sermons, simple expositions of Christian truth and duty, with many touches of that power which constituted their writer "Nature's sternest painter, yet her best."

The Rev. J. Edwards, Second Master of King's College, London, has published A Devotional Exposition of the Book of Psalms, (Darling, 8vo.) which consists of a paraphrase, in which is embodied the whole psalm as it stands in our Bible version, such additions being made in a different type as the author deems necessary to bring out the full meaning of the original. The idea is a good one, and the book will be acceptable to that large body of persons who delight in the sacred poetry of the sweet singer of Israel.

The Rev. Isaac Williams has published A Harmony of the Four Evangelists (Rivingtons, small 8vo.) in connection with his Commentary now in progress, and The Rev. Dr. Maitland a valuable little volume of essays, entitled Eruvin; or Miscellaneous Essays on Subjects connected with the Natural History and Destiny of Man. (Rivingtons, small 8vo.) Eruvin, we may inform our less learned readers, is the title of one of the Treatises which form the Mishna or Jewish Traditional Code, and signifies "Mixtures" or "Miscellanies." The essays in this little volume relate to some of the most important subjects in theology: subjects on which we do not desire to express any opinion. They are all dealt with in the acute and caustic style of criticism with which the readers of Dr. Maitland are familiar. The subjects treated of relate principally to the Holy Scriptures; the condition of man before and since the fall; Satan, and the fallen angels; the Millennium, the kingdom of Messiah, the Regeneration; and the modern doctrine of Miracles.

Amongst books of this class we ought to say a word about a little volume entitled, The Wedding Gift; or, a devotional Manual for the married, or those intending to Marry. By William Edward Heygate, M.A. (Rivingtons, 12mo.) It is a book written in the tone and spirit of the Golden Grove and the Christian Year.

We have also to notice a work entitled The Age: being a letter to a Society for the improvement of Sacred Architecture on the object, principles, and practice of that department of science; with moral, religious, and political reflections arising out of the subject, and suggested by the peculiar circumstances of the times. By a Layman. (Hatchard, small 8vo.) The writer's design is to discourage a restoration of sedilia, piscina, credence-tables, and other things connected with ancient

superstition; but he runs very far away from his subject.

In poetry we have a volume entitled Aurora, and other Poems, by Mrs. H. R. Sandbach. (Pickering. 8vo.) This lady, as we remarked on a previous occasion, is a poet; she has the true and holy gift, and, we would fain believe, in fuller measure than this volume betokens. Would that she would let her heart pour out unrestrainedly upon the subjects of her verse, but it is kept in and back by line and rule, and although she writes beautifully it is with an air of restraint. The following sonnet is not the best specimen that might be selected, but recent circumstances have made it one of the most interesting:

On whom, oh, Wordsworth! shall thy mantle fall,

When He whom thou hast served shall call thee hence? [all Thee, Nature's great high priest, who utterest The breathings of her high intelligence? Who shall stand listening in her verdant fields With understanding ear, and teach in song The holy joy her sweet communion yields,

How man may find it as he walks along? And who shall call, with strong and cheerful voice,

The spirit of beauty from the humblest thing, As from the loftiest; bid our souls rejoice Like thine own sky-lark on his mounting [wrought, Save with sweet Nature, where thy spirit Where shall we find thy music, or thy thought?

wing?

Lord John Manners has collected his fugitive poetry in a volume, entitled, English Ballads and other Poems. (Rivingtons, small 8vo.) His lordship's lines are embued with all his strong political and religious opinions.

Ruins of Many Lands: a Descriptive Poem, by Nicholas Michell, (Tegg, 8vo.) has reached a second edition. It exhibits a great deal of antiquarian and historical knowledge. All the great ruins of all periods of the world's history, from Babylon and Nineveh to Pompeii and Herculaneum, pass in review before the author's muse, and are illustrated in his very careful notes.

Philip the Second, a Tragedy, by N. T. Moile, (Simpkin, 8vo.) is indeed a sad, sad tragedy.

Parish Musings in Verse. By John S. B. Monsell, Chancellor of Connor and Rector of Ramoan, county of Antrim, (Rivingtons, 12mo.) are small poems upon subjects suggested to a clergyman during a life of active labour in parochial duty.

