cute and calumniate you"; or, further yet, how, in spite of the exercise of the selfish and combative faculties, in the struggle for existence, the tendency of which must have een to strengthen by use the organs of destruction, the same organs should gradually disappear, and that in man not one of them should be left. Let him explain, again, how out of mere animality, by "natural selection," out of the mere brute, in a "struggle for existence," beings should comemen to whom this would be a law: Be pure; for "he that looketh after a voman to lust after her hath already committed adultery with her in his heart." There are such men-men to whom this is a law, and who obey it. Will a Vogt or a Büchner believe it? Will a Darwin account for it by "natural selection"? Finally, let him explain how, if man has always been only growing out of some lower condition, he has yet learned, in a measure, to go be yond himself, to harbor an ideal which he has never reached, but towards which he ever strives, inasmuch as he endeavors to fulfil the command of the Son of God: "Be ye perfect, as my heavenly Father also is perfect." PEACE. THIS Supplication of the Suffering was that also of the Militant Church, which daily offered it as now with sighs and tears, and, by the light which this reflection casts on history, we can catch a glimpse for an instant at the immense multitude of the pacific men who in the middle ages were existing upon earth; for as many as were joined in spirit to the church, were united with her in this ardent, insatiable desire of peace. How do we know that the Catholic Church, which the holy Fathers call the house of peace, was so profoundly attached to peace? From a simpie review of her liturgy: for in the first place, her great daily sacrifice self was nothing else but the myslery of peace, the pledge of future and eternal, the diffusion of present eace to man. At this holy and tremendous celebration in which God hath given peace reconciling the west with the highest in himself, the good of temporal peace was also formally invoked, at the Gloria, at the Trigitur, at the spreading of the hands before the consecration, at the Libera nos at the salutation of the people, at the Agnus Dei, at the three prayers which follow it, and in the prayer for the king; for as the apostle assigns the reason for the latter, that we may lead a secure and peaceable life, so with that intention the holy church prays for all rulers, even for such as are transgressors of the divine law ;* which intention is formally expressed in her solemn litany, where she prays that kings and Christian princes may have peace and true concord, and all the people peace and unity. The innumerable priests, who celebrated throughout the earth, knew that the inestimable price of the world, and the great Victim for the salvation of men, could only be immolated in a spirit of peace, and with a contrite heart; and that, as Peter of Blois says, it is never lawful to offer it without that preparation.t-DIGBY, Mores Catholici. * Hugonis Floriacensis de Regia Potestate lib. i. 4 ap. Baluze Miscell. ii. + Petr. Blesens, Epist. lxxxvi. DANTE'S PURGATORIO. CANTO EIGHTH. In this Canto, Dante introduces the souls of Nino Visconti, judge of Gallura in Sardinia; and of Conrad Malaspina, who predicts to the poet his banishment. 'TWAS now the hour that brings to men at sea, Of love, if haply, new upon his way, He faintly hear a chime from some far bell, To mark one spirit uprisen amid the band Who joined both palms and lifted them on high My longing rests." Then from his lips there came So sweet, my mind was ravished by the same Fixing their gaze on the supernal wheels, Now, reader, to the truth my verse conceals Beheld two angels with two swords descend They bare no points, being broken at the end. One, coming near, just over us took stand, So that the spirits were between them grouped But in their faces mine eyes' virtue drooped, "From Mary's bosom they have both come here," Against the serpent that will soon appear: These mighty shades, and let them hear our tongue: 'Twas dusk, yet not so but the dusky air, What joy was mine to find thee not in hell! We left unsaid no form of fair salute: Then he inquired: "How long since thou didst come Would find the next by following on this track." "Up, Conrad! see what God hath of his grace Bestowed," then turning unto me replied: NINO VISCONTI. "By that especial reverence, I beseech, Which thou ow'st him whose primal way is hid So that none sound it, if soe'er thou reach The shore beyond the vasty waters, bid My child Giovanna for my peace implore The chanticleer upon Gallura's shield Still that sole part of heaven I fondly eyed “Son, what dost thou so gaze at there above ?" "Up there! at yon three torches," I replied, "Whose splendor makes this pole here all ablaze." And he to me: "The four clear stars that rose This morn before thee have abased their rays, Through flowers and herbage came that evil streak, To lick its back oft turning round its head, As with his tongue a beast his fur doth sleek. I was not looking, so must leave unsaid When first they fluttered, but full well I saw CONRAD MALASPINA. "So may that light," the spirit began to say, Even to th' enamelled summit of the Hill. And Conrad Malaspina was my name. Not the old lord, but his descendant, I: The love which once I to my kindred bore Is here refined." "O," thus I made reply, "That realm of yours I never travelled o'er; But where throughout all Europe is the place. That knows it not? The honor Fame accords Your house illustrates not alone the race, But makes the land renowned as are its lords; He knows that country who was never there: Still the free purse they bear, and still bright swords: So mount my soul as this to thee I swear! Custom and nature privilege them so, That, if through guilt the world's guide lead astray, To these my words, "Now go," the spirit said, That part of heaven where Aries o'er his bed Of greater force than men's reports to thee THE RUSSIAN IDEA. III. FROM THE GERMAN OF CONRAD VON BOLANDEN. RUSSIAN VICTIMS. CONCLUDED. THE following morning, Rasumowski sat with his guests at a sumptuous breakfast in his elegant summer-house, the roof of which rested upon beautfully ornamented pillars. Adolph yon Sempach appeared very sad; for he had again received evidences of Alexandra's indomitable pride and want of feeling. Beck remarked the sposition of his friend, and he thought with satisfaction of the deeply ficted mother in her lonely palace at Posen. "Some years ago, the emperor emancipated the serfs-did he act rudently?" asked the high official f Berlin. "Whatever the czar does, is well done," answered the governor; "and the future czar again introduces The former system of servitude, that will be right. But you must o understand the abolition of servide in a literal sense. The serfs were freed only from servitude to the obility; the Russian nobility have VOL. XVII.-II lost by it. But both peasant and noble will always remain slaves of the emperor. Consequently servitude still exists in Russia, the same kind that you desire to establish in the new German Empire. Ah! there comes the Roman Catholic pastor!" exclaimed the governor, his features assuming at once their accustomed look of ferocity. "Now, gentlemen, see how I shall deal with this hero of liberty, who preaches rebellion to the people!" The pastor timidly approached the Russian dignitary, and allowed himself to be treated in a manner worthy of his priestly dignity. un But the priest had seen may thousands of his Catholic brethren put to death and transported to Siberia. He knew that, by a stroke of the pen, Rasumowski could doom him to the same fate; and to this must also be added the fact that in Poland Catholic clergyman are educated by professors appointed by the Russian government. These professors very naturally train and discipline the |