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From The Saturday Review.

DE ROSSI'S ANCIENT INSCRIPTIONS FROM

CHRISTIAN ROME.*

Ir is pleasant to welcome from the Vatican press a thoroughly learned and useful work. The long-expected collection of Christian Inscriptions, on which the Cavaliere de Rossi has been engaged for so many years, has at last made its appearance in a first volume-a folio of above six hundred pages, admirably printed, but stitched in the familiar faint gray paper wrapper which is so much affected by Italian editors and publishers, and so much detested by book-collectors. Five more volumes of equal bulk are promised; and we hope sincerely that this great undertaking will reach a speedy and successful conclusion. De Rossi has collected from all quarters no less than eleven thousand Christian inscriptions, all belonging to the first six centuries of our era. It is his intention to print the whole of these, as far as possible, in fac simile, by means of woodcuts and lithography, or by special founts of type. His scheme also includes the arrangement of this immense mass of inscriptions in (at least) approximate chronological order, excluding all which are not certainly Christian. A very long and learned prefatory essay, written in Latin, discusses the whole subject in all its bearings. The author claims to have formed, for the first time, a complete system of what he calls Christian Epigraphy. His commentary and explanations are not merely critical as to the text, but are designed to show what incidental light is thrown by these ancient inscriptions upon the creed and practice of Christian antiquity, and also upon incidental questions of history and chronology.

About one-tenth of the whole collection of inscriptions are dated. These, with the Prolegomena, form the contents of this first volume. The learned author has arranged as many as 1,374 Roman epitaphs, all bearing dates more or less exact, in a continuous chronological series, extending from the year A.D. 71-which is the earliest note of time which has been as yet discovered-to the end of the fifth century. The labor of this systematic arrangement must have been enor

mous.

For some of the dates are reckoned by the notation of different eras; others by * Inscriptiones Christiane Urbis Roma Septimo Sæculo Antiquiores. Edidit Joannes Bapt. de Rossi Romanus. Volumen Primum. Roma: Ex Officina Libraria Pontificia. Ab anno MDCCCLVII ad MDCCC

LXI.

London: C. J. Stewart.

the official years of emperors, consuls, magistrates, popes, and bishops; others, again, by solar and lunar cycles, and by what are called indictions. De Rossi concludes that the use of eras in ancient Christian epigraphy at Rome was confined to foreigners from the East, Africa, and Spain. The native Roman Christians employed the other methods of determining dates. It need scarcely be said that the disquisitions on these subjects are of the greatest and most varied interest and importance. The author, for example, has examined and re-arranged the consular fasti, and has shown that the Jews and early Christians used the Solar Cycle of their Pagan contemporaries. From this last conclusion he derives some guidance as to many epochs of ecclesiastical history, and especially as to the determination of the actual year of our Saviour's crucifixion. In discussing the Lunar Cycles, De Rossi had occasion to examine the famous Paschal controversies. We shall not be surprised to find him, in his capacity of a Roman partisan, castigating the rival pretensions of the Church of Alexandria. What he calls the "fabula de Orientali paschatis definiendi ritu a Britannis usurpato et de Orientali Britannicæ ecclesiæ origine " is also very summarily disposed of.

The chapter of the Prolegomena which deals with the undated inscriptions is considerably easier reading than the preceding ones. The Cav. de Rossi proves that, during the ages of persecution, all, or nearly all, the Christian inscriptions were subterranean. In the reign of Constantine, Christian monuments first begin to make their appearance above ground. Between A.D. 364 and 374 as many memorials seem to belong to one class as to the other. Then the proportions begin to be inverted. From 375 to 400 the underground epitaphs became less and less numerous; from 400 to 410 they are rare; from 410 to 450 they are quite exceptional. These considerations are obviously very useful for ascertaining the age of an undated epitaph. The author assigns its age to every inscription with the audacity of an expert. We should regard it as the height of rashness to controvert any of his decisions. No living man can compete with him in experience and long familiarity with his subject. He reminds us that long and minute examination of the palæographic character of the writing, of the symbols used, of the language, style, formulas, orthography, nomenclature, and a thousand other details, has given him almost

