scriptures they prosecute one by one, first amplifying upon one for some considerable time, till they have spoiled it; and then, that being done, they pass to another, which in its turn suffers accordingly. And these impertinent and unpremeditated enlargements they look upon as the motions, effects, and breathings of the Spirit, and therefore much beyond those carnal ordinances of sense and reason, supported by industry and study; and this they call a saving way of preaching, as it must be confessed to be a way to save much labour, but nothing else that I know of."

IDEA OF ETERNITY.

IN American street preacher, in one of his sermons, exclaimed to his hearers: "Eternity! why, don't you know the meaning of that word? Nor I either, hardly. It is for ever and ever, and five or six everlastings a-top of that. You might place a row of figures from here to sunset, and cipher them all up, and it wouldn't begin to tell how many ages long eternity is. Why, my friends, after millions and trillions of years had rolled away in eternity, it would be a hundred thousand years to breakfast-time."

A NEW LIGHT.

IN old woman, on the day devoted to St Michael the Archangel, going into a church in Paris, where there was a representation of that saint discomfiting the devil, put one large taper close to St Michael, and another close to the fiend. "Woman!" exclaimed the priest, "you are making an offering to Satan; you know not what you do.”—“ I know what I am doing well enough," was the reply; "but as I do not certainly know where I am going, it is as well to have a friend everywhere."

PREACHING AGAINST INOCULATION.

HE introduction of the practice of inoculation into England met with obstinate resistance. Not only did the medical professors condemn it as a dangerous innovation, but the clergy also denounced it from their pulpits, as an impious attempt to take the issues of life and death out of the hands of Providence. On the 8th of July 1722, a sermon was preached at St Andrew's, Holborn, by the Rev. Edward Massey, lecturer of St Alban's, Wood Street, "against the dangerous and sinful practice of inoculation." The sermon was published, and the text is Job ii. 7 :-" So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." Of the arguments used, the following may serve as specimens :-" Remembering our text," he says," I shall not scruple to call that a diabolical operation which usurps an authority founded neither in the laws of nature or religion; which tends, in this case, to anticipate and banish Providence out of the world, and promote the increase of vice and immorality.” The preacher further observes, that "the good of mankind, the seeking whereof is one of the fundamental laws of nature, is, I know, pleaded in defence of the practice; but I am at a loss to find or understand how that has been, or can be promoted thereby; for, if by good be meant the preservation of life, it is, in the first place, a consideration whether life be good or not.”

TWO OF A FEATHER.

HE Abbé Raynal and the Abbé Galiani, who were both incessant talkers, were invited to the house of a mutual friend who wished to amuse himself by bringing them together. Galiani, who began the conversation, engrossed it

ANIMAL CULPRITS.

313

so thoroughly, and talked with such volubility, that Raynal could not find an opening to introduce a word; but turning to his friend he said, in a low whisper, "S'il crache il est perdu."

ANIMAL CULPRITS.

N the "Catalogus Gloria Mundi," printed in 1529, is the following odd tale, which, childish as it may appear, throws a light on the manners of the age. The same story is also found in De Thou. A most cruel sentence was denounced in 1540 by the Parliament of Province against the Vaudois of the valley of Merindol, which consigned them all to destruction on account of their heresy. Their utter ruin was, however, delayed by a very singular circumstance. An innumerable army of rats had, about that time, laid waste the country. All temporal means to destroy them had been used in vain, and it was therefore thought necessary to try the force of spiritual censure. Every form of procedure usual on such occasions was carefully observed. A complaint was brought against the rats; they were cited to appear at the bishop's court, and, on their non-appearance, sentence was on the point of being pronounced against them for default and contempt of court. But, as in all ages there have been found lawyers who, either to show their abilities or to fill their purses, will not scruple to espouse the wrong side, an advocate started up in favour of the oppressed, who represented "that the poor calumniated vermin could not appear with any degree of security at the court, according to the summons, since their steps were watched by their enemies the cats, and no safeguard had been appointed to conduct them to the presence of their judges." This grotesque plea is said to have had its effect, and to have prevented those anathemas which would otherwise have been fulminated against the rats. Nay, it is affirmed, that one of the judges, struck with the similarity of the case between them and the heretics of Merindol. used his in

fluence, with success, to have the execution of the sentence against the poor Vaudois also postponed. The respite was, however, only temporary, and persecution, stimulated by bigotry, in a short time depopulated a whole country, with such circumstances of barbarity, that they have been held up by every historian to public detestation.

UNCOMMON PRAYER.

IN American author projected a work to be published under the title of the "Book of Uncommon Prayer," which, however, has not yet made its appearance. In our own country, some anecdotes of singular prayers are on record, amongst which the following, which was first printed in "Fog's Journal," in 1730, is not a little curious:—“O Lord! thou knowest that I have nine houses in the city of London, and likewise that I have lately purchased an estate in feesimple in the county of Essex. Lord, I beseech thee to preserve the two counties of Essex and Middlesex from fires and earthquakes; and, as I have a mortgage in Hertfordshire, I beg thee likewise to have an eye of compassion on that county. And, Lord, for the rest of the counties, thou mayest deal with them as thou art pleased. O Lord, enable the' bank to answer all their bills, and make all my debtors good men. Give a prosperous voyage and return to the Mermaid sloop, which I have insured; and, Lord, thou hast said, 'that the days of the wicked are short,' and I trust thou wilt not forget thy promises, having purchased an estate in reversion of Sir J. P., a profligate young man. Lord keep our funds from sinking, and, if it be thy will, let there be no sinking-fund. Keep my son Caleb out of evil company, and from gaming-houses. And sanctify, O Lord, this night to me, by preserving me from thieves and fire, and make my servant honest and careful, whilst I, thy servant, lie down in thee, O Lord. Amen."

This singular prayer is no invention of a joker. It is known

DIVINITY AND POTATOES.

315

to have been made and used in the beginning of the eighteenth century, by John Ward, an opulent inhabitant of Hackney, where "Ward's Corner," and, until some years ago, "Ward's House," still recalled his memory. He was M.P. for Melcombe Regis, but was expelled, and set in the pillory for forgery, February 17, 1727. To the reader of Pope this worthy is well known, as the poet has "damned him to everlasting fame," in the unenviable company of "Waters, Charteris, and the Devil."

D

BISHOP WILSON.

R WILSON, the good and well-known Bishop of Sodor and Man, with an income of £300 a year, sent for his tailor to make him a cloak, and desired it might have only one loop and button. The tailor submitted to his venerable customer that if that fashion should become general, the button-makers would starve. "Do you say so, John ?" replied the bishop; "then button it all over."

DIVINITY AND POTATOES.

CLERGYMAN, in the course of an argumentative sermon, found it necessary to express his disagreement, upon some doctrinal point, with those who had published explanations of the passage in question; he accordingly made use of the following words :-" Commentators for the most part do not agree with me." A farmer in the parish who had listened to the discourse, appeared the next morning in the clergyman's study, bringing with him a sack of portly dimensions, which he begged the rector to accept, telling him at the same time, that "he had heard him say yesterday in his sermon, that common taters mostly did not agree with him, and so he had brought him a sack of his best kidneys."