SCENE 5TH. Wise Virgins, singing. First Virgin begins, leads. Let us leave our evil way, Where friends the Bridegroom meet, He should say before them all, "Take the lowest seat." First Wise Virgin, speaking. Oh! let us heed the Angel's voice, Sweet sisters, listen to this truth, Till death or age o’ertake us all ? Shall we not rather now prepare, His promised joys with Him to share, Our garments white, our earthly sorrows o'er, And Heaven's unending bliss for us in store? Second Wise Virgin, speaking. Yea, verily, we will to-day Press forward on the heavenly way, First Foolish Virgin, speaks. Second Foolish Virgin, speaks. We will follow where you lead, Till I take a nun's estate, Then when earth no more is fair, Hath a kingdom given, Nor will S. Peter bar to us The open gate of Heaven. SCENE 6TH. The Foolish Virgins abandon themselves to dancing and other delights. Angel. Now silence for awhile. Third Wise Virgin, begins to sing. When men shall hate and scorn us, And friends no longer smile; The Foolish Virgins are seen feasting. One is sleeping. Third Foolish Virgin, sings warningly. Let us awake from sleep, And trim our lamps aright, Let us arouse from slumbers deep, The same, speaking. Oh, help! oh, help! for GOD is near, We know not of the day or hour When comes the Bridegroom in His power; Ah! little we for Him have done, Fourth Foolish Virgin. Then all arouse and get up. Angel. Silence. (To be continued.) Reviews and Notices. We are very glad to find that Mr. Frank Shaw, Vicar of Eastry, has been encouraged to go on to a second part of his Bible-Class Notes on S. Matthew's Gospel, (G. J. Palmer.) They belong to a class of books that will be found to be of great value to clergymen and catechists. At the same time we should not advise any one to attempt to reproduce these notes in catechising. They are rather a quarry from whence ideas may be gathered. Further, though extending to a very great length, they are by no means exhaustive. The Bible in fact never can be exhausted, and Mr. Shaw is so conscious of this fact that he advises those who use his Notes to have them interleaved, with the view of adding to the stock which he has provided. We shall be aiding then we think the purpose which Mr. Shaw has in view if we mention two or three omissions which we have quite casually observed. Mr. Shaw notes that sitting" was the posture employed by our LORD for teaching, and accordingly he cites all the instances which he has gathered,-but, strange to say, he omits all the teaching recorded by the Apostles when He " sat down and the twelve Apostles with Him," (S. Luke xxii. 14,) which included the Institution of the Eucharist "after they had supped," and all those conversations related by S. John in chapters xiv.—xvii. 2. In the various illustrations of our LORD's Poverty we miss the necessity for actually working a miracle in order that He should have wherewithal to pay the tribute-money. 3. In commenting on our LORD'S "fulfilment of the Law," though he enumerates all the Types and Prophecies which our LORD fulfilled in His own person, Mr. Shaw omits to mention how He still continues to fulfil the Law in the fact, that the Two great Sacraments of the Gospel, the Sunday, the Threefold Ministry, and the Three great Christian Festivals, are all " fulfilments" of Levitical Institutions. In these, as in other ways, the Law was an outline (not "shadow" as the A.V. translates the Greek word) of good things to come. We are glad to see that Mr. Hodges has commenced another Series of Tales, which differ from the "Curate's Budget," in the circumstance that each one of these monthly parts contains four or five stories. The general title is Lights and Shadows: Stories of everyday Life, and they are edited by the authoress of " A Trap to catch a Sunbeam." It is always a sign of healthy progress to see Tracts and Tales develope into Series. The first two parts are very promising,-but we would suggest to the Editor to make each tale end in the number in which it begins. Continuations in short tales are very inconvenient. The Rev. Christopher Thompson has published a Paper on Church Music (Church Printing Company,) which we strongly recommend to all Managers of Choirs who desire an intelligent and devotional rendering of their Services. Mr. Thompson strongly advocates the use of the Gregorian Tones, and organs (at least in small choirs) of moderate proportions. True stories always seem to touch the heart, and they are specially valuable when belonging to a position in life which has a marked character of its own. For His Sake, by A. Stuart King, (Mowbray,) is the sketch of a sailor lad, and will be acceptable to many readers. The author of "The Daily Life of a Christian Child,” which was a favourite many years ago, has just put out a small Poem on a very large subject, The Second Advent, (Pitman,) of which we can praise both the conception and the execution. We do not ever remember to have met with so suggestive a volume of Sermons as one entitled Village Homilies, by the Rev. Walter Meller, of S. John's College, Oxford, (Skeffington.) Each Sermon is really a Poem,—though from the circumstance of their having, as it appears, been written for a "Village" Congregation, they are unusually brief and even sketchy. If we might venture a word of advice to the author, we would say, Persevere, and take great pains with your Sermons: evidently you have a facility of composition, and fertility of imagination: therefore cultivate the talent which you have got; it is worth all the pains you can bestow on it. It seems to mark a new stage in the progress of Catholicism among us that we are ceasing to be dependent on foreign sources for the supply of the highest kind of devotional literature. French writers do not suit the English taste it is with great pleasure therefore that we welcome Mr. Carter's Spiritual Instructions on the Religious Life, (Masters,) which strikes us as the result of his most matured powers, and consequently more restrained and |