nished us; consisting as they did of stones standing up, carved in the Egyptian style, and placed amid solitude and silence, without any connection whatever with the neighbouring desert.

"Dies iræ, dies illa

Solvet sæclum in favillâ, Teste David cum Sibylla."

terious country.

Those remains, doubtless of great antiquity, occupy a space of about seventy-five paces in length, by about thirty-five in breadth. The gravestones, about fourteen in number, are partly thrown down: a few are still standing, and their fronts, which are much fretted by the northern blasts, still exhibit the traces of hieroglyphics. They vary in height from five to eight feet; in breadth, from eighteen to twenty inches; and in thickness, from fourteen to sixteen. We observed here, also, a wall belonging to some inclosure; a portion of a sanctuary, and of a small temple; some sepulchral chambers; a pilaster; the fragments of some Egyptian statues mouldered by time; and some square capitals, presenting on each side the graceful head of Isis, with elongated eyes To the climate and the great purity of the atmosphere these monuments, in hewn freestone, though placed on the top of a mountain, and exposed to every change of weather, as well as to the violence of every wind, must have been indebted for their preservation through so many ages.

and oxen ears.

These tombs were accidentally discovered by Niebhur, who was sent, in 1761, by the King of Denmark, to Arabia, principally for the purpose of making researches and copying the inscriptions of Djebel Mokatteb, to which the superior of the Franciscans had drawn a good

deal of attention in 1722.

Oratory was employed from her pulpits for the instruction, or admonition, or supplication of her faithful,such oratory as that of Bossuet, of Bourdaloue, of Fénélon, of Masillon, and of those two great living preachers of France, the Abbé de Lacordaire, and Père de Ravignan. Nay, so abhorred in her estimation was idleness, and so intense was her reverence for her Creator, that even the anchorites of the desert, and those recluses in her monasteries who were not capacitated for higher prayers. Hence the variegated mattings which came from the hands of the ascetics; hence also those exquisite tapestries which the nuns have produced in all ages, and which Lucien Bonaparte thus mentions in his remarkable epic, Charlemagne, when describing a religious ceremony

"Aux regards des Chrétiens, sur les murs somptueux,
On expose en ce jour ces toiles merveilleuses,
On les filles du cloître ont de leurs mains pieuses
Tissu de notre foi les prodiges fameux."

But our holy church requires no elaborate vindication in respect of her earnestness in aiding the advancement of knowledge, and in exciting emulation among the intellectual. She is emphatically her own vindication. By the vastness and imperishable beauty of her sacred edifices, by the melodies of her matchless ritual, by the works of her illustrious writers, by the voices of as that of her eloquent dignitaries, such voices Chrysostom (the golden mouth) — voices that will linger in the ears and entrance the hearts for aye;by the music that floats perpetually among the arches of her cathedrals; by the signs of the vivifying influence by which her apostles are ever accompanied over the globe-the print, as it were, of her blessed footsteps, trailing among the barren sands of life a pathway of verdure and flowers;-by her immense and immutable dominion-a dominion whose extent and permanence would alike render the perpetuation of ignorance among her children an impossibility.

CATHOLIC SPLENDOUR.

(BY AN OSCOTIAN.)

Our church is contradistinguished, indeed, from all others aspiring to the title, by the magnificence, and the loveliness, and the profusion, and the grandeur of the adornments by which she is surrounded. Her ceremonies have elicited, and are still eliciting, all the fabrications of ingenuity, all the riches of art, all the pomp of genius, all the loftiest results of imaginative contrivance. She has rifled all the treasuries of mind and earth to indicate her consummate homage for the Omniscient. She bade the architect display the resources of his skill, and the basilicas attested in their solemn domes the ardour of an adoring people. She summoned to her aid the majestic forms of sculpture, the awful and benignant revelations of painting, the ravishing and resplendent masterpieces of music. The mysteries of the gospel glittered in dazzling colours upon her windows, or were enamelled in the marble intricacies of her pavements. The vessels employed in her sacrifices were composed of the most precious metals, were decorated with gems, were fashioned by such artificers as Benvenuto Cellini. Her tabernacles were blazing with diamonds, and rubies, and emeralds, and sapphires, and amethysts, and opals, and pearls. Flowers bloomed upon her altars, or were scattered along the path of her processions. Incense floated up to heaven in the tossing of her thuribles. Cloth-of-gold were her vestments, and cloth-of-silver her banners, upon which were embroidered the legends of her beatified. Poetry was comprised among the adjuncts of her service, such poetry as sounded among the arches of the crypts, when she wept over her dead

GATHERINGS.

