smooths the raven plumage of Vota;--and, at the same time, throws
into him, as with invisible needle-points, an excellent dose of
acupuncturation, on the subject of the Primitive Fathers and the
Ecumenic Councils, on her own score. Let us give some Excerpt,
in condensed state:--

"How can St. Jerome, for example, be a key to Scripture?" she
insinuates; citing from Jerome this remarkable avowal of his
method of composing books; "especially of his method in that Book,
Commentary on the Galatians, where he
accuses both Peter and Paul of simulation and even of hypocrisy.
The great St. Augustine has been charging him with this sad fact,"
says her Majesty, who gives chapter and verse; ["Epist. 28*, edit.
Paris." And Jerome's answer, "Ibid. Epist. 76*."] "and Jerome
answers: 'I followed the Commentaries of Origen, of'"--five or six
different persons, who turned out mostly to be heretics before
Jerome had quite done with them in coming years!--"'And to confess
the honest truth to you,' continues Jerome, 'I read all that;
and after having crammed my head with a great many things, I sent
for my amanuensis, and dictated to him now my own thoughts,
now those of others, without much recollecting the order,
nor sometimes the words, nor even the sense.' In another place (in
the Book itself farther on [ "Commentary on the Galatians,
chap. iii."]), he says: 'I do not myself write;
I have an amanuensis, and I dictate to him what comes into my
mouth. If I wish to reflect a little, to say the thing better or a
better thing, he knits his brows, and the whole look of him tells
me sufficiently that he cannot endure to wait.'"--Here is a sacred
old gentleman, whom it is not safe to depend on for interpreting
the Scriptures, thinks her Majesty; but does not say so, leaving