GERALDINE.

serves the name. "1 wrotte you by my [(intone letters of a lyverye [which first part. The subject is less interesting and less varied: the characters are fewer—deficient in individuality, and without the

of the nobellmens pages do wear that lyvei.y, made with =mule coons' hedds un vital spark and human weaknesses which characterized those of the bode the sydes of the sieve ; and in the im,Idyst, a griste hall's hale, with a preceding tale : the incidents are arbitrary, and insufficient to pro-

atalynall's hat uppon yt. Thys y, deelaryd here by some that have sow them ; duce the results—unless we consider them, with the writer, as sad written of abrode into all plassys, and not well lykyd by them that are miraculous interpositions. These are obvious defects; but there tryst; for that they doutt that smalk gudness will follow." is a deeper cause of fitilure. The interest of the first part was

REGAL AND COURTLY RARITIES UNDER ELIZABETH. 11111RCG/ : we were introduced to a varied circle of religious sects ;

Though altogether devoted in general to the discussion of the affeirs en- some of their prominent characters were placed before us ; the trusted to his manageinent, Gresham's correspondence is oceasionally enlivened main arguments for the essential dogmas of each were brought by details of a somewhat more amusing character ; which it may not be im-

proper to notice here, before proceeding tograver matters. Passages of this tom- forward in pleasant dialogue; we witnessed the anxieties of a plexion were elicited when a courtier, for instauce, haul requested Gresham to youthful and ingenuous mind "advancing without armour into the procure fir him some elegant article of foreign manuffieture, or oilier object dangerous mazes of controversy, and bewildering itself into the . which was more easily obtainable on the ConSinent than in England ; and errors of the Church of Ronne; " and we saw the struggles of

sometimes they were called forth hy other circumstances. I will give solos examplss earthly affection against a (questionable) sense of duty. In the "Sir," says the same writer, addressing Sir William Cecil, in 1560, " it may

please you to doo my most humble commendaciou to my Jamie Llohert volume before us all this is changed. The interest is angelic : the Dudeley, and to declare unto him Hutt the Queen's Majesty's Turkey horse heroine is led through a series of trials to take refuge in a con- aoth begynne to mend in his Foote and bodily ; which doughtless ys one of the Vent —after losing her earthly husband by the special providence

readdyst horsses that ys in all Christendom, and runs the best." In about a of drowning, a whole string of special providences, or something

month, he adds, (writing to Sir Thomas l'arry,) " It may please you to show more, direct the widow to the conventual life, and nominate the my Lord Robert that the Queen's Ilajesty's Turkey horse v: axes a very Ii, ere bee st ; In a letter addressed shortly after to the sams individuid, Gresham says, " I The scene or Geraldine is laid in Italy, England, and Ireland. than you lbr the geutill entertainment you gave to my poore wyffe, who I do The incidents at Rome embrace the religious society of that city, right well know molests you dayly tar my coining home,—serhe is tine fondness and a picture of the Catholic ceremonials as performed there,

of women! And whereas your honour would have a great Iron chest bought from " blessing the beasts" up to blessing the people by the Pope ; for the Queen's Majesty, with a littil keye, I have sent yon the keye of the

fairest Chest that ys to be had in all this town, if the key be not to biggcs the former painted couleur de rose, and by a person, we suspect, lff the Queen's Majesty would have les,ee, I pray von that I limy know the who only saw one side of it ; the latter defended with a blind length, and 1 shall cause a chest to be ineyd purposely:" and in the following prostration of reason to casuistry. The marriage of the heroine August, addressing the snow personeses Greslenn says, " 1 sent you on the takes place between her lionizing at Rome and her return to lick overland, to Dunkirk, the roam, certain I rac yon, with the Queen's England ; where we see her in the high road to religious mad- Mojeay's Turkey horse. As lickewise 1 have scot you four dozen of the same