O'CONNELL. - Count D'Orsay has presented his statuette of O'Connell to the committee of the Central Relief Society in Dublin, with the moulds and necessary apparatus for taking casts. He makes the committee a present of the copyright of the figure, and transmits the models in the hope that the sale of the casts will realize a sum which may assist in relieving the distress of the poor.

THE COLLEGE OF WARSAW.-The College of Warsaw has been suppressed, by order of the Minister of Public Instruction; and several other educational establishments of the kingdom are about to be put down.

OBLIGED TO TELL THE TRUTH.-The Rev. Waldo Sibthorp, late of Magdalen College, Oxford, whose proposed return to the Church of England was some time since matter of some notoriety, has, it appears, finally returned to the bosom of the Roman Catholic communion.-Watchman.

CHEAP AND EXCELLENT BREAD. Take 14lb. of rice, and boil it gently over a slow fire in three quarts of water about five hours, stirring it, and afterwards beating it up into a smooth paste. Mix this while warm into two gallons (or 14lb.) of flour, adding at the same time the usual quantity of yeast. Allow the dough to work a certain time near the fire, after which divide it into loaves, and it will be found, when baked, to produce 281b. or 301b. of excellent white bread, thereby saving more than half the flour that would otherwise be required. Patna rice at 3d. per lb. will do.

HENRY THE EIGHTH.-The iron reign of Henry VIII. had long threatened the amiable dwellings of the

A

church and her holy things; and at length the first blow fell in the appointment of the commissioners to inquire into the condition and revenues of the monastic houses. The most lying charges and scandalous inventions were got up by these unscrupulous visitors to palliate the robbery that was intended from the first. One by one the ancient abbeys were seized, their churches unroofed and plundered, their lands and revenues confiscated, and the aged monks made to wander houseless and penniless over the land. But England was filled with monastic establishments; many hundreds of religious houses of all sizes and professions were scattered over the country; scarcely 30 miles could anywhere be passed without coming in sight of some splendid pile with its lofty spires and glorious roofs, and portals ever open to the call of the stranger and the wants of the poor. mighty sum did the wicked King derive from these, for not one was spared; and for two whole years the work of plunder continued, by which £330,000 were brought into the royal treasury, and immediately lavished upon infidel and abandoned courtiers. And the voice of prayer which had hourly ascended from the churches for many hundreds of years was suddenly hushed; the owl and the jackdaw alone were heard within the deserted walls. Even yet we view with indifference the sad scenes of this fearful havoc, and talk about the "glorious Reformation." Perhaps we never think that a curse can have attended such worse than heathen impieties. Little cared the godless possessors of the church's lands for the solemn anathema which she had pronounced of old on the heads of the spoilers. But the judgment came, and fearfully and visibly it fell. Great families one by one became rapidly extinet. Awful deaths, grievous visitations, fruitless marriages, were the penalties which attended sacrilegious wealth. Property passed from hand to hand, but remained with none. The finger of God was manifested against the deeds of that day; but man in his blindness saw it not.-The Church Restorers, a Tale, by F. A. PALEY.

PROTESTANTS IN IRELAND.-According to the parliamentary census, the Protestants in 1731 were 700,451, and the Catholics only 1,309,768, or not two to one. In 1834 the Catholics were 6,427,712, and those of the Law Church Establishment only 852,064; or, if we exclude the Methodists of all classes, then included in the return, 800,000.

MICE AND SOLDIERS.-In one of the Rhineland

provinces subject to Prussia, the Catholic inhabitants of which are not greatly enamoured of the rule of their Lutheran governors, a small town had grievously suffered from the plaguy visitation of myriads of mice, and one of the inhabitants, by way of propitiating Heaven to avert the calamity, had suspended to the wall of a side chapel in the principal church the votive offering of a gilded mouse. A Prussian officer, visiting the church, professed to be highly disgusted with the sight of it, and, after expatiating at length on the folly and superstition of the proceeding, asked the sacristan who was showing him the building, "Whether the people seriously believed that the hanging up a metal effigy of the creature, which had caused them so much annoyance, was likely to abate the nuisance?" no," replied the official; "if they thought a gilt image had the power of ridding them of the live animal, there would long since have been hung up against that wall the figure of a Prussian soldier in full uniform."Dolman's Magazine.

"Oh

CONVERSIONS.-Some time ago M. Zetter, Minister of the Of Frebesing, turned Catholic and settled at Salzbourg. His wife, four daughters, and three sons have since followed his example.

TUSCANY.-Several Protestants in this state have abjured Protestantism.

THE JESUITS.-The recently published work of Dr. Oliver upon this subject is decidedly the best. Another work to be consulted with great advantage is Mr.

