Chapter IX: The Verdict (6)

[294] From the time of Arnauld, the Jansenists, in order to maintain their doctrine intact in the _sense of Jansenius_, the spirit of (_à l'âme de_) his book, pretend to interdict the church from the condemnation of errors according to their sense in a system and in a book--that is to say, in an assemblage of propositions--as if the grammatical construction alone of every phrase completely determined the sense conveyed. In this time especially, when there is question of delicate matter treated by men who are constantly crying out, "Truth, truth!" but who ever have equivocations on their lips, no one, not even Sainte-Beuve, the titled panegyrist of Port Royal, has dared to exculpate the Jansenists for their indirect and tortuous course since 1653.

[295] This is a characteristic complaint in the camp of Jansenius. Between the Molinism which the church tolerates and the Jansenism she rejects there are other opinions tolerated, especially the Catholic doctrine professed by the Thomists and Augustinians in common with the disciples of Molina.

[296] After this declaration, if Döllinger still pretends that his friends in Holland are not Jansenists, he ought to maintain that neither Quesnel nor Jansenius ever were. _O science Allemande!_

[297] We find also in the Ricci archives (vol. xci. part 11, No. 136) the letter accompanying this act of adhesion. It bears the signature of "Gabriel du Pac de Bellegarde, ancien comte et chanoine de l'église primatiale de Lyon." It begins thus: "Monseigneur the Archbishop of Utrecht, messeigneur's his suffragans, and the messieurs of the Metropolitan Chapter of Utrecht, have given me, monseigneur, the honorable and agreeable commission of addressing to you _the act of adhesion to your holy synod of 1786_."

[298] Gautier Michel van Nieuwenhuizen, Adrien Jean Brœckman, Nicholas Nelleman.

[299] The bull is dated March 6, 1641--that is to say, 1642, the year beginning March 25--and was received in the Low Countries in 1643. The last signature of the clergy of Utrecht in favor of the _Augustinus_ is dated Feb. 10, 1642.

[300] _Reipublicæ Christianæ_, _libri duo_, p. 102 _et seq._

[301] _Port Royal_, vol iv. p. 20, in note.

[302] Archives of Malines, MS. volume entitled _Monumenta originalia et authentica de Jansenismo_, No. 32. The more I study facts by the light of these and several other documents preserved in the same archives, the more I am persuaded that historians have greatly overlooked the credit due to Humbert de Precipiano, while exalting that of his successor, the Cardinal of Alsace. Humbert de Precipiano inflicted terrible blows upon Jansenism in the Low Countries; he died just as the triumph for which he had prepared the way began.

[303] They added: "We are prepared to prove by Scripture, the councils, the testimony of the fathers, and especially by the authority of S. Augustine, that the doctrine set forth in this second column is the true doctrine of the church." This promise was not carried out until after the condemnation of Quesnel's _Réflexions Morales_; the monstrous book of the _Hexaples_ is the principal effort the Jansenists have attempted with this view.

[304] In the _Provinciales_, xvii. and xviii., Pascal himself defended the distinction between faith and right. (See Maynard, _Les Provinciales_.)

[305] _Œuvres_, ed. Bossutel biblioth. Mazarine, T., 2199.

[306] _Port Royal_, vol. iii. p. 92 and further.

[307] The French account of this interview was communicated, it is said, by the archbishop himself to Dr. Tregelles, who translated it into English, and inserted it in the _Journal of Sacred Literature_, No. 13, 1851. Neale reproduces it in his history. A Dutch translation was published at Utrecht in 1851--_Jaarbocken van Wetensch. Theol._, p. 749, etc. Capaccini died June 19, 1845, only a few months after his elevation to the cardinalate.

[308] See above, our general analysis of the Jansenist system.

[309] An author, unfortunately too well known, but who had before him all the original documents of this celebrated case, states in his _Breve Istoria delle Variazioni del Giansenismo_ (see also _Analecta Juris Pontificii_, 4th series, vol. ii. p. 2, col. 1251) that the Pope consulted with all the cardinals of the Holy Office, one after the other; that he himself took note of all the votes, which are still preserved. "The opinions of the Pontiff alone," he observes, "fill more than six large folio volumes."

[310] _Handbuch_, ii. 2, p. 827. _Cours_, manuscript of 1855.

[311] _Declaration_ addressed by the Archbishop of Utrecht and his suffragans to the Catholic world in 1826. This document is written in Latin; parallel with it is a French translation, from which this is taken.

[312] This word is italicized in the _Declaration_.

[313] _Declaration_, pp. 17, 19, 21.

A LOOKER-BACK.

"For as he forward mov'd his footing old
So backward still was turn'd his wrinkled face."--_Faerie Queene._

II.

Leaving Christ's Hospital, and rambling on, one soon comes to a church partly covered with ivy, in a yard filled with shrubbery and autumn flowers. It is S. Sepulchre's, the burial-place of Captain John Smith, the Virginia pioneer. It is almost a sacred duty to pay a passing tribute to his memory, notwithstanding a lifelong grudge against him for not rounding off his romantic career by wedding the dusky Pocahontas. The clock of this church has the sad distinction of regulating the hanging of criminals at Newgate. The tower has four pinnacles, each one bearing a vane with its own notions as to rectitude, which has given rise to the saying that "unreasonable people are as hard to reconcile as the vanes of S. Sepulchre's tower, which never looked all four upon one point of the heavens."

