flourished in England, and who so thoroughly understood those works of learning which were within their reach, never translated any part of them into their native tongue. But I soon answered myself and said, that these, our ancestors, never thought that any of their descendants would be so reckless, or that learning would ever have so much fallen, and so intentionally omitted the translation of any of those writings, in order that more languages might be known by our countrymen. Then it came into my mind that the law of God was first revealed in the Hebrew tongue, and that after the Greeks had learned it, they turned it, together with many other books, into their own language; and the Latin-men likewise, when they had learned it, they, by wise interpreters, turned it into their own tongue; and in like manner, almost every Christian people have caused some part of it to be translated into their own language.

"Wherefore I think it better, (if such be your opinion,) that we also should translate some books, such as we shall deem most necessary, and which may be understood by all, into the tongue which is intelligible to every one. And we will take care, moreover, (which we shall very easily accomplish, by Divine assistance, if we still enjoy peace,) that all the youth of the English nation, especially the sons of wealthy freemen, who are well able to give their children a fitting education, shall be brought up to learning, and shall enter upon no other employment until they can read accurately English writings. Moreover, let teachers instruct in the Latin language those who would wish to advance in learning, and to attain a higher position.

"When I considered how the knowledge of the Latin tongue had fallen in England, (albeit very many could read English writings,) then I began, amid other and manifold business of the kingdom, to turn into the English language this book, which, in Latin, is called 'Pastoralis,' in English, Hirde boc,' (or, 'The Herdsman's Book,') sometimes translating it word for word, sometimes putting sense for sense, so as I had learned from Plegmund, my archbishop, and Asser, my bishop; and from Grimbald and John, my mass priests. After I had obtained from them a thorough understanding of the book, I turned it into English in such a way as I could most easily express its meaning. I have

sent one copy of the book to every bishop's seat in my kingdom; and on every one there shall be an astel, which is of fifty mancuses. And I command, in the name of God, that no one remove this astel from the book, nor the book from the church, as it is uncertain how long there may be such learned bishops as we have now, thank God, everywhere. Wherefore it is my will that the books remain always in their places, unless the bishop should wish to have them, either for the purpose of lending them to any one, or of writing other copies from them."*"Life of Alfred the Great," published by the Religious Tract Society.

OLD HUMPHREY AT THE CHEDDAR
CLIFFS.

Ir was on an autumnal morning that I left the ivied old manor-house of a sweetly secluded village, to pay a visit to the far-famed Cheddar Cliffs, which I hardly need say are situated in the neighbourhood of Bath and Wells. As I mounted the gig that was to bear me to my anticipated destination, my kindhearted friends were clustered at the manor-house gate, opposite the church tower; Esther, Harriet, and the servingboy were peeping from another part of the premises; the sky was blue, and lit up with sunny beams, issuing from behind a white cloud with golden edges; the sleek skin of the bonny bay mare, harnessed to the gig, looked as if neither corn, currycomb, nor brush had been spared, and the fresh pink that bloomed at my bosom had just before been plucked by the kind hand of my young friend Emily. Smack went the whip, round went the wheels, and away went the bonny bay mare.

Never did Robert Stock, the servingman, to whom was entrusted the important commission of driving me to Cheddar, appear to better advantage. There, with his dark hair and ruddy cheek, he sat beside me, in his Sunday gray coat, showy waistcoat of white flowers on a blue ground, with sober drab below, and gaiters of the same colour; a tall and handsome specimen of English peasantry. Robert Stock having put aside the scythe and the sickle, and

*The original, together with a Latin translation of Alfred's Preface to Gregory's Pastoral, is printed by Wise, at the end of his edition of Asser's Life of Alfred.

abandoned for the day his ordinary pursuits, looked all hope, holiday, and goodhumour.

As we whirled on, I took a retrospective glance at the inmates of the habitation I had so recently left. An aged pilgrim, journeying to a better country, was among them; over her silvery head had passed nearly ninety summers and winters. Around her gather, at the hour of prayer, the members of the family, when the head of the household presides, in his customary place, as the family pastor. The word of God, and prayer, and praise succeed each other, and the Redeemer's name is magnified:

The Son of God, the Lord of life!
How wondrous are his ways;
Oh for a harp of thousand strings,
To sound abroad his praise!

And one was there, the mistress of the household, unusually endowed with accomplishments and mental gifts, ever ready to use them in setting forth the Redeemer's glory. And another, whose heart glowed with holy ardour for the welfare of Israel, the despised people of God. Her purse, her time, her hand, her head, and her heart, are all put in requisition for their welfare. The longbearded Israelite, the travelling pedlar of the tribe of Jacob, the wandering Jew, finds a welcome at the old manor. No deriding voice, no insulting remark meets his ear. The assisting hand is stretched out to him in his wants, and the holy oracles that his fathers loved, foretelling the coming of the Messiah, are read to him. Nor was Emily forgotten, nor the sweet tones of her guitar, accompanied with the words,

"There 's nae room for twa, ye ken;
There's no room for twa;

The heart that 's given to God and heaven
Has nae room for twa."

