was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, March 17, 1784. His father was a German and his mother an Alsatian. He married the daughter of an Austrian officer named De Monti, and claimed to have been in the English army before he came to New York and to have been wounded at the battle of Waterloo. Mrs. Denman died in 1847 and was buried in St. Patrick's churchyard. They lived then in James Street. She was the mother of twelve children, but five of whom, four sons and a daughter, lived to maturity. The sons were educated at St. John's College, Fordham, West Point, and Annapolis. The daughter went to St. Joseph's Academy, Emmittsburg, Md. Three of the sons were in the United States service. Adjutant Frederick J. Denman of the U. S. Artillery was accidentally killed in Texas in 1854. Acting Ensign Joseph A. Denman of the U. S. Navy died in 1862. Col. Charles L. Denman was in the Mexican War and in the South American consular service, and died March 17, 1893. The youngest son, William, was for a number of years an editor of the New York Tablet. The only daughter, Mary Eliza Denman, married John Colgan, a wealthy brewer of this city, and died in 1868.

The old Major outlived all his day and generation and spent most of the last years of his long life unknown and unnoticed in the family of a friend, the late Mrs. James Coleman, who was a sister of William O'Brien, the Bonanza millionaire. When he sold the Truth Teller in 1855 he offered it first for $500. Then the purchasers thought they would compromise on the price, and after some negotiation, and in view of his age, they agreed to pay him for it $5 a week during his life. This was accepted, and the payments began April 2, 1855. As he did not die until September 12, 1870, the "compromise" payments went on for over fifteen years and cost the purchasers $4,030. They thus learned an expensive lesson in the uncertainties of human life.

THE DIARY OF DR. STILES.

BY REV. JAMES H. O'DONNELL.

THE notes which follow are extracted from The Literary Diary of Ezra Stiles, D.D., LL.D., President of Yale College from June 23, 1778, till his death, May 12, 1795. The Diary is in three large, handsome volumes and covers a period of over twenty-six years, from January 1, 1769, to May 6, 1795.

The biographers of Dr. Stiles have not stinted themselves in their praises of his learning, benevolence, breadth of mind, and charity towards Christians of every creed. In Allen's Biographical Dictionary we are told that "Dr. Stiles was one of the most learned men of whom this country can boast"; that "he was catholic in his sentiments, for his heart was open to receive all who loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity. He was conspicuous for his benevolence, as well as for his learning and piety." Dr. Stiles' learning may have been as extensive as his biographers claim. We have culled a few extracts from his Diary, to illustrate how "catholic in his sentiments" he was, and if he was "conspicuous for his benevolence," how comprehensive was this benevolence. Catholics, as we shall see, in his eyes were not among those "who loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity." His Diary is a valuable document, illustrating among other things what charity and tolerance meant in his day, and we may add, in his biographer's day. It abounds in entries which show his feelings to Catholics. He looked down upon his Catholic fellow men with that lofty contempt so characteristic of the Puritan, and, like most other Puritans, was no friend of the Jesuits. The following entry, under date of July 29, 1773, shows the feelings of the benevolent Doctor towards the Society of Jesus: "There are 200 thousand eccle

siastics in France, and of 25 million sterling public revenue they command 16 millions. They may be reduced to 15 thousand, eno' for Ministers to 15 or 20 million people. This Reformation and Revolt of over one Third of the whole Pontifical Body must be a great Shock to the Man of Sin, should it prove true. The extirpation of the Jesuits was wonderful. God can make the avarice of Princes a means to effect great purposes.

As additional flowers of his charity the following entries are submitted.

Anent the famous Quebec Act Dr. Stiles writes, August 23, 1774: "The king has signed the Quebec Act, extending that Province to the Ohio and Mississippi and comprehending nearly Two Thirds of the Territory of English America, and established the Romish Church and IDOLATRY over all that space; in this Act are the Bishops Concerned. Astonishing that King, Lords and Commons, a whole Protestant Parliament should expressly establish Popery over Three Quarters of their Empire.

Under date of "Nov. 27. Lord's day. 1774. A.M." he wrote: "I preached on 2 Thess. ii. 7, 12, on the nature and Danger of Popery in this Land, from the operation of the Quebec Bill for the Establishment of the Romish Religion over Two Thirds of the British Empire. P.M. 2 Thess. 1, 12."

