all sorts and shapes, it is interesting to speculate how we should deal with opponents so radically different in most respects-though not in all-from the followers of Luther and Calvin. At first sight it would seem almost impossible, that where the points of objection are comparatively so small, there could be any real difficulty in the way of submission to the true Church. It is, therefore, peculiarly interesting to trace in the history and present state of the schismatics of the East the working of those very same principles which give so much of its anti-Catholic force to Protestantism, properly so called. It is curious to see with what a uniformity of law, amid the widest varieties of form, the universal body of anti-Catholicism is pervaded by the spirit of Erastianism, nationalism, and formalism. Turn where we will, we see how they who profess to fly from slavery to the Pope take refuge in the iron servitude of the state; how they who protest against the exclusiveness and intolerance of Rome are forced into national and sectarian bigotry and narrow-mindedness of the most bitter description; and how those who claim the pre-eminent distinction of being spiritual and non-idolatrous Christians are in fact the merest devotees to forms, and servants of the letter that killeth, and of traditions as relentless as those of the old Jewish Talmudists. M. Pitzipios' work before us is the latest and not the least valuable contribution to a knowledge of the past history of the Oriental schism, and of its present condition and future prospects. It sketches its rise and progress, with full details of the special points of controversy on which the separatists relied. Some of its most instructive portions are its illustrations of the actual relation between the temporal power and the schismatic bishops and clergy. It presents, however, as complete a résumé of the entire subject as we know of within the same compass. It is also remarkable as being written in French by a Greek; and altogether strikes us as a very favourable indication of the zeal and learning of the oriental Catholics-two points, indeed, in which every authority worth listening to describes them as immeasurably superior to the schismatics. It may be recommended to every one interested in the subject. We quote one of M. Pitzipios' illustrations of the actual condition of the schismatic Greeks: "Theophilus Caïry, a priest of the Oriental Church, a native of Andros, and a man of great learning and exemplary morals, after the Greek revolution visited all the cities of Europe in which were to be found Christians of his rite, and collected a large sum of money to found in Greece a school for the education of poor Greek orphans. This school he founded in Andros, in 1834, under the name of an orphanage (oppavoтpopeîov). The discipline, morals, good bearing, and progress of the pupils of this school attracted to it a large number of young persons from Greece and Turkey. Caïry, whether through excessive ambition, or for a political end, or from any other motive, then undertook to introduce into the East a new religion under the name of Caïrism, which was nothing else than Deism modified by some novelties of his own invention. He succeeded in attracting to this new religion not only the pupils of his school, but almost all the inhabitants of Andros, including a great part of the curés of the villages, and a large number of the inhabitants of the neighbouring island. When the pupils of the school went to pass their holidays with their relations, or returned home after finishing their studies, they propagated the new religion every where, and in less than six years Caïrism had spread immensely in Turkey and in Greece. The Greek government on one side, and the patriarchate in Turkey on the other, took every means for hindering its propagation. But notwithstanding all their efforts, the societies of Caïrism exist to this day in the East, and work, though secretly, with the greatest activity. Caïry was arrested for the last time in Greece in 1851, on the ground of his teaching religious principles forbidden by the laws of the country. Notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of his partisans, the government went on with his prosecution. He was condemned by the courts to seven years' imprisonment. He died in prison at the age of eighty-two, a few days after his condemnation." Correspondence. DR. MANNING AND MR. MEYRICK. WE print the following correspondence; but at the same time we emphatically repeat our original statement. When Dr. Manning entered into the correspondence, he had no idea that it would be published, looking on it as entirely a private affair between two gentlemen. Of course he entered into it voluntarily and gladly; nobody ever supposed he entered into it by compulsion. In short, he was "entrapped.” When, by and by, Mr. Meyrick wanted to print it, Dr. Manning was in a false position; he never intended his letters for publication; but every body knows the sort of use that an unscrupulous controversialist might have made of a refusal to publish, if he had withheld his consent. -ED. R. To the Editor of the Rambler. Trinity College, Oxford, Oct. 22, 1855. SIR,-I beg of your sense of justice the insertion of the two following notes in your next Number.