Church, whether under Gregory the Great or Pius the Ninth; to the crosier of the bishop, as well as to the tiara of the pontiff; to the hierarchy as well as to the court; to the doctrines, no less than the corruptions, of this assumed Catholicism.

We go all the length of Father Gavazzi in his denunciations of the abuses which call forth his withering invective; but we look for something more calmly scriptural, more vitally evangelical in the labours by which Catholicity is to be regenerated in Italy, and entitled to the fellowship of British Christians.

The third Italian in our series differs widely from both the other two. Dr. Achilli has been brought much before the British public. His imprisonment at Rome-his deliverance by the French authorities at the instance of Lord Normanby, and in compliance with the representations of the Evangelical Alliance-the attack of the Dublin Review-the partial refutation of the charges contained in that publication by Mr. Tonna-the subsequent discussions between Dr. Achilli's English friends and the committee of the Malta College-and the promised answer of Dr. Achilli to the accusations of his enemies-all this would require a degree of attention which we cannot here bestow, though we have no motive for hesitating to give our judgment when the entire case is ripe for examination. At present our business is with this book, and we shall deal with it as the testimony of a true and upright witness. Gavazzi speaks of him as a persecuted and ill-used man.' We hope he will be able thoroughly to clear himself from the filthy aspersions of the Dublin Review. Whether his abettors in England are perfectly correct in their estimate of his proceedings in connexion with the Malta College or not, we have not learned that even those who differ from them in that matter have expressed any doubts of his fidelity in the writing of the book before us.

Though not mixed up with the secular politics, Dr. Achilli availed himself of the political aspirations of his countrymen, in which he warmly sympathized, to press his own convictions of the Papal corruptions in religion, and diligently employed his time in circulating the Scriptures and religious tracts, privately appealing to the consciences of the patriots, and holding meetings in Rome during the excitement of the revolution. For this work, and not for any political movement, he was thrown into the prison of the Inquisition. To justify the outrage, imputations against his moral character, amounting to a charge of murder in former years, were alleged. To these calumnious charges, answers were obtained and given by his friends before his dismission from the Castle of St. Angelo. An account of his imprisonment and deliverance was set forth by Sir Culling E. Eardley in London last year, and a brief sketch of his life was

published in Dublin. On these publications, a writer in the Dublin Review (currently believed to be Dr. Wiseman), drew up a' Brief Sketch of the Life of Dr. Giacinto Achilli,' which was reprinted, with additions and corrections. Of the transactions with the Inquisition in 1849, all the writer of that Review says is, The history of his imprisonment, and his escape by connivance of the French authorities, belong not to this place.' The open design of the writer was to blast the moral character of the rescued victim of the Inquisition. It bears, on the face of it, the impress of a systematic and deliberate tissue of falsehoods, and breathes throughout the cold sneering spirit with which the slaves of the Papacy have ever stabbed the reputations of men who have renounced its authority, and exposed its villanies. To a portion of this detestable pamphlet, two replies have been published by Dr. Achilli's friend, Mr. Tonna; and we are now awaiting a full answer from Dr. Achilli himself, which we understand he is preparing for the press.

The volume now before us, Dealings with the Inquisition,' is a miscellaneous collection of narratives, conversations, and letters, which will be read with deep interest by all who are concerned to become acquainted with the workings of that accursed institution in the nineteenth century. The personality of the whole, which is not exactly to our own taste, gives it an air of truthfulness which commends the sincerity of the author, even to those who might doubt his prudence, or be offended by his egotism. Perhaps it should be said, in justice to him, that the position in which he has been placed is peculiar, and the eclat which attended his appearance in England after his escape may go far to account for the blemishes of the volume, without imputing more than the ordinary vanity of men who have been forced into situations and paraded as confessors for the truth.

It is no small consolation for us to know that, with whatever imperfections mingled, there is a large body of thoughtful and earnest men in Italy, especially in Rome, who sympathize in their hearts with those exiles. The tragedy of freedom, in that classic land, has surely not yet come to an end. The ashes of the conflagration are not cold, but smouldering; and we must express the hope that, under happier auspices and in better days, not far distant, they will be re-kindled to a hotter flame, in which all the abominations of the Papacy, of every kind, will be finally consumed.

With these Italian views of the Papacy, let us now, briefly, compare those of other nations, and, most emphatically, our own.

Dr. Merle d'Aubigné is almost naturalized among us as a writer, and enjoys a wide and well-deserved popularity. He has

received the rights of literary citizenship. While in France, not more than four thousand copies of his History of the Reformation' were in circulation; when he published the fourth volume, nearly two hundred thousand copies were sold in the English language. We shall be glad to find that the demand for that work increases; for we know of few books so thoroughly imbued with the evangelical spirit of the Reformation, or so likely, by the graphic force and beauty of the story, to fill the reader's mind with enlightened abhorrence of the superstition which darkens the whole hemisphere of human life. These Discourses' on the Testimony of God-The Testimony of Men-The Testimony of History-and the Testimony of Theology, were occasioned by the propounding of some peculiar views of the Inspiration of the Scriptures by M. Sherer, lately one of the professors in the Theological Institute at Geneva, of which Dr. Merle is the president. They are published in this country, with a preface designed to show that the authority of the Scriptures' is the one barrier against both the Roman and the German invasions with which England is now threatened -the hierarchism of the former and the infidelity of the latter. They are very able discourses, and cannot be read without much advantage. The Introduction contains some wholesome lessons for the English bishops,' and some lessons, equally wholesome (and likely to be better received, we apprehend), for us all. We recommend the volume to our readers as pregnant with serious truths and seasonable suggestions.

