NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Letter of the Most Rev. Dr. Nulty, Bishop of Meath, to the Most Rer. Dr. Bagshawe, Bishop of Nottingham, on the avowed hostility of the Radical Party to Catholic Education in Voluntary Schools and the necessity of union between English and Irish Catholics to resist them.

A cherished feeling of half thankfulness and half triumph, is deepening into the hearts of Irishmen, that this generation is happy beyond comparison with its predecessors in being destined to see in the near future the sure victory of our long-lived hardfought struggle. This is the natural result of the hopes that are entertained. And in good earnest is not public confidence well founded, whether we look to the nation that can produce such men, or the men that serve the nation? Every move in these eventful days shows the new position of intelligent power which the Irish people by a sort of magic effort has at last attained. Of this no better illustration need be desired than Dr. Nulty's vigorous letter to Dr. Bagshawe supplies. It is a fitting conclusion to the controversy that was carried on some time ago with considerable warmth in reference to a political union between Irish and English Catholics for purposes they all prize highly. The Bishop of Meath is a warm lover of his country, as everyone knows, and in this able letter gives a fine example of how patriotism like every other virtue should be pressed into the service of religion. If his Lordship expresses surprise at the action of some English Catholics in declining to support the Irish Parliamentary Party, it is not so much because the national question could be advanced by such aid, as because the most vital interests of religion in England, Christian Education above all, could be secured against threatened ruin, if intrusted to the same willing advocates who are commissioned to guard the welfare of Catholic Ireland.

The voluntary schools of our co-religionists beyond the Channel "seem utterly helpless, and wholly unprotected, and lie totally at the mercy of their deadliest enemies. They will hardly have even one true representative to open his mouth in their defence in the coming Parliament. And yet it appears to me that half a dozen of earnest, able, and experienced men, banded together in the House of Commons for the defence of these voluntary schools, would give them a better chance for their lives, than their manifest intrinsic justice and merit, or all the friendly efforts that can be made from without to save them. On the other hand, the Radical party is fiercely and fanatically bent on destroying them."

What the justice and merit" of these institutions are, Dr. Nulty develops at length. Education is already compulsory in England. The Radicals wish to have it gratuitous, as far as

direct contributions are concerned, at the Board Schools, and nowhere else. Under specious taxation pleas, the determination has been avowed, of withdrawing the miserable pittance now allowed to voluntary schools, notwithstanding that under all disadvantages they can rival their favoured competitors even in secular subjects. When this is done, the voluntary schools are well nigh doomed, and the pagan State system becomes practically of obligation. It is against such a programme, so hostile to Christianity, whether its framers mean the aggression or not, that Dr. Nulty raises his manly voice. His lordship's argument for the rights of Catholics to have their children educated in a Christian manner, and not forced into dangerous institutions, is irresistible. If parents are bound by the law of nature to provide material food for their offspring, how much more under the law of grace are they obliged to secure for their children that Catholic Education, without which the spiritual life must languish and cease to exist? How much more are they bound to keep their children from schools where the atmosphere is deadly poisonous to souls?

"The parent who neglects to provide for the animal wants of his child and who sees it perishing with hunger and want when it is in his power to preserve it, is unnatural and more degraded than the beast is; but the parent who wilfully neglects the education of his child, is more degraded and more unnatural still, because the life of the soul is of vastly greater moment that the life of the body, and the spiritual hunger and thirst and destitution of the soul are the worst of all evils, because they are of a higher order and are often not merely temporal bui eternal."

The School Board system ignores God and a future state; and hence it was to save their children from the irreligion of a godless education and the corrupting influence of its spirit, that Catholics in England have at enormous sacrifices maintained their voluntary schools. There was no other course for them in the past. They cannot turn to the Board Schools now. But they will have very little option in the matter unless vigorous opposition be given to certain Radical proposals. There is only one source from which effective resistance can spring, and the Bishop of Meath appeals to our co-religionists to imitate their brethren in France, sink smaller differences, and make a bold, triumphant, stand with the powerful aid now providentially at their disposal.

Already there are signs which go far to show that the Irish Parliamentary Party will fight the battle of Christian Education for the Three Kingdoms in the next Parliament. Already there are signs of Radical wavering before the well-trained band. For has not Mr. Chamberlain of late declared his intention not to interfere with the voluntary schools? But come what may of co-operation from English Catholics or opposition from English Radicals, the representatives from Ireland, happy in the consciousness of power to help the oppressed against the 30

VOL. VI.

oppressors, are not likely, as Dr. Nulty says so beautifully, to forget their kith and kin in England, or their obligations as Irish Catholics to any Christian cause. His lordship's letter breathes the generous spirit of our holy religion, and deserves careful attention from all concerned.

Aletheia: or, the Outspoken Truth. By Right Rev. J. D. RICARDS, D.D. BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Ann's.

The

This book states the "outspoken truth” (ảλýß‹‹a) about the rule of Divine Faith, in a manner that is at once ingenious and attractive. The subject, which must ever prove a source of contention between Catholics and those who reject the teaching authority of the Church, has been discussed over and over again, since the days when the Reformer of Wittenberg proclaimed private judgment the umpire of revealed truth. Its treatment, however, up to the present, was not such as to commend it to the tastes of a class of readers that have attained such proportions in our day, and cannot bring themselves to read anything that does not savour of that unhealthly ephemeral literature to which they are so slavishly addicted. It was to meet the requirements of these victims of light reading that the plan of Aletheia was devised. anthor explains briefly and clearly the principles on which a Catholic relies when he accepts the authority of a divinelycommissioned Church, and rejects private judgment as the rule of his faith. These principles he establishes not indeed by acute and technical reasoning, but by means more suited to attain his end, viz., by "arguments briefly and tersely put, illustrations that amuse, and general anecdotes" joined to "exhortations in the style of Thackeray." Illustration and anecdote enter very largely into the plan of the book, and on their skilful use and application its peculiar excellence chiefly depends. The chapter on the "Vagaries of Private Judgment" will be found to have a special interest, as showing the foolish extremes to which different sects of Christians are driven by following private judgment as their rule of faith.

