CANONISED DOLLS.

423

and though the ancient Fräulein continually said her prayersto it, and liad it always before her eyes, we can answer that itby no means influenced her conduct in life: for if she told herbcads to the doli at one moment, she would fall to cheatinghard the next; so that, despite the "real presence" of theblessed wax Virgin, she tried to impose upon us to an enor-mous extent, and, indeed, seemed really to have more fear ofthe police than the " Mother of God ;" for it was only on ourprotesting that we wonld go to the office of the Commissaryconcerning her overcharges, that she consented to take no lessthan 101. off a bill of 30Z, odd.

Nor is it only in the matter of canonised dolls that thishuman degradation goes on, Once we were in an ironmonger'sshop at Coblenz, when a peasant, who was making a fewpurchases, requested to be shown some brass images of Christupon the Cross; whereupon the shopwoman took down abrown-paper packet füll of stamped sheet-brass, that lookedlike a bündle of finger-plates for doors, but which, in reality,turned out to be a whole quire of mere thin shells of crucifixes.The peasant selected the one that pleased her best, and havingpurchased some showy nails by way of garniture to the article,the shopwoman proceeded to chalk her reckoning on thecounter; and there it ran, something after the following:—1 iron pot, 7 groschens; 1 reaping-hook, 4 groschens; 1 basketheadpad, 1 groschen; 1 butter-stamper, 1J groschen; 1 JesusChristus, 5 groschens ; and so on.

Further, we cannot end this section of our subjeet withoutraising our voice against those public displays of religion inthe streets, which partake more of the flaunty character oftheatrical pageants than the unostentatious ceremonics befittingthe worship of Him who entered Jerusalem on a jackass. Weknow that the dignitaries of the Romish Church lay great