we acknowledge ourselves utterly ignorant. It occurs in the title of a work thus announced: _Sainct Velociped. Eine Moderne Reiselegende_--Saint Velocipede. A Legend of Modern Travel.

* * * * *

_Saint Agobard, Archevêque de Lyon, sa Vie et ses Ecrits_, par M. l'Abbé P. Chevallard, is the title of a handsome octavo volume just published at Lyons. Saint Agobard's life covered the period from 779 to 840, and, with his writings, forms an important page of the history of the church in France during the ninth century. His episcopal career was active, and his influence on the religious questions and discipline of his time considerable. The history of this holy man is necessarily attached to that of the reign of Louis le Débonnaire. St. Agobard's reputation for talent and learning has never been contested, and historians and critics unite in the opinion that he was the first mind of his period in France. It is not exclusively within the church, nor by Catholics alone, that St. Agobard is thus highly appreciated. MM. Guizot and Ampère have spoken with great admiration of him; Ampère particularly mentions his intelligent efforts in combating a widely spread and deeply rooted belief that a disastrous epidemic which carried off thousands of cattle was caused by the emissaries of the Duke of Benevento, who--said popular report--scattered powders over the fields and in the fountains, thus producing sudden death of the animals. Something similar is recounted by Manzoni in his _Promessi Sposi_, where he describes the _Untori_ and the pretended cholera poisoners. Besides the essays of St. Agobard on theology, liturgy, and ecclesiastical discipline, his writings on the superstitions of his period, and on the pernicious influence of the Jews in Lyons, are remarkable and of high value in an historical point of view.

* * * * *

Much indignation has been expressed in several European and English papers concerning an imaginary prohibition of the pope to the physicians of Rome from attending any person who, after three days' medical attendance, should refuse the sacraments. The paragraphs containing the indignation have been widely copied in the United States, and we therefore notice the silly statement. The existence and validity of an old brief of Sixtus V. is probably the origin of the singular blunder. The brief in question orders doctors, under pain of excommunication, to warn the parish priest of the patient's danger, if, after three days, he appears in peril of life; but beyond that the doctor cannot act, and continues his attendance to the last, irrespective of the patient's religious state or dispositions. And the provision is evidently wise and humane. In very many cases it is dangerous for the patient to know that his physician considers him in peril of death. To advise his family is much the same as to tell the patient; and the obvious prudence of the matter is to notify the parish priest, who can act according to the necessities of the case. So much for one of the many falsehoods of the day. Like many others, it has travelled fast and far. Will this refutation overtake it? Doubtful.

* * * * *

A new history of Pope Pius IX. is announced as almost ready for publication: _Histoire de Pie IX. et de son Pontificat_, par M. Alexandre de Saint Albin.

* * * * *

The distinguished Father Theiner, of Rome, has lately given his friends occasion to regret that he had not remained known to the literary world by his _Monumenta_ alone. No words but those of praise and admiration could then have been found for him. Our occasion for this remark is his late controversy--or series of controversies--with M. Crétineau-Joly, concerning the Cardinals Consalvi and Caprara, and Bishop Bernier, touching their connection with the concordat of 1801. The matter has culminated in an octavo volume lately out, _Bonaparte, le Concordat de 1801 et le Cardinal Consalvi, suivi des deux Lettres au Père Theiner sur le Pape Clement XIV._, par J. Crétineau-Joly; and of which we made mention in our August number. M. Crétineau-Joly is a terrible adversary, and wields a trenchant blade. Such a rapid shower of cut, thrust, back, forward, and circular strokes is rarely seen. It is to be regretted, however, that M. Joly, in the abundance of his power of replication and retort, should not have been content with telling Father Theiner, as he does, "You have been given a bad cause to sustain, and you defend it with bad arguments." But blood becomes as hot in literary quarrels as in physical combats, and M. Joly goes entirely too far when he talks about surprising his adversary, "_Vingt fois, trente fois, en flagrant débit de mensonge_." Those who know Father Theiner are satisfied that he is in this case the victim of his imagination and of his simplicity, and that, moreover, he has been badly advised.

