enemy that would persuade them to look around them. 'Tis odds but they may be enraged against me for simply telling them that they are in darkness."*

I shall conclude this with some curious particulars relating to purgatory, not taken, indeed, from books of such authority as the canons of the council of Trent, but related by a Spanish priest, who was intimately acquainted with the opinions and most secret practices of his own order. He became a convert to the Protestant religion, and in 1715 he received orders in the church of England. He writes like one who knew perfectly the truth of his statements; and I have never read or heard that they were contradicted.

Pope Adrian the Third," says Mr. Gavin, "did confess, that there was no mention of purgatory in scripture, or in the writings of the holy fathers; but notwithstanding this, the council of Trent has settled. the doctrine of purgatory, without alleging any one passage of the holy scripture; and gave so much liberty to priests and friars by it, that they build in that fiery place apartments for kings, princes, grandees, noblemen, merchants, and tradesmen, for ladies of quality, for gentlemen and tradesmen's wives, and for poor common people. These are the eight apartments which answer to the eight degrees of intense fire; and they make the people believe that the poor people only endure the least degree; the second being greater, is for gentlewomen and tradesmen's wives, and so on to the eighth degree, which being the greatest of all, is reserved for kings. By this wicked doctrine, they get gradually masses from all sorts and conditions of people, in proportion to their greatness. But, as the poor cannot give so many masses as the great, the lowest chamber in purgatory is always crowded with the reduced souls of those unfortunately fortunate people, for they say to them, that the providence of God has ordered every thing to the ease of his creatures; and foreseeing that the poor people could not afford the same number of masses that the rich could, his infinite goodness had placed them in the place of less sufferings in purgatory.

"But it is a remarkable thing, that many poor silly tradesmen's wives, desirous of honour in the next world, do ask the friars, whether the souls of their fathers, mothers, or sisters, can be removed from the

The following article in the Quarterly Review for September, 1818, page 109, shows that a purgatorian society has been established also in London.

"The Roman Catholics in London have an association for Sunday schools,-and the reader may be edified by the title under which it has been instituted, and by some of its rules. It is called, a spiritual association in honour of the most Holy Trinity, and under the protection of the blessed Virgin Mary, for the relief of souls in purgatory, and instruction of the ignorant.

"All monies acquired by this charity, from subscriptions or otherwise, shall be destined to provide that the holy sacrifice of the mass be offered for the intentions of the society, and for the support of the schools.

"At the death of any member, mass shall be said three times for the repose of his (or her) soul. Masses shall be said every month for the deceased members of the society in general. The standing intentions of this society shall be: 1st. The soul most in need. 2d. The deceased members. 3d. The welfare of the living subscribers. "A member may enter the names of his departed parents or friends in the books of the society, and such deceased persons shall be deemed members of the same, and partake of its spiritual advantages, as long as their subscriptions continue to be paid.

"The Rosary of the blessed Virgin Mary shall be said daily, for the intentions of the society, and on no account whatever be omitted."

The association was formed in 1810.

second apartment (reckoning from the lowest) to the third? thinking by it, that though the third degree of fire is greater than the second, yet the souls would be better pleased in the company of ladies of quality. But the worst is, that the friar makes such women believe that he can do it very easily, if they give the same price for a mass that ladies of quality do give. I knew a shoemaker's wife, very ignorant, proud, and full of punctilios of honour, who went to a Franciscan friar, and told him, that she desired to know whether her father's soul was in purgatory or not? and in what apartment? The friar asked how many masses she could spare for it? she said, two; and the friar answered, your father's soul is among the beggars; upon hearing this the poor woman began to cry, and desired the friar to put him, if possible, in the fourth apartment, and she would pay him for it; and the quantum being settled, the friar did promise to place him there the next day. So the poor woman ever since gives out that her father was a rich merchant, for it was revealed to her that his soul is among the merchants in purgatory.

"Now what can we say, but that the pope is the chief governor of that vast place, and priests and friars the quartermasters, that billet the souls according to their own fancies; and have the power, and give for money the king's apartments to the soul of a shoemaker, and that of a lady of quality to her washerwoman."-Master Key, vol. 1. p. 166.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

USE OF THE DIFFERENT APARTMENTS IN PURGATORY.

ANECDOTE OF THE KING OF

SPAIN. TRICKS OF POPISH PRIESTS DETECTED. THE LATE QUEEN OF SPAIN LYING IN STATE AT ROME. MONEY BEQUEATHED IN IRELAND FOR MASSES.

SATURDAY, January 8th, 1820.

