III. Arise, O Earth, for thy Priestess, She hath put on the mitre of gladness, And her vestments are weighted with flowers,— Where her sandalled feet touch the meadows, Lies beneath the grasses embedded. The shy, sweet children of darkness, Of prayer, and of praise, and the burning And pours the life from his bosom, Waxes ruddy and brown in the sunshine, Dishevelled, and splashed with the blood of the The flame-haired Monad, The wild-eyed Bacchante, Of summer, and fruit, and song. P. A. SHEEhan. NOTES ON NEW BOOKS. 1. Pertransiit benefaciendo. "He went about, doing good." This is the Gospel summary of the daily life of our Divine Redeemer. We must each try to copy Him in this, as in everything. Fac secundum exemplar. It is a blessed thing, a divine thing to do good. To put good thoughts into the minds of others is to do good. The one who perhaps does this most effectively is the writer of a good book. The person who spreads the good book has a large share in this merit. To increase my chance of gaining this merit, I begin this month by mentioning again two very good books, one for priests, and one for nuns. The Rev. Dr. William Stang's "Pastoral Theology" (price six shillings) will help priests very much; and Mother Raphael Drane's "Daily Life of a Religious" (price eightpence) ought to be added to the poorest and most economical convent library. 2. Saint Joseph's Anthology: Poems in Praise of the Foster-father. Gathered from various sources, by the Rev. Matthew Russell, S.J. (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son). When Miss Harriet Martineau died, The Daily News published a critical estimate of her life and writings which she herself had left ready for the purpose, and which rather erred on the side of severity. In The Freeman's Journal here in Dublin, Mr. Macnamara Cantwell, a noteworthy attorney, performed a similar feat of self-dissection. Still easier would it be for an author to criticise his own work with due severity. A good deal could be said in favour of having books reviewed by their writers. Are not these the most attentive readers thereof? Do they not know best the shortcomings of their work? Yet somehow authors are not allowed to be their own reviewers. Editors do not hold quite so close a relation to the books they edit, and the present reviewer has placed St. Joseph's Anthology first on his list this month although his own name appears on the title-page. It has at least the distinction of being the first of its kind in the English language, or, as far as we are aware, in any language. There have been collections of poems in honour of the Blessed Virgin, most complete of all Mr. Orby Shipley's Carmina Mariana; but her blessed spouse never before had a similar tribute paid to him. A great part of the volume before us is substantially original, composed directly or indirectly with a view to the present collection. Besides the E litor's numerous contributions, he can claim this special share in the beautiful poems which are signed by Lady Gilbert (Rosa Mulholland), Mr. T. W. Allies, Aubrey de Vere, the Rev. P. A. Sheehan, and a great many others. Among the transatlantic poets represented here are the Rev. Clarence Walworth, Eleanor Donnelly, John Boyle O'Reilly, Margaret Jordan, and Harriet Skidmore. Irish Convents-Dominican, Loretto and Presentation-have given their quota. Of course the two Oratorians, Father Faber and Father Cas wall, have not been overlooked, and indeed very few of the Laureates of the Foster-father of our Divine Redeemer can have escaped the diligent search of the Editor of St. Joseph's Anthology. The type and paper and all the externals of the volume help to make it very pleasant to read. 3. The Formation of Christendom. Burns and Oates). By T. W. Allies (London: This noble work reappears in a cheap edition of three five-shilling volumes, though we could desire nothing better as regards paper, printing and binding. A short letter of Cardinal Vaughan's is put first, which describes it as one of the noblest historical works that His Eminence has ever read. "We have nothing like it in the English language." This is the first time that we have noticed in any publication of Messrs. Burns and Oates an intimation that is usually given by Macmillan & Co., and perhaps some other publishers. "First Edition, 1865; Second Edition, 1894; Third Edition, 1897." It is a comfort to note that while thirty years were required to exhaust the first edition, the second has disappeared in three years. Solid learning and a lucid and dignified style have in these three volumes applied the true philosophy of history to the study of the Christian Faith in its iufluence upon the Individual, upon Society, and upon Philosophy. We may append to this brief notice of Mr. Allies' great work a correction of a mistake that we fell into last month with regard to Miss Mary H. Allies' recently published Life of Pope Pius VII. We find that it is quite distinct from the Biography which she contributed to the Quarterly Series. 