For example, he has brought the cells close to the chapel door, which, I fear, will be attended with inconvenience. I do not admire his gilded figures of Saints. They are very coarse representa tions, and by no means calculated to inspire devotion."

On the 12th December, she gives the following description of the first ceremony that took place in London :

"The fine church, which accommodates five thousand, was crowded at an early hour, the seats next the sanctuary being filled with the nobility. High Mass commenced at eleven. The organ and choir are considered very fine. After Mass, the hymn, O Gloriosa was chanted; and we advanced in procession to the sanctuary, Sister M. Teresa carrying an immense cross: Sisters M. Cecilia, Clare, and Augustine, in a line, to make the most of a few. M. Clare and her valuable assistant, with the ex postulants, following. The altar is the highest I ever saw, nine steps and two platforms. M. Clare and I had to ascend and descend with each postulant in the full view of thousands. The Bishops stood at the top in very rich episcopal robes. Thirty-six priests were present. The sermon, explaining the nature of the Order and the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, was very fine. It was preached by Very Rev. Dr. Maguire, and will be published."

Bishop Griffiths testified the deepest interest in this first expatriated branch of the Order, and was on many occasions a kind friend and wise counsellor to the Foundress.

General government.-Lady Barbara Eyre.-Her Reception.-The Court Fri seur. An amusing incident.-Gratitude of the Foundress.-Letters.

THE

HE system of general government which works so well in many congregations, has, like all things here below, its advantages and its disadvantages; and in Rev. Mother's judgment the latter would surpass the former in an institute such as she designed. This form was established to some extent among the Irish Sisters of Charity, and many suppose this to be the cause why this admirable society has spread so little outside the capital. The idea of general government among female Religious is uncongenial in Ireland. In a charitable institution the pecuniary relations of branch houses with the mother house are liable to be misunderstood or misrepresented; besides, the necessity of traveling must be obviated as much as possible, that the time and expense it costs may be applied to more useful purposes. The system in use in the Order, the Foundress established only after much prayer, lengthened consultation with the most eminent ecclesiastics in Ireland, and frequent deliberations with her Sisters. It had been tested with beneficial results for sixty years previous by the Ursuline and Presentation Orders; nor could she see any inconvenience arising from it which might not also arise from any other system whose agents are human beings.*

When ladies of rank and fortune desire to devote themselves to

If a Sister's health seemed likely to be benefited by a change of air, the Foundress always granted the change; but she would not hear of Religious making excursions for recreation. She thought if cloistered Sisters were obliged to refrain from these, so ought uncloistered-indeed, they could not be thought of, the summer vacation being only about two weeks, ten days of which were spent in retreat, and the schools being the only one of their duties ever suspended.

the poor, their bishops and relatives do not always wish them to leave their respective dioceses. If a wealthy lady desires to endow a convent in a certain district, and to devote herself to those who, as tenants or dependants, have a special claim on her, the Order of Mercy meets these emergencies, which an Order with a different system of government could not do without infringing on its rules.

The Sisters are subject to the bishop of the diocese in which each convent is located, whose business it is to enforce the existing rules and observances, but who cannot impose any thing further. If, through sickness or any other cause, assistance be required in a young House, the convent from which it filiated is obliged to attend to this, if older Houses cannot lend a Sister or two. Now, if Mother McAuley had established general government, she would be obliged to relinquish many fine establishments, and, consequently, many great opportunities of relieving and assisting the poor. For instance, when Miss Hardman, of Birmingham, manifested a vocation to the Order, her father built and endowed a convent in that town, on condition that his daughter might be sent with the Sisters destined for that Foundation, when her novitiate was completed. Similar arrangements were made for Miss Gibson of Lancashire, Miss Archibald of Elphin, Mrs. Burke of Kinsale, etc. Mother McAuley, who used every lawful means, natural as well as supernatural, for furthering her many benevolent projects, delighted to send Sisters to the neighborhood of their rich relatives, knowing that the latter, under such circumstances, would be more ready to aid and patronize works beneficial to the poor. Many, if not a majority, of the Convents of Mercy, were founded by ladies who, in their native places, desired to assist the poor, or who wished to aid them in districts where their miserable condition excited special compassion. Thus, a few years ago, Miss Fanny Murphy, a lady singularly gifted by nature and grace (niece to the late Bishop of Cork), erected and endowed a convent in Bantry, for the relief of the numerous poor of that town; and, though her charity received a speedy recompense, the poor people among whom she sleeps will, for ages to come, bless her memory.

