bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
S.T. Thomas and The Teaching of Christ
Authors: M'Nabb Vincent
Published: July 2007

More and more are the students of St. Thomas coming to realise his deep insight, and indeed foresight, into modern biblical problems. A striking example of this insight is to be found in his treatise on the Incarnation. We make no apologies for reproducing the bulk of the article [3a Qu. 42, Art. 4.]

It was fitting that Christ should not commit his doctrine to writing.

First, on account of his dignity; for the more excellent the teacher, the more excellent should be his manner of teaching. Consequently it was fitting that Christ, as the most excellent of teachers, should adopt that manner of teaching whereby his doctrine is imprinted on the hearts of his hearers. . . . For writings are ordained, as to an end, unto the imprinting of doctrine on the hearts of the hearers.

Secondly, on account of the excellence of Christ’s doctrine, which cannot be expressed in writing [quae litteris comprehendi non potest]. ... If Christ had committed his doctrine to writing men would have had no deeper thought of his doctrine than that which appears on the surface of the writing.

Thirdly, that his doctrine might reach all in an orderly manner; Himself teaching his disciples immediately, and they subsequently teaching others by preaching and writing ; whereas if He himself had written, his doctrine would have reached all immediately.

(Ad. 3m-). Those who were unwilling to believe what the apostles wrote of Christ would have refused to believe the writings of Christ, whom they deemed to work miracles by the magic art

Every word in this wise, scholarly article deserves thought.

St. Thomas distinguishes between a book written immediately by God and a book written immediately by men under the inspiration of God. This obvious distinction, which even the most unlettered
Mediaeval Roads
Authors: Maycock A.L.
Published: July 2007

It is a commonplace that, prior to the nineteenth century, communication between one part of Europe and another was never so safe or so rapid as under the Roman Empire. The Roman roads were the cement of the ‘pax Romana,’ and the ‘pax Romana,’ as has been well said, is an ideal which the modern world has not yet been able to realise.

As far as the problems of communication are concerned, the invention of the steam and internal combustion engines establishes an absolutely rigid gulf between the modern age and all previous ages. Before the nineteenth century mechanical transport was unknown, and Napoleon could command no greater facilities than Julius Caesar.

Any consideration, therefore, of the relative efficiency with which the past ages dealt with these questions must stop at the nineteenth century. From then onwards the whole nature of the problem is revolutionised, and resources become available, whose potentialities we have, as yet, hardly begun to realise. Whether they are capable, in concert with other agencies, of giving some kind of unity to a world from which social, moral and political unity have entirely vanished, is a question which the future alone can decide.

It has been suggested, with very probable truth, that the Romans derived many of their ideas of practical statesmanship from their contact with the Persian Empire ; and it is well known that the Persians were magnificent road-makers. For our purpose it is sufficient to note that, under the Roman dominion, the first serious attempt was made to unite Europe, and that as the Imperial frontiers were pushed outward, the continent was gradually covered by a network of splendid roads, many of which are in use at the present day.
Europa Aeterna
Authors: Childe Wilfred
Published: July 2007

The grass grows in the cobbled Minster-square, And mignonette blooms on the window-sills Of gabled quiet houses ; noonday stills The sunshot silence, holy as a prayer Breathed by some soul untainted of the world; The perfume of the green flowers like a dream Steals through the sweet noon in a subtle stream; The greyness of the Minster shines sun-pearled. Beneath a carving of the ivory-bearded And golden-crowned three Magi of Cologne A white cat sleeps extended in the sun :

The manuscript of the blue day is worded With strict Seraphic text; the Eternal Throne Stands as it stood ere Time was first begun.

Wilfred Childe.
An Apologia for Oberon
Authors: Parker Evelyn M.
Published: July 2007

It is a depressing thing that there should be so few people who really appreciate fairy stories, and still fewer who allow themselves to believe them. In fact, there is even got to be a certain theory that not to believe them is a sign of intellectual enlightenment and freedom from superstition; than which nothing could be more false. It would be very much nearer the truth to say that it is a sign of intellectual darkness to reject the Daoine Shee, and a notable token of superstition to deny the royalty of Huon, once of Bordeaux and later of Fairyland.

We would not assert, indeed, that it is necessary to have for the world of elves the same certainty of belief that one has for the truths of religion; nor need one be able to dogmatise as positively about the motives of Titania as one is able to about those of Attila the Great, Anthemius, Heraclian, or any other historical characters of whom we know even less than we do of Titania. But there is no valid argument against the existence of fairies and fairyland which would not be equally valid against the existence of Kamschatka, in which, nevertheless, we most firmly believe. In fact, if we return to the days of the innocence of nations, before their characters had been vitiated, and their intellects depraved, by the horrors of education, we should find that, whereas it was exceedingly difficult to convince them of the existence of Kamschatka, it would have been even harder to convince them that there were no fairies.
At the Academy
Authors: Gillow Stephen R.
Published: July 2007

Algernon : Half-a-minute, Charlie, I must get a catalogue. We must do the thing properly.

