The Friendships Of Women.By William Rounseville Alger.Boston: Roberts Brothers. 1868.
Mr. Alger has certainly given us a charming volume, and one which is distinguished for its freedom from the weak sentimentality and doubtful moral tone that one fears to find in publications of our day, whose aim it is to treat of the passions of the human heart. He has chosen the noblest and purest examples in history to illustrate his subject, and the incidents of life are selected with good taste and judgment. The Catholic Church refines and elevates every genuine sentiment of the heart, and we should, therefore, naturally look for the most shining examples of friendship among those of her children who have instanced in their lives her divine power of purification and exaltation of the soul. The best examples in this volume are such—St. Monica, and her great son, St. Augustine; St. Scholastica and her brother, St. Benedict; St. Jerome and St. Paula; St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clara; St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal; St. Theresa and St. John of the Cross; Sir Thomas More and his daughter, Margaret Roper; Eugénie de Guérin and her brother Maurice; Madame Swetchine and Father Lacordaire. In several places Mr. Alger recognizes this fact, and acknowledges that the Catholic faith tends to foster pure and exalted friendships. Noticing some very remarkable intimate friendships which sprung up between certain holy priests and their female penitents, he adds: "Unquestionably there have been very numerous friendships, worthy of notice, between clergymen and devout women in the Protestant sects. But they are different from those in the Catholic communion, which has, in this respect, great advantages. In the Protestant establishment all are on a free equality, and the religion is an element fused into the life. With the Catholics, the overwhelming authority of the church invests the priests with godlike attributes, while celibacy detaches their hearts from the home and family, leaving them ready for other calls. The laity are placed in a passive attitude, except as to faith and affection, which are more active for the restrictions applied elsewhere: and religion is pursued and practised as an art by itself. The church ritual, by its dramatic contents and movements, peerless in its pathetic, imaginative power, intensifies and cleanses the passions of those who appreciatively celebrate or witness it, and who are naturally attracted together, as, in blended devotional emotions and aims, they cultivate that supernatural act whose infinite interests make all earthly concerns appear dwarfed and pale. The instances already cited of the friendships thus originating, suffice to indicate the wealth in this kind of experience which must remain for ever unknown to the public."
The fact is plain, although Mr. Alger makes sorry work in attempting to philosophize upon it. A month's experience in the confessional, if that were possible for him, would teach him with whom "religion is an element fused into the life," and that the faith of a Catholic is not a matter of sentiment only, and it might reveal to him, also, the secret of that holy friendship of which, in truth, the world outside knows nothing. It certainly does surprise us that, from his close perusal of the lives of these friends in God, he has failed to discover it. We can tell him, however, the reason why he has not found the secret of their affection, for we read it plainly on every page of his book. He fails to recognize the reality of the supernatural, and therefore has no appreciation of any friendship which is not wholly human in its foundation and motive. This is the fault we have to find with modern non-Catholic literature, and which renders it so cold and sterile.We are not the ones to carp at human love and human friendship. Both are of God, and blessed by him. The doctrines of Calvinism, which has darkened the spiritual life of those who have been nourished under its influence, and which stigmatizes the nature of man, with all its aspirations, as of the devil, devilish, is alone responsible for the degradation of the heart's affections, and that dearth of human friendship of which the author complains in his introduction, and the desire to reestablish which appears to have moved him to the composition of this work. The revolt against the doctrine of total depravity has resulted in pure naturalism and transcendentalism. Hence, human reason is deified together with the instincts. Reason is the highest, for there is nothing above it; and "act out thy instincts," is the holiest, for they are divine.
