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quickly to ride, and tilt, and all the other accomplishments necessary for his education. His indoor duties however, he was not quite so quick in learning, he had to spend several hours of the day in the Condesa's rooms in attendance on herself and her ladies, and was decidedly awkward in his attempts to do as he was told. The Condesa being a French woman, knew how to read, and was careful to have some of her maidens taught the art, and for a certain time every day one of them read aloud. Beltran thought this delightful, and was often so keenly interested in what was being narrated that he did not hear when he was ordered to do something or other. The reading was generally about knights, sans peur et sans reproche, who did wonderful deeds, or stories of the Virgin and Saints.

Beltran often thought with satisfaction how the work in life waiting for him was exactly the work fit for a noble knight-to punish wrongdoers, his cousin Don Antonio, and help the oppressed and prisoners in infidel hands, his mother and brother. Only he remembered with regret that he had no fair lady whose name should be hidden deep in his heart, with her scarf on his helmet! He looked at the Countess and her maidens; some of them were pretty certainly, but still he did not feel specially drawn towards any; besides, as he never meant to marry, but to return to the lake when his work was over, he did not want any earthly love. But he used to think to himself, " If one of the Saints might appear to me, dear little S. Agnes for instance, how I would fight in her name and think of her all through my life."

With these dreamy notions in his head, the day of his admittance to knighthood at last arrived. He was but a boy in years, not quite fourteen; but in those warlike times boys were admitted to knighthood at an early age, and went with their fathers to battle. So the day was fixed, and the Countess was to fasten on him his spurs, the Earl to knight him. He kept his vigil the night before in the chapel of the Castle, and as he had been accustomed to a certain amount of solitude during his life with Sebastian, did not find the long hours of the night pass heavily, so full of plans for the future and of dreams of S. Agnes was his mind at that time. Not till the darkness of night gave way to the cold light of dawn did he begin to feel impatient, and he waited eagerly for the first signs of the morning glow which was to announce the arrival of the longed-for day of his knighthood. The ceremony took place in the Castle chapel, after which there was a great feast in honour of the new knight, and next day he started with

Turania for Toledo, whither the king was going, that Beltran might be presented to him as the rightful Conde del Arte, and obtain his assistance in recovering that inheritance.

The king had gone to Toledo in order to preside at a very curious scene, namely the trial by the ordeal of fire of the comparative merits of the Mozarabic and Latin Liturgies. The king in compliance with the Pope's desire was very anxious to enforce the universal use of the Latin liturgy all through his dominions. In Aragon and Barcelona this had already been done; the wives of the rulers of those countries being like Alfonso's queen, French princesses, who were accustomed to that Use in their own homes, used all their influence to enforce it in Spain. But the Castilians were very averse to the change, and though the abolition of the national liturgy had been decreed at a cortes at Burgos some time before, they yet resisted the decree in many places and specially in Toledo. Here the Mozarabic Christians, proud of the faith they had maintained untouched through centuries of Mussulman domination-proud of their ancient liturgy, preserved safely through ages of persecution and oppression, with an important ecclesiastical history of their own, Bishops and councils of Toledo, martyrs and confessors without number-refused to give up their ancient Use. To please the people the matter had been referred to trial by combat, and the champion of the national liturgy won the day. The king, however, who was decidedly in advance of the mass of the nation on many matters, was not at all inclined to consider the result of the combat as a Divine decision, and spite of the combat ordered the enforcement of the decree of the Council of Burgos. The result had been a sort of rebellion in the city; so now to please the people the king had agreed to refer the decision to the ordeal by fire, and had undertaken to preside himself on the occasion.

This, then, was the extraordinary spectacle that met the eyes of Beltran and the Conde of Turania as they approached the ancient city. Toledo is built on the top of some rocky heights, surrounded on three sides by the river, and the fourth side so steep and so strongly fortified that if it had not been for famine the city could never have been taken by the Christians. The streets of the city were so narrow, steep, and winding, that it was impossible for the trial to take place there, and a large space therefore had been prepared in the valley below for the purpose. The king and queen assisted in state, accompanied by a great many prelates and noblemen and a mass of excited townspeople.

The preliminary prayers said, the fire was made to burn up brightly, and at a given moment both missals were thrown into the flames. A breathless silence followed. Then a mass of wood on which the national liturgy had been thrown gave way and fell down, and the missal was thrown out uninjured, while the Roman missal was considerably burnt. A shout of triumph came from the people and a murmur of voices, which was quickly hushed as the king proceeded to give judgment. He said that both liturgies had been proved to be good, as neither had been completely destroyed by the fire, and therefore both might equally well be used. This strange decision did not satisfy the people, who indulged in murmurs of dissent, though they dared not give full vent to their disappointment in the king's presence.

