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year he brought the subject forward | Christendom, but especially in his own again; and finding his brother prelates realm. fixed in their neglect, he divided Tyndal's work into ten parts, sending one part to each bishop to correct. The Bishop of London alone ventured an open refusal; the remainder complied in words, and did nothing.

Finally, the King's patience was exhausted. The legitimate methods having been tried in vain, he acted on his own responsibility. Miles Coverdale, a member of the same Cambridge circle which had given birth to Cranmer, to Latimer, to Barnes, to the Scotch Wishart, silently went abroad with a license from Cromwell; with Tyndal's help he collected and edited the scattered portions; and in 1536 there appeared in London, published cum privilegio and dedicated to Henry VIII., the first complete copy of the English Bible. The separate translations, still anomalously prohibited in detail, were exposed freely to sale in a single volume, under the royal sanction. The fountain of the new opinions-so long dreaded, so long execrated-was thenceforth to lie open in every church in England; and the clergy were ordered not to permit only, but to exhort and encourage, all men to resort to it and read.

In this act was laid the foundation-stone on which the whole later history of England, civil as well as ecclesiastical, has been reared; and the most minute incidents become interesting, connected with an event of so mighty moment.

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Caiaphas," says Coverdale in the dedicatory preface, "being bishop of his year, prophesied that it was better to put Christ to death than that all the people should perish he meaning that Christ was a heretic and a deceiver of the people, when in truth he was the Saviour of the world, sent by his Father to suffer death for man's redemption.

"After the same manner the Bishop of Rome conferred on King Henry VIII. the title of Defender of Faith, because his Highness suffered the bishops to burn God's word, the root of faith, and to persecute the lovers and ministers of the same; where in very deed the bishop, though he knew not what he did, prophesied that, by the righteous administration of his grace, the faith should be so defended that God's word, the mother of faith, should have free course through all

"The Bishop of Rome has studied long to keep the Bible from the people, and specially from princes, lest they should find out his tricks and his falsehoods, lest they should turn from his false obedience to the true obedience commanded by God; knowing well enough that, if the clear sun of God's word came over the heat of day, it would drive away the foul mist of his devilish doctrines. The Scripture was lost before the time of that noble king Josiah, as it hath also been among us unto the time of his Grace. Through the merciful goodness of God it is now found again as it was in the days of that virtuous king; and praised be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, world without end, which so excellently hath endowed the princely heart of his Highness with such ferventness to his honor and the wealth of his subjects, that he may be compared worthily unto that noble King, that lantern among princes, who commanded straitly, as his Grace doth, that the law of God should be read and taught unto all the poeple.

"May it be found a general comfort to all Christian hearts-a continual subject of thankfulness, both of old and young, unto God and to his Grace; who, being our Moses, has brought us out of the old Egypt, and from the cruel hands of our spiritual Pharaoh. Not by the thousandth part were the Jews so much bound unto King David for subduing of great Goliah as we are to his Grace for delivering us out of our Babylonish captivity. For the which deliverance and victory I beseech our only mediator, Jesus Christ, to make such mean with us unto his heavenly Father, that we may never be unthankful unto him nor unto his Grace, but increase in fear of God, in obedience to the King's Highness, in love unfeigned to our neighbors, and in all virtue that cometh of God, to whom, for the defending of his blessed Word, be honor and thanks, glory and dominion, world without end."

Equally remarkable, and even more emphatic in the recognition of the share in the work borne by the King, is the frontispiece.

This is divided into four compartments. In the first, the Almighty is seen in the clouds with outstretched arms. Two scrolls proceed out of his mouth, to the

right and the left. On the former is the verse: "The word which goeth forth from me shall not return to me empty, but shall accomplish whatsoever I will have done." The other is addressed to Henry, who is kneeling at a distance bareheaded, with his crown lying at his feet. The scroll says: "I have found me a man after my own heart, who shall fulfill all my will." Henry answers: "Thy word is a lantern unto my feet."

Immediately below, the King is seated on his throne, holding in each hand a book, on which is written: "The Word of God." One of these he is giving to Cranmer and another bishop, who, with a group of priests, are on the right of the picture, saying, "Take this and teach;" the other on the opposite side he holds to Cromwell and the lay peers, and the words are: "I make a decree that, in all my kingdom, men shall tremble and fear before the living God." A third scroll, falling downwards over his feet, says alike to peer and prelate : "Judge righteous judgment. Turn not away your ear from the prayer of the poor man." The King's face is directed sternly towards the bishops, with a look which says: Obey at last, or worse will befall you."