May not this inordinate cultivation of the passions, and their unbridled gratification, which is the burden of the sensational literature of our day, be a reaction from the unnatural restraints of puritanism? The actual state of things we leave our author to give in his own words. "The proportionate number of examples of virtuous love, completing itself in marriage, will probably diminish, and the relative examples of defeated or of unlawful love increase, until we reach some new phase of civilization, with better harmonized social arrangements— arrangements both more economical and more truthful. In the mean time, everything which tends to inflame the exclusive passion of love, to stimulate thought upon it, or to magnify its imagined importance, contributes so much to enhance the misery of its withholding or loss, and thus to augment an evil already lamentably extensive and severe." Why does not Mr. Alger ask himself the reason of this increasing immorality, and the diminution of the number of marriages? He says, again, "There never were so many morally baffled, uneasy, and complaining women on the earth as now." And why? His answer confirms what we have before said. "Because never before did the capacities of intelligence and affection so greatly exceed their gratification." Mr. Alger sees no other heaven than this earth, no "better part" than marriage; is blind to the supernatural end of man; fails to appreciate the examples of divine friendships he cites, and has no remedy to offer for the evils he deplores, but the stimulation of another human sentiment, purer in its conception, and less liable to abuse than the more ardent passion of love, and the establishment and cultivation of "woman's rights," to replace (we cannot help thinking it) the convent and its supernatural life of divine love; and substituting personal friendships for that charity which embraces the whole race. For, he says: "Now, the most healthful, effective antidote for the evils of an extravagant passion, is to call into action neutralizing or supplementary passions; to balance the excess of one power by stimulating weaker powers, and fixing attention on them; to assuage disappointments in one direction by securing gratification in another." And, again: "The good wife and mother fills a beautiful and sublime office—the fittest and the happiest office she can fulfil. If her domestic cares occupy and satisfy her faculties, it is a fortunate adjustment; and it is right that her husband should relieve her of the duty of providing for her subsistence. But what shall be said of those millions of women who are not wives and mothers; who have no adequate domestic life, no genial, private occupation or support? Multitudes of women have too much self-respect to be desirous of being supported in idleness by men, too much genius and ambition to be content with spending their lives in trifles; and too much devotedness not to burn to be doing their share in the relief of humanity, the work and progress of the world. If these were but all happy wives and mothers, that might be best. But denied that function, and being what they are, why should not all the provinces of public labor and usefulness which they are capable of occupying, be freely opened to them! What else is it save prejudice that applauds a woman dancing a ballet or performing an opera, but shrinks with disgust from one delivering an oration, preaching a sermon, or casting a vote?Why is it less womanly to prescribe as a physician than to tend as a nurse? If a woman have a calling to medicine, divinity, law, literature, art, instruction, trade, or honorable handicraft, it is hard to see any reason why she should not have a fair chance of pursuing it."
Mr. Alger, however, catches some faint glimpses of the truth to which we have alluded, and we wish that he would ponder well the full meaning of his own language, when speaking of the friendship of Madame Swetchine and Father Lacordaire—a friendship which appears to have been a subject of intense interest to him, and to have awakened his unqualified admiration. "No one who has not read their correspondence, reaching richly through a whole generation, can easily imagine the services rendered by this gifted and saintly woman to this holy and powerful man. Community of faith, of loyalty, of nobleness, joined them. It was in looking to heaven together that their souls grew united. Drawn by the same attractions, and held by one sovereign allegiance, such souls need no vows, nor lean on any foreign support.The divinity of truth and good is their bond." What is this "divinity of truth and good"? Is it God, the living, personal God, who redeems, inspires, regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies humanity, or is it not? What is the character of the life born of this communion in God? Are such friendships possible outside of revealed religion? We think not, and we regret that a mind of such culture as our author has shown his to be, should not see that he has been forced to go outside of the bounds of his own theory to find the realization of his ideal.
The final chapter of his work, "On the present needs and duties of women," is not so foreign to the title of the volume as one might be tempted to believe on a cursory reading. Mr. Alger finds, as he says in his introduction, that the position of woman in society is descending. He looks for some "new phase of civilization" to bring her back to a position of honor and usefulness equivalent to that which she is so rapidly losing. He blames Christianity and its traditions for making woman the weaker vessel, and reducing her to subjection under the rule of man, as the head of the divine institution of the family. It seems to us that this relative position of the man and the woman is established by pretty high authority.
"To the woman, also, he said, I will multiply thy sorrows and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children,and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee." This, however, Mr. Alger conveniently rejects as a legend. But does he forget that the Christian church emancipated woman, and redeemed her from that degraded condition, into which, for want of the regenerating influence of the supernatural life of that church, she is once again descending? We are not surprised to see Mr. Alger throwing all revelation aside, denying original sin and its consequences. But let him beware. He will drag humanity back into the state of barbarism, or drown it in the sink of heathen licentiousness. This modern spirit of materialism, this throwing off the yoke of divine authority, is the result of the old temptation, "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good from evil," and we are present witnesses to the curse that is falling upon those who give ear to the tempter. Men and women forget God, and there is a fearful resuscitation of the basest forms of heathen immorality among them. Will Mr. Alger tell us to what principle (either of civilization or of religion) he attributes the dying out of the non-Catholic native American stock in New England, and what new phase of civilization will prevent its total extinction?