* * * * *

Dr. F. W. Kampschulte, Professor of History at the University of Bonn, has hitherto been known as an author only by a few works of secondary importance, such as his _History of the Ancient University of Erfurt_. He has, however, just taken rank quite suddenly among the best historians of Germany by his lately published _Johann Calvin, seine Kirche und sein Staat in Genf_, (John Calvin, his Church and his State at Geneva.) The first volume alone is as yet published. But this one is quite enough to display remarkable erudition, and an amount of literary labor nothing less than enormous. Dr. Kampschulte asserts on good grounds that, without the assistance of Berne, Genevan Protestantism would never have succeeded as it did, and he has, accordingly, thoroughly and successfully searched the archives of Berne for new and valuable documents. Finally, the author has not, like too many of his predecessors in the same field, been content to take for Calvin's correspondence Beza's edition of the _Epistolæ et Responsa Calvini_, which really contains but a small portion of Calvin's correspondence, but has with wonderful labor and perseverance collected a large amount of Calvin's letters hitherto unknown, and which were dispersed throughout Europe.

* * * * *

A second edition of the _Bibliotheque des écrivains de la Compagnie de Jésus_, par le P. Augustin de Backer, is announced as soon to be published. It will be in three volumes in folio, each volume to contain about three thousand columns, and will be placed at the very low price of forty-five francs. It will not be for sale in the usual manner by booksellers, and we therefore make special mention of it. Persons desiring to obtain it may address the author, (College Saint Servais, Liège, Belgique,) or the publisher of the _Etudes Religieuses, Historiques et Littéraires_, (_No. 18 Rue Lhomond, à Paris_.) The first edition, commenced by Fathers Augustin and Alois de Backer, appeared in 1855, in seven vols. 8vo. The new edition, besides being in a single alphabetical series, will contain numerous corrections and additions. It also contains articles on controversies of special interest, such as the publication of the _Acta Sanctorum_, the origin of the order of _Carmel_, etc.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

LECTURES AND ESSAYS ON IRISH AND OTHER SUBJECTS. By Henry Giles.
New York: D. & J. Sadlier & Co.

Besides biographical lectures on O'Connell, Curran, Dr. Doyle, Oliver Goldsmith, and Gerald Griffin, this volume contains other lectures on the spirit of Irish history, Irish social character, etc., which many of our readers have, doubtless, heard delivered by the author in his pleasant and effective style.

Mr. Giles is of Irish birth, and for many years officiated and preached as a Unitarian minister. There can be no doubt that his Irish patriotism is sincere and enthusiastic, and yet, as we read, we feel as though something were wanting. For reasons that can be perfectly well understood without detailed explanation, Irish patriotic character always appears incomplete without Catholicity. Oliver Goldsmith and the Duke of Wellington are as much of Irish birth as Dr. Doyle and Daniel O'Connell; but how much more essentially Irish to every one are the two latter than the two former. The Catholic reader of these lectures sadly misses what he feels to be most essential. Take, for instance, the lectures on O'Connell, Gerald Griffin, and Dr. Doyle, which are among the best, and he perceives the absence of an element of appreciation that nothing but Catholic sympathy could supply. These papers have high merit as oral lectures, and precisely because of this merit they fall short of their reputation when read. The effective lecture is not necessarily an effective essay. There are certain elements nowadays almost indispensable to the success of a lecture, and they happen to be precisely those which detract from its literary merit. The redundancy of anecdote is one of these elements, and Mr. Giles was strongly given to it.

The book is, nevertheless, pleasant reading, although such essays as "The Christian Idea in Catholic Art and in Protestant Culture" afford additional proof--if any were needed--of the barrenness of Protestantism in art.