we may borrow from the Cav. De Rossi's preface a short notice of the existing literature of Christian epigraphy. So early as the time of Charles the Great, the ancient inscriptions of Rome began to be copied. The most ancient Sylloge of this kind is preserved

a new sense in interpreting these ancient records. It is satisfactory to see that De Rossi's general conclusions are consistent with the common-sense view of the matter. For example, he distinguishes two general styles of ancient Christian Epigraphy-that of the ages of persecution, and that of the time in the Codex Einsiedlensis, and is attributed which followed the political enfranchisement of the Church :

to a follower of Alcuin. From this and similar collections not a few of De Rossi's 11,000 In the fourteenth “The first (he says) is simple and timid. epitaphs are borrowed. It expresses the Christian faith rather by and fifteenth centuries, the value of these symbols than by words; and when words monumental records was universally acknowlmake their appearance, they seem to flow edged; but it was not till the year 1578 that spontaneously from the heart, and to express the forgetfulness of many centuries. Hence the Roman catacombs were re-opened, after the tenderest emotions in a language which, it is that the almost inexhaustible supply though rude and untaught, is simple, fresh, of Christian inscriptions has been procured. and sometimes elegant. Hence, these affecting exclamations, Vivas in Deo, In Domino, In Christo, In pace, Refrigera, Deus tibi refrigeret, Pete pro nobis-pro conjuge-pro filiis-pro fratribus pro sorore, and many others. In these epitaphs there is seldom or never any reference to the private history of the deceased, or to his merits, or even to the day of his death. The style of the second epoch is very different. In its frigid and verbose language one sees much more desire to sing the praises of the departed, and to record the dates of his birth and death, than the wish to pour forth the spontaneous expression of pious and affectionate sentiments in the true language of the heart."

It is certainly somewhat startling to find that, even in the fourth century of the Christian era, it was common to describe the dead as being miræ bonitatis atque sanctitatis, miræ innocentiæ ac sapientiæ, and the like. But it seems that, even in the earlier centuries, it was not unusual to describe any departed soul by the phrase spiritus sanctus-an expression which De Rossi reprehends as theologically inconvenient, without seeing that there is no difference, in respect of Christian humility, between using the epithet sanctus to a human spirit, and saying that a man had been miræ sanctitatis. The philological importance of these ancient epitaphs, as giving in so many cases the earliest transitional forms by which the ancient Latin began to change into the modern languages derived from it, seems to be, if not overlooked by De Rossi, yet scarcely sufficiently recognized. But it is true that the preliminary essay ends with some abruptness, deferring some of the disquisitions suggested by the later epitaphs, and this (presumably) among the rest, for a future volume.

Our readers will, from these remarks, have seen the nature and general treatment of this invaluable work. We shall hope to recur in more detail to the consideration of the first instalment of ancient Christian epitaphs here given, and so lucidly explained. Meanwhile,

Bosio, the author of the famous Roma Sot-
terranea, describes the excitement that pre-
vailed in Rome on the 31st of May in that
laria was accidentally discovered.
year, when the catacomb under the Via Sa-
After
Bosio, Gruter's name is the most notable in
this branch of antiquities, until we come to
Zaccaria, who, with his contemporary, Dan-
zetta, attempted to give a polemical bearing
to the subject. The title of Danzetta's essay,
which remains (perhaps happily) unpub-
lished the Vatican MSS., is Theologia
among
Lapidaria. The names of Marinius and of

