but of small population, he has made frequent tours to stir up others on behalf of the Church Missionary work. Bishop Bowen is a man of independent fortune; his seat is Milton House, Pembrokeshire, where he has considerable property. "He is unmarried, and from his former habits and strong physical powers, added to his sterling worth and evangelical piety, it would have been difficult to select one more fitted in every way for the important post he is called to fill, in nursing the infant Churches in Western Africa."

ARRANGEMENTS, it is said, have been made, to constitute New Zealand into a separate ecclesiastical province, with Bishop Selwyn as its Metropolitan. Three new sees are to be erected, in addition to Christ-church. Wellington and Nelson are to be two of them. A third will be Tauranga, an exclusively Maori district, to be placed under Archdeacon William Williams.

THE BISHOP Of Melbourne has issued a circular letter to the clergy of the diocese, prohibiting the intoning of the service, or parts of the service, such as the responses, and particularly the Amen at the close of every prayer, and the chanting of the responses after the Commandments. He also prohibits, as unauthorized by the Rubric, the introduction of the words " Glory be to thee, O GOD," after the minister has given out the Gospel for the day.

THE COLONIAL CHURCH CHRONICLE publishes the following list of missionaries lately murdered in India: The Rev. A. R. Hubbard of the Propagation Society, and the Rev. J. Mackay, at Delhi; the Rev. W. H. Haycock and H. Cockey, of the Propagation Society, at Cawnpore; the Rev. J. Macallum, of the Additional Clergy Society, at Shahjehanpore; the Rev. Messrs. Freeman, Johnstone, Campbell, M'Mullen, and their families, of the American Presbyterian Mission, at Futteyghur; and the Rev. Mr. Hunter and family, of the Scottish Mission, at Sealcote. To this list may be added the Rev. Mr. Jennings, the English Chaplain at Delhi, and his daughter, and Mrs. Thompson and her two daughters, of the Baptist Mission at Delhi. To these victims of the Sepoy violence the name of Mr. Sandys, a most promising catechist at Delhi, must also be added.

DR. FITZGERALD, Bishop of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, has given his primary charge; in which he urges the duty of clerical residence, frequent services, baptisms in public, careful training of children for confirmation, and their coming to the Lord's Supper after being confirmed. Sound doctrine that!

THE IRISH CHURCH is visibly growing. A new church was lately consecrated at Corrawallen, Diocese of Kilmore. It is said to be one of the finest in the Diocese. And the corner-stones of two others were recently laid; one at Aghavullen, Diocese of Ardfert, the other at Enniskerry, Diocese of Dublin. The expense of the latter is to be borne by the Marchioness of Londonderry.

THE SCOTTISH BISHOPS have unanimously elected Bishop Terrot, of Edinburgh, as their Primus, to succeed the late Bishop Skinner.

THE SCOTTISH CHURCH, too, shows cheering signs of growth. Seven churches were consecrated the last year; a larger number than in any former year since the Reformation. Besides these, two others have been consecrated since; St. Ninian's, Alyth, lately erected by four of the congregation, at a cost of £1,500; and one at Callander, in the celebrated region of the Trosachs. And the corner-stone of still another was recently laid at Pitlochrie.

A ROMISH PAPER informs the public that Cardinal Wiseman, with the approval of the Pope, has entrusted to Dr. Newmar the work of preparing a corrected English version of the Scriptures. The Cardinal has shown much good sense, in thus choosing a man who almost knows the old English Bible by heart.

THE BLESSINGS and benefits which Romanism, or "Madonnaism," is conferring on Italy are set forth in a very spirited and telling manner by a late correspondent of the New York Daily Times. Doubtless there is more or less of exaggeration in his statements, but their general truth is abundantly confirmed. We subjoin a part of what the writer says; merely adding, that in the omitted portion of the article he admits divers exceptions to what he regards as the general fact:

There are some curious facts here, the sources of wealth which were so developed in former days, still exist. The wine, the oil, the silk, the wheat, the straw, the mines, are still cultivated, produced, and worked. But they do not seem to enrich the native Italians. These worship the Madonna; they put up her image in their shops, and once a year the priests come and bless them. They confess, go to mass, cross themselves, kneel, give alms, and the like, but while they are thus devout, a set of people who do none of these things, and hold the Madonna in perfect indifference, are stealing the fat of the land. The cafes, the hotels, the trade, the commerce, the mines, are all, or nearly all, in the hands of Swiss, French, Germans, and English, who have settled here permanently, and to whom the country is really a sort of California.

For instance: the rich copper mines of the Maremma, at Cara, near Mount Catini, are in the hands of Messrs. Sloan and Hall, who have become immensely rich, and are absorbing by their accumulating capital large landed estates. Mr. Sloan is already proprietor of the princely villa of the Medici. The straw-hat commerce is almost exclusively in the hands of English and American houses established here. The bankers are mostly English, or at least foreigners. All the noted hotels and cafés, as I have said, are kept by foreigners. An English druggist is making a fortune as fast as he can put up prescriptions, while the Italian druggists are starving. The silk trade is largely absorbed by English, French, and Americans. The sale of Parisian articles is almost wholly confined to Parisian shopkeepers: nearly all English goods are sold by Englishmen. And the reason is plain : the Madonna-pecked Italian is ignorant, narrow-minded, weak. His mind is meshed in the thousand toils of superstition; the priest has made his soul little, feeble, indolent. He is of course a Roman Catholic, and if he yearns to deliver himself from this body of death, he dare not attempt it. His name is registered, and if he do not appear statedly at the confessional, the priest examines him. If he falter, he is suspected; if he doubt, he is damned. For a Roman Catholic here to become a Protestant, is heresy, and entails imprisonment or exile. Can it be expected that a people thus subdued, can rise and shake off its chains, where such penalties are the consequence?

