deemed the best translation. When the several divisions had finished, they all met together, and one and another by turns read the new version, while all the rest held in their hands either copies of the original or some valuable version. If any one objected to the translation of any passage, the reader stopped to allow time for discussion, comparison, and final decision. The labor appears to have commenced in the spring of 1604, and the result was published in 1611, under the following title, "The Holy Bible, conteyning the Old Testament and the New, newly translated out of the Originall Tongues, and with the former Translations diligently compared and revised by his Majesties speciall Commandement." As a translation, this is generally most faithful, and an excellent specimen of the language of the time. Dr. Adam Clarke remarks, "The translators have seized the very spirit and soul of the original, and expressed this, almost everywhere, with pathos and energy they have not only made a standard translation, but have made this translation the standard of our language." This is eminently true, for in all human probability this translation will never be changed. Still, strict truth and justice require us to say that there are some defects and erors, in our present version, which a more advanced state of biblical science enables us to detect. The translators had not access to the various sources of biblical criticism and elucidation which we enjoy at the presen day; such as the collation of ancient manuscripts and versions; the multiplication of grammars and lexicons; the enlarged comparison of kindred dialects; and the researches of travellers into the geography, manners, customs, and natural history of the East. But after all, instead of dwelling upon errors and discrepancies, which are really unimportant, we must ever wonder that there are so few, and admire the fidelity, the learning, and the wisdom of the great and good men that executed the work.2 I have felt it a duty, in entering upon the reign of James I., when the present version of our Bible was made, to give this short historical view of the sacred volume, because, to say nothing of its divine origin, nothing of its inspired contents, nothing of its being the foundation of all morality, the groundwork of our religion, and our unerring rule of faith and practice, it has done so much for English mind, English literature, and English character. To say nothing of its heavenly influences, wherever faithfully and honestly followed, in elevating and blessing man, and in removing every wicked practice 1 For some very able remarks on our present version, see Professor Bush's Introduction to his "Notes on Genesis." 2 One of the greatest defects in our translation is a want of uniformity in rendering, both in regard to single words and to phrases. To give a few instances of what I mean. The Greek adverb ausus (euthus), which means "directly," "immediately," is translated in Matt. iii. 16, by "straightway;" xiii. 20, by "anon;" xiii. 21, by "by and by;" Mark 1. 12, by "immediately;" John xix. 34, by "forthwith." In all these places, "immediately" would have better expressed the original: "by and by" is peculiarly infelicitous. So the verb spars (merimnale) in Matt. vi. 25, is rendered "take no thought;" in Phil. iv. 6, "be careful." The latter comes nearer the true meaning, which is, "be not distracted about,” “be not over anxious about." In justice, however, to the translators, I should say that in King James's day, the phrase "take no thought" had a much stronger meaning than it now has, being nearly equivalent to "let not your thoughts be unduly exercised." In many other cases also, the present translation fails to express the sense, owing to changes which our lanuage has undergone. One more instance will suffice. David says, (Psalm cxix. 147,) “I prevented the dawing of the morning," where "prevent" is used in its original Latin sense of "going beɔre," "anticipating," and in King James's day it was so understood. Now, we know, it is used in the sense of to "hinder." This, though a most interesting subject of inquiry, cannot appropriately be pursued any further here. and institution that tend to crush, debase, and brutalize him, it has done more to refine the taste, to kindle the imagination, to enlarge the understanding, to give strength to the reasoning powers, and to supply the mind with images of beauty, tenderness, and sublimity, than all other books which have been borne down to us on the stream of time: while our present permanent version has secured for our language what Tithonus begged of Aurora→→→ immortality; and secured, besides, what he forgot to ask-perpetual youth. Bit above all and beyond all this, it is THE GREAT LEVER FOR ELEVATING THE MORAL WORLD.! THOMAS SACKVILLE. 1536-1608. THOMAS SACKVILLE, Lord Buckhurst, and ultimately Earl of Dorset and lord high treasurer of England, deserves consideration, if for no other reason, as the author of the first regular English tragedy, entitled "Ferrex and Por rex." It is also called "The Tragedie of Gorboduc," and was acted before Queen Elizabeth in 1561. The story is this. Gorboduc, an ancient king of Britain, divided, in his lifetime, his kingdom between his sons Ferrex and Porrex. They quarrel for sovereignty, and Porrex kills his brother. Their mother Viden, who loved Ferrex best, revenged his death by entering Porrex's chamber in the night and murdering him in his sleep. The people, exasperated at this, rose in rebellion, and killed both Viden and Gorbeduc. The nobility then assembled, collected an army, and destroyed the insurgents. Every act of this play is closed by something like the chorus of the Greek tragedy, namely, an ode in long-lined stanzas, drawing back the attention of the audience to the substance of what has just passed, and illustrating it by moral reflections. The following ode closes the third act, the moral beauties as well as the spirit of which must strike every reader. Sir Philip Sidney, in his "Defence of Poesy," says that this whole tragedy is "full of notable morality." 