Angelo Maii bring down the scientific study
of Christian epigraphy to our own times.
De Rossi himself was persuaded, more than
twenty years ago, by the well-known Padre
Marchi, whom few recent visitors to the Ro-
man catacombs will forget, to turn his atten-
tion to this branch of antiquities. He ac-
knowledges his great obligations to the pres-
ent pope for his constant patronage and for
his liberal pecuniary assistance towards the
publication of this costly work. So far as
we see, De Rossi himself possesses all the
requisite qualities of a good editor. We be-
lieve that he is thoroughly honest and accu-
rate. His information is never taken at
second-hand without verification. His system
of producing fac similes of almost all the in-
scriptions which he gives is beyond all praise;
for, as it need scarcely be said, in a difficult
legend there is not a stroke or a contraction
which may not be of importance. We could
have wished that in some cases the unerring
help of photography could have been ob
tained. This splendid volume, published at
Rome for twenty scudi, is to be obtained in
this country from the authorized agent, Mr.
C. J. Stewart, of King William Street, for
£4 88. No public library should be without
it, for it will be undoubtedly the standard
authority on its subject. De Rossi's collec-
tion of ancient Christian epitaphs may be
supplemented by the results of further dis-
coveries, but it is quite certain that it can
never be superseded.

From The Examiner.
FOOLS AND KNAVES.

of a cook's shop in Camden town, who, the other day, lodged and boarded a duke's son, "He is very foolish, but he is no one's en-ther's cheque for £100 instead of ten times who was sadly put out by receiving his faemy but his own." How often do we hear this said, and how false it generally is. The as many thousands, which he had a right to fools are enemies of others indirectly, and expect. The gull complex is part booby, very dangerous enemies too. The fools make part cormorant, and the voracity which is the knaves. As there is a wages' fund for dominant is really at the bottom of his creduhonest labor, so there is a gullibility fund for lity. It is eagerness for gain which makes sharping and swindling. The extent of the tradesmen the dupes of sharpers dealing in one is proportionate to the extent of the the most outrageously improbable representions. So, too, in those vulgar everyday other. Indeed, when we count up the number of cheats, we may estimate the number sharping tricks practised on country folks accosted in the street and taken to a publicof dupes that have been necessary to their cxistence, and may calculate, with sufficient house, where a confederate is met who proapproximation to the truth, how many fools poses some trick, it will generally be seen go to a knave. Many a fellow at the tread- that there is a biter bitten, that Hodge was mill might have been an honest man if it had that he had all the will to be knave with only fleeced from his eagerness to overreach, and not been for the opportunity of cheating that the capacity to be fool. When we read these some egregious booby offered. Indeed, pretty much what game is to the poacher gullibility complainant could share punishment with the cases in the police reports we often wish the is to the sharper, and the head of folly tempt- complainant could share punishment with the ing to offence which the country keeps up is something monstrous. Philanthropy delights in the idea of reformation, but why does it expend all its care upon the offender at the bar and bestow none on the prosecutor in the witness-box? For if that green goose goes forth as he is, the plucking of him will make a score of sharpers. You shut up a dangerous madman, and here is a dangerous booby, as there is in him the making of many rogues by process of temptation. He is the whetstone that sharpens the iron,—

"the tool

prisoner.

An account of a swindling case is now going the rounds of the press which is a good example of a whole class, and how it is that folks are taken in, by what paltry devices working on feelings to match.

A young gentleman unknown makes his appearance at Wolverhampton, taking up his quarters at the best hotel. He orders a carneighboring clergyman. The coachman has riage and pair to take him to pay a visit to a no white gloves. The young gentleman is scandalized. He never can consent to be driven by a coachman without white gloves. The man must get white gloves. Here was a pledge of respectability and something more. Confidence was inspired in every breast by the exaction of white gloves as a sine quâ non. Next to white gloves for the driver came a demand for a black band for the visitor, for mourning is a sign of promise, ideas of inheritance or legacy being associated with it. The unknown arrives at the door of the clergyman, and sends in a card with a black border.