After a rapid drive of about two hours, we approached the spot where Mendip Hills have been cloven by a heavenly hand. As we advanced, the ground by degrees became undulated and broken. Then an isolated rock, rich with varied verdure, arrested the eye; the cliffs became higher, the defiles deeper, the scene more striking and impressive, until at last, rapidly increasing in interest, the Cheddar Cliffs burst upon us in all their grandeur and sublimity. The almighty power of Him who sitteth on the throne of heaven had evidently been exercised,

convulsing the earth, upturning the rocks, and rending the everlasting hills. The stony eminences appeared to have been torn asunder, as if launched in wrath by the hand of the Eternal; the lightning brand and resistless thunderbolt had smitten and scattered them. While I gazed with awe and wonder on the astounding spectacle, in imagination the heights and the depths became eloquent.

A voice from the cliffs, the rocks, the inland heights overhanging the narrow defiles, lifting up their heads to gaze upon the distant deep, to the world of waters. Mighty ocean, we see thy heaving billows, we listen to catch thy

murmurs!

"And all the language of thy sounding waves."

"We, also, are the workmanship of the Most High, the handiwork of the Eternal!

'The rugged cliff, the mountain high and bare, And ocean's angry flood his praise declare.'

A voice from the chasms of the riven earth, the deep, dark caverns rich in stalactite and spar, to the sun, and the heralds of the King of kings, sent out moon, and the stars. "Ye spangled with messages of love to man. He who made you in the heights, formed us in the depths. He who arrayed you with light, clothed us with shadows. also, wear the impress of Almighty power; we have been moulded by the fingers of him; and without him was not anything the Holy One: All things were made by

made that was made.'

We,

His are the caves, in gloomy depths that lie, And all the golden stars that stud the sky. It would be hard to say what mighty convulsion formed the Cheddar Cliffs, upturning the solid earth, and laying bare to the eye the stony masses that before were buried in obscurity and darkvolcanic explosion, or the breaking up of ness. It might be an earthquake, or a the fountains of the great deep at the time of the deluge; but whatever it was, He alone,

"Who rides the whirlwind and directs the storm,"

could have accomplished so mighty an achievement.

Cheddar Cliffs present to the eye the most picturesque and impressive scenery, rising up in various altitudes, from 100 to near 500 feet. They appear

my mind was excited almost to enthusiasm. I longed to hear the sound of human voices "hymning our great Creator;" I gazed on the gloomy recesses around me:

Though silent, lone, and dark, and drear,
The Lord of heaven and earth was there!

It would be hopeless to attempt to describe the endless variety of hues,

forms, beauties, and monstrosities that are mingled together in the stalactite cavern. Every winding avenue, every abrupt turning, and every projection and recess teems with interest and peculiarity. Among the varied sculpture of the roof, and the supporting pillars and walls, resemblances the most striking, of different objects, meet the eye. The furniture of a Hindoo temple attracts your attention in one place; columns, capitals, and exquisite architectural tracery in another. Here there is a projection like an Egyptian mummy; there a dark hollow, that has been likened to the Black Prince; while scattered around are unnumbered fonts, vases, tubes, and stalactites, of different colours; with niches, grotesque figures, and resemblances of fowl and foliage; tablets and turkeys, goose, tongue, bread, and bacon.

But full of interest as were the different parts of the cavern, there was one scene extravagantly beautiful; and that was where the miniature crystal pools, lit up by the blazing tapers, mirrorred back the elaborately-ornamented roof in their transparent depths. Oh! what a fairy creation of all forms, hues, lights, and shades was there exhibited ! What writhing serpents, twining roots, and interlacing branches! What an exhaustless exhibition and infinite variety of

Fantastic forms, and beauty in repose!

Many of the stalactites are musical when struck with a key, or piece of iron; emitting metallic sounds, and somewhat resembling those of musical glasses.

After leaving the cavern, I ascended the heights opposite the sheet of transparent water, and the cascades. There was a flag-staff and flag on the summit, for a pleasure-party had arrived at Cheddar Cliffs, with a band of music. The prospect was fine, and I looked with a strange interest at Glastonbury Tor, and the ruins of old Glastonbury Abbey; where, as old chronicles declare, pilgrims assembled to see the holy thorn, said to

have been planted by Joseph of Arimathea.