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In the third compartment, Cranmer and Cromwell are distributing the Bible to kneeling priests and laymen; and, at the bottom, a preacher with a benevolent beautiful face is addressing a crowd from a pulpit in the open air. He is apparently commencing a sermon with the text: "I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men-for kings." And at the word "kings" the people are shouting, "Vivat Rex! Vivat Rex!" children who know no Latin lisping, "God save the king!" and, at the extreme left, at a jail-window, a prisoner is joining in

the cry of delight, as if he too were delivered from a worse bondage.

This was the introduction of the English Bible-this the seeming acknowledgment of Henry's services. Of the translation itself, though since that time it has been may times revised and altered, we may say that it is substantially the Bible with which we are all familiar. The peculiar genius-if such a word may be permitted

which breathes through it-the mingled tenderness and majesty the Saxon simplicity-the preternatural grandeur-unequaled, unapproached, in the attempted improvements of modern scholars-all are here, and bear the impress of the mind of one man-William Tyndal. Lying, while engaged in that great office, under the shadow of death, the sword above his head and ready at any moment to fall, he worked, under circumstances alone perhaps truly worthy of the task which was laid upon him-his spirit, as it were divorced from the world, moved in a purer element than common air.

His work was done. He lived to see the Bible no longer carried by stealth into his country, where the possession of it was a crime, but borne in by the solemn will of the King-solemnly recognized as the word of the Most High God. And then his occupation in this earth was gone. His eyes saw the salvation for which he had longed, and he might depart to his place. He was denounced to the regent of Flanders; he was enticed by the suborned treachery of a miserable English fanatic beyond the town under whose liberties he had been secure; and with the reward which, at other times as well as those, has been held fitting by human justice for the earth's great ones, he passed away in smoke and flame to his rest.

From Chambers's Journal,

THE BARON GRANDENIGO'S DAUGHTERS.*

THE three young daughters of the great Baron Grandenigo having been deprived by death of their mother, who had always rather inclined towards spoiling them, her place was excellently supplied by an ancient female relative, who came unasked to superintend the domestic affairs of the Baron's secluded stronghold among the green mountains. There she regulated the household, jingled the keys, and was especially particular in watching over defenses and drawbridge, the baron himself being usually absent at his sovereign's court, or fighting his sovereign's battles; so that old Madame Offugo felt she had a responsibility in her self-imposed task, which made her doubly careful. The three young ladies of Grandenigo were good-natured girls on the whole, but they had their faults like the rest of us; and Madame Offugo made it her study to discover and root out, as far as possible, those noxious weeds which disfigured the otherwise fair and promising parterres. Lisa, Lota, and Lora, as the three young ladies were named, greatly reverenced and respected Madame Offugo; nor had she failed to inspire them with a good deal of awe, though she never scolded them, nor treated them with harshness, but, on the contrary, was always kind and considerate. Yet Madame Öffugo had queer ways of her own; and as those were the days, and theirs was the country, when fairies were still authentic facts, it is not in the least surprising that some folks went so far as to hint that Madame Offugo claimed kin with the elfin race.

At Grandenigo they all led a life of comparative retirement, free from the cares, anxieties, and turmoils of the outer world; but this could not be expected to last always, as Baron Grandenigo was a person of importance in the solemn councils of the land, and his daughters would in time be summoned to the sovereign's

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court-roses and lilies fresh from the mountains, and sweet as their wild-thyme and blooming heather. Madame Offugo did not spare to tell her young charges of their faults, whenever she saw occasion to do so; to warn, exhort, and instruct. To Lisa, the eldest, she would say: "You are prone to search for defects in every thing, and not only that, but you see a great many things you ought not to see. People must sometimes walk with a shade over their eyes in this world; ay, even blindfolded it may be. Your eyes are not given to you in order to pick out flaws and to make quarrels, but for good and wise purposes: to be useful, and to behold the glories of a beautiful universe, the work of a beneficent Creator."

