"5. ... placed her (the infant) upon the third step of the altar."
From this comparison it would appear, that the "stairs about the temple" were synonymous with the "steps of the altar."
I would therefore suggest, for the consideration of those better acquainted with the subject, that these Psalms were adapted to be sung (not on the steps, as some think, but) as a kind of introit while the priests ascended the steps of the altar.
To show their adaptation for this purpose, it may be worth remarking, that they are all, except cxxxii., introits in the first Prayer Book of Edward VI.
J. R. G.
Dublin.
AMERICAN POEMS IMPUTED TO ENGLISH AUTHORS.
(Vol. viii., pp. 71. 183.)
The southern part of the U. S. seems to make as free with the reputations of English authors, as the northern with their copyright. The name of the South Carolina newspaper, which, with so much confirmatory evidence, ascribed The Calm to Shelley, is not given. If it was the Southern Literary Messenger, the editor has been at it again. The following began to appear in the English papers about Christmas last, and is still "going the round:"