78 
oppression, Hungary grants some pri- 
vileges and exemptions, of which even 
certain free nations cannot boast. 
Arr. XV. Travels through France and Italy, and Part of Aus'rian French and Dutch : 
Netherlends, during the Years 1745 and 1746. 
Author of the Lives of the Saints. 
*« THE letters from which the present 
ublication is formed, were written by the 
Rev. Alban Butler, (the author of the Lives 
of the Saints) during his travels with the 
‘Honourable James and Thomas Talbot. 
«* On the perusal of them, with a view to 
- the present publication, it appeared that they 
were not intended for the press, but rather 
as outlines for a more perfect work, being in 
many parts little else than mere jottings, the 
meaning of whicl it was frequently dificult 
to deevpher 5, they are therefore printed with 
considerable alterations, which are however 
principally confined to variations in the stvte, 
and to the deletion of a feay unimportant 
peragraphs. ‘To render obvious the mean- 
Ing of the author bas been the principal aim 
of the editor, without attempting to render 
the phraseology agreeable to the modern 
winded” 
On reading the title and advertise- 
ment of this volume, we took for granted 
that a posthumous work, apparently ne- 
ver intended for publication, describing 
a journey performed near fiity years 
ago, through that part of Europe which 
is the most visited, and therefore the 
best known, must possess some rare me- 
rit or extraordinary information, to oc- 
casion its being committed to the press 
under such forbidding circumstances. 
We have therefore carefully perused the 
work before us, and can pronounce it to 
be sufficiently well written, in the style 
and manner of other travels of the same 
period, but containing no peculiar infor- 
mation, except concerning the religious 
foundations and sacred reliques of the 
towns through which the author passed. 
‘The changes that have since taken place 
in Flanders, France and Italy, render 
this volume of no sort of use to the mo- 
dern traveller: its value must therefore 
‘depend on its being a faithful history 
of the ecclesiastical state of these coun- 
tries at the time when Mr. Butler visited 
them. Ofits merit in this respect we 
are not very good judges, neither can 
we ascertain what degree of interest 
will be excited by this kind of informa- 
tion in those who are of the, Roman ca- 
tholic communion; but we fear that the 
protestant reader will not derive from 
this volume either much amusement or- 
edification. As a characteristic spesi- 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
8vo. pp. 472. 
A neat map of the author’s route 
prefixed to these volumes, and a portre 
of Semlin III. site 
By the late Rev. Ausan Buvvers— 
; “ 
+ 
men of the work, we select the follows 
ing extracts : ‘ores 
*© Here also is shewn the head of St. Mag- — 
dalene in the gold case above described, — 
which is dnsbehied with great jewels. Before — 
it is the statue of Ann of Britanny, jue 
of rance, of enamelled gold, very beautiful, — 
though small, She is praying upon her — 
knees upon a pedestal, upon which are twa 
angels supporting the case: this was the 
present of that queen. The head of the — 
saint, and all its bones, are prodigiously large. ~ 
It has in its aspect an extraordinary air 0 
majesty, very agtecable. On the left side of 
the forehead is a ptece of flesh uncorrupted, 
which they call the noli me tangere; and say 
it was preserved nh cag because our 
Saviour touched it with his finger when he | 
bid Mary not touch him, But for this cir- 
cumstance no good authority is alledged, 7 
Two facts at least regarding this flesh are © 
howeyer well attested. A person being de- "| 
sirous to cut off a small piece of it, to put in — 
a reliquary, the flesh which before was dry, 
immediately on being cut, appeared red with — 
fresh blood ; as the verbal process, and the i 
attestations of the physicians called to ex=_ 
amine it, contirm. ‘The second remarkable 
fact alluded to happened thus: The Cham-_ 
bre de Comptes, at Aix, (a sovereign court) — 
has upon the death of the king a right to_ 
exaniine all relics, to ascertain whether they — 
are in the same condition as upon the last — 
king’s death, Three of these counsellors, 
prepossessed with the notion that the above 
circumstance was a cheat, resolved to dis- 
cover and abolish it. Accordingly, on the 
death of Lewis XIV. making use of their 
privilege, they went to St. Maximin’s with 
surgeons apd apothecaries from remote 
towns, suspecting those of the place. "These 
they commandedto examine the piece of 
flesh even by cutting, and to employ the 
strongest menstruums to separate it from 
the bone. But all had no eflect; the sur- 
geons cried out, ** A miracle!” And the 
three counsellors were seized with so great 
fear, that chey immediately begged’ pardon of | 
the prior and the religious, and by way of) 
reparation, or amende honorable, drew up 
and subscribed a judicial attestation of what | 
vated had witnessed, and became the most | 
zea 
TS 
in Jerusalem, built by St. Helena ales hie 