ness, loving her husband no longer, but " only God." This sus-

" The non that make!' the clock is out of town, this Easter hollvdaves," natural state of mind—a noted sign of incipient lunacy—has its observes Gresham, addressing, Sir -Willi:tan Cecil : " I trust to send you it direction changed by the drowning of her husband before her eyes; within these x days." In another letter he say., "I have written into Spayne after which, she ffists and prays, and submits to penance ; for sylk hose both for you and my Lady your v, i6: ; to whom it may please you, I wrestles with " the enemy ;" beseeches directions from the Lord mays be remembered:" and we learn from the letter which a few days after accompanied the gift, that those fur Cori) were black. " I hove sent yott here- with regard to her future course ; and at last receives them in the

with two pare of blacke silke howsen, and pyre for my Lady your shape of promptings of the Spirit, which impel. her to the monastic stiffs." • Mil, and finally point to the Sisters of Mercy as the order which

In 1559, the Duke of Finland, son of the King of Sweden, made she is to enter. This brings us to Ireland ; where we are intro- his appearance in England to negotiate a marriage, as was sup- duced to a convent; follow Geraldine and some companions through posed, between his elder brother and EtazansTn. The following the forms and ceremonies which prepare the novice and admit the account of the first interview of CECIL'S emissary with the Duke nun ; inspect the convent's interior, view the labours and lives of is quaint, and curious as marking the worldly readiness of the age, its inmates, and learn the ecstatic state of the spiritualized religious.

shed divine perfumes."

reverens kyssed myn owue hands, y joynea my hands with lays, aceordyng to The possession of such heavenly happiness naturally prompts

the manner of thys owr linty ve countess" the mind to enlarge the circle of the communicants; and the volume Ceetes eldest son was travelling on the Continent, with his tutor closes with the departure of Geraldine for England, in order to WY:Qui:sit, and happened to lodge a short time at GRESHAM'S found it nunnery on what was her paternal estate.

raises his style to a Shaksperian vigour. improvement : for though the work is said to be written by a lady " My trust is, (howsoever ye will to Inv sonne) you will not, beyna thus convert, that lady has obviously had an extensive view of the opi- thus charged lett [leave] me act:caved. hint trimly and anent advertise tut 'lions of many professors, and there is strong internal evidence of

his bedd ; priests having directly or indirectly assisted her labours. The negligent and rash in expeneces; tine:us:full or careless of his ap- parrell; topics handled in the course of the talc are the theatrical cere-

weary,—m game never. If he coutynew or increase in theis, it wer better he monies of the Church of Rome ; the 'incentives to raise devotion wer at home than abrade, to my greie chargees. It is time to cud this manner in the ignorant and vulgar, which the most tolerant can hardly look

upon as aught but pious or superstitious frauds, of more effect in subjecting the reason to priestly power than of exciting a true feel- ing of religion ; the uses of relics ; the miraculous effects still wrought by their means ; the interposition of the Deity either actually or by suggestion ; the acceptableness of monastic vows, and the happiness and merit of a monastic state.

All these topics are treated of in a spirit which may be termed ecstatic ; resembling in their essence, though not in their tone, the wildest dreams of the wildest Methodist, such as satirists painted them in their early days. The idle show of blessing the beasts on St. Anthony's Day is not defended, if defen- sible at all, on its true ground—the antiquity of the practice ; the danger of innovations amongst an ignorant race, who will always identify the form of religion with its principles ; the little harm accruing from the practice amongst the enlightened, who consider it a thing indifferent, and the notion of a superior power it most probably impresses on the people. On the contrary, it is defended route yui conic, as perhaps rendering the animals less " vicious and distempered," and that " the curse entailed by Adam's tlull on all creatures, requires to be removed before they can be made t good' as God made them and pronounced them to be,"—a feat achieved by sprinkling them with holy water and reciting forms of prayer ! The performance of miracles by means of relics, and the actual presence of the Deity, arc thus indicated, and not as a joke but in good faith.

THE RATIONALE or RELICS.