Among the noble postulants who entered the Bermondsey Convent was the Lady Barbara Eyre, daughter of the late Earl of

Newburgh. Her ladyship's two maids, who entered at the same time as Lay Sisters, could not refrain from addressing their former mistress as "my lady." The wise Foundress, for a time, winked at this innovation in conventual etiquette; but the lady herself, soon perceiving the inconvenience of it, ordered them not to address her again by her hereditary title. Some of the Sisters were of opinion that Sister Barbara ought to be treated just like any one else; but this, Reverend Mother would consider "unjustly just." She was too wise to treat a noble lady, no longer young, and who had for years enjoyed her own separate establishment, with as little considerateness as she would evince towards a girl in her teens, who stepped from the schoolroom to the novitiate, and had always been ruled by others. At first, she allowed a Sister to arrange Lady Barbara's cell, and then showed her the necessity of learning to wait on herself, as Sisters of Mercy, except when incapacitated by illuess, are obliged to be their own servants. She also handed the noble postulant her letters unopened, and, after a while, explained the regulations on that head, in which her ladyship at once acquiesced. Mother McAuley wrote thus of her: "Lady Barbara has commenced her novitiate in the most edifying manner-quite a model of humility and obedience."

Reverend Mother believed that much good might be accomplished on new foundations by one or two public ceremonies; hence she usually took with her a Sister whose probation was near its close, and invited all the clergy and persons of note in the neighborhood to the reception, or profession. "People will learn the objects of the Order from the sermon," she said; "we may thus get good subjects who otherwise would not think of us, the poor will gain new friends, and we shall have more means of assisting them." As may be seen by her letters, she spared no pains of rendering these ceremonies solemn and interesting. The dress, the music, the dejeuner, all shared her attention. In those days of weary mail-coach travel, she sent her best musicians to aid the choirs of distant convents, and often went herself, at great inconvenience. Now, the Newburgh family, wishing to give unusual éclat to Lady Barbara's "clothing," arranged that the postulante was to be dressed in full court costume; that special seats were to

be raised in Bermondsey Church for noble and otherwise distinguished guests; the first sacred orator of the day enlisted for the sermon; and the music under the direction of the most efficient conductor. Two hundred poor children, whom they gracefully sought this opportunity of clothing, were to be present in a uniform of brown cashmere, white aprons, and tippets. This was the only arrangement that pleased Reverend Mother. She thought it was very well to seek the patronage of the noble, for the sake of the poor, but she felt that it might be purchased at less expense: nor did she care to see as much thrown away on one flourish of this kind as would support a hundred poor people for half a year. One part of the proceeding amused, while it annoyed her more than the rest; it was, that the services of her British Majesty's hairdresser were deemed necessary in arranging the locks of the noviceelect. This personage arrived on the appointed morning, accompanied by another gentleman of the same profession, almost equally famous for his decorative genius. Monsieur Truffette, a dapper little man, redolent of attar of roses, and dressed in the latest Parisian style, seated himself on the sofa, dividing his attention between the ceiling and the morning paper, casting an occasional glance of sublime indifference at the labors of his meek-looking and most deferential partner, who was arranging the lady's tresses. Conscious of his own importance, and aware that he was conferring a lasting favor on the Newburgh family, a placid smile occasionally lit up his serene countenance. When "Number Two" had exhausted his skill, Monsieur condescended to rise and direct his orbs towards the elaborately adorned head; a smile of approval parted his lips, and he amazed the assistant by condescending to touch a small feather which bent about a quarter of an inch in the wrong direction. The quartette now resumed the perpendicular. Reverend Mother gazed in silent wonderment, not knowing what was to come next. Her ladyship thanked Monsieur for his promptitude in waiting on her, who in reply assured "my lady" that, were it possible, he would do as much for any member of her noble house. After bowing first to opposites, and then diagonally, "the world" went out of the Convent, and a carriage bore Messieurs les friseurs to a less penitential atmosphere.