Our author is really a phœnix sprung from the ashes of Beau Brummel.
“Kind Heaven has sent us another professor, Who follows the steps of his great predecessor.”
As we read, we share the sensation he produced at the Presidential _levée_ at Washington, clad in a blue coat out of the very web that furnished Mr. Webster’s last suit. The meeting of the President of the United States of America, serenely conscious of his new clothes, and the President of Fashion, who so successfully cut them, reminds us of another meeting there which Irving compared to “two kings of Brentford smelling at one rose.”
We cannot close without expressing our gratitude in particular for the fine suit of black our Prince of Tailors presented Father Mathew of blessed and abstemious memory.
THE BOOK OF THE FOUNDATIONS OF ST. TERESA OF JESUS, OF THE ORDER OF OUR LADY OF CARMEL. Written by herself. Translated from the Spanish by David Lewis. London: Burns, Oates & Co. New York: The Catholic Publication Society.
This volume contains, besides the work indicated in the title-page, _Annals of the Saint’s Life_, by Don Vicente de La Fuente, _The Carmelite Rule_ and _Constitutions_, and _The Visitation of Nunneries_, and _Maxims_ of St. Teresa herself. The principal work is also more complete than any previous edition in English.
Those who are familiar with the wonderful story of St. Teresa’s history will need no assurance that the spirit which animated her life also pervades her works. Indeed, the two are almost inseparable, her writings evidently being a faithful transcript of her whole history. Notwithstanding the signal favors she received from heaven, she seemed always oppressed with the idea of her own unworthiness. The prologue to the _Foundations_ furnishes many valuable lessons to religious as well as those whose sphere of duty lies in the world. St. Teresa knew how to exert the utmost zeal and energy in the service of religion, with entire submission to her ecclesiastical superiors. The case of St. Teresa, moreover, is evidence of the way the church honors real reformers--by proposing them to the veneration of the faithful as canonized saints. As an indication of her humility, even the main work in this volume was undertaken, not to gratify any personal feeling, but in obedience to the command of her confessor. It contains a history of the religious houses, male and female, she established. In the face of great difficulties and discouragements, she persevered in her purpose, until the reform was recognized at Rome, and the Carmelite Order was divided into two branches, one under the milder observance, and her own under the stricter or primitive observance.