those of Bossuet and Bourdaloue-both educated by the Jesuits, the former at their college of Dijon, in Burgundy, the latter at their noviciate in Bourges. If these two ecclesiastics had given the world nothing but their funeral orations— which are justly regarded as models in every enlightened country, not excepting Prussia-they would have been entitled to rank among the benefactors of mankind. And what polemical writers of modern times of any eminence, no matter what sect they belong to, have not profited by the writings of the Jesuits Saurez, Folet, Bellarmin, Menchius, etc.?

There are many who, while they admit that the Jesuits have proved themselves good teachers in literature and the sciences, say that at least the monks are not the sort of teachers to cultivate a warlike spirit, so necessary for the protection of the fatherland. Yet one of the most illustrious captains of modern times was educated by the Jesuits-need we say we mean the great Condé? Among the best writers, on the science of war are De Grammont, Brissac, Rohan, and De Soubisse, all trained by the Jesuits. When Marshal Soult visited London, soon after the Emancipation Bill was passed by parliament, in one of his familiar conversations with the Duke of Wellington, he playfully said, "Ah! monsieur le duc, you don't think the Catholics such dangerous people after all?" "Yes, I do," replied the Duke, in the same playful mood, "especially when they have Jesuits amongst them to teach them dangerous things." "But are there Jesuits in Ireland?" "Only very few; and these you have sent us pretty much as your people do your inferior wines." "How then can you say that the Jesuits are dangerous, for nonentities, such as you describe are never so?" "Do you forget that I was once a student at your military school of Angers? My principal instructor there the one who taught me most was a Jesuit. Accordingly, it often occurred to me in my campaigns against your brave countrymen, that those monks are dangerous people!"

*

* Vide Maxwell's Life of Field-Marshal Duke of Wellington; also, De Courselle's Dict. Hist. Des Généraux Français, Art. Soult duc de Dalmatie.

It is hardly necessary to add that Soult, good humoredly, admitted the force of the joke. He often related this anecdote afterwards to prove, that nothwithstanding the cold, apparently imperturbable manner which caused Wellington to be nick-named "the Iron Duke" he was witty as well as thoughtful.

From this imperfect, but impartial sketch, the intelligent, unbiassed reader, may judge whether the Prussian government has evinced either statesmanship, or philosophy, in expelling the Jesuits. Has Bismarck, or his imperial master, acted wisely in imitating Victor Emanuel and Guatemala in making war on the teaching fraternities? Have not English men and Englishwomen who have convened public meetings to give expression to their sympathy for those fraternities, and to their emphatic condemnation of their oppressors acted much more wisely, as well as more humanely? If the more enlightened and liberal classes of Americans were capable of being actuated in such circumstances by selfish motives, they would be rather pleased than otherwise with those expulsions, much as they deprecate persecution, since they will undoubtedly cause many excellent teachers to come to this country. For who does not believe that every one trained, competent instructor, would be a more valuable acquisition to us than a score of ignorant, untrained emigrants, whether English, Irish, or German, let the theological views of the instructors, or the emigrants be what they may? For our own part we should be glad to see hundreds of learned Jesuits land on our shores any day, if only for the sake of St. Xavier's and St. John's colleges, for we are wearied of criticising those saintly institutions in the hope-hitherto almost fruitless-of elevating their standard of education, and enabling them to adopt some more honorable motto than that line of Virgil, now so sadly appropriate―

Pascite, ut anté, boves, pueri; submittite tauros.

ART. IV.-1. Handbook of Ancient Gems. By the Rev. C. W. KING, M.A. London.

2. Recueil de Pierres gravées, etc. Par J. MARIELLE. Paris. 3. Recueil de Pierres antiques gravées, etc. Par J. N. RAPONI. Paris.

THERE is no collection of relics of ancient art, more pleasing to the eye, both on account of the material and the beauty of the workmanship, often found engraved, as a well-chosen and a well-assorted cabinet of gems. No student of ancient art can fail to appreciate the valuable aid which he receives, in the pursuit of his favorite study, from these remains of a by-gone period which thoroughly appreciated art in all its various forms. Pliny, in his Natural History, gives us abundant evidence of the value set by the ancients on their dactyliothecæ. Pompey donated to the capital the dactyliotheca of Mithradates, king of Pontus; his famous rival, Julius Cæsar, consecrated six cabinets of gems to Venus Genetrix; another was presented by Marcellus, son of Octavia, to the Temple of Apollo, on the Palatine Hill.