Mr. Alger would regenerate the millions of women whose aimless life he deplores, by making woman equal in all the duties of life to the man. No matter what the whole world has said before, no matter what superstitious revelations have said, no matter if the teaching of the Bible distinctly shows the contrary, no matter if the Christian church affirms by the mouth of St. Paul, "I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence; for Adam was first formed, then Eve.""We are led," says our author, "by teachings of philosophy and science which we cannot resist," to differ with the traditions of the whole world and the Christian church, and as for the Apostle, "his logic limps;" for, "did priority of creation confer authority to govern, then man should obey the lower animals." (!)
Mr. Alger has a theory, and endeavors to illustrate it, and draw the logical conclusions. We fear that those conclusions will harmonize but ill with the experience of the human race, and will be found sadly wanting in their adaptability to its needs.
An Illustrated History Of Ireland.With ten first-class full-page Engravings of Historical Scenes, designed by Henry Doyle, and engraved by George Hanlon and George Pearson; together with upwards of 100 woodcuts by eminent artists, illustrating the Antiquities, Scenery, and Sites of Remarkable Events.1 vol. 8vo, pp. xiv., 581.London: Longman & Co.;New York: Catholic Publication Society, 126 Nassau Street.
We extend a most cordial welcome to this "Popular Illustrated History of Ireland." It is precisely such a manual of that deeply interesting and suggestive history, as should be in the hands of every man or woman who claims connection with the ancient race of the Gael, or who wishes to obtain a correct knowledge of that people. Such a manual could only have been produced in our generation. Thirty or forty years ago, it were an impossibility. Little was then known of the genuine materials of the history of Ireland; of the vast body of annals, which Eugene O'Curry deliberately affirmed, some twelve years since, must form the basis of any really intelligible version of the story of "ancient Erinn;" of the Genealogies and Pedigrees, the Historic Tales, the Law Books, the Topographical Poems, and of the whole mass of miscellaneous historical literature, which the national historian must avail himself of, before he can give us anything more than a dry and meagre outline; before he can bring out in full relief, the pregnant record of the colonization, conversion, invasions, persecutions, wars, struggles, triumphs and reverses; sufferings and sorrows of Innisfail; before he can supply those lights and shades, all those minute circumstances, "which explain not only historical events, but those equally or even more important descriptions, in which the habits and manners, the social ideas and cultivation, the very life of the actors in those events are" depicted for our instruction as well as entertainment. It is true there were then as now accessible scores, even hundreds of so-called "Histories of Ireland," from Dermod O'Connor's rude and ruthless translation of theForas Feasa Ar Eirinnof Dr. Geoffrey Keating, down through the ponderous volumes of Leland, and Warner, and O'Halloran, and Plowden, and Ledwich, and Musgrave, to the crude compilations of Taaffe, and Gordon, and Crawford, and Commerford, and Lawless; to the more polished and pretentious, but not practically more useful, rather more pernicious epitome of Thomas Moore. There were Ogygias, Itineraries, Collectanea, Chronicles of Eri, and such pedantic rubbish, in heaps on the shelves of public libraries, in old book-stores, in the closets and chests of fossilized book-worms. All of those pseudo-histories served rather to discourage than advance the study of the real history of Ireland; to bring into disrepute, rather than to exalt, the Irish name, and race, and nation, and the glorious church founded by the great apostle of the faith.
