pictures of its horrors, are seized with a benevolent zeal to warn the unwary against its deceivableness.

Our authoress is one of the latter class. "Having passed several years. in Roman Catholic countries, and witnessed much of its persecuting spirit, she," it is alleged, "was well prepared to show the system practised to deceive the simple-minded; and many hours of bodily suffering were endured while endeavouring, by her writings, to impress upon the minds of British youth, the blessing and privilege they enjoy in having the word of God taught them from their youth up.'

Presiding over "an establishment for young ladies, in which the French language is the general medium of conversation," it was natural that she should entertain, on hehalf of her charge, a pious dread lest they should imbibe tastes favourable to Romanism. While, therefore, she has in her house a Protestant Parisian resident, she also seeks, through this Narrative of the Convent, to provide an antidote to the poison of the Catholic literature and customs, to which the use of the language of the French people might expose young ladies of imaginative or morbid minds. After this account of the amiable authoress, we need scarcely say that we are not without our misgivings as to her credulity. The times of Marmion might furnish rare instances of the horrid punishment of entombing alive frail sisters in convent walls. Can the following, in the 19th century, be credited as occurring in Sicily? In endeavouring to escape with her husband, from whom she had been forcibly separated, and lodged in a convent, as having contracted a marriage within the prohibited degrees, "Costanza was rudely seized, and from thence conveyed to a dungeon; while her unfortunate husband, apprehended in the act of scaling the wall by a party of sbirri, who had been stationed in a bush for that purpose, was conveyed to the prisons of the Inquisition in Italy, and I believe was never heard of afterwards. This is sufficiently dreadful; but something still more horrible remains to be told. The unhappy Costanza was delirious for a long time after, and it was thought that confirmed insanity would rescue her from all consciousness of future misery; but she at length recovered her reason, and was dragged from her dungeon, the shadow of her former self, to undergo the solemn mockery of a trial before the bishop, and the superiors of all the convents in the island, in one of the subterranean apartments of the house. Her mind had settled into a state of gloomy apathy, and, with utter indifference to her future fate, she refused to answer a single question, or say a word in her own defence; but one of

her judges, more compassionate than the rest, pleaded in her favour that she had never taken the last decisive vows, and ought not therefore to be considered liable to the frightful sentence pronounced on perjured nuns. That merciful advocate for the unhappy victim was the kind-hearted Abbess Madalena, who was subsequently superior of this convent; but, alas! her pitying efforts to save Costanza were of no avail.

"Her opinion was overruled by all the others; and the wretched victim was condemned to be bricked up alive in a niche in this very vault, and thus given up to the most horrible death. The same sentence was passed on the offending portress; but her terror was so overwhelming, that it brought on a fit of apoplexy which terminated in her death, and thus released her from the worst part of the inhuman punishment, for they laid her a corpse in the niche prepared for her. As to Costanza she exhibited to the last an appearance of most extraordinary and unnatural calmness. The whole sisterhood were assembled to witness her horrid execution; and while many wept and sobbed, and almost all covered their eyes with their hands in shuddering abhorrence of the scene, her tearless eyes glanced but upon one countenance, that of her perfidious friend,-who, pale and cold as a marble statue, was compelled to witness the tragedy which her own treachery had caused. That eye-beam penetrated through the thick folds of her veil, and the clasped hands that covered her eyes, it pierced to the inmost recesses of her heart; and the wretched Giovanna was carried back to her cell shrieking and raving like a maniac. In the mean time the helpless Costanza was placed unresisting in her living tomb; and when the masons, hired for the purpose under the most awful vows of secrecy, had bricked up the opening, and concealed the victim from the view of mortal sight, the spectators rushed from the fatal spot with feelings which I neither can describe nor wish to understand."P. 162.

Besides the incident of publicity which adds improbability to this scene, it bears marks of being a meagre copy of the convent scene in Scott's poem. Constance de Beverley reappears in Costanza; and in the portress, whose terror of death kills her before the time, we at once recognise her fellow victim.

