Cantons of Zurich, Berne, Basle, and Schaafhausen. The doctrines which they discussed were those of Predestination, Redemption, Vocation, Conversion, and Perseverance; in which all that was contrary to the tenets of Calvin was condemned, whilst Vorstius and others, who would not subscribe to the decrees of the Synod, were deprived of their cures, and banished from the United States. These decrees were publicly read in the Great Church of Dort, May 1, 1619, when the Synod broke up; but the States General ordered the Medal to be struck, of which mention is made in the text, and of which they sent an impression in gold to every foreign Theologian and Councillor who had attended the meeting. The reverse of this Medal represents a mountain, on the summit of which is a temple, to which some figures are ascending by a very steep path. The four winds, emblematical of those who disturbed the tranquillity of the Church, are represented as blowing upon the mountain; and above the temple is the word Jehovah, in Hebrew characters. The Legend is taken from Psalm cxxv, 1, and is, ERUNT UT MONS SION. CIOIOCXIX. The words in Donne's own Will are, "that medall of gold," instead of "that model," as in the text. Page 88. Padre Paolo. Paul Sarpi, commonly called Father Paul, was born at Venice, Aug. 14th, 1552, and was a member of the Order of Servites. Although he is said to have been a pattern of humility, he was an excellent Divine, Mathematician, and Natural Philosopher; and to him are attributed several discoveries in Anatomy. Being made Procurator General of his Order, he resided at Rome, leaving his property in the hands of a person (who abused his trust, and who, to avoid detection, advised Paolo to remain in Rome for the sake of promotion. His answer was, that he held the dignities of that Court in abomination; and the letter containing the passage being betrayed to the Pope, Paolo was regarded as a heretie. His exertions on behalf of Venice, caused him to be cited to Rome, and after the Pope and the Venetian States were reconciled, the defenders of the latter were marked as objects of vengeance, on which account his life was attempted in 1607. His famous History of the Council of Trent was written in the seclusion to which he then retired, and he died Jan. 14th, 1622. Page 88. Fulgenzio. The friend and biographer of Father Paul, and celebrated for the dignity and freedom with which he preached the pure word of God. Of the real excellence of his discourses, no better testimony can be adduced than the declaration of Pope Paul V. "He has indeed some good sermons, but bad ones withal. He stands too much upon Scripture, which is a book that if any man will keep close to, he will quite ruin the Catholic Faith." Induced by some specious promises of the Pope's Nuncio to leave Venice, and under a safe conduct to go to Rome, he at first met with a kind reception, but was afterwards burnt in the Field of Flora. The reader will recollect the custom which then prevailed, of regulating the time of preaching by the hour-glass, which was usually placed at the righthand of the preacher. Page 101. Aspicit eum cujus nomen est Oriens. The concluding lines of the inscription evidently allude to his posture. "He was looking toward the east, from whence he expected his Saviour." The critical reader will remember, that in Zech. vi. 12. the passage alluded to, should be rendered "Behold the Man, whose name is the BRANCH," which the Seventy-Two translate 'Avaroλn övoμa avroỡ, — and the Vulgate "Oriens nomen ejus." Page 102. How much, &c. "Antes muerta que mudada.” These words are supposed by a Spanish author to have been originally written on the sand by a lady promising fidelity to her lover. Page 113. A crown of sacred sonnets. "La Corona," a poem written by Dr. Donne, and consisting of seven holy sonnets, the first line of each sonnet beginning with the last line of the preceding one, the poem beginning and ending with the same line-namely "Deigne at my hands this crown of prayer and praise." Page 113. A Litany. A poem so called, written by Donne, who, in a letter to his friend, Sir Henry Goodyere, gives this account of it. "Since my imprisonment in my bed I have made a meditation in verse, which I call a Litany. The word, you know, imports no other than supplication; but all churches have one form of supplication by that name. Amongst ancient annals, I mean some 800 years, I have met two Letanies in Latin verse, which gave me not the reason of my meditations; for in good faith I thought not upon them, but they give me a defence, if any man to a layman and a private impute it as a fault to take such divine and publique names to his own little thoughts." (Letters, &c. p. 32.) Page 123. Nicholas Wotton. What Sir Henry Wotton said of Sir Philip Sidney, has been applied to Nicholas Wotton. "That he was the very measure of congruity." Henry VIII. thus addressed him on his appointment to a foreign embassy; "I have sent a head by Cromwell, a purse by Wolsey, a sword by Brandon, and must now send the law by you." He was considered as possessing the qualifications of a statesman in a very eminent degree. "Every younker speaks as politic as Bishop Gardner or Dr. Wotton." (Spenser's Letters to his friend Immerito.) Page 135. Albericus Gentilis. A very celebrated Italian lawyer, born at Ancona in 1550, and educated at Perugia. About 1572, he left his own country with his father and brother, they being of the reformed religion, and whilst the two former settled in Germany, he came into England, and was admitted at New Inn Hall, Oxford, in 1580, through the patronage of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, then Chancellor of that University. In 1587, Queen Elizabeth made him Professor of Civil Law, and it is supposed that he died at Oxford, about April, 1611. His works are principally on Jurisprudence, written in Latin. Page 147. Passing-bell. The soul-bell was tolled before the departure of a person out of life, as a signal for good men to offer up their prayers for the dying. Hence the abuse commenced of praying for the dead. "Aliquo moriente campanæ debent pulsari, ut populus hoc audiens oret pro illo." (Durandi Rationale.) Page 160. The queen of Bohemia. The following verses were written by Sir Henry Wotton on his Mistress, the Queen of Bohemia: 66 You meaner beauties of the night, That poorly satisfy our eyes More by your number than your light, You common people of the skies, What are you when the sun shall rise? "You curious chanters of the wood, By your weak accents; what's your praise, |