The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-07-02 00:00:00

LEANDER OUTDONE.—On the banks of the Pelice,
near Luzerna, tradition hi; consecrated a spot to the re-
collection of an exploit more memorable than the achieve-
ment of Leander himself. A Romanist had paid great at-
tention to the lessons of a Vaudni; friend, aod gave such
proof of his heart being touched that the later thought no
opportunity ought to be lost in pres,inc.; his conversion
while he appeared to he in a favourable mood. His visits
used to he nocturnal. On the night when he flattered
himself that his arguments would prevail, the floods had
cut off the usual means of access. It was winter, and the
torrent was alarmingly broad and rapid ; but the Christian
hero was n ‘t to he interrupted or daunted in his holy en-
terprise; he boldly plunged into the waters, swam across,
and reaped his reward in the conversion of his friend from
Popery.—Gilbey's Researches among the Vaudois.
FIRST EFFECTS OF PRINTING.—One of the first effects
of printing was to make proud men look upon learning
as disgraced, by being thus brought within reach of tile
common people. Till that time learning, such as it was,
had been confined to courts and convents, the low birth
of the clergy being overlooked, because they were privi-
leged by their order. But when laymen in humble life
were enabled to procure books, the pride of arist )cracy
took an absurd course, insomuch that in one it was
deemed derogatory for a nobleman if he could read or
write. Even scholars themselves complained that the
reputation of learning, and the respect due to it, and its
rewards, were lowered when it was thrown open to all
men; and it was seriously proposed to prohibit the print-
ing of any book that could be afforded for sale bel ,w the
price of three soldi. This base and invidious feeling was
perhaps never so directly avowed in other countries as in
Italy, the land where literature was first restored; and
yet in this more liberal island ignorance was for some
generations considered to be a mark of distinction by
which a man of gentle birth chose, nut unfrequently, to
make it apparent that he was no more obliged to live by
the toil of his brain, than by the sweat of his brow. The
same changes in society, which rendered it no longer
possible for this class of men to pass their lives in idle-
ness, have completely put as end to this barbarous pride.
It is as obsolete as the fashion of long finger nails, which
in some p-rts of the east are still the distinctive mark of
those who labour not with their hands. All classes are
not brought within the reach of your current literature,—
that literature which, like a moral atmosphere. is, as it
were, the medium of intellectual life, and on the quality
of which. according as it may be salubrious or noxious,
the health of the public mind depends.—Biography of
William Caxton.

CAXTON'S RESPECT FOR THE MEMORY OF CHAUCER.
—Caxton was especially the devoted printer of Chaucer.
His truly honour4ble conduct in venturing upon a new
edition of the " Canterbury Tales," when be found his
first were incorrect, exhibits an example in the first printer
and the first publisher which the printers and publishers
of all subsequent times ought to reverence and imitate.
The early printers, English and foreign, were indeed a
high and noble race. They did not set themselves up to
be the patrons of letters; they did not dispense their dole
to scholars grudgingly and thanklessly; they worked with
them ; they encountered with them the risks of profit and
of fame; they were scholars themselves; they felt the
deep responsibility of their office ; they carried on the
highest of all commerce in an elevated temper; they were
not mere hucksters and chafferers. It was in no spirit of
pride, it was in the spirit of duty, that Caxton raised a
table of verses to Chaucer in Westminster Abbey. In
his edition of Boetins, which he gives us to understand
was translated by Master Geoffrey Chaucer, he says,
" And furthermore I desire and require you, that of your
charity ye would pray for the soul of the said worshipful
man Geoffrey Chaucer, first translator of this said book
into English, and embellisher in making the said language
ornate and fair, which shall endure perpetually, and there-
fore he ought eternally to be remembered ; of whom the
body and corps lieth in the Abbey of Westminster, beside
London, to tore the chapel of Saint Benet, by whose
sepulture is written on a table, hanging on a pillar, his
epitaph made by a poet-laureate, whereof the copy fol-
loweth." The writer of the Life of Chaucer, in the
" Biographia Britannica," says, " It is very probable he
lay beneath a large stone of grey marble in the pavement
where the monument to Mr. Dryden now stands, which
is in the front of that chapel (St. Benet's), upon the
erecting of which (Dryden's monument) this stone was
taken up, and sawed in pieces to make good the pave-
ment. At least this seems best to answer the description
of the place given by Caxton."—Biography of William
Caxton.