Seager's translation of "The Life and Institute of the Jesuits," by Father Ravignaw.

HOLLAND.-A correspondence has taken place between Batavia and Rome which has terminated in the concession of new and great privileges to the Dutch Catholics.

CONVERSIONS TO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. -Miss Gordon was received into the Roman Catholic Church, according to the usual form, on Saturday last, by the Rev. James Brownhill. Miss Gordon is sister to Mr. Gordon, late curate of Christ Church, St. Pancras, whose conversion we announced in February last. On the same day, also, Miss Dudley made her profession of faith, and was received into the church by the same reverend gentleman.-Morning Post.

BRITISH GUIANA.-Six Ursuline nuns and two lay sisters have left Athlone for this colony.

Dr. O'Connor is appointed President of the Catholic College at Thurles.

O'CONNELL MOURNING ENVELOPE.-Mr. Austen, an envelope-manufacturer in Fleet-street, has published an envelope with a mourning border, back and front, and with an excellently embossed likeness of the late Liberator at the left corner, with a suitable inscription. Such an interpreter of national grief will, no doubt, have an immense circulation.

One very tempestuous night at sea the first lieutenant of Lord Collingwood hastily entered his cabin and informed him, with a look of dismay, that the "anchors had all come home," a nautical mode of expressing a very perilous state of things. "No wonder," replied the admiral, with undisturbed composure; "I do not know who would stay abroad that could help it on such a night as this!"

The Dublin Pilot suggests a subscription for the Irish Catholic clergy, many of whom in this perilous period are in deep distress.

VENERABLE RELIC.-In the very ancient ecclesiastical structure called King's Chapel, at Islip, in Oxfordshire, formerly stood a stone font, which was used, as tradition affirms, for the baptism of Edward the Confessor, more than 800 years ago. It has long been displaced, and now occupies a far less pious position in the gardens of Sir Henry Brown, who resides at Nether Rodrington.

ACHILL. This memorable island, the scene of the that have disgraced even Ireland-Achill, the memogrossest attempts at seductive and coerced perversion rable scene of the exploits of Nangle, the soul-buyer, markable for the miserable condition of its population. has now, we grieve to say it, become scarcely less reMoney has indeed been poured into Achill. The propagators of perversion pay handsomely; and we learn from thence, of a date so late as Friday week, that “ Nothing is given of all the money that comes from England, and elsewhere, for the relief of the poor of Achill except what is given in exchange for consciences. Nangle has doubled his donations in amount, but no one gets anything whatever that does not go to the Protestant school and conform to the Protestant formula." In short, it is given at the Protestant clergyman's discretion, and it is his discretion to starve poor Catholics into Protestantism, or, failing that, to let them starve. As an instance of the wretchedness to which these poor people are reduced, we may quote a fact that occurred within the last fortnight. The Frances, a vessel bound for Greenock, passing Achill, was boarded by thirty-six men, in nine boats, who sought over the vessel for corn, &c., and were grievously disappointed to find the cargo sugar, rum, and molasses, which were offered, but refused. They compelled the captain to produce his stores. No sooner were these brought than they set upon them like famished wolves, and devoured the biscuits on the spot as fast as they could be supplied to them, leaving barely sufficient for the vessel's own use until she should arrive in the Clyde. After having

the year being 211 schools and 23,506 scholars. One third of the children are Protestants, 1,600 of the schools being situated in Ulster. Now, why should Ulster possess nearly half of all the schools spread over Ireland? It is said—and often is it said most offensively-that the province of Ulster is the most enlightened in Ireland. How, then, happens it that this little, enlightened, Protestant province has nearly as many schools as the other three large Catholic and "unenlightened" provinces? Mr. Labouchere makes a boast of this. Instead of its furnishing a ground for his exultation, it should be to him a matter of silence and shame.

