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crime with which he was charged, was Herely; and the charge was principally founded upon two written books, of which he acknowleged himfelf the Author. The one was in the Portuguese language, and entitled, The heroic and wonderful Life of the glorious St. Anne, Mother of the blessed Virgin Mary, dictated by the fame Saint, with the Affilance, Approbation, and Concurrence of the fame fovereign Lady and her most holy Son. The other was in Latin, with this title, Tractatus de Vita et Imperio Antechristi..

as

The life of St. Anne contained, amongst others, the following curious affertions, viz "That St. Anne was fanétified in her mother's womb, in the fame manner as the B.Virgin Mary was fanctified in the womb of St. Anne.—That the Privilege of Sanctification in the maternal womb had been. granted only to S. Anne and to Mary her daughter:That S. Anne, in the womb of her mother, understood, knew, loved, and ferved God in the fame manner the Saints do, who are wrapt up in glory :-That S. Anne, in the womb of her mother, wept, and made the Cherubims and Seraphims, her attendants, weep alfo out of pure compaffion:-That S. Anne, while yet in her mother's womb, made vows; and left any one of the three Persons of the B. Trinity fhould be jealous of her regard for the others; fhe made the Vow of Poverty to the eternal Father, the Vow of Obedience to the eternal Son, and the Vow of Chastity to the Holy Ghoft..

"That S. Anne was the most innocent creature, that ever came forth from the hands of God:-That it was evident, she had never finned in Adam: That he had entered into the marriage-ftate for the fake of being more chafte, more pure, more a virgin, and more innocent: That S. Anne, while in a mortal ftate, interceded with God in behalf of the Angelic Choirs amidst their glory, that he would help and enable them to improve in the Service and Praise of his divine Majesty:

"That Chrift was not able to find any expreffions fufficient to give us an idea of the greatness of the Gifts he had bestowed upon S. Anne:-That the bare Sighs of the fame Saint had acquired the force to kindle new and unusual fames in the very breaft of God himself:-That Virtue and Sanctity were more easy to propagate than Vice:-That even if Adam had always lived uprightly, and never fallen into any mortal fin; he would nevertheless have been always a miferable nave, and wretchedly weak and ignorant :C 4 That

"That he (the Criminal) had heard the eternal Father fpeak with his clear and diftinct voice; had heard the eternal Son fpeak with his clear and diftinct voice; and had heard the Holy Ghoft fpeak with his clear and diftinct voice :-That the family of S. Anne, befides gentlemen and children, confifted of twenty flaves; twelve men, and eight women: That S. Joachim followed the trade of a mafon, and lived in Jerufalem with S. Anne; and that he was the woman of fortitude of whom Solomon fpoke, who was himself under a mistake with regard to her, fhe being of his own nation, and even born of his blood.

"That S. Anne had founded a fpiritual retreat in Jerufalem for three and fixty women of a retired life; in order to accomplish which, the Angels had put on the difguife of Carpenters; and that for the fupport of thofe women, one of their company, whose name was Martha, used to go and buy fifh, and fell it about the town to advantage:-That some of the women of S. Anne's retreat married in pure obedience to God; who had decreed ab æterno, that those happy maidens, thus carefully brought up by S. Anne, fhould be greater Saints than the generality of Saints, nay, than most of the Apoftles and Difciples of Chrift:-That ONE of them was married to Nicodemus ; ANOTHER to S. Matthew; ANOTHER to Jofeph of Arimathea; and that from the marriage of ANOTHER was born S. Linus, Succeffor to S. Peter :and that Chrift puts on many fhapes, and affumes various characters with those whom he raises to the highest contemplation; and grants one or feveral directors from heaven to fuch fouls as afpire to perfection.

"Farther he afferts in the fame Treatife, hat the B. Virgin Mary delivered to him the following Doctrine:-That the fouls of worldlings, or the fouls which aim no higher 'than to the obfervance of the commandments, are tempted only by devils; but thofe which afpire to perfection, and which God is more earnestly defirous of advancing to the state of paffive contemplation, are tempted indeed in the beginning by the devil; yet, when once they have given good proof of their fidelity, they are made to know, that there is in reality a new kind of profeffion in the church, confifting in the fublime contemplation of the divine myfteries, and in the revelation of things hidden a conflitutione mundi*: and then God and the B. Virgin Mary take fuch fouls into their fpecial care; throwing them into fuch gloomy depths and heavy temptations, that they know not which way to turn themFrom the foundation of the world,

felves:

felves:That however, when fouls are once arrived to this state, the devils take their farewel of them for ever; and yet the fouls themselves are not therefore exempt from still undergoing attacks and ftruggles of the most virulent kinds; nay they, they are even aflailed with apparitions of devils, and those of the most unclean and malignant forts; who difturb them with falfhoods, fnares, and diftreffes in various fhapes; nay, and with prophanities and obfcenities. But neverthelefs, their tempters are not real devils. On the contrary, they are holy fouls, and fome of the most eminent in glory; nay, fome of them are of the pureft angels, and are extremely fond of thofe very fouls; and therefore they are so far from being afhamed of performing fuch offices to them, that they glory in fo doing; fince their motive in thus playing the part of tempters and devils is, to make a compleat conqueft of them, and to help them to fill up the fooner the measure of mortifications and ftruggles which God himself has laid upon them as a Tax, in order to admit them afterwards to the communication of his divine fecrets."