In old times, the bell of this church was tolled as criminals passed to Tyburn, and the bell-man cried: "All good people, pray heartily unto God for these poor sinners, who are now going to their death;" for which he received the sum of one pound, six shillings, and eight pence. A hand-bell was likewise rung for them to stop for a nosegay of flowers. It must have been a great consolation to them! And yet who knows but such silent messengers of God might not have spoken to many a heart inaccessible to human tongue?

In the XVIIth century a legacy of fifty pounds was left to S. Sepulchre's on condition that, before execution-day, some one should go to Newgate in the dead of night, and give twelve solemn tolls with a hand-bell by way of calling attention to the following appeal:

"All you that in the condemned hole do lie,
Prepare you, for to-morrow you must die:
Watch, all, and pray, the hour is drawing near
That you before the Almighty must appear:
Examine well yourselves, in time repent,
That you may not t' eternal flames be sent;
And when S. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls,
The Lord have mercy on your souls!
Past twelve o'clock!"

Plucking an ivy-leaf from the wall of S. Sepulchre's, our pilgrim kept on his way. West Smithfield at the corner of a street brought our friend Fox and his martyrs to mind, and he turned down towards the square where John Rogers met his fate. A tablet of Scotch granite fastened to the wall of S. Bartholomew's Hospital marks the spot. This tablet is protected by a grating, the upright rods of which terminate in gilded flames of most portentous brightness. He did not see any such tablet around London recording the numberless Catholic martyrs of Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth's time.

No dispassionate reader of history can regard the church as responsible for the sufferings of the so-called "Marian Martyrs." But let us thank God that such severe penalties are now obsolete in Catholic and Protestant lands alike!

Smithfield was the ordinary place of execution before Tyburn was used. The patriot Wallace was executed here on S. Bartholomew's eve, 1305. Shakespeare makes Henry V. say: "The witch in Smithfield shall be burned to ashes." In Henry VIII.'s time, poisoners were here boiled to death, as the old chronicles of the Grey Friars testify. Here is one quotation: "The x day of March was a mayde boyllyd in Smythfelde for poysing of divers persons." Evelyn records as late as 1652: "Passing by Smithfield, I saw a miserable creature burning, who had poisoned her husband."

But there are pleasanter memories connected with Smithfield, or Smoothfield, as it was originally called. It was once a famous tilting-ground. Froissart tells us how in 1393 "certain lords of Scotland came into England to get worship by force of arms in Smithfield." Here Edward III. celebrated the victories of Cressy and Poitiers by jousts and feats of arms; and Richard II., at the time of his marriage, ordered here a tournament of three days.

Passing through Smithfield market, one soon comes to the Charter House (a corruption of the French word Chartreuse), the old monastery of the Carthusians. The arched gateway is the original entrance into the realm of silence of those old monks. Over it two lions grotesquely carved support an en-tablature. The lion is typical of solitude and the wilderness, and is often found represented beside the hermits of the desert. A porter leads the way at once to the chapel by a passage paved with tombstones and hung with memorial tablets. One familiar name on the wall makes the heart leap, though a modern name:

GULIELMUS MAKEPEACE THACKERAY,
CARTHUSIANI CARTHUSIANO.

H. M. P. C.

Natus, MDCCCXI. Obiit, MDCCCLXIII.

Alumnus, MDCCCXXII-MDCCCXXVI.

Beside this white marble slab is one precisely like it in memory of John Leech.

The Elizabethan chapel is solemn and interesting with its dark oaken pews, its arched roof, on the keystones of which are carved the Charter House arms, and the monumental tombs here and there. A bright coal-fire in an open grate gives it a comfortable, homelike aspect that must be grateful to the aged pensioners. And there are hassocks of straw for them all to kneel upon. Over one of the doors is an arch of modern stained glass, but with colors of unusual richness, or seemed so, coming in from the neutral tints of a dense fog. There is Magdalen with her golden hair, and the other Maries, with beautiful faces and purple, red, and amber robes.

At the north of the chancel is the tomb of Thomas Sutton, the founder of the Charter House Hospital, in the style of James I.'s reign. He lies, cut in marble, on a marble tomb, with ruff and long gown, and hands folded palm to palm as peacefully as if they never itched to acquire riches. Two men in armor support an inscription attesting his beneficence. Some persons of a qualifying turn do say that he was, like many others who are very charitable with their money when they see the impossibility of keeping it any longer in their grasp, guilty of what has been called the "good old gentlemanly vice of avarice," and was the original of _Volpone the Fox_. However that may be, the many who are sheltered here have reason to roar as loudly as they can, and as we are told they do, on the 12th of December, with cracked voices and half-palsied tongues, the chorus of the Carthusian melody:

"Then blessed be the memory
Of good old Thomas Sutton,
Who gave us lodging--learning,
And he gave us beef and mutton."