I MENTIONED in my last number, on the authority of the Rev. Mr. Gavin, originally a popish priest in Spain, and afterwards a minister of the church of England, that purgatory was divided into eight apartments; that the lowest of these was occupied by the souls of poor persons, and the highest by the souls of kings; and that the degree of torment which the souls in purgatory suffered, was in proportion to the dignity of the apartments which they occupied; those in the lower vaults suffering less, and those in the higher ones suffering more, for no other reason, than that the friends of the latter are supposed able to pay large sums for relief, while the friends of the former can pay little or nothing; and it must be allowed to be equitable, at least in popish reckoning, that if the rich heirs of kings and princes do not pay liberally for the repose of the souls of their deceased friends, the deceased must pay the debt of suffering in their own persons; whereas the poor souls whose friends have little to pay, will get off after suffering little.

This arrangement is admirably calculated to enrich the dealers in masses, which are understood to have such efficacy in procuring relief o the souls in purgatory; that is, to enrich the priests, who, by means

of this doctrine, find ready access to the purses of rich widows, and others, whose deceased husbands and relations gave no evidence, during life, of being fit for heaven. The more wicked they had been, the better for the church, provided they left plenty of money, as the more masses were necessary for their relief, and the price of masses is understood to bear some proportion to the wealth of the persons at whose request and on whose behalf they are said.

În countries where popery is the established religion, especially in those where no other is suffered to be professed, it is easy for the priests, by dreams and revelations, to extort what they please from the rich dupes of their gloomy superstition. If a priest or a nun has only dreamed that such a one's father or mother is suffering dreadful torments in purgatory, this will be enough to command a thousand masses, and a thousand guineas to pay for them, if the relations of the deceased be able to pay so much; if not, the priests will take what they can give for the present, and more when they can get it.

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In the latter end of King Charles the Second's reign," says Mr. Gavin, meaning King Charles of Spain, "a nun of Gaudalajara wrote a letter to his majesty, acquainting him that it was revealed to her by an angel, that the soul of his father, Philip the Fourth, was still in purgatory, all alone in the royal apartment; and likewise, in the lowest chamber, the said King Philip's shoemaker; and that upon saying so many masses, both should be delivered out of it, and should go to enjoy the ravishing pleasures of an eternal life. The nun was reputed a saint upon earth, and the simple king gave orders to his confessor to say, or order so many masses to be said for that purpose; after which the nun wrote again to his majesty, congratulating and wishing him joy for the arrival of his father in heaven; but that the shoemaker, who was seven degrees lower than Philip in purgatory, was then seven degrees higher than his majesty in heaven, because of his better life on earth." Philip it seems had been notoriously guilty of a particular vice, of which the nun reminds his son Charles; the shoemaker in this respect had been innocent; but, said she, “all had been forgiven him (i. e. the king) on account of the masses."

So

"When some ignorant people pay for a mass, and are willing to know whether the soul for which the mass is said, is, after the mass, delivered out of purgatory, the friar makes them believe, that the soul will appear in the figure of a mouse within the tabernacle of the altar, if it is not out of it, and then it is a sign that that soul wants more masses; and if the mouse doth not appear, that soul is in heaven. when the mass is over, he goes to the tabernacle backwards, where is a little door with a crystal, which the people look through; but O pitiful thing! they see a mouse which the friars keep perhaps for the purpose; and so the poor sots give more money for more masses, till they see the mouse no more. They have a revelation ready at hand, to say, that such a devout person was told by an angel, that the soul for which the mass is said, was to appear in the figure of a mouse in the sacrario, or tabernacle." Master Key, vol. 1, pp. 168—170.

This story of the mouse being made use of as a sign, to show whether or not souls were delivered out of purgatory, reminds me of a communication from a reverend gentleman, which has been long lying past me, because I had not sooner a proper opportunity of introducing

it. It relates to a sign which the priests give, when they think proper, that certain souls are delivered from purgatory.

