of the book; and, as the price asked was low, I bought it.

On examining it at home, I found the following note written inside the fly-leaf of the first volume by R. S. Cotton :

"This Bible I bought at the sale of Dr. Samuel Johnson's books; it was a present to him from Mr. Thrale, who, at the suggestion of the doctor, had some few copies bound up in this manner to present to his friends, who the doctor thought might be induced to read it more frequently were it more portable than in the usual cumbersome heavy quarto. I think Arthur Murphy, Esq., had one presented him likewise: another is in the library at Streatham."

The engraved book-plate of R. S. Cotton is in each volume, also the embossed stamp of the Malta Protestant College; and under the just cited note is another, too long to quote, signed "Chas. Popham Miles, Principal " of that college, certifying that he found in the Bible "the interesting record." "The whole has been presented to the Malta Protestant College by Fredk. Sergent." But what other owners the book has had, or under what circumstances it travelled from Malta to New York, is not given or explained.

Attention once directed to the book, many memoranda of an interesting character were seen in pencil on the margins; most of them being mere arbitrary signs, but all in the same handwriting, and most in pencil. And after careful search, and comparison with the fac-similes of Dr. Johnson's handwriting given by Boswell, it was decided that they were certainly written by him.

All these marks bear witness to the industry and method with which Dr. Johnson read the Bible through. Three of them give different dates: at the end of Malachi is written, in red ink, "L.D. Ap. 16, 1772;" at the end of Revelation, "L.D. 1782, Sept. 22;" and inside the cover of vol. 7. (Epistles and Revelation), in pencil, is "1783.0. Z. D. J. Begun Ap. 20. Easter day. Ended this volume May 7. -83."

Boswell records that he visited Johnson on April 14, 15, 17, and 18, 1772

(April 19 was Easter Sunday), and on the two latter occasions found him with "his large folio Greek Testament before him," but says nothing of any other Bible. And on Sunday, April 20," 1783, "being Easter day, I dined

with him. He seemed not to be well, talked little, grew drowsy soon after dinner, and retired, upon which I went away."

The book throughout is marked according to the plan of daily lessons in the English Prayer-Book, "om." being used, according to a note in the cover of the first volume, to mark the parts "omitted in the daily lessons," and the dates of the other parts generally set down. By this arrangement the more important parts of the Old Testament are read in a year, the New Testament three times a year. But he did not confine himself to this plan; for many marginata are opposite the omitted parts, and he has reckoned in one place, "11 p. 100th," which seems to indicate a plan for reading the whole three times a year.

In a few places he has added notes. At Isa. i. 1 is written in red ink, "Ante regni Israeli excidium 39. Ante exilium Bab., circ. 164." And at Jer. i. 1 is the similar note, "Ante exilium Babylonicum, circ. 36."

Occasionally he has references to authors. In Genesis he refers to Delany " and "Clark's Serm."; in Exodus to "Tullie," "Heigh.," "Harrison," and "Baker." But the most common marginata are marks in cipher, depending mostly on various forms of the letter m, and combinations of it with Roman and Greek capitals. The system on which these were written is not apparent. A few, but not many, occur in the Apocrypha.

At the head of Isa. x. he had written a note in pencil, and afterwards erased it. And in one or two places he has amended the heading of the chapters, as that of Num. vii., where he inserts, in pencil," equal: ""The equal offerings of the princes severally."

He has marked a paragraph to commence with Num. xvi. 35, and made 2 Kings xvii. 29-31 to be a parenthesis.

who answers to the description here given. Thrice blessed is he who can recognise himself.

There are three points in this description: first, "He that goeth forth.” Not he who stays at home, surrounded by the comforts and enjoyments of this life, sheltered alike from sultry heat and wintry storms; but he who is willing to forego his own ease, and manfully "goeth forth to the fields of toil.

Secondly, "and weepeth." A man does not ordinarily shed tears, unless his whole being is stirred with unwonted emotion. The picture of a hardy sower weeping over his work betokens intense interest, absorbing application, and a deep sense of personal responsibility.

Thirdly, "bearing precious seed." As if to intimate that there are sowers, even in this field, who do not always sow that which is pre-eminently "precious seed." Something lighter may be easier to sow, and be more readily received. But this promise would seem to belong distinctively to those who go forth richly laden with the precious seed

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of the incorruptible word. And mark, it is all in the present tense, suggesting the idea of action continually repeated with untiring perseverance.

O ye who are thus labouring for Christ, be glad and shout for joy! Lift up your eyes, and behold the magnificent prospect stretching before you! See the results of your toil, not counted by single ears, but standing thick in full, ripe sheaves. Be not overwhelmed with a sense of your own weakness and insufficiency, for God hath chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things that are mighty. Say not, such marvellous results are impossible; but honour God by the full, rejoicing expectation of receiving that which He has promised. And strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees, if there be any around you, by reminding them of the approaching harvest, in which all faithful sowers of the precious seed shall come again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them, doubtless!