THE UNIVERSE. The universe is not a disorderly, disconnected heap, but a beautiful whole, stamped throughout with unity, so as to be an image of the One Infinite Spirit. Nothing stands alone: all things are knit together, each existing for all, and all for each. The humblest object has infinite connections. The vegetable which you saw on your table to-day came to you from the first plant which God made to grow on the earth, and was the product of the rains and sunshine of six thousand years. Such a universe demands thought to be understood; and we are placed in it to think, to put forth the power within, to look beneath the surface of things, to look beyond particular facts and events to their causes and effects, to their reasons and ends, their mutual influences, their diversities and resemblances, their proportions and harmonies, and the general laws which bind them together. This is what I mean by thinking; and by such thought the mind rises to a dignity which humbly represents the greatness of the Divine intellect; that is, it rises more and more to consistency of views, to broad general principles, to universal truths, to glimpses of the order and harmony and infinity of the Divine system, and thus to a deep, enlightened veneration of the Infinite Father. Do not be startled, as if I were holding out an elevation of mind utterly to be despaired of; for all thinking, which aims honestly and earnestly to see things as they are, to see them in their connections, and to bring the loose conflicting ideas of the mind into consistency and harmony, all such thinking, no matter in what sphere, is an approach to the dignity of which I speak. You are all capable of the thinking which I recommend; you have all practised it in a degree. The child who casts an inquiring eye on a new toy, and breaks it to pieces that he may discover the mysterious cause of its movements, has begun the work of which I speak, has begun to be a philosopher, has begun to penetrate the unknown, to seek consistency and harmony of thought; and let him go on as he has begun, and make it one great business of life to inquire into the elements, connections, and reasons of whatever he witnesses in his own breast, or in society, or in outward nature, and, be his condition what it may, he will rise by degrees to a freedom and force of thought, to a breadth and unity of views, which will be to him an inward revelation and promise of the intellectual greatness for which he was created.-Channing.

IS THE BIBLE THE ONLY RULE OF FAITH?—If the bible only is our "rule of faith," then the Christian parent is no longer justified in giving instruction to his children; then the Christian preacher, to whatever congregation or sect he may belong, is no longer justified in the exercise of his profession; every one of us, my brethren, to be honest and consistent, must forthwith abandon his ministry and cease to interpret for any other than himself. If the bible only is our rule of faith, then the creed of the Apostles, that venerable symbol of the ancient faith, that we learned in our infancy, ought never to have been learned, and should as speedily as possible be unlearned and forgotten-then the Nicene Creed and the thirty-nine Articles, the Book of Homilies and the Book of Common Prayer, and every tract and every catechism, and all the writings of the ancient

fathers, and all the commentaries on the Holy Scripture, and every book and pamphlet that has been written against "Popery," and every book and pamphlet that has defended "Popery," ought instantly, without exception, to be consigned to oblivion; for the bible only, not the bible and the preacher, not the bible and the commentary, not the bible and the tract, nor the bible and the belief, but the bible only, without note or comment, must be the source from which alone we ought to derive our faith.-Rev. T. S. Green,

The only ends for which governments are, and obedience rendered to them, are the obtaining of justice and protection; and they who cannot provide for both give the people a right of taking such ways as best please themselves in order to their own safety. The whole body of a nation cannot be tied to any other obedience than is consistent with the common good, according to their own judgment. The general revolt of a nation cannot be called rebellion.-Algernon Sydney.

Republics furnish the world with a greater number of brave and excellent characters than kingdoms; the reason is, that in republics virtue is honoured and promoted, in most monarchies and kingdoms it incurs suspicion.-Machiavel.

It is surely neither enthusiasm nor absurdity to affirm that governments are more or less perfect, in proportion to the greater or smaller number of individuals to whom they afford the means of cultivating their intellectual and moral powers, and whom they admit to live together on a liberal footing of equality; or even to expect that, in proportion to the progress of reason, governments will actually approach nearer and nearer to this description.-Dugald Stewart.

When Peduretus missed the honour of being chosen one of the three hundred at Sparta, he went home rejoicing that "Sparta had three hundred men more honourable and worthy than himself.”

Men seldom, or rather never, for a length of time, and deliberately, rebel against anything that does not deserve rebelling against. Ready, ever zealous is the obedience and devotedness they show to the great-to the really high; prostrating their whole possession and self, body, heart, soul, and spirit, under the feet of whatever is authentically above them. Nay, in most instances, it is rather a slavish devotedness to those who only seem and pretend to be above them that constitutes their fault.-T. Carlyle.

If representation be a question of right, then the then is reason in favour of reform; if it be a question right is in favour of reform; if it be a question of reason, of policy and expediency, then do policy and expediency both loudly call for the extension of reform.-Lord John Russell, 1st March, 1831.

It is the greatest good to the greatest number which is the measure of right and wrong.-Bentham.

Almost all civilized nations have assumed a different moral phasis, according to the direction gradually given them by political institutions.-Lady Morgan.

When defects either in the form or in the administration of government occasion such disorders in society as are excessive and intolerable, it becomes the common interest to discover and to apply such remedies as will most effectually remove them. Slight inconveniences may be long overlooked or endured; but, when abuses grow to a certain pitch, the society must go to ruin, or attempt to reform them.-Robertson.

Every man has a right to one vote in the choice of his representatives; it belongs to him in right of his existence, and his person is his title-deed.—Paine.

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