I always look on a visit to the Academy as a kind of sacred rite, with its own rubrics and ceremonies. Here we are.

Charles : As a what? Oh, yes, of course. A bit out of my depth, though. Very solemn, isn’t it? But why do you want a catalogue?

Algernon {frowning slightly): Don’t talk so loud. You never know who’s here. We want a catalogue to know the name of the pictures and who did them. They’re all numbered, you know. Besides, people are talking about some of the pictures, and we ought to know all about them.

Charles : Bit stuffy in here? Reminds me of Madame Tussaud’s. Lots of figures standing about looking serious. All got catalogues, too. I say. What about putting that one in your pocket and trying to find out what the pictures are about without it? Good

fun. Then we can check them after and see how many winners we’ve got. No? But look here. We’re not supposed to like what other folk like, are we? Not bound to, I mean. I know I shan’t. Where’s that picture of Stexe, and the Weighing Room at Hurst Park?

Algernon {whispering): Don’t talk so much. People don’t like it. This is a serious occasion. This is Art, not Amusement. Can’t you see how intent everybody is?

Charles:: Rather. Like a funeral. I say. Do look at that girl with the old chap with a pencil and notebook. Doesn’t she look bored? Poor kid.
On Praise
Authors: Pilgrim The
Published: July 2007

From the chapel of Our Lady of the Pines the young man came to the evening sea. The quiet refrain his companions had been chanting for Her in whose honour the pines for ever swayed their graceful heads still haunted his ears. Quibus Te laudibus efferam nescio, they had sung, making solemn plaint that before the Queen’s beauty all human praise of words seemed vain. And for the first time this ancient familiar phrase came as a revelation to his mind.

Looking on the dying sun as it loosed its crimson mantle along the line of sea, as if about to doff its daily raiment for the night, the young man thought on the sweet folly of praise. What is worthy of all praise, he pondered, like the beauty of God and the things God has made, is greater than all praise, nor can the praise of men be ever enough. Quia major omni laude, nec laudare sufficit, sang the Sequence of the Body of Christ. But this folly of praise was the sweet foolishness of wisdom, akin to the folly of the Cross, the audacity of love. To praise God, even to praise this sunset splendour, was an adventure in word and spirit, quantum foies, tantum aude, but an adventure prompted by love that feared not to stake its little all on the hazard of speech and thought. And for those with eyes to see and minds to know who set out bravely on the golden venture of praise there would always be reward, even if the Father smiled at their childlike prattlings.

But if words and thought were weak, there remained always the praise of silence that fled the bounds of speech, the tricks of reason.
Exported Industrialism and its Fruits
Authors: Ginns Reginald
Published: July 2007

The growing revolt against British supremacy, political and commercial, among oriental peoples from Egypt to China is causing grave disquietude and anxiety to many people in this country while it rejoices our enemies. .To some of us, however, things are not so black as they seem, notwithstanding the fact that a certain knowledge of the East makes us fully conscious of the grave implications of this revolt. We believe that there is a silver lining e£en to this dark cloud; unless we are greatly mistaken, England is going to gain much more than certain citizens of England (by no means all Englishmen) are going to lose on account of this movement in Egypt, India and China. England stands to win by the success of this movement. Let us not be fooled by the outcry against the supposed Bolshevist instigators of the revolt: it is only injuring our own interests. The Bolshevists are delighted to see themselves saddled with the blame and thus thrown into the arms of these people who consider themselves oppressed. But the revolt is not due to Bolshevist inspiration : it is far too noble in its principles for that, as we shall try to show. It is an endeavour on the part of these oriental peoples to prevent their own civilisation from being swamped by Western civilisation at its worst, namely, commercial industrialism.

The endless wail of the daily press that the Chinese riots are centred in a boycott of British manufactures fails to depress us: but it is symbolic of what lies behind the movement since England is the author of the industrial system.
Hodrace Walpole and Straweffy Hill
Authors: Bracey Robert
Published: July 2007

It is a common-place that, thanks to Boswell, we know Dr. Johnson more intimately than any other Englishman who has ever lived. It is just as true that, thanks to himself and his wonderful gift for letterwriting, we know Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, almost as well. Moreover, beneath all Walpole’s affectation, his assumed cynicism, his mask of cold indifference, his anxiety never to be thought serious or in earnest, those who have read with understanding his Letters have found a heart as tender as that of the Sage of Fleet Street whom he always so frankly detested, and have recognized in him a like devoted love of country, a similar filial piety, the same wish to help the poor and the outcast, and an equally passionate devotion to those who showed that they cared for him. In the light of our fuller knowledge to-day, Macaulay’s harsh and bitter judgment on Walpole would be wholeheartedly endorsed by very few.

Walpole’s pseudo-Gothic castle of Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, was one of the show-places of the eighteenth century. No foreigner of distinction came to these shores without visiting it. From the Royal Family downwards, every member of English society had been received there. The art centres of Europe had been ransacked to provide its treasures. The productions of its printing-press were eagerly sought after. Contemporary literature is full of allusions to it. It has been admired or laughed at by each subsequent generation. Stripped of its collections these eighty years and more, it still stands lovingly tended and carefully restored by its successive possessors, as

quaint, as odd, as grotesque as ever, but mellowed and softened by time.
The Question of the Pacific: A Letter from the American Fleet
Authors: McCullagh Francis
Published: July 2007

In the harbour of Honolulu, aboard the

American Battleship ‘Pennsylvania,’ en route to Australia.