Catholics, however, cannot forget that when young he took part in the Italian wars, and was present at the sacking of Rome. At a later period he commanded a battery as a volunteer at the siege of Edinburgh, when that city held out for poor Queen Mary. And he aided in the expedition against the Spanish Armada by fitting out a ship named Sutton for himself, which captured a Spanish vessel worth twenty thousand pounds. When he came to London to reside, it was reported that his purse was fuller than Queen Elizabeth's exchequer, and in time he became the banker of London, and had the freedom of the city.

On the 12th of December there is a great festival here in honor of the _Fundator_, and before it is over the pensioners and school-boys assemble in the chapel, which is lighted, as Thackeray tells, "so the founder's tomb, with its grotesque carvings, monsters, and heraldries, darkles and shines with the most wonderful shadows and lights."

At the south end of the chapel is a fine statue of Lord Ellenborough by Chantrey, in a sitting posture, robed as chief-justice. He was buried here at his own request, having been educated in the Charter House, and one of its governors.

As at Christ's Hospital, the visitor is allowed to wander alone through cloisters and quadrangles, as hushed and peaceful as when occupied by the Carthusians themselves. The pensioners (the school has been removed) seem to lead a kind of friar-life here, and in their seclusion ought to taste something of the peace of the cloister. They only lack the consecration of religion. One of them in cloak and cap came up, bowing with remarkable flexion of body considering his years, and politely offered to show the way with quite an air of proprietorship. His manner was gentlemanly, and he looked as if he might be some "disabled invalide from the campaign of vanity." In these days, when old people are apt to be regarded as unduly persistent about living, it is delightful to feel there are places of refuge for them like this, which confer a kind of dignity on fallen fortunes and declining life which is always a certain going down in the world.

We wonder if there is any service in the English ritual when these old gentlemen take shelter here. There surely ought to be. Some _Vade in pace_ ought to follow them under these arches, dying away little by little with the hours and fragrance of life, and leaving behind silence and repose of soul.

There is a touching custom here of giving the bell at night a number of strokes corresponding to the number of pensioners; and when one of them dies, his decease is notified by one stroke less than on the preceding evening. It was at the evening hour, as the chapel-bell began to toll, that Col. Newcome lifted up his head, said _Adsum_ with a smile, and died.

A bell like this must always have a knell-like solemnity of tone. It is a kind of curfew-bell, reminding the brothers that the evening of life has come, and its fires must be put out before lying down to rest. We can fancy them counting the strokes one by one every night, to learn if some light is for ever extinguished. The thought often occurs how we old people will find heaven--whether a place all youth, and freshness, and beauty. Are there to be no shades and gradations in Paradise, no stars differing from one another in glory, or faces in sweetness and serenity? Are the very angels that are to minister to us there all so full of grace and loveliness, and perfection of form, and crowned with everlasting youth? "Will there not be some comforting ones, shabby and tender, whose radiance does not dazzle nor bewilder; whose faces are worn perhaps, while their stars shine with a gentle, tremulous light more soothing to our earth-bound hearts than the glorious radiance of brighter spirits?" Who that is old and sorrow-stricken, or belongs to the poor and unloved ones of this world, does not feel the need of some such spirits to greet him there--need of some shadowy, sequestered spot where the brightness and love of that ineffable region will be tempered for us who have had but little cheer on earth, at least till our unaccustomed souls are fitted for loftier heights?

Many such--perhaps too human--dreams of heaven flitted across the mind while sitting on a bench beside some old graves in a yard at the Charter House that gloomy afternoon. Weary with climbing old staircases, going through old passages and old halls, where one only breathed the atmosphere of old times, perhaps the soul had become infected by the gloom of the place.

Borders of dull chrysanthemums grew along the gravelled walks--apparently a favorite flower in England, for they are to be found everywhere. A few trees with blighted leaves, instead of bright autumn foliage as in America, stood around with nothing in the world to do but look well, any more than Voltaire's trees, but, like many poor mortals, did not succeed very well. They looked weary of the struggle, and had a certain bowed, resigned look that was pathetic. How could anything look fresh and vigorous in that field of death? One cannot imagine the place peopled with boys full of life and fun, as it used to be.

The land on which the Charter House stands was a graveyard at the time of the great plague, five hundred years ago, being consecrated to that purpose by Bishop Stratford, of London, in 1348. Distressed that so many of his flock should be buried out of consecrated ground during the prevalence of the plague, he bought three acres of land called "No Man's Land" for a burial-ground, and erected a chapel thereon, where Masses could be said for the repose of the dead. The place became known as Pardon Churchyard and Chapel. We read of an early instance of lynching on No Man's Land previous to this time. A wealthy merchant, one Anthony of Spain, so exasperated the public by an excessive duty on wine that a mob dragged him barefoot to this spot, and here beheaded him, in November, 1326--doubtless on just such a dismal, foggy day as this, supremely adapted to give one desperate views, and aggravate the natural ferocity of the human animal.