To a learned and faithful, though almost forgotten representative of the venerable priesthood of Ireland belongs the high honor of having produced, in the language of the stranger, the first truly original work of an historical nature, an able, erudite, and inspiring history of the most devoutly cherished inheritance of the race, the ancient church of his native land; and this, too, within the memory of men yet living, and not far past the prime of life. We allude to theEcclesiastical History of Ireland,of the Rev. Dr. John Lanigan, which was issued in four volumes octavo, from a Dublin press, in the year 1822.It commenced with the introduction of Christianity into Ireland, and closed with the era of the Anglo-Norman invasion. Half a life-time was given to the preparation of the book, the accomplished author of which "spared no pains in the collection and collation of such documents as materially" bore on the subject, and such as were in his time accessible in the British Islands, and on the continent. His aim was "to exhibit a faithful picture of the doctrine and practice of the ancient Irish Church, and to show its connection, at all times, with the universal church of Christ." This he did as far as it was then in the power of a great and zealous scholar to do. But he felt, and his contemporaries were by him taught to appreciate, the want of a familiar and critical knowledge of the immense stores of Celtic lore, the full magnitude and importance of which it has since taken more than the average of a generation of unprecedentedly diligent research, and of unsurpassed ability, to ascertain and make clear.
Soon after the publication of the really great work of Dr. Lanigan—now altogether out of print—the famous Ordnance Survey of Ireland was fairly entered upon. In its prosecution, some of the most profoundly learned men of the country were employed, under the superintendence of Colonel Thomas A. Larcom and Dr. George Petrie. It was in connection with this great national undertaking that the knowledge and skill of the lamented scholars, Dr. John O' Donovan and Professor Eugene O'Curry, were first utilized for the public good. Thenceforward, with and without the aid of government, these great men pushed earnestly, enthusiastically onward, in their investigations into the extant materials of their country's history; rescuing from oblivion and decay priceless memorials of the past, in every form and shape, in Ireland and elsewhere whither they were called upon to exert themselves; and classifying, systematizing, translating, editing, annotating, and publishing, with unremitting industry, and with marvellous power and tact, until they ceased from their labors for ever, and passed hence to their reward. Great, indeed irreparable, was the loss which the history and literature of Ireland sustained in their deaths.
Without the impetus given to the investigation of the past of Ireland by the great, single-handed enterprise of the Rev. Dr. Lanigan, it is questionable whether the progress that was made in the succeeding thirty years could possibly have been achieved in the interest of the historical literature of the nation. Without the help of O'Donovan and O'Curry and Petrie, the race could not have had placed within its reach so vitally important a portion of that literature as has been given to the public in a thoroughly scholarly form and style, within the past twenty-eight years, by the Irish Archaeological, Celtic, Ossianic, and kindred archaeological societies, by Messrs. Hodges & Smith, by Mr. James Duffy, of Dublin, and through various other agencies. Without the advantages resulting from their labors, we could not have had the many very able works on general and special topics of national historical interest which, within our own recollection, have proceeded from the pens of truly national writers. Without the vast stores of information acquired by O'Donovan and O'Curry themselves, while prosecuting their fruitful studies and researches, even theIrish Grammarand the magnificent version of theAnnals of Irelandof the former, and the celebratedLectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History,the crowning work of the latter, could not have been produced in our day and generation. And it is saying no more than is frankly avowed by the vigorous writer of thePopular Illustrated History of Ireland, that, without the benefit of the light that has been thrown upon bygone times in Ireland, since Dr. Lanigan published hisEcclesiastical History, this latest and best of the modern histories of Ireland could not have been prepared for publication, and issued in such an appropriate style.
The work before us, for a copy of which we are indebted to "The Catholic Publication Society," makes a handsome octavo volume of over 600 pages, divided into 36 chapters, prefaced by an admirably written and very timely disquisition on the Irish land and church questions, the most vital questions of reform in Ireland in our time; and supplemented by a very full index.It is illustrated by ten full-page historical engravings, from designs by Mr. Henry Doyle, a worthy son of the noble Irish Catholic artist, Richard Doyle, who refused to prostitute his genius in the interests of the assailants of his church through the columns of the LondonPunch; and by over one hundred very beautiful sketches on wood of the scenery, antiquities, sites of remarkable events, etc. etc. The illustrations, woodcuts and all, are in the very best style of the art which they represent. Mr. Doyle's contributions of themselves would form an attractive collection. The emblematic title-page, suggestive of all that is grand and noble in the period of the independence of the nation, is an exquisite picture. Of rare merit, likewise, are most of the other designs furnished by Mr. Doyle. The Emigrant's Farewell, opposite page 571, is a truthful, characteristic, and painfully suggestive sketch.
