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prince, the famous Chlovis, reduced the anarchy to a creditable state of order and law. It is as it illustrates this civilizing power of the true Church that the book before us is especially valuable.

The tale itself is very simple, though the actors in it are very numerous. Ierne is an Armorican princess of great estimation among the Druids. The high priest of these, indeed (whose name is Gwench'lan, and who is reported to be of the best Druidic blood of Greater Britain), regards her as of especial spiritual power in the conduct of religious rites. At the time that the story opens she is a willing captive in a convent which enjoys the protection of Chlovis, though that monarch is as yet unconverted. The Druids, at the instigation of Gwench'lan, concoct a plan for her recovery. The plan is successful; and Ierne is borne forcibly back by her uncle, the high priest, to the depths of the Armorican forests. When the King Chlovis hears of the outrage he is very wroth, but just at the time he had no pretext for delivering Ierne. He, however, commissions a young officer of much bravery, named Ethelbert-whose lofty love for Ierne is the best creation in the book-to follow Ierne and her captors, and secretly discover both the mode of her treatment and the place of her abode. This, though at great peril and after some startling adventures, Ethelbert succeeds in doing. He even manages an interview with Ierne, in which he assures her of the King's protection. Meanwhile Siegbert of Cologne, cousin and liegeman of Chlovis, entertains a brutal passion for Jerne. He had once before carried her off, and it was out of his hands that she had been delivered when she took refuge in the convent. Siegbert has not yet renounced her. He plots to take her from the Druids a second time; and with the help of a cunning Danish prince he succeeds. But his success is only partial. As he and his friends are conveying the damsel to Cologne, they are accidentally met by Ethelbert and another officer of the king. After a severe scuffle the lady is rescued, and is afterwards received with much affection by the sainted Clothilde, whom chlovis had but lately espoused. In the scuffle Ethelbert is severely wounded, and in the fever which followed his wounds discloses his love for Ierne. Ierne herself admits to the King and Queen that the passion is returned; and the king, who honours Ethelbert as one of his best warriors, determines to have the young people united as soon as possible. But here occurs a very pathetic and very noble scene. During a period of Ethelbert's illness his chances of recovery seemed to disappear; and Ierne, who was watching him, and who, though as yet unbaptized, had still some knowledge of Christianity, vowed to God that if He spared her valiant champion, she would evermore live the life of a Christian virgin. When the king hears of the vow, and hears that Ierne is bent on keeping it, he is somewhat angry; but after a time it is agreed that Ethelbert himself should be asked to determine whether the maiden shall procure ecclesiastical releasement from it or go on to preserve it. The passages which describe the subsequent interview between the lovers are very touching. We are sorry that we can give only a couple of extracts. After putting Ethelbert in possession of the state of the case, Ierne goes on:

"Dost thou comprehend, most dear and valiant youth, all this vow implies ?

"Not your death, lady? Oh, say it is not that !' he implored, with eager eyes raised to her.

"No; not my death in the one sense thou fearest, noble Ethelbert; but my death to all that is held most dear in the world. By consecrating my life in this manner, I put it beyond my power ever to share the highest human joys, ever to fulfil the wishes of the king my Lord, who designed to give me to thee.'

"The king? Did he wish ?-did he mean it? Oh, no, no; believe me, most illustrious lady, that I never dared to hope for such high reward. That I had dared to love you with a worship which makes all other women as mere shadows to me I confess with deep humility; but I never dared to raise my aspirations to such an audacious height. To be allowed to reverence you at a distance, to think of you as the one guiding star of all my actions, to be called your warrior, to be your servant, to be allowed to bear your beloved symbol on my shield, to shout your beloved name in the thickest of the fight is all, all I ever dared to hope.'"

It was now the turn for Ierne's tears to fall in a raining shower from her eyeş. She looked into his face, as if in homage to his noble spirit, and said to him as soon as she could command her voice :

Thou

"And so it shall be, beloved youth. Thou shall be all this to me. shall love me all thy life. And I, in the depths of the Holy House of Refuge, where the rest of my life will be spent, will offer up my prayers daily, hourly, for thy welfare and thy honour. And thou shalt live for me, knowing that nothing can be more dear to me than thyself. Thou shalt live to devote thyself to my unhappy country. Would my best heart's bloot could redeem her from the tyranny and oppression of a cruel worship, and restore her to the pure Faith she once enjoyed!" (pp. 305, 306).

