ooded slopes and fields, the spot
could scarcely be matched within the wide amphitheater of the hills of
Maryland.

To Emmitsburg, to his "boys", the young professor of English literature
gave his enthusiasm, his idealism, his love of all that was fair in art
and the world of books. His enthusiasm inspired them with a love of
artistic excellence, which, neither in his own work, nor in that of his
pupils would tolerate anything commonplace. Before coming to Thornbrook,
he had written "The Truce of God," first published as a serial in the
_United States Catholic Magazine_, established by John Murphy of
Baltimore, and which under the editorship of Bishop Martin John Spalding
and the Rev. Charles I. White achieved a national reputation. Two other
tales, "Loretto," and the "Governess," had also been published and were
extremely popular. Like "The Truce of God," they were of the purest
moral tone, elegant in diction, the work of a thorough literary
craftsman. In 1850, the American actor, Edwin Forrest, offered a prize
of $1,000.00 for the best drama written by an American. Miles easily
carried off the reward with his play "Mohammed." Rich with all the
colors of the East, glowing with the warmth and poetry of Arabian
romance and story, "Mohammed" was rather the work of a thinker and a
poet than of a master dramatist. It was never acted, Forrest himself
judging that it had not that ebb and flow of passion, nor that strong
presentation of character which of all things are so necessary for the
stage. Yet in other plays, notably in "_Senor Valiente_" and especially
in "_De Soto_," and "Mary's Birthday," Miles showed that in him the
dramatic note was not lacking, and in both he scored remarkable
successes.

From Baltimore, after he had left the pursuit of the law, and from
Thornbrook, close to the academic halls in which from 1859 he passed his
entire life, Miles seldom emerged into public notice. Twice he visited
Europe, his impressions of the second journey (1864) being recorded in
"Glimpses of Tuscany." In 1851 President Fillmore sent him on a
confidential mission to Madrid. That same year, John Howard Payne, the
loved singer of "Home, Sweet Home," was reinstated in his consulship of
Tunis. Like Miles, that wandering bard was a convert to the Catholic
Faith. But unlike Miles, he did not enter the Church until the very end
of his life, practically on his death bed. Catholics will be glad to
know that the song, "Home, Sweet Home