man of the name of Weld" (p. 366); that said "gentleman" having already been cardinal, and having departed several years before, to receive, we trust, the full reward of a most virtuous life. And so, with equal felicity, she elevates the learned principal of the English college to the episcopal rank (p. 300). But further, Mrs. Trollope has given us the new and important information that "many Roman families have hereditary rank of bishop in the Church" (p. 366).

Now, while a person can blunder in matters so palpable and easy to ascertain, it is not wonderful that she should slashingly cut to pieces that of which she could know nothing. She talks of the ignorance of the people with whom she manifestly never conversed, and of the workings of a system, religious and political, which she certainly never investigated. On her way from Rome to Naples, she, shut up in a carriage, and hurrying on from stage to stage, could see "ignorance and superstition as prominent features that meet the observation of the traveller" (p. 203). Really! how does this ignorance so clearly show itself? Is it in the faces of the people, or on their sign-boards, that "they who run may read it ?" "Of schools,' she goes on, "I could hear nothing." Does Mrs. Trollope think that schools are to be kept in inn-yards, for the special accommodation of lady travellers? Or did she look out for "National School" on the front of some house, and was disappointed in her search? Now we can tell Mrs. Trollope that she did not pass through a single village (she is speaking of the Papal States beyond Rome) in which there are not a boys' and a girls' school-aye, and gratuitous ones too. But on this subject of education she gives us the portentous intelligence, that the pope has abolished at Bologna, and in all his dominions, all "professorships of logic, metaphysics, morals (!), algebra, and geometry" (p. 28). And then, after some mysterious points, she adds: "It was from Bologna that professor Orioli was banished." One would really imagine that this demigod (for some such thing he appears in the first volume) had been banished for teaching some of these dark sciences, perhaps morals! But Signor Orioli was not banished, but most patriotically ran away from Bologna, after having excited his scholars to sedition and rebellion, raised a revolution which brought down misery on his country, formed, we believe, part of its provisional government, and when the hour of peril arrived, acted on the philosophic principle, that the better part of valour is discretion, and disappeared. One thing this worthy junta took care not to leave behind them-the public chest. Such are Mrs. Troliope's favourites in Italy; for, while she is a thorough enemy to all revolutionary and sans culotte movements and parties in England, she worships them in Italy.

Her theories on religious matters are extremely profound. Thus the “idleness" of the Italians is owing to the "eternal recurrence of Popish fetes and festivals" (p. 203), on which subject we would recommend her to consult Lord John Manners: and the splendid churches of Venice are not to be wondered at, because it is natural to expect, that in a Roman Catholic country, where numerous incentives to the love of pleasure are led on by the possession of abounding gold, churches should be built, enriched, and beautified, to atone for the irregularities so produced" (p. 121). In which theory, we presume that it is the atonement" that one must consider peculiarly Catholic, not the "love of pleasure" or "the gold:" otherwise London or America ought to have the best churches.

But truly never did writer or traveller stuff his or her pages with strange mistakes more fully than our learned lady. Scarcely an Italian word or name is spelled right, scarcely a phrase given (save in quotations) is correct; yet