Amongst books of a didactic character we may mention Letters on Early Education, addressed to J. P. Greaves, Esq.

by Pestalozzi. Translated from the German Manuscript. With a Memoir of Pestalozzi. (Gilpin, 12mo.) This is a work originally printed in 1827, and now reprinted for the Phoenix Library, a series of publications "bearing on the renovation and progress of Society in Religion, Morality, and Science." It is a commendable thing to keep alive the memory of Pestalozzi and his labours.

The Church Schoolmaster. By the Rev. Sanderson Robins, M.A. (Rivingtons, small 8vo.), is a practical treatise upon tuition of great value. We heartily recommend it to all who are engaged in that which is almost the most important business of the age-the work of education.

Three Essays: The union and recognition of Christians in the life to come; the right love of creatures and of the creator: Christian conversation. By John Sheppard (Jackson and Walford, 8vo.) contains many things worthy of deep consideration, and is written throughout in a pleasing, unsectarian spirit.

Health, disease, and remedy familiarly and practically considered in a few of their relations to the blood. By George Moore, M.D. (Longmans, 8vo.) With the strictly medical portion of this book we do not meddle; but it contains a great deal of sensible advice upon topics of universal interest. The chapters upon Rest and Sleep, Food in relation to Climate, Mental Influence, Sympathy between the Skin and the Internal Organs, Means of preventing Infection, Science and Quackery, natural medicine, regimen, and diet, are full of judicious observation, and of counsel which approves itself to the common sense and the experience of every man.

Some events which have distinguished the past month are of considerable interest to literature. Tidings have reached England that the Great Bull and other valuable relics excavated at Nineveh by Dr. Layard, have at length been put on board ship, and may ere long be expected to arrive on our shores. These remains have been lying at Bussorah for nearly two years unremoved, greatly to our national discredit, and to their damage. They are of far greater interest than any which have yet reached England.

Parliament has voted 30,000l. towards the sum required for the erection of a new General Record Office to be built on the Rolls Estate in Chancery Lane. This is a very important event, and one calculated to exercise a great influence upon our historical literature. Scattered in a variety of places of deposit, many of which are altogether unknown to historical inquirers, and huddled together in a manner the

most unseemly and the least likely to be accessible or useful, our Records have for many years been a disgrace to us rather than a use. The contemplated building will remove all necessity for a continuance of either neglect or inattention. We learn from the Athenæum that the building is to be erected by Mr. Pennethorne, the architect of the Museum of Practical Geology in Piccadilly; that it is to be a classical design; and that it will take three years in erection. In the meantime, the public ought to be distinctly apprised what are the records which it is intended to remove to the new place of deposit, and what the regulations under which they are to be arranged and consulted. These are subjects which ought to be well considered before hand, and that not only by the authorities, who too often act as if their duty were merely to keep the public away from the records, but by those persons who are interested in their use as well as in their preservation.

It is amusing, if not edifying, to observe how men, like trees, return to the habits of their early growth when the fury of a passing storm is expended and gone by. A pitiless hurricane, some few years since, swept over our ancient municipal corporations. They were stripped of their robes, their gold chains, and other para. phernalia: and it was well if the tempest did not carry off still more valuable historical possessions. In many cases, as we know, the portraits of royal or local patrons, articles of ancient plate, and other interesting monuments of olden times, many or most of which had been the gifts of former benefactors, were sent adrift with a ruthless hand. We almost wonder how Lynn Regis preserved its celebrated cup, or the city of Oxford that goodly silver goblet, which its mayor brought back as Butler from the coronation of Charles the Second, and which was so frequently and so agreeably replenished at our recent archæological visit to that loyal city. But for some few years past we have begun to hear of revivals of the ancient pomps and vanities of the municipal world. The aldermen have again taken to themselves cloth of scarlet and fur of sable, the civic mace if sold has been redeemed, and again that procession has been formed on the Sabbath morn, which is so well calculated to impress the commonalty with a due sense of magisterial dignity, and to set them an example of respect for the ordinances of the Church. The citizens of Bath have commemorated and completed this revival by the presentation of a collar and badge to their chief magis trate an engraving of which has been

