appearance of a carbonised mummy.

Roman Catholics, not satisfied with this indefinite multiplication of the
personality of the Virgin, this innumerable variety of names and
attributes ascribed to the same individuality, have gone a step farther,
and worshipped one part of her body separately from the rest; and this
singular idea has given birth to another, viz., "devotion to the heart of
Mary,"--recently adopted in France, propagated in all the Papal
dominions, converted into an especial rite which the Church of Rome
celebrates with mass, vespers, and other services comprised in the missal
and the breviary. If, by the words, "heart of Mary," is to be understood
that muscle which serves as the centre of the circulation of the blood,
or the common metaphor which attributes to the heart the affections, the
desires, and all the other acts of the will, it is a mystery which
hitherto has not been explained either by the Roman Catholic church, or
any of the devotional books which have been written on the subject,--it
is a dilemma from which Roman Catholics never will be able to escape;
and, in the first case, nothing can be more preposterous than to divide
adoration between the entire person and one of its parts; and, in the
second case, the object of adoration is reduced to a mere verbal
artifice, depending on vulgar custom or on the caprice of men. If the
heart of the Virgin is adored under a supposition that it is the centre
of the most pure and virtuous sentiments, why has there not been
adoration of her head, which is supposed to be nourished with noble and
elevated thoughts? Why not her womb, in which lay the Saviour of the
world? Why not her hands, which nursed him, and performed all those
various acts and offices which are dictated by maternal solicitude?

The practice of consecrating the month of May to the Virgin, and
designating it the month of Mary, has the same origin, and been in the
same way brought into general use in the Roman Catholic world. The
religious feasts of those thirty-one days have a certain character of
splendour and of gladness, which makes them resemble those of the Greeks
and Romans consecrated to Flora. The altars, on which is placed the
image of the Virgin, are adorned with an extraordinary profusion of
feathers, flowers, rich silks, and precious jewels; the smoke of incense
ascends perpetually before the image; the temples are illuminated by
numerous candles, chandeliers, tapers; troop