vaded that mighty temple, our attention was attracted to the great entrance, where we saw, approaching from the scala regia of the Vatican, the Pope and Cardinals in solemn procession. His Holiness was on foot, attended by all the great officers of his court, and the chief dignitaries of the church. The procession was headed and flanked on both sides by Priests bearing torches. Viewed pictorially, it was a most beautiful sightthat gorgeous array of Prelates, with the Pope himself at their head, their varied robes thrown out in strong light, solemnly and slowly moving up the majestic nave, whose long recesses of deep shadow were only partially invaded by the blazing torches-which flung their flickering glare beneath one mighty arch, and now beneath another, affording glimpses of the diversified and countless groups which were moving about in all directions.

And now they are just beneath the dome, and stop opposite one of the four immense piers on which it rests. On looking up, we see at a great height a small gallery, in which, by the light of some candles which they bear, we can just discern two or three priests. One of these was walking up and down in a most pompous way, displaying the relics, followed by two other Priests with folded hands, looking very sanctimonious. He held up what seemed a glass case, in a gold frame which sparkled brilliantly as if set with diamonds. It contained the head of the spear with which Christ was pierced! The Priest holds it on one side-then on the other -then elevates it in front-and see! the Pope and Cardinals have all prostrated themselves on the marble pavement, in humble adoration before it! The second relic was then exhibited in the same manner-a bit, they say, of the true cross, about three inches long. Lastly came the cloth of St. Veronica! The legend states that our Lord, on his way to Calvary, being much heated under the burden of the cross, a young woman, Veronica, handed him her handkerchief to wipe his face from the perspiration, and that when he returned it to her it bore the impression of his features! This very handkerchief, bearing this miraculous likeness, they claim to show at St. Peter's on Good Friday, and to this I saw Pope and Cardinals prostrated in adoration! The origin of the relic is betrayed in its very name. There was a dispute with reference to some rival pictures of Christ; the monks who possessed this, depreciated the rest as impostures, and to increase the value of their own, called it the Vera Ikon, or the true likeness. Of course, it became the Sancta Vera Ikon, the holy true likeness. Such was the parentage of Saint Veronica, now canonised as a holy young woman, who had bequeathed to the Church the precious legacy of her handkerchief, sometimes called La Sudata, from the origin of the impression it bears! What this picture is like we had no opportunity of knowing, for the relics were held at such an immense height, that it was quite impossible to distinguish one from another. All we could see was a sparkling object paraded up and down for a minute, without being able to judge what it contained, or if it contained

anything. After remaining prostrate during the several minutes which were occupied in the display of these curiosities, the Pope and Cardinals rose up from the pavement, and left the church as they had entered it, the only object of their visit being to set this public example to the Roman Catholic world, how the relics of the church should be venerated and adored. With quite as much outward worship as they treated what they believed to be the real presence of Christ in the Sacrament, did they worship these bits of iron, wood, and linen. Comment is need. less. Argument in such a case, a true work of supererogation. I saw for myself!

PONTIFICAL HIGH MASS.

Some more dressing and undressing then took place, His Holiness calmly submitting to have his vestments and his shoes changed by the attendant Cardinals. Pontifical High Mass, which takes place only three times a year, was now to be performed. The high altar was magnificently decorated. The immense Paschal candle was burning near it. There were two smaller in front, each of which, including its candlestick, was at least fourteen feet high. On the altar itself were burning seven highly ornamental candles, while fifty lamps and seven other immense candles flickered over the shrine of St. Peter, immediately below.

Three Cardinal Priests approached to meet the Pope, and, after a profound reverence, kissed him. "This mystically exhibited the homage paid by the three wise men to the Saviour; the salutation on the cheek shewed their acknowledgment of the human nature of the Redeemer, which appeared manifest to all; and that upon the breast gave token of their confession of the divine nature which lay concealed!!"* Thus, by Roman Catholic interpretation itself, while the Cardinals represent the Magi, the Pope personates the Saviour receiving their adoration! I was very near the Pope as he went through the multitudinous ceremonies of the mass. He appeared to me in this and all the rest of the services, to be very earnest and sincere, and his countenance betokened great amiability and gentleness. As far as I could judge by physiognomy, he was a perfect contrast to the majority of the Cardinals, who appeared to feel it a very irksome task to give attendance to these functions. Pope had much to sing, and his voice was clear and sonorous. He incensed the altar and all upon it most thoroughly, as if determined that no part whatever should, by any omission of his, be deprived of the sacred perfume.

