NEW PUBLICATIONS.
An American Political Economy; including Strictures on the Management of the Finances since 1861. With a chart showing the fluctuations in the price of gold. By Francis Bowen, Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil Polity in Harvard College. New York: Scribner & Co. 1870. 16mo, pp. 495.
We took up this book with an old prejudice against the author of some thirty years standing, as well as with an inveterate dislike to almost all works on political economy, which it has ever been our misfortune to read; but we have been pleased and instructed by it. Professor Bowen is not a philosopher; has not, properly speaking, a scientific mind; but he has great practical good sense, and a wide, and we should say a thorough, acquaintance with the facts of his subject, and the ability to set them forth in a clear and strong light. He is no system-monger, is wedded to no system of his own, and aims to look at facts as they are. It is a great merit of his book that it recognizes that each country should have its own political economy growing out of and adapted to its peculiar wants and circumstances. Free-trade or protection may be for the interest of one country and not for another, and no universal rule as to either can be laid down.
The author, a follower of John Locke in philosophy, is of course not good at definitions, and his definition of wealth is rather clumsy, but he contrives as he proceeds to tell us what it is. All wealth is the product of labor, and a man is wealthy just in proportion to his ability to purchase or command the labor of others. Hence the absurdity of those theorists who demand an equal division of property or an equality of wealth, as well as of the legislation that seeks to ameliorate the condition of the poor by making them rich, or furnishing them with facilities for becoming rich. If all were wealthy, all would be poor; for then no one would sell his labor; and if no one would sell his labor, no one could buy labor, and then every man would be reduced to the necessity of doing every thing for himself. All men have equal natural rights as men, and this is all the equality that is practicable or desirable.
The reader will find the professor has treated the question of banks with rare lucidity, as also that of paper money, and even money itself. But the portion of his work that most interests us is his strictures on the management of our national finances since 1861, and especially Mr. Secretary Chase's pet scheme of national banks. According to his showing, it would exceed the wit of man to invent and follow a more ruinous financial policy than that pursued by the national administration since the inauguration of the late Mr. Lincoln as President. He shows that the Northern States could have met and actually did pay enough during the civil war to meet all the expenses of the war without contracting a cent of debt, and consequently the two or three thousand millions of dollars' debt actually contracted was solely due to our national financiers. There never was any need of resorting to any thing more than temporary national loans if the government had had in the beginning the wisdom or the courage, or indeed the confidence in the people, to adopt the scale of taxation subsequently adopted. There never was any need of compelling the banks to suspend specie payments, or for it to issue legal-tender notes, but what was created by its own blunders. The people could have paid as they went for the war, and been richer at its close than at its beginning.
As if creating paper money for all purposes except customs dues, demeritizing gold and silver, depreciating the currency, and enormously inflating the prices of all commodities, was not enough, it must needs create the national banks, and make them a free gift of $300,000,000 of circulation, and that without the least relief to the government, but to its great embarrassment, still more inflating the currency, and running up gold to a premium of 285. Even since the war it continues its blunders, and does all in its power to increase the burdens of the people. It seems from the first to have proceeded on the principle of securing the support of the people by enabling individuals to amass huge fortunes at the public expense. Why, if it must have national banks, need it make them banks of circulation? Why not compel them to bank on its own legal tenders instead of their own notes, and thus save to itself the profits on $300,000,000 of circulation? It would have run no risk it does not now run; for the treasury is responsible for the redemption of the notes of the national banks, and the security it holds from them would be perfectly illusory in any monetary crisis. But we have no room to proceed. We, however, recommend this part of the work to the serious consideration of our national financiers. There are in political economy deeper problems than Professor Bowen has grasped; but upon the whole, he has given us the most sensible work on the subject that we are acquainted with.
The Day Sanctified. Being Meditations and Spiritual Readings for daily use. London: Burns, Oates & Co. 1870. Pp. 318. For sale by the Catholic Publication Society, 9 Warren Street, New York.
This volume consists of a series of meditations drawn from the Holy Scripture and modern spiritual writers. It is not, however, a book containing meditations for the entire year, as one would be led to imagine from its title. The number of meditations is only ninety. So it is supposed—and the plan is a good one—that the subjects will be selected according to each one's devotion. A word may very fitly be said in praise of the composition of these spiritual readings. They appear to be really addressed to the reader. Moreover, they contain no foolish exaggerations. These two merits are not unfrequently wanting in books of meditations. The present volume relates to the duties and doctrines of our holy faith. Another series is promised, which will contain suitable meditations for the ecclesiastical year, and the feasts of the Blessed Virgin and the saints.