ESTHER.

XXXVIII. THE STUDENT'S DREAM. WILFRED, the scholar, was but young when he went to the house of his teacher, a learned old man who had seen much of life and sought to use his knowledge well by instructing those who really wished to learn.

The boy was only sixteen years old; and he had so fair and open a countenance, and such sparkling and hopeful eyes, that whoever saw him loved him. He was clever too, and said to himself, "When I have mastered Latin and Greek and Hebrew, and when I understand mathematics and law and astronomy, and when I have all the knowledge I can obtain of metaphysics and theology and the natural sciences, I shall be learned."

Five years passed away, and he had surpassed all with whom he contended. His eye was less bright, it is true, and

its hopeful glances had altogether vanished, beside which he was pale and thin; but those who knew him said that he was very clever, and they spoke but the truth, for he had learned more than all those whom his teacher had taught before.

One day he went to his instructor, and said, "Master, 1 have had a dream which I wish to tell thee."

Then said his teacher, "Tell on."

"I thought I was in a large city, where I talked to an aged person with a shining face, like an angel's. He asked me what I knew. I told him I had learned four languages-iny own, and three which once were spoken, but are now dead. In a moment the old man placed a glass before my eyes, and I saw scores of the races of mankind pass before my face, and heard them speak; but I knew not a word they said. Yet each race had a separate speech.

"Then I said, 'I have learned the motions of the stars, the courses of comets, and I can foretell the times of eclipses and of sunrise.' But the old men bade me look at the sky through his glass; and I saw thousands of orbs, worlds upon worlds, more than I had ever conceived of.

"Then I said, 'I have learned the names of plants and of animals, from the cedar to the hyssop, from the lion of the desert to the animalcule of the water drop.' But the old man bade me look once more through his glass; and I saw mosses with flowers within flowers, and tiny forms of life, scores of which floated in a single globe of dew as in an ocean, creatures unknown to me before.

"Then I said, 'I have studied metaphysics and theology, and I know as much as others do of law.' But the old man bade me look yet again into his glass, and I saw tribes of barbarians and of gorgeously-dressed kings and soldiers fighting about the laws they had made, instead of keeping them; and lawyers wrangling in courts of justice whilst the lives of prisoners trembled in the balance; books of theology coming forth age after age, but utterly forgotten by the generations that succeeded them; volumes of metaphysics, about which numbers wrote, but few thought or read; and all in confusion and uproar.

"And then the old man took me to the mouth of a chasm, and bade me look into it; and there I saw, written in letters of flame that wandered like the light of an ignis fatuus, This is an abyss like thine ignorance, boundless and bottomless.' And, giddy with the fright, I awoke and came to thee." When the teacher had heard the man's story to the end, he spoke kindly to him, and said,-" What thou hast beheld is a vision of the truth. Thou art at last educated; for thou hast been led to see thine own ignorance: and they who know the most, alas, know only thisthat their knowledge is as nothing!"

young

Thus also is it with those who strive after the higher life. Unless they have learned their ignorance of the things of God, they have made but little progress in Divine wisdom.

XXXIX. THE WATERFALL AND THE RIVER.

How may we learn to appreciate the power of calm and silent strength?

Contrast the influence of the cascade and the noiseless stream. It is not the waterfall, sending forth clouds of mist, and waking the silence with its incessant roar, which carries on the commerce of the world; it is the calm, strong-flowing river, that passes silently through the woods and brings fertility to the meadows, until, before it is lost in the sea, the navies of a nation may float securely on its bosom. So, neither is it the foaming torrent of rhetoric by which good is done, but rather the steady and noiseless stream of God-like truth.

XL. THE MOON.

"So live, my children," said a mother, "that when you pass away you will be missed."

"But how can we," answered one of her girls, "who have so little influence, do any good that will be appreciated by others? The rich and powerful have a sphere for usefulness; but there is no such sphere for us.'

"You are mistaken, my child," replied the mother: "all persons have a power of benefiting others; and if they do their best, their efforts are often more appreciated than they imagine. I will tell you a story of the moon; see if you can dis cover its hidden lesson:

"The moon was shining like a gem upon the bosom of the night. I wish I were the sun,' said she to a companion star; for then I should be admired and appreciated by all the inhabitants of the world, and adored by some. But now few care for my light, and the little brightness I possess is borrowed from the orb of day.'

"What if you were only a star?' asked the other. Then no one would care to look at you.'

"I should at least have some worlds to beam upon and flood with daylight. As it is, I merely shine at night, and people only care for me when there is nothing better.'

"But the moon was wrong. Her