dentally than spontaneously, and, though scarcely an active partisan of the Royalist cause, becomes the means of doing it an eminent service. This end is not, however, achieved without many hair-breadth escapes, flights, and combats, in the course of which the fugitive adventurer receives several severe wounds and comes within measurable distance of the gallows. The heroine, thrown by her misfortunes on his sole protection, is in scarcely less distressful plight, and, like many of the damosels errant of fiction, is reduced for a time to hide her charms under the disguise of a country bumpkin. Thus attired, she is the hero's staunch comrade in many of his wanderings, though betraying feminine weakness in an occasional swoon, which in real life would have been attended with more embarrassment than it seems to be in the story. It is of course the bounden duty of her companion to bestow his affections on her, but they seem at one point inclined to stray in the direction of a nut-brown maid yclept Joan, who has to be ruthlessly slain to get rid of the ensuing complication. The massacre of any number of his dramatis personæ, however, weighs lightly on "Q.'s" artistic conscience, and the supernumerary pieces on his chess-board are swept away wholesale as soon as their presence interferes with the exigencies of the plot. The narrative style throughout is easy and flowing, suggesting sufficiently that of the time chosen, without undue affectation of antiquarianism.

Lippincott's Monthly Magazine. January, February, March. London: Ward, Lock, & Co.; Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott. 1890.

EACH

NACH number of Lippincott's contains, as its chicf and principal attraction, a complete story. In January it was "Millicent and Rosalind," by Julian Hawthorne; in February, "The Sign of the Four," by A. Conan Doyle; and in March, "Two Soldiers," by Captain Charles King. Mr. Hawthorne's story is a very simple one, about a young woman who had in her the germs of selfishness and luxury, and who nearly threw away an excellent young man, who was everything that could be desired, except that he was just then not so well off as he was sure some day to be. The dialogue is full of that earnest, spiritual, artistic charm with which Mr. Julian Hawthorne always speaks by the mouths of his characters. Perhaps there is too much fuss made about love. It has been the fashion with some novelists-among whom Anthony Trollope is the greatest sinner to represent love as fate, as heaven, as necessity, as revelation, &c. &c.; to make love the young person's only business and last end, which, if she misses, all is lost, and if she secures, all is gained. This is bad teaching for the average young person, who has generally nothing more supernal to look for in her partner than the absence of repulsiveness and a very moderate promise of bread and butter. It ought to be made clear in a novel-if the novel is really moral-that Christian "Love" is grounded on prudence,

justice, fortitude, and temperance; and that physical and even psychical attraction is as often to be dreaded as to be pursued. Mr. Conan Doyle's novelette is a tale of an Indian treasure, and bears traces of books that have already been written-such as "The Moonstone." It contains a wonderful detective, an Andaman islander, and a very good chase on the Thames. The weak point of the story is when the villain, being caught, relates in a style too much like Mr. Doyle's own, how "he came to" get hold of the treasure. As this occurs at the very end, when the Andaman islander has been shot, the box ("of Indian workmanship ") found to be perfectly empty, and the preternatural detective again become more or less comatose, the result is not good art. Captain King's "Two Soldiers" is a fairly written narrative of a year or two in the careers of two officers of the United States army, in which the interest oscillates between New York smart society and frontier-fighting with Indians. The sixty page novelette is a trying form of composition, in which the ambitious writer has to make up his mind between elaborately drawn character and slight but pointed sketching. It is not every storyteller who has the gift of thus making up his mind, and Captain King does not seem to be one. The rest of the contents of this magazine are of the usual character. The illustrations-each story has a fulll-page one-are neither better nor worse than what we are accustomed to from America.

Notices of Catholic Continental Periodicals.

FRENCH PERIODICALS.

Revue des Questions Historiques. Paris, Octobre 1889;
Janvier 1890.

