II. Easy Lessons; or, Self-Instruction in Irish. By the Rev. ULICK J. BOURKE, President of St. Jarlath's College, Tuam. (Dublin: M. H. Gill & Son, 1876.) THE learned President of St. Jarlath's has conferred a great boon on all who are, and on all who ought to be, students of the Irish language. One does not require to belong to the first of these two classes to perceive that these "Easy Lessons" deserve their name, as far as any course of self-instruction can be easy at the same time that it is solid and complete. The fact that the present is the sixth large edition of the work is a sufficient proof that Canon Bourke has admirably executed his task, especially when we consider how much more narrow than it ought to be is the audience addressed by such a book. The size and style of the type used in the present edition, and its general excellence of "get-up," make it pleasant to read. But surely the omission of contents-table and index must be a serious inconvenience to the learner? The hint given after the preface as to the arrangement of Parts, and the Keys to the various Parts, may readily escape his eye, and in any case is quite insufficient. We hope this slight fault may soon be remedied in a seventh edition. Praise and gratitude are due to all who give heed to the adjuration of the poem which closes this volume-the last of many in English and Irish by which Canon Bourke's pupils are "brought past the weari some bitterness of their learning." These poetical extracts, some of them from the pen of the great Celtic archbishop himself, would deserve a special index of their own:

Ay, build ye up the Celtic tongue above O'Curry's grave;
Speed the good work, ye patriot souls who long your land to save."

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"The Celtic tongue!-then must it die? Say, shall our language go? No! by Ulfadha's kingly soul! by sainted Laurence, no!"

III. Before the Altar: Two Short Meditations on the Blessed Sacrament, for the use of the Faithful. (M. H. Gill & Son.)

THIS miniature volume, which bears the imprimatur of the English Cardinal along with that of our own Irish Cardinal, will enable many of the devout faithful to spend a quarter of an hour now and then "before the altar" with more comfort and with more fruit than they have sometimes done. Even in prayers and sacred pieces, there can be the truest charm of style without interfering in the least degree with the earnestness and the seriousness which befit the soul's communications with God. This literary charm is not wanting in this

tiniest of all possible altar-manuals, which we should like to see swollen to tenfold its present dimensions; or, better still, followed by others, from the same pen, of proportions somewhat less suitable for the liturgy of Lilliput.

IV. The Discipline of Drink: An Historical Inquiry into the Principles and Practice of the Catholic Church regarding the Use, Abuse, and Disuse of Alcoholic Liquors, especially in England, Ireland, and Scotland, from the 6th to the 16th century. By the Rev. T. E. BRIDGETT, of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. (London: Burns & Oates, 1876.)

WE have given at full length the title of this remarkable book, because this minute description of its subject and its author's name will be sufficient to convince our readers at the outset that we have here a work of great worth and interest. The title-page, indeed, draws attention to another important item, namely, an introductory letter to the author from the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, to whom the proof-sheets of the work were submitted as they passed through the press. His Eminence gives his cordial approval to the book, which he characterizes as the first attempt to collect the counsels and judgments of Catholic pastors and writers on the use of wine and on the sin of drunkenness. These counsels and judgments have been collected and collated with truly admirable industry and care; and from the first the bearing of the various dicta on modern aspects of the subject is very skilfully noted. The practical interest of the subject is thus never lost amid the multitude of theological and antiquarian details. In his choice of the materials he had amassed, Father Bridgett has manifestly exercised self-restraint in confining himself to the most useful and most important. We trust that he will find some other use for the remaining fruits of his researches. He has special qualifications for a task like this; and the clearness and calmness of his style are admirably suited to turn to the best advantage the solid treasures of his learning. We counsel the reader of this volume to peruse, among the advertisements which occupy its last pages, the emphatic testimonies to Father Bridgett's possession of these qualities, borne by the Protestant and Catholic critics of his two previous volumes, "The Ritual of the New Testament," and Our Lady's Dowry." The present addition that he has made to Catholic literature is even more original in its materials, and in other respects is worthy of being joined with its predecessors.

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WINGED WORDS.

XI.

1. Respectable people sometimes descant on the temptations of the saints, and affirm that no such trials assail them. Perhaps the reason is that they are respectable people but not saints, and that they are spared what they could not resist. Perhaps it is that the tempter deems pettier temptations more suited to their mediocrity-is contented with their self-content-and does not wish to wake them out of their dream of security. Or, perhaps they fancy that they meet no temptations because they never resist those temptations, just as the flying leaf does not feel the gale that splinters the tree.-Aubrey de Vere.

2. The Lord says in the Gospel, "I am the truth," and not "I am the custom."-Mde. Swetchine.

3. Religion is the true source of perpetual youth, and communicates to all our sentiments duration, brilliancy, and peace. For myself, I feel as if I should never grow old.-Père Lacordaire.

4. While seeking the supernatural, be careful never to lose the natural. The same.

5. Philosophy seeks for truth; theology finds it; religion possesses it.-Pico della Mirandola.

6. He (St. Augustine) wanted to see more clearly before he knelt; whereas one must kneel to see more clearly.-Lady Herbert of Lea.