Cæsar's Commentaries on the Gallic War. With Notes, Dictionary, and Map. By Albert Harkness, LL.D., Professor in Brown University. New York: D. Appleton & Co.
This edition of Cæsar's Commentaries is altogether the best we remember to have seen. Besides the advantage of a copious and accurate dictionary, the notes are ample without being extravagant. There is an introductory sketch of the great Roman's life, which is interesting, and the map of Gaul is excellent.
Reflections and Prayers for Holy Communion. London: Burns, Oates & Co. 1869. Pp. 498. New York: For sale by the Catholic Publication Society, 9 Warren Street.
When Archbishop Manning says that "this volume is a valuable addition to our books of devotion," it needs no further recommendation. But, in addition to his opinion, it comes to us sanctioned by the approbation of the Archbishop of Lyons, and the Bishops of Aix, Nancy, and Redez. Still, we will not forbear to give it our mite of praise. The book abounds in beautiful methods of learning to love Jesus in his sacrament of love. Yet the meditations are not merely beautiful, they are also very practical. In our reading, we have never met so touching and so useful a thanksgiving, after communion, as the exercise which, in this volume, is called "The Hem of our Lord's Garment." If good use is made of the suggestions and reflections in these pages, they will certainly accomplish their author's intention of "gently drawing the soul entirely to our Lord."
A Treatise on the Christian Doctrine of Marriage. By Hugh Davey Evans, LL.D. With a Biographical Sketch of the Author, etc. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1870.
Dr. Evans was a friend of ours in days long gone by, and we used frequently to contribute articles to the magazine which he edited, one of which, entitled "Dissent and Semi-Dissent," has been incorrectly attributed to him by his biographer. We have always cherished a sentiment of respect for the quaint and learned old gentleman, whose portrait has been drawn in the brief biographical sketch prefixed to this volume with singular fidelity and accuracy. Dr. Evans was a regular old-fashioned High-Churchman, after the model of Hooker and Wilson, and consequently imbued with many soundly Catholic principles and sentiments, mixed up with many other incongruous English and Protestant prejudices. In the work before us, he has with masterly learning and ability defended the Christian doctrine of marriage in a manner which is in the greater number of essential respects sound and satisfactory. Unfortunately, having only his own individual judgment as his tribunal of last resort in defining Catholic doctrine, instead of councils and popes, he has sanctioned one most fatal error, the lawfulness of divorces a vinculo, and subsequent remarriage, in the case of adultery on the part of the wife. We are glad to see that his editor dissents from him in this respect, and has republished the admirable little treatise of Bishop Andrews sustaining the opposite side of the question. It is a wonder that any person can fail to see how utterly worthless is any pretended church authority which leaves such an essential matter as this open to dispute. We are glad to see works circulated among Protestants which advocate any sound principles on this subject, even though they are incomplete. They have much more influence than the works of Catholic authors; they form a "serviceable breakwater" to the inflowing tide of corruption, and prepare the way for the eventual triumph of the Catholic doctrine and law, which alone can save society from dissolution. The Atlantic Monthly, which is the favorite magazine of a very large class of the most highly cultivated minds in New England and in other portions of the United States, has descended to the lowest level of the free-love doctrine, and thus fixed on itself the seal of that condemnation which it has been earning for a long time past, as the most dangerous and corrupting of all our literary periodicals. We hope that it will be banished hereafter from every Catholic family, and receive no more commendatory notices from the Catholic press. We are glad to see the strong and manly refutation of its immoral nonsense given by The Nation, although its argument fails of the sanction which is alone sufficient to compel assent, and efficiently control legislation and public opinion in a matter where so severe a curb is placed on passion and liberty to follow the individual will. We are happy to welcome such sensible and valuable aid to the cause of social morality as that given by The Nation, but we must disown entirely another champion of monogamy, to wit, the Methodist preacher, Dr. Newman, as more dangerous than an open antagonist. We see that this conspicuous declaimer intends to maintain in a public discussion, to be held in the Mormon temple, the irreligious and scandalous thesis that the holy patriarchs of the old law who practised polygamy were adulterers and sinners against the divine law. This is quite consistent with Luther's immoral doctrine that men totally depraved and steeped in deadly sin can be friends of God through a legal fiction of imputed righteousness; but it is equally shocking to piety and common sense, and as completely subversive of Christianity as the superstitious imposture of Joe Smith. We predict an easy victory of Brigham Young over Dr. Newman. Dr. Evans, as corrected by his editor and Bishop Andrews, advocates the sound Christian doctrine of marriage, and the circulation of his work must therefore have a most beneficial influence.