Lisa perfectly understood old Madame Offugo's words; for her bright black eyes were dreaded at Grandenigo-poking and peering about every where, and into every thing, and seeing things in such a manner, that the poor maids said Lady Lisa must surely wear a pair of magnifying-glasses. This did not effect much harm or perplexity in the quiet retreat of Grandenigo; but Lady Lisa was going to a town-life, to a courtly circle, and therefore Madame Offugo lectured her in time, and of course, as all lecturing is, for her "own good."

Lady Lota, though not quick-sighted, like her eldest sister, but, in fact, quite otherwise, made up for that defect by the extraordinary acuteness of her hearingher ears doing as much mischief, in the way of quarreling and magnifying, as the Lady Lisa's bright eyes. Madame Offugo had more than once, and with much majesty and severity, impressed on Lady Lota's mind that well-known adage-applicable at grand baronial Grandenigo as elsewhere-that "listeners never hear any good of themselves." Hence it may be inferred, alas! that the Lady Lota-despite her descent from the ancient Grendenigos-was not wholly free from human failings, or rather, we might more justly say, meannesses. Hence the Lady Lota's

temper, it is to be feared, was ruffled and | the saying is always getting into trouble, disturbed by not hearing "good of her- from seeing what ought not to have been self;"" and if," as Madame Offugo sagely seen, hearing what was not meant to be remarked, "good is not spoken of us at heard, and speaking what it was inconvehome, what shall be said of us in the cold, nient and dangerous to retail; far, far hard world?" more so here in the city and the courtly circle, than at quiet Grandenigo, sleeping among the pleasant heathery hills. And their troubles and perplexities so increased, that one evening when they had retired rather earlier than usual, and had dismissed their attendants, and were conversing with terror and dismay on their lamentable position, all three exclaimed together: "Oh! that dear old Offugo was here to direct and aid us! I wonder if she has quite forgotten us by this time: she said she wouldn't."

The Lady Lora, the youngest of the three sisters of Grandenigo, did not make so much use of her eyes and ears as she did of her own little tongue; she retailed what Lisa saw, and what Lota heard, fluently, unfailingly, and, we regret to add, exaggeratingly. She did not like the trouble of doing any thing but talk-talk: she left her eldest sister to look about her, and poke and peer here, there, and every where; she left her second sister to saunter unsuspected, with her ears wide open, because she was so near-sighted, and who dare accuse a Grandenigo lady of listening? Now, that troublesome little member, the tongue, can do a world of mischief, as we all know; and Madame Offugo said every thing to Lady Lora that was right, and true, and kind, and wholesome on this topic. And the Lady Lora listened with respectful attention, and promised not only to remember what was said, but to try to follow the kind and motherly advice. And so did the Lady Lisa, and the Lady Lota; but in the mean time, the unruly eyes, and ears, and tongue often rebelled, and occasioned a vast deal of petty trouble and vexation among the small community of Grandenigo.

At that instant, a gentle tap, tap, came to their door, and a little page in green gave in a small packet, silken-bound, addressed to the ladies Lisa, Lota, and Lora. Quickly they opened it, and what did they behold? First the words written in golden type: "I have not forgotten you-do not you forget old Offugo." And the contents of the packet? Each sister blushed consciously as she appropriated to herself one of the three gifts it contained; thus proving that they had not altogether for gotten old Offugo's lessons. How the court circle would have laughed and jested had they seen these "remembrances," so carefully bound up with silken cord, and so fondly and reverently received by the sisters in the privacy of their own chamber. And what were they?-what mysterious and inexplicable things to send from a distance to three fair young ladies, daugh

Suddenly Madame Offugo was wanted elsewhere: the drawbridge was let down, and she crossed it quickly, disappearing in the winding road leading up the hill-ters of the grand Baron Grandenigo? side from Grandenigo, and leaving the three young ladies weeping bitterly, and waving their white handkerchiefs, and kissing their hands as the good old lady

receded.

"Don't forget us, dear Madame Offugo," said they on parting.

"I will not, my dears," she replied, and she spoke with impressive emphasis.

And now Baron Grandenigo took his three girls away to the court of his sovereign, in the midst of a gay and populous city. The change was very great indeed for young ladies brought up in retirement, like our Lisa, Lota, and Lora; and at first they forgot good old Madame Of fugo and her excellent advice and tender admonitions. But as time progressed, they were never out of "hot-water," as

VOL. XLIV.—NO. IV.

