I will but say I have never written anything upon religious controversy since I became a Catholic, in which I have not distinctly maintained that the canker of the Church of England, was its isolation; and communion with the Holy See, its grand desideratum for recovery. I should be the first to wish to consign to the flames anything of mine that could be proved at variance with facts, or coarse and personal, or wanting in respect to our authorities, or contrary to sound doctrine. And it grieves me not a little that my conduct, as distinct from my motives, should be hypothetically called in question by one so frank and earnestminded as yourself.

Yet I beg to subscribe myself, as ever,
Yours very faithfully,

EDMUND Š. FFOULKES.

July 19, 1864, 86, Sloane Street, S.W.

ORIGINAL POETRY.

MOLONY, AN IDYL.

BY AL- -D T—NN—S—N, Esq.

THERE is a Church in Galway, uglier

Than all the barns which Galway farmers build;
The hot soup vapour steams along the roof,
And on the door a bill is pasted up,

Announcing" Sermons, which the Romanists
Are earnestly invited to attend."

Thither came at noon
Mournful Molony, wandering forlorn
Of Father Murphy, once his parish priest.
He sat him down upon a heap of stones,
As something had entirely bothered him,
And from his mouth took his dudheen, and said,
"O Father Murphy, blessed Father Murphy,
Your reverence, won't you hear before I'm kilt.
The leaf and stalk were blackening in the field,
The piled-up hoard was blackening in the store-
A withering blight was on the blessed food,
The food that fed the childher and the pig,
Those childher that was Nora's joy and pride,
That pig that paid his Honour's glory's rint.
O Father Murphy, hear before I'm kilt-
The days were dark, the cruel nights were cold,
And with the famine soon the fever came,

And once I said-'The blessed Saints in heaven,
Gold-crowned, white-robed above-they care not for
The likes of us-the Devil takes care of his-

I wish the Devil himself would send us food.'
Dear Father Murphy, hear before I'm kilt.
That morning from the Irish Mission came
A missioner. I never saw a man

So bad-potato faced. He came to me
Leading a bran-new pig, thick-nosed, thin-tailed,
And then he said to me- 'My good Molony,
Accept this pig. And in your leisure moments
Peruse this tract. Its name was 'Bloody End,'
(Saving your reverence's presence) to the Pope."
O Father Murphy, blessed Father Murphy,-
O Tower of Ivory !-won't your reverence hear.
Och, give me any penance-bid me walk
For months of Sundays over pints of peas,
Only do not transform me to a goat,
Or haythen nagur with a hairy tail."

C. P. M.

ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C.L.

La pensée humaine attent dans certains hommes sa complète intensité. Choisir entre ces hommes, impossible. Examinez-les, l'un après l'autre.

Loquel est le plus grand? Tous.-Victor Hugo.

THERE never lived a poet yet

That had not loved thy curious verse,
Thy sentences profound and terse,

Thy thoughts in jewelled language set.

O unaffected, strange as sweet,

And sweet as great, and great as strange,
Within thy intellectual range

What varied powers poetic meet!

The fruit, thou graceful tree and tall,
Of poesy thy seasons bear,

Though unlike other clusters rare,
Includes some savour of them all.

Though every bard has more or less

Rung changes on Anacreon's theme,
Who e'er described that waking dream
With thy pure pathos and address?

But thy immortal fame had birth

Chiefly the vaults of Death among,
For thou beyond all doubt hast sung

The sweetest Elegy on earth.

Yet that more definite Faith and full,

Which flourished in less sceptic times,

Had cleared some vagueness from thy rhymes,

And made them still more beautiful.

When shall the world a bard behold

Who Shakespeare's fancy will unite

With Dante's faith, and Milton's height,
And Tennyson's mint of words of gold?

Stafford Club.

JOHN CHARLES EARLE.

LITERARY NOTICES.

Mr. J. W. Burgon's Treatise on the Pastoral Office (London: Macmillan) is—as was to be expected-thoroughly untrustworthy, superficial, and jejune. It is defective in all important principles, and eminently crotchetty in the rest. We have seldom looked through a new book with less interest or less profit. This may partly be accounted for by the fact that Mr. Burgon has evidently had no practical experience of pastoral work. His first act as Vicar of S. Mary's, Oxford, was, as many of our readers are aware, to discontinue the early communion, which had been established there for more than twenty years.

