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Church, by the title of St. Mary on la Minerva, archbishop of Paris, duke of St. Cloud, peer of France, commander of the order of the Holy Ghost; to the archpriests of St. Mary Magdalen and St. Severin, health and benediction. The hand of God still lies heavy upon his people; he joins barrenness of the earth to the other scourges with which he has visited us for several years. We begin to see the fulfilling of that terrible threatening which he made to the Israelites, Lev. xxvi. 19. I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass. The earth has now no more the fruitfulness natural to her, and denies, in many places, the greatest necessaries of life. Heaven, far from warming the earth, and shedding upon her those kindly dews, that make her fruitful, gives nothing but cold and barren rains, and an unsettled weather, whose consequences are to be dreaded. It is our duty, therefore, forthwith to have recourse to the goodness and power of Him who is the only master of heaven and earth, who feeds even the vilest animal, and abandons none of his creatures till their ingratitude obliges him so to do. Though he is altered with respect to us, and has had for some time past nothing but rigours for us, he does not yet fail to give us some consolation, and to make us hope for more, if we labour to deserve it. The diseases which alarmed us do considerably abate;

and are not of such a nature as to cause the contagion which some over-credulous people apprehended. Let us go to Him, therefore, with confidence; he will be to us again the Father of mercies, and God of all consolation, provided we approach to the throne of his grace with humility and contrition. He is not deaf to our voice; nor does he cast out our prayers, but because they are neither as humble, nor as persevering, as they should be; for (according to St. James) What cannot the fervent prayer of the righteous man do? Let us make ourselves righteous, by a sincere and perfect conversion, that our prayers may be rendered acceptable unto God: let us cease to offend him, that he may cease to punish us: let us rend our hearts, and not our garments; and let us not put our trust in the outward shews of godliness, but in the real change of heart, and manners. Let us be less earnest in our petitions for the end of our calamities than for the end of the sins which drew them down upon us. To obtain both, we must strengthen our prayers with those of the Church, and the intercession of the Saints. Wherefore we will have recourse to that of our holy Patrons; and we order, for that end, a general procession, in which the shrines of St. Marcel and St. Genevieve shall be carried. We find ourselves so much the more engaged thereto, in that the king, always full of faith and piety, has him

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self done us the honour to declare his intentions to us, and in that the chief magistrates have let ús know the desire of the people. For these causes, having thereupon conferred with our venerable brother's, the dean, canons, and chapter, of our metropolitan church, we hereby order, that on Thursday the 16th instant, all the chapters and convents of this city, who of right or custom are called to the general processions, do, by six a clock in the morning precisely, repair to our church, where they shall bring in procession, with respect and devotion, the shrines and relicks which are kept in their churches; in order afterwards, in conjunction with us, to make the procession to the church of St. Geneviève of the Mount, and thence return to ours, where the shrines of St. Marcel and St. Genevieve shall be carried with the usual solemnities. And, that the antient and just confidence of the city of Paris in her holy Patrons may the more surely obtain its effect, by this holy and august ceremony, people shall prepare themselves for it by a general fast, which shall be observed with abstinence from meat, in this city and suburbs, on Wednesday the 15th instant, and by particular processions, which shall be first made by the clergy of our said church on Monday morning; and afterwards, by all the abbeys, chapters, parishes, and convents, of the city and suburbs, which shall come to our church, there to implore

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the help of the Holy Virgin, St. Dennis, and St. Marcel, patrons and protectors of this diocese; from whence they shall go to the church of St. Geneviève of the Mount, and that on the day and hour, and according to the order, which we prescribe below. We grant forty days of indulgences to the faithful who shall assist at this ceremony. We exhort them to come to it, not out of curiosity, but with a spirit of faith and repentance. We hope that they will be moved thereto by the edification which the piety and modesty of all the clergy, secular and regular, will give them. Lastly, we conjure all persons who shall be present at this solemnity, to bring dispositions with them capable of appeasing the just wrath of God, and of causing his mercies to lighten once more upon us; and we recommend to them, there to pray for the preservation of the king's sacred person, and all the royal family; as also for peace and the other needs of state. Also we order you to make known these presents to all abbots, deans, priors, priests, and other superiors of the secular and regular communities of the city and suburbs, to the end they may not plead ignorance, but observe them, and cause them to be observed by the persons under them. Given at Paris, in our archiepiscopal palace, the 10th day of May, 1709.

Signed, LOUIS ANT. CARDINAL DE Noailles,

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The Queen of England alluded to the state of part of the Continent in her speech to both Houses of Parliament, November 17:

"I think it proper to take notice to you, that the great dearth and scarcity under which our neighbours abroad have suffered this year, begins to affect us in some measure at home, by the temptation of profit, in carrying out too much of our corn, while it bears so high a price in foreign parts.

"This occasions many complaints from the poor, for whose sake I earnestly recommend to you, to take this growing evil into your consideration, having not neglected any thing on my part towards the remedying of it, that the law would allow."

Would it be credited by the subjects of Queen Anne, were they now alive, that little has been said by the present poor when they paid four times the price for a bushel of corn demanded in 1709?

THE FIRST EARL OF PORTLAND

Died in 1709, and was buried with much ceremony and splendor in King Henry VII's Chapel, Westminster. The account of him given by contemporary writers is highly creditable to his memory, and will bear repetition, as instances of fidelity and rectitude of conduct are not yet so numerous as to make the subject tedious. Mr.

Bentinck

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