146 



He declares that an inexhaustible supply of pieces of the 

 true Cross may be obtained through a standing miracle, 

 which, notwithstanding continual abstractions, preserves entire 

 the holy relic as discovered by the Empress Helena. So 

 precious (says he) was the Cross in the eyes of the Saviour 

 himself, that, in making his last Will, he devised his gar- 

 ments to the Soldiers, his body to the Jews, his spirit to 

 his Father, a Bridesmaid (the Church) to the Yirgin, and 

 Paradise to the thief — reserving to himself nothing but the 

 Cross. According to our Author, Spain is richer in pos- 

 sessing the relics of Saint James, than in all the Gold and 

 Jewels of Peru. For the second Sunday in Lent an elabo- 

 rate Disquisition or Homily is presented, wherein the duty 

 of keeping a Secret is most forcibly enjoined. Under no 

 circumstances must it be divulged to a friend, hut especially 

 to a woman. The Emblematic engraving prefixed is a rotari/ 

 or letter locJcj which has been claimed as a modern inven- 

 tion — but which is found not only in this work of Engel- 

 grave, but in the Emprese d' Camillo Camilli,"^ and other 

 works of a very early period. 



From the elaborate pages however of Engelgrave, the Theo- 

 logical Student may derive a large amount of moral and 

 religious doctrine, and the scholar a great deal of pleasing 

 and useful information. 



A most singular production now made its appearance, from 

 the pen of George Stengel, a Jesuit of Munich, and with it we 

 shall close our notice of this class of Emblematic composi- 

 tions. It is entitled Ova Taschalia, sacro Emblemate in- 

 scripta descrijotaque.-\ By the skill of an ancient Calligrapher 

 the Iliad of Homer is said to have been contained in a 

 nutshell. Here we have a compression still more wonderful ; 



• Venetia, 1686. 



+ The Copy in the writer's possession is dated Ingolstadt, 1672; but there must 

 have been a prior edition, since the title-page bears upon it the notification Denuo 

 impreua, and Stengel's dedication to the King of Hungary bears the date of 1634. 



