essential service to the Catholic cause in this town and neighbourhood, and will much oblige your constant reader, MICHAEL SINGLETON. Instruction of Youth, and the Support of Religion. Perhaps not a single spot in the United Kingdom can present a more feeling, or a more distressful petition, to the universallyacknowledged generosity of Englishmen, than the poor and populous town of Hexham, and its neighbourhood. At the time when this illfated country was inundated by the blood of our ancestors, when scarcely a place could be found for the celebration of Catholic worship, many wealthy and ancient families in Hexham and its vicinity lived in honour and in peace, 'midst the disgrace and storm of reli gious frenzy and persecution, and maintained independently their priests, their altars, and their poor. But the Ratcliffs or the Derwentwaters, the Erringtons, and other old and respectable families, are dead; and with them no fewer than four Catholic chapels, and their endowments, within a circle of six miles diameter, have perished, The princely revenue of the Derwentwaters, from which the Catholic Church in this town and neighbourhood did, and in all human probability would still have derived its support, is now applied to the maintenance of those who have bled in their country's cause. Till the last year, notwithstanding this universal wreck of family and of fortune, there were in this town two Catholic chapels, in which, for the devotion and convenience of the public, divine service was almost daily performed. But such have been our losses, that these two chapels cannot be any longer supported; and though the wrecks of both properties have been united, the strictest economy will be requisite, for one priest to support himself and his servant. The old chapel has for many years threatened to bury its congregation in its ruins; and that which is called the new one is so circumscribed in its dimensions, that it will neither admit of enlargement, nor accommodate more than one-half of its present members, many of whom come from a distance of seven miles, and some from the distance of twenty and as in a numerous and widely-extended congregation, at a time when religious indifference has become almost universal, it is impossible for one priest to do justice to all without the assistance of a school, a new chapel sufficiently large for the accommodation of six hundred people, and a school-house, are absolutely necessary for the honour of God, and the support of religion in this unfortunate district. Were it in the power of man to strike from the list of time : years the still lamentable years of 1715 and 45, which gave licentious liberty to rebellion, and sanction to confiscation and to death; were it in the power of man to correct the existing evils which those have entailed on this blasted and ruinated district, the Catholic priest of Hexham would not now be necessitated, for the accomplishment of so laudable an undertaking, to solicit the charitable donations of every religious denomination. But such have been the stern decrees of fate and to such necessities has he been reduced, not by choice, but by the appointment of those whom it was his duty as a Christian and as a Catholic priest to obey. And though, for the accomplishment of this desirable work, the undersigned incumbent has met with every support and sanction from his ecclesiastical superiors-though he has been liberally assisted by his own congregation-he still finds himself necessitated to appeal to the proverbially-acknowledged generosity of his countrymen. He still ventures, notwithstanding the more than daily entreaties of a similar nature, to lay before them his humble petition, convinced that as long as real objects of charity present themselves to the public, so long will the sympathetic feelings of Englishmen be manifested, by those liberal and munificent contributions which have justly demanded as their right the applause and the admiration of every nation of the civilized world. From the Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Smith, Vicar-Apostolic, to the above. Dear Sir,-Fully convinced of the insufficiency of the present chapels in Hexham for the accommodation of the Catholics and the instruction of their numerous children, I cannot but highly approve of your pious undertaking, and earnestly recommend it to the charity of the faithful of the northern district. Brooms, 17th September 1827. THOMAS SMITH, Vic. Apos. The smallest donations will be most thankfully received by the Right Rev. Dr. Smith, Durham; the Right Rev. Dr. Bramston, London; the Rev. J. A. Woods, Hinckley; the Rev. Wm. White, Liverpool; the Rev. James Crooke, Manchester; the Rev. Mr. Dunn, Preston; the Rev. Geo. Brown, Lancaster; the Rev. B. Rayment, York; and the Rev. F. Turvile, Hampton Cottage, Warwick. To the Editor of the Catholic Miscellany. MR. EDITOR, In the course of your meritorious labours, you have given us in the Miscellany Drawings of our Colleges at Old Hall Green, Ushaw, and Maynooth-of Thorndon, Lartington, Dilstone, and Swinburne Castles-with brief descriptions of each of them. In your late numbers you have favoured your readers with a more detailed and elaborate description of Arundel Castle, with two beautiful engravings, "contributed by his grace the Duke of Norfolk." These, as I conceive from your silence with regard to the others, are the first engravings that have been presented to the Miscellany; and, while they do great credit to the artist, are not less honourable to his grace. They are presents truly worthy of the representative of the noble house of Howard, and of the head of our English nobility. And as they greatly enrich the Miscellany, so have they, no doubt, highly gratified your numerous readers, who cannot but feel grateful to his grace for them. But much as I am pleased with the drawings and descriptions of our colleges, baronial halls, and castles, I must confess I should be much more delighted with those of our venerable cathedrals, and of those magnificent abbey and collegiate churches which have escaped the ravages of time, and of the "godly Reformation." Our baronial halls and our castles are indeed noble structures, and are deservedly admired for the massiveness of their walls, extent, and power of