-"a sordid soul
Such as does murder for a meed,
Who but of fear knows no control;
Because, his conscience seared and foul,
Feels not the import of his deed-

After the shameless imposture practised so recently in the case of the "Holy Coat of Treves," we are better prepared to receive as a fact the following exposure of a "lying wonder" for supporting the credit for miracle-working of an image of the Virgin. We could wish, however, that "proofs and illustrations" were to be found in an appendix. The occasional work of Isabel "consisted in dusting and re-arranging the altar and its ornaments, removing the faded flowers, taking off the veil and scarf from the figure of the Virgin, and carefully wiping her face and neck. This was all she was allowed to do; for the dressing and undressing were entrusted only to the elder nuns. On the approaching festival, the image was to be splendidly attired, and hints had been given, that it was expected to work some miracle, for a novena, or nine days' extraordinary act of devotion, was being performed in the convent with the view of obtaining that favour." While engaged in cleaning the neck from the dust, a necklace of oriental pearls breaks, and several of them go amissing. She contrives so to tie up the necklace as to conceal the deficiency from casual observation, resolving to renew her search for them at night, now interrupted by the summons of the refectory bell. Under the guise of a devotional vigil by the corpse of a sister, she secures a midnight entrance, in which another joins Isabel, "informs her young friend of the accident she had met with in

dropping the pearls; and Rosa, notwithstanding her professed intention of spending the time in devotion, rose to assist her in disrobing the figure of the Madonna, though she did not do so without a feeling of superstitious awe. On moving the different articles of the dress, they found, to Isabel's great relief, several of the precious beads which had lain concealed amidst the folds; they were carefully gathered up, and the necklace was nearly completed. But what was their astonishment, however, on finding, as they stripped the figure, that it was a piece of machinery, exhibiting a number of springs, the use or intention of which they could not possibly conjecture. Curious, however, to solve the mystery, they touched first one and then another, and discovered that their effect was to produce various movements of the figure, such as opening and shutting the eyes, bending the head, extending or raising the hand, and contracting the face into what might be taken for a smile! On tracing these springs to their termination, Isabel discovered that they were conducted from the pedestal on which the statue stood, through the whole depth of the high altar, till they met in a small recess on the other side, which was concealed by a square piece of

marble, which, being pressed with the finger in a particular spot, slipped backwards and forwards in a groove provided for the purpose. By means of this contrivance, the priest, while kneeling at the altar, could, with the greatest ease, manage the lifeless puppet in such a manner as to produce, at will, the different movements which excited the awe and wonder of the deluded spectators.

"It would be difficult to describe the astonishment and indignation of the two novices when they had fully investigated this shameful deception. This then, exclaimed Isabel, accounts for all the miracles and false wonders which we have so often heard related, and a repetition of which all this mockery of a novena was instituted to invoke.”

In behalf of such fictitious narratives as the Convent, it may be fairly pled, however, that the converts to Romanism in this country, in recent years, have been gleaned chiefly from amongst those whose minds are not susceptible of impression to the errors of the Romish system by catechetical instruction. They must be won by narrative and adventure to form an incidental acquaintance with its doctrinal heresies, while they are being excited to a hatred of its superstitions and oppressions. Cecilia Montagues, for instance, of our authoress, who rave in the following style, must be provided for by such devices.

66

The

The

Oh, mamma, how I should like to be a nun! How lovely the solitude, how sweet the quiet of that secluded spot! Surely none of the cares, anxieties, sins, or sorrows of life, can gain admittance there! life of the nuns must glide away in one uninterrupted flow of calm and peaceful serenity, hallowed by the glow of seraphic devotion; and they must almost insensibly pass from earth to heaven with the blissful certainty of a glorious and happy future. Oh! that such a lot were mine." In some instances, it might suffice, in order to dispel the illusion, to reply with the sensible, though worldly, Mrs Montague, "Come, come, child, no more of this nonsense. you wish to become religious, you can do so without shutting yourself up in a convent. You greatly deceive yourself in thinking there is nothing but peace and happiness in those places. Depend upon it, there is quite as much misery there as elsewhere."