The narrative itself is as fine a specimen of comprehensive analysis and condensation as we have any knowledge of. It faithfully reflects the present advanced state of historical research in and relating to the country. It embodies all the ascertained facts of the history of Ireland. The character of its early inhabitants; their social, civil, and religious habits and customs; their martial, legal, literary, and—noblest, most glorious, most enduring of all—their missionary triumphs; all are accurately, though succinctly, portrayed. The tragic eras of the history of the nation, from the Invasion to the achievement of Catholic Emancipation—more than 650 years—are also limned in vivid colors. No available source of information has been unheeded by the writer, who seems to have not merely read, but studied earnestly, every published work of value or interest, down to the very latest publication, bearing directly or indirectly on the subject, not even excepting the driest and most abstruse of the several society tracts and monograms of the archaeologists. The sketches of early Celtic literature are worthy of even O'Donovan or O'Curry, brief, precise, and satisfactory. The book is trustworthy in all its peculiarities, eminently so in its text and notes, which are presented in a clear, unaffected, but most interesting style, and with a conscientiousness which is not obtrusive, but which is recognizable in every line of the writer.
We have been so interested in the details of the history, and so delighted by the more purely narrative parts, that we find we have marked for citation several peculiarly striking passages, for which we have no room. One passage which we give will serve as the meetest conclusion to our notice of the work; as well as to indicate the spirit of the history, and illustrate the flowing, artless, and pathetic style of the writer. In treating of the extant memorials of St. Patrick, it is thus beautifully remarked:
"One prayer uttered by St. Patrick has been singularly fulfilled. 'May my Lord grant,' he exclaims, 'that I may never lose his people, which he has acquired in the ends of the earth.' From hill and dale, from camp and cottage, from plebeian and noble, there rang out a grand 'Amen.' The strain was caught by Secundinus and Benignus, by Columba and Columbanus, by Brigid and Brendan. It floated away from Lindisfarne and Iona to Iceland and Tarentum. It was heard on the sunny banks of the Rhine, at Antwerp and Cologne, in Oxford, in Pavia, and in Paris. And still the old echo is breathing its holy prayer by the priest who toils in cold and storm to the 'station' on the mountain-side, far from his humble home. By the confessor who spends hour after hour, in the heat of summer and the cold of winter, absolving the penitent children of Patrick. By the monk in his cloister. By noble and true-hearted men, faithful through centuries of persecution. And loudly and nobly, though it be but faint to human ears, is that echo uttered also by the aged woman who lies down by the wayside to die in the famine years, because she prefers the bread of heaven to the bread of earth, and the faith taught by Patrick to the tempter's gold. By the emigrant, who with broken heart bids a long farewell to the dear island home, to the old father, to the gray-haired mother, because his adherence to his faith tends not to further his temporal interests, and he must starve or go beyond the sea for bread. Thus, ever and ever, that echo is gushing up into the ear of God, and never will it cease until it shall have merged into the eternal alleluia which the often-martyred and ever faithful children of the saint shall shout with him in rapturous voice before the Eternal Throne."
Legends Of The Wars In Ireland.By Robert Dwyer Joyce, M.D.1 vol. 12mo, pp. 352.Boston: James Campbell. 1868.
This handsome little volume is, we believe, the first contribution of Dr. Joyce to Irish-American literature since his arrival in this country. We have read several of his sketches, years ago, in the Irish periodicals, and one of them, the "Building of Mourne," appeared in one of the first numbers of this magazine.
The stories Dr. Joyce has collated in this volume are told in an easy, racy style, and make pleasant reading for a winter's evening. They please us better than the majority of the sketches and stories about Ireland which have frequently appeared here and in England, as they are, with a few exceptions, free from that exaggeration of plot and detail which take away the moral effect of too many of the so-called legends. The book contains the following stories:
A Batch of Legends;The Master of Lisfinry;The Fair Maid of Killarney;An Eye for an Eye;The Rose of Drimmagh;The House of Lisbloom;The White Knight's Present;The First and Last Lords of Firmoy;The Chase from the Hostel;The Whitethorn Tree;The White Lady of Basna;The Bridal Ring;The Little Battle of Bottle Hill.
