for a peccadillo; that the prayers which were established, would shorten the duration of the chastisement; and that by paying handsomely, a thousand souls at once might be liberated from that abode of darkness and horror. Twenty troops of monks inculcated so deeply into the minds of the catholics this ridiculous jargon, that the holy and poor church was entirely déluged with effects, moveable and immoveable, till Luther determined to shut up purgatory, into which none now enter except Spanish, Irish, and Italian bigots.

FRENCH PREACHER.

Du Perron complains of a spiritual orator, of his time, for saying-"Seigneur nettoyez moi le "bec, de la serviette de ton amour." Lord, cleanse thou my lips with the napkin of thy love.

WELSH EPITAPH.

Two lovely babes lie buried here,
As ever bless'd their parent's dear;
But they were seised with ague fits,
And here they lie as dead as nits.

CLEMENT THE SIXTH.

That the pope can curse to the

purpose, when

he sets about it, let the following composition of

curses bear witness.

Clement VI. in the bull

which he issued against the Emperor Louis of Bavaria, expresses himself thus; "May God “strike him with imbecility and madness! may "heaven overwhelm him with its thunders! 66 may the anger of God, with that of St. Peter "and St. Paul, fall on him in this world, and "in the next! may the whole universe revolt against him! may the earth swallow him up "alive! may his name perish from the earliest generation! and may his memory disappear! may all the elements be adverse to him! may

66

66

66

"his children be delivered into the hands of his "enemies; be crushed before the eyes of their "father, &c. &c."

GROS TESTE, BISHOP OF LINCOLN.

Bishop Hall, one of the most illustrious prelates that adorned England during the seventeenth century, says in his apology for the married Clergy: "Do not our historians tell us, "that in the reign of Henry the Third, Robert "Gros Teste, the famous bishop of Lincoln, in "a visitation was obliged to press the breasts in order to know whether they Indignum scribi, it is a shame

"of their nuns, "were virgins.

"to mention it; as Matthew Paris writes: ad

"domos religiosarum veniens, fecit exprimi "mammillas earundum; ut sic physicé, si esset "inter eas corruptela, experiretur."

ARCHIEPISCOPAL PRIVILEGE.

It is not, perhaps, generally known that the Archbishop of Canterbury has, by virtue of his office, the privilege of conferring upon one candidate, the honorary degree of a Doctor of Medicine; which remarkable privilege is exercised at the present day.

CLEMENT THE FOURTEENTH.

The baron of Gleichen, in his way to Italy, stopped at Ferney, and enquired of Voltaire what he should say from him to the pope. "His "Holiness," replied Voltaire, "favours me with "presents of medals, and of indulgences, and

even sends me his blessing: but I would " rather that Ganganelli would send me the ears "of the Grand Inquisitor." The Baron delivered the message: "Tell him, replied Clement, "that as long as Ganganelli is pope, the Grand "Inquisitor shall have neither ears nor eyes." This memorable repartee has still higher merit than its wit to recommend it.

MYSTICAL JARGON.

Bishop Synesius, in a hymn to the Trinity says, as he thinks, most devoutly, "Thou art "thy own Father and Mother; thou art thy "own Son and Daughter." Our bishop Chandler once got into the same hyperplatonic jargon ; the disciples of Hutchison also say, that Jesus Christ is his own Father, and his own Son, not observing the real perpetual subordination and personal minority of the Son, a doctrine insisted upon by all judicious divines.

AUTO DA FE.

That heretics are but fuel, that they should smell after the faggot, the holy Roman Church did believe, and cited the following text as their rule. "Whosoever doth not abide in me shall "be cast out of the vineyard as a branch, and "there wither; and men gather them and cast "them into the fire, and they are burned." John 15. 6. John Andreas Panormitanus Hostiensii, Bernardus Leizenburgen, and other catholic writers have been good enough to favour the world with their commentaries on this text, as proving that heretics ought to be burned like grape branches-this made the poet exclaim