* * * * *

ORDER AND CHAOS: A Lecture, delivered at Loyola College,
Baltimore, in July, 1869. By T. W. M. Marshall, Esq. Baltimore:
John Murphy & Co. 1869.

Mr. Marshall, who is both one of the most solid and altogether the wittiest of English writers, delivered this lecture in Baltimore before a select audience, on the eve of his return to England. It is a well-reasoned argument, clothed in the author's usual choice and happy style, and spiced with a seasonable amount of his humor. Its topic is the order prevailing in the Catholic Church contrasted with the disorder which rules among the sects, as a proof that the former is of God, while the latter are of man. We quote the following extract, which contains a well-delivered blow at the disunionists:

"You are asked to believe, by those who prefer the temple of
chaos to the sanctuary of God, this monstrous proposition: that
although disorder is inexorably banished, as we have seen, from
every other part of his dominions, as a thing abhorrent to the
Divine Architect, it finds its true home and congenial refuge
precisely in that spiritual kingdom of which he is at once the
lawgiver and the life. Brute matter knows nothing of it; earth,
and sea, and sky refuse to give it a place; the very beasts
of the field obey a law which regulates all the conditions of
their existence; but confusion and chaos, which can find a home
nowhere else, reign, and ought to reign, in the Christian church,
and in the kingdom of souls! That is the proposition which is
deliberately maintained, at this hour and in this land, by men
whose profession it is to teach others eternal truth. They gravely
assert that religion--which, when it is divine, is a bond of union
stronger than adamant, and when it is human, is the most active
dissolvent, the most powerful disintegrating agent which divides
and devastates modern society--_gains_ by ceasing to be one,
and that Christianity derives its chief vitality from the very
divisions which make it contemptible in the sight of unbelievers,
and had often provoked the scorn and derision even of the pagan
world. As this statement may seem to you impossible, even in
this nineteenth century, which is tolerant of all absurdities in
the sphere of religion, I will quote to you the very words of
one of the most conspicuous preachers of this land, who holds a
high position in the hierarchy of chaos. I take them from one of
your own local journals, of the second of this month, (June.)
You know that of late years many Protestants, weary of their
ceaseless conflicts and ashamed of their unending divisions,
have begun at last to sigh for the unity which they have lost,
and that in England they have even formed a society with the
express object of bringing together what they ignorantly call
'the different branches of the church.' We are told, however,
by the journal to which I allude, that the Reverend Henry Ward
Beecher, vehemently rejecting every such project, lately 'preached
against the schemes of church union, whether planned by pope,
protestant, or pagan'--pray understand that these are not my
words--and added this characteristic dissuasive from unity.
'The strength of the Christian religion lies,' he said--in what
do you suppose? in its truth, its holiness, or its peace? no,
but--'_in the number of the existing denominations_.' The hands
fall down in reading such words. 'I pray,' said He who will judge
the world, 'that they may all be _one_ as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee.' I sincerely trust, replies Mr. Beecher, that
they never will be one. 'Be perfect,' said St. Paul, 'in the
_same mind_ and the _same judgment_.' It is much more important,
rejoins Mr. Beecher, that you should maintain your divisions and
perpetuate your differences, for in _them_ lies the strength of
Christianity. 'Sects,' observed the same apostle, 'are the work
of the flesh.' Mr. Beecher judges them more leniently, and warns
his hearers, as you see, against the mistake of St. Paul. Yes,
these human teachers have come at last to this. They know so well
that supernatural unity is beyond _their_ reach, that they have
come to hate it, and to call it an evil! Yet even they will not
deny that it was the unity of the first Christians which conquered
the heathen world; and when the victory was accomplished, and the
surviving pagans had only strength enough left to beat themselves
against the ground where they had fallen, _they_ also cried out
in their impotent rage, '_Execranda est ista consensio_'--cursed
be this unity of the Christians. They had found it to be
invincible, but did not know that it was divine. Mr. Beecher
dares not say openly, 'Cursed be the unity for which Christ
prayed,' for even his disciples, though they can bear a good deal,
could not bear _that_; but he is not afraid to say, 'Blessed be
chaos!' 'Confusion, thou art my choice!' 'Disorder, be thou mine
inheritance!' Let us wish him a happier lot, both in this world
and the next."

