and were closed in at the sonne goynge downe, and abode there all night, and the nexte mornyng issued out agayne at the son rising. Than I demaunded if he had any suche strange sightes or visions as was spoken of. Than he said howe that whan he and his felow were entred and past the gate that was called the purgatory of Saynt Patrike, and that they were descended and gone downe, thre or foure partes discendynge downe as into a cellar, a certayne hoote vapure rose agayne them and strake so into their heedes, that they were fayne to syt downe on the stares, which are of stone. And after they had sytte there a season, they had great desyre to slepe, and so fell aslepe, and slept there all nyght. Than I demaunded if that in theyr slepe they knewe where they were, or what vysyons they had: he answered me, that in slepyng they entred into great ymaginacyons and in marveylous dremes, otherwise than they were wonte to have in their chambres; and in the mornynge they issued out, and, wythin a shorte season, clene forgate their dremes and visyons, wherfore he sayde, he thought all that mater was but a fantasy."

(62) The Roman stations.

In his Modus orandi Deum Erasmus has frequent remarks on the images and pictures in churches.

"It were

to be wished," he says, "that nothing should be seen in

Christian churches but what is worthy of Christ. Now we see there so many fables and follies depicted, as the seven falls of our lord Jesus, the seven swords of the Virgin, or her three vows, and other idle inventions of that kind; and then the saints not represented in a guise becoming them."

The general character of art in Roman Catholic churches has certainly not improved during the three centuries that have elapsed since Erasmus wrote. They are still crowded with images and pictures, which degrade the persons and subjects they are intended to honour. The Stationes are maintained in large churches, denoting the several halting-places of processions: they are generally numbered, and further marked by a very ordinary series of paintings, or perhaps of engravings, of "the seven falls of our lord Jesus," and other real or apocryphal scenes in the history of the Passion.

(63) The sumptuousness of churches.

The same arguments which Erasmus here advances as the joint sentiments of Colet and himself on the subject of church architecture and ornaments, he repeats in nearly the same terms in another Colloquy, and again with special reference to what he had seen at Canterbury:

"It appears to me that those are almost guilty of mortal sin, who proceed to immoderate expenses in the

building or adorning of monasteries or churches, whilst in the mean time so many living temples of Christ are in danger of starvation, are perishing from nakedness, or are distressed from the want of necessaries. When I was in England, I saw the tomb of Saint Thomas, loaded with jewels, countless in number, and of the highest value, beside other miracles of riches. I would rather that such superfluities were spent in aid of the poor than to be kept for princes, who will some day carry away all at once; and I would adorn the tomb with boughs and garlands, which I think would be more acceptable to that most holy man." The Religious Feast. He proceeds in the same place to censure the extravagant cost of the marble cathedral at Milan.

Worship of the Virgin and the Saints.

Though alive to the abuses to which the worship of Saints gave rise, Erasmus was not prepared to condemn it altogether. In his apology for his Colloquies, from which other extracts are given in the Preface to this volume, he states,

"It is equally false that in the Colloquies the suffrages of the Blessed Virgin and of the other Saints are ridiculed, but I ridicule those who ask from the Saints things which they would not dare to ask from a good man; or pray to certain Saints under the supposition that one or the other will or can more readily bestow this or that,

than any other, or than Christ himself. Nay, in the Colloquy on Youthful Piety the boy thus speaks, I have saluted some.' Whom? 'Christ and some Saints.'

And a little after, Again in three words I salute Jesus and all the Saints, but especially the Virgin Mother, and those whom I esteem as my patrons.' And afterwards he mentions by name those he salutes daily."

Erasmus himself wrote an address to the Virgin, entitled, "Observatio ad Virginem Matrem Mariam in rebus adversis :" it is printed in his Works, edit. Frobenii, Basil. 1540, tom. v. p. 1030. There is the following passage, nearly similar to that in the text: "Cum et filium genueris exorabilem, præterea sic tui amantem, sic observantem, quippe piissimum, ut nihil omnino neget postulanti." This seems, in fact, to be the great reliance of the Virgin-worshipper.

Those who wish to pursue this subject will do well to consult the Rev. Mr. Tyler's " Mariolatry," 8vo. 1844; and his more recent volume on Image Worship, 1847. The following particulars from the latter seem appropriate as an illustration of "the Virgin of Walsingham," and as showing how grievously the corrupt practices of the Christian Church have imbibed the spirit of the craftsmen of Ephesus.

In the 17th century was published a work by William Gumppenberg called Mary's Atlas, being a description of all her miraculous images worshipped in every part of the world.

In 1839 a priest of Verona began to re-publish it, having added "the latest images which wrought wonders, to the end of the eighteenth century." This work has now reached six volumes (the last, in the British Museum, being published in 1842,) and already contains an account of 193 miraculous images; yet these six volumes have reviewed only a part of Italy, and have not touched upon any other country.

In 1707 was published at Lisbon "Santuario Mariano," containing an account of the miraculous images of the Virgin venerated in Portugal and its dependencies. It fills no less than ten octavo volumes.