GRAVESEND.

PATRON:

THE LORD BISHOP OF ROCHESTER.

PRESIDENT :

THE EARL OF DARNLEY.

MISSIONARY CURATE:

REV. WILMOT BUXTON, M.A.
(Of Brasenose College, Oxford.)

Donations for the Building Fund may be sent to either of the following members of the Building Committee :

REAR-ADMIRAL INGLEFIELD, C. B.

10, Grove End Road,

London, N.W.

REV. C. E. R. ROBINSON, M. A., Rural Dean,

The Castle,

Gravesend, Kent.

*Small Donations are very welcome.

From THE LITERARY CHURCHMAN, of May 15th, 1869.

Are our readers aware of the work that is here going on among our forests of sea-going vessels, the petty ships that sail under scant superintendence, the freights of emigrants not always under Government care, the crews picked up anywhere or everywhere?

Very useful assistance to the Mission may be given by sending Books. We are sure that many of our readers will be glad that the lumber of their attics should beguile the weary hours of the sea-voyage; and if this offering pains them by costing nothing, perhaps they will do what comparatively costs them something towards freeing their own souls from that great national shame and public evil, the godless ungoverned condition of our inferior merchant navy, which, coming forth from a festering mass of corruption at home, pollutes every port where it touches.

The promoters of this Mission Lave received a very remarkable communication on the subject of the proposed new Chapel.

It will be remembered that the following passages, reprinted from papers in the Penny Post,' and 'Monthly Packet,' appeared in the last Report:

From THE PENNY POST.

Oh, that some pious heart may be stirred to help us! The obvious ways are, sending money in cheques or stamps, or sending books suitable for the lending libraries we put on board. But there are several ways of helping less obvious-such as making known the work of the Society to personal friends, or circulating papers of the Society, which will be supplied on applying by letter to the Hon. Sec. Will any pious mourner purchase our Mission House, now hired, and erect a Memorial Chapel to the memory of some lost friend? It could be done for about £1,000. It stands on the river's brink, and would be a most suitable spot for a memorial. That such a thing is not chimerical is proved by the building of a Memorial School in this parish two years ago. Above all, will some pious heart help us by praying?

We appeal for money, we generally forget to appeal for prayer, yet

'More things are wrought by prayer,

Than this world recks of.'

From THE MONTHLY PACKET.

There is one thing we dream of. May God move some one's heart to do it! The writer of this is the 'Dreamer of Dreams' among the supporters of the Mission, and a good dreamer has his work to do as well as the more prosaic.

He dreams that our Mission House (the lease of which is just expiring, and which we have the power to buy) will be bought and changed into a Memorial Chapel. Some mourning heart, whom God has blessed with money and with the heart of S. Barnabas, should erect a Memorial Chapel to the lost friend. Instead of a costly marble fabric, which has no use, a building should be erected which will embalm the memory of the lost one in the folds of its present usefulness. How beautifully it would stand on the banks of the river-how it would point with its bell-turret to the sky, to

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which the sailor like the landsman will soar, when in his own words, he has gone aloft!'

How it might add to the beauty of the river, which poets have sung of, and which deserves all that is said of him :

'As when from parent fountain first discharged,
The silver Thames pursues his new-born course,
His narrow pebbly bed, with rushes marged,
Scarce feels the influence of his humid source;
He, as he onward rolls, acquires new force,
His ample current proud through meads to guide,
And 'twixt his banks to keep a wide divorce;
While Britain's sons to his expanse confide
Britannia's bulwarks, and her merchants' pride.'

These remarks met the eye of a lady, who has communicated her wish to build such a Chapel to the memory, of her father, a distinguished Admiral, now deceased. She says that the words have given expression to a wish she has long felt, and that she is most thankful for the opportunity of carrying out her desire. Such a favour, conferred in such a spirit, will doubtless stimulate many others to copy her example. She gives it on condition that those who are interested in the Mission will raise money to buy the freehold of the Mission House and wharf, and to fit the House for the various works of love carried on there, (for the architect remarked when he saw the present building that more work is being done there than it can hold.)

She wishes to withhold her name, but she has named RearAdmiral Inglefield, C.B., to act with the Committee on her behalf, and he has generously presented the Communion Plate, as an earnest of his good will in the matter.

She is ready with the £1,000 at once, but the Committee are only ready, at present, with £200 of their share, which will probably amount to about £1,500.

A visit has been paid to the spot by G. E. Street, Esq., A. R. A., who has expressed his opinion that a satisfactory building can be erected, and the Chapel can be placed on the river side, exactly in accordance with the day-dream above quoted. Plans will shortly be furnished, and a statement, with photograph, sent to each subscriber. Meanwhile, Mr. Street's name will be a guarantee for the beauty and solidity of the work, which the promoters humbly trust will be, by the blessing of God, an enduring monument of the

love of the many hundred supporters of this Mission towards the Sailor, and the Fisherman, and the Waterman-a sort of hymn of intercession and praise, sung to sweet music by hundreds of voices, and petrified into stone.

But before this consummation can be reached, a huge amount of hard dry work has to be done to raise £1,500, which simply cannot be done in a poor town like Gravesend unless friends from a distance help them. Their Secretary will act with Admiral Inglefield as a Building Committee, and they earnestly trust that those who wish them well through it, will help them at once by promises of assistance, and, if possible, by sending money at once. Address,

REAR-ADMIRAL INGLEFIELD, C.B.

10, GROVE END ROAD,

LONDON, N.W.

REV. C. E. R. ROBINSON, M. A.

THE CASTLE,

GRAVESEND, KENT.

Many who cannot afford to give a guinea at once, can give 7s. a year for three years, and many who cannot give half-a-guinea, can give 3s. 6d. a year for three years.

THE

MONTHLY PACKET

OF

EVENING READINGS

For Members of the English Church.

MAY, 1870.

THE DIVINA COMMEDIA OF DANTE.

AT the end of the twenty-second Canto we left Dante and Virgil proceeding along the further side of the fifth gulf, after witnessing the discomfiture of the two devils who had fallen into the burning lake of pitch. Their intention had been to reach the bridge by which Malacoda had told them they could cross the sixth gulf; but this was frustrated (fortunately for them, as the bridge was a mere ruin) by the malevolent pursuit of Barbariccia's company, which necessitated their speedy descent on the other side of the bank where their enemies could no longer follow them. The fable referred to at the beginning of the Canto is that of the frog who treacherously proposed to carry the mouse over the river with intent to drown him in the middle; but before he had time to put his plan into execution was devoured, together with his burden, by a watersnake. This is not now generally included in the collection attributed to Esop, but has doubtless as good a claim as most others to the title. Perhaps the story may be traced back to the pseud-Homeric Battle of the Frogs and Mice, which opens with the death of a prince of the mice, who lets himself be carried over the water by a frog; the latter diving at the approach of the water-snake, and leaving his helpless friend to drown. The idea, however, of treachery on the part of the frog is wanting to this account, and may have been added by some subsequent fabulist to point the moral according to his own requirements.

When the poets reach the bottom of the sixth gulf, Dante is not at first aware that the hypocrites' cowls are really made of lead, as is seen by the question he asks in line 99. Those of Frederick II. referred to in line 66, are the leaden coverings in which that emperor is said to have wrapped those guilty of treachery towards him, before burning them alive. Concerning the Joyous Friars of Bologna, we learn from Villani that they were called Knights of Saint Mary. They became knights on taking the habit; their robes were white, the mantle sable, and the arms a white field and red cross with two stars. Their office was to defend widows and orphans; they were to act as mediators; and they had VOL. 9.

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PART 53.