THE BIBLE ON MAN'S EARTHLY CONDITION.—We
aver, that in God's Word, and that throughout its pages,
not in a few places, but in many—not dubiously, but with
the greatest clearness—there are given doctrines, and re-
proofs, and instz uctions in righteousness, for legislators,
for statesmen, and for mtm of wealth and influence; and
that the general tenour of these is directly opposed to
what a set of philosophers, falsely so-called, of our own
times, have conspired to dignify with the name of political
economy. And accordingly, and very naturally, as the
Bible and they are at variance, they agree to lay the Bible
on the shelf, and to assert that, however necessary and
supreme in its own department—the concerns of God and
the soul—yet in sublunary matters, the management of
nations, &c., it is either wholly silent, or speaks without
any divine authority, or any claim to our respect. Thus
it is that one of the best men and ablest divines in all
Scotland can write a treatise on political economy, in
which scarcely a single reference is found, from the first
line to the last. to the only infallible source of instruc-
tion—the word of God. But if by really great divines,
and eminent teachers of religion, the Bible is thus thrust
out of sight, who shall wonder, that the consequences to
the nation are of the fearful kind described by Mr. Bo-
sanquet. In his valuable work, he entitles a chapter.
"THERE IS NO FAITH," and thus does he prove his
assertion :—" Want of faith is the very characteristic of
this generation. Concurrent and consistent with this, is
a WANT OP CHARITY. The Bible is boldly and practi-
cally denied in every particular. No class or body of men
believe and obey it. And strange as it may seem, it is by
no nation, or people, or churches, or sects of men, less
implicitly believed and followed, than by those very peo-
ple and sections of the church who talk so much about it.
There are no persons less obedient t' the plain sense and
mandates of the written word of God, than those who
most speak of and uphold it as the sole authority and
standard, and reject all assistance from the history of the
church, and what is spoken against as tradition. The
Bible is denied in every particular. Men do not believe
that we are really to be Christians ; that we are to imitate
our Lord. They do not believe that the world could pos-
sibly go on, if all men were to act upon pure Christian
motives, and up to a perfect Christian rule; if they were
to forgive and forget injuries; if they were not to resent
an affront ; if they were to give to people, because they
asked them ; if they were to lend money, without looking
fir interest ; if we were all to give up luxuries, and style,
and costly furniture, and equipage ; if we, our cattle, and
servants, were strictly to observe the day of rest. How
many are there who appear to believe that it is not right
to be anxious about the future ; that riches are not a good
thing ; that the entrance into heaven is easier to a poor
man ; that we ought to return a tenth to God ; that it
would bring a blessing, to give freely and largely to the
poor; that children are a blessing and a gift from the
Lord, and that the man is happy who has his quiver full
of them ? It is evident that, in all these points, the Bible
is disbelieved, and is practically denied ; and does not
control or guide us in our habits and principles of life and
of society. Still less do we believe that the public mea-
sures, the laws and the government of the state, and the
intercourse with other nations, ought to be, or can be,
carried on, and conducted on Christian principles. What
number or classes of persons believe that righteousness
exalteth a nation ; that the conscience of the government
is the conscience of the people ; and that our rulers are
bound to take the first care for the pure religion and
morals of the country ; and that, if they do so, their
righteousness will bring down a blessing upon the nation."
That the fault committed, in the disregard of God's own
counsel and instruction, is as deplorably foolish, as it is
fearfully profane, is unquestionable. There is but one
sure and unerring standard of truth in the world—but one
code of morals which is unpolluted by immorality—and
that is the book which God has given us for our guide.
To cast that aside, and either to reject or disregard it, is
not more irreligious and atheistic, than it is SENSELESS
AND IRRATIONAL.—Remedies for the Perils of the
Nation.