her religious state, and expressing fervently her deep sense of God's goodness to her, she talked with lively interest on the affairs of her family and friends, and of her religious communion; and, though so greatly weakened by continued suffering, there was much of her wonted cheerfulness. In prayer the feeling was happy, but solemn, from the impression, graven on the minds of both, that the meeting was the last on earth. The interview is well remembered, and will never be forgotten. It was evident that God's promise to His saints was here faithfully kept :-" When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee." It was equally evident that the saint's most assured confidence in God was fully justified: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."

Eight weeks more passed, and then this suffering, loving, patient child of God received her heavenly Father's call to leave the scene of her sorrows, and enter into His joy. "When her strength was exhausted, and she was apparently unconscious," says her daughter, "she was enabled to give her dying testimony to the preciousness of Jesus." Two lines of a hymn were repeated for her comfort,

"O, what are all my sufferings here,

If, Lord, Thou count me meet,"

when, faintly, but audibly, she continued,—

"With that enraptured host to' appear,

And worship at Thy feet!"

And all was silent-the voice was heard no more: for the spirit that answered had fled, and winged its joyous way to join "the spirits of the just made perfect." She experienced the glorious change, March 31st, 1862.

PROFESSOR TISCHENDORF, AND THE CODEX SINAITICUS.

PROFESSOR TISCHENDORF having invited me to visit him at the British Museum, that I might have the gratification of seeing a part of the Codex discovered by him, and now published in fac-simile by the munificence of the Emperor of Russia, I took the opportunity, on Saturday, February 25th, accompanied by my friends, Dr. Osborn, Mr. Boyce, and Dr. Kessen. We found the Professor in the MS. department. I had not before seen him, and was surprised to find a literary celebrity of a quarter of a century still apparently in the prime of life, with the bloom of health upon his cheeks, and not a grey hair on his head. When we entered, he was examining an ancient manuscript in Syriac; but under the black Syriac letters a more ancient

Syriac writing was traceable, although the ink had been washed off; and under that was a still more ancient Greek writing, the ink of which had also been washed off, but which Tischendorf's keen eyes enabled him to decipher. It was a portion of the holy Scriptures, the writing and the vellum being of great antiquity, which he was examining with a view to a work he has now in hand for the further elucidation of the originals of the Old and New Testament.

He received us with the utmost cordiality, notwithstanding the interruption; and, after the usual salutations, with the greatest readiness exhibited to us his grand discovery,-the Codex Sinaiticus, or, rather, a portion of it, together with the copy taken by photography, and the exact fac-simile printed under his direction. The beauty of the vellum, after the wear of fourteen or fifteen centuries, the excellence and uniformity of the writing, and, I may say, the grandeur of the page, excited our admiration. Each page is square, and is larger than our quarto; the writing is in four columns on each page, all in uncial or square Greek characters, without any larger letters. Here and there are occasional corrections, and notes of great antiquity, some of them from the hand of the original copyist. From one of them we learned that the MS. had been examined and collated with the Hexapla of Origen, by Antoninus the Confessor, the friend of Pamphilus* the Martyr, who suffered at Cæsarea, A.D. 309; corroborating the impression produced by the appearance of the MS. itself, that it is one of the most ancient MSS. known to exist. One marked peculiarity was pointed out to us:-The vellum is written on both sides. The hairy part, or outside, of the skin has received and retained the ink perfectly; and the arrangement is such, that, on opening the volume, the two opposite pages are uniform in this respect, that both are alike in the darkness of the lines. The fleshy side of the vellum, not being so entirely free from grease, has