The State of France on the Eve of the Revolution.— Whatever the victors may think, history has reason to be thankful that the royalist party in France, though beaten, has not been exterminated. A cause that has no defenders has no real history. If we had no records but those of the Revolutionists we should see no redeeming features in the old monarchy. The wickedness and folly of king and nobles have been thoroughly brought to light. But is there nothing to be said in their favour? M. Marius Sepet has lately been contributing to this Revue a series of articles on the state of France at the outbreak of the Revolution. He writes in a calm, judicial spirit, readily acknowledging the terrible evils so widespread in 1789, but at the same time pointing to many excellences

which might have been turned to good account for the remedy of the evils. Readers of Burke's "Reflections" will remember the grand Ciceronian sentence in which he describes the state of the country in the reign of Louis XVI. (Works II., p. 402, Bohn's edition). M. Sepet's articles show that Burke's picture is not over-coloured. He maintains that the old system "well deserved to have its excellencies heightened, its faults corrected, and its capacities improved," and that this might have been accomplished without the horrors of Revolution. But as the writer tells us that he proposes to incorporate these articles in a volume, to be entitled "Les Préliminaires de la Révolution," it may be well to defer any criticism of them until the work appears.

An Internal Argument for the Authenticity of the Gospels. The struggle that has so long been raging concerning the authenticity of the Gospels passes through a series of cycles. An argument is discovered which at first seems fatal to the orthodox cause. After a time it is closely examined and found to be at least inconclusive. By and by a further examination shows that it really tells in favour of the Gospels. The rationalists now look out for some fresh argument and the old round begins again. Such has been the history of the famous "internal argument." At first it seemed fatal; next it was shown to prove nothing against us; now it tells strongly in our favour. The Scripture scholar will not be surprised to find that the Abbé Vigouroux, the well-known Sulpician, has been actively engaged in turning this weapon upon those who forged it. He has readily consented to fight on ground chosen by the enemy. Philology is one of the most modern and positive of the sciences. The opponents of the Gospels will admit that it affords an admirable means of testing the time and place of the authorship of the Sacred writings. The powers of the liar and forger can now be shown to be limited. Their speech bewrayeth them. If the Gospels were written in the second century by men living in a Greek environment, their language would undoubtedly show signs of a Greek origin. On the other hand, if the language of the Gospels contains no such traces, but rather gives plain proof of having been written by Jews brought up among Jews, then the philological argument can be turned against rationalism. To go over the whole question in detail would be beyond the scope of an article; M. Vigouroux therefore selects some one branch-the philosophical language of the Gospels. In no respect were Hebrew and Greek so contrasted as in their attitude towards philosophy. The Semitic mind was more imaginative than ratiocinative. It was more concerned with phenomena than with causes. "The Jews ask for signs, the Greeks seek after wisdom" (1 Cor. i. 22). The language of the Old Testament contains few abstract terms and hardly any philosophical expressions. Psychological analysis was especially defective among the Hebrews. They had no proper name for the faculties of the soul; we should look in vain in the original of the Old Testament for terms designating consciousness, perception, reason as a distinct faculty, and even con

science. Now, it is plain that the writers of the New Testament knew no other philosophical and psychological language than that of the Hebrews. The Abbé Vigouroux proves this most convincingly. Even the apparent objections against his view (occurring in St. Luke and St. Paul) are shown to strengthen his argument.

Another remarkable article in the October number is entitled "L'Eglise et les Judaisants à l'age Apostolique," by the Abbé Thomas. It deals with the well-known difficulty of reconciling the two accounts of the dispute concerning the Mosaic Law (Acts xv., Gal. ii.).

Madame de Maintenon and Marie Antoinette almost monopolise the January number. M. Baudrillart, who writes about the former, holds that she was not the leader of any political party, but acted as a trusty intermediary between Louis XIV. and those who were in power in France and Spain. She had, indeed, great influence over the king, but to this she was entitled as his wife, and as a person of rare wisdom. This view of her position is supported by ample citations from contemporary documents.

Did Marie Antoinette receive the last sacraments during her imprisonment in the Conciergerie? If so, did she receive them from the Abbé Charles Magnin, afterwards Curé of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois? M. Victor Pierre answers both these questions in the affirmative. After his careful and exhaustive examination of the evidence, it is difficult to see how there can be any further doubt about the matter. He cites the declaration of the Abbé himself:

"I certify that in the month of October, 1793, I had the happiness of making my way into the Conciergerie with Mademoiselle Fouché, and that I several times heard there Queen Marie Antoinette's Confession, said Mass for her, and gave her Holy Communion."