It is an interesting fact that the gem-like portrait of Mithradates, preserved on his coinage, finds its orignal in an ancient paste; thus proving the already well ascertained fact, that many of the most beautifully finished Greek coins were designed by gem-engravers, The most beautiful of the medallions, presented to the victors at the Syracusan games, are engraved with the name KIMON, a signature also found on gems; a human-headed bull, inscribed TEAAZ, is the type of the coinage of Gela; the full-faced head of the Rhodian Apollo; the head of Arsinöe, wife of Ptolemy Soter; and other types, too numerous to mention, may be brought forward as evidence of the connection between numismatic and glyptic arts. Alexander the Great, not content to be represented by Lysippus, the painter, published an edict forbidding any but Pyrgoteles to engrave his portrait on gems; this example was imitated by the Roman Emperor Augustus, who named Dioscorides,

an engraver, whose works are even now bought up with avidity. The same authority also gives the list of the rings used by Augustus as imperial seals; first a sphinx, then the head of Alexander the Great; and lastly his own portrait.

The famous learned patron of Horace, Mæcenas, used a frog as the stamp to be affixed to all tax collections. The habit of wearing rings is believed to have been introduced into Rome by the Sabines, who, we are told by Livy (I. ii.), wore gold rings, adorned with precious stones. Ambassadors sent on foreign missions, in the early days of the Republic, were presented with gold rings by the state, to be used only on public occasions. In course of time, the habit of wearing gold instead of iron rings became customary among senators, chief magistrates, and equites. The jus annuli aurei, or right of granting the gold ring, became an imperial prerogative, the first instance being the ring granted by Augustus to his physician, Antoninus Musa. Tiberius ordered that the golden ring should only be worn by those ingenui whose fathers and grandfathers had had a property of 400,000 sestertii. The custom, however, soon became common, Severus Alexander conferring the jus annuli aurei, on all Roman soldiers; Justinian abolishing the law and granting permission to all freeborn Roman citizens to wear the gold ring.

The tyrannical Nero found in the emerald a lense through which he gazed on the gladiatorial sports; the myopism from which he suffered is very apparent on all his existing portraits, whether busts, or on his coins or gems, the eye being deeply sunk under an over-shadowing brow. The following anecdote, gives us another use for this precious stone. "In the island of Cyprus, surmounting the tomb of king Hermæus, near the fisheries, was placed a marble lion with emerald eye-balls, which shone with so much brilliancy over the sea, that the terrified tunny fish swam far away, which greatly puzzled the fishermen till the stones were changed." Though we do not, perhaps, credit the above reason, we may here mention that a large marble lion, discovered in the excavation at Cyprus, and purchased by the British Government, has the eye-balls hollowed out, as if to receive some foreign material.

It is also a well-known fact, that the statue of Pallas Athene, placed in the middle of the Parthenon, had ruby eyes; an idea imitated by the late Duc de Luynes, in his restoration of the Phidian statue, exhibited at the Paris exhibition of 1855. Mr. King, who is obliged to refer very often to the works of Pliny, translates his remarks on most of the precious stones, and we read the following wonderful properties belonging to the amethyst: "About amethysts, the magicians tell us that this stone is an excellent preventive against intoxication, whence its name from (auɛbú∞), and if engraved with either sun or moon, and then suspended from the neck by the hair of a cynocephalus, or feather of a swallow, it will resist magic potions, assure approach to kings, avert hail and the depredations of the locust. They also promise the same virtues to an emerald, if engraved with either an eagle or beetle. The agates of India are used by medical men to make mortars, and are good for sore eyes to look at; they assuage thirst when put in the mouth. The smoke of agates from - Persia, when burnt, is good to avert tempest, and turn the fall of thunderbolts. When thrown in a cauldron of boiling water, they cool it off; that they may avail they must be fastened to the hair from the mane of a lion, for the hair of the lynx is an abomination, producing discord in families.”

In an artistic point of view, gems help to form, in a great measure, a taste for, and knowledge of, antique art; more especially as, through the minuteness of the work, a close examination of the various details is strictly necessary; a necessity not felt when gazing on larger works which have come down to our time.

Scenes from mythology are more frequently represented on gems than on coins or reliefs. The pottery of the ancients was largely adorned with scenes taken from the Iliad; the loves of the Gods, the labors of Hercules, the Argonautic expedition, inter alia, being favorite subjects. These, in smaller detail, are found on gems and pastes. It may be necessary here to interpret the word paste to such of our readers as may not have taken more than a cursory interest in this subject. After having engraved his gem, the artist, anxious to