and, in 1611, was purchased by Thomas Sutton, Esq., a rich bachelor citizen, for £13,000. He endowed the hospital and school with fifteen manors and other lands, yielding annually the sum of £4,493 19s. 10d.; but the income has since enormously increased. "In 1773, the Charter House maintained eighty pensioners, besides which forty-four boys were supported in the house, well-lodged, and classically educated." But St. Bruno is scarcely so celebrated as a prelate of his name, the famous "Bishop Bruno," whose story Southey tells in the form of a ballad. He informs us how the bishop, who did not apparently live in the odour of sanctity, dreamt a terrible dream or rather succession of dreams: how he rang the palace bell," and the sound it gave was his passing knell." How he turned himself round and slept again, and again rang at the palace gate, and, lo! death was his porter. How, presently, he went forth to dine with the emperor, how the people thronged to see his pride, and made their obeisances to him, "but nobody blest him as he went." Then, as he went on stately and proud, how he heard a voice saying:— "Ho! ho! Bishop Bruno, you travel with glee, At which appalling words the bishop And again, as he blessed the meat, the same unearthly visitant accosted him: "With the emperor now you are dining in glee, The wine-cups, however, restored the affrighted prelate to his accus tomed state of jollity, and the ballad ends thus: "When he sat down to the royal fare, Then from amid the masqers' crowd 'You have passed the day, Bishop Bruno, with glee; His cheek grows pale, and his eyeballs glare, With that there came one from the masquers' band, The bony hand suspended his breath, His marrow grew cold at the touch of Death; A German legend, however, says, that the voice spoke to him as he was sailing on the Danube with the Emperor Henry III, and that he was shortly after killed by a rafter, which fell upon him as he sat feasting at the imperial board in a certain castle. The legend calls him Bishop of Herbipolitanum, where "St. Denys had his head cut St. Denys was beheaded with some other confessors of the faith at And his story ever that may be. Saint Denys, one of the Seven Champions of Christendom, and the patron saint of France, stands next in the calendar, October 9th: off, he did not care for that, it two miles without his hat." Montmartre, in the neighbourhood of Paris. Montmartre being indeed an a corruption of Mons martyrium, or the Hill of Martyrdom. It is not mentioned that there was any especial manifestation in the cases of the other martyrs, whose names are not even recorded; but after decapitation, the body of St. Denysso at least it is affirmed-rose upon its feet, and carrying its own head in its hands, marched on triumphantly to the music of the heavenly choir, who audibly chanted anthem of rejoicing, ending with these words:-" Gloria tibi, Domine alleluia!" Thus burdened, the dear saint walked two good miles, till he reached the house of a pious old woman, into whose hands he lovingly resigned his head. The venerable abbey of St. Denis, about three miles from Paris, is to the French people what Westminster Abbey is to us. The little town, which has grown up around it, also bears the name of the saint; but in these days, apart from the deeply interesting associations of the Abbey, one thinks of it chiefly as being the last station on the line which runs from Boulogne to the gay capital; where, indeed, the tickets are generally collected, as at our own Camden-town, &c. Who thinks now of the old gentleman, who carried his head in his hands, and, as some accounts declare, kissed it,not with his lips certainly!—who thinks of him, when railway officials sing out along the platform:"St. Denis! St. Denis! des billets, des billets, si'l vous plait!" And yet there was a time when the very stones of the monastery and the country round it, were reverenced for his sake. Indeed, in 704, St. Denis worked miracles in company with SS. Paul and Peter, and France still glories in his relics; a boast, however, contested by Ratisbon, and in some sort by Prague, which claims to be the possessor of at least a portion of this saint's body. I have seen a remarkable engraving, copied from "Le tableau de la Croix," which represents St. Denis just decapitated, walking along in full pontifical array, a glory on his shoulders, and his head, with a face of most benevolent aspect, carried VOL. II. The complacently in his hands. book from which this "lively portraiture" is taken is of comparatively modern date. We have little else to record this month than the annals which the calendar suggests, and our next halting-place is at the 13th day of October, which commemorates the "Translation of King Edward;' an interpolation which I must confess puzzled me not a little in childish days, when instead of joining in the Litany, I studied the Solemnization of Holy Matrimony," and other special services, and occasionally the calendar, which always interested my youthful mind, and exercised it almost painfully when I came to certain records, of which this was one, the most perplexing indeed of any, even surpassing the "Invention of the Cross,” and “O Sapientia!" For, as I argued, translation meant going to heaven without dying; to wit, Enoch and Elijah. Now did the Prayer Book really mean to assert that King Edward the Confessor. who flourished in our own history books, and whose date we learned, and said in class, shared the same privilege? In after years I discovered that the word Translation" was only applied to the removal of the remains of the royal Confessor! You all know the beautiful chapel of St. Edward, in Westminster Abbeythat antique chapel, which contains, besides