has a powerful spell."-" Let me see it." The spell was handed to the bench; it appeared a small ball of variously coloured rags of silk, bound with threads of as many different hues; these were unwound and unfolded, until there appeared a scrap of parchment, on which were written certain characters now nearly illegible from much use. "Is this the spell?" The prosecutors answered it was. The judge after looking at this patent charm a few moments, addressed himself to the terrified prisoner. "Prisoner, how came you by this ?”—“ A young gentleman, my lord, gave it to me, to cure my child's ague." "How long since ?"-" Thirty years, my lord." And did it cure her ?"-"Oh yes, and many others. "I am glad of it." The judge paused a few moments, and then addressed himself to the jury. "Gentlemen of the jury, thirty years ago, I and some companions, as thoughtless as myself, went to this woman's dwelling, then a public house, and after enjoying ourselves, found we had no means to discharge the reckoning. I had recourse to a stratagem. Observing a child ill of an ague, I pretended I had a spell to cure her. I wrote the classic line you see on a scrap of parchment, and was discharged of the demand on me by the gratitude of the poor woman before us, for the supposed benefit." WINE AND PHYSIC. A GENTLEMAN, who was affected with a constant rheum in his eyes, waited on his physician for advice. The doctor desired him to leave off drinking wine. In a few weeks the gentleman experienced the good effect of the prescription, and thought he could do no less than call on the doctor to return him thanks. He was not a little surprised to find him in a tavern, and very merry over a bottle of wine with a friend, notwithstanding his eyes were affected with the same disease TO A LADY WHY strive, dear girl, to make a fool Wilt thou my teacher be? To make thy bard forget himself, Thy spirit placed it there, We are sorry the paper to which these lines are appended, did not reach us in time for our "April" Notices. CONSOLATIONS OF RELIGION. THERE are those to whom a sense of religion has come in storm and tempest, and there are those whom it has summoned amid scenes of revelry and idle vanity; there are those who have heard its "still small voice," amid rural leisure and placid contentment. But perhaps the knowledge which causeth not to err is most frequently impressed upon the mind during seasons of affliction; and tears are the softening showers which cause the seed of heaven to spring and take root in the human heart. WALTER SCOTT. A PAIR OF PLAGUES. BETWEEN love and gout, Sir, What miseries men find, For gout makes them lame, Sir, And love makes them blind. Published by J. LIMBIRD, 143. Strand, (near Somerset House, London; and ERNEST FLEISCHER, 626, New Market, Leipsic, and sold by all Newsmen and Booksellers. THE annexed engraving will form a companion to the Hospital of St. Katherine, in our last number. It represents the residence of Sir Herbert Taylor, (the master of that philanthropic foundation,) and is a handsome specimen of domestic architecture; for as Sir Henry Wotton thinks mansion-house every man's proper and home ought to be-it is "decently and delightfully adorned," and altogether in style corresponding with the Hospital, &c. on the opposite side of the road; being of brick faced with stone. It has none of the incongruities of modern style, but on the contrary, an air of stability and comfort which well accords with the character of the whole establishment. Of its architectural beauty, the ornamented portal, with its fine pointed arch, is no mean portion. The site of the mansion is of indescribable beauty, being elevated considerably above the road, and commanding many picturesque views of the Regent's Park, one of which our artist has introduced in the back ground of the picture. front is now in the course of disposal, and will, at no very distant period, present a beautiful assemblage of evergreens and shrubs. The The Hospital of St. Katherine's and its contingencies may indeed be considered as the most interesting of the buildings of the Regent's Park, whether viewed as architectural embellishments, or in connexion with the long trails of philanthropy with which they are associated. Other structures in the vicinity may boast of greater splendour, but the towers of St. Katherine's remind us of the "luxury of doing good," and that too forcibly to be passed unnoticed. A SKETCH. (For the Mirror.) "He who ascends to mountains' tops, shall find The loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow; He who surpasses, or subdues, mankind, CHILDE HAROLD, Canto III., Stanza 45. I SAW him,-when the flush of fame And thousand lips might shout his name- And not one lip-and not one heart, But would have taught its blood to start- But he stood alone; and though his eye The close, calm glance, might oft espy The highest, lianghtiest, prove- That much beyond whole kingdom's spoil But this, not every eye might see,— I saw him,-when the battle cry The flash of earthly leaven! I saw him, and his cheek was pale— And, like a meteor on the gale, I saw that pennon sink-and then The tide of blood may bring Then, whence should rapture spring? There shall be breaking hearts-not tears, For all that he has done And blood upon ten thousand biers- I saw him die :-they had forgot I saw him then-glance proudly on Accorded by their breath! And stable as the passing wind And I have learn'd to die! Are naught to him-who deigns to live, Yet should ye ever have denied Strike-and the steel your foes have dyed- THOMAS M EARLY MANUSCRIPTS AND (For the Mirror.) THE most ancient and most valuable book is the Bible, and of all others the most deserving our attention, even were it only as a specimen of the earliest literature; but the holy volume has a stronger claim upon us. As the spring from whence flow all the blessed gifts o. our divine father-as the sacred reference for our guide through paths checkered with perplexities and ills-as the source of inexhaustible consolation and relief, when encompassed by sorrow's powerful arm--as the beacon through which we learn how to live on earth; and lastly, as the ladder to climb to heaven, we must hold its name ever dear to us, and treasure every fact connected with its exis tence. The Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and afterwards translated into Greek about 275 years before the birth of Christ, by 72 Jews, by order of Ptolemeus Philadelphus, king of Egypt. The precise number of the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament is unknown; those written before the years 700 or 800 it is supposed were destroyed by some decree of the Jewish senate, on account of their numerous differences from the copies then declared genuine. Those which exist in the present day were all written between the years 1000 and 1457. The manner in which these MSS. were written, is rather interesting. In the first place, then, the inspired anguage has ANDSEEINGTHEMULTITUDES HEWENTUPINTOAMOUNTAIN HISDISCIPLES ANDOPENINGHISMOUTH BLESSEDARETHEPOORINSPT FORTHEIRSIS English historians mention some part of the Bible to have been translated into the mother tongue, in the beginning of the 8th century.