[1] We have somewhere read of a Bishop Thomas giving his fourth wife a ring, with this posy:—
"If I survive,
I'll make it five."
This may give a clue to our correspondent.
When on the subject of Whiston, I should be glad to know if his edition of our Common Prayer Book published in 1713, and his Primitive New Testament published in 1745, still exist.[2]
[2] The two works mentioned by K. S., though scarce, occasionally occur for sale. The "Common Prayer Book" was republished by the Rev. Peter Hall in his Fragmenta Liturgica, vol. iii.
The former he entitled The Liturgy of the Church of England reduced nearer to the Primitive Standard. The latter contains, besides the Canonical Books of the New Testament, the Apostolic Constitutions, Epistles of Ignatius, the Epistle of Timothy to Diognetus, &c. &c., all of which he considered as of equal authority with the Canonical Books. The Apostolic Constitutions indeed he terms "the most sacred of the Canonical Books of the New Testament."
K. S.