* * * * *

IN HEAVEN WE KNOW OUR OWN; OR, SOLACE FOR THE SUFFERING. From
the French of the Rev. Father Blot, S.J. New York: The Catholic
Publication Society. 1869.

We would call special attention to this delightful little book. The lady translator has conferred a very great service on English-speaking Catholics; nor on Catholics alone, but also on all professing Christians "of good-will," who,

"Here in the feeble twilight of this world
Groping,"

in order to satisfy one of their deepest and holiest cravings, and not having known the Catholic Church, nor therefore "the communion of saints," have turned--and _most_ naturally--into paths which only lead to deception and despair.

The book before us supplies to "the afflicted" who mourn the loss of friends a consolation as solid as it is abundant: a proof on unshakable grounds of truths which seem to be forgotten even by some among Catholics; that human ties _do_ survive the grave; that

"There the cherished heart _is_ fond,
The eye the same, except in tears;"

and that the knowledge and love of creatures must necessarily form an integral part of the happiness of heaven. The reader will be astonished to see what Catholic saints and doctors have said on this subject; and what a stress they have laid on it as a part of their own hopes and anticipations. To those, too, in particular, who are tempted to despair of the departed, an antidote is here offered for this poison of their rest; an antidote which, we are sure, has long been needed by many an anxious heart.

In commending this book, then, to Catholics, we would urge them to put it as much as possible in the hands of non-Catholic friends. The success of a recent work, entitled _The Gates Ajar_, is evidence enough of the hunger that exists in _all_ souls for food of this kind. And why should any be left to pick up crumbs, when a full table invites them? A perusal of _In Heaven We Know Our Own_ may open the eyes of many to the glorious fact it is our privilege to know--that the Catholic religion embraces _all_ truth, and alone can satisfy _all_ the soul's cravings:

"An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven's brink."

* * * * *

MOPSA THE FAIRY. By Jean Ingelow. With illustrations. Boston:
Roberts Brothers. 1869.

If the children wish to visit fairy-land, they could have no better guide than Jean Ingelow; yet even she fails to make the fairy-world half so fair or interesting as our own every-day world. However, Jack learns some good lessons in his visit to fairy-land; for he found a whole nation of fairies turned into stone for being unkind and selfish. Let the little ones take care lest the fate of the fairies befall them. The book is beautifully illustrated, and is altogether a very pleasant book for children.

* * * * *

TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST. A Personal Narrative by Richard Henry
Dana, Jr. New edition. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co. 1869.

Twelve years ago we determined upon a voyage similar to that the author describes, and from a similar motive.

This recital of his two years' experience before the mast was put into our hands to deter us from going. We recollect reading it with the greatest interest, and being afterward more anxious to go than ever. After three years' experience, during which we shared all the sailor's toils and pleasures "fore and aft," we returned to a student's life. It was therefore with some curiosity we reopened this book to see what our judgment would be of this sailor's yarn as compared with our own experience.

Before, it had the charm of adventure untried; now it gave the pleasure of again, in imagination, riding the topsail yard-arm amid the wild storm, hauling out the "weather earing," and "sending her" off the Cape with all hands lashed to the rigging. We have never read so vivid yet truthful a description of a sailor's life. It is refreshing to see for once nautical terms correctly and naturally used. We suspect that the author's estimate of the character and religion of the people he visited has changed since he wrote. The condition of the Mexicans now, as compared with their peace and prosperity under the paternal care of the Catholic missionaries, would surely warrant it.

