prince," he says, "to secure himself, must kill such and such people.' He must so; and therefore no wise people would suffer such a prince. This is the natural consequence; and not that Machiavel seriously advises princes to be wicked.-(Dr. Cocchi, Florence.) to stand while that part of the mu- | In his "Prince," his design, at botsic is performing. Some days after tom, was to make a despotic gothe first exhibition of the same di-vernment odious. "A despotic vine oratorio, Mr. Handel came to pay his respects to Lord Kinnoul, with whom he was particularly acquainted. His Lordship, as was natural, paid him some compliments on the noble entertainment which he had lately given the town. "My Lord," said Handel, "I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wish to make them better." These two anecdotes I had from Lord Kinnoul himself. You will agree with me, that the first does great honour to Handel, to music, and to the English nation: the second tends to confirm my theory, and Sir John Hawkins' testimony, that Handel, in spite of all that has been said to the contrary, must have been a pious man.-(Dr. Beattie to Rev. Dr. Laing.) ETYMOLOGY-HOAX. ORIGIN OF BUMPER. Catholics, they usually drank the IN HOC SIGNO VINCES. When Henry the Fourth of France was reconciled to the church of Rome, it was expected that he should give some remarkable testiThis word is now very common monial of his sincerity in returning in our language. Dr. Johnson has to the true faith. He accordingly not introduced it into his Dictionary, ordered a cross to be erected at although it was employed long be- Rome, near the church of Santa fore his time, but disguised by its Maria Maggiore, with this inscriporthography. In Richard Head's tion, In hoc signo vinces, on the Art of Wheedling, 12mo, 1634, p. 254, principal part of it. This passed it is thus used—"The mercer cries, at first as very Catholic, till it was Was ever a man so hocus'd?" So observed that the part in which the that hoax, or, as it was originally inscription is put is shaped in the written, hocus, is any species of dex- form of a cannon, and that he had terous imposition-similar to the really attributed only to his arti!tricks of the juggler, whose art was lery what they had taken to be adtermed hocus pocus, which is gene-dressed to heaven.—(Ficaroni.) rally admitted to be a corruption of Hoc est corpus. MACHIAVEL AND OLD NICK. As cunning as Old Nick, and as wicked as Old Nick, were originally meant of our Nicolas Machiavel; and so came afterwards to be perverted to the devil.-(Dr. Cocchi, Florence.) FILICAIA'S SONNETS. Filicaia, in his sonnets, makes use of many expressions borrowed from the Psalms, and consequently not generally understood among us. A gentleman of Florence, on reading some of the passages in him, which were literally taken from David, cried out, "O! are you there again Machiavel has been generally with your barbarisms?" and flung called so wicked from people mis- away the book, as not worth his taking the design of his writings. [reading.--(Crudeli of Florence.) MISCELLANEOUS ANECDOTES. HARRINGTON'S OCEANA. 39 the strongest appearance of reason, that there certainly were poetical compositions, consisting of songs and ballads, and other pieces, exist It is strange that Harrington, so little while ago, should be the first man to find out so evident and de-ing in the Highlands many years monstrable a truth, as that of property being the true basis of power. His Oceana, allowing for the different situations of things (as the less number of Lords then, those Lords having no share in the Parliament, and the like), is certainly one of the best founded political pieces that ever was writ.-(Dean Lockier.) ELOQUENCE IN WINE. before Macpherson was born, of which sufficient traces are even yet to be found in various parts of that country, some in a more, some in a less perfect form. From these scattered fragments it probably was, that Macpherson, by imitations and additions of his own, wrought his work into a whole, and thus gave it the appearance, in some degree, of a regular epic poem. Nor is it difficult, perhaps, to conceive how these fragments may have been handed down from father to son, even without the use of writing, among a peo Sir Thomas More was sent by Henry VIII. on an embassy to the emperor of Germany, where, before he delivered it, he commanded one of his servants to fill him a beer-ple, who, with scarcely any knowglass of wine, which he drank off; and afterwards repeated, and at the same time directing his servant to bring him a third; the servant knowing his master's usual temperance, at first refused to fill him another, being under a concern for his behaviour, but on a second command of Sir Thomas, he did it; which being drank, he then made his immediate address to the emperor, and delivered his oration in Latin like one inspired, to the very great admiration of all the auditors. This I mention to show the influence of wine!