The plague continuing to increase, the churchyard was enlarged through the charity of Sir Walter Manny, of knightly fame, who purchased a piece of land adjoining. An old ballad says:

"Thou, Walter Manny, Cambray's lord,
The bravest man those times record,
Didst pity take on the wand'ring ghosts
Of thy departed friends,
Didst consecrate to the Lord of Hosts
Thy substance for religious ends."

The next Bishop of London, Michael de Northburg, when he died, in 1361, bequeathed two thousand pounds, with all his leases, rents, and tenements, towards the foundation of a Carthusian monastery at Pardon Churchyard, together with an enamelled vessel of silver for the Host, another for holy water, a silver bell, and all his theological works. Sir Walter Manny, desirous of co-operating in this work, petitioned for a royal license to build a monastery here, to be called "The House of the Salutation of the Mother of God," and gave to it the land he had bought for a graveyard, consisting of thirteen acres and one rod. Sir Walter's charter was witnessed by the Earl of Pembroke, Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, and others. The monastery was completed in 1370, and was the fourth of the Carthusian Order in England.

The London Charter House was furthermore endowed by several other persons. Two hundred and sixty marks were bestowed in perpetual frank-almoign to build a cell for a monk who should offer daily suffrages for the souls of Thomas Aubrey and Felicia his wife, as well as all the faithful departed. Richard Clyderhowe, in 1418, gave up, "from reverence to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and for the health of his own soul and that of his wife Alicia, who was buried in the church of the convent, a lease of land he held in Rochester, that these religious might, in their orisons, remember him, his soul, the soul of his wife, the souls of his relations, children, and all his benefactors, and devoutly recommend them to God."

It is pleasant to find the Charter House interchanging charitable offices with its neighbor, the priory of S. John of Jerusalem. They exchange lands, and the prior of the Charter House offers a trental of Masses "that the soul of Brother William Hulles, Prior of the Hospital of S. John of Jerusalem, might the sooner be conveyed, with God's providence, into Abraham's bosom."

In the XVth century the Charter House became, for the space of four years, the residence of Sir Thomas More, who here gave himself up to devotion and prayer without taking upon himself any vow.

This monastery flourished about three centuries with a constant reputation for strict observance of the rules of the order and for holiness of life. It was during the time of Prior John Houghton, in 1534, that it was visited by the royal commissioners appointed by Henry VIII. to inspect all the monasteries of the kingdom, and draw up an account of their rules, customs, and revenues.

Most of the monks refused to subscribe to the king's supremacy, and the prior and procurator were committed to the Tower. They afterwards yielded to advice which they respected, but, suspected of disaffection, were summoned to renew the oath, and the prior was arraigned for speaking too freely of the king's proceedings, and, with two other Carthusians, was condemned to be hung, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn for refusing to acknowledge the king head of the church in England. As they were leaving the Tower to be executed, they were perceived by Sir Thomas More, imprisoned there for the same reason, who said to his favorite daughter, as if envying them: "Lo, dost thou not see, Meg, that these blessed fathers be now as cheerfully going to their deaths as bridegrooms to their marriage?" This was not long before his own martyrdom. There is at the South Kensington Museum a painting of Sir Thomas and his daughter, depicting this very scene. He stands looking down through the grated window. Margaret, tall and stately, with her father's left hand in hers, has her deep violet eyes raised steadfastly to heaven with the most appealing expression; her whole face calm and holy, but inexpressibly sad.

The heads of these monks were suspended over London Bridge--a bridge built, too, by religious--and Prior Houghton's mangled body was hung up over the gate of the Charter House. The next month three more monks of this house were executed for a like reason, and the remainder were called upon three times in one year to take the oath of supremacy--a proof that they were regarded as specially loyal to the pope. Of the ten who had subscribed two years before, nine now refused, and were committed to prison at Newgate, where they were chained in a filthy dungeon and starved to death. Their end was announced to Cromwell as "by the hand of God." Their keeper, Bedyll, gave him a list of these poor martyrs, adding: "There be one hole." This _whole_ one survived an imprisonment of four years, only to be executed at last.

All this did not take place without some supernatural manifestations to fortify the poor monks. It is recorded that "unearthly lights were seen in their church," and, at the burial of one of their number, all the lamps of the church were miraculously lighted, and one of the deceased brethren appeared to the monk who had nursed him in his last illness, saying that "the angells of pease did lamment and murn wᵗowt measur," and that my "lord of Rochester" and "oʳ Father" (Houghton) were "next unto angells in hevyn."

The remainder of the English Carthusians went to Bruges, where they remained till the accession of Mary, who, at the suggestion of Philip, it is said, invited them back, and gave them the old Carthusian monastery at Shene, near Richmond. They were exiled again in Elizabeth's reign, and returned to Belgium.

The south wall of the present chapel formed part of the old church in which were buried Sir Walter Manny, and Margaret his wife, and many other knights and dames. Prior Houghton's remains are supposed to be buried somewhere within the wall now marked by a cross and a huge I. H. It is recorded of him that he was so meek and humble that if any one addressed him as "my lord," or with any unusual deference, he immediately rebuked him, saying: "It is not lawful for poor Carthusian monks to make broad their phylacteries, or to be called rabbi by their fellow-men."