4. The batch of books sent us this month by the Catholic Truth Society contains a prettily-bound and admirably printed volume of stories by the Rev. Langton George Vere, which he calls "Father Cuthbert's Curiosity Case." We should lately have said that there are a baker's dozen of stories, meaning thereby thirteen; but we have since been informed that there are only two in a baker's dozen. Father Vere has given us a very interesting and edifying volume, and, as is usual with the C. T. S., it is exceedingly cheap. Another new publication of the same society is "The Value of Life," by C. E. Burke, in the quaint narrow oblong form in which some readers nowadays delight. It consists of eleven chapters on Life's ideal, its realities, its duties, its joys, its sorrows, its religion and its rest, the happiness of home-life and woman's sphere in life. The worth of the book is shown by its having deserved a beautiful preface from the pen of Aubrey de Vere. The author in the first page modestly describes it as rather a collection of favourite thoughts and quotations; but these quotations are delightfully fresh in themselves, and the observations that weave them together are worthy of their company. But perhaps the most interesting of the recent publications of the Catbolic Truth Society is "The Life and Death of James Earl of Derwentwater, A.D., 1689-1716," compiled by Father Charles Bowden of the Oratory. The narrative has been drawn up with very great care and skill and with manifest sympathy. Many a pretentious history has cost less of real labour than this sixpenny book which will make many feel almost as tenderly as Father Bowden himself feels towards his hero. Indeed, when the beautiful death of the young Earl has been followed to the end, the least Jacobite of readers would vastly prefer to change places now with the last Earl of Derwentwater, rather than with the First of the Georges. No. 24 of the Catholic Library of Tales published by the same Society, gives for a penny two charming stories by Margaret Merriman and Joseph Carmichael, who are two of the most promising of our younger Catholic writers of fiction. Three other pennyworths "Remember Me" (Daily Readings for Lent), "The Ember Days" by Dom Columba Edmonds, O.S B., and "The Drunkard,” a powerful sermon by Archbishop Ullathorne, dating back to the early Australian period of his most useful apostolic career. are 5. M. H. Gill and Son : Dublin, have sent out a new illustrated issue of "The Walking Trees and Other Tales," by Rosa Mulholland, who on this title-page is associated only with her books for the young "Hettie Gray," "The Little Flower-Seekers," "Puck and Blossom," "Five Little Farmers," "Four Little Mischiefs," etc. A delightful series this of children's Tales, and "The Walking Trees" volume is fully worthy even of such company. The new issue is in » very handsome form, and yet is very cheap. 6. Style in Composition; Advice to Young Writers. By William Poland, S.J., St. Louis University (St. Louis: Little and Becker). This essay of twenty-five pages is evidently the result of much earnest thought and experience, and may very profitably be studied by young writers. Father Poland practises what he preaches: his style is as clear as crystal, his sentences are short and well knitted together, and his diction pure and simple. All this makes us wonder at one sentence, only one out of the whole. "The novice, having forged a sentence which, he thinks, brands him as an author, will be afraid to disrupt it." Passing by "forged," surely "brand" is a very bad word here, and .surely "disrupt " is a very bad word anywhere. 7. Foundations of Faith. From the German of L. von. Hammerstein, S.J. (London: Burns and Oates). This volume contains the first part only of a work which has been eminently successful in Germany. Dr. Gildea, in his excellent introduction to the present translation, expresses a hope that the two other parts which are devoted to the defence of Christianity and Catholicism respectively, may hereafter be given to the English-speaking public. Part I. demonstrates the existence of God. It was published in 1891, and the preface to the fourth edition is dated June, 1894. The work is cast in the form of a correspondence between a Theologian and certain earnest enquirers not belonging to the Catholic Church. The newest phases of Philosophy are familiar to the writer. His translator has done his very difficult task with great success; and through his excellent translation, Ludwig von Hammerstein will be able to answer the difficulties of many enquiring minds on both sides of the Atlantic. 8. We shall here mention together four small books issued by four different publishers. Messrs. Burns and Oates have published "The. Blessed Sacrament, Our God: or Practical Thoughts on the Mystery of Love," by a Child of St. Teresa. This slim little oblong book consists of four chapters on Visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction, etc. It is written in a very practical, fervent style, and with the very best intentions, though its tone is not suitable for all readers. Mr. Washbourne, 18 Paternoster Row, London, is the publisher of a very devout little treatise "On the Sacred Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ and Love of Crosses," by Father Alexis Bulens, O.S.F. The third little book costs only threepence though comprising two hundred pages. It is a new edition of "Ballads, Popular Poetry and Household Songs of Ireland" collected and arranged by Duncathail. (Dublin: M. H. Gill and Son). It is a pity that a page or two have not been added to assign to Mr. Ralph Varian the merit of this exquisite collection, every page of which has been evidently chosen by an ardent lover of Ireland and her poetry, and chosen often in very out-of-the way places. The last of the four small books is published by the Benzigers of New York, Cincinnati and Chicago" Popular Instructions to parents on the Bringing up of Children" by the Very Rev. Ferreol Girardey, C.SS.R., Provincial of the St. Louis province. Eighteen short chapters discuss in an interes ing, practical way all the relatious and duties of |