to which we cannot subscribe, yet no one can read the proud inscription upon the front of the edifice, “Collegio di Propaganda Fide,” and reflect upon the grand way in which the purpose therein defined has been carried out, without a sentiment of admiration.  At a time when Protestant Churches were selfishly devoted to their own narrow interests, and utterly unmindful of the Saviour’s commission to preach the gospel to every creature, this college was sending forth to different countries, only partially explored, bands of young priests who carried their lives in their hands, and endured untold sufferings so that they might impart to the heathen the blessings of Christian civilisation.  There is not a region from China and Japan to Mexico and the South Sea Islands, and from Africa to Siberia, which has not been taken possession of by members of this college, and cultivated for the Church.  Names that are as worthy of being canonised as those of any saint in the Roman calendar, on account of their heroic achievements, their holy lives, or their martyr deaths, belong to the role of the Propaganda.  And while sedulously spreading their faith, they were at the same time adding to the sum of human knowledge; many of the most valuable and important contributions to ethnology, geography, philology, and natural science having been made by the students of this college.  Pope Pius ix. in his early days, after he had renounced his military career and become a priest, was sent out by the Propaganda, as secretary to a politico-religious mission which Pius vii. organised and despatched to Chili; and in that country his missionary career of two years exhibited all the devotion of a saint.

I had the pleasure of going through the various rooms of this famous institution in the appropriate company of one of the most distinguished Free Church missionaries in India; and was shown by the rector of the college, with the utmost courtesy and kindness, all that was most remarkable about the place.  The library is extensive, and contains some rare works on theology and canon law; and in the Borgian Museum annexed to it there is a rich collection of Oriental MSS., heathen idols, and natural curiosities sent by missionaries from various parts of the world.  We were especially struck with the magnificent “Codex Mexicanus,” a loosely-bound, bulky Ms. on white leather, found among the treasures of the royal palace at the conquest of Mexico by Cortes.  It is full of coloured hieroglyphics and pictures, and is known in this country through the splendid reproduction of Lord Kingsborough.