"Pamphilus the Martyr was a native of Berytus, (Beyrout,) but a presbyter of Cæsarea in Palestine, where he established a school, and collected a theological library, which has been of immense service to the Christian world. This library afforded to Eusebius, Jerome, and many others, the means of becoming learned divines, and of benefiting the world by their writings. To this establishment ecclesiastical history and biblical learning are peculiarly indebted. Pamphilus was a pupil of Pierius, an admirer of Origen, and the great friend and patron of Eusebius. He transcribed most of the works of Origen, with his own hand; and he composed a biography and vindication of Origen, in five books, to which Eusebius added a sixth book. Only the first book is now extant; and that in a Latin translation of Rufinus, printed inter Opp. Origenis. Pamphilus took great pains to multiply and spread abroad correct copies of the holy Scriptures. His life was written by Eusebius, in three books, which are lost. He suffered martyrdom, A. D. 309, at Cæsarea in Palestine. (See Euseb. De Martyribus Palæstina, cap. x., vii.; and Hist. Eccles., vi., 32; vii., 32; viii., 13. Jerome, De Viris Illustr., cap. lxxv.) "—Mosheim.

It is also recorded of the Emperor Constantine, that one of his first acts after the foundation of Constantinople, about A.D. 328, was to order the preparation of fifty MSS. of the holy Scriptures, required for the use of the church, "on fair skins," (èv diplépais evkaтaskevais,) “by skilful caligraphists." (Euseb., Vit. Const., iv., 36.)-Smith's Bible Dictionary,

received the ink less perfectly, and presents a comparatively pale appearance. The arrangement presents you with two pages of this character when you open the volume, thus securing a remarkable and beautiful uniformity. The recovered Codex is complete from 2 Chronicles to the end of Revelation. The earlier portions have not yet come to light.

In answer to our inquiries, the Professor informed us that except from the MS. itself nothing could be learned of its history. The Monks of St. Catherine's, on Mount Sinai, where it was found, did not even know how it had come into their possession. Further conversation elicited most interesting information, entirely in accordance with the Report of the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Literature, in the " Athenæum" of February 25th, which we subjoin :

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE, FEBRUARY 15TH.

The Bishop of St. David's, President, in the Chair.

PROFESSOR TISCHENDORF exhibited the Codex Friderico-Augustanus, which now belongs to the University of Leipzig, and forms a part of the still greater MS., the Codex Sinaiticus, now in the possession of the Emperor of Russia; and gave an account of the manner in which he had been able at different times to procure these two MSS. From his narrative, it appears that, after having completed his first critical edition of the New Testament, in 1840, Professor Tischendorf devoted four years to the examination of all the principal libraries in Europe, with a view of obtaining fresh materials. Disappointed, however, at meeting with little that was not already known, he determined to go to the East; and with this object reached the Convent of St. Catherine, at Mount Sinai, in May, 1844; and shortly afterwards discovered, in a corner of its library, a waste-paper basket stuffed with fragments of ancient MSS. Among these he at once detected portions of a very early copy of the Holy Scriptures: a small portion of which he was allowed to bring away, and, ultimately, to place in the library of the University of Leipzig, with the title of Codex Friderico-Augustanus. Feeling sure, however, that there must be other fragments in existence, Professor Tischendorf made two subsequent journeys to Mount Sinai in 1853 and 1859, and on the last occasion succeeded in obtaining considerable portions more of the MS. he met with in 1844. This MS. he has presented, with the consent of the authorities of the Convent, to the Emperor of Russia. As it was due to Professor Tischendorf's energy and representations that the contents of the waste-paper basket were not sent (as other fragments of MSS. had unquestionably been sent before) to light the fires of the Convent, the Professor may justly claim the honour of having rescued for posterity one of the most ancient and valuable MSS. known. With regard to the antiquity of this MS., the Convent itself has preserved no tradition; but, from some portions of its leaves which have been used in the binding of other old books, it is clear that the Convent has possessed it for many years. It is written entirely in uncial characters of a very early type, in four columns; it ex

hibits no initial letters, which are found in the Codex Vaticanus and the Codex Alexandrinus; and it has abundant corrections written on its pages, all of which, with the exception of four corrections in a twelfth-century hand, are in uncial characters. One of the correctors, in a handwriting of the ninth century, has apparently gone over great part of the MS., and has restored letters on many of the leaves which had become partially effaced by the old ink having sunk in too deeply. It may be further stated, that there is no division into chapters; that, agreeably with the custom of the fourth century, as noticed by Eusebius, this MS. comprehends, under the head of the New Testament, the Epistles of St. Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas; and that its text contains numerous readings to be found in the Fathers of the fourth century, but which have, for the most part, disappeared from other MSS. It seems most probable, therefore, that this MS. was written early in the fourth century; while in general character it more nearly resembles the Codex Sarravianus, part of which is at Paris and part at Leyden, than any other known vellum Greek MS.