The Charter House was given to John Bridges, yeoman, and Thomas Hale, groom, as a reward for the safe keeping of the king's tents and pavilions which had been deposited here, but it afterwards passed through several hands. While owned by Lord North, Queen Elizabeth spent four days here, which so diminished his lordship's resources that he was obliged to live in retirement the rest of his life. James I. also passed a few days here when it was in possession of Lord Thomas Howard, in order to show his respect for a family that had aided and suffered for his mother. While here, he knighted more than eighty gentlemen--let us hope less awkwardly than he knighted Sir Richard Monopilies, of Castle Collop!

The Charter House was finally purchased by Thomas Sutton, the founder of the hospital. It is delightful to step from the noise and bustle of the streets into these secluded courts with grass-plots to refresh the eye, lime-trees to give shade, here a fountain in the midst of a garden, and there some old tombs, perhaps of the monks; on this wall some holy symbol left here ages ago, but not in vain, for it still speaks to the heart; and scattered around are seats for the pensioners to enjoy the sun and air.

The kitchen fireplace is capacious enough to roast fifteen surloins. What extensive means are always used to provide for the body which perisheth! If at least equal provision were made, as in the times of the old monks, to supply the needs of the soul! Does that get its three meals a day, and now and then a lunch or some refreshing draught? Are there none who labor day after day to supply the soul's hunger, as multitudes do to satisfy the cravings of the body? Yes, thank God! there is still an army of such spiritual people in the cloister and in the world, who only live to feed their higher natures. If they care for the body, it is merely enough to enable it to serve the soul. The world may call them "drones," but they are necessary in order to preserve the moral balance of the world, as an offset to the materiality of the day. Yes, the hermit, the contemplative, contributes in his degree to sustain the world, and this is why the suppression of such a class is an irreparable loss to society.

A BLOCK OF GOLD.

"France paid the Prussian indemnity like a proud debtor; it seemingly did not cost her any trouble to do so. Few nations could do as France has done within the past two years; none have ever excelled her in cancelling a monetary obligation." One hears such remarks occasionally; they were quite common a few months past. But what was the French indemnity? Five milliards of francs--that is, five thousand millions of francs, or one thousand millions of dollars in gold! To think of the sum is to make one feel covetous of a chip of the block; to see the whole sum in one block of gold is almost enough to make one cry out with Timon--

... "Thou valiant Mars!
Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer."

"_Ce que c'est que cinq milliards en or monnaye!_"

Well, we did not exactly know what five milliards of francs in gold or copper were. The cool February evening in the year of grace 1873, we were accosted in front of No.--Boulevard St. Denis by the above question. At the same time a polite French boy hands us a handbill, which told us that _un bloc d'or_, eight metres long, five metres high, and three and two-third metres deep, could be seen for fifty centimes--ten cents. This cube of one hundred and fifty metres contained one hundred thousand _rouleaux_ of fifty thousand francs each; each one of the rolls--_rouleaux_--contained two thousand five hundred pieces of twenty francs, and the whole two hundred and fifty million (250,000,000) pieces.

We paid the admission fee, and were ushered into the room where the gilded cube stood. A stout lady sat near the door knitting; the master of ceremonies was young and thin. We were the only visitor at 8 P.M. on the evening of February, 1873. We surveyed the cube, and admired the ingenuity displayed in its make-up; but it occurred to us at the time that, as a speculation, it was a failure. People, I thought, who have to pay a large debt don't care about being told the length, breadth, and height of their indebtedness; that it would be, perhaps, a success at Berlin. We thanked the thin master of ceremonies for his attention, respectfully bowed to the stout woman plying her knitting-needles; and walked along the boulevard with our back to the Pont St. Denis, asking ourselves what we could or would do with one or five milliards of dollars.

The other day we saw an old copy of the New Orleans _Propagateur Catholique_. It contained an article on the five milliards, which it credits to the Christian Brothers--_Les Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes_. It recalled our ten-cent investment of last February, and is so interesting, especially to all who are mathematically inclined, that we translate it.

In bank-notes of one thousand francs, the weight of each note being estimated at two grams,[314] the five milliards in paper would weigh ten thousand kilograms;[315] in gold, one million six hundred and twelve thousand nine hundred; in silver, twenty-five millions; in copper, five hundred millions. It would take one hundred men to carry the five milliards in bank-notes of one thousand francs each, allowing one hundred kilograms to each man; sixteen thousand one hundred and twenty-nine, in gold; two hundred and fifty thousand, in silver; five million, in copper. It would take a man to count the five milliards, at the rate of ten hours per day, and counting every minute sixty notes of one thousand francs--fifty pieces of twenty francs, sixty pieces of one franc, sixty pieces of five centimes--to count the notes, four months and nineteen days; the gold, nineteen years and ten days; the silver, three hundred and eighty years, six months, and eight days; the copper, seven thousand six hundred and ten years, four months, and seven days.