And so the lovers, as yet unstrengthened by Christian baptism, agree on their great mutual sacrifice of self. But the sacrifice was fated to be but of brief duration. The Druids again try to recover their young priestess, and, by the treachery of a Greek slave, they, though with much loss to themselves, succeed in bearing her away. Chlovis at once, for this time he has a good exeuse, marches an army into Armorica; the Druids are beaten; but the savage high priest, sooner than let his niece be restored to the Franks, stabs her to the heart on the field of battle. She dies; but before her death is baptized by a Christian officer. Her lover does not survive her long. Chlovis has soon to declare war against Alaric, King of the Visigoths; and though the enemy is miraculously routed, chiefly through the visible help of the dead Ierne, Ethelbert is killed. But he had before been received into the Church, and in his dying hour his Ierne is permitted to attend him. The remainder of the book describes the consolidation of the new French kingdom. Chlovis and his chiefs are all (somewhat suddenly) converted.

We have given merely an outline of the story as it is in the story of Ierne. But it is much more the story of Clothilde and Clovis ; and we doubt whether its title is properly selected. But there is not much in a name. And the book is excellent. If we are to have a literature of fiction at all, we hope it will include many volumes like that of Mr. Bateman.

INDEX.

ACTA ET DECRETA Sacrosancti et Ecumenici Concilii Vaticani, die 8
Decembris, 1869, reviewed, 159.

Annual Reports of the Presidents of Queen's Colleges, and Appendices,
1850-72, reviewed, 77.

Anselm (S.), Book of Meditations and Prayers, noticed, 513.

Arnold (Mathew), Sermons on Ecclesiastical Subjects, noticed, 209.

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BAGSHAWE (Rev. J.), Threshold of the Catholic Church, noticed, 517.
Balmes (Rev. J.), An Easy Demonstration and Catechism of Religion, noticed,
271.

Baring-Gould (Mr. S.), Lives of the Saints, noticed, 255.

Bateman (J. C.), Ierne of Armorica, noticed, 530.

Beale (L. M.B.), The Mystery of Life, noticed, 235.

Beste (K. D.), A May Chaplet, and other Verses for the Month of Mary,
noticed, 528.

Birks (Rev. T. R.), The Scripture Doctrine of Creation, noticed, 242.

Brennerhassett (Sir Rowland), Speech on the Second Reading of the Bill
relating to University Education in Ireland, reviewed, 448.

Boudon (M.), Book of Perpetual Adoration, noticed, 521.

The Hidden Life of Jesus, noticed, 222.

CANDOLLE (A. DE), Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis deux Siècles,
reviewed, 401.

Catholic Family Almanack, 1873, noticed, 278.

CHURCH (THE), AND MODERN MEN OF SCIENCE, 401-420: remarkable
character of M. de Candolle's book, 401; deserving of particular attention
from Catholics, 402; statistics of the great scientific societies, 402;
denial that Protestantism is more favourable to scientific research than
Catholicism, 403; in Protestant countries physical science is better
circumstanced than in Catholic, 403; the reason why, 404; Antitheism
better suited than even Protestantism, 405; the fulness of their religious
life prevents Catholics from devoting their attention to physical phe-
nomena, 405; M. de Candolle and Mr. Galton on Celibacy, 406; its
tendency in their opinion to lower the character of the human race, 407 ;
reply to their statements, 409; the cultivation of physical science by
Catholic laymen a desirable thing, 409; Democracy and Science, 410;
Progress of Political Decentralization in Europe, 412; should it still
VOL. XX.-NO. XL. [New Series.]
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further progress how magnificent will be the contrast afforded by the
Papal power, 413; probable growth of various nations, 414; English
classical literature will most likely become the classical literature of the
world, 415; F. Newman on the predominance of good over evil in
English literature compared with that of other countries, 415; M.
Candolle on natural selection, 416; predictions as to the future of the
human race, 418; deplorable effect of the spread of Materialism, 420 ;
the Church the only true promoter of human progress, 420.
Coleridge (F.), Life and Letters of S. Francis Xavier, noticed, 470.
Conference (Sketch of a), with Earl Shelbourne, reviewed, 381.
Confessional Unmasked, or The Revelations, noticed, 280.

Conscience (Hendricke), The Merchant of Antwerp, noticed, 273.

Conversion of the Teutonic Race. Conversion of the Franks and English,
reviewed, 326.

Craven (Madame A.), Fleurange, noticed, 279.

Crawford and Balcarres (Earl of), Etruscan Inscriptions Analysed, Translated,
and Commented upon, noticed, 250.

Crusade (The), or Catholic Association for the Suppression of Drunkenness,
noticed, 276.

DEFENCE OF THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION, reviewed, 381.

Divine Sequence (The), noticed, 515.

