of Greek and Hebrew to the illustration of the sacred text. At least twenty editions have appeared since the editio princeps in 1596. Unfortunately, in subsequent editions, great liberties were taken with the original text of the first edition; and it is the great merit of the present editor, Dr. Raich, that he has for the first time since 1596 given us the Commentaries of Maldonatus pure and entire. His labour has not been small. It was necessary to have the text of the editio princeps copied out in manuscript, for the abbreviation made it unintelligible to modern printers. It was labour well bestowed, for the variations from the original text of Maldonatus, which had crept into the additions, were very considerable in extent and importance. He has increased the number of references to parallel passages, and added a few critical and dogmatic notes, which are always marked with asterisks. Great attention has been paid to correctness of typography. He may fairly expect to reap the fruit of his toil and to see his edition recognized as the only genuine reproduction of the famous commentaries on the Gospel.

Our Lady's Dowry; or, How England gained and lost that Title. By the Rev. T. E. BRIDGETT, C.S.S.R. Burns & Oates, London.

WE

E rise from the perusal of this book with no common feelings. It is hard to say whether a sentiment of pain or of satisfaction is more definite. Let not our readers suppose this is to be laid to the account of the author, or as he modestly terms himself, the compiler, of this deeply interesting volume. Our mixed feelings are due, on the one hand, to the sad history here drawn out of how England lost-or rather cast off, and trampled under foot-the glorious title of "Our Lady's Dowry;" on the other to the picture of what our dear land was in times past, and of what we may hope, in God's mercy, through the intercession of His Holy Mother, so tenderly loved, so earnestly invoked, England may yet be once more. But without dwelling on these thoughts, it is our business to give in a brief space an account of the contents of this volume of near upon five hundred pages; and it is our most pleasant duty to say it is long since any work issuing from the English Catholic press has merited a more entire and cordial welcome. The Rev. Father Bridgett has already won the reputation, eminently well deserved, of wide reading, power of argument, justness of view, outspoken and manly honesty, by his "Ritual of the New Testament," but this present work will still further increase his literary

credit, did he seek no higher objects. No words of praise of ours, however, can bear a greater weight than that which has been written by The Bishop of Salford, in which we perfectly agree, that "Our Lady's Dowry," is the most " excellent, the most interesting, and the most original work of its kind that has been published in the English language." And he concludes by "strongly recommending it to the clergy, and to all educated Englishmen, whether Catholic or Non-Catholic, who have any care to investigate the religious history of their country."

It was as early as 1399, as the Archbishop of Canterbury tells us, that England was "commonly called" the "Dowry of Mary," and the manner in which our country made herself worthy of such a title, is worked out by our author on the following exhaustive scheme. The first part of the book is devoted to the Doctrinal aspect of devotion to the Blessed Virgin; and in six chapters, The Immaculate Conception; The Incarnation; The Joys; the Words; The Dolours; and the Glory of Mary, are treated of. "The Doctrine that was current in England" for over a thousand years down to the period when, except in a few faithful hearts, the so-called "Reformation" swept away every thing of respect even for the Mother of God, is here given in a series of extracts from English writers, "valuable" indeed, as Father Bridgett writes, "for their intrinsic excellence," and affording glimpses of the deep theological knowledge, the profound spirituality, and the ardent and tender piety of the Catholic theologians and spiritual writers of the Middle Ages in England. As we dwell on these extracts, we deeply feel with our author how much it is to be regretted, that we Catholics of to-day know so little of these writings of our own countrymen of past times, fallen into an oblivion which they certainly do not deserve, or left to be published by the zeal of the scholars of other countries. We would fain cull from this delicious nosegay of flowers of piety some few choice flowers to set before our readers, but our space forbids. We cannot, however, pass on beyond this first division of the book, without remarking the striking coincidence of the entirely conclusive proofs brought forward by the Rev. Father Bridgett, from the eighth century downwards, of the firm belief in the Immaculate Conception, and this just at the time when we have been told by the ex-premier that the Definition of the Immaculate Conception was 66 a violent breach with history."

