The same may probably be asserted of the mode of divulging the warnings of the minor prophets, from the different occasions which were the subjects of their predictions, and the smallness of their contents. The Heathen writings were generally published the same way, and for that reason were called Centores, and were frequently recited separately. Amongst all fabulous writers the Jewish Rabbins occupy the first place; and the pamphlets, or small treatises, preserving their traditions, collected in their Talmud, and originally published at Venice, amounted to no less than fourteen volumes in folio. Next to them in the rank of fiction, and of magnitude, may be classed the "Legends of the Saints," published by the Jesuits in 1673, and amounting, in the beginning of the last century, to fifty folio volumes, all of which were originally of pamphlet sizes.

Political pamphlets were little known in England till the reign of Philip and Mary, Caxton having, in the reign of Henry VI. introduced the " Mysterie of Prynting." In 1649, it was ordained, "That the author of every seditious pamphlet, or libel, shall be fined Ten Pounds, or suffer forty days' imprisonment. The printer Five Pounds, and his printing-press broken," as being the head and front of his offending. "No printing-presses to be allowed except in London, or the two Universities; no books to be landed in any other port than London; and to be viewed by the Master and Warden of the Company of Stationers!"-and such was the origin of the incalculably prolific case of Pamphlets.

The terms Tract and Pamphlet, though differing considerably as to age, have always possessed nearly the same signification, namely, that of a short composition. The term Tract is even still conventionally understood to imply a work somewhat larger and on a more serious subject than the Pamphlet; since it was frequently connected with divinity or religious controversy, in which the meaning of the original word is decidedly to be traced. The Latin Tractatus, whence it is derived, is a treatise on any subject drawn out and methodised. Hence, says Hoffman, the discussions and discourses delivered by the ancient philosophers, sophists, and rhetoricians, juri-consults, and others of similar classes, were called by the word tractare; and hence also the Christian Fathers are every where designated Tractatores, as being those who explained the word of God by speech or writing. Sermons were thus entitled Tractatus with singular propriety. Hence, too, in modern times, we have Tracts for the Times, or short theological treatises, and the writers of them curiously enough nicknamed Tractarians or Tractatores.

CIRCULATING LIBRARIES.

These valuable repositories of literature are not of modern invention. The first collections consisted of religious works alone, and were lent out gratuitously.

Pamphilus was a Presbyter of Cæsarea, and lived A.D. 294. In this distinguished person were united the philosopher and the Christian. Born of a very eminent family, and large fortune, he might have aspired to the highest honours of this world; but, on the contrary, he withdrew himself from those flattering prospects, and spent his whole life in acts of the most disinterested benevolence.

His unfeigned regard and veneration for the Scriptures were as remarkable as his unwearied application in whatever he undertook. Being a great encourager of learning and piety, he not only lent books to read (especially copies of the Scriptures,) but when he found persons well disposed, made them presents of his manuscripts, some of which were transcribed with the greatest accuracy by his own hand. He founded a library at Cæsarea, which, according to Isidore of Seville, contained 30,000 volumes. This collection seems to have been formed merely for the good and use of the church. Another author also authenticates the existence of this library; and St. Jerome particularly mentions his collecting books for the purpose of lending them to read; and Dr. A. Clarke remarks, "this is, if I mistake not, the first notice we have of a circulating library." The benefits to be derived from a good circulating library are too numerous, as well as obvious, to need any comment.

ORIGIN OF POETRY IN GENERAL.

History informs us Poetry began with shepherds, whose god was Pan; having from their many leisure and abstracted hours (while tending their flocks) a fit opportunity for such a pursuit. Hence, they first composed couplets, next verses, and these they perfected themselves in, and sung, while following their daily occupations. Thence came the Bacchanalian rites, and their sacrifice to their gods of a He Goat, which took their rise, we are told, from Bacchus, who one day, whilst entering his vineyard, discovered an animal of that species in the act of destroying a favourite vine, which in his rage he instantly killed. In these ceremonies, the hinds of that day smeared their faces with the lees of wine, and acted and sung various verses expressly composed for the occasion.

These were the first actors and song-smiths, and their successors have done honour and credit to the invention.

"Eschylus and Thespis taught the age

What good, what profit, did commend the stage."

MILTON'S PARADISE LOST.

John Milton, son of John and Sarah Milton, was born December 9th, 1608, in Bread Street, London. He was educated at Saint Paul's School, under Alexander Gill. He entered at Christ's

College, Cambridge, in 1624. Milton possessed a fine figure, and, when a young man, was extremely handsome. In one of his wanderings when in Italy, being of a very pensive cast, he sat himself down under a tree, and commenced reading, but soon fell asleep. During his slumber two females, who were observed at a distance by two of his companions, stopped on coming near to him; and one of them wrote on a slip of paper the following lines, which she laid on his breast, and with her companion immediately disappeared :

"Occhi, Stelle mortali,
Ministri de miei mali,
Se chiusi m'uccedite,
Apperti che farete?"

which may be translated-" Beautiful eyes, mortal stars, authors of my misfortunes! if you wound me being closed, what would ye do if open?" It is said that Milton was so sensitive on the subject, that he roamed over half of Europe in search of the fair charmer, but in vain; and which induced him to write that sublime poem, and from the circumstance that had occurred to him, entitled it "Paradise Lost." It has been proved by Dr. Rimbault, in a recent number of Notes and Queries, that this piece of Romance first appeared in a newspaper, the General Evening Post, of 1789. The scene, however, is there laid in England. The story is given by the Rev. H. J. Todd, in Some Account of the Life and Writings of John Milton, 1826, p. 30, who adds the following note:-" This narrative is not singular: an exact and older counterpart may be found, as the late J. C. Walker pointed out to me, in the Preface to Poésies de Marguerite Eleanore Clotilde depuis Madame de Surville, Poète François du XV. Siecle: Paris, 1803. The Anecdote has been elegantly versified in the original Sonnets, &c., of Anna Seward." Milton died November the 8th, 1674, and was buried in the Chancel of St. Giles' Church, Cripplegate. He was Latin Secretary to Cromwell.