June 30.

History has a slovenly way of beginning a new question before she has cleared up half-a-dozen old ones. Here we are with the Russian problem as great a problem as ever, and with no definite settlement of the Franco-German difficulties arrived at, yet, lo and behold, there is an inexplicable turmoil in China, and the cruise of the American Fleet to Australia and New Zealand reminds us that there is a Pacific question.

‘Yes,’ says the Labourite, ‘there is a Pacific question solely because Washington will not let sleeping dogs lie, but must needs arouse them by letting off her big guns all around the Hawaiian Islands. America has created the Pacific question about which you speak.’

Alas, that question existed before the joint manoeuvres began; and to blame America for holding these manoeuvres would lead, logically, to the prohibition of manoeuvres anywhere. America has as much right to hold naval manoeuvres among her own Hawaiian islands as Great Britain has to hold naval manoeuvres off Minorca, which she did some years ago. Moreover, war would not cease if America withdrew from the Pacific altogether and left Honolulu defenceless. Such a scuttle would make war inevitable within a few years unless Washington refused to regard as an unfriendly act the seizure of the Philippines and the Hawaiian islands by Japan. It takes two to make peace, as well as to make a quarrel.
Dominic O Dante
Authors: Gaffney Henry M.
Published: July 2007

In the Light of the Chronicles

In the popular mind Poetry is synonymous with anything but exact and definite truth. ‘People,’ says Thomas MacDonagh, ‘simply refuse to take words in Poetry at their face value.’ And when we find that Dante, in his great poem the Divina Corn-media, has painted for St. Dominic a character almost mythically splendid, one cannot wonder that the picture is often considered with a little incredulity, until the perfection of the original has been gauged by the standards at one’s disposal—that is, principally, by the Chronicles of St. Dominic’s life. Measured by these standards, however, Dante’s picture of the Saint does not lose any of that brightness with which it has been painted by the Poet; on the contrary, one finds that he has limned it with such exquisite fidelity that one is inclined to postulate for him a connection with the Order even closer than that claimed for him by his Dominican admirers. Dante’s appreciation of Dominic is to be found chiefly in Canto XII of the Paradiso, where he naturally begins by describing the birthplace, the coming and the infancy of the Saint, whose soul was

’ So replete

With lively virtue, that when first Created, even in the mother’s womb,

It prophesied.’

‘Do we not feel,’ says Mother Francis Raphael Drane, ‘that someone greater than the herd of common men is drawing near us, when the Great Poet prepares us for his coming with these few low tones of sweetest harmony which he draws from his lyre when he speaks of the founder of the Friars Preachers’? And Dante, continuing, says
Divorce on the Screen
Authors: Curd T. W. C.
Published: July 2007

In all the welter of film production one can hardly fail to be struck by the paganism of the average film entertainment: that is, if ever one pauses to think about such things. I do not, of course, refer to topical or interest films, but to the average dramatic photoplay. I see pictures six days a week, and I am frequently reminded of the words in the Catechism which tell us that we are prone to evil from our very childhood. I think film producers must have read this too; at any rate, they are sufficiently studious of human nature to realise that this is so—and to realise the commercial possibilities underlying the exploitation of this proneness. Knowing that there is a universal latent curiosity—an inquisitive interest—in the lower manifestations of human nature, the seamy side of life is depicted in such a manner as to pander to this, often in a very emphatic manner. The resultant atmosphere of the picture is called ‘entertainment value.’ Crime as depicted in order to impart ‘punch’ to the production. The film play is supposed to depict life in all its shades; probably it does — particularly the shades. Easy divorce is a commonplace on the screen, and in this respect the average film-maker displays a strange lack of consistency, for while on the one hand divorce is used as an easy and laudable way out of all manner of difficulties, both matrimonial and of the plot, on the other hand marriage is usually presented as the crowning act of a woman’s life, to be treated with greater seriousness, one would think, and given a fairer chance than is usually evidenced by the ease and even flippancy with which film characters are made to break their vows and start afresh—usually with the one who should obviously have been their first choice. Obvious, that is, to the audience; love in the film studio is very blind.
Richard Lasels and His ‘Voyage of Italy’
Authors: Eden Helen Paary
Published: July 2007

Having been all my life a great lover of Italy, I have to while away the time when I am not actually in ‘the land of lands’ by reading books about it. I prefer the books old, because they are usually better written; and I like genuine memoirs packed with things seen rather than novels garnished with travel-pictures. This is not to say that I cannot relish Hans Andersen’s Improvisatore or Hawthorne’s Marble Faun; but I own that their F alstaffian ratio of sack to bread makes them unsatisfactory fare for a reader of my sober tastes. The Italian portions of Evelyn’s Diary used to stand me in good stead; but Evelyn, although I shall never wholly abandon him, is now relegated to a remoter shelf. I have discovered Richard Lassels.

