The British Controversialist and Literary Magazine

Crocker's "Mermaid" series of dramatists is 5s. a volume instead of 3s. 6d., as stated in the March number of British Controversialist. -C. C.

885." Ben Jonson died on the 6th of August, 1637, and was buried on the 9th in Westminster Abbey. A subscription was set on foot for the erection of a monument, but the political troubles of the time interfered with the execution of the de

sign. Meanwhile a gentle an of Oxfordshire, Sir John Young, familiarly called Jack Young, happening to pass through the abbey, gave one of the masons eighteenpence to cut upon the common pavement stone which covered the grave the brief epitaph, O rare Ben Jonson!' The smallness of the surface occupied by the gravestone is explained by the fact that the coffin was deposited in an upright position; possibly, as has been surmised, to diminish the fee by economy of space. The tradition that Jonson had been interred in this manner was generaily discredited until the grave was opened a few years ago, when the remains of the poet were discovered in an erect position." (Poetical Works of Ben Jonson, edited by Robert Bell; Memoir, p. 22.)-M.F.

886. Walter Harte, born probably at St. Mary's, Taunton, about 1700; educated at Marlborough School, and St. Mary Hall, Oxford; wrote in 1735 an Essay on Reason," a poem to which Pope contributed several of the best lines. It contains little that is original, and is not now easily procured, though issued in a superb folio. We have seen but not read it. He was a man of considerable ability, was tutor to the son of Lord Chesterfield; and by the influence of that pink of perfection in manners was made Canon of Windsor. He was Vice-Principal of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, and has some reputa

tion as an historian and a political economist.-J. H. M.

too good to be unkind," occurs in a
893. The line, "Too wise to err,
hymn written by the late Samuel
Medley, formerly Baptist minister
at Liverpool, and previously a sailor.
The verse which contains the line is
as follows:-

"Hereafter he will make me know,
And I shall surely find,
He was too wise to err; and O,
Too good to be unkind;"
and the hymn of which this verse is
a part commences thus:-

"God shall alone the refuge be."

Medley's hymns, of which several editions appeared between 1789 and 1800, may still be met with. They are very much characterized by the feature of the last line of each verse being entirely or nearly the same; that of every verse of the hymn here referred to being,

"Too good to be unkind."

They form parts of various selections; as Rippon's, Gadsby's, and Denham's. The well-known hymn commencing

Awake, my soul, in joyful lays," is by Medley.-S. S.

894. The phrase is now-a-days somewhat hard to understand, and it is, as often occurs in Locke's writings, rather awkwardly expressed. "Enter them in " is a synonym for teach, initiate, as

"They of Rome are entered in our
counsels,
And know how we proceed."
Coriolanus i. 2.

Let the passage be read thus :-
"Had those that would, according
to their several capacities, enter them
in, a right way to this knowledge?
and the meaning becomes clear.-
R. M. A.

Literary Notes.

E. B. TYLOR, author of "Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization," has in preparation a work on "Primitive Culture, treating of the mythology, philosophy, religion, arts, customs, &c. of early times.

Sir H. Bulwer's "Life of Lord Palmerston" is nearly ready.

A handy edition of "Sir Edward Creasy's Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" has been issued.

Professor Seeley's lectures to ladies "On Roman History delivered at the Kensington Museum are to be published.

J. W. Cole, author of the dramatic papers which gave almost a speciality to the Dublin University Magazine of late, died 17th Feb.

"The Paleontology of Asia Minor" forming the eighth and last volume of a complete work on that district by the Russian naturalist, Peter Tehihatchef (born 1812), will shortly be published in Paris.

The American Publishers' Circular states that the second volume

of Dr. Allibone's " Dictionary of

British and American Authors" will be issued forthwith; and the third volume, completing the work, will probably be published before the close of the present year. The first volume contained notices of 17,444 authors, A to J, in 1005 pages; the second, K to S, will chronicle 18,150 authors, in about 1350 pages; the third, T to Z, will have notices of 7550. There will also be 40 indexes of subjects, from Agriculture to Voyages. The whole will contain about 3300 pages. The manuscript, as copied by Mrs. Allibone for the press, occupied 19,044 foolscap pages, with a few pages in large quarto. Dr. Allibone has placed 700 Smiths in his Dictionary, 95 of them John Smiths.

"The Logical Method of Political Economy" is the title of a volumesuggestive of De Quincey's "Logic of Political Economy"-which Mr. J. E. Cairnes has in the press.

The articles by Alfred Austin, author of "The Season: a satire,” which appeared in Temple Bar Maga zine, are re-published under the title of "The Poetry of the Period."

The Observatory of Sir Isaac Newton is offered for sale for £500. It is proposed to raise that sum by public subscription, and to present it to the nation.

A complete and accurate Concordance to Spenser is in process of production.

Charles Bonar, author of "Tran sylvania," died at Munich May 9th. M. Rordy's French translation of Mottley's "History of the Netherlands" has reached the third

volume.

J. M. Gartner has issued at Amsterdam "The Bible and Geology."

"Stone-edge" and "Lettice Lisle" in Cornhill were written by Miss Nightingale's sister.

It has been proposed to institute a library and museum-similar to that at Stratford-upon-Avon-in the cottage of Burns' birth at Alloway, near Ayr.

W. A. Mackinnon, author of a "History of Civilization," "Thoughts on the Currency," &c., died 1st May, aged 81.

An elaborate and well-sustained work on "The Philosophy of Plato" has just been added to French literature by M. Alfred Feuillee.

Mr. James Bryce, son of the mathematical master of the High School of Glasgow, is the first Presbyterian who has yet held the Chair of Civil History in Oxford. He is author of "The Holy Roman Empire," and one of the contributors to "Essays on Reform."

THE TOPIC (continued):—
Should the Census of 1871 be taken
in Regard to Education, Re-
ligion, and Revenue, or concern
itself only with Population?
Affirmative......312; Negative.. 313

THE INQUIRER (continued): Q. A.
Odic Force

398

Paley's Argument

Poetical Quotations..71,150,398