Verses On Various Occasions.By John Henry Newman, D.D.London: Burns, Gates & Co.For sale at the Catholic Publication House.
Dr. Newman has conferred a long-expected favor upon many friends in the collection and publication of his poems under the present form. Those who have known and honored his course will appreciate the thoughtfulness which prompted him to subjoin the dates of their composition, as also the names of places where they were written. To such also those poems will, of course, be of the greater interest, which are, in fact, the sighs of his troubled heart as God led him step by step toward the church. These were composed between 1830 and 1833, and make up a large part of the volume. In theApologiawe get an insight into the trials of his mind, as he faithfully held fast to truth, and fought for it, even against his own, for conscience' sake. Here we look into his heart, and witness the communion of his spirit with God. Dr. Newman had many to doubt the sincerity of his course, the purity of his motives, and the singleness of his purpose. Who can read these spoken thoughts, spoken rather to God than to man, and doubt him still? We cannot refrain from transcribing one already well known, which is remarkable for the expression it conveys of the deep emotions of his soul at a time when his mind was torn with anxious doubt concerning the truth of Anglicanism. He felt, as most converts feel in their journey to the Home of Faith and Truth, that they are on the way to a promised land, led by the cloud of desolation that God raises in the desert, and yet know not where that Home is nor of what sort or fashioning it may be. The poem we allude to is entitled,
"THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD."Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,Lead thou me on!The night is dark, and I am far from home—Lead thou me on!Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to seeThe distant scene—one step enough for me."I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thouShouldst lead me on,I loved to choose and see my path; but nowLead thou me on!I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,Pride ruled my will; remember not past years."So long thy power hath blest me, sure it stillWill lead me on,O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, tillThe night is gone:And with the morn those angel faces smileWhich I have loved long since and lost awhile."
"THE PILLAR OF THE CLOUD."Lead, Kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,Lead thou me on!The night is dark, and I am far from home—Lead thou me on!Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to seeThe distant scene—one step enough for me."I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thouShouldst lead me on,I loved to choose and see my path; but nowLead thou me on!I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,Pride ruled my will; remember not past years."So long thy power hath blest me, sure it stillWill lead me on,O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, tillThe night is gone:And with the morn those angel faces smileWhich I have loved long since and lost awhile."
We think some one has said—and if not, we say it ourselves—that the next difficult thing to writing a book is to give it a name. What every one has not failed to notice, who is conversant with the sermons of Dr. Newman, we find equally true of these poems, the felicity of his choice of titles.It is the touch of genius; and we venture to assert that Dr. Newman excels in this all living writers. There is no evidence that these "Verses" were written or are published now for poetic fame, and yet no one can help but accord to them the praise due to poetry of a high order of merit; revealing at the same time, as they do, what a great deal of true poetry does not and need not necessarily show, the mind of the scholar and of the master of language. The volume closes with the remarkable poem entitled, "The Dream of Gerontius," which our readers have already enjoyed from the pages ofThe Catholic World.
The Blessed Eucharist Our Greatest Treasure.By Michael Müller,Priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer.Baltimore: Kelly & Piet.
This work is written in plain and unaffected style to promote the noblest, best, and most useful of objects, the devotion to our Lord Jesus Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar. Catholics are taught and believe this great mystery of love; but many, though they believe, do not seem to realize sufficiently what it is they believe. They have not thought much upon it. They have, not penetrated its depths. Their knowledge is superficial, and their devotion consequently is cold. And this for many reasons is particularly the case in this country. Here we have immense congregations and few priests, and they loaded down with the building of churches, and a variety of work which has been already done in other countries. The people often are either out of reach of the church, or struggling for the means of living, and therefore have grown careless, and failed to receive the instruction which they require. Hence there is need, and great need, of all the means of instruction which can be brought to bear, and good books on the grand doctrines of religion are calculated to do an incalculable amount of good. This book of Father Müller's is intended to supply much needed instruction on the Blessed Sacrament, and we hope it will receive an extensive circulation. In reading it, we are reminded of theVisits to the Blessed Sacramentby Saint Alphonsus, which have been so acceptable and useful throughout the whole church, and we do not doubt many souls will derive great edification and pleasure from its perusal.