Richard Lassels, author of The Voyage of Italy, was a Catholic priest. He was born (perhaps) in sixteen hundred and three, and he died (undoubtedly) in sixteen sixty-eight. In the interval he mostly travelled —in the capacity of tutor to young noblemen and by preference in Italy. He came (says Antony k Wood) ‘of genteel parents,’ Catholics and loyalists. His kinsman, Henry Lassels, was that devoted Cavalier, Colonel Lane’s Cornet, who rode with King Charles the Second from Bentley to Trent after the battle of Worcester. Charles was disguised as Mistress Lane’s tenant’s son; and Henry Lassels, among other good offices, gave up his own bed at Cirencester and slept on the truckle-bed designed for the King. His kinsman, the priest, would have done the same; for he was a steadfast champion of his own convictions, popular or unpopular, though a model of good temper and fair dealing where those of others were concerned.
Sonnet
Authors: Standing Mortimer
Published: July 2007

With joyous wonder have I seen the sun Upraise his golden disc above the sea,

What time the night’s long shadows, scatt’ring, run Before the splendour of his majesty;

And with sweet solace have I seen the moon Rising serenely through the conscious air—

A joy to weary travellers, and a boon To wakeful watchers in the house of care.

Yet not to these, ah ! not to these I turn When love and awe and wonder stir me most;

But unto Thee, Whom eyes of Faith discern Above the altar raised, O Sacred Host!

Thou art the Moon and Sun of my delight,

Thou makest Day, and comfortest the Night.

Mortimer Standing.
Aedes Mariana
Authors: Childe Wilfred
Published: July 2007

How many churches hast thou, Mother and Queen ! Shrine after shrine like lilies star the lands,

Where from the coolness of thy praying hands Beauty with all things shining and serene Gladdens the race whose one immaculate flower Virgin, thou art—that first, which pilgrims know, Traced by the Pope’s staff in the August snow, And thy Siena’s black and silver tower,

And Beverley’s Gothic maternity,

And that white temple, roofed with starry flame, Which learned Pius, fond with thoughts of home, Built at Pienza, when the pontifical name Descended from the High Priest’s seat in Rome Upon the town of his nativity.

Wilfred Childe.
The Compromise of Divorce
Authors: Burke Ulic
Published: July 2007

The periodical recurrence of organized movements intended to effect a change in the legal position in regard to divorce in this country, apart from its positive effect in stimulating resistance, has a reflective interest for Catholics. The movements themselves indicate a state of mind in those taking part in them, but they also throw a very interesting light on the social mentality in which they function, and against which they attempt a reaction. It would be a pity if our absorption in the conflict itself should lead us to overlook something of this background against which it is staged. For the major significance of each successive attempt to weaken the basis of our Christian morality is the fact that it is a reaction, attempted by the advocates of change, and originating with them, and is not the expression of any wider movement of thought or conduct among the people.

The question of divorce is only one phase of a conflict in which the issue is now joined over a wide area. If it should be true that the demand for easier divorce, and for the extension of facilities for divorce, is really only a phenomenon which draws attention to a widespread moral collapse that is already effected, then the Catholic Church in its effort for the conversion of England is working against the tide. But if, on the other hand, this demand is artificial, if it is not a tendency, if it is not a straw floating gently on the surface under the propulsion of some swift undercurrent, but merely the illusion of movement which a fitful gust will create on still, deep water, then the Church is working under conditions in which success may well be startling not only in its coming but also in its extent.
An Anglo-Catholic on St. Paul
Authors: McNabb Vincent
Published: July 2007

It has of late been almost taken for granted that the Anglo-Catholic movement within the Church of England was in danger of forfeiting its claim to scholarship. The early Tractarians from whom the movement began had left names like Keble, Newman, Pusey, which might almost overawe into silence the men whom their genius organized into a school of action rather than of thought. On the other hand, the stalwarts of Biblical exegesis—Hort, Westcott, Light-foot—had captured a position in the world of scholars which few could rival. Moreover, to the credit of the Anglo-Catholics it may be said that, scorning academic delight, they have lived laborious days, often in the slums of England or the poverty of foreign missions, building up the ‘Catholic Church of England’ ; which is not yet, but is to be. Much of the reason why the scholarly output of recent Anglo-Catholics has not equalled the old is written in Fr. Knox’s pathetic words of introduction : ‘For my impertinence in presenting to the public a book on such a subject, which has been composed for the most part in the intervals of parochial work in London, I can only offer my humblest apologies.’