the famous shrine, the monuments of Eleanor of Castile, and Leon, wife of Edward I.; of Philippa, the honoured consort of the third Edward; of Edward III. himself; of Richard II. and his queen, Ann of Bohemia, and others of note. Also the coronation chairs, and the celebrated coronation-stone (reported to be actually Jacob's pillow), brought to England by Edward I. after he had overcome John Balliol, king of Scots. But the glory of the chapel is its venerable shrine, which was erected by Henry III., in 1269, to receive the remains of St. Edward the Conhis fessor, upon TRANSLATION from the shrine built by Henry II., Χ 1163, upon the canonization, by Pope Alexander III., of Edward King of England, and last of the Saxon race, who died in 1065. The Pope who caused the name of the royal dead to be entered in the catalogue of saints, issued a bull to the Abbot Laurentius and the Convent of Westminster enjoining, "that his body be honoured here on earth, as his soul is glorified in heaven." But among our local saints, there is perhaps none whose history assumes a more ludicrous aspect than that of Saint Etheldreda, to whom the seventeenth day of the month is dedicated. This lady, more commonly known as St. Audrey, or St. Awdry, was the daughter of one of our East-Anglian kings, and was born about 630, and took the veil at an early age, at Coldinghame Abbey, in Yorkshire. But notwithstanding Etheldreda's vows, she was twice forced by her parents to marry, yet the Romish breviaries style her, "twice a widow and always a virgin!" Her first husband was a nobleman named Toubert, or Toubercht; her second spouse, Egfrid, king of Northumberland. After the departure of this gentleman, she again returned to a religious life, and became Abbess of her convent. Now she took to rigorous ways, renounced the use of water, except as a beverage, "and became,"quote from an article on Paint, Powder, and Patches," in the -we Cornhill," for June, 1863-" covered with spots about the neck and face, to her infinite peace of mind and general satisfaction." These spots, which were far from beauty-spots, born of meagre diet and dirt, St. Audrey laid to the charge of her former luxuries and vanities: "I was once too proud," quoth she, "of those splendid carbuncles which my mother gave me when I married poor Toubercht, and now I have an assortment of them which I think more beautiful still!" She had been famous for brilliant necklaces, it seems, in her courtly days. But her nuns, shut up with her in their damp convent of Ely, wished she would cover what she called "her carbuncles" with patches, and there were some people who ventured very freely to censure her uncleanly habits: whereat St. Thomas of Ely was excited to unreasonable anger, and he exclaimed, Fie upon Your washing! fie upon your washing! Besides, Etheldreda washes every hour, though ye know it not!" To which the stubborn folk made answer, then it was certainly not her face!" "Face here! face there!" retorted St. Thomas, his choler waxing hotter; "the good queen and saintly lady washed her heart hourly; what profit would there have been to her in washing the body after that? None! and the water never touched it, except it fell upon her in the form of rain!" Well, we think it would have profited her greatly, since we really cannot perceive the connection between filth of body and spirituality of mind. rather believing that, as a rule, dirty habits and sin keep each other company; and so we cannot agree with St. Thomas of Ely, to whom the renunciation of the simplest toiletduties seems to have appeared as one of the cardinal virtues, significant of most exalted piety. We are sure St. Etheldreda must have secretly rejoiced at being caught in a thunder-storm, and it is a pity her nuns did not push her into one of their own meres, once and again. and give her the comfort of an involuntary bath! She died at her convent, in 679, and sixteen years afterwards, on the 17th of October, her relics were removed or translated, as it is called in ccclesiastical chronicles, and therefore it is on this day that her festival is com memorated. At an annual fair. kept in the Isle of Ely, and called St. Audrey's fair, much cheap and showy lace was usually bought by the country-lasses, and this lace soon became proverbial as M. Audrey's lace. Very soon the word Taudry, a corruption of St. Audry, was used to denote something of gay exterior and little value, hence, of course, our own word tawdry, which we commonly apply to urna ments, and articles of dress and furniture that are chiefly remarkable for their outside show and lack of real worth. So that St. Etheldreda contributed a word to the English language, and may be considered the patroness of all the dirty alleys, and foul dens, and filthy cabins that the land contains. And yet this unsavoury saintess, in her sublime disregard of that which the proverb of centuries counts "next to godliness," scarcely surpasses some nuns of our own day, ladies. of condition and education, who, on embracing the so-called religious life, vow to wear one dress. till it falls to pieces. It is quite refreshing to come to a real saint's day, St. Luke's, the 18th of October. This St. Luke is, of course, the Evangelist, and "beloved physician," who remained with the great apostle of the Gentiles when forsaken by the worldly Demas. It is presumed that he died about the year 70, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, having written his Gospel some seven or eight years before. His festival was appointed by the Romish Church in the twelfth century, and retained by the Reformed Church of the sixteenth century. A special Collect, Epistle, and Gospel, and Proper Lessons are assigned to the Anglican