We heartily sympathize with the author in his desire to better the condition of seamen. They are a noble, large-hearted class of men. We never expect to meet more courageous, generous, faithful men than our comrades at sea. Yet their life, which must be full of toil and danger, is made unnecessarily hard and laborious by unjust treatment. They are over-worked and half-fed at sea, and swindled on shore. If among the various protective societies, one were organized to protect seamen from shipping masters, brutal officers, and "boarding-house runners," it would be a praiseworthy act.

The author's account of his later visit to the Pacific coast is very acceptably added to this new edition, and shows the great change that has taken place in the condition of our commerce and of our country.

* * * * *

DIARY, REMINISCENCES, AND CORRESPONDENCE OF HENRY CRABB ROBINSON.
Selected and edited by Thomas Sadler, Ph.D. 2 vols. 12mo. Pp. 496,
555. Boston: Fields, Osgood & Co.

In the United States, it is only the readers of the literary biography of the last generation that know Henry Crabb Robinson even by name; for although he was intimately acquainted with some scores of distinguished men, and moved in the best literary society of England, he left little or nothing to recall his memory after he was dead, except the immense piles of manuscript from which these two volumes have been selected. These, we venture to predict, will enjoy a permanent place in literature, not much below the _Diary_ of Pepys and Boswell's _Life of Johnson_. Mr. Robinson, however, had nothing of the Pepys or the Boswell in his character. He was a man of sharp natural faculties, excellent scholarship, abundant wit, eminent social accomplishments, and strong character. In his youth he was a foreign correspondent and sub-editor of _The Times_. Afterward he practised at the bar. But for the most important part of his life, covering a period of some thirty years before his death, he had no profession, and passed his time in the society of literary and other celebrities, with whom, for his extraordinary conversational powers and more sterling qualities, he was always a welcome guest. It is to his anecdotes and recollections of such men--Lamb, Wordsworth, Southey, Byron, Coleridge, Moore, Rogers, Goethe, Lady Morgan, Lady Blessington, Landor, and others--told with spirit and discretion, that the _Diary and Reminiscences_ owe their value. The work of selection and arrangement has been performed with excellent judgment, and no one who takes up the volumes will readily lay them aside.

* * * * *

THE ELEMENTS OF THEORETICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ASTRONOMY; for the use
of Colleges and Academies. By Charles J. White, A.M., Assistant
Professor of Astronomy and Navigation in the United States
Naval Academy. 16mo, 272 pp. Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen &
Haffelfinger, 819 and 821 Market street. 1869.

Most writers of text-books, probably, are impelled to their task by an impression that a void exists which only can be filled by a work answering to a conception which they have formed in the course of their studies. This arises from the fact that few subjects of study can be thoroughly mastered by merely imbibing the ideas of another person, and that consequently every one who spends much time in acquiring, or particularly in teaching, any science, is obliged to think a good deal upon the subject, and hence to arrange it almost necessarily in his own mind in a different shape, and probably one better adapted to himself, than that in which it was presented to him. Finding nothing just like this among existing text-books, he naturally concludes that the really systematic arrangement has yet to be given, and by himself.

This every teacher perhaps is tempted to do; but unfortunately, the best teachers, who perceive what difficulties are met with by the mass of students, sometimes deny themselves the pleasure, or are perhaps unable to indulge in it, while others supply books suited only to a few. Sometimes, also, no void remains, having been already filled. But in this subject of astronomy there certainly was a need of a new work sufficiently precise and condensed to present salient points to the mind of the student, and form matter for a recitation, without being unnecessarily technical and uninteresting. Herschel's _Outlines_, though an interesting and thoroughly scientific work, and clear in its explanations, is rather fit to be read than to be studied or recited from; yet this was undoubtedly the best book for those not wishing to pursue astronomy professionally, but merely to acquire a sufficient knowledge of it for a liberal education, or to understand navigation and other branches of knowledge in which it is involved.

