when, through God's providence or judgment the intellect of the world is in a great measure set apart from His truth, and wanders in a shoreless sea of speculation, that influence detrimental to faith, which we believe to act so powerfully within the walls of college, is far from being bounded there. It breathes through all our current literature, through all that a young man could select for himself to train and educate his mind. It is at the time when the mind of youth becomes impatient of the implicit faith of his boyhood, and in the pride of maturing intellect launches into enquiries upon all topics in earth and heaven; it is then that it especially requires that wise instruction and guidance which leads and does not drive, that it needs to be pointed out the errors lying at the root of that miscalled philosophy which has usurped the modern throne of intellect. If, as we believe, the doctrines of the Church form the only truth and the only sure basis of action that a man has or can have in this life; that in them lies the key of his destinies, and that with them all human wisdom, all true moral and mental science must have relation,it seems a deadly injustice to make no provision whatever for impressing these truths upon the mind at a time when it is thirsting for the reception of all truth,-to send forth the educated Catholic, if not sceptical as to his religion, yet holding it as a fragmentary, unassimilated portion of the great fabric of his opinions-a portion which exercises no influence, or almost none, upon his life. In brief, we never can consent to any permanent settlement of collegiate education in Ireland which does not provide the Catholic students with Catholic instruction, as well as Catholic service and supervision. ART. XIII.-The Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary; A Selection of Poetry arranged in accordance with the Prayers and Meditations of the Rosary. By a Member of the Sodality of the Living Rosary. Thomas Richardson and Son, London, Dublin, and Derby 1847. TH HIS charming little volume, has been compiled by a lady who has felt with regret the absence of poetry of a devotional and meditative character adapted for the use of Catholics, and in conformity with their faith. The idea of her work, as she announces in her preface, has been borrowed from the very beautiful volume of Protestant poetry the "Cathedral," by the Rev. Isaac Williams, the various parts of which are a theme successively illustrated by some beautiful meditative, and at the same time miscellaneous verses. The compiler expresses her fears lest in publishing a volume of poetry for a generation so very shop-keeping in its spirit and tendency, she may be attempting a quixotic enterprise, and in conclusion, makes a somewhat polemic allusion to an article that appeared in this Review, on the Lyra Innocentium of Mr. Keble. Has not the fair compiler somewhat misapprehended the meaning of what she attacks? She says, "The writer would not have felt it necessary to make this elaborate apology for offering a a book of poetry to the Catholic public, had it not been for an article on Mr. Keble's last work in the Dublin Review. The view that Protestantism developes the poetical temperament better than Catholicism, appears to be taken in that article, and any one who received the reviewer's decision implicitly, would consider it useless to expect the slightest encouragement for any work of a poetical character from Catholic readers." Is not this to create an imaginary antagonist for the pleasure of a little gentle amateur skirmish? The writer in question must surely have known his own meaning; and yet so far from despairing of the Catholic public, as incapable of being interested in a volume of poetry, his main object, which is singularly similar to that of the present volume, is to introduce Mr. Keble to their notice, and not content with mere commendation, though it amounts to the extent of saying, "Tale tuum carmen nobis divine Poeta Quale sopor fessis in gramine, quale per æstum He quotes a very large portion of his poetry. But how could this have been done, had the conclusion been already come to, that it was useless to expect the slightest encouragement for any work of a poetical character from Catholic readers? The school of poetry that was then under review in the person of its most distinguished poet, is remarkable for its ideal descriptions of the beauties and charms that exist in the Church. And the idea expressed in our pages, was that with regard to such poetry in general, it need be no matter of surprise that it should in England be found external to the Church, rather than within her communion, inasmuch as Poetry is the refuge of those who have not Reality; or to state the matter more plainly still, that they who have not the blessing of communion with the living society of Christ's Church, will be disposed to create for themselves in imagination a, poetical substitute for this blessed reality, and by the force of imagination will seek to invest what remains of their dead skeleton form of former English Catholicity, with the semblance of a life that has long since departed. There surely can be no difficulty in admitting, on contrasting the respective positions of a poetical nature placed either in the Anglican or the Catholic Church, that there is much more demand for the poetical temperament in the former, inasmuch as in it there