To remove this great sum of money in bank-bills one wagon would suffice, it being capable of bearing ten thousand kilograms; in gold, one hundred and sixty-one and one-third wagons; in silver, two thousand five hundred; in copper, fifty thousand. Allowing ten metres[316] to each wagon, those carrying the gold would extend sixteen hundred and ten metres; the silver, twenty-five thousand metres; the copper, five hundred thousand metres.

Placing the notes of one thousand francs one upon another, and giving each one a space of one tenth of a millimetre,[317] they would ascend to a height of five hundred metres. The diameter of the five-franc piece being equal to thirty-seven millimetres, the five milliards placed in the same direction, side to side, would form a chain thirty-seven millions of metres in length--almost the circumference of the earth, which is forty millions. With one-franc pieces placed as the preceding, they would encircle the globe twice and seven-eighths; with fifty centimes--ten-cent pieces--four times and one-half; with sous--cents--sixty-two times and one-half!

The Franco-Prussian war did not commence till July, 1870. Inside of three years the greatest of modern battles have been lost and won, and the heaviest fine ever laid upon a nation paid, and without interfering with the commercial classes or any important interest or branch of business in the fair land. Great in science, in war, in religion, she has given the world a proof of her magnificent resources, and that her children are still proud of _la belle France_, and filled with the "_sacré amour de la patrie_."

FOOTNOTES:

[314] Nearly equal to fifteen and one-half grains Troy.

[315] Equal to two pounds three ounces and 4.65 drams.

[316] The metre is equal to 39.37 inches.

[317] The thousandth part of a metre.

VIGIL.

Mournful night is dark around me,
Hushed the world's conflicting din;
All is still, and all is tranquil,
But this restless heart within!

Wakeful still I press my pillow,
Watch the stars that float above,
Think of One, for me who suffered--
Think, and weep for grief and love!

Flow, ye tears! though in your streaming
Oft yon stars of his grow dim;
Sweet the tender grief he wakens,
Blest the tears that flow for him!

R. S. W.

LENT, 1874.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

LOUISE LATEAU OF BOIS D'HAINE: HER LIFE, HER ECSTASIES, AND HER
STIGMATA. A Medical Study. By Dr. F. Lefebvre, Professor of
General Pathology and Therapeutics in the Catholic University of
Louvain, Honorary Physician to the Lunatic Establishment in that
town, Titular Member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium.
Edited by J. Spencer Northcote, D.D. London: Burns & Oates. 1873.
(New York: Sold by The Catholic Publication Society.)

We enjoy very much the chagrin and discomfiture of sceptical physicians, scientists, and other materialists, both learned and vulgar, in view of the great number of preternatural facts, both divine and diabolical, which have been thrust upon their unwilling sight during this present half-century. Heaven and hell appear to rival each other in startling the shallow self-complacency and incredulity of the hard-headed set who have filled the world with their boastful pretence to have overcome the superstitions of ages by their experiments and inductions. They have tried hard to ignore all the supernatural or preternatural facts and phenomena of the mystic order which have multiplied around them and challenged their investigation. But this proves to be a signal failure. Especially when men who belong to their own professional fraternity, whose learning and ability in their own class of sciences are undoubted, exhibit the results of careful study and investigation by means of experiment and induction from observed facts, as proving, on their own principles, the folly of their stubborn unbelief, do they cut a very sorry figure by persisting in ignoring and giving the _transeat_ to that which will not be ignored or passed over. The puerile banalities in vogue, such as "manifest imposture," "unscientific absurdity," "something which no intelligent person can believe," merely show to what straits the individuals are reduced who are forced to use them. They are like allusions to the color of an opponent's hair, or the shape of his nose, or the behavior of his relatives.

The effort at some kind of scientific explanation of the strange phenomena of spiritism, or the wonders of the divine mystical order which the former class of manifestations ape, which is occasionally attempted, fares no better. It breaks down at a certain point. Up to that point there is a common ground of physiology, psychology, and the higher spiritual science; and many things which appear to be beyond natural power or law may be explained and accounted for without supposing preternatural causes. But, ill-defined and uncertain as the boundary line may be, there is one, and one cannot pass it very far without being aware of the fact. We do not complain of scientists for being critical and difficult in respect to facts and evidence. We do not, in reference to the present case, inculpate their refusal to believe on motives of pure faith. The charge against them is that they are recreant to their own avowed method of investigation by experiment, observation, and induction.

No one can prove this so conclusively, or rout them so completely on their own ground, as one of themselves, who is conversant with physics, and at the same time has some logic, philosophy, and sound theology in his head; in a word, is, what they are not, a completely educated man. The volume before us is a specimen of what we are speaking of. We need not enlarge on the case of Louise Lateau, of which we have spoken before, and which is generally known. Sufficient to say that the book before us is a treatise on her remarkable ecstasies and stigmata by a physician, and written after the method of medical science, which establishes beyond a doubt their miraculous cause and origin.