May 8, 1775. "On 15th Feb. last was proclaimed at Rome the election of a Pope, viz. Cardinal Braschi, to the great Disgust of this City, as he is Considered friendly to the Interests of the Jesuits."

On page 467, Vol. II., the benevolent Doctor refers to the Pope as "The Man of Sin," saying with refreshing truth that he began his sway "in the Apostles' Times"; and on page 490 he designates the Church as "the corrupt and idolatrous Church of Rome which never made a third part of Christendom." On June 18, 1783, he informs us that the subject of the class discussion at Yale was: "Whether Deists and Roman Catholics ought to be admitted to a participation in officers of Civil Govt. in the United States?" The Doctor's ideas of some doings of the French

Revolution and its imitators is thus expressed, April 30, 1790: "The Spirit of Liby prevails and spreads in Europe. France has liberated the Monasteries and Nunneries; and given Liby of Conscience to the Protestants. . . . The spirit has entered Italy, and the Pope and Cardinals are in frequent Consultation how to conduct in this critical Convulsion and Struggle for Liberty. Spain and Portugal are alarmed and vigilant."

As though the time of the learned Doctor was not sufficiently occupied in teaching the arts and sciences to the students of Yale, he informs us under date of August 15, 1782, that "At Vth P.M. I gave a lecture on ecclesiastical history, enumerating the principal corruptions of the Romish Church." Unfortunately, the Diary is silent as to what these corruptions were.

The following items are of Catholic interest, and from them an occasional side light is thrown upon the Doctor's love for Catholics. His admiration for the clergy of Spain is thus expressed, Sept. 11, 1771: "In Spain, etc., the clergy are profoundly ignorant and licentious." The Doctor carefully refrains, however, from giving details or from furnishing authority for this bald statement. It was his conviction, and that was supposed to have sufficient weight for all practical purposes. He continues: "In the Romish Church one in fifty souls are ecclesiastics; so that body consists of sixty million of souls, implying six million clergy." How incomprehensible is the credulity of intolerant narrow-mindedness! How inexplicable its folly!

The following entry furnishes us with a specimen of Dr. Stiles' casuistry. "April 26, 1773. A case of Conscience was once put to me by one who was in the English Army at Cuba At the Seige and taking of the Havanna 1762. He had in the Night broken into one of the Romish Churches and secretly took a piece of Silver plate, I think not an Image, but a Silver Candlestick or however Some utensil of their idolatrous worship, which he Secreted and brought away with him to New England. It was in a Church without the City and fell into the hands of the English before the Capitulation. He had scruples whether he had done right and whether he might use

it now he had gotten it. Had it been an Image the Answer had been more easy. As it was a candlestick, I was at a Loss and could not resolve him clearly. I told him I was sorry he had taken it, and asked him whether it could not be returned, because in doubtful Cases, it is best not to act. But reading to day Deut. vii. 25, 26, I could now resolve him what to do. 1st. That any man may do right at any Time (though it ought to be done openly, not in a purloining Way) to destroy Idols and all Implements of idolatrous Worship. 2d. That the manner of his Taking was wrong. Yet 3d. Now he had got it he was not to convert it into Bullion and use it as money for that is an Abomination to the Lord, and a Curse to him that useth it. 4th. That he should destroy it, by burying it in the Land or Ocean, or melt it with Such mixture that it might be powdered to the Dust and scattered as Moses did the golden Calf."

A less learned casuist than Dr. Stiles, but one whose theological judgment was not perverted, would have had little difficulty in clearing away the scruples of the English soldier. He would have recognized that the commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," was comprehensive enough to embrace goods stolen from Catholic churches, and that to steal an image is a theft as well as to purloin a candlestick. It was an instance of the Doctor's benevolence overcoming his judgment.

Aug. 29, 1774. "Mr. Hartwick tells me that he was Chaplain in the English American Army in 1760 and lived with Capt. Charles Leigh, now Gen. Leigh; that Gen. Leigh tho' of Gt. Britain or Ireland was educated in the Popish University of Rheims in France in one of the free Colleges for English. After the war he went and became Colonel in the Auxiliary Troops sent to Portugal. Afterwards he went and became a General in the Service of the King of Poland. He is now gone to the Congress, talks, writes and prints for American liberty. His having had a Popish Education is a disagreeable Circumstance