-Your obedient servant, F. MEYRICK. I. Trinity College, Oxford, Oct. 16, 1855. DEAR SIR,-I have just found the following passage in the present Number of the Rambler: "The Rev. F. Meyrick entrapped Dr. Manning into a correspondence about the morality of the Saint, on the hypothesis that he really wanted to know the facts of the case. But no sooner does the correspondence draw to an end, than Mr. Meyrick announces that he intends to publish it. This he has now done." Will you be kind enough to authorise me to contradict this slander?-Yours faithfully, F. MEYRICK. To the Rev. H. E. MANNING, D.D. II. 78 South Audley Street, Oct. 17, 1855. DEAR SIR,-You have my authority for saying that you did not entrap me into the correspondence; for I entered into it gladly and by my own will, in the hope of a better result. I shall never be sorry that I made the attempt; my only regret is, that it had no happier issue.-Yours faithfully, To the Rev. F. MEYRICK. H. E. MANNING. VOL. IV. New Series. DECEMBER 1855. PART XXIV. THE MIRACLE-PLAYS OF THE MIDDLE AGES. WHILE the great subject on which the old miracle-plays chiefly turned was the Passion and Death of our Blessed Lord, they in the next place delighted to rehearse the joys and sorrows of His Immaculate Mother the Blessed Virgin, to show the angel Gabriel saluting her with, "Hayll Marie graciouse, Hayll Marie and God's spouse, Of all vyrgins thou art queen Hayll Marie and well thou bee, Or else to introduce Satan himself proclaiming her praises in a powerful scene like the following, taken from an old French miracle-play: BELIAL. Sathan, Sathan, rappaise toy; SATHAN. Je croy quant je lui aúrai dit Tout nostre Enfer destruit sera, Et bref nous serons detruits tous. LUCIFER. Sathan, qu'y a-t-il ? dis le nous ! SATHAN. Une Vierge sur terre est néé, Et en vertus si tres parfaicte!- Comme les autres. LUCIFER. Et que est elle? SATHAN. Elle est plus belle que Lucresse, We have alluded to several confraternities founded for representing the miracle-play of the Passion. Similar ones also existed in honour of Mary. One of the most celebrated of these was the "Confrerie de Nostre Dame du Puy," established at Valenciennes in 1229. It had four presidents styled "Princes." One of its statutes was as follows: "Item, if any one or more brethren shall fall into poverty, and not have the means of living, either through misfortune, loss, old age, or infirmity, all the rest shall severally be held bound to give them an alms of six denarii a month, and on their saint's * Onés. le Roy, Etudes, &c., chap. v. day the four princes shall each of them give a plentiful portion of food." It was the duty of the four princes to invite by public advertisement all the poets and orators of the city to compete for the prizes offered by the confraternity for the best compositions in honour of the ever-glorious and immaculate Queen of Heaven, to be recited or acted on her festivals. The Assumption was styled by way of distinction "Le Jour du Grand Record." On this day the image of the immaculate Mother of God was carried in solemn procession through the streets on the shoulders of twelve men clothed like the apostles, accompanied by choir-boys in the garb of angels, singing hymns and declaiming verses in honour of Mary. Then the image was placed on a stage erected for it in the great nave of the church. Above it a gorgeous canopy, painted to represent heaven, was spread out. In the roof musicians and choristers were concealed, who made the church resound with their songs and instruments, while the image, by means of machinery, was elevated aloft in face of the whole congregation. In this manner the great event of the day was brought home visibly as it were to the eyes of all. Then came forward the poets and orators and recited their pieces. After this the confraternity dined together and settled the award of the prizes. These were distributed by the four princes. The author of the best composition got a crown of fine silver, and the author of the second-best a chaplet also of silver. All the other poetical competitors received two measures of wine each for their refreshment and in token of good will. Neither were the rest of the persons forgotten who had taken part in the proceedings. The preacher, as we are naively informed, received a quarter of lamb; the twelve apostles a dish of fruit a-piece and half a measure of wine; the Carmelite and Dominican friars of the city, invited as guests for the occasion, were regaled by the confraternity with double convent fare; lastly meat and drink were freely distributed to all the poor who chose to come for it.* What more beautiful example could we desire of the intimate union of religion, poetry, general beneficence, and festive hilarity, than this confraternity of "Nostre Dame du Puy" at Valenciennes in the thirteenth century? How utterly at variance, too, is the fact of such confraternities with the hackneyed calumny, that the middle ages were plunged in literary ignorance! In further disproof of which may be mentioned the "Chambers of Rhetoric," also founded in the thirteenth century, and spread all over *Onés. le Roy, Etudes, &c. chap. ii. |