If

To eradicate the taste, however, for this dreamy life of retirement, the mystery of iniquity must be laid bare, and its damnable heresies and its detestable machinations for the perversion of the social and active affections of woman, be subjected to the test of the pure religion and undefiled, by which its earthly origin may be exposed.

In the history of the two novices, Isabel and Rosa, the power of the word of God, as it is to be found even in Roman Catholic translations, is accordingly the grand disturbing and conquering element introduced into the convent of Rosalia. Isabel's curiosity is first aroused in reference to it by the preaching of a Protestant padre. Rosa's brother Francesco, a light-hearted sailor, receives a little Testament from Henry Willoughby, an English gentleman, a prisoner on parole, which is conveyed into the possession of the sisters. It gradually leavens the mind first of the bolder and more experienced, then of the gentler novice. The conversations, to which it prompts, and the altered demeanour which it produces, are suspiciously watched by the superiors and their tools. Detection follows. The little Testament is effectually concealed; but its doctrines, acquired by stealth, have undermined one by one the props of the priest's authority, which is at last openly renounced, and the instructed are prepared to endure persecution rather than take the veil. With an enlightened perception of the proper sphere of magisterial interference, the authoress, to prevent this catastrophe, brings in the aid of an officer of the British Government, under which the island had by this time come. "The prayers were repeated, the hymns chanted, and the time arrived when the novices should have repeated the vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience; that irreVocable vow which would bind them for ever to seclusion - perpetual seclusion. Father Giacomo blessed the black veils which were lying on a table before him, and, approaching the novices, asked them, 'Daughters, is it by your own free-will that you now devote yourselves to God?' By previous concert with the young sailor and his English friend, now no longer a prisoner, the sisters are instructed that this was their opportunity. "No!' burst spontaneously from the lips of the agitated novices; and, before the reverend father had recovered from his surprise, they rushed to the railing which separated the chapel from the altar, and, throwing themselves on their knees, Isabel exclaimed, 'Englishmen, help us! Deliver us from this cruel bondage!' then, rising up, emphatically begged the interference of the British Government on their behalf. It is impossible to describe the scene of tumult that followed. The incensed priest rushed upon the terrified girls, and, seizing each by the arm, attempted to drag them from the rails, to which they clung in desperation; while, at the same moment, two lieutenants, by the admiral's order, leapt over the slight barrier, and, in the name of the British Government, demanded that the young

6

ladies should be given up to him. The priest advanced towards the admiral, and inquired, By what right he interfered in ecclesiastical matters ?-This is not exactly an ecclesiastical matter,' he replied. These ladies are asked by you, whether it is of their own will that they assumed the veil? they answer, it is not. They are therefore free from your jurisdiction, as your own question proves that you have no right to compel them against their will to renounce the world. The British Government permits no slavery in its dominions, and this is slavery of the worst kind. I therefore, as its representative here, order you to release these ladies. They shall be immediately conveyed on board my ship, until the matter has been properly investigated; then it will be decided, by competent judges, whether they return to Santa Rosalia, or. follow their own inclinations. To you, Mr Willoughby, and you, Mr St John, I entrust the duty of escorting the ladies to my carriage."

The narrative is deficient in dramatic power, the characters of individuality; and too much perspicacity is attributed to the newly initiated Bible scholars, in the discovery and application of scripture texts to the uses of the Romish controversy. Nevertheless there is a fascination, both about the subject and its treatment, which carries the reader through the most theological passages with interest to the close. The grand moral of the work is eminently praiseworthy, that spiritual error is to be exposed by the diffusion of the Scriptures, and assaults upon human liberty warded off by the arm of the law.

THE LORD'S SUPPER. By the Rev. DAVID KING, LL.D., Glasgow, Author of "The Ruling Eldership," &c. Second Edition revised.

Edinburgh: Johnstone.

