"Oh, yes, gone. She and her lady friend left very early this morning for the country. The signorina suffered much from fatigue lately, and the departure was planned for the earliest moment after the performance."

"Where have they gone? When will they return ?"

"They have not left their address. They wished to be unmolested for a few days to come."

"For a few days?"

"After that they will write here for their letters. The gentleman can call in about a week when we shall be happy to give him the address."

"One more word. Have you any idea of what part of the country they have gone to?"

"Somewhere between this and Pavia, I believe. More I do not

While Thy sad eyes look up to mine,
I cannot choose but weep-

My heart goes yearning forth to Thine
With thrilling bound and leap.

Weep, weep, my heart, for sweetest ache,
And bathe His precious feet;
Fear not the ointment box to break,
Thy offering will be sweet.

My woman's hand can comfort give,
Its touch may soothe and cheer:
He will the service small receive,
His love will banish fear.

Oh! tresses mine, fall down and hide
This happiness complete ;

Cover me in, while I abide,

Washing my Saviour's feet.

And thus shut in with Thee, dear Friend,

My soul hath waxen whiteThat feeble soul, my God, defend Amid earth's dazzling light.

I fear the glare that waits for me,
Once leaving this dear shade;

In deepest dark, O Lord! with Thee
I would not be afraid.

His voice now sends me forth, "forgiven," And, when He sees it meet,

'Twill call me home to Him in heaven, To rest me at His feet.

NEW BOOKS.

I. The Song of Roland. Translated into English Verse by JOHN O'HAGAN, Q.C. (London: C. Kegan Paul & Co. 1880.)

OUR August issue will contain an extended review of this remarkable work, which has been eagerly expected in literary circles since the following announcement appeared in The Academy, so long ago as December the 13th, 1879:

"Among the promised contributions from Ireland to the literature of the season, we notice with especial pleasure a metrical translation of the Chanson de Roland from the pen of Mr. John O'Hagan, Q.C. Although one of the ablest and most eminent members of the Irish bar, Mr. O'Hagan has long been known as a poet of rare merit. His original poems are distinguished at once by tenderness and power; and as his translations combine, in a most remarkable degree, elegance and fidelity, the Roland in his hands cannot fail to prove a success. It is looked forward to with great interest."* II. The Life of King Alfred the Great. By ARTHUR GEORGE KNIGHT, of the Society of Jesus. (London: Burns & Oates. 1880.) THE thirty-second volume of the Quarterly Series, which has appeared so punctually every three months for the last eight years and which has maintained so high an average of excellence, furnishes us with a very carefully compiled and very attractively written biography of the great English King Alfred. Father Knight undertakes to introduce us to the Alfred of genuine history, to whom, he contends, full justice has not been done even by the judicial impartiality of Dr. Lingard. He has fulfilled his purpose in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. Without overloading his pages, with antiquarian details, he gives in a deeply interesting narrative the results of a conscientious study of all the old and the new authorities. Nothing can be clearer or more unaffected than the style, nor are lively touches wanting here and there to brighten up the old story for us. The arrangement, printing, and other mechanical details are in the best style of the Manresa Press

* As the premium-giving season, now raging, will have passed over before we return to this subject, in our next issue, we may here at once call the attention of our Irish Catholic colleges to the singular fitness of this work of an Irish Catholic to be given as a reward to studious youth. We were prepared for its pre-eminent merit as a work of literary art; but in two respects, which are of great importance in the search for suitable premiums, "The Song of Roland" has fairly taken us by surprise. Though the original comes down from a simpler age, it is, in every line and every word, pure and refined enough to be offered as a prize by holy nuns to their innocent pupils; while, in another point of view, being choicely printed on that hand-made paper so dear to the hearts of connoisseurs, and clothed in very dainty and original binding, its exterior makes it sufficiently bright and attractive to be afterwards laid by proud mammas on the drawingroom table at home.

-and its best style is very good, indeed. Does the very full and lucid
table of contents make an index superfluous? And is it not somewhat
confusing to have the notes scattered through the volume, appended
to each of the four divisions of the book, instead of keeping them all
for the end?