This is plain enough. But, on the other hand, there is the testimony of M. Lafont d'Ausonne, who has written to show that no priest could possibly have gained entrance into the prison. This evidence is, however, merely negative. Besides, if the good faith of the two opposing writers be compared, there can be no hesitation in siding with Magnin, a priest of well-known probity, rather than with Lafont, who was an apostate. Marie Antoinette's last letter to her sister-in-law, Madame Elizabeth, seems at first sight to be in conflict with Magnin's testimony, but M. Pierre has no difficulty in harmonising the two accounts. Quite apart from the interest in the question at issue, his essay is worthy of perusal as an example of painstaking and unprejudiced criticism.

M. Paul Allard still continues his valuable studies in the history of the great persecutions.

L'Université Catholique. Nouvelle Série. Lyon. Octobre, Novembre, Decembre (1889). Février, Janvier (1890).

Chronology of St. Luke's Gospel.-In the October number we have a most interesting article entitled "Synchronismes Histo

riques de l'Evangile de St. Luc," continued from the September number by M. Vigouroux. The learned writer shows, from monumental inscriptions, that both Strauss and Reuss were in error, and St. Luke was right regarding the time of the proconsulship of Quirinius in Syria. They had maintained that Quirinius was not consul of Syria at the time of Herod, as St. Luke asserts. M. Vigouroux shows that Quirinius was consul of Syria twice, once in the time of Herod, and again six years later, and thus St. Luke was guilty neither of an error nor of an anachronism. Again, St. Luke, in order to mark the mission of St. John the Baptist, and the beginning of the public life of our Lord, tells us that at this time "Lysanias was Tetrarch of Abilina" (St. Luke iii. 1). Referring to this Strauss has dared to write: "Luke makes a Lysanias, who had certainly been killed thirty years before the birth of Christ, reign thirty years after that birth; this is a small error of sixty years ("New Life of Christ," vol. ii. pp. 20,21). M.Vigouroux shows us that the infidel's sneer arises from his ignorance, and that he confounds two persons of the name of Lysanias. St. Luke is, after all, more correct than his critic.

St. Ennodius and the Papal Supremacy in the Sixth Century. This interesting paper is a study on St. Ennodius's "Libellus Apologeticus pro Synodo," a work written by the saint in favour of the Fourth Council held at Rome under Pope Symmachus. From this "study" it comes out clearly that the absolute supremacy of the Roman Pontiff was held on the grounds of tradition, and was Jaw in the whole of the West at the beginning of the sixth century. Of all St. Ennodius's works, his "Apology," on account of the circumstances under which it was written, the doctrine which he so clearly teaches on the Papal supremacy, and the light which is thrown on the history of the period, is by far the most interesting.

Victor Hugo, the Epic Poet.-This is a charming paper, in the November number, by M. Vaudon. Those who only know the Victor Hugo of his latter days, do not know Victor Hugo in his true grandeur, and such as he will be remembered among men of genius. He was once Christian, and sublime. When we read passages of true splendour from the "Légende des Siècles" we are startled by the genius of the man, and we can understand M. Vaudon's enthusiasm. Mr. Swinburne's rhapsodies on Victor Hugo only repel and create disgust in us. The man himself in his early and grandest works amazes and fascinates us.

There are other articles of interest in November; for example, "Le Centenaire de 1789," the continuation of "S. Ennodius et la Suprématie Pontificale au VI, Siècle," and "Le Clergé et la Question Sociale," by the Abbé Boudignon; and in the December number, "Vie et Pontificat de S. S. Léon XIII.," by Mgr. Hugues de Ragnan.

"Clovis et les Origines Politiques de la France," by Lecoy de la Marche; "Les Banqueroutes de l'Ancien Régime," and others.

Saint Avitus.—The January number opens with "Introduction