Criminal Abortion; its Extent and Prevention. Read before the Philadelphia County Medical Society, February 9th, 1870, by the retiring President, Andrew Nebinger, M.D. Published by order of the Society. Philadelphia: Collins. 1870.
This exhaustive essay, read before the Philadelphia County Medical Society, by its able president, Dr. Nebinger, will, we trust, have a great influence toward remedying the present loose domestic morals of our country. We suppose the exposé here made had much weight with the Pennsylvania Legislature, which has recently passed a bill making it a penal offence for any one to advertise the vile nostrums which are now exposed for sale in our drug-stores with such unblushing effrontery.
Recent statistics, published by Dr. Storer and others, prove the fearful prevalence of the crime of fœticide among the native population; and the next census will no doubt show an absolute decrease of that class in the New England States. We hope when thus placed officially before the eyes of the Protestant clergy, they will awaken to the necessity of at least informing their congregations of the enormity of this sin; so that the plea of ignorance, now urged to extenuate their guilt, can no longer be used.
Physiology has definitely settled that vitality begins from the moment of conception. Theology pronounces the destruction of human life to be murder, and consequently the Catholic Church impresses in every possible way upon her children the fearful retribution that will be visited upon those who in any way tamper with the helpless unborn. We commend the paper to the careful perusal of our medical readers.
Conferences of the Rev. Pere Lacordaire. Delivered in the Cathedral of Nôtre Dame, in Paris. Translated from the French by Henry Langdon. New York: P. O'Shea, 27 Barclay street. 1870.
Mr. O'Shea deserves our thanks and those of the entire body of educated Catholics in the United States for his republication of this great work. F. Lacordaire was a genius, a great writer and a great orator; one of those shining and burning minds that enlighten and enkindle thousands of other minds during and after their earthly course. In the graces of writing and eloquence, he far surpassed that other popular preacher at Nôtre Dame who has proved to be but an ignis fatuus. In originality of thought, intellectual gifts, and sound learning, he was eminent among his compeers. Better than all, he was a holy man, a true monk, an imitator of the severe penance of the saints, and a devoted, obedient son of the Holy Roman Church.
His conferences are well adapted both to instruct the minds and to charm the imaginations of those who desire to find the solid substance of sound doctrine under the most graceful, brilliant, and attractive form. We recommend them especially to young men, and hope they will have a wide circulation.
The translation, however, we regret to say, though expressing the ideas of the author, is very defective in a literary point of view.
A Noble Lady. By Mrs. Augustus Craven. Translated, at the author's request, by Emily Bowles. London: Burns, Oates & Co. 1869. Pp. 148. For sale by the Catholic Publication Society, 9 Warren Street, New York.
Both the author and translator of this volume are favorably known to our readers. Their reputation will be much increased by this pleasing biography. Our "Noble Lady" is Adelaide Capece Minutolo, an Italian of rank. Accomplished, refined, and devout, she is a perfect picture of the Christian lady. Her life presents nothing extraordinary. She did not become a nun. She never married. Yet she was very beautiful, and could have married suitably to her station. She preferred the love and companionship of a younger sister to the uncertainty of marriage and the keener joys and splendors of the world. Early in life these sisters mutually resolved to seek nothing further than to live together; nor did either ever feel a regret, or doubt the wisdom of their choice, till, at the end of eight and twenty years, death dissolved their union. It is only in Italy that religion, art, and literary pursuits have met together, inspired, as it were, by the most glorious scenery, and where man's soul and heart, the understanding and the eye, are completely satisfied. Perhaps it is only the daughters of Italy who unite great simplicity, wonderful sweetness, and charming tenderness to heroic courage and capacity for such studies as usually are interesting only to men. Such was the character of the Noble Lady. No person of refinement can read this book, without repeating the touching exclamation of a poor Neapolitan woman, who, while she was praying by her coffin, was heard to exclaim, "Go, then, go to thy home, thou beautiful bit of Paradise!"
