Sara, by reason of the cold, had sent for him, he have thought of this complication? What it was the opinion of the young man that Mr. would he have advised, had it been any client Brownlow was beginning to age rapidly, and of his; nay, what, if it was a client, would Mr. that he looked quite old that evening. But he Brownlow himself advise? These thoughts did not look old; he looked, if any one had kept turning over in his mind half against his been there with eyes to see it, like a man for will as he lay back in the corner of the carriage the first time in his life driven to bay. Some and saw the ghostly trees glimmer past in their men come to that moment in their lives sooner, coating of snow. He was very late, and Sara some later, some never at all. John Brownlow was anxious about him; nay, even Jark was had been more than five-and-fifty years in the anxious, and had come down to the park gates world, and yet he had never been driven to bay to look out for the carriage, and also to ask before. And he was so now; and except to how the little invalid was at Mrs. Swayne's. stand out and resist, and keep his face to his Jack, having this curiosity in his mind, did not enemies, he did not, in the suddenness of the pay much attention to his father's looks; but occurrence, see as yet what he was to do. Sara, with a girl's quick perception, saw there In the mean time, however, he had to stoop was something unusual in his face; and to ordinary necessities and get into his carriage with her usual rapidity she leaped to the and be driven home, through the white gleam- conclusion that the bank must have broken or ing country which shone under the moonlight, the railway gone wrong of which she had dreamt carrying with him a curious perception of how in the morning. Thus they all met at table different it would have been had the house in with a great deal on their minds; and this day, the High Street been home-had he had noth- which I have recorded with painstaking minuteing more to do than to go up to the old draw-ness, in order that there may be no future ing-room, his mother's drawing-room, and find doubt as to its importance in the history, came Sara there; and eat his dinner where his father to an end with outward placidity but much inhad eaten his, instead of this long drive to the ternal perturbation- at least came to an end great country-house, which was so much more as much as any day can be said to come to an costly and magnificent than anything his fore-end which rises upon an unsuspecting family fathers knew; but then his father, what would big with uudeveloped fate. AN AUTHOR-BOOKSELLER. There are occasionally exceptions among publishers to that antagonistic character wherewith tradition proverbially invests them in their relation to authors. Now and then we find genuine literary taste inspiring a publisher, and occasionally there are amenities in the trade that somewhat atone for the sterner and more selfish qualities literary history ascribes thereto. During the war for the Union, the bookstore of Anson D. F. Randolph, in New York, was a loyal rendezvous. He published many a seasonable pamphlet of national value, and was inspired to write one of the most popular lyrics of the war- "The Color Sergeant," which had a wide circulation. As a popular church bookseller he distributed many patriotic brochures; but the spirit of his muse is essentially religious, and his verses devoted to Faith, Hope and Charity, are the unpretending and sincere overflow of sacred feelings. He is a skilful versifier and a melodious rhymer; the result is a finish and earnestness which have made his occasional verses household favourites. But they led a wandering and precarious life, until it entered into the head and heart of a brother bookseller to collect and re-issue them. This neighbourly service was volunteered and done in a spirit of generous appreciation de lightful to recognize; and "Hopefully Waiting, and Other Verses," in a neat little quarto, and printed on the finest paper and the clearest type, became quite a favourite gift book during the holidays, and will take a creditable place in the library of American poets. The author's dedication, to Charles Scribner, gracefully tells this charming episode in the "trade" life of Gotham. "I desire that the public should know, my dear Scribner, that this little volume has been made at your request; and that but for you I would have been content with such circulation as these verses have already had in the newspapers and magazines of our country."- Transcript. 1 From the Christian Observer. each of them saw that a martyr's death lay before him, then it was that Tyndale wrote TYNDALE'S MEMORIAL-MOMUMENTS TO to him as follows: MARTYRS. "I call God to record, against the day we WE are sure that our readers will be shall appeare before our Lord Jesus, to give our gratified if we bring before them an account reckoning of our doings, that I never altered of the memorials to our martyrs to be found one syllable of God's Word against my conin England; and with it a short notice of the science, nor wold doe this day if all that is in opening of the Tyndale memorial column earth, whether it be honour, pleasure, or riches on the summit of Nibley Knoll, Gloucester-tyrs, vol. ii., p. 367, folio, black letter edition.) might be given me.". (Foxe's Book of Marshire, the place of Tyndale's birth, which took place on the 6th of November last. The lofty column is a commanding object for miles around, and at a short distance resembles the round towers of Ireland. Time was, and that not long ago, when not one monument of recent date was to be found in all England to our noble army of martyrs. Oxford led the van, in her exquisite Martyrs' Memorial, a work of the highest merit as a piece of architecture, with its three admirable statues in carved stone, of the best workmanship, of Ridley, Latimer, and Cran mer. This has since been followed by a memorial of Bishop Hooper at Gloucester, on the exact spot on which he was burned, just under the window through which the monks