published in the Illustrated London News of the 6th of July. This collar and badge are said to be designed "in the mediæval style," and to be "highly creditable to the taste and skill of Messrs. Payne of Bath, goldsmiths in ordinary to the Queen." The central feature of the collar from which the badge is suspended, is "the Tudor rose, enamelled red and white," on either side of which is a portcullis, "emblematic of municipal authority, and of the ancient gates of the city." These are connected with "a very beautifully formed knot or tie of gold [we submit it is rather unmeaning], which is attached again to a Tudor rose, and each alternately continued, terminating with two portcullises, corresponding with the front." The badge, which is pendant from the centre rose, "is of circular form, enriched with a border of Elizabethan character, within which is an enamelled band of Garter blue, with the legend damascened, in gold letters, DIPLOMATE REGIO ELIZABETHA REGNANTE MDXC. The centre of the badge is formed of the Bath city arms and supporters, exquisitely chased in high relief, and placed on a field argent, producing a tout ensemble of surpassing beauty and effect." Now, we are really sorry to have anything to say in depreciation of this liberal and well-intentioned piece of civic magnificence, which "is four feet in length, full an inch wide, and weighs with the badge 15 oz. troy of standard gold;"' but, as it is suggested that the example may be followed at Norwich and elsewhere, we must say a word or two about this unauthorised and injudicious assumption of what must be termed heraldic badges, and further against a mock "mediæval style," which is not much better than carpenter's gothic. As for the badge, notwithstanding the "Elizabethan character" of its border, it has not the character of Elizabethan jewellery, any more than the letters of the legend are Elizabethan letters, or the arms and supporters of the city Elizabethan or correct in drawing; they look to us very much as if they were copied from Keene's Bath Herald. But, if the materials of the collar were to have a meaning, why adopt roses and portcullises? We must tell the worthy citizens of Bath. It was not because the portcullis is "emblematic of municipal authority, and of the ancient gates of the city;" but because, in fact, it is a mere copy of the collar worn by the lord mayor of London; and that collar is really a royal Collar of Livery handed down from the Lancastrian sovereign Henry the Seventh. The rose is the Tudor rose, and the portcullis-another royal badge is the badge of the house of Beaufort, adopted (with that name) from

the children of John of Ghent by Katharine Swinford having been born under protection of the portcullis of the castle of Beaufort in Normandy. The question therefore is, in what way is the city of Bath heraldically entitled to display these royal badges? and were they worn rightfully, or ignorantly and ridiculously, by the mayor of Bath at her Majesty's last levee ?

Our contemporaries have lately commemorated the arrival in this country of the celebrated Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light, which is, with the questionable exception of a Brazilian stone among the crown jewels of Portugal, the largest known diamond in the world. The Times, in the course of some curious particulars respecting it, remarks that "It was in the year 1550 that this stone was first brought to light in the mines of Golconda. When the Mogul Princes extended their pretensions to the sovereignty of Deccan, the Koh-i-noor passed from Golconda to Delhi, where, on the 2nd of November, 1665, it was seen by the French traveller Tavernier, who, by the extraordinary indulgence of Aurungzebe, was permitted to handle, examine, and weigh it. This inestimable gem was preserved at Delhi until the invasion of Nadir Shah, in 1739. Among the spoils of conquest which the Persian warrior carried back with him, the Koh-i-noor was the most precious trophy; but it was destined to pass from Persia as quickly as that ephemeral supremacy in virtue of which it had been acquired. When the Persian conqueror was assassinated by his subjects, Ahmed Shah carried off the famous diamond.

"At the beginning of the present century the treasures of Ahmed were vested in Zemaun Shah, who, in the year 1800, found himself a prisoner of his brother Shah Shuja, the identical puppet, 40 years later, of our famous Cabul expedition. Shah Shuja ascended the throne of his brother, but the treasury of Cabul wanted its most precious ornament, till at length, ingeniously secreted in the wall of Zemaun Shah's prison, was discovered the Koh-i-noor.

"When Shah Shuja was expelled from Cabul, he contrived to make this farfamed diamond the companion of his flight. He found refuge under the protection of Runjeet Singh, who made formal demand for the jewel. The Doorannee prince hesitated, but the 1st of June, 1813, was fixed as the day when the great diamond of the Moguls should be surrendered by the Abdallee chief to the ascendant dynasty of the Singhs.

