K. will find 'All-hallows,' by A. H. Brown, Esq., organist of Brentwood, (No. 190 in The Bristol Tune-book,) suitable to Miss Waring's hymn. For her library, she should certainly get Bishop Harvey Goodwin's Guide to the Parish Church.-L. C. B.

K. corrects her statement, that His presence and his memory' was by Archbishop Trench. It is by the Rev. T. B. Monsell.- We are afraid we know of no opening for French or German translations.

E. S.-Suid to be from Seneca's Non amissi, sed præmissi, but I am not just now able to verify the quotation.-L. C. B.-'Not lost, but gone before,' in Commentary on the Second Chapter of St. Matthew, by Matthew Henry. Not dead, but gone before,' from Human Life, by S. Rogers. They are sent before, but not lost,' from Balm of the Covenant-' Præmittunter non amittuntur,' by Flavel.—A. W.

K. C. F.-The Rev. E. Caswall was author of 'As the tree falls,' &c.-L. C. B.The words occur in a poem by the Hon. Mrs. Norton, the first line of which is 'How mournful scenes in broken dreams.'- -Another Correspondent says that the lines will be found in Poems by Edward Caswall. (London: Burns and Lambert, Portman Street, 1858.) The title of the piece is A Warning, No. 16, page 220. The title of the book may be known as The Masque of Mary. This is probably the real origin of the poem. It must be a quotation where Anna finds it, forming the concluding verse of a hymn beginning, 'Days and moments, quickly flying,' by the Rev. J. B. Dykes of Durham.

Ella is informed that 272 in Hymns Ancient and Modern was translated by Robert Campbell of Skerrington for the St. Andrew's Hymnal. It has been much altered, the changes being partly transferred from Mozley's Hymnal. The fourth stanza is from Robert Campbell's translation of another hymn, slightly modified. (Santolius Victorinus is misprinted Victorianus in the answer to Ella.)-L. C. B.

A. P. For the secular book, none is equal to Mrs. Marcet's Seasons. For the Bible stories, the Rev. Robert Gordon's Old Testament History. (S. P. C. K.)

To Beatrice, we recommend the same books; also, Children of the Church, not catechetical, but very admirable for little children. We ourselves grudge teaching any catechism but the Church's; but either First Steps, or our own Questions on the Catechism, (Mozley,) omitting the difficult ones the first time of using, might smoothe the way. For histories, Kings of England, and Miss Sewell's Histories of Greece and of Rome, seem best to serve the purpose.

If A. will send her address, E. will forward a specimen of a card printed by one of the Sisters of Wantage, suited for a mother on her infant's death.

F. F. begs to know the authorship of 376 in Hymns Ancient and Modern.

A Mother.-E. recommends Mr. Brett's Manual of Devotion and Instruction for School-boys. Another Correspondent offers a little book of prayers and hymns, to be sent for 1s. post-free on the receipt of the address.

D. I. K. will be much obliged to anyone who would tell her where she could find the rest of the Christmas carol which contains the following verse :—

Still the Child, all power possessing,
Smiles as in the ages past,

And the song of Christmas blessing
Softly sinks to peace at last.'

M. W.-Most assuredly Questo should have the u pronounced. Kwesto is not the sound, but it more nearly approaches it than Kesto.

H. M. W.-The Coote and The Gray Squirrels are Mary Howitt's. We think they are in the selection of poetry, published for schools by the S.P.C.K.

Could any reader of The Monthly Packet inform M. R. where the lines are to be found—

Bright and fierce and fickle is the south,

But dark and true and tender is the north.'

E. S. B. begs the Editor of The Monthly Packet to recommend some French readingbooks, and a French exercise-book, for a child of nine years old.-De Porquet's Exercises; Miss Sewell's Extraits Choisis (Junior Series); the French Reading-books published by the Clarendon Press; Les Malheurs de Sophie, by the Countess de Ségur; Promenades d'une Mère, Riches et Pauvres, Une Famille a la Campagne, and many others, by Madame de Witt.

The Incumbent of All Saints, Margaret Street, beys to acknowledge, with much gratitude, £5, being a thunk-offering for the sick and suffering of All Saints Parish.'

Miss Freeman, 70, Montpellier Road, Brighton, gratefully acknowledges 5s., for The Children's Convalescent Home there.

The Invalid Kitchen, Soho Square.—5s., from F. E. M., Kingston.

For The Daisy Chain Cot:-A Lover of The Daisy Chain, 6s.; A Prisoner of the Lord, 1s.; Meta, 5s.

Acknowledged, with many thanks, 5s. from Emily, for The Sisters of the Poor. Mr. Brett thankfully acknowledges 10s. from R. S. D. for Small-pox Sufferers. Mr. Allnutt acknowledges with many thanks the receipt of the following contributions to the funds of The Nursery of the Good Shepherd, Portsea-A Mother, 5s.; Mrs. Lorrimer, £1; T. R. Parr, Esq., 10s.; Mrs. E. G. Bruxner, £1; Miss Bruxner, 10s.

C. wishes to hear of a simple explanation of the Communion Service suitable to lend to the newly-confirmed, and will be much obliged to anyone who can recommend such a book.- -That by the Rev. W. H. Ridley, advertised on our

wrapper, is the best for the comparatively uneducated.

M. H. would be very grateful to anyone who could tell her of a free chorister's school, where a little boy of eight years old, whose parents are working-people, would be likely to be taken in.