"Befides these tenets he wrote alfo the following ones, as communicated to him by revelation, to wit:

"That the Divine Nature is divided between the Three Perfons of the Bleffed Trinity:-That the B. Virgin Mary, when in the womb of S. Anne, uttered thefe words:-Confolare Mater mea amantiffima, quia invenifti gratiam apud Dominum: Ecce concipies et paries Filiam, et vocabitur nomen ejus Maria: et requiefcet fuper eam SPIRITUS DOMINI et obumbrabit; et CONCIPIET IN EA, et EX EA, Filium Altissimi, qui faloum faciet Populum fuum *.” And in the fame work he affevers with an oath, that the fame Bleffed Lady had revealed this to him; and that withal there was a festival kept in the celeftial Paradife for eight days together on account of this first event, namely, the utterance of thefe miraculous words.

"He also affevers, as matter of revelation which had been made to him, that God had told him not to make any fcruple of aggrandizing the Blessed Virgin ufque ad exceffum et ultra † ;

Be comforted, dearest mother; because thou haft found favour with the Lord: behold thou fhall conceive, and bring forth a daughter, and her name fhall be called Mary: and the Spirit of the Lord fhall light upon her, and overshadow her; and HE SHALL CONCEIVE WITHIN HER and OF HER the Son of the moft High, who fhall fave his people.

+ Even to excels and beyond it.

nor

nor to be afraid of using and applying to her the very attributes, which were peculiar to his own divine Being, namely, IMMENSE, INFINITE, ETERNAL, and ALMIGHTY:

"That the facred Body of Chrift was formed of a Drop of the blood of the B. Virgin's heart:-That it grew by little and little by the help of his mother's aliment, till it became perfectly organised, and capable of receiving the foul; but that the divinity and perfonality of the Word had already been' united to that drop of blood in the very inftant when it paffed from the heart to the immaculate womb of the Virgin :That the Three Divine Perfons had had various confultations, debates, and opinions about the manner in which S. Anne fhould be treated :-That the holy city fhewn to the evangelift and beloved difciple, when he faid, Vidi Civitatem fanétam, Ferufalem novam defcendentem de cœlo a Deo, paratam ficut fponfam, ornatam viro fuo, ought to be confidered as a filthy and Laathfeme dunghill in comparison with the foul of S. Anne.

pa

"That S. Anne had a fifter called S. Baptiftina, who told him (the Criminal) that the B. Virgin was ftill with her rents, when the archangel Gabriel brought her word, that fhe was to be mother of God; and that the Virgin, humbling herself, applied in prayer to the eternal Father to intercede for her, that the might fill continue a poor and lowly flave; that nevertheless, being finally convinced, that the must be mother of God, fhe fell on the floor in a fwoon, which caufed the angel fome trouble; who lifting her up with great reverence, entreated her to accept of that dignity: a banquet, which the angels and archangels had prepared, being kept in the mean time in fufpence, till our Lady gave her confent:That after the Incarnation of the divine Word, the holy Virgin was espoused to S. Jofeph, S. Anne being then about fifty years old:-And that the B. Virgin was an actual inhabitant of Jerufalem, when the lofed her divine Son, and found him in the temple after three days; for that he had abfented himself from her all that time to go and affist at the death of S. Anne."

To gain credit to thefe vifions, he afferted, on his trial, that he had wrought feveral miracles," that he had delivered fome fick Perfons out of danger, on their afking his prayers; and had in like manner fecured fucceffion to fome families in

I faw the holy city, new Jerufalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. .REVELATIONS, ch. xxi. v. 2.

Portugal:

Portugal in particular, one perfon, having promised him fix hundred milreis for our Lady of the miffions, obtained of our faid Lady the defired heir; but the heir being afterwards in danger of dying, on account of the dilatorinefs in fulfilling the promise, (no more than two hundred milreis being hitherto paid) the faid perfon applied to him again with fresh intreaties; and the heir was then effectually delivered from danger, and all complaints, by his prayers.

"At the intreaties of another perfon, and in confideration of another promife, he obtained, contrary to all expectation, an heir to a magistrate already in years; the confequence of which was, that bad tongues gave out, that the boy was none of his own."

Notwithstanding thefe pious miracles, and all the allegations he was able to make, either in defence of himself or his works, he was condemned by an Auto de Fé, and delivered up to the Lay Tribunal of Juftice, which paffed the following fentence on him: That he fhould be led with a cord about his neck, and proclamation made of his crimes through the public streets of Lisbon, to the fquare of Rocio, that there he fhould fuffer corporal death, by being ftrangled with a rope, and his body fhould be burnt and reduced to afhes, that there might be no memory of him or his remains ;" which fentence was executed accordingly.

Lai

If we recollect aright, F. Malagrida was first taken into cuftody on account of the confpiracy, in 1759, against the life of his most faithful majefty; but whether the exemplary punishment of this jefuit really fprung from that fource, (which the Court poffibly might not care to avow) or whether his ridiculous herefies were the fole caufe of his unhappy end, we are not enabled to fay. This, however, is certain, that the motives of governments are not always feen in their conduct.

G.

The Rudiments of English Grammar, adapted to the Ufe of Schools ; with Obfervations on Style. By Jofeph Priestley. 12mo. Is. 6d. Griffiths.

HE ftudy of our own Tongue has hitherto been moft

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