The Cromwellian Settlement Of Ireland. By John P. Prendergast, Esq. With three maps. 1 vol. pp. 228. New York: P. M. Haverty. 1868.
This is the most thoroughexposéof the wholesale plunder and robbery of the unfortunate Irish by the English soldiers under Cromwell yet published. It quotes the documents by the authority of which the land was taken from its rightful owners, and parcelled out to the jail-birds of the "protector."
Mr. Prendergast is a Dublin lawyer. He was in the circuit in the counties of Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary for ten years, when he received a commission to make pedigree researches in the latter county. His search for documents relating to Ireland was not confined to that country alone. He visited England, and examined the extensive Irish documents in the libraries there. But, he tells us, it was in the castle of Dublin he found the most important ones. These, along with extracts from others, found elsewhere, make up his book. It is full of historical materials on the confiscation of Ireland, never before published, which make it an important work to be studied by every student in Irish history. It throws a flood of light on the manner in which the Irish were robbed, exiled, murdered, and for no other purpose but to get their property for the invaders. It tells a sad and sickening story of wrong and outrage, unknown in the history of any other country in Europe, much of which has been kept hidden, because the guilty parties did not wish such things should see the light. But truth, like murder, will out, and Mr. Prendergast, who, it is well to observe, is not a Catholic, has done a good service to the cause of truth, in the volume before us.
Manual Of Physical Exercises.By William Wood.With one hundred and twenty-five illustrations.New York: Harper & Brothers. 1867.
That physical education is absolutely necessary to a full and perfect development of the intellectual faculties, is now universally conceded. In this connection, therefore, we have but to add that the manual now before us gives, in simple phrase, aided by, numerous appropriate illustrations, a vast amount of information by which our health may be preserved, our strength increased, our mental powers as a consequence improved, and therefore, not only our individual comfort promoted, but our general usefulness as members of the body politic very materially enhanced.
Lives Of The Queens Of England, From The Norman Conquest.By Agnes Strickland, author ofLives of the Queens of England.Abridged by the author.Revised and edited by Caroline G. Parker.New York: Harper & Brothers. 1867.
This excellent abridgment presents us with a series of pen-portraits, strikingly and impartially depicted, of the Queens of England, from Matilda of Flanders, wife of William the Conqueror, to the present queen-regnant, Victoria. While giving, in a modified form, the more delicate facts of their history, it carefully retains all that is essential to a complete knowledge of their lives, public and domestic, their political triumphs and reverses, their private joys and sorrows.
Home Fairy Tales.By Jean Macé.Translated by Mary L. Booth.With Engravings.New York: Harper & Brothers. 1868.
In its illustrations, binding, and typographical excellence, this volume ranks first amongst the many which, during the holiday season just passed, have attracted the favorable regard of the rising generation. But, while cheerfully according this meed of praise to the Messrs. Harper, and no less acknowledging the merit of Miss Booth's translation, a vivid remembrance of what best pleased ourselves, in days gone by, compels us to add, that these tales, unlike many others we might enumerate, will never become household words with children. Fairy tales intended, as these evidently are, to convey a moral, may be likened to sugar-coated pills. The fault with these tales is, that the coating, so to speak, is too thin, and, consequently, the unpalatable though sanative globule too easily detected.
The Lovers' Dictionary.A Poetical Treasury of Lovers' Thoughts, Fancies, Addresses, and Dilemmas, indexed with ten thousand references, as a Dictionary of Compliments, and Guide to the Study of the Tender Science.New York: Harper & Brothers. 1867.
Of this anonymous volume, if the author's judgment and good taste had equalled his industry, mere mention on our part would suffice. But even a cursory examination compels us to add that, while it contains many beautiful poems and elegant extracts, we found very many indifferent, not a few objectionable from a want of appositeness, and some that should not have been inserted.
Should the author compile another volume, intended for the impressible of both sexes, we heartily wish him, in consideration of his zeal, "a little more taste," the more fully to carry out his good intentions.
"The Catholic Publication Society" has the following books in press, and will publish them as follows:
March 10,The Diary of a Sister of Mercy;April 1,In the Snow; or, Tales of Mount St. Bernard, by Rev. Dr. Anderdon;April 20,Nellie Netterville; or, A Tale of the Times of Cromwell, by Miss Caddell;May 10,Problems of the Age.