❝ed out of Paradise, let them also be driven and “banished out of this world, being despoiled of "all their goods and possessions; and let them "be buried with the burial of an ass. Let them

partake of the punishment of Corah, Dathan, "and Abiram, of Judas and of Pontius Pilate, "and of all that say to the Lord their God, de"part from us, we will have no knowledge of thy "ways, (at these words the person who pro"nounced the curses, extinguished two burning

tapers, which he held in his hands, with the 'following dreadful expression,) I adjure thee, "Satan, and all thy companions, that just as "these candles are extinguished in my hands, "thou likewise extinguish and take from them "the light of their eyes, unless they repent, and "make entire amends and satisfaction. Amen: "Amen."

KING JAMES I. AND MR. BALCARGUHALL.

James the First, being at Edinburgh, he attended, upon one occasion, the worship of the high church, where a minister of the name of Balcarguhall, performed the service. In the course of his sermon, this preacher advanced something which was derogatory to the authority of bishops; upon which James rose from his seat, and interrupting the speaker, asked him

what authority from Scripture he had for that assertion? Balcarguhall replied, that he could bring sufficient proof from Scripture for all that he had asserted. The king denied this, and pledged his kingdom that he would prove the contrary adding, that it was the practice of the preachers to busy themselves about such causes in the pulpit; but he was aware of their intentions, and would look after them. This interlude continued upwards of a quarter of an hour, to the great edification of the audience; after which James resumed his seat and heard the sermon to the end.

BOILEAU AND A PRIEST.

When Boileau, on a fast day, attended the rector of his parish, in order to go through his confessions, the priest asked him what employment he followed? "I write verses," replied the poet. "So much the worse," said the priest, "but of what kind ?" "Satires." "Worse "and worse; but against whom?"

Against "bad poets, the vices of the age, pernicious "books, romances, operas, &c."

rejoined the confessor, "there is no

"Very well,”.

harm in that

"and my objections are at end." And therefore, we may suppose, the priest absolved Boileau from that in which there was no harm.

PAPAL AVARICE.

Pope Benedict IX, was so fond of gold, that he actually sold the popedom itself to Gregory VI. for money.

ARCHBISHOP ALDRED.

Aldred, archbishop of York, had a favour to ask from William the Conqueror, and having a repulse therein, the archbishop, in great discontent, offered to depart. The king, standing in awe of his displeasure, stayed him, fell down at his feet, desired pardon and promised to grant his suit. The king, all this while, being at the archbishop's feet, the nobleman present put him in mind, that he should cause the king to rise. "No," said the proud prelate, "Let him alone, "let him find out what it is to anger St. Peter."

CEMETERIES.

The Jews have some remarkable fancies concerning their dead. They seem, indeed, to be as much distinguished from their ancestors by the childish and monstrous superstitions with which their literature is filled, as by their firm adherence to that law against which they rebelled so often before it was abrogated. So well, however, are they now persuaded of the resurrection, that the name which they give to a burial

place is the House of the Living, an expression finely implying that it is the dead alone, who can be said to live truly. The body, according to their notion, has a certain indestructible part called Luz, which is the seed from whence it is to be reproduced. It is described as a bone in shape like an almond, and having its place at the end of the vertebræ; and truly this is not more absurd than the hypothesis which assigned the pineal gland for the seat of the soul. This bone, according to the Rabbis, can neither be broken by any force of man, nor consumed by fire, nor dissolved by water; and they tell us that the fact was proved before the Emperor Adrian, upon whom they imprecate their usual malediction,

66

May his bones be broken!" In his presence Rabbi Joshua Ben Chauma produced a Luz: it was ground between two mill-stones, but came out as whole as it had been put in; they burnt it with fire, and it was found incombustible: they cast it in water, and it could not be softened; lastly, they hammered it upon an anvil, and both the anvil and hammer were broken without affecting the Luz. The Rabbinical writers, with their wonted perversion of Scripture, support this silly notion by a verse from the Psalms; "He keepeth all his bones so that not one of "them is broken," A dew is to descend upon

the earth preparatory to the resurrection, and quicken into life and growth, these seeds of the dead. During the pontificate of Urban VIII. a large burial-ground of the Jews at Rome, was broken up to make room for some new fortifications, and the Jews were particularly anxious to collect all the bones, paying the labourers a dear price for them. But not a single specimen of the Luz could they produce to their enemy Bartolocci when he called for it upon so favourable an opportunity.

Another curious opinion is, that wherever their bodies may be buried, it is only in their own Promised Land that the resurrection can take place, and therefore they who are interred in any other part of the world, must make their way to Palestine under ground, and this will be an operation of dreadful toil and pain, although clefts and caverns will be opened for them by the Almighty. It has been gravely objected to this notion, that although the bodies of the just, after the resurrection, will, according to the opinion of St. Thomas Aquinas, be endued with agility and penetrability, which would enable them to pass through any distance in the twinkling of an eye, and through any substance without experiencing resistance, yet this cannot be predicated of the Jews, whose bodies, they being to rise only for