Mr. White's book is exactly what was wanted for this purpose, supplying all Herschel's defects for the student, being nearly or quite as clear, and much more concise. It also contains other matters which would not usually be found except in works on what is called practical astronomy, but which are necessary for any one who desires to make use of his knowledge; which end is also secured throughout by the precise and definite form in which every thing is treated. One often fancies he understands a subject, but finds that his knowledge is unavailable from not being sufficiently in detail.

The author has a thorough acquaintance with his science, and remarkable natural ability as a teacher, developed by long experience. It will be a decided waste of time for any one to undertake a similar book till the progress of science renders large additions to this absolutely necessary; and this is brought up to the actual date of publication, containing the latest results of the spectroscope, and the most recent determinations of the astronomical constants.

* * * * *

DIOMEDE. From the _Iliad_ of Homer. By William R. Smith. New York:
D. Appleton & Co.

This version of the Fifth Book of the _Iliad_ is as successful, perhaps, as any similar attempt yet made. If not as smooth and polished as Pope's, it is at least more accurate. But we venture to think that the author has mistaken the true metre for translating Homer. We believe the blank-verse of Tennyson the only one capable of rendering it adequately. Much as we appreciate the version before us, we have not yet seen any thing to equal Tennyson's "specimen translation" of the celebrated moonlight scene, (_Iliad_, Book viii.)

* * * * *

PATTY GRAY'S JOURNEY FROM BOSTON TO BALTIMORE. By Caroline H.
Dall. Boston: Lee & Shepard. 1869.

A pleasant and interesting story of Patty's journey to and stay in Baltimore. Though Patty was a little girl, she was nevertheless a true Yankee, and thought "that people must talk and act as they did in Boston, or they could not possibly talk and act right." She thought, too, "she could never love a 'Secesh;'" still, like a dear little girl as she was, she soon learned to love her uncle Tom and other relatives dearly. If the preface had been left out, the book might be a good one for children; it certainly cannot be good for them to have all the abuses of slavery served up again and again. That evil has been done away with, and, at least as far as the children are concerned, "let us have peace."

* * * * *

ECCLESIASTICAL MAP OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Arranged by
Rev. E. H. Reiter, S.J., of Boston, Mass. For sale by Fr. Pustet,
Bookseller and Publisher, 52 Barclay St., New York; 204 Vine St.,
Cincinnati, Ohio.

On this large and excellent map of the United States the seven Ecclesiastical Provinces into which the country is divided are distinguished by different ground colors, and the boundaries of the several dioceses in each province and of the vicariates apostolic are indicated by red lines. All the episcopal sees are marked by a line, either red or blue; while the archiepiscopal sees are shown by a combination of these two colors. We regard this map as a very useful publication.

* * * * *

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SHAKER, AND REVELATION OF THE APOCALYPSE. With
an Appendix. F. W. Evans, Mount Lebanon, Columbia County, N. Y.
June, 1869.

No man in our day should attempt to solve the religious question without a competent knowledge of the basis of the claims of the Catholic Church to being the church of God and her faith the true Christian faith. Her claim is prior to all others as an historical fact, and must be fairly set aside before another can be allowed to come into court. The author of the above autobiography is, as is usual with the opponents of the Catholic Church, sadly lacking in this knowledge. Among other absurdities, he tells us gravely that "the Roman Catholic Church was founded by Leo the Great"! Well, after all, that is an improvement on Rev. Justin D. Fulton, of Boston, who affirms, "Romanism is the masterpiece of Satan."

The author appears to possess a smattering knowledge of several things, and an exact and thorough knowledge of none. His book is a jumble of materialism and spiritualism, of infidelity, Protestantism, and credulity.

The language attributed, on page 80, to the late Archbishop Hughes, we venture to say was drawn from the writer's imagination.

* * * * *

HOSPITAL SKETCHES, AND CAMP AND FIRESIDE STORIES. By Louisa M.
Alcott. With illustrations. Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1869. Pp.
379.