"About seventeen years ago," says my correspondent, "a lady, now living in Edinburgh, had occasion to be in Dublin, and through means of a gentleman from this country, was introduced to a popish chapel, on an occasion when a number of souls were to be translated out of purgatory. The place was very brilliantly lighted. The priest was seated on an eminence, with a table before him. The audience was in expectation, when a relation of each of the deceased persons, whose souls were that night to be released, appeared, and in passing before the priest, each laid an elegant and well filled purse on the table before him, who, after nodding satisfaction, most readily conveyed it to a receptacle, where it might be preserved till a fit opportunity of otherwise disposing of it. Having received his wages, the priest immediately began his operations, and soon intimated that the souls were translated, and would immediately make their appearance. Immediately a moveable part of the floor, unoccupied of course, opened, and there issued forth from it living creatures, as black as jet. When the little creatures began to move about, in order to prevent the deception from being detected, the lights were all extinguished, as if by magic. The lady had eyed the souls' representatives very narrowly, and had observed that there was one of them within her reach; and with a degree of courage, which would not have been exerted by every one in her circumstances, she seized on the animal; she put it into her pocket, for ladies wore pockets in those days; she took it home, and showed it to the gentleman who had introduced her to the chapel, when it turned out to be a crab dressed in black velvet. I need scarcely add, that the lady was induced by the entreaties of the gentleman to destroy the creature, and maintain secrecy, at least in Ireland, as she valued her own life. I have the story from a daughter of the lady who laid hold on the emancipated spirit, and I believe her entitled to the highest credit, otherwise I would not have troubled you with the story."

The above is, indeed, such an absurd, ridiculous, and childish piece of imposition, that it is with difficulty one can give credit to it; and yet, from the respectability of the channel through which it has been conveyed to me, I have no doubt of its truth: the credibility of things of this kind, must not be estimated by the rules by which we would judge of the credibility of what is said to take place among well informed persons. No minister in Scotland, of any denomination, could practise such a trick upon his people; because the people in Scotland are accustomed to think for themselves, and to inquire into the meaning and the evidences of things; but the people in Ireland, and, indeed, the people in other places where popery is predominant, are not allowed to think for themselves: they must receive implicitly what their priests tell them, or be excommunicated, and be made to taste of the pains of purgatory even in the present life.

In the course of my reading, I have met with something similar to the above story of the crabs,-perhaps it may be in the letter of some correspondent, on which I cannot at present lay my hands; and, therefore, I cannot vouch for the fact, though there rests no doubt as to its truth on my own mind; because I believe there is no trick, however absurd, to which the priests will not have recourse, in order to deceive Vol. I.-70

the people, and swindle them out of their money. A country priest had been complaining grievously against his congregation, for their hard-heartedness in not procuring a sufficient number of masses for the relief of the souls of their deceased relations. He invited some of them to come to him at a certain hour of the night, and he would let them see the souls which were in torment, and which called for relief. Some had the courage to accept the invitation; and from a place which overlooked the church-yard, he showed them a number of lights moving about among the gravestones, and declared that these were the souls of persons deceased, which were crying from purgatory, for prayers and masses for their release. Some one was bold enough to try to get more intimately acquainted with one of these moving lights; and it turned out to be a crab with a lighted candle-end fixed upon its back! With half a dozen of such agents, it was easy for an artful priest to impose upon his whole parish; and to make one who had a friend lately deceased, pay his last shilling for his relief, that at least he might be saved from the misery of wandering like a ghost about the grave's mouth.

It will be asked again, how is it possible to make the people believe such things? In reply, I have only to say, that when the priests have got them to disbelieve their own senses, which they do every time that they attend mass; when they believe what they see to be a wafer, to be the Saviour of the world, it is easy to make them believe any thing else that may serve the purpose of maintaining the authority of their ghostly guides.

The following extract of a letter from a gentleman in Rome to his friend here, bears some relation to this subject. It refers to a personage, who, if history says what is true, required no small degree of purgation before she was fit for heaven; and, yet it seems, that priests were labouring with all their might, saying masses, in order to facilitate her progress through purgatory as fast as possible.

"January 8th, 1819.-The queen of Spain died here the other day, and is to be buried to-morrow with pomp. I saw her lying in state; and a more ridiculous spectacle I never saw in my life. She was lying dressed in her finest apparel, on cloth of gold, exposed to the view of every person. A guard of honour stood around the bed; and the whole suite of rooms were covered with black, and filled with altars, at which a dozen of priests were constantly saying mass, night and day, for the purpose of facilitating her majesty's journey through purgatory. I was obliged to submit to a good hard squeeze before admittance could be got, the crowd was so great. Her hair is curled every day, the same as if she was alive. Her dressing maid attends as usual; and breakfast and dinner are served up to her as formerly, which are ate in honour of her arrival at the gates of paradise. Tonight, she is to be carried to St. Maria Maggioro, preparatory to her funeral ceremony to-morrow."

We learn from the New Testament, that the heathen expected to be heard for their much speaking; that is, from the use of many words, and many repetitions in their prayers. The palace of the deceased queen presented, on the above occasion, a lively example of heathen worship. There were a dozen priests constantly employed, day and night, saying masses for the repose of her soul. Now this was an