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EXHUMATION OF BISHOP BOSSUET.

JAMES BOSSUET, a distinguished French prelate, was born at Dijon, in 1627, and after taking his degrees in divinity at the college of Navarre, became canon of Metz. His fame as a preacher induced his being invited to Paris, and in 1669, he was made bishop of Condom, and appointed preceptor to the Dauphin, to whom he addressed his Discourse on Universal History, generally considered the best of all his works. As incompatible with his office of tutor, he resigned, soon after his appointment, the bishopric; but Louis the Fourteenth, in 1680, created him almoner to the Dauphiness; and in 1681, bishop of Meaux. Greatly distinguished by his sermons, more particularly those delivered as orations on illustrious personages, he was no less celebrated as a controversialist. In 1686, he published his Histoire des Eglises Protestantes, but in this he was refuted by several able writers. He was admitted a member of the French Academy, and constituted Superior of the College of Navarre. In 1697, he was nominated Counsellor of State, and soon after, first almoner to the Duchess of Burgundy. He died at Paris, in 1704, and was buried at Meaux. His works were printed in twenty quarto volumes, in 1743.

Last month, the leaden coffin, that contained the corpse of Bishop Bossuet was discovered in the cathedral at Meaux, and by order of the present bishop, was opened on Tuesday the 14th. The head was found covered with four folds of linen, and these being cut away with a pair of scissors, the features were then shewn. They were much less changed, than might have been expected, considering that a century and a half has elapsed since the interment. The head was leaning a little to the right, like to that of a person sleeping, and the left side of the face was in an exceeding well preserved condition, at once reminding the lookers-on of Rigaud's portrait of the deceased. The mouth was open, the eyes closed, the nose was somewhat fallen in, the hair white, and the moustaches and the imperial visible. The skull had been sawed across, to allow of the removal of the brain, and the placing in lieu thereof aromatic substances. An artist who was present, took a sketch of the face as it appeared on the opening of the coffin. When it became known that the features of their formerly celebrated bishop could be seen, a great number of persons hastened to the cathedral; several ecclesiastics also arrived from Paris, and among them were noticed the curés of St. Roche, and St. Louis d'Antin. During the night of the 14th, a glass was placed over the face, to preserve it from the contact of the external air, and at ten in the morning of the following day, a funeral service was performed, at which the bishop officiated. Pontifical ornaments covered the coffin, a crozier was placed close beside it, and Bossuet appeared once more as bishop in his own cathedral. All the functionaries of the town were also present on the occasion, in addition to a large number of other persons. After mass had been performed, the crowd walked round

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BACON's Essays, how deeply fraught with poetry! I was struck with his beautiful application of a simile, that one should almost believe Moore had stolen from him. I will transcribe the two passages

If he be compassionate towards the affections of others, it shews that his heart is like the noble tree that is wounded itself when it gives the balme.-Bacon.

But thou can'st heal the bruised heart,
That like the plants which throw
Their odours from the wounded part,
Breathe sweetness out of woe.-Moore.

S. M. S..

EARLY LONDON CRIES.

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ST. PETER'S BELLS, DORCHESTER. IN my article on Bell-ringing Customs at Dorchester, THE following Street Cries, in the reign of King James in Current Notes, vol. iii. p. 88, I alluded in particular, the First, are set to music under the title of Citie to the bells in this church. Subscriptions for the resto- Rounds," in Ravenscroft's Melismata, 1611, 4to. The ration, re-pewing, and the removal of the gallery, are allusion to the popularity of the song, There is a garden now in course of collection, and these objects will doubt- | in her face,' with the burden to each verse: less be effected early next Spring. The west window, now hidden by the organ, will by these alterations be brought into sight; and the belfry, which is on a level therewith taken away; the bell-ropes will then pass through the floor of the small gallery, superseding the present one, and the bells will be rung from the ground floor, under the tower, behind the screen.

As the following lines, painted on the north wall of the present belfry, in yellow letters, on a light blue ground, within a border, are to be scraped off, though I cannot ascertain their date, nor the composer's name, they may possibly be thought worthy of preservation.

There is no music play'd or sung,

Charms like good bells when gaily rung;
Put off your hat, your coat and spurs,
And see you make no brawls or jars ;
And if you chance to break a stay,
Full Two and Sixpence you must pay;
And if you chance to curse, or swear,
Be sure you shall pay Sixpence here;
And if you ring with belt or gurse,
We will have Sixpence, or your purse.
A large pewter cup, capable I imagine of holding a
gallon of liquor, and which I doubt not, has been fre-
quently in use, forms part of the ringer's furniture; it
has the following inscription:

Feb: 7th. 1676.

The guift of Edward Lester,
which is to remaine

for the use of the

Ringers of Dorchester for ever.

Lester, the donor, was himself a ringer, and one of his descendants, a mason, now resides in the town. From its similarity in shape, can this have been formerly used as a chalice for the communion? Dorchester, Dec. 16. JOHN GARLAND.

POETICAL QUERIES ANswered.

