or sweet-suffering faces. But most truly beautiful, certainly, must they have been, when they had such a man as this St. Francis de Sales ministering at the altar, and making those seraphical visions true in the shape of an every-day human being. But to our extracts:

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"In speaking of brotherly correction (says the good Bishop Camus), St. Francis gave me a lesson which I have not forgotten. He repeated it often, the better to impress it on my memory. That sincerity,' said he, which is not charitable, proceeds from a charity which is not sincere. A worthy saying, worthy of being deeply considered and faithfully remembered.

IT IS BETTER TO REMAIN SILENT THAN SPEAK THE TRUTH ILL-HUMOREDLY, AND SO SPOIL AN EXCELLENT DISH BY COVERING IT WITH BAD SAUCE.

"I asked St. Francis if there were no other way by which I might discern from what fountain reproaches flowed. He, whose heart was wrapped up in benevolence, replied, in the true spirit of the great apostle, 'When they are made with mildness, Mildness is the sister of Love, and inseparable from her. With this idea, St. Paul says, "she beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” God, who is charity, guides the meek with his counsel, and teaches his ways to the simple. His spirit is not in the hurricane, the foaming cataract, or the tempestuous winds, but in the soft breath of the gentle zephyr. "Is mildness come?" said the prophet: "then are we corrected." I advise you to imitate the Good Samaritan, who poured oil and wine into the wounds.

of the unhappy traveller. You know, that, in a good salad, there should be more oil than vinegar or salt. Be always as mild as you can: a spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrel of vinegar. If you must fall into any extreme, let it be on the side of gentleness. The human mind is so constructed, that it resists rigor, and yields to softness. A mild word quenches anger, as water quenches the rage of fire; and, by benignity, any soil may be rendered fruitful. Truth, uttered with courtesy, is heaping coals of fire on the head; or, rather, THROWING ROSES IN THE FACE. How can we resist a foe whose weapons are pearls and diamonds? Some fruits, like nuts, are by nature bitter, but rendered sweet by being candied with sugar: such is reproof, bitter till candied with meekness, and preserved with the fire of charity.'

"St. Francis always discouraged professions of humility, if they were not very true and very sincere. 'Such professions,' he said, ' are the very cream, the very essence, of pride: the real humble man wishes to be, and not to appear so. Humility is timorous, and starts at her shadow; and so delicate, that, if she hears her name pronounced, it endangers her existence. He who blames himself takes a by-road to praise; and, like the rower, turns his back to the place whither he desires to go. He would be irritated if what he said against himself were believed; but, from a principle of pride, he desires to appear humble.'

“I esteemed my friend (resumes excellent Camus) so highly, that all his actions appeared to me perfect. It came into my head that it would be a very good thing to copy his manner of preaching. Do not

suppose that I attempted to equal him in the loftiness of his ideas, in the depth of his arguments, in the strength of his reasonings, in the excellence of his judgment, the mildness of his expressions, the order and just connection of his periods, or that incomparable sweetness which could soften the hardest heart: no; that was quite beyond my powers. I was like a fly, which, not being able to walk on the polished surface of a mirror, is contented to remain on the frame which surrounds it. I amused myself in copying his gesture, in conforming myself to his slow and quiet. manner of pronouncing and moving. My own manner was naturally the very reverse of all this: the metamorphosis was therefore so strange, that I was scarcely to be recognized. I was no longer myself. I contrived to spoil my own original manner, without acquiring the admirable one which I so idly copied.

"St. Francis heard of this, and one day took an opportunity of saying to me, 'Speaking of sermons reminds me of a strange piece of news which has reached my ears. It is reported that you try, in preaching, to adopt the Bishop of Geneva's peculiarities.' I warded off this reproof by saying, 'And do you think I have chosen a bad example? What is your opinion of the Bishop of Geneva's preaching?'-'Ha!' said he, this grave question attacks reputation. Why, he really does not preach badly; but the fact is, that you are accused of being so bad a mimic, that nothing is to be seen but an unsuccessful attempt, which spoils the Bishop of Bellay, without representing the Bishop of Geneva. So that you ought to do as a bad painter did: he wrote under his pictures the name

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course.

of the objects which they misrepresented.' — 'Let them talk,' said I, 'and you will find, that, by degrees, the apprentice will become master, and the copies be mistaken for originals.' 'Joking apart,' rejoined my friend, 'you do yourself an injury. Why demolish a well-built edifice to erect one in its stead in which no rules of nature or art are adhered to? and at your age, if you once take a wrong bias, it will be difficult to set you right again. If natures could be exchanged, gladly would I exchange with you. I do all I can to rouse myself to animation. I try to be less tedious; but, the more haste I make, the more I impede my I have difficulty in finding words, and greater still in pronouncing them. I am as slow as a tortoise. I can neither raise emotion in myself nor in my auditors. All my labor to do so is inefficient. You advance with crowded sail: I make my way with rowing. You fly: I creep. You have more fire in one finger than I have in my whole body. Your readiness and promptitude are wonderful, your vivacity unequalled; and now people say you weigh each word, count. every period, appear languid yourself, and weary your audience.' You may well imagine how this well-timed reproof and commendation cured my folly. I returned immediately to my original man

ner.

"The best fish are nourished in the unpalatable waters of the sea, and the best souls are improved by such opposition as does not extinguish charity?

“I asked St. Francis what disposition of mind was the best with which to meet death. He coolly replied, 'A charitable disposition.'

"Do not overrate the blessings which God gives to others, and then underrate or despise what are given to yourself. It is the property of a little mind to say, 'Our neighbor's harvest is always more plentiful than our own, and his flock more prosperous.'

"I complained of some great hardships which I had experienced: it was obvious that St. Francis agreed in thinking that I had been ill treated. Finding myself so well seconded, I was triumphant, and exaggerated the justice of my cause in a superfluity of words. To stop the torrent of complaint, St. Francis said, 'Certainly they are wrong in treating you in this manner. It is beneath them to do so, especially to a man in your condition; but, in the whole of the business, I see only one thing to your disadvantage.' 'What is that?'-'That you might have been wiser, and remained silent!' This answer came so immediately home to me, that I felt immediately silenced, and found it impossible to make any reply."

The following was a strange bit of supererogation in the lively Bishop of Bellay. His candor hardly excuses it; yet it increases our interest in his friend.

"St. Francis practised himself the lessons which he taught to others; and during fourteen years that I was under his direction, and made it my study to remark all his actions, and even his very gestures and words, I never observed in him the slightest affectation of singularity. I will confess one of my contrivances when he visited me in my own house, and remained, as his custom was, a week annually: I contrived to bore holes, by which I saw him when alone, engaged in study, prayer, or reading, meditating, dress