The ceremony over, the king proceeded towards the city. He signed to Turania, who had meanwhile joined the procession, to come to him, and said,

You have arrived in time to see a curious sight truly! to think that we whose endeavour it has always been to discourage these puerile practices should actually have to order and preside at one ourselves; and yet in spite of all it has not answered our purposes. It is unfortunate. Still, riot or no riot, we are determined to have our way; the new Use must be enforced." Then, noticing the handsome young knight in his bright new armour, who kept as closely as allowable to Turania, he asked who the knight was whose armour seemed to have seen so little service. Turania then told his Majesty about Beltran, and obtained the promise of an audience for the boy next day. The audience over, the king promised to send a herald to summon Don Antonio to his presence, there to answer for his misconduct. But as travelling took some time in those days, while the messenger is on his way to Don Antonio's castle, we will return for a while to the history of the mother and brother of Beltran and of the Sultana Maliba.

S. BEES' THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE.

S. BEGA, or Bees, says Alban Butler, "was a holy Irish virgin, who flourished about the middle of the seventh century, led an anchoretical life, and afterwards founded a nunnery in Copeland, near Carlisle. Her shrine was kept there after her death, and became famous for

pilgrims." This is the whole of the true history of the Saint who has given her name to the village and College of S. Bees, near Whitehaven, in Cumberland. From the seventh century to the nineteenth S. Bees' has no particular history, the chief event connected with it being the foundation of the Grammar School by Archbishop Grindal in 1584. The nunnery seems to have been destroyed before the time of Henry I.; afterwards restored as a priory; again destroyed at the Reformation. No remains of it are now to be found.

But the history of the village, for the purposes of this paper, begins in 1816. It was then that the Right Rev. G. H. Law, Bishop of Chester, founded S. Bees' Theological College. The original intention seems to have been to receive principally or entirely north countrymen into the College; but it soon became a place of education for men from all parts who from age, poverty, or other reasons, could not go to the Universities. Whatever may have been its condition in former times, before civilization had penetrated so far northwards, S. Bees' may now fairly claim to hold a high character among our Theological Institutions. A College containing (April, 1876,) sixty-three men dedicated to the sacred ministry of the Church, brought there not for the sake of obtaining a fashionable education, or of idling away three years in good society, but for the purpose of preparation for their ministerial career—such an establishment is worthy the deepest attention of Churchmen.

It has been our lot lately to pass a short time in S. Bees', and we think our readers will be interested in hearing a few particulars about it. The College is under the care of a Principal, also Vicar of the Parish, assisted by a Tutor and a Lecturer. By them lectures are given daily to the students, and the Services in the Church performed. The students are, as a rule, not received after the age of thirty-five, or under that of twenty-one. They live in lodgings, of which the Principal has a licensed list, and their expenses are calculated at from 18s. to 24s. per week. Extravagance is carefully repressed, strict discipline maintained. No smoking in the streets, no being out after 10 p.m. This latter regulation is assisted by the fact that the gas in the streets is extinguished at that hour.

The students wear their gowns throughout the day, and when they wish to go out of S. Bees' have to enter their names in a book. Attendance at lectures and Church is enforced. The gowns resemble that of an Oxford B.A., rather shorter, and the sleeves not so full.

Matins are said daily at 9, Evensong on Fridays at 7, Sunday Services at 8 a.m., 10.15 a.m., 3 p.m., 6.30 p.m. Two Celebrations each Sunday; Services choral. The students read the lessons alternately: the readers wearing surplices.

We may here say a word as to the reading. We had been brought up in an Oxford College, not wont to think too little of itself, and had there heard a great deal of very bad reading. The half dozen or so men whom we heard at S. Bees' read with great care and reverence, and apparently understood the meaning of the words they uttered. We beg to commend this fact to the attention of any undergraduate into whose hands our paper may fall.

The College course extends over two years, and there are two terms in a year. Each student pays the Principal £20 per year. There are no other College expenses.

The Church is a fine building of red sandstone, and has some good painted glass. The students sit in the chancel aisles. The east end of the chancel, formerly in ruins, has been restored as a lecture room, walled off from the rest of the Church. There is also, near the Church, a lecture room and library, built by Mr. Butterfield about twenty years ago. The library contains portraits of the late Principals, but is sadly deficient in books.

The scenery of S. Bees' is lovely. The sea is only a few minutes' walk from the village, and there is a splendid background of mountains. From the top of S. Bees' Head, which overlooks the sea, one has a view on fine days of England, Scotland, Ireland, and the Isle of Man. This eminence is called Tomline; whereby hangs a College joke. Before Bishop Browne published his book, "Tomline on the Articles" was used as a text-book. The hill therefore received its name because it was so hard to get up. But, for the benefit of antiquarian readers, we must add that the name is much older than the reason. The popu lation of S. Bees' village is about 1200; of the Parish about 2200. There are a few shops. The College bookseller sells not only " Alford" and "Wordsworth," but medicine and cigars, and his shop is the great place of resort; the other principal tradesman supplies wine, groceries, and caps and gowns. The place is quiet; and the men are for the most part earnestly bent upon pursuing their sacred studies. Dominus benedicat.

E. H. M.

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