into controversy with a Reverend Mr. Oxenham of the Anglican Church, and in the course of the contention delivered in Rome a series of conferences on the Papacy which have now appeared in book-form.* In lively style and pointed argumentation the right reverend author states the Scriptural and the historical proofs of the Roman Pontiff's primacy and infallibility, and disposes of the objections of Mr. Oxenham-who seems to have been, by the way, an antagonist of but mediocre capacity. The little volume forms a convenient reference of Papal controversy, and contains a valuable digest of patristic testimony as to St. Peter's office and prerogatives. We regret that the original texts of these citations have not been given as well as the translation.

19. The books before us belong to a series of verse translations from the Greek dramatic poets, with commentaries and explanatory essays, for English readers. Uniform with this volume † there have been published the poems of Æschylus as the first of the set. The translator of Euripides says his object is to put before English readers a translation of some very beautiful poetry, and to give some description of a remarkable artist and thinker. He has taken two plays of Euripides, the "Hippolytus" and "The Bacchæ "-chosen partly for their beauty, partly because they are very characteristic of the poet. Different as they are, both are peculiarly imbued with his special atmosphere and purpose. Next, he has selected the chief ancient criticism of Euripides, a satire penetrating, brilliant, and, though preposterously unfair, still exceedingly helpful to any student who does not choose to put himself at its mercy. Mr. Murray gives a very valid reason why he has placed the hostile burlesque of "The Frogs" of Aristophanes in juxtaposition to the wonderful plays of Euripides. As to the method of these translations, it is odd but interesting and serviceable. The translator's aim was to build up something as like the original as possible in the form, and likewise (what is more daring and inventive) to take hold of the "spirit" beneath the letter. His scruple and fear are that The Truth of Papal Claims. By Raphael Merry del Val, D.D. St. Louis: B. Herder.

1902.

Euripides. Translated into English Rhyming Verse by Gilbert Murray, M.A., LL.D. Sophocles. Translated and Explained by John Swinnerton Phillimore, M.A. With Illus

In

the scholars may differ as to what the "spirit" of Euripides really is. We must await their discussion and judgments. the meantime we are pleased to be able to say that the present volumes will always be of value and interest to students of these immortal productions.

Not the least merit of Mr. Phillimore's book is the analytic introduction to the consideration of the tragedies of "Ædipus Tyrannus," "Ædipus Coloneus," and "Antigone." Sophocles, although more difficult, is better known and more widely translated. This, however, does not take anything from the fact that Mr. Phillimore's translation is a substantial contribution to the already abundant literature concerning the dramas of Sophocles the incomparable.

20.-A new and improved version of the treatise of the celebrated Venetian centenarian, Louis Cornaro, has just been published.* Cornaro lived from 1464-1566. A descendant of the illustrious family, through the dishonest intrigues of relatives he was deprived of honors and privileges that belonged to him, retired from public life, and spent almost all his time at Padua. This injustice was after all a blessing, for it forced his philosophic mind to change, as it were, the course of his life and resulted in his giving to us the treatise on The Temperate Life that has made his name famous.

He was born with a very delicate constitution, and further endangered his health by intemperate habits. Seeing that death was very close if he continued, he changed his manner of life. At the age of ninety-five Cornaro wrote: "I am certain I too should live to that age (one hundred and twenty) had it been my good fortune to receive a similar blessing (a perfect constitution) at my birth; but because I was born with a poor constitution I fear I shall not live much beyond a hundred years." Again he writes: "I never knew the world was beautiful until I reached old age." A famous portrait of Cornaro by Tintoretto hangs in the Pitti Palace of Florence. A

copy of it forms the frontispiece of the present volume.

The first edition of The Temperate Life was published at Padua in the year 1558. It has been translated into Latin and several other languages. It is divided into four discourses,

written severally at the ages of eighty-three, eighty-six, ninetyone, and ninety-five.

In the first the author speaks of the three abuses of his day-adulation, heresy (the Reformation had just extended into some parts of Italy), and intemperance. The first has impaired the social life, the second the soul's life, and the third the life of the body. Cornaro's philosophy may be reduced to the phrase, "Be temperate in all things," and the work is an exposition of the practical following out of that adage. This subject is developed more at length in the second discourse; in the third a law of life is stated, in which he writes: "The awful thought of death does not trouble me in the least, although I realize on account of my many years that I am nigh to it; for I reflect that I was born to die, and that many others have departed this life at a much younger age than mine. Nor am I disturbed by that other thought, a companion of the foregoing one, namely, the thought of the punishment which after death must be suffered for sins committed in this life. For I am a good Christian, and as such I am bound to believe that I shall be delivered from that punishment by virtue of the most Sacred Blood of Christ, which He shed in order to free us, His faithful servants, from those pains."

