sonality into his function, so no lips have ever delivered from the Papal Throne such masses of matter. Pope all over, and from head to foot, he has fed for eight-and-twenty years upon the moral diet which a too sycophantic following supplies, till every fibre of his nature is charged with it, and the simple-minded Bishop and Archbishop Mastai is hardly to be recognized under the Papal mantle.

It can hardly be policy, it must be a necessity of his nature, which prompts his incessant harangues. But they are evidently a true picture of the man; as the man is of the system, except in this that he, to use a homely phrase, blurts out, when he is left to himself, what it delivers in rather more comely phrases, overlaid with art.

Much interest therefore attaches to such a phenomenon as the published Speeches of the Pope; and besides what it teaches in itself, other and singular lessons are to be learned from the strange juxtaposition in which, for more than four years, his action has now been exhibited. Probably in no place and at no period, through the whole history of the world, has there ever been presented to mankind, even in the agony of war or revolution, a more extraordinary spectacle than is now witnessed at Rome. In that city the Italian Government holds a perfectly peaceable, though originally forcible, possession of the residue of the States of the Church; and at the same time the Pope, remaining on his ground, by a perpetual blast of fiery words, appeals to other lands and to future days, and thus makes his wordy, yet not wholly futile, war upon the Italian Government.

The mere extracts and specimens, which have

from time to time appeared in the public journals, have stirred a momentary thrill, or sigh, or shrug, according to the temperaments and tendencies of readers. But they have been totally insufficient to convey an idea of the vigour with which this peculiar warfare is carried on; of the absolute, apparently the contemptuous, tolerance with which it is regarded by the Government ruling on the spot; or of the picture which is presented to us by the words and actions of the Pope, taken as a whole, and considered in connection with their possible significance to the future peace of Europe.

Between the 20th of October, 1870, and the 18th of September, 1873, this octogenarian Pontiff (he is now aged, at least, eighty-two), besides bearing all the other cares of ecclesiastical government, and despite intervals of illness, pronounced two hundred and ninety Discourses, which are reported in the eleven hundred pages of the two Volumes now to be introduced to the notice of the reader. They are collected and published for the first time by the Rev. Don Pasquale de Franciscis; and, though they may be deemed highly incendiary documents, they are sold at the bookshop of the Propaganda, and are to be had in the ordinary way of trade, by virtue of that freedom of the press which the Papacy abhors and condemns.

The first question which a judicious reader will put is, whether we have reasonable assurance that this work really reports the Speeches of the Pontiff with accuracy. And on this point there appears to be no room for reasonable doubt. Some few of them are merely given as abstracts, or sunti; but by

In a

far the larger number in extenso, in the first person, with minutely careful notices of the incidents of the occasion, such as the smiles, the sobs, the tears* of the Pontiff on the auditory; the animated gestures of the one, the enthusiastic shoutings of the other, which cause the halls of the Vatican to ring again. detailed notice which, instead of introducing the first volume, is rather inconveniently appended to it at the close, the editor gives an account both of the opportunities he has enjoyed and of the loving pains he took in the execution of his task. On nearly every occasion he seems to have been present and employed as a reporter (raccoglitore); once his absence is noticed as if an unusual, no less than an unfortunate, circumstance (II. 284). In a particular instance (II. 299) he speaks of the Pope himself as personally giving judgment on what might or might not be published (sarebbe stato pubblicato, se così fosse piaciuto a CHI potea volere altrimenti). The whole assistance of the Papal press in Rome was freely given him (1. 505). Eyes and ears, he says, far superior to his own, had revised and approved the entire publication (1. 506). The Preface to the Second Volume refers to the enthusiastic reception accorded to the First, and announces the whole work as that which is alone authentic and the most complete (II. 14, 15). So that

In the estimation of Don Pasquale, all emotion, if within the walls of the Vatican, and on the Papal side, is entitled to respect, and must awaken sympathy, but when he has to describe the tears and sobs which, as he states, accompanied the funeral procession of the ex-Minister Ratazzi (11. 350), he asks, might not this be a Congress of Crocodiles (non sembra questo un Congresso di Coccodrilli)?

our footing plainly is sure enough; and we may reject absolutely the supposition which portions of the book might very well suggest, namely, that we were reading a scandalous Protestant forgery.

Certainly, if the spirit of true adoration will make a good reporter, Don Pasquale ought to be the best in the world. The Speeches he gives to the world are "a treasure," and that treasure is sublime, inspired, divine (1. I, 2, 3). Not only do we quote these epithets textually, but they, and the like of them, are repeated everywhere, even to satiety, and perhaps something more than satiety. "Receive, then, as from the hands of angels, this Divine Volume of the Angelic Pio Nono" (p. 4); "the most glorious and venerated among all the Popes" (p. 3); "the portentous Father of the nations" (p. 11). This is pretty well, but it is not all. He is "the living Christ" (p. 9); he is the Voice of God. There is but one step more to take, and it is taken. He is (in the face of the Italian Government) Nature, that protests: he is GOD, THAT CONDEMNS (p. 17).

In a letter dated December 10, 1874, and addressed to a monthly magazine,* Archbishop Manning, with his usual hardihood, says, "for a writer who affirms that the Head of the Catholic Church claims to be the Incarnate and Visible Word of God I have really compassion." Will this bold controversialist spare a little from his fund of pity for the editor of these Speeches, who declares him to be the living Christ, and for the Pope under whose authority this declaration is published and sold?

* 'Macmillan's Magazine' for January 1875.

Truly, some of the consequences of a "free press" are rather startling. And those who are astonished at the strained and preternatural tension, the surexcitation abnormale, to borrow a French phrase, the inflamed and inflaming tone of the language ordinarily used by the Pontiff, should carefully bear in mind that the fulsome and revolting strains, of which we have given a sample, exhibits to us the atmosphere which he habitually breathes.

Even those, however, who would most freely criticise, and, indeed, denounce the prevailing strain and too manifest upshot of these Speeches, may find pleasure, while they yield a passing tribute to the persevering tenacity, and, if we may be pardoned such a word, the pluck, which they display. It may be too true that the Pope has brought his misfortunes on his own head. But they are heavy, and they are aggravated by the weight of years: and the strong constitution, indicated by his deep chest and powerful voice, has had to struggle with various infirmities. Yet, by his mental resolution, all "cold obstruction" is kept at arm's length: and he delivers himself from week to week or day to day, sometimes, indeed, more than once in the day, of his copious and highly explosive material, with a really marvellous fluency, versatility, ingenuity, energy, and, in fact, with every good quality, except that, the absence of which, unhappily, spoils all the rest, namely, wisdom. And, odd to say, even the word wisdom (saviezza) seems to be almost the only one which in these Speeches does not constantly pass his lips.

Reversing the child's order with his plate at dinner, let us keep to the last that which is the worst, and also the heaviest, part of the task before us: and begin