III. The Pen: A Journal of Literature. (London: 22 Tavistock-street,
Covent Garden.)

FAR be it from us to sit in judgment on our judges, or to criticise this newest critical journal; but, peering back into the dimness of a remote antiquity, we can recall the mingled feelings with which we ourselves read "No. 1, Vol. I." on the first-proof sheet of the IRISH MONTHLY, and the pathetic reminiscence makes us ready to patronise any deserving aspirant in the field of literature. There seems to be a place in that field for "The Pen." It intends to give an almost exclusive attention to literature; and we think it is right. Here again concentration is power. "Jack of all trades was master of none;" and it is not easy to join in one journal an adequate discussion of contemporary literature along with science and the fine arts. This new journal also proposes to give us original literary essays, literary table-talk, frequent reproduction of drawings from illustrated books reviewed in its pages, and "such full quotation of the representative passages of important works as will make The Pen a permanently interesting reflex of our literature." The conductors have so far carried out their plans very well. We have examined with a good deal of care the first three weekly parts (the first is dated May 22), and, if our certificate were wanted, it would be forthcoming to the effect that "The Pen" is good value for twopence.

IV. The Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier. By HENRY EDWARD, Cardinal
Archbishop of Westminster. (London: Burns and Oates.)

↑ We should have been glad to introduce this exquisite little treatise to

the attention of our readers in time for Whitsuntide, which will be over before this notice comes under their eyes. But at all times of the year it will be useful to study so beautiful an exposition as Cardinal Manning has here given us of the gifts and fruits of the Holy Ghost, and of our relations to the Third Person of the ever Adorable Trinity. Each section is summed up with a very devout prayer. This is the fourth of the Little Books of the Holy Ghost edited by Dr. Rawes, and we prefer it to any of this or the companion series.

V. The Faith. By the REV. MARK M'NEAL. (London: R. Washbourne.)

THIS massive volume of four hundred and fifty pages is massive in more senses than one. The author, living and working zealously in London, understands those whom he addresses on the most momentous

of questions; but there is need of a practical interest to carry a reader
through the long unbroken sections which make up the book. The
matter is solid and useful, and the questions are argued with earnest-
ness and zeal. The pious writer will be rewarded for his costly labour
if, with God's blessing, it help some well-disposed inquirer to embrace
"The Faith.'

VI. Tried and Four Wanting. By LORD F. GODOLPHIN OSBORNE,
M.A. (Dub
G& Son. 1880.)

THIS story purports to be "a passage in the life of a London crossing-
sweeper." It very well written, and interesting, and, we need
scarcely add, edifying; but the interest and edification are not a little
increased for those who remember what sacrifices the writer has made
in embracing the faith of that humble crossing-sweeper.

VII. Books of Piety. (Various Publishers.)

CANON ULICK BOURKE, who is chiefly known outside his immediate sphere by his labours in Celtic literature, has published, through Messrs. M. H. Gill & Son of Dublin, a sixpenny edition of his translation of the Bull Ineffabilis Deus, which is the authoritative explanation, as it is the definition, of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Still more useful for popular reading is his sixpenny tract on "The Dignity, Sanctity, and Intercessory Power of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God." At the same price the same publishers give us a sermon of Canon Bourke's on "The Life and Labours of St. Augustin," which is made much more interesting by an account of the Augustinian Monasteries founded at various times throughout Ireland.

Messrs. Burns and Oates have just issued a new edition of "The Raccolta; or, Collection of Indulgenced Prayers," conforming the English translation, by means of additions and corrections, to the latest Roman Raccolta approved by decree of 3rd June, 1877. There oug to be a copy of this book in every pious family and more than on copy in every religious community. The translation was originally made with extreme care by the "dear Ambrose St. John" of whom Cardinal Newman speaks so feelingly at the end of the Apologia.

:

It would be very hard to get a book more suitable for wholesale distribution among the simple faithful than a cheap, well-packed, but well-printed, well-arranged, and easily read little book by the Rev. Thomas Murphy, P.P., of Mountmellick, entitled "How to Live Piously a Little Book of Simple Instructions, Exhortations, and Prayers, designed chiefly for the use of the Flock entrusted to his care" (Dublin: James Duffy & Sons). It is thoroughly practical, evidently dictated by great zeal and experience, and it is full of very striking and apposite sayings of the saints. We hope it is or will soon be as well known to our good people as it ought to be.