Selec

The fourth discourse is a loving exhortation in which, by the authority of his own experience, the aged author would persuade all mankind to take up the same orderly life. tions from Bacon's History of Life and Death and from Temple's Health and Long Life follow, and also a history of the Cornaro family.

The volume is tastefully gotten up, with some very fine illustrations. It is interesting reading and forms something of a classic on the subject. It is most important in showing that he who runs against nature's law brings destruction upon himself both in this world and in the world to come. And is also of value to those who wish to live a particularly long time on this earth. We are bound, of course, to protect our health— not to endanger life; but some of us may not be over-anxious to live here too long. At any rate the writing of Cornaro-a good Catholic with thoroughly Catholic principles-is of value in this that he shows us how to lead a good life. And that is what we should yearn for. Not a short life nor a long life

21. The details and the lessons of the life of St. Margaret of Cortona are set forth in the present issue of THE CATHOLIC WORLD MAGAZINE by the able pen of Father Cuthbert, O.S.F.C. A new life of St. Margaret has just been published.* 典

Perhaps nothing will do so much to show forth the value of the spirit of penance, and arouse our souls to it in these days of spiritual inactivity and of material comfort, than such reading as this. The present work, if it does that even to the smallest extent, will have fulfilled its mission.

The most authoritative biographer of St. Margaret is Father Bevegnati. He was the confessor of St. Margaret in the days of her change of life-in her journey up the hill of perfection, her director and her guide through all her wonderful career, and finally gave her the last rites for her journey to the AllPerfect One Himself. Being thus the confidant of all the secrets of her own soul and of .the personal, intimate manifestations that God made to St. Margaret, Father Bevegnati was well suited to write her life. But perhaps he was too enraptured with that part of her days that he knew best and longest. At least he omits anything like a scientific, chronological arrangement, and fails in picturing the details of those years that make St. Margaret's sanctity shine all the clearer and brighter-the days of her sinful wanderings. Perhaps he is to be excused from this, for Father Bevegnati's main purpose was not to give a full historical biography, but only to show forth the holiness of the subject that the claims for her canonization might be justified.

The events of St. Margaret's early life are familiar to most. Catholics, or at least can be found in the pages of our current number. Mr. O'Connor, the translator also, by the way, of St. Francis of Assisi, has done his best in a historical way to supply details of incidents and of arrangement that were wanting in Father Bevegnati's work. He opens with a statement of the condition of Italy in the second half of the thirteenth century, from which arose a providential mission for St. Margaret somewhat after the manner of that of St. Catherine of Siena. The unhappy years of childhood are then pictured, together with the fall and the great sin. Then comes the account of

*St. Margaret of Cortona, the Magdalen of the Seraphic Order. By Rev. Leopold De Chérancé, O.S.F.C. Sole authorized Translation, by R. T. O'Connor. New York: Ben

her conversion, her penance, and her religious vocation. These are followed by many chapters on her interior life. A list of the hagiographical sources consulted by the author is added. The book has many illustrations. Mr. O'Connor has done his work well, and merits much praise, but he has allowed his English to suffer at times by a too close adherence to the original French. With the Life of St. Francis already published and the Life of St. Clare of Assisi, which is in preparation by the same translator, the present volume will help to complete a hagiographical trilogy illustrative of the Franciscan spirit and action in the middle ages.

22. We regret that this volume, The Girlhood of Our Lady, did not arrive in time for a notice at the most appropriate time for it, the month of May.

Miss Brunowe has taken up the birth, the early incidents, and the marriage of the Virgin Mary, pictured them with her best power of taste and expression, added here and there an adornment of her own making, or a flower from some story of tradition, and called the whole "The Girlhood of Mary." The book is, as we have said, well written, illustrated with a wealth of good half-tones, and with its detailed coloring of Scriptural scenes and places, will go far towards giving a knowledge of Mary's early days and surroundings, to the young folks particularly. Both because of its mechanical make-up and this exceptionally attractive presentation of Mary's girlhood, it will, we are sure, find a welcome among the children of Mary.

Yet we cannot but wish that in some cases stories that have no foundation save in the fancies of some over-zealous imaginations, were separated with greater care from the absolute Scriptural truth. Pretty and attractive in themselves, these tales oftentimes make us lose, if not entirely, at least in some measure, the force of the simple account of the Gospels. For example, if Mary was accustomed from her earliest years to read the seventh chapter of the Book of Wisdom, and to understand it most wonderfully, and to feel the invisible presence of angels, surely then the message of the Archangel would not have begotten that complete surprise "troubling" the soul of the Virgin who, simply because she believed

*The Girlhood of Our Lady. By Marion J. Brunowe. New York: The Cathedral