THE HOLY MASS: The Sacrifice for the Living and the Dead. By
Michael Müller, Priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy
Redeemer. New York and Cincinnati: F. Pustet. 1874.

This is a work written in the true spirit of S. Alphonsus. It is not a reprint of the work entitled _The Holy Eucharist our Greatest Treasure_, by the same author, but an entirely new treatise. Its theology is sound and solid, its spirit most devout, and its style simple and popular. It is surprising that so hard-working a priest as F. Müller has been able to write so many excellent and edifying books, in a language, too, which is to him a foreign tongue. Every pious Catholic who reads this book will be charmed with it, and will find it most instructive and profitable. We are happy to be able to give it our unqualified commendation, and to recommend it in the most earnest manner to all the faithful, as well as to Protestants who are seeking for the truth.

THE LIFE OF THE VEN. ANNA MARIA TAIGI. Edited by Edward Healy
Thompson, M.A. London: Burns & Oates; New York: F. Pustet. 1874.

Mr. Thompson's biographies are of the first class in every respect. This one has a special interest on account of the relation which the life and prophecies of the venerable Roman matron sustain to recent and pending events of the greatest moment in human history. It is unfortunate that a most meagre and imperfect life of Anna Maria Taigi, which contains serious misstatements, afterwards discovered and regretted by the author, Mgr. Leuquet, has been already translated and circulated in this country. That life states that its subject fell into a grievous sin against her marriage vows, and remained without confession for a considerable time afterwards. This is proved to be false, and the fact is fully established that Anna Maria was pious and irreproachable throughout her whole life, and especially so during her whole career as a wife and the mother of a large family.

Apart from her supernatural gifts, the sanctity and virtue displayed by this wonderful and admirable matron, in a laborious and humble sphere, present a most beautiful picture and a most engaging example to woman in the married state.

The extraordinary graces granted to Anna Maria Taigi, her supernatural knowledge, and her remarkable predictions, have made her name famous throughout the world. This part of his subject Mr. Thompson has treated fully and judiciously. The exact fulfilment of the predictions she is known to have made of events already passed, especially those relating to Pius IX., who was elevated to the pontifical throne nine years after her death, has awakened a most intense curiosity respecting some others attributed to her regarding the present time and the approaching future. These are under the hands of the commission engaged with the process of her beatification, and have not been officially published. Those which are certainly known are inserted in the _Life_, and others, which are probably genuine, are added in the appendix.

The appendix closes with the following very apposite remarks, extracted from an extremely able and interesting article on modern current prophecies which appeared some time ago in the _Civiltà Cattolica_:

"It cannot be denied that the agreement of so many and various
presages in divining events the expectation of which is in the
hearts of the greater number of Catholics, possesses a persuasive
force, and is a kind of seal of high probability, if not certainty.
Wise Christians are unanimous in admitting that the church is a
prey to a diabolical and universal persecution hitherto unexampled;
wherefore God must come to her aid with succors proportioned to
the need, that is extraordinary. We find ourselves in this extreme
case: that the salvation of society, no less than of the church,
requires an unaccustomed intervention of Omnipotent power. If this
be so, how should we not believe that come it will?"

PLEADINGS OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. From the French, with
Introduction by a Catholic Priest. New York: The Catholic
Publication Society. 1874.

This little work bears the imprimatur of Cardinal Cullen. The introduction states the devotion to the Sacred Heart succinctly. The work itself consists of a reading for every day in the month. Each reading contains an instruction followed by a "reflection" and a "practice," together with a suitable example. Everything is excellent. We most warmly recommend the book to all who have or wish to acquire true devotion to the Sacred Heart.

LENTEN SERMONS. By Paul Segneri, of the Society of Jesus. Vol. II.
New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1874.

The present volume seems to us to contain a better selection of sermons than the one published two years ago. Those on "Avoiding the Occasions of Sin," on "Gaining a Brother," on "The Love of God in Afflicting us," on "The Cure of Disquieting Thoughts about Predestination," and "Encouragement to the Greatest Sinners to become the Greatest Saints," are perhaps especially remarkable. A translation necessarily labors under some disadvantages, but we think that the work has really been well done in the present case, and that small blemishes and misconceptions of the author's meaning are not more frequent than must always be expected when a work is rendered from one language into another. The English style of the book is good.

All those who have the first volume will, we think, desire to supply themselves with the second; and those who get the second will no doubt send for the first also. Another volume, to complete the set, will, we believe, be prepared.

THE DOVE OF THE TABERNACLE; or, The Love of Jesus in the Most Holy
Eucharist. By Rev. T. H. Kinane, C.C., Templemore. With a Preface
by His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Leahy, Archbishop of Cashel. New
York: P. M. Haverty. 1874.

Though several very good manuals of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament have lately appeared, this little book will not be a superfluity. It seems to us the most practical of them all, and the best calculated to induce the faithful to frequently hear Mass and worthily receive Holy Communion. In these latter days of the world and of the church, the sacraments are more than ever the special channels of God's grace, and every word tending to increase devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist is peculiarly valuable.

MEMORIAL OF THOMAS EWING OF OHIO. New York: The Catholic
Publication Society. 1873.