defence, &c.; but they are generally deficient in that regularity of plan, that beauty of ornament, that minuteness and delicacy of executionand always in that loftiness of spires and towers, that elevation of arches and roofs, and in those clustered pillars-which are so admirable in our cathedrals and other great churches. The former, too, owe their existence mainly to the principle of self-defence and preservation-a principle certainly which no one will ever think of blaming in their noble founders: while the cathedrals, &c,, originated in a much more elevated principle-in the piety of our Catholic ancestors—in their love of religion and of their neighbour-in their disinterestedness-in that praiseworthy spirit which excited them to make some reparation for any injuries done to others, and some return to the Almighty for the riches with which he had blessed them. What Catholic, then, is there, that loves his religion-the religion of his pious ancestors-that does not feel an honest pride in behold. ing, for instance, the exquisitely beautiful, and I had almost said inimitable cathedrals of York and of Lincoln! And whose devotion is not enkindled or enlivened, when he paces round their high buttressed walls, or enters through their lofty portals! On these accounts, Mr. Editor, I cannot help thinking, that descriptions of these cathedrals and venerable churches would be hailed by your readers as very considerable improvements to the Catholic Miscellany. The same idea, I know, has occurred to others, and not unlikely also to yourself. There is hardly a county in England that has not its history, nor one of our cathedrals, &c., that is not there minutely described. From these histories, most interesting accounts might, with very little trouble, be extracted of these magnificent buildings, erected by our Catholic ancestors to the worship of the one, true, and living God. And I have no doubt, that if the attention of your readers were invited to the subject, you would find many of them who would be as willing as they are able to send you not merely compilations from them, but also their own descriptions from actual survey and observation. Could these be accompanied by engravings, their value would be doubly enhanced in the estimation of your readers. It cannot, however, be expected, Mr. Editor, that you should give them without a proportionate advance in the price of the Miscellany, and such advance, I apprehend, would be extremely hazardous, and by no means advisable at the present moment. May I not then indulge the pleasing and fond hope, that our nobility and gentry feel, in common with the rest of the Catholic body, an honest pride in beholding these venerable structures; and, at the same time, a desire to present them to the view of their Protestant neighbours, as long-existing monuments of the piety, munificence, and talent of their Catholic ancestors? And thus feeling, may we not confidently hope and trust, that among those especially, whose ancestors lived in the immediate vicinity of those hallowed places, and aided, no doubt, materially in the erection of them, some will be found, who following the noble example of his Grace of Norfolk, will generously present such engravings to the Miscellany? What can be more beautiful than the drawings in Mr. Britton's "Cathedral Antiquities of England?"—and what more convincing proofs can be given of the piety, the zeal, the munificence, the talent, and the skill of our ancestors, than these plates exhibit? Had your readers, Mr. Editor, a few such plates in the Miscellapy, how triumphantly might they reply to their neighbours, when boasting of the superior light of the present day, and taunting them with the darkness of the Ages of Popery?"" Behold the beautiful minsters of York and Lincoln," they might exultingly and indignantly say," behold the venerable cathedrals of Canterbury, of Salisbury, of Winchester, of Lichfield, and of Gloucester ;-behold the magnificent abbey churches of Westminster, Bath, and Shrewsbury-behold these, and produce, if you can, I will not say any superior, but any thing equal to these structures of the dark ages,' as you call them, which has been erected in these boasted and enlightened ages! Even the church of St. Paul in London, the chief erection of Protestant skill and zeal, is only an humble imitation of St. Peter's in Rome; and even this imitation is on a very diminished scale compared with that of Michael Angelo." I therefore hope and trust that there will be forthcoming among our nobility and gentry, those who will nobly and generously imitate his Grace of Norfolk, Nothing would be more honourable to those than to have their names recorded on the front of our venerable cathedrals, &c., and to have the public told, and the same handed down to posterity, that the engravings" were presented by the descendants of those who first contributed to the creation of them ;" and nothing, let me add, would be more interesting, or more desirable to your readers, than to be able, at any moment, to refer to these proofs, collected together in their hands, of the piety, the zeal, the munificence, and talent of their Catholic ancestors. From the above-named work, or from the county histories, elevations might readily be obtained of them, or ground plans, which present to us correct ideas of the admirable regularity and symmetry of their different parts, and of the beauties of their groined ceilings, which no other plates do exhibit. And gladly would I supply you with them were my means equal to the ardour of my wishes thus to enrich and improve the Catholic Miscellany, now become the only monthly publication which remains to the Catholic body.-But whether you have elevations, ground plans, or both, they need not exceed in size the present octavo size of the Miscellany. In conclusion, I cannot help observing, Mr. Editor, that the press, conducted with ability and temper, (and such yours, in my humble opinion, will be allowed to be) is the great engine that is to eradicate the long, and deep-rooted, and widely-spread prejudices, that are entertained, from the cradle to old age, against us and our principles; and is that, which more than any other thing, will contribute to restore to our nobility their long-lost hereditary honours, and to |