In attaching the attractiveness of a novel, as far as the subject permits, to the discussion of an important theological question, Dr. Ricards has produced a work which promises to have a wide circulation, and is calculated to do a great deal of good.

T. GILMARTIN.

Women of Catholicity. By ANNA T. SADLIER. BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York, &c.

This is the second book of the kind that has come from a pen so full of promise. It contains short biographical sketches of some "Women of Catholicity," true children of Holy Church," whose lives were spent in the practice of her precepts, and who thus made

manifest to the outer world the marvellous efficacy of her teaching in the formation of character." The heroines, in whose selection

much care and judgment are displayed, are taken from different conditions of life, to show "that sanctity is possible in all circumstances, in the court as in the convent." The chief interest of the book, both for subject and description, centres in the biography of Isabella of Castile, "one of the purest and most beautiful characters in the pages of history." Her character is pourtrayed in all its stately grandeur, but especially, the prominent parts which she played in the Conquest of the Moors and in the discovery of the New World. We are not allowed for one moment to lose sight of the guiding principle of her life, viz., the exaltation of the Catholic Church and the glory of God; that principle which is so fully acknowledged by Prescott, who, when speaking of the war with the Moors, says, "she engaged in it with the most exalted views, less to acquire territory, than to re-establish the empire of the Cross over the ancient domain of Christendom." The others, whose lives are noticed, are less generally known, not that they were inferior in virtue and sanctity to the fair Spanish Sovereign, but the accidents of birth and position were not calculated to give them so prominent a niche in the Temple of Fame. Margaret of Offally, an Irish Princess of the fifteenth century, will be ever remembered as the patron of piety and learning; Margaret Roper, as the "good angel" of her martyred father, Sir Thomas More; while the names of Marie de L'Incarnation and Marguerite Bourjeoys must remain in the history of Canada prominently associated with the introduction of Christianity and civilization into that country. In the last biography we have the short but most interesting life of Ethan Allen's daughter, who, from being a sceptic and scoffer at all forms of religion, was at length miraculously converted to be one of its brightest ornaments. The lives of those last-mentioned are so replete with wonderful incident, that they appear more like the painting of fancy than the expression of reality. For the work which she has undertaken Miss Sadlier possesses qualities which give her a special fitness. She appears thoroughly imbued with the teaching of Catholic faith, and shows a keen appreciation of the virtues that adorn and elevate the character of her sex. Her style is clear and easy, and has an attraction which only makes us regret, that she was led to indulge so freely in extracts from the writings of others T. GILMARTIN.

Sketches of African and Indian Life in British Guiana. By Very Rev. IGNATIUS SCOLES, V.G. The "Argosy Press," Demerara.

We are glad to see that this little volume has met with such a wide circulation, as, within a very short time, to render necessary the appearance of a second edition. Its popularity is owing to the fact that the different phases of African life are described by one

who has spent so many years among the people, and with a fulness of knowledge such as could be expected only from a Catholic priest. Any person who wishes to see Washington Irving accurately detailed, the manners and customs of the African residents in Guiana, or an Indian family painted to life, should read the "Sketches of African and Indian Life."

The Mysteries of the Rosary. By the author of "The Stations of the Cross, &c." London: BURNS & OATES.

This is a collection of sonnets on the fifteen mysteries of the Rosary. There are twenty-seven sonnets in all, and they are made into a book by a peculiar style of printing.

The thoughts of our poet are sometimes too far-fetched. One would think that a pious heart meditating on such sublime truths would not despise the noble, melting, terrible thoughts which naturally suggest themselves, to run after conceits and learned allusions. Another defect is the too frequent repetition of the Alexandrine verse.

The little book is nicely printed and bound, and is suitable for presentation.

Lectures Delivered at a Spiritual Retreat. Edited by a Member of the Order of Mercy, Authoress of "The Life of Catherine McAuley," &c., &c. New York: THE CATHOLIC PUBLICATION SOCIETY Co.: London: BURNS & OATES.

At a retreat in a convent in the South of Ireland, nearly thirty years ago, some lectures were delivered by a holy secular priest, who spoke without notes or memoranda. When each of the lectures was over one of the Sisters wrote it out from memory. She does not pretend to more than substantial accuracy. Many persons applied for copies of these lectures, and they are now printed, that all who desire them may have them within easy reach. The language is simple, the ideas sensible and solid; the little book will do good. It might be of use to preachers who have to speak on such subjects as are usually dealt with in Retreats for Religious.

We have received from Rev. J. S. Vaughan a letter questioning the accuracy of certain statements made by Father Murphy in his last Essay on "Faith and Evolution ;" but as the controversy is now closed, we can do no more than mention that we have received such a communication.

Professor Ryan writes to disavow some of the unscientific views which, he says, were incorrectly ascribed to him by Father O'Dwyer in his Article, "The Telephone in relation to the Sacrament of Penance," which appeared in our last (November) number. Professor Ryan's reply will appear in the January number.-ED. I. E R.

ODL

DLE