[A Hundred Meditations on the Love of God.] By Robert Southwell, Priest of the Society of Jesus. Edited, with a Preface, by John Morris, S.J. London: Burns & Oates. 1873.
There is a delicious quaintness about these meditations. They are colloquies with God and with self, and come from the soul of a poet who “aspired to and attained martyrdom.” A sketch of the saintly author has recently appeared in The Catholic World (“Poet and Martyr,” April, 1873), so that it is needless to give one here. But the frontispiece of the volume before us is a portrait of F. Southwell, which is valuable.
[Only a Pin.] Translated from the French of J. T. De Saint-Germaine. By P. S. New York: The Catholic Publication Society. 1873.
Only a Pin, but an exceedingly valuable one, pointing a moral keenly and sharply; having a head secure and sound, not likely to be turned by any accidental twist; altogether a well-manufactured pin, straight and strong, not weakly bending this way and that to serve illegitimate uses, but made in the best factory and of good metal; a pin belonging to the first and oldest family in Pindom, and sure to make its mark in the literary world.
We often hear the expression “not worth a row of pins,” but a row like this pin would be far from worthless. One would hardly expect to become interested in the events brought about by so small an article as a pin; yet the accomplished author has managed to engage attention most agreeably from the first chapter to the last.
The translation is in the main very natural and easy, but now and then a sentence seems a little careless or obscure.
[Tales from Church History]: Vivia Perpetua; or, The Martyrs of Carthage. By R. De Mericourt. Translated from the Second French Edition. New York: P. O’Shea. 1873.
The heroine of this story is S. Perpetua, the companion of S. Felicitas. The story is well conceived and powerfully written. We have not seen the original, but the translation shows an experienced and competent hand, and has the great merit of reading as if the book had been composed in English. There are, however, a number of inaccuracies in respect to names, some careless sentences, and other blemishes of style, some of which may be due to incorrect proof-reading, as the errors evidently typographical are numerous. For instance, the Pontifex Maximus is called the Pontiff Maximus, and in one place two Christian converts are called “convicts.” Such an admirable story as this is, with its thrilling delineations of Christian heroism and pagan cruelty, ought to pass through more than one edition. If it does, we hope the publisher will have its clerical errors corrected by a competent hand, and the press-work more carefully performed, so as to make the book in all respects comme il faut. If this is intended as the first of a series, the project is one worthy of commendation.
Since the foregoing was put in type, we have ascertained that the story as it appeared in French was “imitated from the English,” which, we are informed, means that it was a free translation of an English book. This accounts for certain omissions which appear rather singular in a Catholic tale of this sort. No mention is made of the altar, the sacrifice of the Mass, or holy communion. The explanations of Christian doctrine and the answers to Vivia’s objections are not complete and satisfactory. M. de Mericourt has taken care, however, that nothing contrary to Catholic doctrine should be admitted, and as the events of the story do not require any minute description of Christian doctrine or worship, the omissions noted do not essentially detract from its character as a portraiture of Christian virtue in the midst of the dangers and trials of pagan life.
[Cardinal Wiseman’s Essays.] Vol. III. New York: P. O’Shea. 1873.