But what of the irresolution, what of the temulency generally accredited to the stage Irishman? Cumberland

seems to have decided to eliminate the indecision. But in the second act there is a hint that seems to point to a bibacious tendency on the part of the Major. Lady Rusport has been badly shaken up in a tumble from an old chariot, and Lucy, the maid, has gone for a cup of cordial drops.

Lady Rusport-"Oh, are you come? Give me the drops. I'm all in a flutter." O'Flaherty "Hark ye, sweetheart, what are those same drops? Have you any more left in the bottle? I don't care if I take a little sip of them myself." Lucy-"Oh, sir, they are called the cordial restorative elixir, or the nervous golden drops."

O'Flaherty "Yes, yes, my dear, there are gentlemen as well as ladies that stand in need of those same golden drops; they'd suit my case to a tittle."

This is the one place in the play where the Major reveals this weakness and even here we feel he is more in fun than in earnest when he insists that "some of those same drops would suit his case to a tittle." It is, however, all but impossible for a writer to escape from the spirit of his time, and so we find the Major sometimes reckless; sometimes. boastful of things shameful; often ready to compromise the truth when some immediate advantage will result, or seem to result, from the surrender. But we can say for the Major that he is not so unendurable as some of his contemporaries.

Sir Lucius O'Trigger is quite a different type. He is an important character in "The Rivals," a stage-classic, as funny to-day as it was in 1775 when it was performed for the first time in Covent Garden Theatre. Sir Lucius is a fighter, first and last. He is "a blood

Philistine," if we are to credit David, Bob Acres' valet. He believes in fighting for its own sake and is not much concerned over the righteousness of the cause. "What signifies right," he asks, "when your honor is at stake? Do you think Achilles, or my little Alexander lay? No, by my soul, they drew their the Great ever inquired where the right broadswords and left the lazy sons of peace to settle the justice of it." The way in which he opens a quarrel with Captain Absolute is characteristic. The Captain is walking on the North Parade when Sir Lucius addresses him:

Sir Lucius "With regard to that matter, Captain, I must beg leave to differ in opinion with you."

Captain Absolute-"Upon my word, then, you must be a very subtle disputant; because, sir, I happened just then to be giving no opinion at all."

For

Sir Lucius-"That's no reason. give me leave to tell you, a man may think an untruth as well as speak one."

Absolute "Very true, sir; but if a man never utters his thoughts, I should think they might stand a chance of escaping controversy."

Sir Lucius-"Then, sir, you differ in opinion with me, which amounts to the same thing."

Absolute "Hark'ee, Sir Lucius, if I had not before known you to be a gentleman, I should not have discovered it at this interview; for what you can drive at, unless you mean to quarrel with me, I cannot conceive!”

Sir Lucius "I humbly thank you, sir, for the quickness of your apprehensionyou have named the very thing I would be at."

"The very thing." If Sir Lucius wastes his time in friendly conversation with Bob Acres; if he thinks he is in love with "Delia" and answers her letters now and then-it is with the tacit understanding that these things are mere incidentals. His life-purpose is

bellicose encounter with friend or foehe is not over-particular.

The trouble with Sir Lucius is that his character, as drawn by Sheridan, lacks proportion. All his qualities, good and bad, are swallowed up in his obtrusive belligerency. We forget the minor vices and virtues that might have united to make a man of him, and remember only his consuming desire to measure swords with an opponent. It is true that in the real world of men and women, each one has some predominant passion that grows weed-like, some ascendant virtue that seems to be second nature. But the balance rarely swings as far as in Sir Lucius. It is not easy to see why he was called O'Trigger. The Irishman is a good soldier and not afraid to fight; but the idea that he is contentious by nature and fights from choice and for the fun of the thing is certainly not founded on fact. Considered as a part of the comedy-plan of "The Rivals," Sir Lucius fits in very well and is as amusing as exaggeration can make him. Viewed as a study of Viewed as a study of Irish character he is a failure. The exaggeration is obtruded past the limits of the comedy into the realms of farce.