Documenta ad illustrandum Concilium Vaticanum anni 1870, reviewed, 159.
Dods (Rev. M.), Works of Aurelius Augustine, noticed, 477.

EARNSCLIFFE HALL, noticed, 279.

FILIOLA, noticed, 279.

Finotti (Rev. J. M.), Bibliographia Catholica Americana, noticed, 527.
Fitz-Patrick (Dr. W.), Irish Wits and Worthies, including Dr. Lanigan, his
Life and Times, noticed, 498.

Formby (Rev. H.), The Book of the Holy Rosary, noticed, 225.
Fröhlich (Herr), The "Old Catholics" at Cologne, noticed, 481.
Froude (J. A.), English in Ireland in the Eighteenth Century, reviewed, 421
FROUDE (J. A.), ON THE ENGLISH IN IRELAND, 421-448: the high character
of the office of the historian, 421; Mr. Froude's qualities as such, 422;
in the most essential quality he has been found wanting, 423; his
unfairness most conspicuous in his “English in Ireland," 424; his work
almost universally condemned, 424; his "Preliminary," 424; his
principle that of two contiguous states, the more powerful shall become
the master of the weaker, 425; and, therefore, that England should
subjugate Ireland, 426; his unjust view of the Irish character, 427; he
condemns generally the English rule in Ireland, 427; his charge of
cruelty against the Irish, particularly during the rebellion of 1641, 428;
his accusation of treachery against Hugh O'Neill, 429; the Normans,
429; their cruel laws, 430; quarrels amongst them, 431; the "Under-
takers" of Queen Elizabeth, 431; the light way in which Mr. Froude
speaks of their conduct, 431; the Cromwellians, 432; their exterminating
policy, 432; terrible condition of the native Irish, 432; the obvious

purpose of Mr. Froude's work is to ruin the Irish character, 433; the
English method of governing Ireland is blamed not because of its
severity, but for the opposite reason, 433; his charges against the Irish
-first, their cowardice, 434; contrast between the Irish and the Scotch,
434; difference in the two cases overlooked by Mr. Froude, 435; his
second charge-their adhesion to their ancient faith, 436; the day for
contempt of the Catholic religion has passed, 436; the chapter on
Abduction, a piece of sensational writing, 438; Irish lawlessness, 439;
that feature not peculiar to the natives, 439; the robbery of the Danish
East-Indiaman by the colonists, 440; responsibility of the English for
Irish lawlessness shown by Mr. Froude, 441; the "English in Ireland"
is not an historical work, but a voluminous party pamphlet, 442; his
thesis is the necessity for a Cromwellian policy, but his work does not
prove it, 443; he admits that the Irish were loyal when well treated,
444; enough was done in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to
make them disloyal, 445; is Irish discontent inappeasable? 446 ;
Fenianism not an Irish institution, 446; damage done to the English
power by Mr. Froude's book and his American trip, 447; complete
failure of the object of his work, 448.

GLADSTONE (Right Hon. W. E.), Address delivered at the Liverpool Collegiate
Institution, noticed, 212.

Speech on moving for leave to bring in a Bill relating to
University Education in Ireland, reviewed, 448.

GORDON RIOTS (THE), 381-401: deplorable state of the English Catholics in
1778, 381; origin of the penal laws of William III., 382; the disfavour
with which they are received even by Protestants, 382; efforts to
obtain their repeal, 382; Sir George Saville's Bill, 383; encomium by
Burke upon Sir George, 383; passage of the Bill without a single
negative, 384; tolerant action of the Scotch Protestants, 384; endeavour
of the Scotch Catholics to obtain a similar relief to their English
brethren, 384; counteraction among the more bigoted Calvinists, 385;
the Edinburgh riots, 386; destruction of the Catholic Bishop's house in
Edinburgh, 386; success of the prompt measures to suppress the riot,
388; prophetic language of Mr. Wilkes, 389; the Protestant Association
and its objects, 389; the nefarious means which it used, 389; its
celebrated "Appeal to the People of England," 390; character of Lord
George Gordon, 391; his violent speeches in the House of Commons,
392; mistake of the Government as to his character, 393; the Protestant
petition, 394; criminal apathy of the Government, 395; meeting of the
No-Popery mob in St. George's Fields, 395; it invests the Houses of
Parliament, 396; danger to the members from the mob, and their
dignified conduct, 397; the petition rejected by the House of Commons,
398; childish proceedings of Lord George, 398; gallant conduct of
Colonel Gordon and General Conway, 399; threatening aspect of affairs
outside the House, 400; dispersion of the mob for the time, 400;
adjournment of the House, 401.

Greg (W. R.), Enigmas of Life, reviewed, 48.

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