With the second part of the work, we enter upon a vast field of the most patient research, the most deeply interesting, historic, and archæologic lore, the most touching memorial of the refined and yet simple piety, and, in a word, to quote our author, a summary "of the various methods in which our forefathers (for nine centuries, between the conversion of England and the Reformation) strove to show their love and veneration for the Mother of their God and their Redeemer." Under this head, the honours paid to our Lady, private and public devotions, the Angelic Salutation, beads and

*Note to Ninth Thousand of "A Pastoral Letter on Submission to a Divine Teacher, &c." By the Right Rev. Bishop of Salford.

bells, feasts and fasts, churches, altars, &c., images of our Lady, pilgrimages and miracles, sanctuaries and holy wells, memorials, guilds of our Lady, and the final invocation of Her name at the hour of death, set before us an abundance of matter of interest and edification, such as has assuredly never before been collected on these subjects. And here we must make a remark on what we cannot but consider a matter of regret, and that is the meagreness of the index, specially felt in regard to this second portion of the work, which teems with apt and interesting citations from modern as well as ancient writers and authorities, a very considerable proportion of which do not appear on reference to the index. To attempt to give the barest analysis of these chapters would be hopeless; we can only beg our readers to refer to the work itself, and we answer for it that their love for our Lady will be deepened, their affection and veneration for their forefather's tender faith tenfold increased, and their gratitude to the author of "Our Lady's Dowry" most sincere, when they have read his pages. We cannot, however, pass on to the third and last part without alluding to the learned disquisition on the "Angelic Salutation," in which, with a characteristic modesty, and yet with a clearness and precision of argument equally remarkable, Father Bridgett proves that "the learned and pious antiquarian," Canon Rock, is incorrect when, in his most useful work, "The Church of our Fathers," he limits the use of the "Hail Mary" to the thirteenth century, and gives us, amongst various citations and arguments, the testimony of S. Peter Damien, born in the tenth century, of its use in the eleventh century, "while there is everything to lead us to suppose a much higher antiquity." In the same manner a disquisition on the Rosary of our Lady, as regards the history of its use in England, is full of interesting matter, whilst the Catholic doctrine of Devotion to Images, referring of course to representations of the Mother of God, is treated in a most masterly and learned chapter on the subject; nor is the subject of Relics less learned or less able. It need hardly be said that as mere illustrations of the subject, the lists of churches dedicated to our Lady, now forlorn and desolate; of statues yet remaining, despite the banner of the iconoclast; of pictures on wall and vellum-page, might have been drawn out to considerable length had Father Bridgett's task been simply that of an antiquarian. Those who are wont to linger in our deserted cathedrals and neglected village churches; to visit with sad footstep our ruined abbeys; to turn over the brilliant pages of illuminated manuscripts, can recal hundreds of representations, quaint and naive though they be, of our Blessed Lady; but all with that deep inner sentiment of tender love and piety which, as Father Bridgett sufficiently shows, was the universal sentiment of the ages of faith in Her regard in this Her dowry.

But now we pass from the sweet radiance of love and faith, to the gloom and storm of hate and disbelief, and the vices of Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Elizabeth, which head the concluding chapters, under the general title of this third part-" Disloyalty," sufficiently indicates the sad history to be unfolded to the reader. But it is in special reference to the subject of his work that Father Bridgett writes, and we get as the result an unwritten

