speak of them as he pleases. I only request, that, where he finds that any of these legends possess that

66

even for bare subsistence; so that all were obliged to submit "to great privations, and, from one circumstance or other, some were occasionally in actual want. Here Mrs. Silburn "interfered. Where more food, more raiment, more medi"cine, than the succours afforded, was wanted, it was generally 66 procured by her or her exertions. Work and labour she "found for those who sought them. The soothing word, the "kind action, never failed her; all the unpleasantness which "distress unavoidably creates, she bore with patience. Her "incessant exertions she never abated. The scenes thus de"scribed by the writer he himself witnessed: and all who "beheld them, felt and remarked, that much of the success, " and the excellent management which attended the good "work, was owing to her. To use the expression of a French "prelate, the glory of the nation, on this occasion, was in"creased by the part which Mrs. Silburn acted in it.' On "the final closing of the account, his Majesty was graciously pleased to show his sentiments of her conduct by granting to "her an annual pension of 100 l. for her life:-never was a 66 pension better merited.

"On the other hand, the conduct of the objects of this "bounty was most edifying. Thrown, on a sudden, into a "foreign country, differing from theirs in language, manners, "habits and religion, the uniform tenor of their decorous "and pious lives obtained for them universal regard. Their "attachment to their religious creed, they neither concealed

nor obtruded. It was evidently their first object to find op"portunities of celebrating the sacred mysteries, and of "reciting the offices of their liturgy. Most happy was he, "who obtained the cure of a congregation, or who, like the "Abbé Caron, could establish some institution useful to his "countrymen. Who does not respect feelings at once so res61 pectable and so religious? Hence flowed their cheerfulness "and serenity of mind above suffering and want. 'I saw

them,' a gentlemen said to the writer of these pages,

amount of historical fact, which, by the acknowledged rules of evidence, entitles them to credit, he should permit me to believe them:-that, as a gentleman can always tell a truth, however offensive, in gentlemanly language, he should speak of those he disbelieves, in terms that are not ungentlemanly,and that, while he laughs at the legend, he should admit the virtues, if they are well authenticated, of the saint whom the legend was sillily intended to ornament. These are such as Christians of every denomination must admire. Who is the canonized or beatified king,-that was not the father of his people the canonized or beatified bishop,--that was not the incessant preacher of the word of God, and the father of the poor, denying himself all but necessaries, to supply their wants? Who, the canonized or beatified prebendary-whose regular and devout attendance, in every day of the year, the seven canonical hours of the Roman Catholic church, was not a continual tribute of praise and adoration to the Deity, and an edifying excitement to devotion? Who, the canonized or beatified curate, that did not consume himself in the service of his parishioners? What canonized or beatified

at

hurrying in the bitterest weather, over the ice of Holland, "when the French invaded that territory. They had scarcely "the means of subsistence; the wind blew, the snow fell, the army was fast approaching, and they knew not where to “hide their heads, yet these men were cheerful.' They did "honour to religion; and the nation that so justly appreciated "their merit did honour to itself."

husband or wife was not eminent for conjugal virtue; for every parental and every domestic merit? Surely, when so much pains are taken to disgrace the Roman Catholic religion, by bringing forward the miserable legends by which some of her silly children have often deformed their accounts of her saints, justice requires that the heroic virtues of those saints should be equally produced. If this be not done, one side only of the question is brought forward, and great injustice done to the Roman Catholic Church;--she glories,—and she justly glories in her saints;

2.

When Milton assigns to the Paradise of Fools, "Eremites and friars,—

Black, white and grey, and all their trumpery,” You tell us that "he has given all, their proper place."

He has not " given all, their proper place."-I am surprised that You should cite Milton as an authority on such a point. What place would he have given You and Your brother prebendaries? Read the ribaldry with which he has treated Your prelates?

The friars, whom it pleases You to mention thus contumeliously, were incessantly employed in the service of the poor : in preaching to them, in teaching them their catechism, in attending them on their sick beds, and preparing them for their passage to eternity, in aid of the the curates. Was there an epidemic illness, a fire, or an inundation? friars were sure to be there.

In hospitals, in prisons; amid the wounded and the dying in the field of battle, friars were always found. Those, who had no other friend, always found one in a friar. Many friars reached the highest eminence in the arts and sciences. Surely you have heard of Father Roger Bacon. The best interpreter of Descartes, was father Mersenne, a minim friar the best edition of the Principia of Newton, is that of Jacquier and Le Seur, both minims: St.Thomas of Aquin, Bartholomew de las Casas, were Dominican friars, Cardinal Ximénes was a Franciscan. An hundred other friars illustrious for talent, virtue and learning, might be quickly mentioned. Is it decent to call, or to wound the feelings of Catholics by calling, such men, trumpery?

ylanbood:LETTERS XII. & XIII.

to 219]T 30stessori !

THE REFORMATION. HENRY VIII.-EDWARD 'VE.

IN your twelfth letter, you assert, (page 146, 147), that, "the only real points in debate at the time "of the Reformation, were these;-Are the doc"trines of the church of Rome supported by

Scripture and antiquity? Shall the Pope or "Monarch be supreme over the people?" The first of these points included the question of the Pope's spiritual supremacy. It was wrested from him, in many parts of Europe, by the Protestant reformers; but these, instead of establishing evangelical liberty, strove, equally by the sword and the pen, to substitute themselves and their creeds, in the chair of authority. Their attempts filled Europe both with war and debate.*

Proceeding in the order of investigation which I have suggested in the letter to which You now refer, You inquire, whether England has been benefitted by the Reformation, I. In Temporal happiness; II. Spiritual wisdom;-III. Or morals;— IV. And, whether the revival of letters was materially promoted by the Reformation. On each of these topics You conclude for the affirmative.

* See the article in the Edinburgh Review, No. LIII. Art. 8, on the "Toleration of the first Reformers."