The

Before the consecration, the Sacristan ate some portions of the wafer, and drank also some of the wine, as a guarantee of safety! "There is not any clue to discover when this apparently unnecessary precaution to guard against poison, has been introduced. Before the preface, the two junior Cardinal Deacons go one by one to each side of the altar, standing with their faces turned to each other, as representing the angels who were at the monument (sepulchre)!" +

And now I witnessed the most solemn * Dr. England. + Ibid.

by referring, at the same time, to her own self-denying exertions, when but young and delicate,-teaching all day in a Sabbath-school; an engagement to which she was truly devoted, and in which she took much delight. An example like this ought not to be lost.

But her incessant anxieties for the good of others have terminated. Her active concern for the sufferings of our sinful race is ended. The duties which brought her into close connection with the temptations and conflicts unfolded by the devoted Town Missionary are no She is for ever freed from these

more.

cares:

"Freed from a world of grief and sin,

With God eternally shut in." She understands now the meaning of that sentence which might have dropped from an angel's lips, and have been written with an angel's pen,-that heavenly voice, which steals softly with silvery tones, like an Eolian harp, through many a mourning spirit and destitute church she has relieved: "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

PETER SIBRee. 42, Frederick-street, Nov. 8, 1853.

THE LATE MRS. HOPPUS. ON the first Sunday in August, a funeral sermon was preached at Tottenham-court Chapel, by the Rev. Dr. Campbell, on occasion of the death of Mrs. Hoppus, of Camdentown, on the 20th of July, at Sydenham, in Kent, after a protracted illness. The text

was,

"Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. xv. 57, these being her last words. A short statement respecting our deceased friend was furnished by the family and read from the pulpit, but without any view, on their part, to its appearing in print-indeed, with an expressed wish to the contrary. But the Editor of this Periodical, thinking it might do good, having requested the manuscript either in its original or in an extended form, for publication, it now appears as follows.

Our late beloved relative had not religion to seek in her last illness, though during its long continuance her mind was evidently more and more preparing for the great change which awaited her.

She was one of those whose privilege it is to have been born of parents eminently devoted to the cause of God, and she felt that they were worthy to be honoured in life and in death. Though her father died when she was quite a child, her high admiration of his character, and her great love and veneration

for his memory, never ceased to manifest themselves, on various occasions, throughout her life. The image of his excellences, as hallowed in the regrets and remembrances of his family, appears to have had no small influence in the moulding of her own mind and heart.

She was very early in the habit of noting down personal, domestic, and public events, such as visits among friends, excursions to remarkable places, occurrences in the church and in the world; also comments on the books she read, and the sermons she heard. This diary, begun at a boarding-school and extending over more than thirteen years of her life, may, we trust, in connection with her other papers, by the blessing of God, prove to her children a rich treasury of piety, good sense, and practical wisdom. The first entry in it, made on the day when she was twelve years old, closes with an earnest prayer that the "twelve succeeding years may be more improved than the past.'

'This miscellaneous collection, forming, in some respects, a kind of autobiography, though with no indications of such an object, presents an interesting and instructive exhibition of the development of her mind, opinions, and character, especially in reference to the grand subjects of social, moral, and religious life. It is evident that at a very early age her mind and heart were deeply imbued with devotion, with admiration of the works of God in creation, and with the grand leading truths of the Bible.

Her

A note made in her sixteenth year shows that she had already engaged in the work of instructing the young: "Again returned to my charge of teaching the poor children of our village." Remarks follow on the importance of educating the people, and the ill effects of ignorance. Many passages also occur, in subsequent memorandums, on the good work of Sunday-school teaching, some of them accompanied with prayers for the blessing of God on her own efforts and those of her associates in this labour of love. youthful sympathy in all other benevolent and useful endeavours, whether at home or in the heathen world, is not less manifest in these records, being often expressed in vivacious and glowing language; and her remarks on historical events, and the passing occurrences of the times, show that she looked on human life and its varied aspects not only with intelligence, but also with the eye of one who had already learned to estimate the affairs of time in the light of eternity.

For good and useful men whose actions and spirit showed them to be influenced by love to God and the desire to benefit mankind, she early cherished the highest esteem and regard; and in later life she often gave utterance to these sentiments in conversation with friends, and would strenuously defend those whom she regarded as the self-sacrificing benefactors of their race against any disparagements which might be cast on them in consequence of their minor faults by persons who had failed, as she thought, justly to appreciate their real worth and the good they were aiming to do. This disposition to admire the wise and the good develops itself in the earlier pages of her diaries, both in respect