First, there was a woven bandagethick and smooth, flexible and elastic-to bind over the eyes, as if for playing at blind-man's-buff. Lady Lisa fitted it on directly; intuitively she understood its meaning and arrangement. Then came a bundle of fine white cotton-wool, rolled up in golden tissue. Lady Lota stuffed some into her ears on the spot. Then, what a funny-looking thing! They all three laughed aloud as the Lady Lora put it into her pretty mouth, though she declared afterwards it became as sweet as a sugar-plum to her taste. But the greatest wonder of these gifts was-proving beyond a doubt that Offugo must be a fairy-that although the three fair daughters of Grandenigo continued to wear them at all times and on state occasions,

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fort to themselves, than if they had seen too much, heard too much, and spoken too much by the way.

their true significance continued unsuspected. The bandage, by fairy contrivance, only resembled a becoming fillet round the ivory brow; the cotton-wool Some of us in these days need the gifts was hidden by the ebon tresses, so co- of a good fairy Offugo, and we might even quettishly disposed for the purpose; and appropriate all three for our own share; as to the uncourtly gag, being inside the for sometimes, if we desire to live in mouth, it was not seen at all. A fasci- peace, it is better to tie a bandage over nating reticence was the consequence of our eyes, and to stuff our ears with cottonthat; and forever afterwards, the ladies wool, and furnish our mouths with a gag of Grandenigo walked through this weary-even though it does not taste like a world with far less stumbling and discom- sugar-plum.

From Crabbe's Poetical Works.

JESSE BOURN

AND

COLIN

GREY.

Then she plots, then she ruminates, then she devises; and what they think in their hearts they may effect, they will break their hearts but they will effect.

A VICAR died, and left his daughter poor-
It hurt her not, she was not rich before:
Her humble share of worldly goods she sold,
Paid every debt, and then her fortune told;
And found, with youth and beauty, hope and
health,

Two hundred guineas was her worldly wealth;
It then remained to choose her path in life,
And first, said Jesse: "Shall I be a wife?
Colin is mild and civil, kind and just,
I know his love, his temper I can trust;
But small his farm, it asks perpetual care,
And we must toil as well as trouble share :
True, he was taught in all the gentle arts
That raise the soul, and soften human hearts;
And boasts a parent, who deserves to shine
In higher class, and I could wish her mine;
Nor wants he will his station to improve,
A just ambition waked by faithful love;
Still is he poor-and here my father's friend
Deigns for his daughter, as her own, to send;
A worthy lady, who it seems has known
A world of griefs and troubles of her own:
I was an infant, when she came, a guest
Beneath my father's humble roof to rest;
Her kindred all unfeeling, vast her woes,
Such her complaint, and there she found
repose;

Enriched by fortune, now she nobly lives,
And nobly, from the blest abundance, gives;
The grief, the want of human life, she knows,
And comfort there and here relief bestows;
But are they not dependents?-Foolish pride!

Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. scene 2.

Am I not honored by such friend and guide?
Have I a home," (here Jesse dropepd a tear,)
"Or friend beside ?"-A faithful friend was

near.

Now Colin came, at length resolved to lay
His heart before her and to urge her stay;
True, his own plow the gentle Colin drove,
An humble farmer with aspiring love;
Who, urged by passion, never dared till now,
Thus urged by fears, his trembling hopes avow:
Her father's glebe he managed; every year
The grateful vicar held the youth more dear;
He saw indeed the prize in Colin's view,
And wished his Jesse with a man so true;
Timid as true, he urged with anxious air
His tender hope, and made the trembling

prayer;

When Jesse saw, nor could with coldness see,
Such fond respect, such tried sincerity:
Grateful for favors to her father dealt,
She more than grateful for his passion felt;
Nor could she frown on one so good and kind,
Yet feared to smile, and was unfixed in mind;
But prudence placed the female friend in view-
What might not one so rich and grateful do?
So lately, too, the good old vicar died,
His faithful daughter must not cast aside
The signs of filial grief, and be a ready bride:
Thus, led by prudence, to the lady's seat
The village-beauty purposed to retreat;
But, as in hard-fought fields the victor knows
What to the vanquished he in honor owes,
So in this conquest over powerful love,

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