THE Austrian Field-Marshal Prince de Ligne, mentions that in a visit to Ferney-"I related to M. de Voltaire, in presence of his niece Madame Denys, an anecdote that I thought had happened to Madame de Grafigny, but it actually happened to herself. M. de Ximênés engaged to name immediately the author of any French verses she might recite. In his solutions he did not miss one, so that Madame Denys, to throw him out, repeated four lines which she had then composed. Well! Marquis, whose are they? Of a lady who hunts after wit. Ah! ah! exclaimed M. de Voltaire, By Jupiter! I think she must have looked very silly. Niece, why do not you laugh?

There Cherries grow, that none may buy, Till Cherry ripe themselves do cry! printed in An Hour's Recreation in Music, by Richard Alison, published in 1606, is itself evident. made it still more popular, and the re-adaptato n of the music by the late Charles Horn, has rendered it generally familiar.

Herrick

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ARCH-TREASURER OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE.

IN Thomas Paine's Decline and Fall of the English System of Finance, printed at Paris, and reprinted in London 1796, is the following passage—

If then, the Bank cannot pay, the Arch-Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire (S. R. I. A.) is a bankrupt When Folly invented titles, it did not attend to their application; for ever since the Government of England has been in the hands of Arch-Treasurers, it has been running into bankruptcy; and as to the Arch-Treasurer apparent, he has been a bankrupt long ago.

The letters S. R. I. A. are on George the Third's spade guineas. Can any of your numerous readers inform me if they really mean what Paine says they do? and if so, can they throw any light on the origin of so strange a title ?

Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

THOMAS GRAY.

On the accession of George the First, the legend on the obverse of the coins of 1714, had following the English title, F. D. for the first time added; and on the reverse, his German titles expressed in abbreviated words and initials thus defined by the introduced letters within brackets

BRVN[SVICENSIS] ET L[VNENBERGENSIS] DVX, SLACRI] ROMANI] I[MPERII] A[RCHI]TH[ESAVRARIVS] ET ELECTOR.]

The fourth shield of the arms of England and Scotland impaled, as on the coins of Queen Anne, was displaced for another, bearing the arms of Hanover, consisting of those of Brunswick, Lunenburgh, and Saxony, with, upon an escutcheon of pretence, the crown of Charlemagne, as an indicative symbol of his office of Arch-Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire. These arms and the legend were continued on the successive coinages of the three Georges, the guinea of 1798, and the shilling of 1798, being the last on which they appeared conjointly; the arms were further continued on the coins of George the Fourth, Paine's "bankrupt Arch-Treasurer apparent;" but Hanover being dissevered from England, they have no longer that position, though even that might be passed without observation, as the Three Lions passant guardant, which represent the Norman dominions over which the kings of England have for centuries ceased to hold any control, are still retained.

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des Hommes et des Femmes, à Troyes, 1723," 4to. Chetham Coll. Library, Manchester. bound with other tracts in a volume, no. 6464, in Over the figure

are the words 'L'Auteur,' and the French lines at the foot are different from those in Latin, on the counterfeit print in the British Bibliographer.

All this I communicated in January, 1833, to Mr. Dyce, who was then preparing his edition of Skelton's Works, printed in 1843, and he, in a note, vol. i. p. xlvii.* alludes to it as if I had stated, that the print was a copy of an early French one, whereas I only informed him of the above fact, which was all I knew, therefore, it is hardly to be supposed that I should assert, a print said to be in an English book, bearing the date of 1523, could be copied from a French one of 1723, just two hundred years after. The French one may have had an earlier origin, but of that I know nothing, and did not intimate any thing of the kind.

Be this as it may, it only exposes the supercheries and tricks in the fabrication of portraits, on the subject of which there is a good article in the Revue des Deux Mondes, Nov. 1849, tom. iv. pp. 617-652, and which induced me to make this communication.

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F. R. A.

Mr. Dyce, at this reference, observes, Concerning the personal appearance of Skelton, we are left in ignorance; for the portraits which are prefixed to the old editions of several of his poems, must certainly not be received as authentic representations of the author. The portrait on the title-page of Dyuers Balletys and Dyties Solacyous, evidently from Pynson's press, is given in the Boke of Knowledge, as a portrait of " Doctor Boorde." At p. xciii. Mr. Dyce, while particularising the Garlande, or Chapelet of Laurell, printed by Faukes, 1523, 4to., adds, "On the title-page is a woodcut representing Skelton seated in his study; and on the reverse of the title-page a woodcut, a whole length figure of a man holding a branch in one hand, and a flower in the other, having at top the words "Skelton Poeta," and at bottom the following verses:

Eterno mansura die dum sidera fulgent
Equora dumq; tument hec laurea nostra virebit.
Hinc nostrum celebre et nomē referetur ad astra
Vndiq; Skeltonis memorabitur alter Adonis.

He there reverts to p. xlvii. where it is said, "the strange fantastic figure on the reverse of the title-page of Faukes's edition of the Garlande of Laurell, poorly imitated in the British Bibliographer, is a copy of an early French print." Mr. Dyce has evidently misunderstood our correspondent, but the block used by Faukes was possibly a reversed copy from one of French design, not yet discovered, which worked differently from the drawing; or Faukes' block passed with other printing materials to France, where most probably it was preserved for two centuries. Wood blocks

of an earlier date are extant.