Pilgrimages in the Pyrenees and Landes. By Denys Shyne Lawlor, Esq. London: Longmans, Green & Co. 1870.
It is indeed seldom than one will meet with a more charming and interesting book than this. It contains accounts of visits made by the author to various sanctuaries of the Blessed Virgin in that favored region in the south of France which she seems to love so much; the most recent proof of this being her apparition at the Grotto of Lourdes, to the description of which a considerable part of the work is devoted. The account is hardly if at all inferior, except in its necessary brevity, to that of M. Henri Lasserre on the same subject, and contains some additional events which have recently occurred, such as the cure of the celebrated Father Hermann. Besides the description and history of the sanctuaries, the lives of several of the saints which this region has produced are given, and an account of their shrines; among these is one of St. Vincent of Paul. The book would be well worth reading for the pictures which are given of the magnificent scenery of the Pyrenean valleys; and its appearance and type are so beautiful that they would make even indifferent matter attractive.
Felter's Arithmetics—Natural Series: First Lessons in Numbers; Primary Arithmetic; Intellectual Arithmetic; Intermediate Arithmetic; Grammar-School Arithmetic. By S. A. Felter, A.M. New York: Charles Scribner & Co.
A sketch of the science of numbers through its various progressive stages to its present almost perfect development would be of much interest, but our limited space forbids us entering upon it. Of the many series now before the public, much can be said by way of commendation; we think, however, that Felter's, while in nowise inferior to the best, has some peculiar features which give it a decided superiority. Of these may be mentioned the very large number of examples given under each rule, and the test questions for examination which are found at the close of each section. These cannot fail to secure to the pupil a thorough understanding of his subject before he leaves it. We also note with pleasure the entire absence of answers from the text-books intended for use by the pupils. A high-school arithmetic now in course of preparation will soon be added to the series, and will then form a curriculum of arithmetical instruction at once gradually progressive, and hence simple, thoroughly practical, and complete. The author has evidently a full knowledge of the needs of both pupil and teacher, and has admirably succeeded in supplying their respective deficiencies.
The Life of St. Stanislas Kostka. Edited by Edward Healy Thompson. Philadelphia: P. F. Cunningham. 1870.
Mr. Thompson's lives of various saints are well written, both as regards their completeness and accuracy of detail and their literary style. This is much the best life of the lovely, angelic patron of novices we have ever read. Is it necessary to inform any Catholic reader of the exquisite beauty of the character and life of this noble Polish youth? We hope not. This volume presents a life-like portrait of it, which must rekindle the devotion already so widely-spread and fervent toward one who seems like a reproduction of the type of youthful sanctity which would have been seen in the sons of Adam, if their father had never sinned. Every father and mother ought to make it a point to have this book read by their children, that they may fall in love with virtue and piety, embodied in the winning, lovely form of Stanislas Kostka.
Album of the Fourteen Stations of the Cross in St. Francis Xavier's Church. New York: P. O'Shea, 27 Barclay street.
These photographs of the stations are very well executed. They are gotten up, as we imagine, for private chapels and oratories. Indeed, they would be suitable for any room which is set apart for quiet reading or devout exercises. These pictures are somewhat larger than a carte-de-visite, and they are printed in such a way that they may be readily hung upon the wall.
Fasciculus Rerum, etc. Auctore Henricus Formby. Londini: Burns, Oates, Socii Bibliopolæ.
This is an ably-written pamphlet, containing what appears to us a singularly happy and valuable suggestion. The author's intention is concisely expressed on his title-page, namely, that "the best arts of our modern civilization" be called into the service of God for once, (as they are daily done into that of Satan,) to furnish a "life of our Lord Jesus Christ" for all the nations of Christendom, a work which shall be for three chief ends: "first, as a symbol of the true unity of all peoples in the church; secondly, as a beautiful memorial of the Œcumenical Council of the Vatican; and thirdly, as a very sweet solace and ornament for the daily life of all Christians."