is a vast real blank, an existing dreary waste, to be filled up by imaginary representations; while of the latter it may be said truly, "The Lord is my shepherd, therefore can I lack nothing; He shall feed me in a green pasture, and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. And since it is certain matter of experience, and may consequently be believed to be providential, that great excellence of whatever kind is called forth and trained by the very circumstances of its position, it will be quite possible to allow the perfect truth of the view taken in our pages, without therefore inferring that the Catholic Church is inimical to the growth of the poetical spirit. The truth is simply "poeta nascitur non fit." The Catholic Church does not make men poets, but merely trains and directs those who are born poets, in the same manner as all other talent is directed and employed. Nor are persons born out of the communion of the Church the less poets, nor can more be said respecting them, than to regret that they have not had the blessing of her maternal direction for their divine gift. The circumstances of the Church in which Mr. Keble, Mr. Williams, Mr. Wordsworth, Mr. Faber, and others wrote and were trained, have been and are especially at this moment, so peculiar, as to call forth such men to be poets. In a similar manner, the circumstances of Switzerland called forth William Tell, the position of France gave birth to her Napoleon, and various circumstances in the history of the Church have called forth her saints,— St. Francis, St. Dominic, and St. Ignatius Loyola. The poetry of the above mentioned writers has been called for, has been eagerly read; and circumstances common indeed to Protestantism, yet not the less peculiar in their case, have formed their poetry, have imparted a vein and a character to it, nay even called it forth and made it what perhaps it would not have been in the Catholic Church, so much do men owe to the circumstances that surround them. Yet for all this our belief, we would most heartily join in the prayer, that all would follow Mr. Faber's example, and would abandon the lifeless skeleton which they have so wondrously adorned in the bloom and colours of real life, for that Mother in whose fostering care they would find the reality of those visions, with which they have so long fed their imaginations. Such must indeed be ever the prayer of a devout Catholic in favour of those to whom, in the providence of the all-wise and beneficent God, gifts of singular rarity and value have been given, though they are for some wise purpose suffered to grow external to the influence and training of the Catholic Church. An elaborate argument to defend the capacity of the Church for the encouragement of poetry has, then, in the present case been quite a self-imposed task. For with the truth, that the Church is a divine institution for the teaching of mankind, not for the creation of the natural gifts which they bring into the world, all that the compiler has said follows at once. Poets have their place in the Church (who has or can doubt it?) together with every other description of talent. The Church is their true home-the home in which all that is divine in poetry will have its best direction, and will be turned to its noblest account. But to say that circumstances without the Church may not at a particular time be such as rather to call poets into being, than circumstances within the Church, is to be very positive in the face of facts, whose natural interpretation is certainly quite the contrary. But to pass from our fair antagonist's remarks to her compilation, which is chiefly taken from these self-same refractory poets, who will not become Catholic to gain the advantage, of a better development of their poetical nature. It is a very admirable and appropriate selection, and cannot fail to be highly welcome (notwithstanding the compiler's apprehension) to the Catholic public. It is a new thing for the Catholic body to see the works of those separated from their communion turned to their account. But the selection is chiefly formed from translations, either of the Psalms or of Hymns and Proses from different Breviaries; and as the translations are of acknowledged beauty, there appears to be nothing in the volume which would prevent its introduction among Catholic families, who might perhaps entertain some vague fear on learning from what sources it was derived. One of the tests in Mr. Newman's "Essay on Development," it will be remembered, is the "Power of Assimilation,"-viz., that the Church has the gift of taking up whatever she finds, whether in art or literature, and of assimilating and moulding it to her own uses. The present little volume may be taken as a practical application of the doctrine, of course, as we presume, with the consent of the publishers of Mr. Keble's and Mr. Williams's works, otherwise it might be deemed rather too nearly to resemble an Israelite invasion into the land of Canaan. A very welcome volume we have no doubt it will prove. The circumstance of the deficiency is worthy of remark, which the authoress in a very modest manner speaks of as being herself compelled to supply--the one, namely, of some poetry for the Fifth Joyful Mystery, the Assumption of our Blessed Lady. Our readers will be obliged to us for citing the following beautiful Prose, and its very melodious translation by herself: |