The August number of the Scottish Guardian (Edinburgh: Grant) is quite as dull, uninteresting, and indefinite as its predecessors. It is unquestionably dear-in the pecuniary sense of the word. Some may regard it as a very proper exponent of the polity and principles of the small community it professes to represent. If so, we imagine the opinion need not be disputed.

The last three numbers of Church Work (London: Hayes), the organ of the Guild of S. Alban, contain many interesting papers, written with judgment and ability. Its conductors should avoid taking the responsibility of venturing to condemn Brother Ignatius. He is doing for Brotherhoods amongst us what Miss Sellon effected many years ago for Sisterhoods. No doubt he will incur similar obloquy; but he cannot fail to be successful. So-called "High Churchmen," who now stand aloof or oppose, will, in due course, forget their timidity, and congratulate him cordially when he succeeds.

There is an original and striking character in the music of Mr. Sedding's Hymns of the Holy Eastern Church (London : Masters), which we recommend, in all sincerity, to those who are interested in the revival of good church music. The composer has quite caught the spirit of the ancient church melodies. without in any degree having plagiarized from them. His book is a decided success.

Hymns of the Eastern Church, from the same publisher, far less severe in their character, are also worthy of commendation. The melodies of Hymns 3 and 6 are especially good and appropriate.

We have never read so simple and touching a Memoir as one just privately printed by Mr. Masters, called The Power of the Catholic Faith, a Memorial. The title well expresses what is set forth in the pages of the book, there is an utter absence of questionable sentimentality throughout, while the lessons to be learnt from its careful perusal are many.

Twenty-four General Rules for the Guidance of Christian Life (London: Church Press Company), compiled by Mr. Murray of Chiselhurst, will be found of great practical use by many parish priests. The tract is evidently arranged with care by one of considerable experience.

Many persons will find Mr. Greuber's Ninety-five Chants for the Canticles (London: Masters) of great use. They are judiciously selected and well harmonised.

Dr. Oldknow's sermon, entitled Acceptable Worship (Birmingham Hodgetts), preached on behalf of a local choral association, is plain, forcible, and eloquent; well adapted to remove prejudice and to spread sound principles regarding divine service.

The Litany of the Holy Childhood, a very beautiful hymn, set to music, and issued by the Committee of Clergy at Mr. G. J. Palmer's, deserves our highest commendations. It will be found of great practical use in many ways and on many occasions. It is well written, and the music is simple and good-though, by the way, the third note of the latter ought to be E natural.

The progress which religious poetry and hymnology have made during the past twenty years is perfectly surprising. The only wonder is that the large number of publications which evidence this can ever answer the purpose of those who issue them. A small contribution of hymns, entitled In Festo Dedicationis, and other Poems (London: Hayes), is quite above the average of such publications. The author has creditable capabilities, and in the poem at page 25, evinces very considerable powers. The book is well worth procuring.

Mr. Murdoch, the Free Church minister of New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, has printed a sermon on Everlasting Punishment (Aberdeen: George Davidson), which states with learning and ability the Catholic aspect of this important dogma. It was preached before a Synod, and is in every respect creditable to the author, containing, as it does, a well written exposition of a difficult doctrine, put together with tact, judgment, and charity.

A small tractate, exceedingly plain in language and eminently practical in scope, has recently been published by Mr. Hayes, entitled A Treatise on the Duties of Fathers and Mothers. It is written by the eminent French theologian Arvisnet, and is translated and edited by Mr. Cosby White, of S. Barnabas', Pimlico. Members of the Church of England owe him a debt of gratitude for a most valuable and useful publication, which we have the greatest pleasure in recommending to our readers'

attention.

Easy Readings from the History of England for the Use of Little Children (London: Masters) is very well compiled, and calculated to be of great service. Inferior to Dr. Neale's well known little book on English History, it is nevertheless reliable and sound, and having the imprimatur of Mr. Mayow, of West Brompton, may be safely commended for general use.