That knaves do work with, called a fool." Of course the more of these fools there are the worse for the community, as the rascality that begins with preying upon them obtains an edge that is turned against the sounder part of the public. A magistrate lately said, very justly, that he would not take cognizance of charges of theft of goods improperly exposed, and so offering undue temptation. And every dupe is improperly exposed, and a walking temptation to all knavishly predisposed. There are two sorts "The card announced him to be Mr. of gulls egregious, the one simplex, like Charles Wickes, Woodlands, Spring Grove, young Primrose in the "Vicar of Wakefield; and Carlton Club, Pallmall.' This address the other complex, like the Finsbury stable- obtained him a ready audience. Now face to kceper who let a gig to Lord John Russell to quite prepared, from the features of his visface with the rev. gentleman the latter was go down to the queen at Windsor, and lent the itor to believe him when he said that he was then Premier £4 10s for some small purchases the son of an old parishioner whom he (the he wanted to make on the road; or the keeper | clergyman) knew when he had a living at

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Cambridge. The young gentleman had em- | a coachman without white gloves. The clerbraced the profession of architect, and fur-gyman, with a suitable party of the best comthermore was an author; for it was he, he pany to meet the literary visitor, waited dinasserted, who had written the work, pub- ner next day for the son of his old friend, and lished by Weale and by Ackerman, on the Towers and Spires of England.' He was in that neighborhood sketching the collegiate church of Wolverhampton, with a view to the publication of his sketch in another work which he was preparing; but he was without ready cash, and desired an introduction to one of the banks in the district. He not only obtained the note of introduction, but also an invitation to dinner on the following day."

author of the "Towers and Spires of England," and the Bilston Bank will wait still longer for its £40. Mark what a convenient tool for a knave was that uninquiring parson, so readily taking all on trust, and vouching for an utter stranger. And the bank believed the credentials, and the story of the purchase of the estate and the rich wife, it believed all this because of the £2,000 cheque, which made it desirable and pleasant to believe. A rogue who had less understood his business, and what he had to do with, than Mr. Wickes of Woodlands, would have drawn either for some more modest or more magnificent sum, but Mr. Wickes knew exactly the size and feather of the fly that would catch his trout. It was altogether a fine piece of art, from the white gloves, to the parsonage, the bank, the purchase of the estate, the wife, and the small advance on the large cheque. How a rogue like this must chuckle over his dupes, and amuse himself with all the littlenesses and blind cupidities upon which he practises.

Thus easily was made dupe minor No. 1, who was, in turn, to make dupe major No. 2. The rev. gudgeon was the bait caught for the great fish. Mr. Wickes of Woodlands, Spring Grove, and the Carlton Club, Pallmall, armed with the clergyman's introduction (of a person of whom he knew nothing), goes to the Bilston District Bank in Wolverhampton, presents the letter of credence of the clergyman, and proposes to open an account with a cheque on the Southampton Bank for £2,000. He is in the neighborhood to purchase an estate, for which he has agreed, and intends to bring down to it his wife, a lady of large fortune he has recently married. In his hurry about the estate he had not supplied himself with money for current purposes, and wants some cash, a mere trifle, on the account of the £2,000 cheque, £40 will suffice. The thing is done of course, for one who promises to be so good a customer, and who begins his account so hand-dence, not that he would ever learn them, somely. By the time the cheque for no effects is returned as filched, Mr. Wickes of Woodlands, Spring Grove, has disappeared, having consented for once to be driven off by

As for the good easy parson concerned in this roguish little drama, we must ask, as we are often tempted to do in similar cases, has any man a right to be such a fool? He should be committed to a reformatory for a year or so, to take lessons in common sense and pru

but that point has nothing to do with the uses of reformatories, about the effects of which we must not be too curious, but take the will for the deed.

THE SUNDAY AND OTHER QUESTIONS.-A gardener having to receive his wages a few weeks ago, on a Saturday, from a lady, the wife of one of the memorialists in favor of opening the Botanic Gardens on Sunday, after church hours, presented himself in such a guise, or rather disguise, mentally, that the servants of the establishment expelled him from the kitchen. Pitying his drunken condition the lady, when paying him what was due, kindly advised him to act the part of a good husband and take the money at once to his wife without stopping at a dram shop on the way, whereupon, with a sanctimonious leer of superior piety, he replied that he "had-acomplaint-agen-her-husband-for seekingthe-desecration of God's-holy day-by-la

bor-in-the-Bo-tanic (hiccup)-Gardens," etc., concluded with a thunderbolt about "divine wrath on profane Sabbath breakers." This is a match for the ower true story of a lady who was giving herself and her pet dog an airing on Sunday morning in Heriot Row before church time, and found her companion was straying too far. Having forgot her dog-whistle, she hastily asked a man she met to whistle him back. In her hurry, however, she had not remarked his unsteady gait and bloated face, and was not a little surprised when, instead of giving a "whistle loud and shrill," he hiccupped out with severe gravity "This is no day for whistling, mem!"-Scotsman.