The modern scholar is to be seen or felt in every page of this work written against the overwhelming odds of a London parish. So high a level of conscientious scholarship is reached that even those who find themselves in disagreement with many of his views must find themselves in admiration of the dogged zeal which has packed his book with toil and thought.
Mr. Chesterton's ‘Everlasting Man’
Authors: K. W.
Published: July 2007

It is a relief to turn from the nebulous emotionalism and egoistical self-centredness of the recent articles on My Religion which have recently appeared in the daily press to Mr. Chesterton’s Everlasting Man—a work which comes upon us as a fresh breeze from the mountain tops. It is a challenge, and a noble one, ranging from scientific theories to religious dogmas. It is quite impossible to give more than the briefest of brief outlines of its scope and treatment, and one can only hint at the faultless and fearless fathoming of flaws in the attitudes of the modern mind. But it is not until we come to the end of the book that we find, what we had all along surmised, that most of the theories attacked are popular rather than really scientific, and the author’s conscience smites him with the thought that he ‘may sometimes have given an impression of scoffing at serious scientific work.’ The book is really meant to be a popular criticism of popular fancies, often, indeed, of very vulgar errors, ana it is never meant to be ‘an impertinence to the truly learned.’ So we know where we are, or, at any rate, where we have been, when we come to the Appendix.

In pointing this out we do not mean to imply that his strictures are beside the mark—in point of fact, they hit it every time, and he is inimitably accurate in detecting the weak points in many popular theories.
The Church and the Class-War
Authors: James Stanley B.
Published: July 2007

He theory known as the Materialistic Interpretation of History, which constitutes the philosophical background of Communism, asserts that religious beliefs are the product of social and economic circumstances and vary according to those circumstances. I had never realised the large measure of truth in that theory until quite recently. The need of refreshing my memory concerning the methods of worship among certain sects, for the purposes of a series of articles on the subject in a Catholic newspaper, led to sundry visits to non-Catholic bodies. The formative influence of class traditions on ecclesiastical proceedure and belief was impressed on my mind with considerable force as visit followed visit.

It was impossible, for instance, not to recognise that factor in the case of the Christian Scientists. It was not merely that the roadway outside the Hall was lined with motor-cars for some hundreds of yards or that those who filled the building were most obviously of the leisured class. The whole tone of the Service was that of a drawing-room meeting, well-bred, politely interested, and—if the paradox may be allowed—profoundly superficial.

Christian Science is an American importation. One might speak of it as the Gospel of Optimism or as Christianity without the Cross. It is a cult patronised almost exclusively by those whose external circumstances have placed them beyond the need of that severe struggle which others must make for a livelihood. Happiness for these consists largely in their power to shut out the ugly and sordid aspects of life. Conversation among such people quietly assumes that the whole world, or at least the part of it that matters, is circumstanced as are they themselves. The intrusion of poverty and disease into their comfortable circle is resented as something lacking good taste.
‘A Pioneer of Pre-history
Authors: Clark Kevin
Published: July 2007

Part III

In many of the modern text books epitomizing the story of the first discoveries of the Antiquity of Man and of his having been the contemporary of extinct mammalia, the part played by MacEnery, Pengelly and the members of the Torquay Natural History Society often receives very little adequate representation. Usually most of the praise is meted out to Boucher de Perthes, and it is quite forgotten that it was the spade work of these English pioneers which induced Falconer, Prestwich and Evans to take up the cause of the famous archaeologist of Abbeville. An attempt therefore will be made to relate in their proper order the series of incidents that led up to the revolution of scientific opinion in 1859 on the antiquity of the human race. These when seen in their true sequence, from Kent’s Cavern to the valley of the Somme, are also the vindication of MacEnery’s discoveries.

As early as 1840, Godwin-Austen read a paper to the Geological Society of London On the Bone Caves of Devonshire (March 25th), but in it he made no mention of MacEnery; nor did he, as is generally asserted, speak of the flint implements. Perhaps he thought it politic to avoid the subject as Buckland was in the chair. A year later (MacEnery died in the February) Godwin-Austen and Buckland had ‘an interesting discussion’ at the Plymouth meeting of the British Association.

Dr. Buckland combatted the notion that, because human remains were found among the bones of the geological period, it was to be supposed that those human beings were contemporary with them.

This discussion, however, did not appear in the printed report.
Canticum Magorum
Authors: McN V.
Published: July 2007

Are not man’s fable;

But are in sooth God’s naked Truth.

The narrow Cave Is what God gave Our pride to save.

The mirk within Is mortal sin.

The winter frost Is God’s love lost.

The hay and straw Are things of awe,

Befall ‘n by law.

Ev’n ox and ass Have come to pass.

The want and cold Are pain foretold.

The Nursling’s cries End prophecies.

And we who now Before Thee bow Are wholly sin Without, within.

Yet—crib and stable Being no fond fable,

Although our guilt This Child’s joy spilt,

Our hearts beat wild To know this Child

Is God the Son And Sin—Undone!

Ero Mors Tua O Mors.

The star without Has come about To light our doubt. The working man Kneels there, to plan.

And, man of faith All joyous saith:

‘That Son who stirs Is God’s and—hers! ‘The Maid who sings Soft carollings

Lulls by her words The Lord of Lords.

From out the skies Loud anthems rise. Heav’n’s royal choir A song conspire All shot with fire,

To speed their King Gone conquering.