Just as Dr. Wharton finished speaking, Geraldine distinguished the voice of Mr. Ellis engaged in a laughing dialogue with an old Italian priest, who spoke admirable English, and who was generally to be found amongst the English Catholics in their private reunions.

"But, my dear good Abate," said Mr. Ellis, at length able to articulate, after a fit of continued laughter, "huiv can von give me a satisfactory account of the two heads of St. John Baptist, and the—I know not how many thumbs of St. John the Evangelist, all and each performing miracles ? Now, the false head and the false thumbshave no right to worCmiraeles, vet their feats are quite equal to those of the true relies ; so that we require, as in the judg- ment of Solomon, to be decided by nature, and see the Baptist and Evangelist claim their own property, before we can believe in either the relics or the mi- racles. Perhaps," added he, "You are not aware that English Protestants, in their tours round the Catholic Confluent, are shown these duplicates and triplicates of holy relics ?" "Yes," said the Abate, "I have before heard of these two heads of :saints, but from Protestant travellers only, each supposed by its respective possessors to be head of St. John the Baptist. Of course, suppo,,ins the account csr- sect, one cannot be, and neither may he the relic of that saint. But it is certain, that to whatever saints these relies belong, God has given power, through the intercession of St John the Baptist, to cure diseases and work other miracles by means of these relics. The miraculous cures arc certain. What matters then the uncertainty as to which, if either, of the heads be- longed to St. John the Baptist, since both are blessed by God? The same may be said of the supposed relics of Saint John the Evangelist."

A VISITATION.

That night, having retired as usual to her room in the out-quarters, she was kneeling in prayer in her oratory, when suddenly a voice—whether to the ex- ternal car, or deeply sounding in her heart, she knew not—thus spoke : "Sick and in prison, and ye visited me not." Awe, mingled with terror and Roguish, filled the heart of Geraldine, as it responded, "Lord, what wilt thou haVe me to do?" The voice uttered no more : but hail she not been favoured by suffi- cient indication of the will of God ! No sleep visited her that night : the only means by which she calmed the continued agitation and actual pain of her heart, was by the resolution to leave her present abode on the morrow and follow the blessed invitation of her Lord Jesus Christ.

TILE ODOCR OF SANCTITY—A SUPERCESSION OF PURGATORY.

After matins, Geraldine was visited in her cell by the Mother-Superior, and invited to the chamber of death. The plain and almost vacant countenance of sister Ignatia now wore an expression which, during our heroine's experience, had never appeared, and the real form was now distinguished of the hitherto heated and swollen features. There was something in the sight of this lonely creature which melted the tender heart of Geraldine ; and truly, as she re- joiced to think that she was now in full company of those who, if suffering, would sympathize with her, she could not forbear weeping at the remembrance of her solitary life on earth. She recalled the times when some passing expres- sion on that poor disfigured countenance, had given her an idea that the sis- ter's deafness was not constant, and varied with the state of her nerves. How often must she have been unintentionally wounded? and had she always ac- cepted these wounds in the pure meek spirit of perfect love ? was the sacri- fice complete, and might she hope that no more of purgatorial process would be requisite ? While thus our heroine thought and prayed, she perceived the Su- perior, who had been kneeling a little apart in fervent prayer, suddenly tiull prostie:e on the floor ; and, alarmed by an immediate rush Of painful conjec- tures, (;erahline moved towards her ; but in an instant raising herself on her knees, her countenance radiant with joy, she exclaimed, in hied and exulting tones, ."1‘ e Deum laudamus, to Dominion contitemur,"—motioning to Gerar- dine to unite with her in the song of thanksgiving Our heroine did so, re- peating the alternate verses, at first from blind obedience ; but the cause was soon made evident to her, and her voice became likewise full of animated fer- vour. During these last afflictions, incense had been used, especially after death had taken place, as a proper precaution against the malady fur the sur- vivors. The usual incen,e was burning in the room were sister Ignatia lay when Geraldine entered, and although aware that something strange was now taking place around her, she scarcely dared trust the evidence of strange senses, but looked into the cup where the incense had been burning, and fflund it to- tally consumed, while a fragrance litr beyond any thing she hid ever known, continued to arise, in fresh clouds of the must exquisite fragrance; and Geral- dine recognized, with trembling awe and gratitude, that she was near one who had died in the odour of sanctity ! Yes ;- the plain, the awkward, the repul- sive sister Ignatia, who had on earth suffered a living martyrdom, known only to her God, had so faithfully corresponded to the graces vouchsafed her soul—had so perfected the holocaust—that the purifying fire having already consumed all that was not of pure gold, she had at once entered into the joy ocher Lord.