_Hospital Sketches_ originally appeared in the columns of the Boston _Commonwealth_, over the signature of Tribulation Periwinkle, and are "simply a brief record of one person's experience," as an army hospital nurse. They are written in a pleasant, gossipy, natural style; the incidents, a judicious admixture of the "grave and gay," the humorous and the pathetic, being alike removed from the extremes of levity and gloom.

_Camp and Fireside Stories_, though more pretentious in style and elaborate in plot, are not, in our opinion, of equal merit.

* * * * *

BIBLE HISTORY; containing the most remarkable events of the Old
and New Testament. Prepared for the use of Catholic Schools in the
United States. By Rev. Richard Gilmour. With the approbation of
the Most Reverend J. B. Purcell, D.D., Archbishop of Cincinnati.
Cincinnati and New York: Benziger Bros. 1869. Pp. 336.

We can heartily recommend this as an excellent "intermediate" text-book in sacred history. Nor must we omit a special commendation of the publishers, who, as far as the paper and typography are concerned, are deserving of all praise. The illustrations are numerous, always pertinent to the text, and, generally speaking, satisfactory. An appendix contains "Maxims from the Sacred Scriptures," "The Christian Doctrine as seen in the Narrations of the Bible," and "A Bird's-Eye View of the Holy Land," the key to which last, strange to say, omits the city of Jerusalem.

* * * * *

THE LETTERS OF PLACIDUS ON EDUCATION. London: Richardson & Son.
For sale by The Catholic Publication Society, New York.

We commend these _Letters of Placidus_ to the careful consideration of educators. They are from the pen of a sound Catholic, an accomplished scholar, and one who evidently speaks from a thorough experience. Some, indeed, may think them bold in places; but all will find them to contain suggestions worthy of their deepest attention.

* * * * *

THE EMERALD. An Illustrated Literary Journal. Vol. III. New York:
The Emerald Publishing Company. 1869. Pp. 412.

This volume, in many respects superior to its predecessors, comprises an immense amount of interesting and entertaining reading matter, and is profusely illustrated.

* * * * *

THE OFFICE OF VESPERS; Containing the Order of the Vesper Service,
the Gregorian Psalm Tones harmonized, with the Psalms for all
Vespers during the year pointed for chanting. By Rev. Alfred
Young. New York: The Catholic Publication House. 1869.

Father Young has given us, we are glad to see, strictly Gregorian melodies, both in the ritual of the vesper service and in the psalm tones, such as are to be found in authorized editions of the _Antiphonale Romanum_. This is something we commend with all our heart. The melodies commonly found in our "choir books," "vesperals," and "services," are for the most part so garbled, both in the inflections and arrangements, as to leave very little of the original Gregorian tone standing. The chief merit of the book, however, consists in a new division of the tones, and of the psalms, by which but one pointing of the psalms is needed for chanting any one of the tones with their varied concluding cadences. Father Maugin attempted something of this kind in his _Roman Vesperal_, but succeeded only in reducing the different pointings to four. The simplicity of Father Young's arrangement cannot fail to be appreciated by organists as well as by the singers. With his book in our choirs we need not be condemned to hear the tiresome repetition of the same five psalms sung to the same five tones on every Sunday and festival in the year. We hope the author will find sufficient success with the present publication to give us, as he proposes, the _Hymnal_ and _Antiphonal_. With these we can have our vespers chanted as they should be, in their truly effective style and religious spirit, in comparison to which our so-called "musical vespers" are tame, unmeaning, and, spiritually, unprofitable.

* * * * *

THE TWO WOMEN: A Ballad. By Delta. Milwaukee: The Wisconsin News
Company. 1868.

This somewhat curious effusion gave us much pleasure as we read it. The smoothness and grace of the verse, and sometimes the diction, too, remind us strongly of Tennyson.

