but that yet, from pity, they should be allowed to stay for another year. This humiliation has been done away with: but, to this day, the Jews have to appear in the Capitol on the first Sabbath of the Carnival, in order to pay their homage in a present of money, wherewith to defray the expense of palls or trappings of the horses that take part in the races at the Corso; in memory of the fact, that horses have been substituted, and are made to run in the place of the Jews.

Insult enough, the reader will doubtless think, has been heaped, at the so-called metropolis of the Christian world, and under the sanction of the self-styled Vicars of Jesus Christ, on His brethren after the flesh; but has there been anything done to preach to them the riches of that mercy and grace which, in Jesus Christ, are provided for the sinner? History records but little of such endeavours; and whatever was attempted was done, not in the spirit of the sweet and persuasive Gospel, but by force and compulsion. It has been already stated that the Popes had frequently to grapple with the abuse of tearing children by force from their Jewish parents, and baptizing them: we may therefore conclude that this practice was not uncommon in Rome. Gregory XIII., (1572—1585,) in the first year of his accession, decreed that the Jews were to attend a sermon in a Christian church once a week: this plan, it is said, was suggested to him by a converted Jew of the name of Andreas. That sermon was preached on Saturday; and in order to procure the attendance of the Jews, policemen were sent to the synagogue, armed with whips, which they used, to compel men, women, and children to leave their place of worship, and to fill the church. This was the more cruel, when the abhorrence is considered which Jews then entertained towards anything like an image [idol] in any place of worship, and with which the Romish churches then abounded. The law decreed that at least one hundred men and fifty women should attend; which number was afterwards raised to three hundred. Men were placed at the entrance of the church to count the numbers passing in; and within were others, whose business it was to keep alive

the Jews' attention through the medium of their whips! The controversial sermon was preached by a member of the Dominican order, and generally turned on that part of Scripture which was the appointed lesson for the Sabbath at the synagogue. These services were originally held in the church San Benedetto alla Regola, and afterwards at Sant Angelo, in Pescaria. At a later period, the number of these controversial sermons were reduced to five in the year; and the custom was about altogether to disappear in the beginning of the present century, when it was renewed by Pope Leo XII., in 1823. Under the present Pope it has not yet been attempted. A trace of it, however, has been retained in the fact of the stated baptism of a Jewish individual, coupled with that of a Turk, which has regularly to take place on the second Easter-day of every year; and my authority, who is anything but unfriendly towards Romish pretensions, admits that the ceremony of baptism must needs be repeated every year on the day mentioned; and that if there is a lack of a new individual to have it conferred on him, one already baptized on former occasions must again submit to it,-I suppose to keep up the credit of the Church. In 1853, a Jewess was baptized at the chapel of the Lateran, amidst great solemnities, and in the presence of a great crowd of the faithful. She stood before the font, holding a burning taper, the symbol of enlightenment, in her hands, and was covered with a white robe, the symbol of purity; and, after having been baptized, and her head and neck had been anointed, she was led back in great procession to the Lateran. Here she again knelt before the altar, and the Cardinal who had baptized her, confirmed her also; upon which, he preached a sermon to the people, reminding his hearers of the great miracle which had just taken place before their eyes, in that person, a few minutes ago in the power of sin and Satan, who had suddenly been transferred to the realms of light, and been regenerated to the innocence of a child!-Jewish Herald.

THE MISERIES OF FASHION.

THE minor miseries superinduced by fashion, that queen of fools, can hardly be conceived by those who live in the present day, when common sense is invalidating every hour the authority of this silly despot, and confirming the rational dictates of comfort. The quantum of uneasiness forced upon us by these absurdities was no small drawback from the sum total of that happiness allotted to the little life of man; for small miseries, like small debts, hit us in so many places, and meet us at so many turns and corners, that what they want in weight, they make up in number, and render it less hazardous to stand the fire of one cannonball, than a volley composed of such a shower of bullets. It is within the recollection of very many of my readers, that no gentleman or lady could either pay or receive a visit, or go out to a dinner, or appear at a public party, without submitting to have seven or eight pounds of fat and flour worked into their hair, by the hands of that very industrious and important personage, the frizeur, on whose co-operation their whole powers of locomotion depended, and who had so much to do that he could seldom be punctual. Nothing was more common than for ladies at a race-ball, an election invitation, or a county-assize meeting, to undergo the tremendous operations of the frizeur on the evening that preceded, and to sacrifice one night's rest to fashion, in order that they might sacrifice another night to folly. Our fair countrywomen laugh at the Chinese ladies, who deprive themselves of the use of their feet by tight shoes and bandages, and whose characters would be ruined if they were even suspected of being able to walk. But they themselves, by the more destructive and dangerous fashion of tight-lacing, destroy functions of the body far more important, not only to themselves, but to their offspring; and whole troops of dandies, quite as taperwaisted, and almost as masculine, as their mothers, are the natural result of such an absurdity. If to be admired is the motive for such a custom, it is a most paradoxical mode of pursuing this end; for that which is destructive of health must be still more destructive of beauty,-that beauty,