It is almost unnecessary to add, that, after nearly one hour's interview with Professor Tischendorf, we retired highly gratified, and admiring the wonderful providence of God, which, after the lapse of ages, had brought this sacred treasure into the hands of a man so capable of appreciating it, and of rendering it available for the purposes of Scripture criticism, and for the establishment of the truth.

The four splendid volumes, into which the fac-simile is bound, are to be had for the comparatively small sum of twenty-one pounds. London, February 27th, 1865.

E. H.

THOMAS CHATTERTON,

<< THE BOY-BARD OF BRISTOL."

GENIUS is a solemn trust of power, and of power in its greatest and most durable form. This may be affirmed of both the poetical and the philosophical genius, but not of both with the same extent of application: for it is one of the peculiar triumphs of the poet, that he makes himself intelligible to minds of every order, and of every degree of literary attainment. No man can rightly appreciate the productions of Bacon and Newton, who is not endowed with some strength and enlargement of understanding, and some good degree of culture. But every man of common capacity may derive pleasure and quickening from the lofty conceptions of Milton, and from those forms of truth and beauty, those genuine pictures of nature, and those almost breathing embodiments of human character, which present themselves in the visions of our great dramatist.

Hence poets have been the earliest instructors of men. They have sprung from the bosom of society while yet in its rudest state; and the very barbarian has been held spell-bound in their presence, as they poured forth

their heroic or plaintive strains, and has involuntarily imbibed from them the elements of his civilization. As society advanced, poets have been among the most powerful agents in the formation of its character. They have been the chief conservators of its earliest history; so that, as it has been often shown, the "ballad poetry" of almost all people supplies us with the only memorials of the most distant past which we possess.* * They have taught society its religion and morals: and this, not in the case of pagan nations only; for the Divinely-inspired Hebrew prophets were poets. They have supplied the world with its proverbs and maxims of prudence; have originated, to a great extent, the structure and the idioms of its language; and have given an impulse to every pursuit which tends to intellectual and moral progress. And, so long as man continues what he is, true poets will not fail to be of the number of his most powerful teachers. Their conceptions can never cease to win attention: for we find them to be but the sweet echo of all our own best impressions and feelings. Their appeals can never cease to obtain a ready response: for they are addressed to the principles and affections of our nature. It is the poet's province, above all, to speak directly to that great principle which animates the mind of man in his most depressed and discouraged moods, by indicating the proper end and perfection of human life,—

"That pleasing hope, that fond desire;

That longing after immortality."

Man was designed for intellectual progress, as is sufficiently attested by the impulse, which we all experience more or less, to inquire, to investigate, and to explore. But man is, also, as certainly endowed with powers that will survive the present life, and be more fully expanded and matured in a future state. Hence the earnest yearning which every man feels toward the lofty, and great, and beautiful; "a thing of beauty is a joy for ever; -hence his irrepressible dissatisfaction with the routine of ordinary experience; his quenchless aspirations after something fairer, and vaster, and more spiritual, than he finds in the world around him; his delight to soar above his present condition, and revel in the vision-land of fancy. Now, it is the poet's power to minister, in no mean degree, to the cravings of man's immortal nature. His vocation is to anticipate the soul's restless longings; to encourage and aid its natural aspirations; to touch our inward eye with that wondrous talisman which gives the power to discern, in the forms of beauty spread over this material world, types and pledges of greater beauty, and more satisfying enjoyment, awaiting us beyond the grave;