she tells us long and brilliant conversations which she must have held in Italian. She wonders why the campagna is not made to produce corn (p. 103): and it so happens that it does, not only to fill the granaries of Rome, but to export it to other countries. She looks for the Clitumnus at Spoleto (not Spolito), and, marvellous to say, she finds it without a drop of water (p. 171), for the very good reason that the Clitumnus never was, nor will be, at Spoleto. It was full of water when Mrs. T. drove for at least two miles along its banks, and she might have seen it gush out in full stream from under the road, able in its cradle to turn a mill near the village of Le Vene. In her ecclesiastical history she is "sadly to seek." She tells us she was "grilled like St. Anthony" (vol. i. p. 45), scarcely more accurately than elegantly she has never heard of our Lady's "presentation in the temple," and therefore transforms Titian's splendid painting of the subject at Venice into our Saviour's presentation "at the age of eleven or twelve" (!) and corrects Mrs. Starke's right explanation of it (p. 103). And when she visits the venerable basilica of St. Ambrose, at Milan, she is shown, she tells us, a relic of "the brother of St. Satyrus. Why the bedstead," she adds, "of a saint's brother should be held in such veneration, we were not informed" (p. 384). Truly not: because you were told no such thing as you tell us. The better informed reader will smile as he sees through the mistake, arising, no doubt, from imperfectly understanding the guide. St. Satyrus was the brother of St. Ambrose, and St. Marcellina, about whom Mrs. T. is equally in the dark, was the sister of both. Among the curiosities of this church, she stumbled upon a very extraordinary a coffin! And whose does the reader think it was? for it was "in a dark and obscure little chapel." Why the guide, looking at Mrs. Trollope, "said with a sort of jeering smile, it is only the body of Monsignore the bishop, who died yesterday, and will be buried to-morrow.'" (p. 385.) See how cheap these good papists of Milan hold their bishop! However, as his eminence Cardinal Gaysruck still occupies, as he did long before Mrs. Trollope's visit to Italy, the archiepiscopal throne of that city, we will not puzzle ourselves or our readers with inquiring, either how he got into that coffin the day before, or how he got out again the day after, Mrs. Trollope's visit to the church. We will rather lay this to the score of some little misunderstanding. With such abundant data in her mind for rightly judging of the Catholic religion, we must be greatly beholden to our lady authoress for so kind a judgment as the following:

one

"I was left to decide for myself, whether it is not possible for a person of perfectly enlightened views in politics to be still a faithful Roman Catholic. I have heard many people, and of more nations than one, deny the possibility of this; and declare that freedom of mind, on any subject, was perfectly incompatible with Popish restraint; but I doubt the truth of this doctrine. I see no reason why a Roman Catholi, because he conscientiously believes the creed that has been taught him, should therefore be incapable of forming a rational opinion upon the wisest manner of regulating the affairs of men." - vol. ii. p. 302.

Truly this is consoling-nay more, it is flattering: and the spirits of such men as Bossuet, Stolberg, Fenelon, and Schlegel, may well be soothed by the doubt, which Mrs. Trollope entertains, whether they were really incapable of forming rational judgments.

But we must really draw to a close; for we are tired with plucking and arranging flowers, where the ground is so rich. Mrs. Trollope herself solves a problem which seems much to puzzle her—the difficulty of getting hold of Italians. Wherever she goes, she meets plenty of English, French and Germans but no Italians. (vol. i. p. 154.) She finds them at Venice quite

exclusive. She hopes for them at Rome; but somehow or other they do not come. Yet she courts them, she wants them; and, moreover, she is surrounded by them, she is in the midst of them, night after night, at "Donay's" coffee house, and at the Cascina; but in vain. Is it wonderful? Mrs. Trollope did not know, perhaps, that they have had enough of note-takers and book-makers among them, from our country, to stand in dread of any more. They have admitted English ladies into their society, who have violated the holy laws of hospitality, and have held up to contempt the good-natured people who have been civil to them. Whether Mrs. Trollope's American reputation may have helped her in this matter or no, we cannot pretend to say we should doubt whether her name is much known in Italy. But burnt children dread the fire, or, as the Italian proverb better expresses it for our purposes, "the scalded man dreads even cold water." English people have been excluded from true Italian society on account of the liberties which some of them have taken with its reputation. Mrs. Trollope's work shows that in her case they were right. She has contrived to malign their religion and their country with the help of the scanty and blundering materials which she has collected; what would she have done if she could have got at more?

ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL.