V. McN.
Reconciliation in Ireland
Authors: Gwynn Denis
Published: July 2007

The cartoon with which Punch expressed its bewildered opinion of the Irish settlement deserves to be remembered in history. After more than two centuries of deliberate exploitation of anti-Irish sentiment in the north-east of Ireland, the leader of the Ulster Unionists is represented in the most characteristic organ of British middle-class opinion, as uniting with the President of the Free State to pick the pocket of John Bull. In actual fact, the Ulster Government’s financial ‘benefits through the settlement would appear to consist in a grant for the Ulster Parliament buildings and the separate Ulster Law Courts—neither of which were ever asked for by the Ulster Unionists, but were, on the contrary, accepted by them in response to an urgent appeal by the Imperial Parliament. There is a further financial concession also in the continuation for one year of the annual grant in aid of the Ulster Special Constabulary, but on the clear understanding (never before insisted upon) that this latest grant of roughly a million pounds must be the last. No Irish Catholic is likely to sympathise with Sir James Craig’s lamentations at the fact that the ‘Specials’ must therefore be disbanded; but even the Ulster ‘Specials’ would never have come into existence except to defend the jurisdiction of the Ulster Parliament in the area for which the Orange Lodges agreed, under urgent appeals, to accept responsibility.

So much for Sir James Craig’s alleged pilferings from the pockets of John Bull. Mr. Cosgrave’s are scarcely more real when examined in the light of facts.
A Scholastic Philosopher and Einstein
Authors: Shove Herbert
Published: July 2007

Father Vincent McNabb prefaces his article in the October number of BLACKFRIARS with the statement that he has neither the wish nor the capability to offer a criticism of ‘the astronomies and mathematics’ of Prof. Einstein. And the present writer feels impelled to make a similar disclaimer as regards the scholastic philosophy of Father McNabb, whom he is proud to number amongst the most revered of his personal friends and spiritual advisers. But, as one whose technical education involved a good deal of ‘astronomies and mathematics’ and whose tastes have even leaned towards the study of physical science, it appears to him that the body of Father McNabb’s article does not fulfill the promise of sticking to his philosophic last which he makes at the outset. Before the close, he is dealing with questions of the purest mechanics, which cannot be divorced from astronomy, even if they can from pure mathematics.

Father McNabb opens his attack by quoting the following passage from Einstein’s book on Relativity :

‘If, in pursuance of our habit of thought, we now supplement the propositions of Euclidean geometry by the single proposition that two points on a practically rigid body always correspond to the same distance (line : interval) independently of any changes in position to which we may subject the body, the propositions of Euclidean geometry then resolve themselves into propositions of the possible relative position of practically rigid bodies.

Geometry which has been supplemented in this way is then to be treated as a branch of physics.
Excursion
Authors: Gray John
Published: July 2007

Ten or half-past get off from Innerleithen Station, southwards, in early days of January. Before you might know it you are over the Tweed, a Scotch river which has already acquired an ‘English accent.’ There is plenty of water in its tributaries, and their little daughters; the whole country is abustle with them. You catch no sight of the beautiful old house as you pass through Traquair Village and cross Quair Water.

The scene soon gets to business. Before you are beyond the last fir plantation and straggling, bad-tempered-looking birches, it is evident that the country is of a high quality; and if you turn to verify the steepness of the ascent, the view of Moorfoot, seldom disappointing, is fine. It is Newhall Burn against which you are walking; the road in time leaves it deep on the right in the valley, the far side of which has become a vast wall of pasture. Only get the sun upon it and any sort of blue sky, and the effect is admirable : the grass tends to be quite pale; the bracken, squirrel-colour of course, provides the striking accent; the heather is sepia, and a scanty element. A few pockets of snow help; as may later the nearly black of a peat cutting; but not the outbreaking stone, blueish. The sheep are blueish too; here is a flock of ewes, watching the departure of a ram, refractory without hope against the tactic of a fine border lad and two young bitches.
Music in the Divine Comedy II.
Authors: Smythe Barbara
Published: July 2007

II.

In addition to singing and dancing, one other species A of music is introduced in Dante’s Heaven, though less is said of it than might, perhaps, be expected. This is the music of the spheres. The idea that the movement of the planetary spheres caused them to emit sound was first scientifically expounded by Pythagoras, but the myth of sphere-music is of earlier origin, for the seven strings of the lyre and seven pipes of the syrinx are said to have been made to correspond with the seven notes of the spheres. The Pythagorean doctrine, though rejected by Aristotle, was accepted by many philosophers, and becoming widely known through the teaching of the neo-pythagorean Nico-machus of Gerasa (second century A.D.) had a considerable influence on the musical theories of the Middle Ages. The comparatively small use which Dante makes of it may be accounted for by the fact that the ‘master of those who know’ (Inf. iv, 131) declared it to be false. It is natural to think that the idea of sphere-harmony, based as it is on numerical proportion, would have attracted Dante, with his love of the symbolism of numbers, and the mere fact that he introduced it at all, in defiance of the authority both of Aristotle and of St. Thomas, shows that it made indeed a strong appeal to him.
The Church and Art
Authors: Gill Eric
Published: July 2007

III

What, according to the Catholic conception, is the relation of art to life?