The highly finished tracing by George Steevens, from the Garlande of Laurelle, from which the engraving in the British Bibliographer was made, is in the Editor's possession, and, it must be admitted, has been in that instance but "poorly imitated."-ED.

VERITAS TEMPORIS FILIA.

MARY the First, before her marriage with Philip the Second, of Spain, adopted as a motto on her groats the above as a legend; on the half groats the same, but there TEMPORIS is abridged to TEMPO. The ancients not only personified Truth, but made her a Deity; they also named her the daughter of Saturn, and the mother of Virtue. She was represented as a young Virgin in white apparel, and with all the characteristics of youthful diffidence and modesty. Apelles in his celebrated picture of Calumny, represented her dressed in a modest manner and standing at a distance. Democritus said she hid herself at the bottom of a well, to intimate the difficulty with which she was found; later, in a quatrain it is intimated

Truth as folks say, lies in a well,

Deep hidden there from vulgar eye;
But they who read, mayhap may spell-

Its germs from A to Z doth lye.

PAROCHIAL DEPOSITS.

IN most parishes at this time, poor persons who have been thriftily disposed, and deposited small weekly sums, in the hope of some addition from the more wealthy, are withdrawing those deposits. The practice has its advantages and its drawbacks; Dean Swift, who had many excellent traits in his character, on acquiring the first five hundred pounds, which he could call his own, instituted a fund for granting small loans to such industrious artizans and tradesmen who could find security for repaying the loan by small weekly instalments: but insisting upon punctuality in those repayments; his object being to awaken the needy to the advantages of habits of regular economy. Many families of considerable respectability in Dublin, it is honourably reported, owed the rise of their prosperity to assistance derived from this small fund; nor can it be doubted, that the practice of regularly saving a portion of weekly income, to repay the assistance thus afforded, had more influence on their future fortune, than might

From what author was derived the above motto, to which have been derived from double the sum conferred as a gift. Mary at no period of her life was entitled?

M. R. C.

HISTORICAL RECORDS OF NAPOLEON THE FIRST.

A SHORT time has elapsed since the French govern-ber, ment expressed a desire to gather the scattered papers which contained recorded facts and memorabilia of the reign of the Emperor Napoleon the First. That appeal, as might be supposed, has been most cheerfully accepted, and large contributions have already been placed in the hands of the officers charged with authority to receive them. The Moniteur of the 13th inst. has the following notice in reference to the subject:

The appeal made by the commission charged with the publication of the CORRESPONDENCE OF THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON I. has been responded to. The archives, libraries, and other public establishments, as well in France as in foreign countries, have already furnished valuable documents.

A great number of families and individuals, amateurs and collectors of autographs, who possess portions of this correspondence, have also evinced a desire to communicate them to the commission. There is no doubt that their example will shortly be followed by every person who has it in his power to contribute towards the completion of this great publication.

The CORRESPONDENCE OF NAPOLEON I. comprises, not only his autograph or dictated letters, but also his proclamations, instructions, bulletins, reports, various orders, and even the important notes with which he often accompanied the projects which were submitted to him.

The commission immediately acknowledges the receipt of documents which are intrusted to it, and sends them back as soon as copies have been made from them.

Persons who cannot, or who do not wish to transmit to the commission the original documents, may content themselves by sending authenticated copies of them, enclosed to its president, his Excellency Marshal VAILLANT, Minister

of War.

In the management of the Dean's loan fund, ludicrous anecdotes are related, as arising from the singularity of Swift's feelings, and the low humour of the inferior Irish. One old woman positively refused payment, because as she said, the money had not luck with since she had dealt with the church; and she berelinquished his claim, fearing, as he said, she would came so vociferous in her complaints, that the Dean institute an action against him for damages, for having lent her the money that had brought her so many mishaps. A cobbler, who had in his first payment been Punctual, had by the Dean's order, a tankard of ale presented to him: on his second payment, he asked as a right, the same refreshment, upon which the Dean in a rage, ordered him to begone, and let him see him no more, an injunction with which the cobbler complied, glad no doubt to pay his debts so easily. On another occasion, a person it is said, desired to borrow a small sum, and on being asked by Swift whom he proposed as his security, replied he had none to offer, excepting his faith in the Redeemer. The Dean accepted the security, and with all formality, made the entry accordingly. Swift subsequently declared, that none of his debtors were more punctual than this man.

Erratum, p. 95, for Twelve Commandments, read Ten. The specimens of minute writing embodying the Commandments, the Creed, and Lord's Prayer, are sometimes jocosely called "the Twelve Commandments," and as this phrase was in the communication, it passed.

The Fourth volume of Current Notes, with Index, in extra cloth boards, uniform with the prior volumes; may now be had, price THREE SHILLINGS.

The next number being the commencement of a new year, Subscribers are respectfully reminded that their subscription for the forthcoming twelve months which are now due, can be forwarded in Postage Stamps.

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