St. Philip Neri, that gentle and wise guide of souls, advised those under his direction to read frequently the "Lives of the Saints." Experience teaches how very profitable this is as an incitement to virtue. As we get a better idea of a person, a place, or an event by an accurate representation than by the most graphic description, so the detailed account of the workings of grace in a faithful soul oftentimes captivates the heart for God which frequent and fervent exhortation has failed to reach. But the amount of good which even the most striking example will produce upon the mind of the reader, will depend very materially upon the way in which the incidents in the life are presented. In the work before us we have the varied experience of one of the very noblest and most courageous souls, through a long and eventful life, related in language which charms while it inspires. St. Teresa's spirit was peculiarly one of chivalry and honor. She was a true child of her native Spain, that land of romance, the mother of so large a proportion of the more distinguished of the canonized saints of the Church. Avila, her birthplace, was known as the "City of Knights." She tells us herself how in youth and early womanhood she had revelled in stories of hazardous adventure, of deeds of valor, and acts of self-devotion, to a degree which, on reflection in after years, she thought had been very perilous to her fidelity to virtue. But grace led captive that warm and impassioned heart, and stimulated her to do for God what many a brave knight is said to have done for the object of his love. As St. Paul said, "I can do all things in him who strengtheneth me." So, the more rough and jagged the front of the obstacles she had to oppose, the more invincible she proved herself to be. "No, my Lord!" she said on one occasion, "it is no fault of thine that those who love thee do not great things for thee; the fault is in our own cowardice and fears, because we never do anything without mingling with it a thousand apprehensions and human considerations." The Holy Ghost had infused into her energetic soul a holy restlessness, and work, ceaseless work, hard work, alone could satisfy its cravings. While the foundations of Valentia and Burgos were in contemplation, so many difficulties came up, one after another, and among them ill health and the feebleness natural to a life now in its decline, that it seemed impossible that they could be effected. In speaking of this particular time she says: "It seems to me that one of the greatest troubles and miseries of life is the want of noble courage to bring the body into subjection; for though pain and sickness be troublesome, yet I account this as nothing when the soul can rise above them in the might of her love, praising God for them, and receiving them as gifts from his hand. But on the one hand to be suffering, and on the other to be able to do nothing, is a terrible thing, especially for a soul that has an ardent desire to find no rest, either interior or exterior, on earth, but to employ herself entirely in the service of her great God." She was in this unsettled state, her mind oppressed with doubt, when she begged light of our Lord at communion. He answered her interiorly: "Of what art thou afraid? When have I been wanting to thee? I am the same now that I have ever been. Do not neglect to make these two foundations." She then adds, "O great God! how different are thy words from those of men! I became so resolute and courageous that all the world would not have been able to hinder me." Here we have the key to her whole life. Her stimulus, as well as strength, was personal love for our Lord. When circumstances threw her back for a moment upon her own feebleness, she was powerless; but let her only hear an encouraging word from him, for which she instinctively listened, and in a moment she was fearless and unconquerable. Spiritual cowardice is the great obstacle which lies between numberless well-disposed [{856}] souls, nowadays, and perfection. How valuable, then, and how opportune, this life of the great-hearted St. Teresa! We offer our thanks and gratitude to the devout and active Archbishop of Westminster, under whose editorship this useful life appears. From private authority we learn that its authoress is a religious of a convent of Poor Clares under the direction of the Oblate Fathers of St. Charles, in London. We are tempted to envy this good religious the satisfaction and pleasure she must feel at having been instrumental in giving her Catholic brethren so welcome and powerful an aid to lead a holy life. Although the name of the Oblate Fathers of St. Charles does not appear in connection with this work, their very recent connection with Dr. Manning, and their existing relation to the convent from which this work has issued, compels us before closing this notice to thank them for the share which we suspect them to have had in its publication. This suspicion is strengthened by the fact that from their hands we have received that perfect specimen of a beautiful book, "The Works of St. John of the Cross;" in unity of labor, as in spirit, the twin-brother of St. Teresa.
THE LIFE AND PUBLIC SERVICES OF ANDREW JOHNSON, SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, including his State Papers and Public Speeches. By John Savage, author of "Our Living Presidents," etc. Derby & Miller. 8vo, pp. 408.
The life of a man like Andrew Johnson must command the profound attention of every one who wishes to understand the age and country. It is deeply interesting to ourselves, who have raised him from obscurity to the highest position in the nation, and are prepared to give him, without reference to party or opinion, our cordial and loyal support in his efforts to carry out the organic idea of national life.
The biography of Andrew Johnson is a history of the epoch. He is a representative man of his class and age. It illustrates the power of will to conquer and bring to its support a vast amount of coeval will, making itself the controlling and representative will. Few men are elected who are not in intrinsic as well as extrinsic harmony with the power electing. Fraud, chicanery, and deception have less to do with the results of our popular elections than is generally and flippantly asserted. The great characteristics of President Johnson are strong natural ability, invincible determination, courage, ambition, loyalty to the Union, fidelity to his own convictions, and contempt for privilege and prescription.