As I gazed on the scene before me, it was beautiful, pleasant, yea, heartcheering to behold happy faces defiling along the passes; spreading among the cliffs, mounting the heights, sketching the most interesting objects, or sailing on the miniature lake; while the waterfall sailed along the sky, and the band struck glittered in the sun, the white clouds up a spirit-stirring strain. Around were sylvan scenes,

Secluded valleys fair, and mountains bold; And skies of blue, and dun, and glittering gold.

What a luxury there is in a liberty. loving mood to roam abroad amid secluded scenery; to climb the heights, to delve the depths; to ramble unrestrainedly amid objects of interest; to gaze on earth and heaven, and to breathe freely the balmy breezes as they blow! I felt grateful for the happiness I enjoyed, and prepared rather unwillingly to take my departure. Hardly, on my descent from the cliffs, could the bonny bay mare, who had been well corned, be held in by the ostler, till I mounted the gig; and no sooner was she "let go," than off she set at a rate that added to her already well-earned reputation; honest Robert Stock sitting erect, and looking better than ever. adieu to the impressive scenes which had afforded me so much gratification; and thus ended a happy day, spent at the cliffs of Cheddar.

THE INQUISITION.

Thus I bid

ON the suppression of the Tribunal of the Holy Office at Rome, by the Constituent Assembly, in February, 1849, the authorities took possession of the buildings, and made a careful inventory of their contents.

The first place visited was the groundfloor of the edifice, where were the prisons, and the stables, coach-houses, kitchen, cellars, and other conveniences for the use of the assessor and the father inquisitors.

Some new doors were opened in the walls, and part of a pavement raised; in this operation human bones were found, and a trap-door discovered. Digging very deep in one place a great number of human skeletons were found, some of them placed so close together, and so

In an

amalgamated with lime, that no bone could be moved without being broken. In the roof of another subterranean chamber a large ring was found fixed. It is supposed to have been used in administering the torture. Along the whole length of this same room stone steps were attached to the wall,-these probably served for the prisoners to sit or recline on. under-ground room was found a quantity of very rich black earth, intermingled with human hair, of such a length, that it seemed women's rather than men's hair; here also human bones were found. In this dungeon a trap-door was formed in the thickness of the wall, which opened into a passage in the flat above. Among the inscriptions on the wall were many of very recent date, expressing in most affecting terms the sufferings endured in these chambers. The person of most note found in the prisons of the Inquisition, was a bishop named Kasner, who had been in confinement for above twenty years.

The inventory of the contents of the ground flat being finished in a few days, it was then thrown open to the impatient curiosity of the public. The crowd that resorted to the scene was very great, and the public indignation rose so high that there was a loud and general cry for the destruction of an edifice of such detestable memory.

Passing to the upper flat, the attention of the government was especially directed to the chancery and the archives; the first containing all the current affairs of the Inquisition; the second, jealously guarding its acts from its institution until now. It was shown from documents, that the cardinal's secretaries of state procured information as to suspected individuals, both at home and abroad, and obtained knowledge of state secrets by means of confession. In fact, there exist long correspondences, and voluminous processes, and severe sentences, pronounced upon La Giovane Italia, La Jeune Suisse, the masonic societies of England and Scotland, and the anti-religious sects of America, etc.

Passing the archives, it appeared on first entering as if everything was in its usual place; but, on further inspection it was found, with astonishment, that though the labels and cases were all in their places, they were emptied of the packets and papers and documents indicated by the inscriptions without. They were probably burned by the Dominican fathers.

The hypothesis receives weight, from the circumstance that, in November 1848, shortly after the departure of the Pope from Rome, the civic guard came in much haste to the holy office, from having observed great clouds of smoke issuing from one of its chimneys, accompanied by a strong smell of burnt paper. The fact is certain, that, in the archives of the Inquisition, the most important trials were not to be found; such, for instance, as those of Galileo Galilei, and of Giordano Bruno; nor was there the correspondence regarding the Reformation in England, in the 16th century, nor many other precious records. There remains, however, nearly complete, a collection of decrees, beginning with the year 1549, down to our own days. They are divided year by year, each volume containing the decrees of one year. Of these, of all that was contained in the chancery and archives of the holy office, a catalogue was taken, with every legal formality of certification. We may thus sum up the results of the inquiry:

The court of Rome availed itself of the tribunal of the holy office for temporal and political ends.

To succeed in its purposes, the holy office had especially recourse to confession, of which it made the most enormous and abominable abuse, not only violating its secresy, but tampering with its integrity.

By means of confession, the most odious licentiousness was insinuated in the confessionals.

The holy office corrupted all classes, buying information and secrets.

Lastly; the ecclesiastical nuncios at foreign courts were in constant correspondence with the holy office, and, from possessing means of procuring intelligence quite peculiar to themselves, kept the court of Rome informed of the most hidden political secrets.-Daily News.