grinned with fiendish delight, as the now sainted martyr writhed in mortal agony beneath. Some years ago, the stake was drawn from the ground, sharpened at the one end and shod with iron, at the other burned to the level of the earth, which had since been slightly raised above it; but no "monument, inscription, stone marked the place; his own cathedral had grown ashamed of the greatest of its bishops: it contained a monument to Bishop Warburton, with an inscription drawn up by his obsequious friend Hurd, of Worcester, who tells the reader that Warburton "spent his life in defending what he sincerely believed to be true-the Christian religion; which drew from a visitor, to whom Hurd showed this choice specimen of his taste and feeling, the caustic remark, "Well, I am glad to hear that your friend did at least believe that Christianity was true." The corporation of Gloucester, much to their honour, contributed to the monument, and we believe presented the statue of the Martyr Bishop, which is enshrined within it. The monument to Tyndale is the latest of these memorials, but we trust that it will not by any means be the last. He was a noble-minded man; the first translator of the Bible into English, when even to possess a Bible, in whatever language it might be, placed the owner's life in peril. He was the friend and adviser of Frith; when FOURTH SERIES. LIVING AGE. VOL. IV. He was betrayed at Vilvorde, near Brussels and burned under the walls of Filford Castle in the year 1536. His monument on Nibley Knoll has on one side the following inscription "By the Rev. Robert Eden, M.A., Vicar of Wymondham, Norfolk": "Strong in the Lord, and in His mighty pow er, Gird on the Spirit's sword, the word of 'Tis His own voice that bids: None like to Of heavenly temper, and 'two-edged force.' tongues ages lay in ancient Blind superstition kept the Scriptures lock ed. Omnia erant Anglis tenebræ prius: orta | destroyed it is scarcely extinguished. The deinde Lux radiat terris: Biblia clausa patent. Sabrina † Extitit in cœlis perficietur honor." Of recent memorials to our martyrs we have already exhausted the scanty list. As far as we know, there is but one other, which we dwell upon with the greatest pleasure, because it shows what may be done, and done effectually, in every parish in the kingdom in which a martyr died, at a cost which the poorest parish can afford; it is a beautiful mural monument, in the chancel of St. John's, Chester, bearing the simple inscription THE NOBLE ARMY OF MARTYRS PRAISE THEE. Α. Χ. Ω SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF GEORGE MARSH APRIL XXIV A. D. MDLV. It was the gift of the venerable father of the present Vicar of St. John's, Chester, the oldest church perhaps in England; it succeeded still more ancient structures, which stood on the same spot long before the proud West Anglian monarch was rowed upon the Dee by seven tributary chieftains, all crowned beads. Why should not such a memorial be raised in those towns and parishes, thirty at least in number, which were honoured as the scene of the martyrdom of one of these saints of God. Yet even Cambridge has no such memorial. Why should not Coventry, which gave seven martyrs at oncepious widow, four shoemakers, and two others, mechanics-to the flames erect some memorial to these humble but illustrious men, and to this holy woman? What are her proud and matchless spires compared with these trophies of the grace of God, who counted it their highest honour to suffer for His name's sake? - one a But if no fresh monuments arise, our older ones rapidly decay. While we write, Croydon church lies waste, and the fire which "Glevum" is the original Roman name for "Gloucester:" "Glevensis ager," therefore would represent "Gloucestershire. t Sabrina" is the Roman name for "The Severn." chancel, or rather the chantries, contained monuments, all more or less magnificent, of no less than six archbishops, namely, of Archbishop Grindall, who died in 1583; Archbishop Whitgift, who died in 1603; Archbishop Sheldon, 1677; Archbishop Wake, 1736; Archbishop Potter, 1747; and Archbishop Herring, 1774. The figures were mostly recumbent, partly in marble, and partly in alabaster. One further remark we would make before we quit this part of our subject; we deprecate the modern utilitarian notion of erecting something useful-a church, a schoolroom, or a charitable memorial-in memory of the illustrious dead. They do not answer the purpose of a simple monument; they are founded, we think upon a false estimate of human nature; the passerby soon forgets the martyr, who should be brought to mind, and thinks only of the institution, its aim and management. Who, for instance ever gives a thought to St. George, or his dragon, when he passes St. George's Hospital? It is equally a mistake. to say that a monumental pillar is useless. We would suggest that one, equal at least in size and grandeur to that of Sir Walter Scott at Edinburgh, should be raised in Smithfield, and inscribed upon it there should be the names of all the martyrs who so joyfully laid down their lives upon that hallowed spot. Such things ennoble a Christian nation. They bring Him, who supported His servants under horrible tortures, enabling them to glorify God in the last moment of their existence, constantly before us, and seem to say to each, in the words which one of these martyrs has left cut with the penknife in the stone wall of his dungeon in the Tower, -"Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Ancient monuments, though precious, are but few. A solitary stone on Hadleigh Common, inscribed with these words rudely carved upon it, is beyond all price:-"Here Doctor Taylor shed his blud, for defending what was good." Buckinghamshire gave more martyrs, it is said, to the Reformation than any county in England; but no monument has been raised in memory of any one of them. But local traditions, some of them strangely romantic, and almost always in exact agreement with John Foxe's immortal "Book of Martyrs," in some measure supply the want. May the Spirit of