chapter-there are many more still to be written-of the history of the "Reformation." "How the revolt against the teaching and practice of the Catholic Church, as regards devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary," was brought about "by declarations of doctrine, legislative enactments, royal proclamations and commissions, and popular movements," is told us in these four chapters, whilst the fifth and last sums up this history of "English devotion to the Virgin Mother," and cites the further testimony of modern Protestant writers in favour of its happy influences, and ends by a few but conclusive words as to Mr. Gladstone's unhappy and groundless attack on "Mariolatry," as he calls it, and his unfounded allegations as regards the Catholic devotion of to-day to the ever Immaculate Mother of God. But to return to our more immediate subject, there is a deeply interesting estimate of "the degrees of responsibility of the various classes who engaged in the overthrow of Our Lady's Dowry," and with a few words on this subject we must conclude. Certain it is, that when the upholders and the destroyers of "Our Lady's Dowry" are compared, Catholics "have nothing of which to be ashamed." Yet, as Father Bridgett says, alas! the enemies of Our Lady were, not unbaptized heathens, not even Protestants brought up from infancy in anti-Catholic prejudice, but those who had been children of the Catholic Church. A remarkable prediction from the writings of an English Dominican, 150 years before the blow fell, sets forth the unhappy part that certain-even amongst the priests of God's Church-were to take against their Mother. As regards the upper classes, the old spirit of chivalry, linked with devotion, had largely died away, the decay coming downwards from a corrupt Court, and they cast aside their faith to lay hands on the spoils of the sanctuary. As for the people, Father Bridgett arrives at the conclusion that all "who actively co-operated in doing despite to Our Lady were not equally guilty," and he is "glad to believe that many of the simple people, even of those who consented to acts of sacrilege, were deluded by sophisms into the thought that they were doing God service." How the people were thus deluded, is told by extracts from the Prayer Books, Primers, &c., of the period, where the downward path of the "Reformation" is tracedhow little by little prayers to Our Lady were erased, lights extinguished before her image, her shrines pillaged, until at last her effigy and her sanctuaries were given to the flames; and though the Angelic Salutation still held its ground, even when the faithful servants of Mary were suffering on the scaffold for their faith; that, too, was at last expunged, and England was no more "The Dowry of Mary." Such is a brief and most imperfect sketch of this remarkable book. We earnestly hope, and venture confidently to predict, that it will have a large circulation. To Catholics, it cannot be other than a book of pious meditation as to its first part, of deep interest and edification as to its second, and of earnest prayer as to its third. To Protestants, who honestly desire to inform themselves of the real history and aspect of devotion to the Mother of God in past times in England, in contradistinction to the "ignorance and flippancy" of even "the best informed and most impartial" amongst their own historians, this work, calmly read and pondered on, cannot but

bring new lights and graces, for which they may bless the writer. We should not omit to mention that some beautiful illustrations from the pencil of the able Catholic artist, Mr. H. W. Brewer, add greatly to the value of the work.

Peace through the Truth. Second Series. By Rev. Father HARPer, S.J. London: Burns & Oates.

T is hardly possible to exaggerate the controversial importance of the

is engaged, in

of "Peace through the Truth" viz: the refuting carefully and profoundly the various historical objections, raised by Dr. Pusey against the dogma of Papal infallibility. F. Harper says-and we are quite disposed to agree with him—that there are "very many who, if their judgment could be reformed by a satisfactory solution" of these difficulties, "would not be able to resist the claims and attractions which the Catholic Church offers to their intellect and their heart." The present volume is entirely occupied with the supposed mutual contradictions of Popes on prohibited marriages. This inquiry leads to theological investigations of great interest, and we hope to give our readers some idea of them at an early opportunity. We sincerely hope Father Harper may have health and leisure to complete his invaluable labours.

The Vatican Decrees and Catholic Allegiance, and

The Syllabus for the People. By a Monk of St. Augustine's, Ramsgate. London Burns & Oates.

THE

66

HE writer of these two valuable pamphlets has fallen into one mistake, which was pointed out in the Tablet. Marriage between two Protestants" he says "wherever contracted, is held by Catholic divines to be valid and indissoluble." On the contrary we believe the large majority of theologians would hold an opposite opinion as regards those countries in which the decree of clandestinity has been published, and in which a special indult or declaration has not been obtained.

The only other point in which we cannot follow his teaching, is what we understand to be his doctrine on the relation between Church and State. The author ("Vatican Decrees," pp. 25-7) may not unnaturally be understood as ignoring the power possessed by the Church, of visiting with spiritual censures any political act, which may involve injury to men's eternal interests. On the other hand, in his second pamphlet (p. 36) he