Some Great Red Spots in Paris-John J. O'Shea. ............ 486 W. Grey, Litt. D.......... Spain, The Situation in-Rev. Charles Warren Currier, Ph. D. 522 State, Church and Rev. M. M. Hassett. Steuart, O. S. B., Dom Benedict. The Nature of Sacrifice.....303 Sultan, England and the Rev. George McDermot, C. S. P.... 45 Universities, The Neo-Paganism Professed in American-Very 667 Walsh, Ph. D., M. D., James J. What Happened at the Re- Walsh, Ph. D., M. D., James J. Clergymen Mathematicians... 577 Assemblees du Clerge et le Protestantisme, Les-Bourlon.... 179 Dawn of the Catholic Revival in England, The-Ward. Early History of the Christian Church, The-Duchesne. 567 737 .. 185 Greek Versions of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, History of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Groen- ings 570 Holy Sacrifice and Its Ceremonies, The-Nieuwborn. Sunday School Director's Guide to Success, The-Sloan. Theologie Scholastique, La-Ligeard. Thesaurus Dictionary of the English Language, A-March. Thoughts of the Heart-Northcote. Travail Sociologique, Le-Meline. Travail et Folie-Marie et Martial. Viae Vitae of St. Benedict, The-Hayes. Vie et la Legende de Saint Gwennole, La-Allier. Virtues and Spiritual Counsels of Father Noailles-Baffie. Wanderings in the Roman Compagna-Lanciani. ... 371 ... 559 ...... ..... 169 QUARTERLY REVIEW "Contributors to the QUARTERLY will be allowed all proper freedom in the expression of their thoughts outside the domain of defined doctrines, the REVIEW not holding itself responsible for the individual opinions of its contributors." (Extract from Salutatory, July, 1890.) VOL. XXXIV. - JANUARY, 1909-No. 133. M JOHN BALE'S VOCATION. A SIDE-LIGHT ON REFORMATION DAYS IN IRELAND. EN rarely forecast the precise ground upon which their own fame will stand. Milton believed his immortality to lie in the now neglected pages of "Paradise Regained;" Newton fancied that the world would profit as much by the theology of his old age as by the science of his prime, flattering himself that he had cast as strong a light upon the "Prophecies of Daniel" as upon the natives of light itself. Could Frederick the Great have chosen his own laurels, he would now be crowned, not as a Prussian conqueror, but as a French classic. Destiny plays her game of cross-purposes as whimsically with the minor mortals as with the major immortals. If erudite old John Bale, lying on his deathbed in the year of grace 1563, had been called upon to give a reason for the high repute in which he sincerely believed posterity would hold him, he might have paused over the patient research evinced in his laborious Latin record of the "Illustrious Writers of Great Britain," for is not learning, however profound, merely the adpoted child of man's mind, while the inventions of genius are his own progeny? He might have hesitated over his precious anti-Popery polemics, for since Popery itself was languishing unto death, might not those valuable treatises lose their vitality with the adversary's dissolution? He might have deliberated over his personal righteousness, for although his own pen testifies to his comfortable conviction that he had been a shining light to the Lord's Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1909, by P. J. Ryan, in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. people and a scorching fire to the Lord's enemies, is it not written that the just man is taken away and none are mindful of him? But he would have rested his glance with modest satisfaction on those admirable productions of his own brain, the moralities and miracleplays whereby, had time and circumstances been propitious, he might have converted to the Gospel Truth a whole nation of superstitious savages. Yes, he would have confessed, for John Bale was a candid man; his humble belief that future generations would find intellectual delight and spiritual edification in the "Comedy of John the Baptist," "The Tragedy of God's Promises" and the great historical drama of "King John," enacted with pious applause at the godly court of his own royal pupil, the young Edward VI. Never, assuredly, would the dying reformer have suspected that a little autobiographical fragment, almost forgotten by its author, would more vividly touch the interest of the twentieth century than all the spoils of his learning or the arsenal of his controversy. This curious little volume, brought out in the orthodox city of Geneva, bears the following superscription: "Ye Vocacyionn of John Bale to ye Bishopryk of Ossorie, in Ireland, his persecuciones in ye same, and finalle delyveraunce therefrom." As a defiance to the AntiChrist of the Tiber it is, moreover, set forth on the title-page that this book is "imprinted in Rome, before ye Castelle of S. Angelle, at ye seyne of S. Peter." This exact localizing of publication must be charitably accepted as an allegory, inasmuch as it would be rash to suppose that so ardent a champion of truth could have been vain enough or modern enough to press a picturesque lie into the service of a title page. This naive little exposition of John Bale's peculiar mission, fluctuating hopes, blind prejudices, inveterate hatreds and utter failure is one of the curiosities of literature. It was becoming daily rarer when its reprint in the "Harleian Miscellany" rescued it from extinction and preserved it among the quaint little genre pictures of history. Grim John Bale was a sturdy Suffolk man, born near the little town of Cove, in 1495. Like most of the early so-called reformers, he received from the charity of the Church the weapons he afterwards used against her. A hardy peasant lad, he found a gratuitous education with the friars whom he afterwards maligned and persecuted. They perceived him to be a youth of parts and piety and carried him, at their own cost, through all the higher courses of their curriculum. His frequent boasts in later life as to the purity of his Latin and the mastery of his dialectics form his only recorded testimonial of gratitude. The good monks welcomed him into their number and he became a fervent Carmelite Friar of Ipswich. But the characteristic vanity and self-sufficiency of which his little auto |