God open our eyes before it is too late! May He endow us with the spirit of martyrs, whether He call upon us to suffer martyrdom or not; or the candle, lighted in the fires which once flamed at Oxford, will at length be put out, and our candlestick removed. "The Lord open the King of England's eyes!" were the last words uttered by the martyr Tyndale. "Lord open the eyes of our rulers in Church and State," is the petition we reecho, not without a painful apprehension lest it should even now be too late. From the Christian Observer. THE APOCALYPTIC SCROLL: ANCIENT more bloody" daughter "Mary." The enacted, like stage-play buffoonery, in our priests led him to the summit of a gentle parish churches, and which our bishops slope, which overlooks the town, and there have no power or no disposition to put burnt bim under circumstances of horrible an end to, not one of them would have barbarity, compelling his own daughter to shed a drop of blood. When the host was apply the fatal torch. It is said that noth- lifted up, had they but fallen upon their ing since that dismal sacrifice would ever knees and worshipped the body of Christ grow upon the spot. We had an opportu- in the consecrated bread, everything else nity, a few years since, of testing the ve- would have been forgiven. racity of this tradition, and, strange as it may seem, found it to be strictly true; there was a patch of ground, slightly hollow, on which only a few pale blades were to be seen, while the rest of the field bore a thriving crop of wheat in leaf; and this we found was the site of Taylor's martyrdom and grave. The supposed miracle, however, appeared to us to be capable of a natural solution. It was probably an old chalk-pit which had been filled in with large stones, such as the field still abounds with, until the surface was reached, and then a load or two of soil had been thrown over it. The rain that fell would thus be drained away from land especially requiring moisture, and vegetation would be very poor in consequence. Adjoining Amersham lies the parish of Chesham on one side and Chesham-Bois on the other; across the fields is a footpath leading to Chesham. John Harding, the Chesham martyr, sat on a style one Sunday morning, reading King Edward's Primer, a small book of devout prayers and meditations, while the priests were "mumming in the parish church." A bigoted Papist, getting over the style, saw the book, and immediately reported him to the priests, and John Harding sealed the truth with his blood. Foxe mentions the circumstance, and we happened to repeat it before one of the neighbouring clergymen; he had not read Foxe, nor was he acquainted with the story, but he immediately exclaimed, "There is a style on that footpath, which we call the Martyr's Style." It was still in existence a few years ago, but the pathway has been recently closed, and the style removed. The exact spot on which it stood is, however, pointed out; and, indeed no passer-by, knowing the particulars of the story, could possibly mistake it. Down the hill, at the end of the town, is the Martyr's Field, which tells its own dismal story of one of that glorious band, of whom the world was not worthy, "not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection." Painful thoughts intrude themselves, and bring us to a close. If these humble, holy men would but have consented to one-half of those Popish mummeries which are now WRITING MATERIALS. ANYTHING connected with "the writing materials" of the Bible must be interesting to the Christian student, not only historically, but hermeneutically. They are historically interesting on account of the frequent allusions made to them, as in Ex. xvii. 14, Ezra vi. 2, Esther vi. 1, Job xix. 23, Jer. iii. 2, Zech. v. 1 Matth. i. 1, Luke iv. 17, 2 Cor. iii. 2, 1 Tim. iv. 13, Rev. xx. 12. And in this connection it is curious to observe how the traditions of customs which have long ceased to exist in practice, have remained indelibly fixed in the terms of common language. Of this we have specimens in the words "style" from stilus, "volume" from volvo, “paper from papyrus, library" from liber, the bark of a tree, and the expression "above," or surpra, (implying the extention of the parchment,) all pointing to forms and usage of ancient writing. 66 But far more important and interesting does this study become when it bears upon actual interpretation, and throws light upon the construction of "the written Word" itself, or upon any part of that Word. A consideration of this kind seems to apply with special force to the Apocalypse, or book of "Revelation." It is well known that this prophecy was set forth to St. | teriorly, but having solid leaves, the part to name of the Egyptian papyrus reed; and (1.) First, it may be supposed that this form was used in order to give the idea of an important communication from Heaven. The whole Bible comes to us in this manner, appealing to us as an external Revelation of what we could not know otherwise - authoritative, definite, calculated to arrest attention, and worthy to be recorded in a The next peculiarity to be noticed is the permanent form, according to the rule, seals. The presence of these appendages verba scripta manet." "Now go," the seems to confirm the theory of a scroll, and prophets were told," write it before them in also to add the ideas of secrecy and securia table, and note it in a book, that it may ty. The use of seals fastened to documents be for the time to come for ever and ever." is of very considerable antiquity, and beThe word sepher, " book," occurs frequently in the Old Testament to signify any kind of knowledge (Dan. i. 17); or the law (Josh. viii. 34) or the book of life (Ps. Ixix. 28); and with the addition of megillah, "the volume of the book" (Ps. xl. 7). But to be more precise: there seem to have been two forms of books used by the ancients, that of tablets and that of scrolls. The tablets, or tabule (planks; for they were mostly made of wood), were small oblong slabs, not unlike a modern book ex longs to the dawn of social intercourse. |