Here is a Carpenter’s bill of the Fifteenth Century, copied from the records of an old London Church:—
| s. | d. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Item. | To screwynge a home on e y Divil, and glueinge a bitt on hys tayle | vij | |
| Item. | To repayring e y Vyrginne Marye before and behynde, & makynge a new Chylde | ij | viij |
LAW LOGIC.
Judge Blackstone says, in his Commentaries (Vol. i. ch. xviii.), that every Bishop, Parson or Vicar is a Corporation. Lord Coke asserts, in his Reports (10. Rep. 32,) that “a Corporation has no soul.” Upon these premises, the logical inference would be that neither Bishops, Parsons nor Vicars have souls.
RECIPROCAL CONVERSION.
A curious case of mixed process of conversion was that of the two brothers, Dr. John Reynold’s, King’s Professor at Oxford, in 1630, a zealous Roman Catholic, and Dr. Wm. Reynolds, an eminent Protestant. They were both learned men, and as brothers held such affectionate relations, that the deadly heresies of which each regarded the other as the victim were matters of earnest and pleading remonstrance between them by discussion and correspondence. The pains and zeal of each were equally rewarded. The Roman Catholic brother became an ardent Protestant, and the Protestant brother became a Roman Catholic.
PITHY PRAYER.
We are indebted to Hume for the preservation of a short prayer, which he says was that of Lord Astley, before he charged at Edge-hill. It ran thus: “O Lord, thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I forget thee, do not thou forget me.” And Hume adds, “There were certainly much longer prayers in the Parliamentary army, but I doubt if there was as good a one.”
MELROSE BY SUNLIGHT.
The beautiful description of the appearance of the ruins of Melrose Abbey by moonlight, in the Lay of the Last Minstrel, has led thousands to visit the scene “when silver edges the imagery,” yet it is worth noting that the author never saw the ruined pile by “the pale moonlight.” Bernard Barton once wrote to Scott to request him to favor a young lady with a copy of the lines in his own handwriting. Sir Walter complied, but substituted for the concluding lines of the original the following:—