+ Amongst the Lansdown MSS. preserved in the British Museum, there is a volume stated to be 100 years older than Wickliffe's time, (Wickliffe flourished about 1360.) This book has been considered, by no incompetent judge, even of a still earlier date, and the first and earliest English translation known. The following extract (the first chapter of Genesis) from this edition, is a highly curious and interesting specimen of early translations: "In ye beginning God made of nought • SPT. is contracted for spirit. † Aldemus translated the Psalms into Saxon in 709. hevene and erthe. For sothe the erthe was idil and voide; and derknessis werun on the face of depthe, and the spyrit of the Lord wos born on the waters. "And God seide, lizt be maid, ond lizt wos made, and God siz the lizt it wos good, ond he departide the lizt fro derknesses, ond he depide ye lizt dai, ond the derknessis nizt, ond the eventyd and mornetyd wos made on dai. "And (God) seide, make we man to oure ymage ond likenesse, ond be he souereyn to the fisshes of the see, ond to the volatilis of hevene, and to unreasonable beestes of erthe, ond to eche creature, ond to eche crepinge beest which is movid in erthe, and Ĝod moid of nought God a man to his ymage ond likeness. moide of nought him, male and female." Townley's Illustration of Biblical Literature. Several translations having appeared, we now come to the year 1526, when the New Testament, translated by Tindal, &c. was published by Grafton, which occasioned the then Bishop of London to issue a proclamation, demanding, under "poine of excommunication, and incurring the suspicion of heresie, oll ond sin gular such bookes conteyning the translation of the New Testament in the Engliche tongue." This translation containing, according to the decree, "erroneous opinions, pernicious and offensive, seducyng the simple people, attemptying by their wicket and perverse interpretations, to prophanate the majestye of the scripture, ond craftily to abuse the most holy word of God." This prohibition was little regarded, consequently the bishops and clergy made great complaints, and petitioned the king. They were, however, very soon bought up by Bishop Tunstal, and Sir Thomas More, and burnt at St. Paul's Cross. The ignorant and illiterate monks were so much alarmed when the Testament appeared in our mother tongue, that they declared from their pulpits, "that there was a new language discovered, of which the people should beware, since it was that which produced all the heresies; that n this language was a book come forth called the New New Testament, which was now in every body's hands, and was full of thorns and briers." The Vicar of Croydon, in Surrey, together with numerous other monks and priests, were also much terrified when the Scriptures first appeared in a printed volume, and the former thus expressed himself in a sermon preached at St. Paul's Cross:-"We must root out printing, or printing will root out us." As long as ignorance and hypocrisy could stand against the infant strides of knowledge and truth, this doctrine was enforced; but ultimately, as ever must be the case, bigotry and superstition were soon, in this particular instance, torn from their haughty and oppressive throne, and the vicar's prophesy fully verified. 1532. The first edition of the whole Bible in the English language (the translation by Myles Coverdale) was published by Grafton. It was printed at Paris or Marsburgh, in Hessia. Six copies were presented to Archbishop Cranmer, and Lord Cromwell. It was a folio, dedicated to the king, in the following manner : "Unto the moost gracyous soveraygne lord kynge Henry the eyghth, kynge of Englande and of France, lorde of Irelande, &c. Defender of the Fayth, and under God the chefe suppreme heade of the churche of Englande. "The ryght and just administrasyon of the lawes that God gave unto Moses and unto Josua; the testimonye of faythfulness that God gave to David: the plenteous abundance of wysedome that God gave unto Solomon: the lucky and prosperous age with the multiplicacyon of sede which God gave unto Abraham and Sara his wife, be given unto you most gracyous prynce, with your dearest just wyfe and most vertuous pryncesse quene Jane." This dedication is thus subscribed:- It MYLES COVERDALE." appears by what Coverdale says here, and elsewhere, that the Holy Scripture was now allowed to be read, and had, in English; but not so always, for in some part of his reign, Tindal's Bible was suppressed, by act of parlia ment; indeed, the Bible was absolutely forbidden to be read or expounded in our churches; but the Lord Chancellor, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Cap. tains of the Wars, Justices of the Peace, and Recorders of the cities, might quote passages to enforce their public harangues. A nobleman or gentleman might read it in his house or gardens, quietly and without disturbing good order; but women, artificers, apprentices, journeymen, husbandmen, and labourers, were to be punished with one month's imprisonment, as often as they were detected in reading the Bible, either privately or openly. "Nothing shall be taught or maintained contrary to the king's instructions;" 32 Hen. VIII. c. 39. Such, however, was the privilege of a peerage, that ladies of quality might read" to themselves alone" and not to others," any chapter in the Old or New Testament." 1536. About this time Bibles were ordered to be set up in some convenient place within their churches, so that the parishioners might resort to the same, and read it, and the charge of this book to be "ratably borne between them and the parishioners of one side; that is to say, one half by the parson, and the other half by them." 1539. In this year a large folio Bible was printed, called Cranmer's Bible, with the following title : "The Byble in Englyshe. That is to saye, the content of all the Holy Scripture, bothe the Olde and New Testament, truly translated after the veryte of the Hebrue and Greke textes, by the dylygent studye of dyuerse excellent learned men expert in the forsayde tonges." By a proclamation this year, it was or dained that every parish should buy a |