1822, ] 
ters,” can only be the result of ignorance 
and prejudice. ‘The “* Vocal Library’’ 
contains in its small compass very 
many gems of imperishable duration ; 
and however low it may be thé fashion 
with some to rate these productions, it 
has always struck me that the superla- 
tive arrogance ofa writer in the Hdin- 
burgh Review, in styling Shenstone an 
“ inconsiderable author,’ can injure 
nobody but himself; for if he disdain 
poetry, it may safely be asserted that 
the Latin prose inscription to the me- 
mory of Maria Dolman shews far more 
genius than the elaborate article where 
the observation occurs. 
Musis AMICUS. 
— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE mention of the legend em- 
ployed in the Rapt de Seduction 
of Miss Loveday, led me to peruse the 
story of the MrRACULOUS Host, late- 
ly published. The statement of the 
iniracles, and account of the saints, 
which accompany the legend, are cer- 
tainly very striking; and 1 should 
have been of cpinion, had not facts 
contradicted, that they were too glaring 
in absurdity, to have been for a mo- 
meut seriously regarded by any Eng- 
lish person, of even very low attain- 
ments and contracted capacity, existing 
in the nineteenth century. 
I have read different accounts of 
miracles performed by the saints of the 
papist Calendar; and some of them 
have had so much absurdity in con- 
nexion, that even other saints have 
expressed a doubt of their authenticity ; 
as for instance in this of St. Antony, 
(from his life by St. Athanasius) : 
“This holy man was attacked by a 
numerous company of devils, who 
transformed themselves into the shapes 
of all sorts of beasts; lions, bears, 
leopards, wolves, bulls, serpents, scor- 
pions, vipers, &c. each moving and 
acting in propria persona agreeably to 
the characters they represented; so 
that Antony was by them most griev- 
ously tortured and mangled, But on 
Antony looking upward, a beam of 
light shot down upon him, which struck 
the devils speechless, (we were not here 
told that lions, bears, &c. spoke to him) : 
and removed all his pain. That trial 
rendered him capable of knowing per- 
sons’ thoughts and intentions, though 
several leagues distant; of curing dis- 
eaxes, casting out devils,” aud of act- 
ing so preposterously, that St. Augus- 
Extracts from the Story of the Miraculous Host. 
223 
tin, (lib. viii. confess. cap. vi.) says, 
himself and Alipius “ were astonished 
to hear such marvellous things, so fresh 
in memory, and which happened al- 
most in our own times.”’ St. Jerome 
tells us, that as this same St. Antony 
was travelling through the deserts of 
Egypt he met a Centaur, from whom 
he demanded the right way to the resi- 
dence of Paul, the hermit he sought ; 
at the same time arming himself with 
the sign of the cross; on which the 
Centaur very civilly pointed his right 
hand towards the place. St. Antony 
soon after met a Satyr, (there fully 
described,) who in token of peace of- 
fered him some fruit of the palm tree ; 
and being asked by Antony what he 
was, answered, he was one of the in- 
habitants of the desert, worshipped by 
the deluded Gentiles ; but was the de- 
puted ambassador to entreat. Antony’s 
intercession in their behaif with their 
common Lord and Master. 
Gregory Nyssen telis that “ his 
namesake, the wonder-worker, on a 
journey slept one night in a temple 
famed for an oracle and divination, 
where the demons were frequently 
visible to the priests; but the holy 
father, by invoking the name of Jesus, 
put them all to flight, and by making 
the sign of the cross purified the air, 
polluted by the steam of their sacrifices. 
Next morning, the priest attempting 
his usual incantations, the devils ap- 
peared, and told him, that a stranger, 
who had been there in the night, had 
driven them out, and they could not 
re-enter to assist the priest. The latter 
in great wrath, (tbe characteristic fof 
many priests,) followed Gregory, and 
on overtaking him, threatened him 
with the most terrible vengeance. 
Gregory. despising his threats, inform- 
ed him that he possessed a power supe- 
rior to that of devils, whom he could 
drive whither he pleased. The amazed 
priest then begged the proof of his 
power, by his fetching them back again 
into the temple; and the kind father 
obliged the priest, and wrote this billet 
—Gregory to Satan, enter!!!—The 
priest returned, laid the note on the 
altar, and immediately the devils re- 
turned to their old seats. 
Spyridon, bishop ef Cyprus, is men- 
tioned as performing miracles, (by 
Sozomen, lib. i. ec. xi. and Socrates 
Scholast. lib. i. c. xii.) in these in- 
stances: —‘* A certain person having 
deposited something very valuable with 
Irene, this bishop’s daughter, for wee 
rity 