services of this day. Referring to the "Magnificat," the "Benedictus," and the Nunc Dimittis," all used in the regular services of the Established Church, and all from St. Luke's Gospel,-Keble writes; "Thou hast an ear for angels' songs, In the Romish calendar appear on the 25th, the names of St. Crispin and St. Crispinian; the Anglican calendar retains the name of the former saint, and omits the latter, for what reason we cannot say, since in all legends and chronicles the two are intimately associated. It is said that, in imitation of St. Paul, they preached the Gospel, and worked with their own hands, not at tent-making, but at shoe-making; hence St. Crispin is the patron saint of all his craft. On this day, A. D. 1415, was fought the memorable battle of Agincourt. The festival of St. Simon and St. Jude, apostles, closes the list. It is alleged, but on very slight grounds, that Simon, called the Canaanite, from Cana, his birth-place, preached the Gospel in Britain, and then suffered martyrdom. Jude, or Judas, also called Thaddeus and Lebbous, was brother to James, the brother of our Lord. Lardner conjectures that he was a son of Joseph by a former marriage. There is no authentic account of his death, but it is by some presumed that he was mar tyred in Persia, time and place unknown. We must just mention the last day of the month, or rather the last night, which is the vigil of All Saints Day, and commonly called Allhallows Eve. Numerous superstitions were formerly practised and, to some extent, still prevail chiefly in the northern counties of England and in Scotland, among the juniors of the population, who on this night expect to learn the names of their future partners in life. The devices to which they resort are too numerous and too silly to describe. Swallows are generally seen for the last time this month, and the tortoise begins to busy himself for the winter. The mornings and evenings increase in mistiness, though the noontide is often warm and clear. Cod-fish now begins to be in season, and towards the close of the month, oysters are in high flavour; the flowers of the fields and lanes are few, and pale, and stunted; the woodlands still wear their royal robes of many hues, though day by day the sere leaves flutter to their parent earth. The garden borders still boast some relics of their summer wealth, and if the season be mild, many lingering blooms shed their sweet, sad beauty on the foliage-strewn lawn and moist black mould, but anon there comes a frosty night, and in the 66 morning red and yellow leaves are on the turf, the branches stand up thinned against the grey autumnal sky, and Heavily hangs the broad sunflower A GLANCE AT THE MISSION FIELD. IF distance lends enchantment to the view, and sometimes makes Christian heroism more beautiful because of the perspective in which it is viewed, this is no reason why we should be unaware of the triumphs of faith and work at our own doors. And within the last few weeks a · brief narrative of facts" has been placed in our hands, which, for the romance of Christian incident and for instructiveness to every Christian heart that ponders them, have, we venture to think, been unsurpassed in the annals of modern Christian enterprise. A" Brief Narrative of Facts" is the modest title of the pamphlet that lies before us. Yet what facts are here! Lowly in the world's esteem they may be reckoned; but to the eye of faith the little becomes great, and the last first. "Without anyone having been personally applied to for anything" by the writer, he can tell how the liberality of the Christian Church has enabled him during two-and-thirty years to provide board, lodging, and secular and religious training for altogether 16,000 children and others; how more than £233,000 have been received for their use; how that spot has been a centre from which have gone forth and are aided in their work 120 ministers and missionaries of the Gospel in many of the counties of England and many of the lands of the earth; and how 27,000,000 of books and tracts have been put into circulation: and all this under the immediate guidance of one presiding mind, the secret and strength of whose soul is this-that he believes in the might of the prayer of faith. Need we say that we refer to George Müller, and to the Orphan Houses at Ashley Down? But let us look a little more closely at these wondrous annals. The work he has carried on is not without its grave anxieties and difficulties. Let us see how they are dealt with. "During the past year," writes Mr. Müller, it pleased the Lord to exercise our faith greatly with reference to scarlet-fever and the whoopingcough. In Sept., 1865, the scarletfever broke out at the New Orphan House No. 2, in which house there are 200 infant girls and 200 elder girls. It appeared among the infants. The cases increased more and more. But we betook ourselves to God in prayer. Day by day we called upon Him regarding this trial, and generally two or three times a day. At last, when the infirmary rooms were filled, and also some other rooms that could be spared for the occasion. to keep the sick children from the rest, and when now we had no other rooms to spare, at least not without great inconvenience, it pleased the Lord to answer our prayers, and in mercy to stay the disease." Mary were ill, but all recovered." At the end of the year 1865, the whoopingcough appeared among the 450 girls of the New Orphan House No. 3. This disease was very general in Bristol, and many children died in consequence. Parents and others. who have an affectionate heart, and who feel for the suffering of children. can easily suppose how our hearts were affected when we heard these dear children labouring under ti..s |