The Press.
London, England, 1857-09-05 00:00:00

less seriously, by the fall and the consequent crush ; but I
the Pope was untouched—hie escape, under the circa m•
stances, appearing to be something miraculous. Not the
dast miracle was the wonderful presence of mind which he
displayed at such a feoofut moment.
How adroitly the panegyrist glosses over the
dissimulation of Pio Nono, " God's Vicegerent,"
when he was in sore straits, the result of his
own want of ordinary foresight ! Then let
the " miracle" (!) be observed in the conclu-
ding part of the passage. A gentleman of Mr.
Maguire's talents and attainments falls, un-
consciously perhaps, into the cant of the more
credulous of his Church, but in that passage
we oee the germs of all the flying Capuchins
and winking Madonnas of which we have
read. Many sovereigns have been fired at,
and, like Queen Victoria, or Napoleon 111., or
Louis Philippe, they have shown the coolest
courage. We were not far from the last-named
sovereign on the day when the infernal ma-
chine of Fuischi exploded, and when Marshal
Mortier, Duke of Treviso, was killed by his
aide. We well remember the " pluck" of the
King. But on that, or other occasions, pane-
gyrists did not talk about " miracles."
Parts of this volume actually nauseate by
their gross adulation
shall not dwell upon his courage in braving the perils
of the Cholera Hospital ; for there is not to be found a
Roman Catholic priest who, however naturally timid or
apprehensive he may be, is no: at any moment ready to
incur the danger of visiting and administering to the
sick, no matter by what malignant disease they might be
stricken down, and whether in the wards of an hospital,
or in the fetid atmosphere of a garret or a cellar.
It is almost offensive to hear the " Catholic
priest" so extravagantly praised. Medical
men of all creeds and classes brave these dan-
gers just as well. When did medical men
ever shrink from their duty, even while epi-
demics are raging? The Romanists think
that their Church has a monopoly of the vir-
tues.
Here is more of the panegyrist:—

Gentle, merciful, compassionate, and paternal, Pins IX.
is; but there is no sacrifice which he would not be pre.
pared to make, no danger which he would not cheerfully
encounter, in the vindication of the truth, or in the ills.
charge of what he felt to be his duty. "I am prepared to
go to-morrow to the Catacombs, as many of my pre-
decessors have done, if the interests of the Church of
God require it," were words which be uttered in my
presence ; and with such simple dignity, such all uncon-
scious nobleness of gesture, such a quick flushing of the
face and lightning up of the eye—that there rose up before
my mind those fearless martyrs of the early Church, who,
though holy and gentle and mild as Pius, could yet meet
the sword of the slayer without the betrayal of a single
emotion of human weakness.
- - - -

And page after page is filled with this be-
smearing and bedaubing adulation. Each
chapter ends and begins with suffocating eu-
logies. Thus the thirty-first chapter ends :
I feel I have by no means done justice to the subject ;
but I venture to think I have stated sufficient to show that
Pius IX. has, iu his respect for the mouldering but still
beauteous remains of ancient art, and IT those monu-
ments which help to illustrate one of the most interesting
and important pages in the annals of the human race,
displayed the enlightened liberality of a princely disposi-
tion, and the refinement of a scholar and a man of
taste.

And the thirty-second commences :
It, would be an unpardonable omission not to allude to
the eminent service which Pius IX. has rendered to the
Church, through the successful labours of the Commis•
sion of Sacred Archteology ; by which a flood of light has
been flung into the inmost recesses of the Catacombs, to
the confusion of the scoffer, and the more profound con•
viction of the conscientious

Mr Maguire lays it on strongly, but he over- I
does it. His fanaticism for eulogy is too
great. Cardinal Wiseman is plastered in the
following fashion :
I to that admirable work from the eloquent Pen
of Cardinal Wiseman—" Fabiola,"—a work winch, to the
most admirable portraiture of the faithful of the early
Christian Church—the holiness and heroism of its
martyrs and confessors—the purity of their lives, and
their fortitude in facing death—has superadded to it the
interest of a romance, and the fascination of a poem.
With the impressions of this charming volume fresh in
his memory, the visitor to the Catacombs needs no guide•
book, no chattering cicerone,—his imagination fills the
void, and lights up the darkness.
The following statement shows the extent
of "organisation" at the command of Car=
dinal Wiseman :
Perhaps no work in modern literature has had such a
worldwide circulation as Cardinal Wiseman 's " Fabiola."
It has been reproduced in almost every European language,
and has been published iu various parts of America.
There are no less than five different Italian translations of
it—two French—two German—three Spanish—one Dutch