This obtrusion of the farce-element in the portrayal of Irish character is probably the root-cause of the recent agitation against what is called the "stage Irishman." A comedy, according to Webster, "is a dramatic composition or representation of a bright and amusing character, based upon the foibles of individuals, the manners of society, or the ludicrous events or accidents of life; a play in which mirth predominates and the termination of the plot is happy." A farce, according to the same authority, "is a low style of comedy; a dramatic composition marked by low humor, generally written with no regard to regularity or method and abounding with ludicrous incidents and expressions." Farce is to the drama what caricature is to art. As Dryden says: "The persons and actions of a farce are all unnatural, and the manners false." There seems to be a tendency to make the Irishman, not merely a comic, but a farcial type; and while the Irish are willing to be laughed at, and even enjoy laughing at themselves, they feel that there has been too much of the horseplay of farce and not enough of the refreshing mirth of comedy.

FIRST PART-FIRST MYSTERY-THE ANNUNCIATION PROMISE OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

A

N angel was sent from God to Mary to announce the advent of the Incarnation of the Eternal Son of God in her sacred

womb. Men were prepared for this event from the beginning by the promises of God through the mouths of the prophets. It was eminently fitting that an event of such unique importance in itself, and of such universal interest to the human family should be expected and awaited in accordance with the good will and merciful decree of the Omnipotent God. Men were prepared by prophets and angels for the coming of Christ in the flesh; but men were prepared for the coming of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, under the sacramental species by Christ Himself. Though there were figures and types of the Blessed Sacrament in the old law, especially the paschal lamb, and the manna in the desert, yet it was left to Christ Himself, Who alone could fulfil the promise, to announce the promise of a "bread" which should really and truly be His own flesh and blood. No promise was ever more clear and distinct than this promise of our Blessed Lord. We have but to examine it in itself, in the circumstances which preceded it, and those which followed it. The promise itself is recorded by St. John in his Gospel (chap. vi, 48-59): "I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in

the desert, and they died. This is the bread descending from heaven; that if any one eat of it he may not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give, is My flesh for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, debated among themselves, saying: How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, abideth in Meand I in him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; sohe that eateth Me, the same also shall live by Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and died. He that eateth this bread shall live forever."

Now, then, what is the promise? "The bread which I will give, is My flesh." The Omnipotent Promiser promises a

bread at some future time which will really and truly be, at that time in which it is given, His flesh. What circumstances preceding the promise have special and particular relation to it? First, the miraculous refection of the multitude of five thousand persons by the multiplication of the five loaves. Second, the faith of the multitude because of the

miracle wrought: "This is the prophet, indeed, that is to come into the world." Third, the flocking of the multitude after Jesus on the next day after the miracle, when He made the promise of the Blessed Sacrament.

What circumstances succeeding the promise have reference to it? Chiefly two: First, that "many of His disciples. went back and walked no more with Him." They had the beginning of faith in Him, because of the miracle He had wrought, they had not the completion of faith, because they turned away their carnal minds from the spectacle of the fulfillment of His promise,

grace of this sacrament, that sanctifying grace, which is the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and they are made living members of the great High Priest, Jesus Christ; and thus internally participate in His living priesthood, and fulfil its office by offering to God, on the altar of their hearts, enlightened by faith and inflamed by charity, all the thoughts, words, actions and sufferings of each day. "Christ hath washed us from our sins in his own blood (baptism), and hath made us a kingdom and priests. (internally) to God and His Father" (St. John Apoc. i, 5, 6). Again St. Peter says, in his First Epistle (chap. ii, 5): "Be you also as living stones built up, a

the Blessed Sacrament.

Second, the answer of Peter to the question of Jesus to the twelve: "Will you also go away? And Simon Peter answered Him: Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known that thou art the Christ the Son of God" (John vi, 68-70). As the heirs of the faith of Peter we have no other or no better answer to make to those foolishly questioning the reasonableness of our Catholic belief in this promise of the Blessed Sacrament.

SECOND MYSTERY- THE VISITATION

PREPARATIONS FOR THE FULFILL-
MENT OF THE PROMISE.