From The Spectator.

MORMONISM IN WALES.

THE rapid growth of Mormonism in Wales seems to be entirely escaping the attention of those who ought to have done all that was possible to prevent it. Ministers of all persuasions seem to be agreed in considering the subject scarcely worth a thought. A Wesleyan, living at Cardiff, told us the other day that there were very few Mormons left in the Principality. If there are not, it is owing to the regular stream of emigration kept up from Wales to Utah. A few days after this very remark was made, about eighty men and women--the latter nearly all young, goodlooking, robust girls-left Cardiff station en route for the Salt Lake. They had been gathered from the surrounding country, and many were very respectable in appearance. One young man had been assistant to a surgeon of Cardiff. We remember many such embarkations from the ports of South Wales, and yet, in the very heart of this district, the notion is general that Mormonism is dying out. The truth is, that it is subtly and surely extending. The Mormon agents are ever watchful and active, while the Established Church and Dissent make the fatal mistake of treating them as members of a decaying sect, and as impostors unworthy of regard. No course could suit the Mormons better, except actual persecution. They have modified some of their principles of late years, so as to divert the attention of unbelievers. Very few now profess to perform miracles, because they found it difficult to produce marvels enough to satisfy their votaries. This was their weakest point, and they gave it up. Joseph Smith-than whom a more abandoned debauchee and astonishing liar and hypocrite has never appeared, even among his own followers-held and practised certain doctrines, such as that of the expediency of systematic seduction, which his disciples have since been compelled to disavow in public, however closely they may adhere to them in secret. The result is that the creed makes way among the lower classes in the Principality. In Liverpool, where there are many Welsh, there are also many Mormons. Let it be remembered that the sect is little more than thirty years old, and it will at once be seen that it has assumed formidable proportions. Statistics and census returns do not give the full measure of its progress, for the

simple reason that as fast as converts are made they are sent off to Utah. A perpetual emigration fund is in existence for this purpose, and as the people are taught that Christ himself will certainly come to establish his kingdom in Utah or Missouri, they go out with an unchangeable belief that happiness here and high rewards hereafter await them. The Book of Mormon has been translated into the Welsh language, and finds ready-almost eager-acceptance among the poor ignorant people of the hills. The women, young and old, adopt Mormonism greedily. The case has been mentioned of a woman of sixty, who left her home in Wales to be married in Utah, leaving behind her a husband of reventy. The favorite toast in Utah, “More Women," seems to guarantee that even this wretched creature would be welcomed by the horde of profligates who let loose the reins of their passions, and practice habitual infamy in the name of the Almighty.

The spread of this sect in the Principality recalls to recollection those miserable huts which make their appearance in a single night on some of the Welsh commons. The people are under the delusion that any dwelling which can be erected in a night cannot afterwards be removed, and the fact that the owner of the land does not in some cases care to interfere favors the notion. The progress of the Mormons is something analogous to this. They work in the dark, and no one seems to think the result of their labors worth interfering with. Nearly all their great gatherings are held at night, and it rarely happens that even the local police hear of them till they are over. Their baptisms are always conducted by the light of the moon, or by torchlight when the night is dark. Upon a spot on the banks of the river Ebbw, between Crumlin and Newbridge, many a wild gathering of this kind has taken place, the men and women dressing and undressing by the banks, as we once saw a party of Mormons doing in Derbyshire. Up in the hills, where the success of the preachers is greater than in the towns, the meetings are held so secretly that it is almost impossible for a stranger to gain admittance. It is at these private gatherings that the temptations are held out which induce young women to forsake their homes and kindred for a life which they would revolt at here. It is at these also that miracles are occasionally performed.

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