To subdue all the emotions of love and affection, bestowed upon mankind to enable them to fulfil their duties here, and to substi- tute in their place a delirious enthusiasm or indifference to all com- punctious visitings of nature, under the plea of submission, is frequently enforced in the work. This conduct, which the common feeling of mankind pronounces unnatural, is displayed on various

occasions in Geraldine ; but the neatest if not the most striking instance is this example of

RESIGNATION.

I once witnessed (said Mr. Bernard) an extraordinary instance of faith under a trial of this kind. A Catholic gentleman who was one of my peni- tents was on the eve of marriage, when he was seized with a violent fever. His own family, consisting of a mother and two sisters, attended hint night and day ; but his affianced bride was not permitted by her parents to incur the risk of seeing till at length, having overcome their fears, she visited the sick room. 1 he patient had been that morning pronounced out of danger; and to gratify his new muse, site was left by the family to sit alone by him, and to give him his fever-draught. Site gave him laudanum by mistake, and lie never spoke again. In the midst of the lamentations, outcries, and upbraid- ings of the distracted funnily, she stood as if stunned by grief, till at length, raising her hands and eyes to heaven, she said, " Lord, as then wiliest, in the manner thou wiliest, and by whom thou wiliest." She afterwards said to me, "I would have given my heart's-blood to save him, but God, who sees that heart, will not let it repine."

An occasional hit is made at the Evangelicals of the English Church, or the extravagancics of the Dissenters ; though not so frequently as in the former volumes. But let them be as extrava- gant as they may, it is impossible that any religious monomania can go beyond the pasages we have quoted, though the tone and style of expression may be more offensive to good taste. Leaving these things, however, we will turn to the description of the ceremonials at Rome, wlmich convey a striking and rather dramatic account of the different religious sights that are to be seen in the Holy City. Here is the POPISH PLAY OF THE enterrixtox.

Our heroine had not been prepared for the all but dramatic representa- tion of the =fill scene of Calvary ; and when on raising her head front her silent prayer to look towards time sanctuary, she beheld the figure of our blessed. Redeemer between the two thieves, so admirably- wrought that nature seemed to have taken the place of art, she gasped for breath, and then dropping her ffice on her hands, mentally ejaculated "'Phis is too much ! At that in- stant, the first of the seven sacred sayings of Christ on the cross was solemnly given by a priest, accompanied by a set commentary on them. The first sen- tence was, " Father, Iblyive them, for they know not what they do!" mid a young Dominican friar, with a tide of fervent eloquence which bore away all coldness and criticism, burst in upon the commentary, and had won over our heroine to feel as if among the living witnesses of the dying agonies and dere- liction of her God—wlwn the preacher paused, and three strophes of the " Stabat Mater dulorosa" were sung, during which he rested from his exer- tions; and then again, a priest from the sanctuary having given forth the second sentence Of "'lb-day thou shalt he with me in Paradise," the friar, with renewed power, and the irresistible force of sincerity, continued. The third sentence is addressed to the blessed Virgin—" Woman, behold thy son I" and to St. John—" Behold thy mother!" The fburth—and here the Domini. can showed the deepest knowfedge of the sufferings which God permits to the sensitive part of the soul while the superior part remains firm—. My God! my God ! why Last thou forsaken me? " Filth—" I thirst ; " sixth—" It is finished ;" lastly—" Father, into thy hands 1 commend. my spirit !" During these seven portions of a sermon, or rather these seven sermons, between which were sung, some verses of the plaintive " Stabat Mater," the interest and at- tention of the congregation never flagged ; tears, sighs, and groans, began!, con- tinued, and increased, till on the resounding or the ninth (in our modern style the third) hour, the preacher exclaimed, " Ere° it momento!" and the whole congregation sunk prostrate, one cry of anguish filling the church. Geraldine neither wept nor groaned, but her frame trembled, her heartildt ready to burst, and she remained insensible to the voice of the friar, which continued when she would have preferred silence. At length she was roused by the shnulta- neon movement of the multitude to arise; and site beheld, crossing the sanc- tuary, which had been lined with painted scenery to represent Mount Calvary,

