PROPHECIES OF SAINT MALACHI.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SrEarAToa."] Sin,—In an article on "The Pope's Personality" in the Spectator of July 20th it is said I "M. de Narfon tells us that the Irish Saint Malachi, in his prophecies respecting the occupants of the Papal Chair, spoke of," &c. Will you allow me to point out that these pretended prophecies of the famous Irish Archbishop were never heard of before the beginning of the seventeenth century, or more than four hundred and fifty. two years after Saint Malachi's death ? The " Nouveau Dictionnaire Historique," published in France in 1789, says they were forged in the Conclave of 1590 by the partisans of Cardinal Simonelli, and "they swarm with errors and anachronisms," of which it gives proof. "L'oubli du sena commun s'y fait sentir a chaque page." Notwithstanding this, they are continually cropping up, like Mother Shipton and the rest of them. Their falsity is each time demon- strated, and they are supposed to be extirpated, but, given a few years, there they are again, as though nothing had happened. Serious writers speak of them with respect, and, as the author you review, elaborate fanciful theories from them, but I venture to say that known forgeries should have no quarter, and that a writer who employs them for any purpose puts himself in the dilemma that he either does or does not know their true character, and in either case so much the worse for him.—I am Sir, &c.,
QII0118QUE TANDEM P
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