The arts in question are typography, engraving, and photography; the last to be used for furnishing views of the various spots and regions throughout Palestine hallowed by the steps of Jesus Christ; and this would necessitate a committee of competent men being sent to explore the Holy Land.
The expense of the entire undertaking is to be defrayed by public subscription and the patronage of the rich, and, of course, it is for the holy father to inaugurate and supervise the matter. Wherefore the author humbly submits his pamphlet to the consideration of the holy see and the council.
For ourselves, we repeat our belief that such a work as this projected life of Christ would indeed be an inestimable boon to Christendom. Father Formby's hopes appear to us not at all too sanguine; and he has our cordial wish that the holy see may be pleased to take up the work he so ably advocates.
Mr. P. O'Shea, New York, has in press the following books: Attributes of Christ, by Father Gasparini; Lacordaire's Conferences on Jesus Christ; The Malediction, a tale, by Madame A. K. De La Grange.
BOOKS RECEIVED.
Messrs. J. Murphy & Co., Baltimore: The Paradise of the Earth. 18mo, pp. 528. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. By Rev. S. Franco, S.J. Pp. 305.
P. F. Cunningham, Philadelphia: Hetty Homer. By Fannie Warner. Pp. 142. The Beverly Family. By Joseph R. Chandler. Pp. 166. Beech Bluff. By Fannie Warner. 12mo, pp. 332.
P. O'Shea, New York: Knowledge and Love of Jesus Christ. Vol. iii. pp. 632.
Kelly, Piet & Co., Baltimore: History of the Foundation of the Order of the Visitation; and the Lives of Mlle. de la Fayette and several other members of the Order. 12mo, pp. 271.
THE CATHOLIC WORLD.
VOL. XI., No. 65.—AUGUST, 1870.
MR. FROUDE'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.[177]
SECOND ARTICLE.
In our first article[178] we referred in general terms to the fact that Mr. Froude had plunged into a great historical subject without the requisite knowledge or the necessary preparation. This judgment was presumed to be so well established by the concurrent testimony of the most opposite schools of criticism, both English and French, that it was not thought necessary to cite examples from his pages. In that notice we merely undertook to state the general results of criticism as to Mr. Froude's first six volumes, reserving particular examination for the latter half of the work, with special reference to his treatment of Mary Stuart.
Since, however, it has been said that we charge the historian with shortcomings, and give no instances in support, we will, before proceeding further, satisfy this objection. This could be most easily and profusely done by going into his treatment of questions of the contemporary history of foreign countries, or of general history preceding the sixteenth century, in both of which Mr. Froude is deplorably weak. But we prefer a more decisive test, one that leaves the historian without excuse, and will, therefore, not only confine it to English history, but to English history of the period of Elizabeth, with which, according to his late plaintive appeal to the Pall Mall Gazette, Mr. Froude has labored so diligently and is so entirely familiar.
And the test proposed illustrates not only his imperfect mastery of his own selected period of English history, but his total unconsciousness of the existence of one of the most peculiar laws of England in force for centuries before and after that period. A clever British reviewer, in expressing his surprise at our historian's multifarious ignorance concerning the civil and criminal jurisprudence of his country, says that it is difficult to believe that Mr. Froude has ever seen the face of an English justice; and the reproach is well merited. Nevertheless we do not look for the accuracy of a Lingard or a Macaulay in an imaginative writer like Mr. Froude, and might excuse numerous slips and blunders as to law pleadings and the forms of criminal trials—nay, even as to musty old statutes and conflicting legislative enactments, (as, for instance, when he puts on an air of critical severity (vol. ix. p. 38) as to the allowance of a delay of fifteen days in Bothwell's trial, claiming, in his defective knowledge of the Scotch law, that it should have been forty days;) but when we find his mind a total blank as to the very existence of one of the most peculiar and salient features of English law, we must insist that such ignorance in one who sets up for an English historian is far from creditable.