THIS noble edifice was consecrated on the 26th of October, 1834, by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Rosati, the estimable Bishop of this diocess, to whose architectural taste and persevering energy his flock are indebted for its design and execution. The few faults in its architecture are overlooked in its general beauty and symetry. The length of the whole building is one hundred and thirty-six feet, and its breadth eighty-four. The front is of polished free stone, and fifty feet in height. It has a portico forty feet wide, supported by four columns of the Doric order, with corresponding entablature, frieze, cornice, and pediment. The frieze has the following inscriptions in bas-relief: "In honorem S. Ludovici. Deo Uni et Trino. Dicatum A. D. MDCCCXXXIV." The spire rests upon a stone tower, which rises from the foundation to a height of forty feet above the pediment, and is twenty feet square. The shape of the spire is octagon, and it is surmounted by a gilt ball and cross, ten feet high. There is a fine chime of bells in the steeple, consisting of three large ones, weighing severally three thousand six hundred, one thousand nine hundred, and one thousand five hundred pounds, and three of a smaller size. There is also a large clock in the tower, which was made in Cincinnati. It now keeps accurate time, and strikes the hours and quarters on the large bells. There are inscriptions on each side of the portico, and on slabs of Italian marble, over the three doors opening from it into the church. Corresponding with the pediment, a cornice, frieze, and entablature, extend from it to the corners of the front, and about twenty feet along the sides, surmounted by a parapet wall, on which there are six stone candelabra of classic design, about nine feet in height. The porch is enclosed in front by a heavy iron railing, and is ascended by a flight of steps from the east and from the west, rising six feet from the pavement. The appearance of the entire façade is truly beautiful. On entering the interior from the centre door, the coup d'œil is most imposing. The eye first rests with pleasure upon the magnificent chancel. It is elevated nine steps above the floor of the nave, from which it is separated by a heavy balustrade, surmounted

by a wide communion rail, and is forty feet by thirty in size. In its centre is beheld the altar, raised three steps above the floor of the sanctuary, with its tabernacle and rich ornaments. The altar-piece is a large painting representing the crucifixion, and on each side of it there are two fluted Corinthian columns of rich blue marble, with gilt capitals, supporting a gorgeous entablature of the same order. This is surmounted by a corresponding pediment, broken in the centre, to admit, before an eliptical window, a transparent painting representing the Dove, the emblem of the Holy Ghost, surrounded by a glory, and cherubs appearing in the clouds. At either side, on the pediment, an angel is represented supporting the tables of the old law and of the gospel. These are the objects that first arrest the attention on entering the church. We then discover, on the western side of the sanctuary, the Bishop's chair, with a rich mahogany canopy, and hung with crimson damask. Opposite it, is a large and valuable painting of Saint Louis, titular saint of the Cathedral, presented by Louis XVIII. The sides of the sanctuary are adorned by pilasters of the Doric order, richly painted in imitation of marble, and variously ornamented with emblematical figures. All the details within the sanctuary are finished in the most perfect manner, and present a scene of richness and magnificence seldom surpassed. When the eye is sated with this spectacle, it is attracted by two rows of Doric columns, which separate the nave of the church from the aisles. There are five on each side. They are four feet in diameter, and twenty-six feet high; are built of brick, and covered with stucco, which is painted in imitation of rich marble. The pulpit is attached to one of them on the eastern side, and is built of mahogany and curled maple, of octangular form, and overhung by a rich mahogany canopy, surmounted by a gilt cross. There are four rows of pews in the nave, divided by a passage through the centre, and separated from the aisle pews by one on either side. In each aisle there

are two rows of pews, with a passage between them, and each is terminated by a chapel, at the same elevation as the sanctuary, and enclosed by a balustrade. The one on the east is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin; a beautiful image of whom, with the infant Saviour in her arms, adorns the altar. Above it is an oil painting, resting upon an entablature supported by two fluted columns with gilt capitals, and within the pediment broken to receive it. The chapel on the west is of course similar in its architecture; and the subject of its altar-piece is the founder of the order of Sisters of Charity — Saint Vincent de Paul-saving a child that has been abandoned to perish in the snow, and holding another in his arms. In this chapel also, a beautiful oil painting fills the recess above the altar. There are seven arched windows on each side of the church, eighteen feet high; and between them are oil paintings representing the different stages of the passion of our Divine Saviour. The walls are colored and adorned with arabesque and emblematical ornaments, harmonizing in tint and design with the general plan. On casting the eye back to the entrance, we discover two spacious galleries over the doors; and in the recesses on either side, are confessionals and a baptismal font. There are several valuable oil paintings in the church, of great merit and antiquity. Beneath the altars of the aisles, are entrances to a commodious chapel, eighty-four feet by thirty in size, extending under the sanctuary. In the centure of the northern side, is an altar of the Tuscan order.