to patriotic men as statesmen, legislators, or philanthropists, and to ministers of the Gospel. In her sixteenth year, a visit is recorded to Ablington, in Wiltshire, the place where the venerable Mr. Jay (one of those names which admit of being quoted in life with praise,) a friend of her family, began his ministry: "The soft evening tempted us to enjoy its delights. We walked to Ablington, a village three miles distant. Interesting to us was the recollection that here, in this sequestered hamlet, the great though humble Mr. Jay delivered his first sermon. Within the mud-walled cottage, this eminent minister of evangelical truth commenced his arduous and useful labours. Here he sought to instil into the minds of the people the importance of the doctrines he advocated: here he instructed them in knowledge which will sink all Roman, all Grecian lore to insignificance -which will survive the wreck of nations: here he taught the unlettered inhabitants how to speak the language of Canaan, and here he inspired them with the love of melody in singing the songs of Zion. Great was the gratification I derived from visiting this spot. Though remote from grandeur or renown, yet it acquires a higher reverence, hallowed by the exertions of good men to promote the best interests of mankind." Her appreciation of this honoured minister afterwards appears, when she joyfully notes that the office devolved on her of inviting him to the opening of the new chapel which her family had recently erected, at Bulford; and various particulars of his visit on that occasion are described with deep interest.

It is not our aim to present in detail a delineation of the mind and character of our lamented relative, or we might illustrate the genuine and faithful picture which her miscellaneous records exhibit of what she was in the bloom and prime of youth and health, loved and admired by a large circle of congenial minds, and enjoying the reciprocations of family affection and chosen friendship, which were evidently regarded by her as the elixir of earthly life. These pages bespeak an ardent thirst for knowledge-lively admiration of nature and art, and of beauty, truth, and goodness, in all their formshomage to intellectual eminence-a congenial outgoing of soul to moral worth-a noble but not unkind or uncandid superiority to the frivolities of some of her sex-a high-minded sense of the real dignity of religion-an almost romantic enthusiasm for the ideals of all kinds of true excellence, allied nevertheless to strictly practical and matter-of-fact views of life-a natural buoyancy and cheerfulness of spirit, which was not destroyed even by her last illness-a mind capable of kindling with poetic feeling, but which always retained its self-command-a generous construction of the motives of others-a prudence and tact that were rarely at fault-a firmness of purpose and self-sacrifice in duty, when once well defined, which did not yield to difficulties or self-interest. Indeed, no feature in the character of our dear departed relative, was more prominent than the sense of obligation. It was her practical maxim that duty and happiness must always go together. She could, we believe, from an early period

of life, have submitted, with a firmness of mind bordering on heroism, to any extent of self-denial to which she might have felt herself plainly called by the voice of Providence and duty. Friends of earlier days, from whom she had been long separated by distance, have not failed to retain lively impressions of qualities such as these. One of them, in her truly sympathizing and long letter of condolence, writes:-"The removal of one so much beloved, and so bright an ornament in the sphere in which she moved, melts the heart with sorrow; for the dearest ties have been severed by death, and many a heart beside must mourn its desolation. The chambers of the grave have received that which was mortal of your most lovely and beloved sister, and could we follow her no further, you might sorrow as those without hope. You have the assurance of hope in the full conviction that your ever dear sister was Christ's in everlasting bonds. I loved dear M-- most dearly. I appreciated her fine character, and superior powers, and the shadows of memory fall back on those days at Bulford, when she kindly consulted me on the best plan she could devise for mental improvement."

...

Her views and feelings, in her youth, respecting the solemn event of death, seem to have remarkably corresponded with her own actual state of mind in the immediate prospect of its approach ::-"Our dear friend, Mrs. W- has left earth for heaven, after a season of suffering and infirmity. In the afternoon I went alone to have the mournful pleasure of looking on her remains; it was a pleasure to look on the face of death, so calm, so placid, so lovely. She died in peace, and the expression of peace and happiness still lingers on her features, though the soul is gone. It can scarcely be believed that we only see the tenement, and not the inhabitant. It would be anguish to think only of death as having severed our friends from life and us for ever! Oh, indeed, death is an appalling and terrible enemy! but we rejoice that he is conquered-that Christ giveth us the victory, and hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light. Death is the gate of endless life-as such, is it our enemy? is it not our friend? With such belief, shall we not take the last look of our friends with composure, with resignation, though we shall never look on them again till the great day of the resurrection? How uncertain is all that relates to our earthly state! Last Monday evening, I was sitting with her; one week only passed, and at the same hour, on the following Monday, I saw her sleeping in death, wrapt in her windingsheet, and laid in the narrow coffin! Shall I be deaf to instruction ?-will my hard heart refuse to learn wisdom? O Lord, thou, and thou only, canst teach me to number my days so as to apply my heart unto wisdom!

