cant preacher. His friend, Bishop Azevedo, entered with enthusiasm into the same, mission, but after a short period returned to Osma and died. Even the legates were shamed for a time to follow in the wake of the enthusiastic Spaniard; but their enthusiasm did not last long. Dominic was left alone in his zealous and self-denying labours. There was much that was commendable in these early labours. He not only preached and powerfully denounced the errors of the heretics, but he invited them to conferences, and reasoned at length with them. This is compared by his eulogistic biographer to St. Paul's conferences with the Jews and St. Augustine's expostulations with the Donatists and Manicheans. It is difficult to estimate what truth there may be in such a comparison; but apparently St. Dominic, in the commencement of his career, was content to appeal to moral means and the force of his own arguments and eloquence. He had, indeed, according to all his biographers, another means of persuasion when the heretics remained obdurate under all his reasoning; but it cannot be said that there was anything unfair even in this weapon of persuasion. On one occasion, when the arbiters who were appointed at the conference to decide betwixt him and his opponents could not come to a decision on which side the best of the argument lay, it occurred to some one present to settle the controversy by throwing the documents containing the arguments on both sides into the fire. The one which remained unconsumed was sure to contain the true doctrine. The thing was done, and immediately the heretical document was consumed, and that of the saint was not only uninjured, but leapt out of the fire.

The splendour of miracle everywhere surrounds our saint. The difficulty of the mediæval mind was, not to believe in miracle, but to hold any clear idea of the natural apart from the supernatural. We smile as we read the ridiculous incidents attributed to him, in which black cats disappearing up bell ropes, and a lady's nose marvellously detached and again attached by his prayers, play a conspicuous part. It was a stubborn generation, we may say with Milman, which, besides preaching and arguments, needed such miracles, and the sword of Simon de Montfort to boot, before it could be cured of its heresies. But the absurd side of supernaturalism has not so long or so entirely disappeared amongst ourselves, as to

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make such stories unintelligible. Even John. Wesley did not hesitate to hold it for a miracle if the rain stopped so as to enable him to set out on an intended journey, or if a hailstorm overtook a town which had remained refractory under his preaching. And it may be questioned if the modern phenomena of so-called "spiritualism" do not outrival the most absurd stories of mediæval credulity. While we smile at this aspect of our saint's life, therefore, we must not allow it to detract from his true power and greatness.

Dominic was now to test his power in a more definite manner. He appears to have laboured as a preacher for two years with varying and uncertain success. He had, indeed, laid the foundation, or made a beginning, of his order, by the institution of a female convent. He had observed that the heretics were especially successful with the gay ladies of Languedoc, who listened to them with eager minds; and accordingly, in the close of 1206, he opened at Prouille, at the foot of the Pyrenees, a place of education and refuge for girls, where they might be kept in the true faith. Some time afterwards, the first brotherhood of the order of Preachers was established, only sixteen in number, but destined speedily to grow into an army of missionaries. These peaceful labours of the saint, however, were all cast into the shade by the horrors of the Albigensian war, associated with his name. The special occasion of this war was the murder of the Papal legate in the beginning of 1208; but the passions had been long preparing which rendered it a necessity. It is beyond our power to give even a slight sketch of this atrocious crusade against the civil and religious liberties of the inhabitants of Languedoc, or of the leaders on the one side or the other, the pleasant, vacillating, and humiliated Raymond, and the intrepid, violent, and bloodthirsty Montfort. As in all such cases, it is difficult to penetrate to the real character of the chief actors, and to learn how far religious passion or enthusiasm mingled with the lowest motives of human ambition. Of the horrible cruelties of De Montfort there seems to be no question. Men, women, and children were massacred without remorse. "Four hundred," it is said, "were burned in one great pile, which made a wonderful blaze, and caused universal rejoicing in the camp." When the bishops failed in converting the captive heretics, they burned them.

The question that concerns us is, What was St. Dominic doing all this time? Did he share in the atrocities of the war? or did he

routine. In order to give useful occupation to the men during the long evenings, a school was instituted, and classes formed under the direct superintendence of the officers, at which nearly the whole ship's company attended. Reading, writing, arithmetic, navigation, and history were the principal subjects in which the pupils were instructed.

Never was seen such an orderly and wellconducted school, and it was a pleasure to the masters to devote their time to classes that evinced such an earnest desire of acquiring knowledge and gaining instruction as those on board the Alert. Here might be seen a staid old seaman, whose great brawny hand appeared more fitted to wield the marline-spike than the pen, vainly endeavouring, with his head close to the table and his tongue protruding, to add two and two together.

As a contrast to this, at the opposite table might be seen a smart young sailor who had distanced all his competitors in arithmetic, asking abstruse questions in mensuration that were sufficient even to make his tutor feel uncomfortable. After the schools were dismissed, the men enjoyed an uninterrupted evening to themselves. The smokers betook themselves to a place between decks specially appointed for that purpose. The studious ones devoted themselves to books, whilst others, and they were many, occupied the interval before going to bed in writing their journals.

