martyr was worth having, and he insisted upon carrying it back to Spain. The Moors had no objection to part with it, and willingly led the monk to the place where Peter was still hanging by the neck. Three days in that posture would have closed a wind-pipe of brass; but Peter's was sufficiently free to address his religious brother, as soon as he saw him within hearing. The Virgin Mary, he informed him, had, since his execution, supported the weight of his body, and was still holding him up at that moment. Not to prolong the necessity of supernatural assistance, Peter was cut down without delay. Of the pleasures he had experienced while hanging, he used always to speak in raptures; notwithstanding a wry neck and habitual paleness for life, which the Virgin allowed him to keep, in remembrance of her assistance. It seems that, omitting the rope and beam, the scene of suspension was often repeated between Peter and his glorious prop; for the Breviary informs us that he frequently was seen raised in the air, uttering "the sweetest words" in answer to questions which the bystanders heard not, but

conjectured, most rationally, to proceed from the Virgin *.

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May I not ask (says the author of the Book of the Roman Catholic Church), if it be either just or generous to harass the present Catholics with the weaknesses of the ancient writers of their communion; and to attempt to render their religion and themselves odious by these unceasing

* " Ipse interim compedibus detentus, cum ad statutam diem parta pro redemptione merces non fuisset allata, et Mahometica superstitionis haberetur contemptor, collo ad lignum suspenditur. Ex Hispania ejus socius Guillelmus cum redemptionis pretio in Africam interea revertitur, et graviter beati viri amissionem deflens, ad locum ubi suspensus manebat, accessit; quem viventem reperit, sibique dicentem audivit : Charissime frater, ne fleveris; ecce enim sanctissimæ Virginis manibus sustentatus vivo, quæ mihi his diebus hilariter adfuit.' Inenarrabili itaque gaudio illum e suspendio deposuit, et, cunctis demirantibus, ac barbaris non credentibus, una cum aliis libertate donatis, læti in patriam reversi sunt. Ex illo autem tempore beatus Petrus collum e supplicio obtortum, et vultum squalore marcidum, quoad vixit, retinuit... Frequenter alienatus a sensibus in aerem sublatus, suavissima verba proferre auditus est, quibus, ut adstantibus videbatur, beatissimæ Virgini interroganti respondebat; suique martyrii memor, hæc fratribus dicere erat solitus: Ego, credite mihi, nullos reputo me vixisse dies, præter felicissimos illos paucos, quibus ligno suspensus, mundo putabar jam mortuus. Officia propria SS. Hispanorum, die 27 Aprilis.'”

and offensive repetitions?" This complaint should be addressed to the Pope and the Roman Catholic bishops, by whose authority, consent, and practice, these weaknesses are unceasingly repeated for the instruction of the members of their communion. I can sympathise with the feelings of the author: I can easily conceive how galling it must be for a modernized Roman Catholic, in this country, to be constantly suspected of being a Roman Catholic, indeed, and according to the Pope's heart. His case is as deplorable as that of a man of fashion, who should be compelled to frequent the higher circles in company with an old, fantastic, half-crazed mother, who daily and hourly exposed herself to contempt and ridicule, in spite of his filial efforts to hide her absurdities. The truth is, that the Protestants have nearly forgotten the monstrous heap of falsehood and imposture from which Rome daily feeds her flock. But the offensive repetitions resound on the ears of your harassed apologist from the lips of every bishop, priest, deacon and subdeacon of his communion: they are chanted incessantly in every Roman Catholic cathedral, in every con

vent of males or females: they are translated into popular tracts *: they are heard and read with avidity by the mass of straight-forward, uncompromising Catholics, and cannot be scouted by the more fastidious, without a direct reproach on the most constant, solemn, and authorised practice of their church. In vain would the suffering scholar, the harassed man of refinement, attempt a distinction between the miracles of dark ages, and those of more modern times: in vain would he venture a smile on the "Golden Legend, and the patrician Metaphrastes." His mother church has thrown her mantle over them, by borrowing from them all for her own peculiar book, her own corrected work, the task-book of all her clergy. He must remember that the weaknesses for which he implores the benefit of oblivion are

* I believe that these stories are much circulated among the Roman Catholics of these kingdoms in the shape of popular pamphlets. I have not, however, been able to procure a copy, owing to the unwillingness of Roman Catholic booksellers to furnish unknown purchasers with a certain peculiar produce of their press. I had strong reasons to suspect the existence of this policy, when it was confirmed to me by the personal experience of a clerical friend.

no more imputable to their original and ancient sources, but to the Popes who republished them at the Vatican, in 1631; to the church, who with one accordant voice repeats them to the faithful of all climates and languages.

It were well, however, for the happiness and virtue of the spiritual subjects of Rome, if their church had sanctioned weaknesses only-absurdities which degrade the understanding and had left the rules of Christian conduct undisturbed. But the Breviary is not more absurd in matters of fact than depraved in the views of moral perfection, which it disseminates. I will not, however, dwell long upon this topic, since the attachment of the church of Rome to monastic virtue, has at all times betrayed her distorted views of evangelical perfection. The specimens which I am about to select from the multitude of her saintly models, are not intended to convict her of errors which she glories in, but to impress their consequences on those that seldom or never dwell, upon these important topics. As I cannot separate, in these specimens, what strictly belongs to the subject on which I am going to touch,