Various

“ I believe it is almost as improbable, that in what Professor Brunt calls the "post-Apostolic" times sermons were written, not only from the complete silence of the Apostolic Fathers on the point—for that would really prove next to nothing,—but because it seems quite incredible that no vestige of any such sermon should have come down to us; no forgery of one, no legend or tradition of the existence of one if the practice of writing sermons had prevailed at all. ”

“ Another friend writes to me:
"Richmond Statties are very famous, every servant desirous of hiring having a peeled twig or stick. At Penrith they put a straw in their mouths. I remember a poor girl being killed by an infuriated cow at Penrith; and the poor thing had the straw in her mouth when dead."
In the East Riding, Pocklington Statute is well known; and York has its Statute Fair. At these "statutes" or "statties" ("Stattie Fairs" and "Sittings," or Fest Sittings) , servants "fest themselves," that is, hire themselves to board from home. ”

“ From an apparent inability, however, of this pamphleteer to distinguish between pleasantry and acrimony, he has attempted to fix on me offences against others when I have ventured to dissent from their conclusions. All I can say is, that I have never written anything inconsistent with the very high respect I feel for the abilities and the great services rendered by the gentlemen I have had occasion to allude to. ”

“ I do not think it necessary to notice that what is merely coarse and vulgar in an unprovoked attack upon myself, feeling that I have no right to expect the man who has no consideration for his own dignity to think of mine. ”

“ English letters are exciting a daily increasing interest in the north of Europe—that hardy and romantic country whence we ourselves are descended. But their means for purchase are very scanty, and I have been requested by the chief librarians of the Royal Library, Stockholm, and the University Library, Copenhagen, to endeavour to procure them English books by gift from private individuals and public societies and libraries. ”

“ I have as yet dealt only with the negative evidence; but the positive testimony against the reading, and in favour of the reciting or preaching sermons, is far from small. I should look upon man as crazy who ventured to speak slightingly of Bingham, and should as soon think of setting up myself against that great man as of challenging Goliah of Gath to fisty-cuffs; but I can never get rid of the thought that Bingham had a strong prejudice against extempore preaching, and treated the history of sermons somewhat unfairly: e.g., in his 22nd section of that 4th chap. ”

“ Every donor will have the goodness to state for which library his gift is intended. So many have duplicates, or copies of books, which they no longer use or need, that many will doubtless be able to assist in this pleasant book-gathering for our Scandinavian cousins. ”

“ Κῆτος, it is true, may not, and probably does not, mean anything more definite than the "great fish" of the Hebrew; but certainly our translators, by adopting the term "whale" in the Gospels, have so sanctioned the interpretation, that the error, if such, must be referred to them, and not to any later period, and therefore can hardly be reckoned amongst those of the popular class. ”

“ It seems to have been private; for an examination of 300 columns of The Times, being, the history of four days, did not lead to the discovery of one word on the iron statue of Caxton.
If the statue-mania did not now prevail to an unexampled extent, I should feel much confidence in the sound sense of the subscribers—but I have my misgivings.
According to my feelings, which I avail myself of this opportunity of recording, we may commemorate an eminent individual in better ways than by the erection of a statue ”

“ To that question you have replied by quoting a passage from the fourth book of the cardinal's great work. It is quite true that the words quoted by you occur at that place; it is quite as untrue that the "monstrous paradox" is there attempted to be maintained. A reference to the book will show at once that this paradox is simply used as an argument to enable the cardinal to prove his point by the common method of a reductio ad absurdum. If what I maintain, says the cardinal, is false, then it follows that "should the Pope," &c. ”

“ There is a large class of salesmen in Billingsgate Market not recognised as such by the trade, but styled Bumarees, who get a living by purchasing large parcels of fish of the factor or common salesman, and selling it out in smaller quantities to the fishmongers and other retailing buyers. ”

“ In the present case, it is certainly of little consequence, whether the Greek word κῆτος, and the Latin cetus, be translated "whale," or "great fish," both of which may be comprehended under them. Though the former is the usual interpretation, and though the English translators employ the term "great fish" in the passages "Καὶ προσέταξε Κύριος κήτει μεγάλῳ," and "ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους," the commonly accepted word seems more in accordance with an authority of unquestionable importance. ”

“ The successful Treatises are to be the Property of the Society; and should the Council see fit, they will cause the same to be printed and published, awarding to the Author the net amount of any profit which may arise from the publication after the payment of the expenses.
The Competing Treatises are to be written on foolscap paper, signed with a motto in the usual manner, and delivered at the Society's House on or before the THIRTIETH OF NOVEMBER, 1851, addressed to George Grove, Esq., Secretary, from whom additional particulars may be learned. ”

“ Now, in the Gentleman's Magazine for January, 1834, is a copy of the lease from the prior of St. John of Jerusalem to Cardinal Wolsey of their manor of Hampton Court, it having been in the possession of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John since 1211, when Joan Lady Grey left it by will to that order. Where, then, was Elizabeth of York's residence? Did she hold a lease of the manor and manor-house of Hampton of the Knights Hospitallers? ”