Here is the case. During the reign of Elizabeth, one Thomas Cobham, like unto many other good English Protestants, was "roving the seas, half-pirate, half knight-errant of the Reformation, doing battle on his own account with the enemies of the truth, wherever the service of God was likely to be repaid with plunder." (Froude, vol. viii. p. 459.) He took a Spanish vessel, (England and Spain being at peace,) with a cargo valued at eighty thousand ducats, killing many on board. After all resistance had ceased, he "sewed up the captain and the survivors of the crew in their own sails, and flung them overboard." Even in England this performance of Cobham was looked upon as somewhat irregular, and at the indignant requisition of Spain, he was tried in London for piracy. De Silva, the Spanish ambassador at the court of Elizabeth, wrote home an account of the trial. We now quote Mr. Froude, who being—as a learned English historian should be—perfectly familiar with the legal institutions of his country, and knowing full well that the punishment described by De Silva was never inflicted in England, is naturally shocked at the ignorance of this foreigner, and thus presents and comments upon his letter.
"Thomas Cobham," wrote De Silva, "being asked at the trial, according to the usual form in England, if he had any thing to say in arrest of judgment, and answering nothing, was condemned to be taken to the Tower, to be stripped naked to the skin, and then to be placed with his shoulders resting on a sharp stone, his legs and arms extended and on his stomach a gun, too heavy for him to bear, yet not large enough immediately to crush him. There he is to be left till he die. They will give him a few grains of corn to eat, and for drink the foulest water in the Tower." (Froude, vol. viii. p. 449, London ed. of 1863.)
It would not be easy to state the case in fewer words and more accurately than De Silva here puts it. Cobham was called upon to answer in the usual form, and "answering nothing" or "standing mute," "was condemned," etc. A definition of the offence and a description of its punishment by the well-known peine forte et dure were thus clearly presented; but even then Mr. Froude fails to recognize an offence and its penalty, perfectly familiar to any student who has ever read Blackstone or Bailey's Law Dictionary, and makes this astounding comment on De Silva's letter:
"Had any such sentence been pronounced, it would not have been left to be discovered in the letter of a stranger; the ambassador may perhaps, in this instance, have been purposely deceived, and his demand for justice satisfied by a fiction of imaginary horror." (Froude, vol. viii. p. 449, London ed. 1863.)
This unfortunate performance of Mr. Froude was received by critics with mirthful surprise, and, as a consequence, although the passages we have cited may be found, as we have indicated, in the London edition of 1863, they need not be looked for in later editions. On the contrary, we now learn from Mr. Froude (Scribner edition of 1870, vol viii. p. 461) that "Cobham refused to plead to his indictment, and the dreadful sentence was passed upon him of the peine forte et dure;" and thereto is appended an erudite note for the instruction of persons supposed to be unacquainted with English law, explaining the matter, and citing Blackstone, "book iv. chap. 25."
Ah! learning is a beautiful thing!
But, possibly it may be suggested, this dreadful punishment was rarely inflicted, and that fact may serve to excuse Mr. Froude? Not at all. Other instances of the peine forte et dure occurred in this very reign of Elizabeth, with whose history Mr. Froude is so very familiar. Here is one which inspires us with a feeling of compassion for the much-abused Spanish Inquisition, and proportionately increases our admiration of the "glorious Reformation."
Margaret Middleton, the wife of one Clitheroe, a rich citizen of York, was prosecuted for having harbored a priest in quality of a schoolmaster. At the bar (March 25th, 1586) she refused to plead guilty, because she knew that no sufficient proof could be brought against her; and she would not plead "not guilty," because she considered such a plea equivalent to a falsehood. The peine forte et dure was immediately ordered.
"After she had prayed, Fawcet, the sheriff, commanded them to put off her apparel; when she, with the four women, requested him on their knees, that, for the honor of womanhood, this might be dispensed with. But they would not grant it. Then she requested them that the women might unapparel her, and that they would turn their faces from her during that time.
"The women took off her clothes, and put upon her the long linen habit. Then very quickly she laid her down upon the ground, her face covered with a handkerchief, and most part of her body with the habit. The dure (door) was laid upon her; her hands she joined toward her face. Then the sheriff said, 'Naie, ye must have your hands bound.' Then two sergeants parted her hands, and bound them to two posts. After this they laid weight upon her, which, when she first felt she said, 'Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, have mercye upon mee,' which were the last words she was heard to speake. She was in dying about one quarter of an hour. A sharp stone, as much as a man's fist had been put under her back; upon her was laied to the quantitie of seven or eight hundred weight, which, breaking her ribbs, caused them to burst forth of the skinne."
This question of the peine forte et dure naturally brings us to the consideration of a kindred subject most singularly treated in Mr. Froude's pages. If the constant use of