MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 607, 28 May 1851, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Abbe Lacordaire.—The following sketch of this eloquent preacher is given by the Netc York Advertiser from their Paris correspondent, who went to hear him at Notre Dame :— Hoping to hear him for once, without being jostled, pressed, and crushed by the crowd, I went at an early hour and was so fortunate as to get a seat very near the pulpit, for the trifling entrance fee of three sous.* * * At about nine o’clock the mass was brought to a close. There was a swaying to and fro in the immense crowd; a large gilt crucifix moved unsteadily along and at last became stationary, just in front of the pulpit. It marked the place of the Archbishop, whom I saw plainly as the people bowed to receive his blessing. There must have been between three and four thousand persons present. M. Lacordaire ascended the pulpit with a light, active step, and looked round on his audience a moment before commencing. He is a man of thirty-five or forty, above the middle height and slenderly but firmly built. His features are of the Grecian type, and, were it not for his clear piercing eye and commanding expression, would be thought too delicate. His bead is remarkable for its symmetrical and intellectual development. He commenced with the established formula : my Lord, and very dear brethren. In a few minutes the deepest silence reigned throughout the audience and I then understood the secret of the magic eloquence of the first pulpit orator of France. He is genial; every word springs from the heart and falls in living warmth on the hearts of his hearers. His mode of thinking is clear, his utterance easy and his elocution simple and natural. His eloquence is the spontaneous outpouring of a full mind and heart in unison with each other. Equally distant from bombast and from poverty, his style is modelled on the chaste and manly example of Bossuet. No turgidness, no reaching after effect, but an even flow of grand and noble thought and forcible language. His subject was the real presence, and he treated it not as a narrow technical doctrine, relating to the identity of Christ’s body with

the sacramental bread, but as the broad truth of God’s ever abiding near and revealing himself to man. What would have been abstract and uninteresting in the hands of another, became in his a subject glowing with life and palpitating with lively interest. His description of the occasions on which Jesus permitted himself to he touched, was worthy of Masillon. As the sermon wore on, I hoped we should get to the end of it without having politics dragged in. Vain hope! A brilliant digression on the extreme happiness of the poor, which would have formed the natural preface to an exhortation to all good Christians to use their political influence to reduce the rich to that blissful condition, was but a prelude to an onslaught against the enemies of order and the church, who are seeking to change the actual condition of society. His eulogy of poverty was intended to keep the poor contented with their monopoly of the buffets of fortune. The only criticism to be made on this justly distinguished orator is, that he frequently lets his voice fall at the end of a period, so that it cannot be heard .except by those near him. If the custom were not one favoured by the church, fault might be found with his making so many Latin .quotations from the scriptures. Certainly, if he wishes to prove any proposition or illustrate any idea by a quotation, he would do better to make one in a language known to his hearers. The Pere Lacordaire is irreproachable in private life: Some of his brother ecclesiastics suspect him of being at heart a Socialist. He was member of the Constituent Assembly of 1848, and resigned his seat because of some difference of opinion with the Pope. Curious Illegal Distillery.—One of the largest seizures made since the capture of the Globe-road Distillery was effected on Wednesday. The building in which the seizure was made stands in George-street, Beth-nal-green. and has been used as a sugarhouse, and the occupiers professed still to carry on a branch of the sugar-refining business. As the entry was unexpected, and the locality had been previously well reconnoitred, the police were able to escape dangers of a forcible magnitude, arising from the construction of the premises. The passage to the interior was by narrow boards over a well of great depth. This was safely crossed. In the cellar, which was without windows or any aperture for the admission of light, they found a brick building, to be entered only by a strong iron door. This having obstructed the officers a long time, was finally forced, and a well constructed and expensive copper still in full work was discovered. Two Germans found on the premises, named Schulze and Spracht, were given into custody. This building, it appears, has also been used as a harbour for thieves, and six notorious burglars were taken out of it a few months ago. — Mas, Dec. ,14. The World’s Fair. —The English papers contain some items of interest relative to the World’s Fair to be held in 1851. At the first sitting of the Royal Commission in the Crystal Palace, which was presided over by Prince Albert, the manner in which the new building should be painted and decorated was discussed. It was decided that the exterior should be painted a plain stone color, and the interior blue and white. Extensive preparations were being made in France and Belgium for the exhibition. As many as 686 manufacturers have given in their names to the Secretary of the Belgium Commission ; of these 150 are manufacturers of Brussels. The number of French manufacturers intending to exhibit, up to the 26 th of November, was 2481, of whom 1730 were for the Seine, and 751 for the other departments. It is stated that the committee, which was formed for contracting on a large scale for the conveyance of German visitors to the exhibition, has been dissolved, owing to. the uncertain state of affairs in Germany. The gigantic globe which is to be exhibited at the Fair, will, it is said, be constructed with a corresponding magnetic axis, attached: to great batteries, by which the whole phenomena of terrestrial physics will be exhibited, according to Mr. Hopkins’s principles of geology and magnetism. The axis is to be placed horizontally, supported by centres, round which a circular platform is to be erected from which the whole of the surface of the globe may be seen, as it rotates on its axis—the geology, volcanoes, and the aurora lights at each pole, and other interesting natural phenomena. It is a grand idea, and, if carried into effect, will be one of the most interesting subjects of the forthcoming exhibition.