“ Quelques modernes substituent à cette étymologie celle de belle eau, d'où ils font également dériver Fontainebleau. L'une et l'autre sont rejetées par Expilly, et remplacées par une troisième de sa façon, qui est évidente, selon lui, et qui, selon ses lecteurs, est la plus absurde de toutes. Je vais citer ce passage pour faire sentir jusqu'à quel travers d'esprit peut conduire la manie des étymologies. 'Pourquoi,' dit-il, 'se donner la torture à ce sujet? Il suffit de la moindre notion de la chasse pour savoir que, quand le chasseur appelle les chiens, il crie: Thia hillaut! ”

“ The monument, as a piece of sculpture, is simplicity itself, and therefore suitable to the place of its destination. To the inscription I venture to make some slight objections: 1. Whether Caxton "introduced into Great Britain the art of printing" admits of a doubt. There is no evidence to invalidate the colophon of the Exposicio S. Jeronimi in simbolo Apostolorum. [3] Dibdin fully believed in its authenticity. [4] 2. Caxton is very imperfectly designated. He was a well-informed writer, a most assiduous translator, and a very careful editor. ”

“ We are content to rest the justification of our conduct in abridging, or, as Mr. Causton terms it, "mutilating," that gentleman's communication, on the very passages which we omitted, and he has reprinted. Mr. Causton's pamphlet, written in defence of his literary reputation, proves that that reputation has no enemy so dangerous as himself. We may add that we propose next week publishing a summary of the evidence on both sides of this disputed question, written not by Mr. Causton nor Mr. Hickson, but by a correspondent who, like those gentlemen, is personally unknown to us. ”

“ Jonah and the Whale (Vol. iii., p. 517.) .
—E. J. K. probably founds his unqualified rejection of the word "whale" on the English version, as a presumed more correct interpretation of the corresponding term in the original Hebrew. But it should not be forgotten, that the equal, or perhaps superior authority of the Seventy translators, to that of our best modern interpreters, is becoming daily more apparent. At all events, without a reference to such collateral aid, it is scarcely safe to pronounce on the meaning of any word or passage in the Old Testament. ”

“ Our valued correspondent, the Rev. Dr. Todd of Dublin, has just published Three Treatises by John Wycklyffe, D.D. I. Of the Church and her Members. II. Of the Apostacy of the Church. III. Of Antichrist and his Meynee. Now first printed from a Manuscript in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. The Treatises, which, in Dr. Todd's opinion, contain internal evidence of having been written within the last year of the Reformer's life, are accompanied by Notes and a copious Glossary ”

“ A little old Highlander joins the march; a strong lusty soldier laughs at, and insults him. He is allowed to demand satisfaction, and fight it out at once: he craves the loan of a sword; one is handed to him. ”

“ In like manner horses, when taken to a fair, wear on their heads a white leather kind of bridle; and (to come nearer home) when a young lady has attained a certain age, and begins to look with anxious eye to future prospects, we say that she also has put on the white bridle. ”

“ I have also frequently heard it used in this manner: 'I have fest my lad out apprentice to so and so.' In my own neighbourhood, in the West Riding, it is a frequent practice for poor man who possesses a cow, but no pasture, to 'fest' her with some occupier of land at a certain sum by the week, or for some other term. So a gamekeeper is said 'to fest' his master's pointer, when he agrees with a farmer to keep it for a time. ”

“ Elizabeth Queen of Bohemia, Frederic King of Bohemia and his Sons, Prince Rupert, Louisa Princess of Bohemia, her well-known Letter in Hieroglyphics, Oliver Cromwell, Letters and Documents, and particularly the original Order to the Lord Mayor of London, directing him to proclaim Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of England—Richard Cromwell, Charles II., Catherine of Braganza, James II., the Depositions concerning his Marriage with Anne Hyde, signed by the parties ”

“ So, with regard to the other passages from St. Augustine, there is not a hint about reading: if a man could not make his own sermons, he was to take another's; but to take care to commit it to memory, and then deliver it. ”

“ I should be glad to be informed whether it be true, as I have heard, that the practice of learning their sermons by heart is universal and avowed by the preachers in Germany; and whether it be really a common thing for a preacher there to deny himself on a Saturday, on the plea that he is getting his sermon by heart?
AJAX.
Papworth St. Agnes, July 8. 1851.
Written Sermons (Vol. iii., p. 478.) .
—Your querist M. C. L. may be referred to Dr. Short's History of the Church of England, § 223.; or to Burnet's Reformation, vol. i. p. ”

“ So that instead of maintaining in this passage the monstrous paradox alleged, the cardinal, in reality, is only quoting it as a monstrous absurdity, which he himself condemns, and which would result from the contradiction of his proposition. In justice to the memory of a great man, who has been much and most unjustly slandered upon this very point, may I ask for the insertion of this letter. ”

“ Great disputes have been raised what the fish was. As it is called a whale in the Septuagint, [46] and in St. Matthew, xii. 40., one can hardly call it a vulgar error to speak of it commonly as a whale.
C. B.
Book Plates (Vol. iii., p. 495.) .
—Your correspondent inquiring about book plates mentions, that 1698 is the earliest date he has heard of. In a sale at Sotheby's, commencing on the 21st inst., there is a copy of Evelyn's Silva, presented by him to Sir Robert Clayton, Lord Mayor of London, with his book plate in it, date 1679. ”

“ SOCIETY OF ARTS, ADELPHI, LONDON.—PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISES on the various Departments of the GREAT EXHIBITION, which shall set forth the peculiar Advantages to be derived from each by the Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce of the country. ”