Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-08-22 00:00:00

tion in life than to be from tirile to time allowed toasso-
ciate with those to whom they may be said to be in-

debted tor their support
which Shakespere reckons among other evils under the

The poor man's contumely

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

are altogether forgotten, and man meets man, as men
ought to meet, without distinguishing the differenoe of
worldly circumstances. On Saturday evening last, this
fellow feeling was fully realised on the occasion of

Mr. Henry Greenwood, stationer, printer, &c., Castle-
street, giving his employes a dinner at Mr. Anderson's

:oust, Castle-street. Since Mr. Greenwood
)mmenced business, it has been customary with him

ale in his employment an entertainment
once each year, and on this, as on former occasions, he
presided himself. The dinner, which was excellent,
having been partaken of, and the usual , loyal toasts

the pec

posed "t
This tottsi

the health of Mr. Greenwood and family."
;t was drunk amid cheers, and Mr. GreenwooC

many faces that he had met on a similar occasion last
Irevrr IT. ['MC VPI•V ltannv +.l CO, 411,14. +11,11n:h env, et nf

their friends had been reii

he hoped, enjoyed health and happiness. He expressed
the greatest confidence in his workmen, and thanked
them for the manner in which they had responded to
his health, and that of his wife and family. Several

were proposed, and amongst these was, " the
prosperity of the Liverpool Typographical Society, and
the Library in connection with it." The evening's
entertainment was considerably enlivened by numerous

songs and recitations from some of the gentlemen
present, and several good pieces of music were executed
on the piano-forte. Towards the close, the health of
Mr. Anderson was proposed, and drunk amid cheers.
Mr. Anderson responded in appropriate terms. " The
Press" was then given, and soon after the company
broke up, all well pleased with what had taken place.

__+__

THE ALLEGED BIBLE-PRINTING

MONOPOLY,

The select committee have simply reported to the
House of Commons the evidence adduced before them
during the late session. They recommend their re-ap-
pointment next year. The witnesses were—Mr. W.
Spottiswoode, Mr. R. Besley, Mr. C. Childs, Mr. B.
Pardon, Mr. F. Warne, Rev. Dr. Caswell, Rev. C.
Clayton, M.A., and Mr. T. Coombe. Mr. Spotiswoode,
the Queen's printer, engaged b 7 patent to print " accu-
rate editions of the Holy Scriptures," tells the com-
mittee that the letters-patent will expire in January
(next), 1860. The rights of the Queen's printer are co-
ordinate with those of the Univerities quoad the publi-
cation of the Bible. Mr. Spottiswoode says that the

my book in the trade approaching it in bulk, even in
days of cheap literature. The comparison "is fa-
ble to the Bible in every degree," and in the

J lilted States, where there is no restriction whatever,
Mr. Spottiswoode affirms that the Bibles issued are de-
cidedly inferior to the English, both as regards accuracy
and cheapness. There are no books at present produced
in the States corresponding to our cheapest edition.
The "authorised edition" is in great request every-
where, and, like all really good articles, generally com-
mands the market wherever English is spoken. The
competition, according to the Queen's printer, is very
severe under the present system, and there is nothing like
a monopoly. The withdrawal of the patent would in-
duce the Queen's printers to consider very seriously
what course they would take. Mr. Spottiswoode has
never seriously contemplated the step of interfering
with the Bibles of Bagster and Arnold, Knight, Matthew
Henry, T. Scott, A. Clarke, Cobbin, and others. He
thinks Bagster's edition by no means equal to his own,
or those of' Oxford and Cambridge, " in point of beauty
and price." •As regards accuracy, ho offers no opinion.
He admits that it is very possible that there have been
."
minor inaccuracies" in the Queen's printers' Bibles
printed in former years, within the existence even of the
present patent. The marginal "references" are re-
garded as part of the " authorised" Bible ; they received
their " final" revision about a century ago, at the
hands of Dr. Blayney. The law about the print-
ing of other versions appears to be rather un-
certain ; but Mr. Spottiswoode says he would not
interfere with any copy of the Scriptures distinctly
purporting to be different from the authorised version.
Nor does he object to Knight's Pictorial Bible, which
does profess to be the authorised version. Other printers
are decidedly in favour of throwing the trade in Bibles
open, and can see no objection to such a step. Mr.
Pardon says that, " in the world's opinion," as denoted
by the demand, the "references" in Bagster's Bible
are better than those in the University edition, and
that although higher in prices, they have an
immense sale ,in consequence of the superiority
t of the references. One of the many discrepancies that
occur in the editions of the Bible in common tire-
-1 lation, is the oo“- I the wore ' and" in the fa-

Arch
passage from St. John's Gospel—" I am the way, and
the truth, and the life." If twenty Bibles were
opened now, says Mr. Pardon, you would probably
find that one-half would omit the first " and. Dr.
Caswell, an American (episcopal) divine, says, that a
Bible monopoly would never answer under American
institutions, and would be no advantage in that
country. The Rev. C. G. Clayton, tutor of Camas Col-
lege, Cambridge, thinks that the withdrawal of the patent
for the printing. of Bibles would raise their price, and
cause them to be far less accurate ; they are now sold
by the British and Foreign Bible Society at 10d. and
9d., while New Testaments may be had for 4d. Doc-
trinal errors, too, may creep in, if the trade was thrown
open. Mr. Clayton thinks free competition, as a gene-
ral rule, an advantage ; bid he will not allow it as
regards the printing of Bibles : he goes so far as to say.,
that supposing " a real improvement" were suggested
by some scholar in the translation of any word in Ox-
ford and Cambridge Bibles, it would not be introduced.