and had the means of publishing books in upwards of thirty different
languages. At the present day it is furnished with all the recent
appliances; and from this press has issued works distinguished as much
for their typographical beauty as for the area they cover in the
mission field. Its font of Oriental types is specially rich. We were
shown specimens of the Paternoster in all the known languages; and my
friend had an opportunity of inspecting some theological works in the
obscure dialects of India. The productions of the Propaganda press are
very widely diffused. There is a bookseller's shop connected with the
establishment, where all the publications of the institution,
including the papal bulls, and the principal documents of the State,
may be procured. Altogether the college has taken a prominent part in
the education of the world. Its influence is specially felt in
America, from which a large number of its students come; the young
priest who conducted us through the library and the Borgian Museum
being an American, very intelligent and affable. The Roman Catholic
religion flourishes in that country because it keeps clear of all
political questions, and manifests itself, not as a government, in
which character it is peculiarly uncompromising and despotic, but as a
religion, in which aspect it has a wonderful power of adaptation to
the habits and tastes of the people. The Propaganda rules Roman
Catholic America very much in the spirit of its own institutions; and
one of the most remarkable social phenomena of that country is the
absolute subserviency which the political spirit of unbridled
democracy yields to its decrees. The bees of the Barberini carved upon
its architectural ornaments are no inapt symbol of the spirit and
method of working of this busy theological hive, which sends its
annual swarms all over the world to gather ecclesiastical honey from
every flower of opportunity.