WE are gratified to find that the high opinion we expressed of this work on its first appearance (less than two years ago), is borne out in public estimation by the demand already for a second edition. The author has enhanced and enriched the work by further reading on the subject; and, as he modestly confesses, by revising it with careful regard to the well-intentioned hints of his reviewers. The condensed view, presented in the appendix, of Rauch's admirable hypothesis in reference to the time of our Lord's last passover, is a valuable morsel of criticism aptly introduced. The hypothesis is, that the feast of the passover, appointed to be held on the 14th day of the month Nisan, was kept at the beginning of the day, according to Jewish reckoning; that is, immediately after sunset, at the

close of the 13th. Considering the numerous difficulties which this felicitous hypothesis is found to remove, Dr King justly characterises Rauch's Essay as "a great triumph of criticism. Not only are controversies, which have been so long agitated, at last, by a happy suggestion, so amicably set at rest; the moral contained in this result, is even more important than the direct elucidation of scripture which it affords. The evangelists have been frequently charged with weak blundering or wilful misrepresentation; their inconsistencies as to the time of Christ's last passover, have been confidently adduced in support of the accusations. But now it is found that the inconsistencies alleged lie with the accusers, and that the matter of charge against the truthfulness of the New Testament furnishes a decisive example of its accuracy and trustworthiness.”

LECTURES on the BIBLE to the YOUNG: for their INSTRUCTION and EXCITEMENT. By JOHN EADIE, LL.D., Professor of Biblical Literature, &c. 18mo. 152 pp.

Edinburgh: Oliphant & Sons. It would seem to be characteristic of the strongest and manliest intellects, that they have deepest sympathy with the feelings of the young. Many illustrious examples might be quoted in proof of this position; and in the volume before us, Dr Eadie, whose distinction in literature is such as is attainable only by the sturdier qualities of mind, furnishes an additional illustration. Most of our readers, we apprehend, have seen the first draft of these Lectures as they appeared seriatim in the Juvenile Magazine of the United Church. They are here, however, presented in an extended as well as a collected form, comprehending more than twothirds of additional matter, and containing a large amount of precious instruction engagingly set forth. The revival of the antique style in the printing and binding of the volume, deserves notice from the admirers of bibliothecal elegance.

cost them somewhere about ten pages of solid and useful instruction every year, besides, in the long run, injuring the look of the work, by making the volume appear like a collection of disjointed parts. Nothing like timely concession now a-days for securing popularity. The change is decidedly one for the better.

The SUNDAY SCHOOL MAGAZINE. New Series. Numbers for January, February, and March, 1848.

London: Partridge & Oakey.

It is one of the gratifying features in the present condition of our church, that its attention is more systematically and intensely turned to the subject of Sabbath schools than it probably has been at any earlier period. One of the cheapest and most efficient means of elevating the attainments of the teachers, and in this way increasing the efficiency of the system, is the circulation among them of well-conducted magazines, devoted to the interests of the Sabbath school. With this conviction, we strongly commend to our readers generally, and especially to ministers, elders, and teachers, the Sunday School Magazine. If ordered through their bookseller, it can be procured for the matter of two shillings in the year; if ordered to be sent stamped through the post-office, its annual price would be half as much more. Sessions might do well to order it for the use of their teachers. We could scarcely imagine a small fraction of congregational funds more legitimately or usefully applied.

consults

The Sunday School Magazine is excellent and popular in matter; numbers among its stated contributors practical men, who know much more of the Sabbath school than as a mere beautiful theory; variety in its articles, mingling intelligence with advice, and presenting admirable models of teaching. It is embellished with wood-cuts, and even its outward appearance is tasteful and attractive. It is pervaded by a Christian cheerfulness which we like, and which contrasts with the querulous tone which too much distinguishes some periodicals of the same class. We give it our sincere and earnest commendation.

HINTS ON PREACHING; being Fenelon's Dialogues on Eloquence, particularly the Eloquence of the Pulpit. Translated from the French, with a Preliminary Essay. By Rev. A. JENOUR. 18mo. Pp. 192.

London: T. D. Thomson.

WITH an occasional admixture of reasoning and illustration that savour of the sen