of which was neither mild nor prudent, remonstrated with his majesty on this exercise of power, warned him that God would call him to the strictest account for this presumption,-and reminded him of the words of Azarias the chief priest to King Uzziah, and of the punishment of leprosy which followed the royal encroachment on the ecclesiastical function. The emperor found it necessary to modify the terms of his edict, and to limit it to three articles: first, that no liturgy unless amended or revised by the patriarch should be used in divine service; secondly, that all feasts, excepting Easter and those which depend upon it, should be kept according to the ancient computation; and thirdly, that whosoever chose might fast on Wednesday instead of the last day of the week. But while making this concession he did not conceal from the prelate his displeasure at the application to him of the historical fact respecting Azarias and Uzziah; and suggested to his reverence, that as the Roman religion was introduced into Abyssinia by the king, it might be altered from time to time by the same authority which at first established it.

After this compromise Socinios engaged in war with the Agows of Lasta, a fierce people who occupied the strongest country in Abyssinia. Some idea may be formed from the accompanying plate of the steep mountains on which they encamped, and from which they were wont to hurl stones on their invaders when attempting to make their way through the passes.

At first the emperor sustained severe losses, and his men, finding their arms constantly employed against their fellow-citizens, became disheartened

and did not conceal their aversion to such hostilities. Victory indeed at length declared in their favour, and thousands of the warlike Agows were left dead on the field; the sight of which suggested to the prince the following remarks addressed by him to his father. "These men whom you see slaughtered on the ground were neither Pagans nor Mohammedans, at whose death we should rejoice; they were Christians, lately your subjects and your countrymen, some of them your relations. This is not victory which is gained over ourselves. In killing these you drive the sword into your own entrails. How

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many have you put to an untimely death, and how many have you yet to destroy! We are become a proverb even among the infidels and Moors for carrying on this war, and for apostatizing, as they assert, from the faith of our ancestors."

His majesty made no reply, but went back disconsolate to Dancaz, where the victory appeared to be turned into mourning. The Patriarch, who was displeased with his late proceedings, upbraided him with his indifference to the true faith, alleging that he had ceased to support it at the very moment Providence had put all his enemies under his feet. In his own defence the king recapitulated the bloody wars in which he had engaged for the Catholics, the myriads who had been slain, and the chiefs who had been sacrificed, and ended by making known his resolution to permit his people to choose their own religion. Mendez now saw it expedient to relinquish his pretensions so far as to concede to the inhabitants of Lasta the privilege which they demanded, because they had never professed themselves members of the Roman church; but in regard to such as had acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope and received the communion from the hands of the Jesuits, he would not consent to grant the freedom of renouncing their engagements.

It was no longer time to deliberate on minute points with a functionary who, it was manifest, would have been content with nothing short of absolute power in all matters spiritual and ecclesiastical. Socinios did not conceal from him, that the authority of government had greatly diminished in his hands, and that he must now act a decided part, or consent to be deprived even of the semblance of

royalty. He therefore issued the following proclamation, which at once threw down the fabric of the Roman ritual and hierarchy in Abyssinia, and removed the hope of ever again establishing it in that kingdom.

"Hear us! hear us! hear us! First of all we gave you the Roman Catholic faith, as thinking it a good one; but many people have died fighting against it, as Julius, Gabriel, Tecla Georgis, Serca Christos, and finally these rude peasants of Lasta. Now therefore we restore to you the faith of your ancestors let your own priests say their mass in their own churches; let the people have their own altars for the sacrament and their own liturgy, and let them be happy. As for myself, I am now old and worn out with war and infirmities, and no longer capable of governing: I name my son Facilidas to reign in my place."

This document was published on the fourteenth of June 1632, and in the month of September the king died. He was buried with great pomp in the church of Ganeta Jesus, which he himself had built; professing to the last his preference of the Roman creed, and his attachment to the forms of that communion. But the Jesuits, considering only the catastrophe and unmindful of the strenuous efforts made by him during his whole reign to establish their religion, have denounced him as an apostate, for giving way to the demand of his subjects to have their ancient ritual restored. This judgment on their part is equally unjust and ungrateful. It ought to have been remembered that, in the last years of his life, when left without a soldier to fight for their cause, he resigned his crown

but retained his belief; and it was not until he had quenched the fire of numerous insurrections in the best blood of his land, that he resolved to sheath his sword and confer liberty of conscience.

The young monarch, who had acted with so much discretion during his father's reign, lost no time in giving notice to the Patriarch that he and his followers must forthwith quit Abyssinia. To accelerate this movement he at the same time informed Mendez that an Abuna, consecrated at Alexandria, was already on his way to assume the ecclesiastical government of the kingdom; and commanded that the Jesuits should immediately repair from their convents in Gojam and Dembea to the establishment at Fremona, whence they might more conveniently embark for India or Europe. The Catholics endeavoured to postpone their fate by offering new concessions and indulgencies; but Facilidas informed them that it was now too late for negotiation, and recommended a speedy departure, lest they should be visited with evils which he might not have it in his power to avert.

Finding all his arts unavailing, the Patriarch began his march towards the coast, accompanied by a large body of sacerdotal dependants, and guarded by a detachment of the royal troops. Still, hoping that some accident might turn the tide of affairs to their advantage, or that a reinforcement of Portuguese might arrive from the Eastern colonies to their relief, the monks made various attempts to retain a footing in the country, though in direct opposition to the orders of the king. As a last resource they threw themselves on the protection of the Baharnagash, who at that period was in a state of rebellion,