1 I cannot but give room to the following just and beautiful remarks of Mrs. Ellis, in her work entitled the "Poetry of Life:" "With our established ideas of beauty, grace, pathos, and sublimity, either concentrated in the minutest point, or extended to the widest range, we can derive from the Scriptures a fund of gratification not to be found in any other memortal of the past or present time. From the worm that grovels in the dust beneath our feet, to the track of the leviathan in the foaming deep-from the noth that corrupts the secret treasure, to the eagle that soars above his eyrie in the clouds-from the wild ass in the desert, to the lamb within the shepherd's fold-from the consuming locust, to the cattle on a thousand hills-from the rose of Sharon, to the cedar of Lebanon-from the clear crystal stream, gushing forth out of the flinty rock, to the wide waters of the deluge-from the barren waste, to the fruitful vineyard, and the land flowing with milk and honey-from the lonely path of the wanderer, to the gatherer of a mighty multitude-from the tear that falls in secret, to the din of battle and the shout of a triumphant host-from the solitary in the wilderness, to the satrap on the throne-from the mourner clad in his sackcloth, to the prince in purple robes-from the gnawings of the worm that dieth not, to the seraphic vision of the blessed-from the still small voice, to the thunders of Omnipotence-from the depths of hell, to the regions of eternal glory, there is no degree of beauty er deformity, no tendency to good or evil, no shade of darkness or gleam of light, which does not come within the cognizance of the Holy Scriptures; and, therefore, there is no expression or conception of the mind that may not here find a corresponding picture; no thirst for excellence that here may not meet with its full supply; and no condition of humanity excluded from the unlimited scope of adaptation and sympathy comprehended in the language and spirit of the Bibie" The lust of kingdom knows no sacred faith, No kindly love, no fear of Heaven's wrath: The son so loathes the father's lingering days, Thus fatal plagues pursue the guilty race, The wicked child thus brings to woful sire Destroy the parted reign with hateful strife: And hence doth spring the well, from which doth flow But the poem by which Sackville is best known, is entitled "The Mirror for Magistrates." In it, most of the illustrious but unfortunate characters of English history, from the Conquest to the end of the fourteenth century, are made to pass in review before the poet, who, conducted by Sorrow, descends, like Dante, into the infernal regions. Each character recites his own misfortunes in a separate soliloquy. But Sackville finished only the preface called the "Induction," and one legend, the Life of the Duke of Buckingham. He left the completion of the whole to Richard Baldwyne and George Ferrers. These called in others to aid them, and the whole collection or set of poems was published in 1559, with this title, “A Mirror for Magistrates, wherein may be seen, by example of others, with how grievous plagues vices are punished, and how frail and how unstable worldly prosperity is found, even of those whom fortune seemeth most highly to favor." The whole poem is one of a very remarkable kind for the age, and the part executed by Sackville exhibits a strength of description and a power of drawing allegorical characters scarcely inferior to Spenser, and had he completed the whole, and with the same power as that exhibited in the comi mencement, he would have ranked among the first poets of England. ALLEGORICAL CHARACTERS IN HELL. And first, within the porch and jaws of hell, Her eyes unsteadfast, rolling here and there, Whirl'd on each place, as place that vengeance brought, So was her mind continually in fear, Tost and tormented with the tedious thought Next, saw we DREAD, all trembling how he shook, And, next, within the entry of this lake, When fell REVENGE, with bloody foul pretence, Of MISERY, that next appear'd in sight: His face was lean, and some-deal pined away, His food, for most, was wild fruits of the tree, Whose wretched state when we had well beheld, In thoughtful cares forth then our pace we held; The morrow gray no sooner hath begun But let the night's black misty mantles rise, By him lay heavy SLEEP, the cousin of Death, And next in order sad, OLD-AGE we found: There heard we him with broke and hollow plaint Crook-back'd he was, tooth-shaken, and blear-eyed; And fast by him pale MALADY was placed: Ne could she brook no meat but broths alone; But, oh, the doleful sight that then we see! A grisly shape of FAMINE mought we see: With greedy looks, and gaping mouth, that cried And roar'd for meat, as she should there have died; Her body thin and bare as any bone, Whereto was left nought but the case alone. And that, alas, was gnawen every where, |