also, were then given to each priest, together with the embroidered towel.

After this, in another hall, his holiness waited on the same thirteen priests at their repast.

In the evening of this day, Geraldine was taken by her father to see the blazing cross of fire suspended within the dome of St. Peter's. The whole of the immense fabric was thronged with people, of every age, clime, and condition, gazing on that glorious object, and the pontiff and all the cardinals now descended from the Sistine chapel, where they had been attending the service of Tenebræ, room having been kept for them by the Swiss guards. Silence, holy silence, reigned throughout the whole church, even the whispering and tittering of the English Protestant ladies ceased for a short time, while the pontiff and all around him lay prostrate before the symbol of Redemption. But at the exposition of the sacred relicks which soon after took place, General Carrington, being tormented by the unbecoming behaviour of the English groups near him, drew Geraldine away, and they drove immediately to the church of Sant' Antonio de' Portoghesi, to visit the blessed sacrament there deposited; and as this visit was unexpected to our heroine, and made, as she supposed, by her father from simple devotion, the effect was still more impressive, of the resplendent repository of the sacred Host, which poured forth a flood of light, reflected on all sides of that small but exquisitely beautiful church. General Carrington and his daughter joined the prostrate congregation in silent prayer, till, touching her on the arm to arise and look around her, he led her in a short time back to the carriage, where he told her that, if she wished it, he would take her that evening to a sacred concert, held at the house of an Italian lady, where she would hear the "Miserere" to perhaps even greater advantage than in the Sistine

chapel, as there would be an instrumental accompaniment of the finest harmony.

"How richly must I be feasting," said Geraldine, "to feel no wish for this sacred concert, which would once have been, indeed, a treat. I shall, however, be happy to be with you, dearest father, if you are going."

"No," said the General, "I have no inclination for this concert but for your sake; I will, therefore, order them to take us home, and you shall go early

to rest."

On their return to the palazzo, and before Geraldine had retired, the Abate called, scarcely expecting to see them, as he concluded they had gone to the sacred concert. He was much pleased to find that Geraldine had visited the sepulchre in the church of St. Antonio, as he gave it the preference, but was a little disappointed to find her so unusually silent. "Is the Signora disappointed?" said he.

"I am only disappointed, or rather perplexed," replied she," at the anticipation of time, which disturbs my devotion, and must continue to do so: for instance, Signor Abate, you and every one term the place in which the blessed sacrament is deposited the sepulchre,' and I understand that the figure of our blessed Lord is often represented lying in the tomb to which the sacred Host is carried on this Maundy Thursday. Why do you represent the burial of our Saviour before his death? Why is not Holy Saturday the day appointed for guarding the sepulchre ?"

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After the mass of Maundy Thursday," replied the Abate," the blessed sacrament is carried from the altar, which is stripped of all its ornaments, to represent the desolation of the Church, at the loss of her divine spouse, for it was on the night of Maundy Thursday, that our Lord was betrayed and taken. The faithful have been in the constant habit of

following their hidden Lord to the depository in which the blessed sacrament is placed, to pay their homage; and this custom has fallen in so naturally with the idea of his lying hidden in the sepulchre, that by degrees that name has been given to the receptacle, and the two pious acts have become blended."

CHAPTER VI.

Is it not strange the darkest hour,
T'hat ever dawned on sinful earth,
Should touch the heart with softer power
For comfort than an angel's mirth?

That to the cross the mourner's eye should turn
Sooner than where the stars of Christmas burn?

Yet so it is, for duly there

The bitter herbs of earth are set;
Till, tempered by the Saviour's prayer,
And with the Saviour's life-blood wet,
They turn to sweetness, and drop holy balm,
Soft as imprisoned martyr's death-bed calm.

HYMNS FOR GOOD FRIDAY-KEBLE.

NOTHING could surpass the look of grief and desolation in the papal chapel, on the morning of Good Friday. The altar was stripped, the sanctuary without a carpet, the benches and the throne uncovered, the vestments of the pontiff, cardinals, and subordinate priests, were of mourning hue; and on their entrance they lay prostrate in silent prayer before the altar, on which a simple cloth was spread, while the lesson was chanted from the prophet Hosea: "Thus saith the Lord, In their affliction they will rise early to me. Come and let us return to the Lord, for he hath taken us, and he will heal us, he will strike and he will cure us. He will revive after two days. On the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know and shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light,

and he will come to us, as the early and the latter rain to the earth. What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim! What shall I do to thee, O Judah! your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away in the morning. For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets. I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and thy judgments shall go forth as the light, for I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than holocausts" The lesson read for the epistle, was from Exodus, relating to the institution of the passover, which prefigured the death of the Redeemer ; and after the tract, followed the gospel of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to St. John; after which, on this commemoration of the great day of expiation for the sins of all mankind, followed prayers "for the whole Church, for the holy pontiff, as its visible head, for all bishops, priests, deacons, and degrees of the clergy, for confessors, virgins, widows, and all other congregated portions of the faithful, for temporal sovereigns, for catechumens; also to beseech the removal of error, of disease and famine, for the liberation of captives, the safe return of travellers by sea or land, for the grace of conversion and mercy for all heretics and schismatics, for the Jews and Pagans;" from which beautiful collects, Geraldine perceived had been formed the "general prayer" in the Church of England liturgy, for all sorts and conditions of men. At the conclusion of these prayers, the officiating priest, who on this occasion was the cardinal grand-penitentiary putting off his chasuble, partially uncovered the crucifix, beginning the anthem "Ecce lignum crucis," Behold the wood of the cross! on which hung the Saviour of the world: the choir responding, "Come let us adore!" This was repeated three times, as the celebrant disclosed by degrees the VOL. III.-7