"him owre comun avis; and he hath ziven his "assent ther to and ordeyneth hym in alle hast "to come to zour présence, so that I hope he "schal be with zou at the same tyme that zour "chapel schal come: and be the grace of God' "ze schol fynde hym a good man and a spirituel, "and pleyn to zu with owte feyntese. Forther"more towchyng that ze dosire to have licence "to chese zou a confessor &c. I send zu a letter "ther offe a seelyd undir my seel, with sufficient "power to do in that caas al that I'myzt dor my "self in zour roial presence. Towchyng al ordr "things, I wot wel my lord your brother sendyth

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to zu pleynlych: and ther fore undir zour "Grace it seemeth to me no more to vexe zour Hygnesse with myche redyng: praying ever" almyzty God suych speed to graunt zou on zour moest ryal Journe that may be to his ple"saunce, and hasty perfourmeng of zour blessud "entent, and pees to cristen pepul. Amen.' "Wryten at Lambyth xvj day of Febr. 1418. zour preest bedeman

NOLO EPISCOPARI.

H.C."

We believe it to be a vulgar error, that every bishop before he accepts a bishopric which is offered him, affects a maiden coyishness, and answers nolo episcopari.

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Sa

HUNTING DON.

When Mr. Hunt, from a collier, became, as he expresses it, "a vessel of the Lord, he instantly lengthened his name to Huntingdon, and so signed it,, with the adjunct of S. S. (Sinner Saved!)

RUM RELIGION.

Dr. Johnson, in his Tour to the Hebrides, gives the following instance of compulsory conversion-we wish that none were ever more violent. "The inhabitants of the isle of Rum, "in the Highlands," says he, "are fifty-eight 'families, who continued papists for some time "after the laird became a protestant. Their "adherence to their old religion was strengthen. "ed by the countenance of the laird's sister, a "zealous Romanist; till one Sunday, as they were going to mass under the conduct of their "patroness, Maclean, the laird, met them on "the way, gave one of them a blow on the head "with a yellow stick, I suppose a cane, and "drove them to the kirk, from which they "had never since departed. Since the use of "this method of conversion, the inhabitants of Egg and Canna, who continue papists, call "the protestantism of Rum, the religion of the yellow stick." After this, we may note, some

chronicler, (1309) "King Edward made Walter "Reynolds archbishop of Canterbury: not (says "the monk of Malmsbury) as a man of learning, " but for his great skill in theatrical_plays." Christianity appears to be upheld by good pay; for Mr. Bigland, in his Essays, has the following remarkable passage: speaking of ecclesiastical emoluments, he observes, if they had not been liberally conferred, in all probability" the Chris"tian religion, degraded and rendered contempt. "ible by the abject situation of its ministers, "would before this day, have either been totally "extinguished, or degenerated into a mass of "superstitions and absurdities, which would “have reduced it nearly to the level of paganism." Unquestionably it ought, by this hypothesis, to have become extinct in the earlier ages of the church but no, all experience proves that wealth with individuals rather promotes irreligion than otherwise. Who would not rather expect genuine piety from the stipendiary of 1001. a year, than from a bishop with his 20,0001.

FATAL VESPERS.

It is known to all, that during the reign of James the First, the dreadful accident happened called the Fatal Vespers. A celebrated preacher of the order of Jesuits, Father Drury, gave a

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sermon to a large audience of British subjects, in a spacious room, up three pair of stairs, in a house near Apothecaries hall. In the midst of the discourse the floor fell, and ninety-four persons, beside the preacher, perished! Now comes the disgusting application of a particular providence, or of the uncharitable bigotry of the times. The protestants considered the accident as a judgment on the catholics, for their idolatry; the catholics, attributed the accident to a plot of the protestants to bring destruction of their dissenting brethren.

MISSIONARIES.

The missionaries have no such easy time of it. When Campbell preached at the Cape of Good Hope, his sermons had to perform a very round about journey, ere they entered the tents of his hearers. "I preached (says he) through two inter

preters to the Coranas. When I had spoken a "sentence in English, Mr. Anderson repeated it "in Dutch, and a third person in the Corana "tongue. The Corana interpreter stood with. "his coat off, and seemed fatigued by speaking "so often." In preaching to the Boorhnanas, the sermon had a fourth transfusion to undergo. We presume the spirit must have evaporated, and what was most weighty have melted away.

CHILLINGWORTH.

Of the learned Chillingworth, who died at Chichester, there is a curious anecdote: his antagonist, Chaywell, a noted presbyterian clergyman, attended him to the grave, and pronounced over him a most fanatical and ridiculous oration; and threw into the grave Mr. Chillingworth's famous book-The Religion of the Protestants; as he said, that it might rot and see corruption with him."

EPITAPH ON HOBBES.

Mr. Hobbes, author of Leviathan, would, when dying, suffer some friends to dictate some epitaphs for him: among which was, "This is the true philosopher's" stone:" with this he was best pleased.

BISHOPS.

Upon most occasions we find bishops just as courtly as any of the nobles that decorate a court. There have been who defend this. La Roque observes in his treatise on nobility, that prelates, fighting incessantly against the prince of darkness, should enjoy personal nobility the *same as all officers do, who are not all gentlemen, and who fight for the defence of their country. Now, considering how well this spiritual