-(Life of Sir T. Moore.) ledge of agriculture, commerce, or the useful arts, filled up the vacancies of a pastoral life, by the recital of those popular songs and ballads. This is a practice not peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland, but to be found in all nations, who, by their local situation in the midst of hills and fastnesses, are cut off from any great degree of intercourse with neighbouring countries, farther advanced in the arts of polished life. Nor will it appear so very wonderful if, in this manner, that poetry may have been preserved, which is believed by many to have existed in the Highlands, when the powers of the memory are considered, and That there never existed poems the strength it acquired by the perexactly in the form in which Fin-petual exercise of listening to the gal and Temone were published by bards, who were an appendage of Macpherson, seems now to be the the state and magnificence of a opinion generally entertained. But Highland chieftain.-(Sir William it is still maintained by many, with Forbes.) OSSIAN'S POEMS. EARLY TRANSLATIONS OF THE BIBLE. BIBLE. The translation of the Bible was begun very early in this kingdom. Some part of it was done by king Alfred. Adelmus translated the Psalms into Saxon in 709. Other parts were done by Edfrid, or Egbert, 750; the whole by Bede. In 1357 Trevisa published the whole in English. Tindall's translation appeared in 1334, was revised and altered in 1538, published with a preface of Cranmer's in 1549, and allowed to be read in churches. In 1551 another translation was published, which, being revised by several bishops, was printed with their alterations in 1560. In 1613 a new translation was published by authority, which is that in present use. There was not any translation of it into the Irish language till 1685. The pope did not give his permission for the translation of it into any language till 1759.-(Jenoway's Notes.) PRESENT TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE. ford, Brett, Fareclowe. All the Epistles to the Dean of Chester, Dr. Hutchinson, Spencer, Messrs. Fenton, Rabbit, Sanderson, Dakins. The Gospels, Acts, and Apocalypse, to the Deans of Christchurch, Winchester, Worcester, Windsor, Drs. Perin, Ravins, Messrs. Savile, Harmer. And the Apocrypha, to Drs. Duport, Braithwaite, Ratcliffe, Messrs. Ward, Downes, Boyse, Warde. They met at Westminster, Oxford, and Cambridge, as it was convenient for each body. The method in which they proceeded was thus:-Several translations of each part were drawn up by the members of that body to which it was allotted, who then, in a joint consultation, selected three of the best, or compiled them out of the whole number. Thus in three years three translations of the whole were sent to London; then six deputies, two from each place, were appointed to extract one translation out of the three, which was finished and printed in the year 1611. BOOKS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE, NOW LOST OR UNKNOWN. At your request, I have copied out, from the collection I have made, the ten underwritten (I think) lost books; but should be glad to be set to rights by better information:— I. "The Prophecy of Enoch." See Epistle to Jude 14. This translation was made at the command of King James I.; the translators were fifty-four of the most learned men of that time, who were divided into five bodies, of which each was to labour on a particular part of the Bible, which was thus divided:- The Pentateuch, and the Books of Judges, Ruth, Samuel, and Kings, to the Deans of Westminster and St. Paul's, Doctors Saravia, Clark, Layfield, Leigh, Messrs. Stretford, Sussex, Clare, Bedwell. From the Chronicles to III. "The Prophetical Gospel of Ecclesiastes, to Dr. Richardson, and Eve, which relates to the Amours Messrs. Sirley, Chadderton, Dilling-of the Sons of God with the Daughham, Harrison, Andrews, Spalding, ters of Men." See Origen Cont. Binge. All the Prophets and La- Celsum, Tertul. &c. mentations to Dr. Harding, Reinolds, Holland, Kilby, Messrs. Here II. "The Book of the Wars of the Lord." See Numb. xxi. 14. IV. "The Book of Jeshur." See Joshua x. 13; and 2 Sam. i. 18. BOOKS, BOOKSELLERS, AND BIBLIOMANIACS. V."The Book of Iddo the Seer." of Hanani." See 2 Chron. ix. 29; and xii. 15. VI. "The Book of Nathan the Prophet." See as above. VII. "The Prophecies of Ahijah the Shilonite." See as above. VIII. "The Acts of Rehoboam, in the Book of Shemaiah." See 2 Chron. xii. 15. 34. 41 See 2 Chron. xx. X. "The Five Books of Solomon, treating on the nature of trees, beasts, fowl, serpents, and fishes." See 1 Kings iv. 33. XI. You may add the 151st Psalm. I have it somewhere in the house, but cannot at present IX. "The Book of Jehu the son find it.