The organ was made in Cincinnati. It cost nearly $5,000, and is surpassed by few in the United States for size, power, and tone, although its effect is impaired by the situation of its loft behind the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and communicating with a small gallery appropriated to the choir on the eastern side of the sanctuary. A similar gallery, on the western side, is used by the

Sisters of Charity who have charge of the Orphan Asylum contiguous to the Church. The entire building is fire-proof, the roof being covered with copper and the spire with tin; and in the solidity of its walls and strength of materials, is probably surpassed by no building in the country.

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.

THE fifth Provincial Council of Baltimore was solemnly opened on Sunday, 14th May. The prelates and inferior clergy dressed in appropriate robes in the residence of the Archbishop, and thence formed a magnificent procession, which, passing around the church, advanced up the middle aisle to the sanctuary. The Right Rev. Bishop of Mobile, at the request of the Most Rev. Archbishop, celebrated the Pontifical Mass, assisted by Very Rev. John Timon, Visitor of the Congregation of the Mission, as Priest assistant; Rev. G. Raymond, President of St. Mary's College, as deacon; and Rev. Mr. M'Claskey, as sub-deacon. The Bishop of Boston preached after Mass, on the Triumphs of the Church. The Most Rev. Archbishop, assisted by Very Rev. Louis Deluol, D. D., V. G., opened the Council; the Rev. Charles J. White singing the Gospel. The Bishops of New York, Richmond, Natchez, the Administrator of Detroit, the Coadjutor of St. Louis, and the Vicar Apostolic of Texas, severally made the confession of faith, at the foot of the altar.

The following officers were appointed: Bishops of Mobile and Natchez, Promoters; Rev. E. Damphoux and Rev. C. J. White, Secretaries; Rev. L. Lhomme, Master of Ceremonies. There were present in the choir sixteen prelates. Right Rev. Benedict Fenwick, Bishop of Boston; Rt. Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile (celebrant); Rt. Rev. Francis Patrick Kenrick, Bishop of Philadelphia; Rt. Rev. John Baptist Purcell, Bishop of Cincinnati; Rt. Rev. Guy Ignatius Chabrat, Bishop of Belena, Coadjutor of Louisville; Rt. Rev. Anthony Blanc, Bishop of New Orleans; Rt. Rev. John Hughes, Bishop of New York; Rt. Rev. Richard Pius Miles, Bishop of Nashville; Rt. Rev. Celestin De La Hailandiere, Bishop of Vincennes; Rt. Rev. Matthias Loras, Bishop of Dubuque ; Rt. Rev. John Joseph Chanche, Bishop of Natchez; Rt. Rev. Richard Vincent Whelan, Bishop of Richmond; Rt. Rev. Peter Paul Lefevre, Bishop of Zela, Administrator of Detroit; Rt. Rev. Peter Richard Kenrick, Bishop of Drasis, Coadjutor of St. Louis; Rt. Rev. John Odin, Vicar Apostolic of Texas; Very Rev. Richard S. Baker, Administrator of Charleston. Of the Superiors of Religious Orders were present: Very Rev. Father P. J. Verhaegen, S. J.; Very Rev. John Timon, Vis. Cong. Mission; Very Rev. P. E. Moriarty, Commissary General, O. S. A. Among the Theologians we noticed: Very Rev. Thos. Heyden, Very Rev. J. M. Henni, Rev. J. M. Lancaster, Rev. T. J. Donahoe, Rev. A. Penco, Rev. Father H. Pozzo, O. P.; Rev. J. Ryder, S. J.; Rev. J. B. Tornatore, C. M.; Rev. P. N. Lynch, Rev. P. Schreiber, Rev. J. Hoerner, Rev. J. Hickey, Rev. Mr. Mazzuchelli, Rev. Mr. Coskery, and others whose names we have not ascertained.

The Coadjutor Bishop of St. Louis preached in the afternoon on the "Unity of the Church." The Bishop of Cincinnati preached on Monday afternoon; the Bishop of New York on Tuesday; and each evening is to be occupied by the discourse of some Bishop. The Bishop of New York was engaged to preach at the second session, which was to be held this day. [Catholic Herald.