Margaret.-The S. P. C. K. are the only publishers of Key Notes on the First Lessons. One Note only, that on Isaiah, liii., had an omission made in it in the second edition without the author's sanction,

Buttercup will be thankful to any of the Correspondents of The Monthly Packet who can tell her of any easy employment (not teaching) by which ladies in reduced circumstances can earn money in their own homes.

K. C. F.-Mark Noble's Memoirs of the Protectoral House of Cromwell shews that Oliver's mother was lineally descended from the Royal House of Stewart.-C. R. B.

In answer to A., in The Monthly Packet for March, C. R. B. recommends The Lost Sunbeam, by Power; and Miss Bannerman's touching lines—' Those only can be said to possess a child, who have lost one in infancy.'

Ella, in reply to one of her questions, is informed, that 'For fools rush in where Angels fear to tread,' is the 625th line of Pope's Essay on Criticism, Part II.-Y. E. S., W. II. II., and W. II. C.

S. V. would be very glad if any of the readers of The Monthly Packet could tell her who is the author of the following lines, sometimes seen on children's graves:The gardener said unto his servant, "Who plucked this flower?" The servant answered, "The Master." And the gardener held his peace.' Meta asks the origin of the German custom of having coloured Easter Eggs, and on what the tradition of The Easter Hare' that is said to lay them is founded.

Joan P.-The ornamental moulding called billet was introduced in England during the latter part of the eleventh or the beginning of the twelfth century, being profusely used during the early Norman style. But the tooth or dogtooth ornament is not to be found in English architecture at an earlier date than the thirteenth century, when the Norman had given place to the early English style; it was, however, used on the Continent in the twelfth century. I do not know whether the billet moulding is to be found in any of the foreign churches.-Y. E. S.- -F. F. wishes to say that she believes the billet to be earlier than the tooth ornament. The latter, though occasionally to be met with in late Norman work, is characteristic of the early English style. (Vide The Glossary of Architecture.)

John and Charles Mozley, Printers, Derby.

That childless mother weeps no more
The burden of reproach she bore
So long in patient grief;

She notes the mingled joy and fear,
That gathers round his young career
A wonder of belief.

Within the world he walks apart,
A child with pure and fervent heart,
Among the deserts rude;

And, casting off the world's soft ways,
In hermit guise he spends his days,
And shares the wild bee's food.

And shining so, God gave him grace
To shine before his Saviour's Face,
Torch of the rising Sun;

And put into his steadfast hand
The banner that from land to land
Heralds the Kingly One.

No name with such pure splendour burns,
Of all the Prophets that by turns

Light up the long dark road:

His voice across the waste must cry;
His lips, when Jesus passes by,
Proclaim the Lamb of God.

Baptizing in the open day,

Christ meets the waters in their way,
As the sea meets the shower:
And Jordan holds a twofold stream;
One bearing on the Baptist's name,
And one the Baptist's power.

Baptized himself the Baptist stands,
The drops yet glittering from his hands,
Upon Messiah's Face;

The lustral waters o'er Him shed,

Themselves from that Anointed Head

Receive baptizing grace.

Lamp of our Lord! thy burning ray,
Still shining to the perfect day,
Upon our road is cast;

To port from off such stormy seas,
To laughter after tears like these,
Christ, bring us all at last!

M. C.

531

THE DIVINA COMMEDIA OF DANTE.

In the sixth Canto of the Purgatorio, we find Dante ridding himself not without difficulty of the crowd of spirits that surround him, pressing all their own special requests and messages upon him. The Aretine of line 13 was a worthy magistrate and learned lawyer, by name Benincasa, to whom it befell to sentence to death at Siena, one Tacco da Turrita, for highway robbery; whereupon Ghino, the brother of the convict, followed him as he journeyed to Rome not long after, and there assassinated him. The other, of line 15, was one Cione Tarlati, who attempted to ford the Arno on horseback after the defeat of the Aretines at Bibbiena, but was carried away by the current and drowned. Then is mentioned Frederigo Novello, son of Count Guido di Battifolle, who was slain by one of the Bostoli; then the Pisan, Farinata degli Scornigiani, killed by one Beccio of Caprona, who gave occasion to his father, the good Marzucco, to shew himself brave by his Christian forgiveness of the homicide. Who Count Orso was, and how he came by his death, is uncertain. Lastly, Pierre de la Brosse, private secretary to King Philip III. of France, whose influence with his master excited the jealousy of certain members of the court, headed by the Queen, Mary of Brabant, Philip's second wife. He was consequently accused of betraying state secrets to Alfonso King of Castile, and condemned to death in the year 1276.

After this Dante questions Virgil concerning the efficacy of intercessory prayer, referring to the latter's own line in the sixth book of the Eneid,

Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando,

by which the Cumean Sibyl rejected the prayer of the ghost of Palinurus, that he might be allowed to cross the waters of Styx under her convoy, while his body lay yet unburied in the upper world. Virgil, by way of explanation, urges two considerations; first, that the ardent love of those who offer their intercessions may be as real and sufficient a satisfaction to the divine justice, as the earlier repentance of the souls themselves would have been; secondly, that no argument drawn from a line of his, written before our Lord's Atonement, and with reference to the prayer of a soul in the Inferno, can be supposed to apply to the very different state of things now established. Intercessory prayer in its very nature implies that the soul prayed for is not cut off for ever from the grace of God. But as this is a matter not of natural but of theological science, he refers Dante for the final solution of his question to Beatrice, whom he will meet in the earthly paradise on the summit of the mountain. On hearing this, the poet is eager to continue his ascent, though warned by Virgil that the distance is greater than he expects, so that the sun will return before his journey is over. In fact, as our readers will remember, it is then the afternoon of Easter Monday; the poets enter Purgatory on the