a band of friars, who, representing the disciples, ascended '

by degrees to the cross, and began to draw out the nails and take Len the body. At the sound made by drawing forth each nail, so great was the emotion around her, and sO painful her own sensations, that Geraldine, for the first time in her life, ex- pected to Wilt. Front the peasants arose a perfect clamour of grief, and from those of the highest Italian nobility of both sexes around her the sobs and deep sighs continued, while the prayers in honour of the five sacred wounds of Christ were repeated. And 'limy, the body being, taken down from the cross and laid on is bier, just within the rails of the sanctuary, the congregation moved in regular train to kiss the feet and weep over them. Our heroine moved with the crowd ; all wits gentle and decent, and in order. At length it was her turn to approach this semblance of the dead Christ ; and the perlec- tion with which the hue of death and lines of suffering were executed, having removed the dread which she had entertained of desecration, she knelt, with feelings more in accordance with the ardent crowd around her than she could have supposed possible.

The writer of Geraldine, and the work itself, are regarded with no small complacency by some English Catholics, and it issues from the fyfiehm of the 1M CR RAY of the Romanists. Zealous Protestants may therethre, perhaps, indulge a hope that it bodes a schism amongst the Papists ; since no prudent Catholic can be pleased, one would think, at seeing the weakest—and we speak it without offence—the most ridiculous doctrines of his Church obtruded upon a British public. But there is no likelihood of this occurring. Wise in its generation, the unity of the Romish Church is only sustained by laxity. Provided it admit her main doctrines, or do not dispute them, enthusiasm may run riot in the wildest freaks, or indifference repose in the coldest rationalism. Applying each talent to its particular purpose, the profound policy of the Court of Rome will make use of a polished toleration akin to scepticism, for a luxurious and worldly capital, as well as of abject and ignorant bigotry for the recesses of Spain or the wilds of South America. Every aberration is winked at, save a wandering into the path of private judgment. A convert of station and fortune is to be indulged in a little of the zeal which proverbially distinguishes an apostate.

If it be asked whether the promulgation of such doctrines is to be considered as any sign of a revival of Romanism, we must answer that we cannot tell. That the Catholics are just now more con- spicuously zealous than of yore, is true ; but the same may be said of religions generally. The Episcopalians are more active in discharging the duties of religion, teaching, and charity; and churches on the Voluntary principle are rising in many places. The Dissenters, if not running to and fro as was their habit half a century ago, are still busy in attending to and increasing their fold. What wonder, then, that the Catholic shepherds should not slumber, when stimulated by rivalry and the spirit of the age. As for the converts occasionally blazoned forth to the world, we hold them of small account either way. There are always a number of ill- balanced minds with an activity resembling the rapid conceptions of delirium. Such persons always run wild in some way or other. If accident introduces them to religion, they take it up just as they would follow any thing else ; and considering the number of weak- minded individuals in the world, the distinction which conversion gives in a certain class, and the public eclat which attends it, we arc rather surprised that converts from one creed to another are not much more numerous than they are.