* * * * *

THE LIFE OF HENRY DORIE, MARTYR. By the Abbé Ferdinand Baudry.
Translated by Lady Herbert. London: Burns, Oates & Co. For sale by
The Catholic Publication Society, New York.

This neat little book is full of interest, as giving not only an admirable sketch of its noble hero, but also a view of the Corea and its inhabitants, for which the reader will be grateful who is eager to know more of that strange region, and the wondrous work that is doing there.

* * * * *

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY has just published a new and complete classified catalogue of all the American and English Catholic books now in print. To be had _free_ on application at 126 Nassau Street.

* * * * *

THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY has in press and will publish in a few weeks: _The Writings of Madame Swetchine_, 1 vol. 12mo, $1.50, uniform with _Life of Madame Swetchine_. _Hymns and Songs for Catholic Children_, containing the most popular Catholic hymns for every season of the Christian year, together with May songs, Christmas and Easter carols, and for the use of Sunday-schools, sodalities, etc.

THE CATHOLIC WORLD.

VOL. X., No. 56.--NOVEMBER, 1869.

THE LIFE OF FATHER FABER.[34]

In the life of Father Faber there was no sudden and violent change from the excitement of worldly affairs to the quiet of the cloister, no striking intervention of divine Providence, such as that which in a single day converted Ignatius from a courtier to a saint. He suffered, it is true, from spiritual conflicts and that rupture of natural ties which for so many converts to the faith is little short of a species of martyrdom; but the tender piety which beams from all his maturer devotional works seems to have filled his heart from boyhood, and his progress from heresy to faith was like the gradual development of a seed planted in his breast in early youth. Yet it is hardly in the Faber family that we should have looked for a phenomenon like this. They were of Huguenot origin, and proud of their religious ancestry; and their exiled forefathers, who settled in England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, we may fairly presume were honored in the family as confessors of the faith. The grandfather of the subject of these pages was the Reverend Thomas Faber, vicar of Calverley, in Yorkshire. Frederick William was born at the vicarage, on the 28th of June, 1814. His father, Mr. Thomas Henry Faber, was soon afterward appointed secretary to the Bishop of Durham, and removed with his family to the episcopal domain of Bishop Auckland. Durham had not yet lost its dignity as a County Palatine, and in the glories of the ancient city, where the bishop held his court with all the pomp and something of the power of royalty, there was much to impress a warm poetical imagination, like that of young Faber. The poetical faculty was afterward fostered by the beautiful scenery of the Lake country, when he was sent to school at Kirkby Stephen, in Westmoreland. There it was his chief delight to ramble alone among the hills and meres, and fancy the chases filled again with deer, the forests resounding with the hunter's horn, the ruined halls and castles resonant with feast and song, and the deserted abbeys vocal with prayer and chant. He shows his familiarity with this region in some of his published verses. Subsequently, he studied at Harrow, under Doctor Longley, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury, by whose kindness and influence he was reclaimed at a time when he had adopted infidel views. He gave himself with all his heart to the study of English literature; but the classics got rather less attention from him than they deserved, and his career at Oxford, where he was matriculated at Baliol College, in 1832, cannot be called a brilliant one. He was a man of scholarly tastes and of scholarly attainments as well, yet in certain of the highest requirements of the university he seems to have fallen short; for we hear of his failing once or twice, not indeed in his examinations, but in competition for a distinguished place. The fact probably was, that he applied himself with undue partiality to favorite studies, such as poetry and divinity. He was remarkable even at this time for graces of person and manner, fine conversational powers, and a rare faculty of attracting friends, notwithstanding a certain dangerous keenness in his perceptions of the ludicrous, coupled with great frankness in the expression of his feelings. "I cannot tell why it is," said one of his schoolmates at Harrow, "but that Faber fascinates every body." This remark was repeated to him afterward, and filled him with a sense of obligation to use the gift in promoting God's glory.