Some papers on her religious ideas and feelings, and a letter addressed to the pastor and members of the Christian church which she joined at Bulford, prove how far she was from taking this step without great searchings of heart, and deep self-examination, while her views of the method of God's mercy in Christ the Mediator distinctly set forth the

foundations of her hope. She here says:"I cannot remember the period when I had no idea of Divine things. Reading anything within the limits of my comprehension, led me to thought and reflection. Very serious impressions were produced in my mind from Mason's Pious Parents' Gift,' and 'Janeway's Token for Children.' These and other similar works have often brought me on my knees, with many tears and entreaties to God. The prayers and conciliating conversation of a Sunday-school teacher, when I was about seven years old, often affected my heart, and on my return home I have prayed to God to give me a clean heart and a right spirit." Deep humility, an entire reliance on the love of God in Christ, and a solemn sense of obligation, form the chief features of these two papers.

On coming to reside in London, at the close of the year 1832, our dear relative became a communicant at Tottenham-court Chapel. In the circumstances which occurred, during subsequent years, in connection with this place of worship (itself so memorable in the former annals of religious reform and revival,) she took a deep and characteristic interest from the beginning. She no sooner understood the respective views of the parties concerned, than she at once warmly sympathised in that side of the question which was taken by the pastor and his friends, judging that the right was with them; and she witnessed with satisfaction the termination of a controversy which so deeply involved the interests of a church first planted by the labours of that apostolic man whom she truly designates, in her papers, as the "immortal Whitfield."

In reference to the relations she sustained as a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, we cannot trust ourselves to say much. We can only allude to the intense maternal interest which she felt during her last illness in her two children, and to her desires and prayers for the formation of their minds to all those habits which should promote their happiness and usefulness in this world, and their blessedness in the life to come. The papers she has left expressly with this object, revised but a few months before her death, and in full conviction of its near approach, will, it is hoped, under the blessing of God, be rightly appreciated by her children in future years, when they may fully know the import of her language: "A mother's hopes, and fears, and deep solicitudes lead me to address you thus, in writing; that possibly, when your poor mother's eyes may be closed in death, you may be enabled to read and to profit by the words that she speaks to you from the tomb!"

In her position as mistress of a family, she had, while health permitted, the opportunity of exercising a beneficial influence, by means of her intelligence, happy method, and cheerful picty, over many youths who at different times resided in the family, while pursuing their University-studies for various professions; of whom some have since died, and others are now filling stations of honour and usefulness in the Church and the world. She always endeavoured to avail herself of every suitable occasion which might present

itself, and of all the means in her power, to give to these young people right views of human life, of the world and its passing events, and of the essentials of religion; and in many cases she sought still further to promote their welfare by letters or correspondence, after they had finished their studies.

For many years previously to that illness, which has deprived us of our beloved relative, her health had been extremely delicate; and she laments, in a letter to her esteemed pastor, so long ago as the year 1845, that this circumstance had so much interfered with her "more public privileges." Her friends began to feel more serious apprehension for her very early in the year 1850; but the insidious disorder was not decidedly marked till the following spring, from which time, all that medical science, and the most careful attention of those around her, could do, nothing could be effected beyond retarding the advance of the decline, and procuring a considerable degree of comfort to a very late stage of its progress; so that she frequently remarked that she could still enjoy life and its affairs to a great extent, and derive as much pleasure as ever from the beauties of nature and art.

When she first realized the painful fact that there was little hope of her recovery, the thought of parting with her family deeply grieved her mind, and often vented itself in tears; but she gradually rose above these feelings, and became more and more reconciled to a contemplation so trying to human nature, as the disorder advanced, and when she knew it to be hopeless. She then set herself, whenever she felt able, in accordance with her usual activity in domestic life, and her habits of order and practical sense, to make a variety of arrangements which would be of use and benefit to her family, after the painful event should have occurred which she now fully realized as inevitable. This revision of all domestic and family affairs was extended over many months, at intervals, as she could, with the assistance of those around her, mournfully rendered, but in conformity with her decided wishes, which were not to be diverted easily from their purpose, even on the plea of the necessity of sparing herself. This self-sacrifice was wholly characteristic, and it was performed with the dignity and greatness of a self-command which did not shrink from meeting realities, however sad and painful. During this period she revised all her papers, with a view to render them as useful as possible to her children, another day. She even suggested certain minor arrangements with regard to her funeral; but she spared to bring this last scene of all directly before the minds of those most nearly related to her. All this was done perseveringly, and with the greatest calmness, as long as strength allowed.

Of the consequences of death, our dear departed one appears to have had no fears throughout her whole illness. Her steadfast faith in the paternal character of God, manifested through his son Jesus Christ, was evidently the source of that calmness and serenity which she enjoyed, with a mind never wandering or beclouded, but always