Mr. Savage has written the text well and carefully, and interwoven the coincident history with more than ordinary correctness. There is one little point to which we would call attention, in, the contents of Chapter XVII. the passage occurs, "Granger and Thomas relieve Burnside." In the same chapter, page 281, he says, "Granger and Sherman were sent into East Tennessee to relieve Burnside and raise the siege of Knoxville." Granger and Thomas did not relieve Burnside. The opportune arrival of General Grant, the intelligent and vigorous co-operation of Sherman and Hooker on the extreme flanks, and the almost spontaneous charge of the center by the troops of the army of the Cumberland up and over Missionary Ridge, won the glorious victory of Chattanooga. General Grant immediately dispatched Sherman to the relief of Knoxville. Gordon Granger commanded a corps temporarily under Sherman, and was not distinguished for alacrity or zeal on that occasion. Sherman relieved Knoxville as a part of Grant'^s grand plan of the campaign. The work is issued in handsome style, and has a correct steel engraving of the President.
THE LETTERS OF WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1769-1791). Translated from the collection of Ludwig Nohl by Lady Wallace; with a portrait and fac-simile. 2vols., 12mo. New York: Hurd & Houghton. 1866.
The many thousands living who know, and the many thousands who are yet to know, the works of the great Mozart, will not fail to welcome this true picture of his artist life. It forms, indeed, rather a continuous journal, very little short of an autobiography, than a mere chance collection of letters; extending as they do from a date when he was but thirteen years old up to within a few days of his death. One would look in these letters, of course, for a great deal about music, and musical composition, operas, concerts, and the [{857}] like, but hardly expect to find so much as there is of Mozart's personal life, his thoughts, plans, detailed descriptions of nearly all he saw and heard, revealing to the reader, better than any biographer could, the real character of this crowned master of the heavenly art. Possessing an intensely vivid imagination and a sprightly wit, his letters sparkle with humor. He dearly loves to say odd, pleasant things to make them laugh at home. Here is one taken at random:
"VIENNA, April 11, 1781.—Te Deum Laudamus! at last that coarse, mean Brunetti is off, who disgraces his master, himself, and all the musicians: so say Cecarelli and I. Not a word of truth in any of the Vienna news, except that Cecarelli is to sing at the opera in Venice during the ensuing carnival. Potz Himmel! and all sorts of devils! I hope that is not swearing, for if so, I must at once go to confession again, from which I have just returned, because to-morrow (Maunday Thursday) the archbishop is to administer the sacrament to the whole court in his own gracious person. Cecarelli and I went to the Theatine monastery to try to find Pater Froschauer, as he can speak Italian. A pater or a frater, who was at the altar trimming the lights, assured us the Pater, as well as another who perfectly knows Italian, were not at home, and would not return till four o'clock. What did please me was, that on my saying to the clerical candle-snuffer that eight years ago I had played a violin concerto in this very choir, he instantly named me. Now, as far as swearing goes, this letter is only a pendant to my former one, to which I hope to receive an answer by the next post."
Mozart lived and died a pious Catholic. Such might be gleaned from his compositions, expressive as they are of that deep religious reverence, and sense of the sublime majesty of the holy faith, which he possessed in so marked a manner. He felt and fully appreciated the power of inspiration which Catholic life possesses to elevate the soul, and realize in art, as in every form of the beautiful and the true, its noblest aspirations. "You know," he writes to his father, "that there is nothing I desire more than a good appointment—good in reputation—good in money—no matter where, provided it be in a Catholic country." The piety of his ordinary life may be seen in the manner in which he prepared for his marriage. "Previous to our marriage," he writes, "we had for some time past attended mass together, as well as confessed and taken the holy communion: and I found that I never prayed so fervently, nor confessed so piously, as by her side, and she felt the same."
There is throughout these letters a certain free, off-hand way of dealing with all sorts of subjects and persons which evinces a strong and independent spirit, and shows us that Mozart, though often obliged to dawdle at the heels of niggardly and exacting patrons, never lost his own self-respect. He had too keen a sense of his own merits, and of the too frequent lack of any merit at all in his competitors, not to be pardonably vain. He sought praise, it is true, and revelled in it, and loved to repeat what had been said of him, yet with so much boyish simplicity as to banish from the mind of the reader all judgment of affectation. He gives an amusing account of an interview with the composer Becke, of whom, it must be confessed, he was not a little jealous. "At his request I tried his piano, which is very good. He often said 'Bravo!' I extemporized, and also played the sonatas in B and D. In short, he was very polite, and I also polite, but grave. We conversed on a variety of topics—among others, about Vienna, and more particularly that the emperor was no great lover of music. He said, 'It is true he had some knowledge of composition, but of nothing else. I can still recall (and here he rubbed his forehead) that when I was to play before him I had no idea what to play, so I began with some fugues and trifles of that sort, which in my own mind I only laughed at.' I could scarcely resist saying, 'I can quite fancy your laughing, but scarcely so loud as I must have done had I heard you.' He further said (what is the fact) that the music in the emperor's private apartments is enough to frighten the crows. I replied, that whenever I heard such music, if I did not quickly leave the room, it gave me a headache. 'Oh, no! it has no such effect on me; bad music does not affect my nerves, but fine music never fails to give me a headache.' I thought to myself again, such a shallow head as yours is sure to suffer when listening to what is beyond its comprehension."