As in the visitation of our Blessed Lady to St. Elizabeth, our Blessed Lord conferred a special grace on St. John the Baptist in his mother's womb, by which he would be rendered fit to be His own future precursor, so, too, does He confer the grace of His priesthood on all who receive the sacrament of baptism. The priesthood of Christ is two-foldinternal and external. The internal priesthood has been conferred on all Christians who receive the sacrament of aptism; for they receive in the habitual

offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." The holy King David had sung, long before the establishment of this participation of his eternal priesthood by baptism: "A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a contrite and humble heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Psalm 1, 19). Again the Blessed Sacrament is consecrated by those who participate in the external priesthood of Christ for consumption, which is a part of the external sacrifice, by the faithful who share in this internal priesthood, as well as for consumption by themselves. It should never, then, be forgotten that every host consecrated in the external sacrifice of the Mass is for final consumption by some one gifted by God, through His sacraments, with the eternal priesthood of His Divine Son either internally, or both internally and externally conferred.

Now the external priesthood of Christ for which he had been fitting His apostles for three years under His own Mastership, is properly appropriated to those whom Christ visits with the grace of vocation, and advances step by step through the grades of the sacrament of Holy Orders, until finally they are specially consecrated to God by divine authority, by the lawful imposi

tion of the hands of the bishop and priests, and with the solemn ceremonies of the Church. The office of the external priesthood consists in the offering of external sacrifice to God, and the administration of the sacraments coming within its legitimate jurisdiction. The bishop at the ordination of a priest gives him power to offer up such sacrifice, when he says to him: "Receive power to offer sacrifice to God, and to celebrate Mass as well for the living as for the dead." And again placing his hands on the head of the one to whom such power has just been given, the bishop says: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost, whose sins. you shall forgive they are forgiven them, and whose sins you shall retain they are retained." The offering of external sacrifice, and the forgiving or retaining of sin are the functions peculiar to the external priesthood of Christ. Now the preparations of Christ for the fulfillment. of His promise of a bread that would be His body, embraced the training and fitting of the apostles for the participation in His external priesthood. Moreover, as the time approaches for its fulfillment, He sends forward Peter and John to make immediate preparations for the unbloody sacrifice He is about to establish, and which is to last to the consummation of the world. "And He said to them: Behold, as you go into the city, there shall meet you a man carrying a pitcher of water: follow him into the house, which he entereth into:

"And you shall say to the master of the house: The Master saith to thee: Where is the guest chamber, where I may eat the pasch with my disciples?

"And he will show you a large dining room furnished; and there prepare. And they going, found as He had said to them" (Luke xxii, 10-13). Christ prepares them, they prepare the matter for the sacrament (bread and wine), and a proper place for the fulfillment, for the first time, by the Omnipotent power of the Word of God, of the promise of a

bread which He would give that is His flesh and blood. The Church, the altar, the external priesthood, the bread and wine are all provided for us by God.

THIRD

MYSTERY-THE

NATIVITY—THE INSTITUTION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

As in the nativity of Christ we stand by the crib, in the stable of Bethlehem, so in the institution (sacramental birth of Christ) of the Blessed Sacrament we take our stand by the banquet table in the supper room at the entrance to Jerusalem, where the divine Master takes His place with His twelve apostles. Now see what Jesus, the "wisdom of God and the power of God, with Whom no word shall be impossible," does and says according to the record of St. Matthew (xxvi, 26-28). "And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave to His disciples; and said: Take ye and eat: This is My body. And taking the chalice, He gave thanks; and gave to them saying: Drink ye of this. For this is My blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins." Has He not fulfilled His promise of giving a bread which is His body and blood, and have not the apostles partaken of this bread? But, perhaps, it is the first and last time that man will ever be fed on such precious food for the life of their souls. Ah, no, He consecrates His apostles then and there and gives them power to do the same thing which He had done, take bread and wine and change them by His Omnipotent Word into His body and blood. "Do this for a commemoration of Me" (Luke xxii, 19). How did the apostles understand the words and actions of our Blessed Lord? The unbroken apostolic traditions tell us. They took the words of our Lord, as they were meant, literally, and, after the coming of the Holy Ghost,