Games of various descriptions, such as chess, bagatelle, draughts, cribbage, &c., were provided for our amusement. Even gambling came into vogue, the stakes being enormous, as much as one lucifer match (a very precious article) per game! One man was so rash as to wager a candle upon the result of a game, but this was a stake of such magnitude that no one was sporting enough to accept it. Thursday evenings were always devoted to dramatic entertainments, magic lantern exhibitions, instructive lectures, or music, both vocal and instrumental. These entertainments were kept up with the same spirit, and without a break, during the whole winter. They were usually called our "Thursday Pops," and afforded much pleasure and amusement.

Birthdays amongst the officers were invariably celebrated by the best dinner that our caterers could provide, accompanied, as a great indulgence, by a glass of port wine. The following is a specimen of a bill of fare on one of these occasions :

A la Julienne soup is the potage we favour,

And soles fried au naturel serve us for fish;
We have cutlets and green peas of elegant flavour-
Beef garnished with mushroom-a true English dish.

Then a mountain of beef from our cold Greenland valleys,
Overshadowing proudly boiled mutton hard by,
Till our appetite waning, just playfully dallies

With a small slice of ham-then gives in with a sigh.
For lo! a real British plum-pudding doth greet us,
And a crest of bright holly adorns its bold brow;
While the choicest mince pies are yet waiting to meet us:
Alas! are we equal to meeting them now?

Blanket wrappers were articles of wearing apparel. + Hunt was the name of the ward-room cock.

was

So we drink to our Queen, and we drink to the maiden, The wife, or the mother, that holds us most dear; And may we and our consort sail home richly laden With the spoils of success, ere December next year. The composition of these menus always a subject of anxious 'care and forethought on the part of those entrusted with this important duty, and long and earnest was the consultation and many the references to the French dictionary before they were submitted to the printer's hands, for printed they invariably were. In fact, the chief use of our printing-press, and the most important Occupation of the "printing establishment," was the production of these "bills of fare and the programmes for the "Thursday Pops." The latter were announced to the general Arctic public by the following notice, which was widely circulated:

"On Thursday, the 11th of November, 1875, will commence a weekly series of Popular Entertainments, that will consist of lectures, reading, recitations, and music, both vocal and instrumental, &c. No trouble or expense has been spared in obtaining the services of a great number of the most talented men of the day. The entertainment will be given in the airy and commodious hall situated in Funnel Row. No Encores.

Except on the evenings exclusively devoted to the legitimate drama, the entertainments were always preceded by a lecture from one of the officers; astronomy, light, geology, meteorology, or some other interesting and instructive subject, adapted to the knowledge and intelligence of the audience, would be selected. These were eagerly listened to, and afforded as much pleasure as the readings and songs that followed. Among the many gifts showered upon us by kind and generous friends at home was an excellent piano, and, as good fortune would have it, among our officers was a very talented musician, to whose good nature and willing efforts much of the success of these evenings was due. These entertainments were always held below on a spacious part of the deck generally allotted to the smokers. We did not, in consequence, suffer from the cold in the same manner as our consort, her want of space necessitating the construction of an ice theatre on the floe. In this it was difficult to raise the temperature above the zero point. Their ladies were, therefore, unable to indulge in low dresses, and a close observer might have detected under-clothing composed of seal-skins beneath their otherwise gorgeous dresses of silk and muslin.

The costumes were, of course, a subject of great discussion and deep interest. The making up of dresses, and the manufacture of wigs from musk-ox skins and oakum, employed minds and fingers that until then had been strangers to such occupations. Many were the needles broken, and many were the fingers pricked, before our ideal costumes were realised. Eider-down quilts were converted into the robes of a lovely Oriental princess; old uniform coats were beautified with spangles and tinsel, and appeared as the fashionable habiliments of a dandy of the seventeenth century; whilst a wicked magician of the Hebrew persuasion appeared in a coat of unmistakable clerical cut. Officers and men equally devoted themselves to the amusement of their shipmates, and if their histrionic abilities were not of the highest order, the zeal and energy of the actors fully compensated for the deficiency. We enjoyed a rare freedom from all newspaper reporters and harsh uncompromising critics. All that visited the Royal Arctic Theatre came with a desire and firm resolve to please or be pleased. Acting upon this resolution, our entertainments were bound to be successful. Occa

sionally we were agreeably startled by the announcement of an entire change of programme, such as a visit from "the only and veritable Wizard of the North," who condescended to honour the Alert with his presence "for one night only," on his way to "his hyperborean domicile;" or a notice to the effect that "the original and only true Pale-o-Christy Minstrels," a troupe that never sings in London," the members of which rejoiced in the names of Sheepskin, Breaddust, Pendulum, Bones, Beeswax, Pemicanface, and Screamer, would delight the Arctic world by one of their celebrated and inimitable representations.

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Although the mention of these amusements may be considered light and frivolous for men engaged in such a serious undertaking as that upon which we were embarked, still they all tended to one point, namely, the successful issue of the enterprise. It was all important during the long dreary winter through which the men had to pass that their mental, as well as their physical energies, should be kept continually employed. It was necessary to banish despondency, and to prevent any undue brooding over their lonely situation.

The encouragement of these entertainments added largely to the general wellbeing and satisfactory sanitary condition of