7. Give to the toiling, suffering masses, for whom this world is so evil, belief in a better world made for them; and they will be tranquil, they will be patient. Patience is born of hope.-Victor Hugo.

8. A good physician saves us, if not always from disease, at least from a bad physician.-John Paul Richter.

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9. Beauty," says Michael Angelo, "is the purgation of superfluities." In rhetoric this art of omission is a chief secret of power, and, in general, it is proof of high culture to say the greatest matters in the simplest way.-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

10. Nothing is more incurable than a frivolous habit. A fly is as untameable as a hyena.-The same.

11. Some of your griefs you have cured, and your sharpest you still have survived; but what torments of pain you endured from evils that never arrived.—Anon.

12. Hypocrisy is a laborious trade.-Anon.

13. There is no beautifier of complexion or form or behaviour like the wish to scatter joy and not pain around us.-R. W. Emerson.

14. The one prudence in life is concentration.-The same.

15. Manners have been somewhat cynically defined to be a contrivance of wise men to keep fools at a distance. The basis of good manners is self-reliance and self-control. Repose and cheerfulness are the badge of the gentleman-energy in repose, and the absence of pretension.-The same.

FIRST THINGS.

BY ALICE ESMONDE.

HE lily is stately and fair,

ΤΗ The rose is a beautiful thing,

But no flower that scents the bright air
As sweet as a primrose in spring.

Good deeds are not balanced by gold,
The friends of to-day are sincere ;
But ah! not the same as the old--
They never can be quite as dear.

Kind words soothe an aching heart much,
Soft hands make some weary pains go;
But somehow we find not the touch
Of fingers that healed long ago.

A poet sings on all the day,

Men listen still ever athirst;

Yet, sing he as sweet as he may,

No songs please his heart like the first.

The green leaves are green at all time
But no green like the shoots of the larch;
No voice of the summer may chime

With the voice of the young lambs in March.

All freshness and youth please the sight,
And men ever praise the first part:

So, too, of things lovely and bright
The first is most dear to God's heart.

NOTES IN THE BIG HOUSE.

FOR the present all other news must stand aside, all stories of little patients must be kept waiting, while we tell our young friends about a wonderful change which has taken place amongst us. All who wish well to the children's hospital will, we believe, be glad to learn that it has been placed under the care of the good Sisters of Charity, who have kindly taken its welfare into their guardianship, and are already in possession of the house.

All friends and benefactors of the institution having agreed that this change would be decidedly for its benefit, and the good sisters having consented to take the work into their hands, it was thought

that the Feast of the Visitation would be a nice day on which to receive the holy sisters within the walls. That morning, therefore, on entering the library we found it curiously transformed into a temporary chapel. An altar, presented some time ago by a friend, had been discovered by the good sisters in the little oratory upstairs, and was now placed under the picture of the Madonna we all know so well, and appeared guarded on either side by our two white guardian angels. At this altar mass was celebrated, the congregation present being five of the Sisters of Charity, including the superioress, three white-veiled novices, and a few zealous friends of the institution. After mass there was breakfast for the priest and a friend in a neighbouring room, and the nuns and the novices flitted about gaily, hither and thither, upstairs and downstairs, rejoicing in their new possessions, and making themselves thoroughly at home in the place.

Since that day, two of the sisters remain in the Big House from ten o'clock in the morning till six in the evening, attended by a lady who acted as secretary under the former rule, and this state of things will continue for another week or so until the nuns shall have completed their arrangements for permanent residence.

Now we wish our little friends to understand, that under this new and better management, all our former arrangements, our societies, with their meetings and reports, &c., will hold exactly their old place, only everything will be ordered in a far more perfect manner. One good, holy mother of the sisterhood has declared her intention of taking the Boys' Brigade and the Little Children of Mary under her own particular care; and, indeed, any child, boy or girl, who once looked in her bright kind eyes and smiling face, would be glad to put a hand in hers and promise to gather round her knees at any moment she might call them to come to her. Brave boys at a distance will be glad to think of this dear, good mother of the Brigade, who is praying for them at the altar, and who will tell the little patient who lies in her arms of the loving thoughts and efforts of St. Joseph's knights; while tiny girls with spotless hearts will feel themselves. drawn nearer still to the holy Mother of God when they lay their little offerings for the sick in her lap. Already there has been a meeting of the Little Children of Mary under the new system, so that it is chiefly for the sake of those members of both societies who are at a distance from the scene of the good work that we find ourselves anxious to make these explanations.

At present we need say no more; next month will bring its own share of news; and we hope soon to be able to give pleasant particulars of the advantages of the change in our rule. The good sisters are anxious that all should know how glad they will be of help from friends outside. Nothing will be changed, except that everything will be done fifty times better than ever it was done before.

We hope and pray that all friends and benefactors will let their zeal and benevolence grow and improve in proportion to the increase of usefulness which is now established for ever within the walls of the BIG HOUSE.