in a vain effort to preserve which, the victims of this fashion have devoted themselves to a joyless youth and a premature decrepitude.

Another of the minor miseries formerly imposed upon society by the despotism of fashion, was the necessity of giving large sums, denominated "vails," to a whole bevy of butlers, footmen, and lackeys. This was carried to such an excess, that no poor man could afford to dine with a rich one, unless he enclosed a guinea with his card of invitation; and yet this custom, more mean, if possible, than absurd, kept its ground until a few such men as Swift, Steele, and Arbuthnot, happened to make a discovery in terrestrial bodies, productive of more comfort than any made before or since, in those that are celestial. After a due course of experiments, both synthetically and analytically pursued, they found out, and promulgated to the world, that two or three friends, a joint of Welsh mutton, a blazing hearth, a bottle of old wine, and a hearty welcome at home, were far better things than cold fricasees, colder formalities, sour liquors, and sourer looks abroad; saddled, moreover, with the penalty of running the gauntlet of a whole gang of belaced and betasseled mendicants, who proceeded from the plunder of the pocket of the guest to their still more barefaced depredations on the cellar of their

master.

There is a little Italian story so much to my present purpose, that I shall conclude by relating it. A nobleman, resident at a castle, I think near Pisa, was about to celebrate his marriage-feast. All the elements were propitious, except the ocean, which had been so boisterous as to deny the very necessary appendage of fish. Most fortunately, however, on the very morning of the feast, a poor fisherman made his appearance with a turbot so large, that it seemed to have been made for the occasion; "animal propter connivia natum." Joy pervaded the castle, and the fisherman was ushered with his prize into the saloon, where the nobleman, in the presence of his visiters, requested him to put what price he thought proper on the fish, and it should be instantly paid

him.

"One hundred lashes," said the fisherman, "on my bare back, is the price of my fish, and I will not bate one strand of whipcord on the bargain." The nobleman and his guests were not a little astonished; but our chapman was resolute, and remonstrance was in vain. At length the nobleman exclaimed, 66 Well, well, the fellow is a humourist, and the fish we must have; but lay on lightly, and let the price be paid in our presence." After fifty lashes had been administered, "Hold, hold!" exclaimed the fisherman: "I have a partner in this business, and it is fitting that he should receive his share." "What! are there two such madcaps in the world?" exclaimed the nobleman : 66 'name him, and he shall be sent for instantly!" "You need not go very far for him," said the fisherman: "you will find him at your gate, in the shape of your own porter, who would not let me in, until I promised that he should have the half of whatever I received for my turbot." "O, O!" said the nobleman, "bring him up instantly: he shall receive his stipulated moiety with the strictest justice." This ceremony being finished, he discharged the porter, and amply rewarded the fisherman.-Lacon.

FRIENDS OF JESUS.

MARY, Martha, and Lazarus, composed the small family of Bethany, so often visited by Christ during His ministry. Probably their parents were dead. Probably Lazarus was the chief or only support of his sisters; yet Lazarus sickens; his sisters are alarmed; Jesus is at a distance; a message is sent to Him; Jesus, for wise reasons, delays; and Lazarus dies. The silence of death reigns in the habitation, and where is the comforter of Martha and Mary? He is still at a distance with His disciples. For wise ends, His compassionate eye is turned away from this scene of suffering, yet only for a time. He knew all, and felt all; and at length breaks silence, and says to His disciples, "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth." All believers are the friends of Jesus, and of one another.-Tree of Life.