6

Mr. Muscutt's History of Church Laws in England,' is a work to which we should have been glad to devote more space than we can now command. It consists of five chapters, and embraces the early history of Christianity in Britain, and the various kinds of Church Law, arranged chronologically, and divided into three classes, as they relate to things civil, things spiritual, and to things partly civil and partly spiritual. The writer has made ample use of Johnson's 'Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws,' Keble's compilation of the Statutes, and the collection published by the Commissioners of Public Records. We do not profess to have compared this volume with the authorities. from which it is drawn; nor have we sufficient legal lore to judge whether the construction put on canons, statutes, and usages, is in every instance the right one. Its chief value, as it appears to us, lies in the distinctness with which the several laws are placed before the reader in the exhibition of the gradual, but provokingly slow development of sound principles in a country growing up towards perfect freedom; in the facilities. which it offers for the prosecution of more minute inquiry; and— as pertinent to our present subject-in the records of the supremacy of the English monarchy, and the denunciation of the Pope's

usurpations in statutes of this realm from the reign of Edward the First, and by prescription from time immemorial, of which prescription Sir Edward Coke has said, it doth prevail against express canon.' We offer Mr. Muscutt our thanks for this welltimed publication, and heartily concur in the free and noble sentiments with which he has relieved the dryness inseparable from his undertaking. The reader will be edified in seeing what a questionable blessing, to use gentle words, the whole system of ecclesiastical laws has been, and continues to be; and while he will be slow to admit the encroachments of the ancient enemy at Rome, he will not be less slow in helping forward the good work of destroying all that yet remains of the spirit of that enemy among ourselves.

Nothing has struck us more vividly, and, we may add, more pleasingly, than the diversity of aspects in which the Papacy is regarded, by the writers whose productions are named at the head of this article, and the diversity of talent elicited in dealing with it. Mr. Sheridan Knowles's volume, as might be expected from his former success in other walks of literature and art, is a tremendous cutting up of Cardinal Wiseman's 'Lectures on Transubstantiation.' He convicts the Council of Trent of complicated falsehood; tears to rags the sophistries, misinterpretations, incoherencies, fictitious distinctions, casuistries, suppressions, and crafty subterfuges, of the reverend lecturer; and marches through the whole question with an energy that never rests. We should have liked the book better if it had been divided into chapters; three hundred and eight pages are rather too much to read off at a breath. We think, further, that the uniform tension of the style is a disadvantage. Perhaps less of the triumphant tone which sounds in the title page, and rings through the whole letter, would be more suitable to readers who are open to conviction, or who desire to have the grounds of convictions already held explained to them so as to guard them from the subtleties of Roman teachers. We have, however, no wish to disparage a work of so much intellectual power; and we are thankful to see so bright and fervid a spirit consecrated to the high service of religious truth.

Mr. Davis's Six Lectures on the Temper and Teachings of Rome' present a wise selection of topics, skilfully arranged, and discussed with much ability and great Christian temper. Among the inquiring men of our working-classes we hope it will have many readers. They will find much food for thought in it. While we say this, let none of our readers imagine that it is low praise. We intend it for the contrary. The author will understand us in that sense.-Mr. Milne's contrast of Romanism with Congregationalism is admirable.-Mr. Collette's Letters to

Lord Fielding appeared, partly, in the Historic Times.' They take up, very closely, all the points disputed between Romanists and Protestants, with special reference to the supposed claim of infallibility, and deserve to be read by as many as desire to see these topics handled briefly and in a popular strain.

We have some difficulty in characterising Mr. Ruskin's remarkable pamphlet, with its strange title. It will be read, we doubt not, with much attention by not a few; and it deserves it. We admire the boldness and freedom; we agree with a large portion of its statements and explanations; from others we have only to express our dissent; yet we prize it highly as displaying the independent action of a powerful, ingenuous, and cultivated mind in the handling of questions which too many Protestants agree with all Roman Catholics in considering as settled long ago by competent authorities. There is a vitality-a spontaneity in the thoughts, and there is a brilliant freshness in the language, which we cherish as quite a treat in these days of dogmatism and stereotyped profession. He is neither a Romanist nor a Puseyite, nor a Low Churchman, nor a Dissenter; though he will find more sympathy in the latter class than in any of the rest.

Mr. Kidd's tract on The Idolatry of the Church of Rome' is a powerful argumentum ad hominen, and merits serious perusal for its lofty and indignant scorn of the blasphemous pretensions put forth by that apostate body.

The Bishop's Wife' is a thrilling and romantic German tale, which, though violating the proprieties of history, works powerfully on the household feelings against the compulsory celibacy of the Roman clergy.

The Female Jesuit' is a marvellous story of a hoax played on the family of a Dissenting minister in London, by a clever French girl. We believe the narrative to be authentic. It is well written, and will fill the reader with strange thoughts; yet we are not sure that the writer will convince him of the soundness of the conclusion which is assumed in the title.

We have now made good, we think, our assertion of the varied aspects of the Papacy, and of the varied kinds of ability, which are exhibited by these numerous publications. We have grouped them together, not for convenience merely, but on a principle; and the principle is this:-we have wished to show at one glance the several modes of treating that question, which is to the Italians a question of national life, and to the English a question of holding fast, or giving up, the spiritual freedom, and the political independence for which our forefathers have been fighting for a thousand years. We stand by Protestantism, at all hazards. To us it is the safeguard of all our liberties, the symbol of all our rights, the seed-plot of all the noble thoughts