And so the Italians live on in Madonnaism; and so they put up Madonnas in their houses and shops; so the priests go on blessing them, and so the Madonna is the great curse of Italy.

It may be asked if there be not some compensation in this religion for the evils which it thus universally brings upon a nation and people? Does it not elevate the soul and purify the heart, even though it entail social and physical degradation?

Let us see. At church the Italians seem devout; but do they carry thence a sound morality, a practical religion between man and man, a religion of the street, of the counting-house, of the house, of the fireside? Nay-Italian falsehood and frailty are proverbial. Among the upper classes, the men are deists or atheists, in religion. If they linger in the precincts of the church, it is only as a matter of decency before the public, or perchance as a precaution against the possibility of future retribution. The women of the same rank are devoted in their routine of worship, but they make assignations at the altar, and much prefer a cicisbeo to a husband, in going to mass. Cheating among the lower classes is so common as not to be scandalous. To want truth is not a reproach. Such are the Madonnaites of Italy; those who enjoy the special teachings and fatherly protection of the Pope; and who seem, in proportion as they are thus near and dear to him, to sink in the scale of dignity, virtue, morality, and worldly prosperity. The blessing of the Pope seems indeed a blasting anathema, if we may venture to read the open page of history and geography.

DANIEL DANA, JR., 381 BROADWAY, NEW YORK.

Bibliotheca Probata.

A CATALOGUE OF BOOKS selected from the Lists of various Publishers, and arranged under the heads of BIBLES, PRAYER BOOKS, COMMENTARIES, DEVOTIONAL. LIBRARY, FAMILY LIBRARY, PARISH LIBRARY, PARISH SCHOOL LIBRARY, SUNDAY SCHOOL LIBRARY, ACADEMIC AND SCHOOL DISTRICT LIBRARY; with full tilles and descriptions, prices and characterizations; to which is added, a List for the LIBRARY OF A PARISH MINISTER, drawn with much care and consultation of learned authorities. The whole Catalogue contains nearly THREE THOUSAND volumes, with a complete Alphabetical Index. 12mo., pp. 258. Paper, 25c.; muslin, 50c.

Contents of the Several Libraries.

THE DEVOTIONAL LIBRARY comprises, Family Prayers and Readings, Private Prayers, Meditations, Forms of Self-Examination, books on Practical Religion, and Devotional Poetry.

THE FAMILY LIBRARY contains Works that treat of the Divine Origin of Families, and of their relations to Christ and the Church; the noble and generous, as well as tender emotions associated with marriage; the sympathies of the home circle; domestic happiness; the parental, and particularly the maternal relation; home scenes and influences; family cares, trials, and vicissitudes; the principles of courtesy: family order and discipline; education of children; elegant accomplishments; fireside amusements and recreations; domestic virtues on Gospel principles; homes made happy; domestic order and economy; house-keeping; cookery; carving; health, and the philosophy of living; sight and hearing. how preserved and how lost; the use and beauty of the teeth; care of the sick; family bereavements; and Christian monuments to the memory of the deceased.

THE PARISH LIBRARY contains works under the heads of Evidences of Christianity; The Church; The Sacraments and Confirmation; Public Worship; Practical Religion; Missions: Sacred and Ecclesiastical History; Biography; Voyages and Travels; Natural History and Physical Science; Sketches and Tales; Repositories, Magazines, and Miscellanies.

THE PARISH SCHOOL LIBRARY classification is that of History, Biography, Voyages and Travels, Natural History, and Tales and Stories. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL LIBRARY has its books under the following heads: Holy Scripture, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Catechism; Ecclesiastical History; Religious Biography; Practical Religion; Natural History; Tales and Stories; and Books and Rewards for children.

THE ACADEMIC AND SCHOOL DISTRICT LIBRARY comprises books of History, Biography, Voyages and Travels, Natural History, Tales and Stories, Industrial Works, books relating to the Study of Language, and such as treat of, or illustrate Literature, Science, and the Arts, and Political Economy.

THE LIBRARY OF A PARISH MINISTER is arranged under the following heads:-BIBLICAL LITERATURE-Original Text, Translations, Concordances, and Dictionaries; COMMENTARIES, INTRODUCTIONS AND HELPS; ANCIENT FATHERS; DOCTRINAL THEOLOGY; HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY, SACRED AND ECCLESIASTICAL; MINISTRY, POLITY AND RITUAL; PASTORAL DUTY; SERMONS, TRACTATES, &C.; LIBRARY OF ANGLO-CATHOLIC THEOLOGY; DEVOTIONAL AND PRAC TICAL; MISCELLANEOUS WORKS, RECREATIVE AND REPLENISHING History and Travels, Biography, Natural Science, General Literature, Poetry, Encyclopedias, and Books of Reference.