It has been said, and it is Catholic doctrine, that man is a bridge connecting the material and the spiritual. Both are real, both are good. God is spirit, man is matter and spirit. Man is therefore able to see, to present in material terms things spiritual and, conversely, though he cannot represent it, he is able to comprehend, though not fully, the spiritual significance of the material. He can show the spiritual in terms of matter, but he cannot show the material in terms of spirit.

The art of man, though ultimately unimportant, for, like all material things, works of art will return to dust, has therefore two claims to attention. In the first place it is the only activity of which man is capable which is in itself worth pursuing, and in the second it is man’s sole abiding solace in this vale of tears. In this age, an age noted for every sort of material achievement but such as can be called works of art, these are very controversial statements. Let us proceed to their demonstration. The essence of Religion is the affirmation of absolute values. Religions may be good or bad, values may be true or false, but the affirmation of an absolute value is a religious affirmation. Without such affirmations there would be sciences, moralities, and—Royal Academies of Art, but there would be no religion. To affirm that such and such is true because it is true and for no other reason, or that such and such is good because it is good and for no other reason are religious affirmations.
Dr. G. G. Coulton and the Middle Ages
Authors: Coulton G. G.
Published: July 2007

The Editor has courteously asked me to reply, and I do so with great pleasure, though in unavoidable haste, since it is almost all I can do to clear up the term’s work before a necessary holiday. Again, I welcome his request that my reply should aim rather at construction than at destruction, if only I may be permitted first to deal very plainly with the two cases which Mr. Clayton quotes as reflecting discredit upon a University which has chosen me for its Lectureship in English. I know the requirements for a Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society, having more than once been asked to stand sponsor to young pupils for that distinction; and even if I had imagined beforehand that these would necessarily include a mastery of the niceties of our language, Mr. Clayton’s article would have disabused me. In my first incriminated sentence, he has been puzzled by a very ordinary construction; after mentioning ‘the serf’ (singular) and ‘the negro’ (singular) I proceed to sum them up in the plural as ‘those simple minds.’ His second point is, that I blunder by speaking of a current as running and as creeping in the same sentence. It is plain that he has forgotten the proverb ‘Still waters run deep,’ and that he is not sufficiently familiar with our standard writers to realize that run, of liquids, does not necessarily imply rapidity. But he might at least have consulted a good dictionary before jumping to the conclusion that my University has blundered in appointing a man whose limitations do not exactly coincide with his own.
Mr. CLAYTON'S REJOINDER.
Authors: Clayton Joseph
Published: July 2007

In the March BLACKFRIARS I reviewed Dr. Coulton’s Medieval Village and pointed out that the title of the book was ‘misleading and inaccurate,’ that neither the middle ages nor its village was the subject of Dr. Coulton’s study, and that ‘a false view of village life’ was presented. Dr. Coulton in his reply does not question the truth of my statements.

I also picked out no less than seventeen sentences from the book (giving in each case the page on which the sentence could be found) for evidence that Dr. Coulton is untrustworthy as a historian.

Four of these sentences were badly phrased. Dr. Coulton thinks otherwise. The reader can decide. But the blunders and errors in the other thirteen sentences Dr. Coulton leaves unanswered. They were not trivial or unimportant mistakes; they were serious misrepresentations. I could have made the list of mistakes longer, for the Medieval Village is disgraced by inaccuracies.

Since Dr. Coulton does not deny that his errors were exposed in the review, why does he not acknowledge that he has erred? Dr. Coulton pleads ‘unavoidable haste,’ and then rides off with a detailed description of a -particular village which he ‘happens to know best,’ and compares it with a general description of peasant life in the time of Chaucer. The comparison is worthless, as all comparisons of the general and particular are apt to be. It should not be difficult for Dr. Coulton, or any other student of the middle ages, to find a detailed account of village life that would present a picture vastly different from the generalised view selected by Dr. Coulton.
Scylla and Charybdis
Authors: Swinstead Margaret
Published: July 2007

Not long ago I was telling a story to a little five-year-old friend of mine. She listened with great delight till we came to the inevitable fairy, who helps the distracted heroine through her troubles, when she interrupted with ‘Please let the fairy be an angel!’

I thought of this instinctive desire of a child for angelic comradeship, when looking through a number of modern children’s books in a large bookshop lately. I was struck with the entire absence of a reference to any form of religion in the charming and artistic productions which are published by the hundred to amuse and instruct the younger children of to-day. There are fairies in abundance, talking flowers, singing pigs, intelligent carrots, but no saints, or angels, and never a reference, however remote, to Almighty God.

I am not, of course, referring to the numberless story books by well-intentioned writers of all denominations, which are written with a definite religious purpose, to convey a definite religious lesson; many of these are excellent, if some are a trifle tedious; but of the many beautifully illustrated and charming little tales which find their way into any house where there is a child.

