The Duke of Monmouth's Pocket-books (Vol. iv., p. 3.).
—The paragraph quoted by SIR F. MADDEN out of Prayers after the confession of sins, and the sense of pardon obtained, and well called by him "striking," is a verbatim copy of a passage in "A Guide for the Penitent," published at the end of Jeremy Taylor's Golden Grove.
The short preface, by a nameless hand, which precedes this division of the Golden Grove, would lead one to suppose that "A Guide for the Penitent" was a posthumous work of Jeremy Taylor; but this is not exactly stated. The prayers, however, have the same spirit and grandeur of piety which characterise those which are the acknowledged compositions of Bishop Taylor. Monmouth was beheaded eighteen years after Taylor died. It would be interesting to identify the author of "A Guide for the Penitent" (should there be any doubt on the subject): also, to ascertain how far Monmouth quoted, in his "prayers," from Taylor or any other divine.
MARGARET GATTY.
Ecclesfield.
Buxtorf's Translation of Elias Levita's "Tov Taam."
—Your correspondent T. T., in reply to my Query respecting this work, says (Vol. iv., p. 328.) that it "was printed in Venice, 1538, in 4to." This is impossible: for the elder Buxtorf was born in 1564; and it would be singular if he had translated R. Elias' work, and printed it at Venice, twenty-six years before he was born.
T. T. seems not to have observed that my inquiry related to Buxtorf's translation, not to the original work of Elias Levita, which, although now rare, is sufficiently well known to Rabbinical scholars. I must therefore renew my inquiry (Vol. iv., p. 272.): has Buxtorf's translation ever been printed, or does it now exist in MS.?
JAMES H. TODD.
Trin. Coll. Dub.