Without being a formal biography, this book presents us with the leading and many of the minor incidents in the life of an eminent statesman and jurist covering a period of over fourscore years. The scope of the work embraces an autobiography, a brief biography by the Hon. Henry Stanbery, and a judicious collocation of original letters and selections from current journals, thus enabling the reader to trace with little difficulty the various stages of a remarkable career, and form an estimate of an equally remarkable character. The value of the volume is enhanced by some delicate sketches, original and selected, prepared by the daughter of the subject, and editor of the _Memorial_, Mrs. Ellen Ewing Sherman, wife of Gen. W. T. Sherman.

The life of Thomas Ewing furnishes a very interesting study to the rising youth of our country, showing, as it does, how great difficulties may be overcome by industry and perseverance, how purity of character and a noble ambition win enduring fame, and, above all, how one who was singularly free from the corruptions of worldly prosperity, and undebased by the temptations of power, found at last the grace and strength which the sacraments of the church impart.

The child of an industrious frontiersman, whose first lessons were conned by the light of a pine knot, and whose primary education was paid for by his labor as a salt-boiler in Virginia, Mr. Ewing rose to the first rank at the American bar, was twice elected United States senator, and made a member of two successive Cabinets. Without wealth or friends, but with what to him was better, brains, industry, and an unstained reputation, he ascended to some of the highest positions in the land, and left them with ever-increasing honor. As a lawyer, he stood at the head of his profession before half his life was spent; in the Senate, he was the compeer of Webster✠ Calhoun, Clay, and Benton; as Secretary of the Treasury under Harrison, and of the Interior under Taylor, his foresight, honesty, and executive ability were freely and fully acknowledged by his associates.

But great as was his life--if genius and goodness constitute greatness--he was even greater in his death. For nearly forty years he had been contemplating the possibility of becoming a Catholic; for, though entertaining a profound respect for Christians of all denominations, he could not satisfy his acute and logical mind with the teachings of any of the sects. It was, however, only a week before his death that the grace of communion was vouchsafed him, and then, at his own request, he was admitted into the church, and shortly before his death received the last sacraments from the hands of the Most Rev. Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati. His long years of conscientious study and examination, his sincere prayers and unostentatious charity, were at length rewarded, and he was made a child of the church to which his beloved wife (long since deceased) belonged, and of which his children are faithful members. In these days of doubt and official dishonesty, few better examples could be held before the coming statesmen of the country.

We cannot close this notice without calling attention to the very elegant manner in which the _Memorial_ has been brought out. The paper is superior, the type large and distinct, the illustrations excellent, and the binding in rare good taste.

THE WORKS OF S. AUGUSTINE. Vol. IX. On Christian Doctrine, The
Enchiridion, etc. Vol. X. Lectures on S. John, Vol. I. Edinburgh:
T. & T. Clark. 1873. (New York: Sold by The Catholic Publication
Society.)

We have expressed our opinion so fully of the value of the previous translations in this series, that we only deem it necessary to say that the high reputation already achieved is well sustained by the present issues.

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED.

From DICK & FITZGERALD, New York: The Only Complete Ready Reckoner.
18mo, pp. 213.

From P. O'SHEA, New York: The Pride of Lexington. By William Seton.
12mo, pp. 365.

From KELLY, PIET & CO., Baltimore: In Six Months. By Mary M.
Meline. 18mo, pp. 299.

From BURNS & OATES, London (Sold by The Catholic Publication
Society, New York): True to Trust. 12mo, pp. 344.

From SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO., New York: My Kalula. By Henry M.
Stanley. 12mo, pp. xiv.-432.

From THE SOCIETY: Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Session of the
American Philological Society, held at Easton, Pa., July, 1873.
8vo, paper, pp. 34.

From THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR: Annual Report of the Operations
of the Department for the year 1873. 8vo, paper, pp. 36.

From J. R. DALY & CO., St. Louis: Response of the Hon. John Manvers
to a Resolution of the National Labor Council; also, An Address
by the Hon. R. F. Wingate on American Finance. 8vo, paper, pp. 32.

From P. F. CUNNINGHAM & SON, Philadelphia: A Sermon by the V. Rev.
James O'Connor, D.D., preached at the Month's Mind for the V.
Rev. Edward McMahon, Nov. 12, 1873. 8vo, paper, pp. 15.

From T., New York: Truth. 12mo, paper, pp. 46.

From THE AUTHOR: Speech of Alderman Samuel B. H. Vance in Relation
to the Nomination of Police Justices for the City of New York.
8vo, paper, pp. 21.

From HURD & HOUGHTON, New York: Cæsarism. By "Burleigh," of the
_Boston Journal_. 8vo, paper, pp. 36.

From MASTERS, LEE & STONE, Syracuse: College of Fine Arts of the
Syracuse University. 8vo, paper, pp. 11.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES

P. 288 sentence ends abruptly with no
continuation on following page. See
https://archive.org/stream/catholicworld18pauluoft#page/286/mode/1up.

Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical
errors.

Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed.

Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.