THE FIRST BOOK.

According to chronologists, the First Book is supposed to have been written in Job's time. Thirty thousand books were burnt by order of Leo, in 761. A very large estate was given for one book on Cosmography, by king Alfred.* Books were sold from £10 to £30 each in 1400. The first printed book was the vulgate edition of the Bible, in 1462; the second was Cicero de Officiis, 1466; Cornelius Nepos, published at Moscow, was the first classical book printed in Russia, April 29, 1762. In the

*This statement, which is founded on Robertson, is not to be depended on. See, on the subject of the price of Books, Dr. Maitland's "Dark Ages," chap. v.

year 1471, when Louis XI. borrowed the works of Rasis, the Arabian physician, from the Faculty of Medicine in Paris, he not only deposited in pledge a quantity of plate, but was obliged to give the surety of a nobleman for their restoration. When any person made a present of a book to a church or monastery, the only libraries during several ages, it was deemed a donative of such value that he offered it at the altar, pro remedio animæ suæ, in order to obtain forgiveness of sins.

NEWSPAPERS.

Before Newspapers were introduced, such as were desirous of procuring information on political subjects, engaged writers of News Letters, who forwarded the occurrences of the day to their employers.

Periodical Newspapers first came into general use in England during the wars of the usurper Cromwell; they were used to disseminate among the people sentiments of loyalty or rebellion, according as their authors were disposed. We seem to have been obliged to the Italians for the idea; and perhaps it was their gazettas, from gazerra, a magpie, or chatterer, which have given a name to these papers. Honest Peter Heylin, in the preface to his Cosmography, mentions, that "the affairs of each town, or war, were better presented to the reader in the Weekly News Books." It was long supposed that the origin of periodical Literature in this country, was to be traced to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when England being threatened with a formidable invasion from Spain, the wise and prudent Burleigh projected "The English Mercurie," printed in the year 1588, with the design of conveying correct information to the people during the continuance of the boasted Spanish Armada in the Channel. It has however been shown by Mr. Watts, of the British Museum, that the copy of the " English Mercurie," dated July 28th, 1588, in that Library, owes its existence to the ingenuity of the noble author of The Athenian Letters. The first weekly paper was published by Nathaniel Butler, in August, 1622, entitled, The certain news of this present week," and within a few years other journals were started, but they did not become numerous until the time of the civil wars.

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In a Leicester journal for 1750, about which time the paper was established, so great was the dearth of News matter at that period, that the editor was compelled to have recourse to the Bible to "help him out ;" and actually extracted the First Chapter of Genesis, and so continued the extracts in the succeeding numbers as far as the Tenth Chapter of Exodus !

The journal above alluded to was then printed in London, and sent down to Leicester for publication!

Newspapers were first stamped in 1713.

THE POPE'S BULL.

This name, which is now applied exclusively to instruments issuing out of the Roman Chancery, is derived from the seals which were appended to them being formerly of gold Bullion. Bulls were not originally confined to the popes alone, but were also issued by emperors, princes, bishops, and great men, who, till the thirteenth century, sometimes affixed seals of metal, as well as of wax, to edicts, charters, and other instruments, though they were equally called Bulls, whether they were sealed with one or the other. The popes continue to the present day to affix metal or lead seals to their bulls, and only when they wish to bestow any peculiar marks of grace and favour on sovereigns or princes, are seals of Bullion or gold affixed. The bull of pope Clement VII., conferring the title of Defender of the Faith on Henry the Eighth, had a seal of gold affixed to it. Bulls containing matter of grace and favour, were suspended by strings of red and yellow silk; but denunciatory and punitive bulls were hung by hempen cords.

BIBLES.

In the reign of Edward the First, the price of a fairly written Bible was twenty-seven pounds. The hire of a labourer was but three-halfpence a day. The purchase of a copy would, of course, have taken such a person the earning of fifteen years and three months of constant labour. It will be seen from a preceding article, that the first printed book was a vulgate edition of the Bible, in 1462. The British and Foreign Bible Society contributed to the Great Exhibition specimens of 165 books, in different languages, from the 170 versions of the Holy Scriptures, either in whole or in part, which have been published directly or indirectly by the Society, and of which 118 are from translations never before printed; and of which more than twenty-four millions of copies have been circulated since its institution in 1804.

THE BIBLE AND ITS HISTORY.

The Bible history commenced 430 years B. C. The Septuagint version was made in 284; first divided into chapters, 1253. The first English edition was in 1536; the first authorized edition in England was in 1539; the second translation was ordered to be read in churches, 1549; the present translation finished, September, 1611; permitted by the pope to be translated into all the languages of the Catholic states, February 28th, 1759; the following is a dissection of the Old and New Testament::