-(Mr.Ames to Mr. Da Costa.) "One dollar," was the answer. "One dollar," said the lounger, "can't you take less than that?" "No, indeed; one dollar is the price." Another hour had nearly passed, when the lounger said "Is Mr. Franklin at home?" "Yes, he is in the printing-office." "I want to see him," said the lounger. and wishing to end the parley of his own making, said— "Come, Mr. Franklin, tell me what is the lowest you can take for it?" "One dollar and a half." "A dollar and a half! Why, you offered it yourself for a dollar and a quarter." 66 Yes," said Franklin, "and I had better have taken that price then, than a dollar and a half now." The lounger paid down the price, and went about his business-if he had any-and Franklin returned into the printing-office. SALE OF ROXBURGH'S LIBRARY. Unlike most other species of property, books, in some instances, adThe shop-boy immediately in-vance in value in proportion to their formed Mr. Franklin that a gentle-age. Many cases might be cited to man was in the store, waiting to see him. Franklin was soon behind the counter, when the lounger, with book in hand, addressed him thus: “Mr. Franklin, what is the lowest you can take for that book?" "One dollar and a quarter," was the ready answer. "One dollar anda quarter! Why, your young man asked me only a dollar." 66 True," ," said Franklin, "and I could have better afforded to have taken a dollar then, than to have been taken out of the office." The lounger seemed surprised, prove this; the most remarkable on record is that of the great sale of Lord Roxburgh's library, in 1812, which occupied forty-five days at auction, and which cost its founder, fifty years before, less than £5000, but which actually realized on the occasion referred to the enormous sum of £23,341. One book, the folio (first) edition of Boccaccio, printed by Valdarfer, of which it is believed this was the only copy extant, brought £2260. Its original price was something like ten shillings. Bibliomania was at this time, certainly, at its extreme height. BLACK-LETTER BOOKS. said that Lintot was so great a It was in the period of Scott's scoundrel, that printing with him early manhood that the mania for was out of the question; and writblack-letter books began to mani-ing to Lintot, he declared that Tonson was an old rascal, with many other epithets equally opprobrious. BLACK-LETTER HUNTERS. "Others, like Kemble, on black-letter pore, And what they do not understand, adore; Has blessed them with "The Boke of For ekes and algates only deign to seek, fest itself in the land, and, like the once notable tulip madness in Holland, proved an important source of emolument to those who had even a small capital to embark in the purchase of rare specimens. It was quite possible for such traders occasionally to purchase for a trifling sum an entire library from some improvident or illiterate representative of an old family, by whom the books were looked upon as mere lumber. From these the fortunate purchaser well knew how to select the gems inestimable in the eyes of a collector, any one of which, being Though no great catalogue-hunproperly set and adorned in its fra- ter, I love to look into such marked grant binding of Russia leather, ones as now and then fall in my would sometimes bring nearly as way. That of poor Dodd's books much money as had been given for amused me not a little. It exhithe whole lot. It was, indeed, on bited many instances of BLACK-LETthis basis principally that Mr. Con- TER mania; and what is more to stable, who had the honour of pub- my purpose, a transfer of much lishing the Lay of the last Minstrel, valuable "trash of ancient days," and Marmion, contrived to accumu- to the fortunate Mr. Kemble. For late that wealth, or acquire that example:credit, which, if more prudently managed, might have insured him stability and reputation for life. Mr. Scott was one of the very few among Constable's patrons who could turn this mania to good account; for, whilst he seemed to the uninitiated to have an indiscriminate appetite for old books of every description, the truth was, that he seldom made a purchase of one without some rational and special object in view. RIVAL PUBLISHERS. "First part of the tragicall £ s. d. Whittie Comedie. 1 11 3 50 5 7 6 Look about You, a Comedie, "How are we ruined!"-(Gifford, ILLUMINATORS. As to the word Alluminor in the "Richard III.," I take it that, even before the invention of printBoth Tonson and Lintot were ing, when, as well as afterwards, it rivals for publishing a work of Dr. was the custom to illuminate the Young's. The poet answered both initial letters, such had the privitheir letters the same morning, but lege of being members, and were unfortunately misdirected them. entitled to the privileges of univerIn these epistles, he complained of sities, whereof you will find some the rascally cupidity of each. In memorandums in the history of the one he intended for Tonson, he Bullens, or that of Paris; and if |