“Saying this, the father leaped from his niche, and sprung at once into the very midst of the party. He lifted his arms to heaven, with a wooden cross in his hand, and exclaimed:—‘Avaunt—avaunt! ye spirits of darkness! in the name of the holy Catholic church, I bid you depart to the regions of the accursed. Down, down, Lucifer, and all your hosts!’
“All this was uttered in a hoarse and hollow voice—while the red blaze of the torch-light fell full upon the image of the priest—one arm lifted to heaven, and the other pointing downward; at the same time his face was haggard as death, and his eye wild as that of a demon. There was a single shriek of terror and surprise from the party, and then—they fled. The torches vanished in a moment; the music was hushed; the pageant gone. Darkness and stillness reigned around: the hideous image of Fo was invisible, and the holy father was left alone in the temple. In the morning, he departed on his way, assured that a miracle had been wrought by his hand; and confident that he was more than an overmatch for the Evil One, with all his arts and wiles. He pursued his career, and was one of those devoted and successful missionaries who planted the cross in China, where it still remains.
“But after all, it seems that the vision of the temple was a reality; for a few years after, another missionary, travelling in the vicinity of the temple of Sin-gan-fou, discovered a cross of stone, and an abstract of the Christian law, together with the names of seventy-two Nestorian preachers inscribed beneath the date, A. D. 640. On further inquiry, he found that a tradition existed among the people, that some foreigners, of fair hair and blue eyes, had visited China at the above date—and introduced a new and strange religion among the people. This still lingered in the country, though it was now generally mixed with the prevailing pagan worship of the land, and had imparted to the rites of Fo a curious resemblance to the ceremonies of the Romish Church.
“This, with some other facts, cleared up the miracle of the holy father, of which I have given an account. It seems that the Nestorians had still certain followers, who so far retained the traces of Christianity, as to perform some of its rites, while they were willing to place the religion of Fo on an equal footing. But as Christianity was not a popular or safe religion at the period of our story, they selected a dark and stormy night for the performance of a marriage ceremony, according to its creed.”
The fogs in England have been always complained of by foreigners. A Spanish ambassador told a friend who was going to Spain, to give his compliments to the sun, whom he had not seen since he had been in England. A Neapolitan minister used to say that the only ripe fruit he had seen in England were roasted apples; and he took the liberty of saying once, when conversing with the king, that he preferred the moon of Italy to the sun of England.
“No.” The celebrated John Randolph, in one of his letters to a young relative, says, “I know nothing that I am so anxious you should acquire as the faculty of saying ‘no.’ You must expect unreasonable requests to be preferred to you every day of your life, and must endeavor to deny with as much facility and kindness as you acquiesce.”
Varieties.
The following ludicrous description of the effects of influenza, is an extract from a letter by the celebrated writer, Charles Lamb.