These books of to-day are definitely non-moral, they do not pretend to do anything but amuse; in this they reflect the spirit of the age. Most of them are only negatively harmful, but it is surely a most ominous sign that the children of this generation are encouraged in their most impressionable years, to seek for recreation in a region of thought in which God is entirely forgotten.
A British Ambassador and the Vatican
Authors: Gwynn Denis
Published: July 2007

English public men very seldom make any public allusion to the activities of the Holy See. Very few of them give much attention either to its influence or to its policies. Sir Rennell Rodd, however, as British Ambassador to Rome from 1908 until 1919, had ample opportunities for becoming aware of the Pope’s existence as an international force. And in his latest volume of reminiscences, which cover the whole period of the war, he discreetly reveals here and there his own observations and suspicions concerning the Vatican. Indeed, he does not disguise the fact that the information which reached him in his official capacity from various sources caused him constant apprehension during the war. And after the death, in August, 1914, of Pope Pius X (whom he credits with sufficiently ‘humane’ motives to have been likely to develop pro-Ally tendencies had he lived), Sir Rennell quite plainly regards the Holy See as being engaged in constant intrigues to bring the war to an end prematurely upon conditions advantageous to the Central Powers.

The attitude of this ex-Ambassador towards the peace policy of the Holy See is not only characteristic of what most Englishmen of his orthodox and official type of mind felt throughout the war and still feel. It is worth examining more closely because Sir Rennell Rodd, who enjoyed unique advantages for ascertaining and understanding the pacific efforts of the Vatican throughout the war, failed completely to understand what Pope Benedict XV was striving to accomplish.
The Faith of an English Catholic
Authors: McNabb Vincent
Published: July 2007

On the paper covers of this little book we find the following:—

‘The purpose of this book is to supply an answer to the question: “What is the meaning of Anglo-Catholicism?” .... The past history of Anglo-Catholicism is described and its future prospects are estimated. Finally, an appeal is made for toleration, both of Anglo-Catholicism by the authorities of the English Church, and by Anglo-Catholics of other than themselves.’

Discussion carried on in the serene atmosphere of this little book invites the like serenity of discussion. If any words, of ours are beyond the right of trank criticism or human courtesy we wish them unsaid. But we feel that the frankness of Dr. Stone’s statement can be rewarded only by as frank a criticism.

(a) In the first place a Catholic, who, like his English forbears of fifteen centuries, is in full communion with the See of Rome, cannot fail to be struck with the title of the book. It is what it purports to be, nothing more or less than the faith of an English Catholic.’ It does not speak for any group; still less for any church.

In reviewing the book, The Church Times (Feb. 26th) calls it a ‘Valuable Summary.’ . . . . ‘The book will be of immense service to both the clergy and the laity, and will serve an admirable purpose in making clear to Protestants and Roman Catholics exactly what Anglo-Catholicism accepts and rejects.’
The Outcast Woman
Authors: Delany Bernard
Published: July 2007

A person in search of adventure might join a Polar expedition, arrange an aerial flight round the world or found a newspaper entirely dedicated to truth-telling. These adventures are of the more spectacular and expensive kind, and only within the reach of the favoured few. A cheaper way of satisfying the thirst for adventure is to empty your pockets of all your money, dress in the oldest and shabbiest clothes you can find, and make yourself a tramp. This is what Mrs. Cecil Chesterton did—not exactly for the fun of the thing, not in search of romance and adventure, but to study destitution, and to prove to herself that a woman without status and that recommendation which is called a ‘character’ or a ‘reference’ cannot obtain employment in any recognised craft or calling.

We have heard of these amateur explorers into the underworld before. Are they not, we ask ourselves, mere spectators, in, though not of the surroundings they have themselves freely chosen? They go among the outcasts to record facts and register impressions, but they are only onlookers and not outcasts themselves. If any of these thoughts arise with regard to Mrs. Chesterton’s personal experiment, her book, In Darkest London, will dispel them. She says : ‘I left my home one evening in February. I wore my own clothes, which were shabby but not ragged. I had watertight shoes and a raincoat—and not a penny in my pocket. I had determined to start life from an entirely new angle.
The Religion of the Book
Authors: James Stanley B.
Published: July 2007

The ‘Reformation’ was fundamentally a negative movement. It bound together any who had a grievance against the Church. The essential character of the revolt which found its leader in Luther was the refusal to accept the authority of Rome. In spite of many differences among themselves, this still unites the various sections of Protestantism enabling Evangelical Anglicans to co-operate with Modernists and Modernists to make common cause with those still adhering to old-fashioned views of Biblical inspiration. The wide variety of views represented among the signatories of the famous ‘Call to Action’ provoked by the militant tactics of ‘Anglo-Catholics bears powerful witness to this agreement in negation. But no movement can live on denials, and instinctively the ‘Reformers’ felt bound to find some substitute for the authority of the Church. It was profoundly characteristic of their age that they should have fallen back on the authority of the Bible. That age had seen the development of the printing press and a vast increase in the number of those who could read its productions. The mere possession of the sacred volume, together with the ability to spell it out, seemed to give the individual a new and higher status. It encouraged the belief that he was at the source of authority, and held in his hands the key to all wisdom and knowledge—a latch-key which enabled him to dispense with paternal control in the matter of his comings and goings.