and bray ex Cathedrâ so loudly, that they are heard from Edinburgh to the Land's End. 189. Religious Epigram. In the Mercurio Peruano, T. 1.f. 305, there is a remarkable religious epigram, written by a Persian poet, there called Suzeno, after he had been converted to Christianity. In the Spanish it forms a quatrain which it is beyond my skill to render in verse. Quatro cosas, Dios mio que en tu erario no tienes, te presento ; y mi arrepentimiento "Four things, O my God, I offer thee, which thou hast not in thy treasury; my nothingness, my wants, my sin, and my repentance !" 190. The Holy Fire. What was the disease which Robert of Gloucester mentions in the following lines, as existing in France in his time, but not in England? So clene lond ys Engolond, and so pur with outen ore, That the fairest men of the world, ther inne beth y bore, So clene and fair and purwyt among other men heo beth, That me knoweth hem en eche lond bi sygte, where me hem seth, So clene al so is that land & monne's blod so pur, That the gret unel cometh not ther that me cleputh tho That for freteth monne's lymes, rygt as heo were brende. That Engolond ys lond best, as yt is y write. P. 8. This should seem to mean Erysipelas; yet that disease is now common in England, and how it should ever have been cured by change of climate is difficult to explain. 191. Beards. ¡Guillaume Duprat, bishop of Clermont, who assisted at the council of Trent, and built the college of the Jesuits at Paris, had the finest beard that ever was seen. It was too fine a beard for a bishop, and the Canons of his Cathedral, in full chapter assembled, came to the barbarous resolution of shaving him. Accordingly when next he came to the choir, the dean, the prevot and the chantre approached with scissars and razors, soap, bason and warm water. He took to his heels at the sight and escaped to his castle of Beauregard, about two leagues from Clermont, where he fell sick for vexation, and died. During his illness he made a vow never again to set foot in Clermont, where they had offered him so villainous an insult; and to revenge himself he exchanged the bishoprick with cardinal Salviati, nephew to Leo X. who was so young that he had not a hair upon his chin. Duprat, however, repented of the exchange before his death, and wrote to Salviati, quoting these lines of Martial: Sed tu nec propera, brevibus nec crede capillis, Telemacomanie. p. 22. The author of this learned criticism apon the Telemaque has not explained why the Chapter of Clermont thought proper to persecute their Bishop's beard. If he was proud of its length, and took pleasure, like the Cid, in cherishing it, that at the worst was a venial offence, which should have been settled between him and his Confessor. There is a female Saint, whom the Jesuit Sautel, in his Annus Sacer Poeticus, has celebrated for her beard,.. a mark of divine favour bestowed upon her for her prayers. Her day in the kalendar is the 20th of July, and the miracle is thus recorded in these Catholic Fasti. S. Vuilgefortis Virgo, barbe repente enascentis miraculo castitatem tuetur. Virgineo metuens formosa puella pudori, (Nam nitet eximio pulcher in ore decor:) Quotquot empyreo Superos agnorat Olympo His rogat, aut paribus supplice voce sonis; "O Superi, quibus est curæ virtutis honestas, (6 Quosque pius tangit virginitatis amor; "Vos precor, ut nostro species abɛcedat ab ore, "Quæ solet infestos sollicitare procos. "Non ego deformes vetulæ cutis abnuo rugas, "Nec quæ gibboso tubere terga tument. "Nullum ego, Calicolæ, quodcumque est, respuo monstrum, "Dum meus egregio cedat ab ore nitor." Spectantum insolitus præcordia perculit horror, Namque vero ut propior facta est barbata Virago This was obtaining a beard speciali gratiâ. But there is said to be another way of producing one, which we recom mend to the consideration of all Lady |