The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-05-16


and to sell them to the clergy for minis
Ooitai use. These sermons were pla-
giarizeo from existing publications. But
mora recently there has been q system
"iueiy prevalent in England of obtaining
original sermons written by invalid
clergy and sometimes by ladies, and
autographed, SO as to have the appear
anoe OF manuscript sermons. These SER
mons have had large circulation, and
are often purchased by men who have
not either the leisure or the brains to
produce their own compositions. The fol-
lowing incident took place in Il cathedral
city In the south of England. In this
cathedral city there resided Canon
brown, connected with the cathedral
minister, who thought that he had a
perfect right to prefix the title Grey u
to his name. 1t ought perhaps to lie
Iexplained that until decision taken in
the English courts about twenty five
years ago there was an impression that
the title Rev." was the sole prerogative
OF the State clergy. 1t happened that
the Rev. Mr.. Brown opened by mistake
a number of letters intended for the Rev
Canon Brown, and he sent them to the
cathedral dignitary with an apology.
The Canon acknowledged their receipt
in the follwing oaustio note:
| sThe Canon Brown presents his COM
pliments to Mr.. Brown and accepts his
/ apology. but he would remind him that
if he would not lay claim to title to
which he has no legal right such mistakes
as these could not occur. "Some months
afterward packet Of Autographed man.
uscript sermons came addressed to the
Rev. Mr.. Brown, and was delivered at
the house of the Methodist minister, who
opened it. Mr.. Brown Immediately
sent the packet to the cathedral Canon
with this note:
"Mr. Brown, Methodist minister, re-
gret5 that he has opened the packet of
Autograph sermons by mistake; but if
the Rev. Canon Brown would not at
tempt to exercise an office for which he
has no intellectual qualification such
mistakes az these could not ocour.'
A clergyman once preached sermon
at Great St. Mary's, Cambridge, Eng
land, which was plagiarized, but which
one of his auditors commended:
"Yes," said the gentleman to whom
it was mentioned, 1T was good sermon,
but he stole it,"
| This was told to the preacher. who
resented it, and called on the gentleman
| to retraot what he had said
"I am not" replied the aggressor,
Every apt to retract my ords, but in
this instance I will do so. I said that
you had stolen that sermon. I find /
was wrong, for on returning home and
referring to the book whence I thought it
was taken found it there still ~
A correspondent of the "Athenaeum"
some time ago discovered that the great
or part of "Paley's Natural Theology"
is copied from a series of papers which
appeared about the end of the seventeenth
century in the "Leipsio Transactions, -
By Dutch philosopher named Men
wentyt. 1t is extraordinary that this dis
covery was not made before, seeing that
the papers, after having been published
at Amsterdam about the year 1900, were
afterwards translated into English by
Mr.. Chamberlayne, and published by
Longman g. Co. in 1878, about fifteen
years after "Paley's Natural Theology"
appeared. AS Paley quotes Nienwentyt
from the "teipsic Transactions, !" he, Of
course, must have known and perused
them. Parallel passages are printed side
L. a ~
It has been said that nearly all the
leading incidents in Christians journey
in Buuyan's "Pflgrlm's Progress are
taken from book written in the four
teenth century by Dc Guillsyille, work
which had great popularity and was
translated into English early in the if
tenth century. 1t is probable that this
captivating story impressed John Bun
yam when a youth. and that it occurred
to him in his solitary moments in Bed
ford Jail.
Moore, once observing Lord Byron
with book full of paper marks, asked
him what 1t was.
"Only a book" he answered, "from
which am trying TO crib, as do when
ever I eau, and that is the way get tho
character of being an original poet"
In Moore's diary Mr.. Hallam is report
ed to have said that one of his friends
ex reclaimed:
IT don't know how 1t is. thing that
falls fiat from me seems quite an excel
lent joke when served up by Sheridan. I
never like my own bon mots until he
adopts them"
Ruskin has said that all men who
have sense and feeling are being con-
tinually helped. They are taught by eve
~ person they meet, and enriched by eve
rything that falls in their way The
| greatest is he who has been oftenest
aided. Originality is the observing eye.
1t is in connection with this thought
that Mr.. Emerson, in writing of Shaks-