standing and misinterpretation of God's word; so it has been remarked by Shakspeare's greatest critic, that his plays, instead of being broken up in the representation, as they now are, ought to be exhibited with short pauses interposed as often as the scene is changed, or any considerable time is allowed to pass;' and he adds, this method would at once quell a thousand absurdities.' Whether this observation is a just one, I cannot tell: only, as editions of the Bible have been called for, and published, which represent the Sacred Text printed continuously in its original form, so it would, perhaps, be desirable that the lovers of Shakspeare might have the option, if not of seeing upon the stage his plays acted in the way which Dr. Johnson has pointed out, yet of reading them in a popular edition* arranged upon that plan. But be this also as it may; yet one opinion, at all events, I am prepared to maintain. In whatever shape the genuine plays of Shakspeare may be presented to us, there is nothing-nothing of a literary kindfor which we have greater reason to thank the GIVER OF ALL GOOD, than for a large proportion of those works-excepting only the Book of Common Prayer, and THAT, which has imparted alike to it

The fac simile reprint of the first folio, now in course of publication, besides its value in other respects, forms an interesting contribution towards such a result.

In confirmation of this high estimate of the Prayer Book, I may

and to them no small share of the surpassing excellence, which, though in very different ways, they both possess HIS OWN INCOMPARABLE, MOST HOLY, EVERLASTING WORD.

be allowed to quote two authorities-one clerical and the other laynot inferior, perhaps, upon a literary question, to any who have written in the English tongue :

'As to the greatest part of our liturgy, there seems to be in it as great strains of true sublime eloquence, as are anywhere to be found in our language.'-DEAN SWIFT, Works, vol. ix. p. 152.

'That great model of chaste, lofty, and pathetic eloquence, the Book of Common Prayer.-LORD MACAULAY, History, vol. iii. P. 355.

To these testimonies it may not be out of place to add here, what I have somewhere read, that the greatest tragedian of the age, when asked what was the noblest composition in the English language, 1eplied, The Burial Service of the Church of England.'