"When first removed to Delhi it was still uncut, weighing, it is said, in that

which his retinue were to be responsible to him, of all their gain from prisoners, cattle, gold or silver money, and jewels above the value of ten marks.

The 2nd description of documents consists of receipts for prest money, that is for the portion of the first quarter's servicemoney paid in advance.

The 3rd contains the receipts for jewels pledged by the king as a security for the second quarter's payment of service money.

The 4th is a general writ directing the Court of Exchequer to settle the account between the king and those who had entered into indenture with him.

The last writ is printed by Mr. Hunter, together with one specimen of each of the others. The specimen printed of the receipt for jewels is the one given by Richard of York, Earl of Cambridge, who inden ted to serve the king on his expedition with 60 lances and 160 archers, but was detected of treason whilst the king was waiting at Southampton, and was there tried and executed. Amongst the jewels pledged with this nobleman was a magnificent gold spice plate and cover, which is minutely described, with all its pendant and inserted jewels. Its weight in the whole was 20lb. 4oz. of troy, and the estimated value 6667. 13s. 4d. He also received" the palet of Spain, with a crown garnished with gold," which was, we presume, a helmet encircled with a crown. It was ornamented with many jewels and weighed 84lbs.. Its value was estimated at 1667. 13s. 4d.

These various documents were rendered complete by the accounts presented at the Exchequer when the expedition was over, and those relating to each person, together with such other illustrative evidences as were adduced on the settlement of the account, "were deposited in leathern pouches, on which the name of the person accounting was written in legible characters . . . and these pouches seem to have been in ancient times hung up against the wall of some gallery or room in the old Exchequer offices." But these interesting memorials of one of the greatest incidents in our history have shared the discreditable fate to which so many of our records have been subjected. They have been thrust into holes and corners in the caverns of the Exchequer, they have been trodden under foot, and subjected to all kinds of depredation and destructive processes; some which have been suffered to remain in their pouches are however in a singularly beautiful state of preservation, fresh and fair as when they were first prepared by the great masters of caligraphy by whom they were executed. But for the most part they had been removed from

the pouches, and were mixed with other matter, when I," remarks Mr. Hunter, was called upon to make the orderly distribution of this mass of confusion, which is now nearly completed." Mr. Hunter further states, that when he entered on this task, he was in hope to find the original roll of all the persons who were present at Agincourt, prepared by Sir Robert Babthorpe, the comptroller of the king's household, and long preserved in the Exchequer, but this most interesting record has not been discovered, and all hope, Mr. Hunter fears, of ever recovering it must now be abandoned. This is the roll of which the more important parts were published by the late Sir Harris Nicolas in his History of the Battle of Agincourt, from an abridged transcript fortunately preserved in the British Museum.

From the various documents of the several kinds we have enumerated which are still remaining, Mr. Hunter has compiled the list mentioned in his title page. It comprises the persons who indented to serve the king, classified under various heads according to their dignities and degrees, with the numbers of their contingents. Mr. Hunter terms it a "contri. bution towards an authentic list" and it is indeed a valuable and important one, founded upon the best evidence, and throwing light, not merely upon the actual fact of who were the king's heroic followers, but upon the general subject of the way in which the royal armies of those days were got together. The list however, it will be understood, does not prove that the persons enumerated were at Harfleur, or Agincourt, or were even in the expedition at all, but simply that they covenated to go.

When the arrangement of these papers is fully completed we hope, for the sake of our national glory, and as some slight atonement for past neglect, that a full calendar of all the existing documents will be printed. It would be an extremely valuable contribution to history and genealogy.

The Fawkes's of York in the Sixteenth Century; including notices of the early History of Guy Fawkes, the Gunpowder Plot Conspirator, 8vo. "All which seven," remarked Guy Fawkes, after enumerating the principal gunpowder conspirators, were gentlemen of name and blood; and not any was employed in and about this action (no, not so much as in digging and mining) that was not a gentleman." The pamphlet before us goes to prove how far this assertion was true of Fawkes himself. In the examination in which he first gave his real name,