104
NOTES AND QUERIES. [9* s. x. AUG. 9, 1902.
regarded as hypercritical, since I have the
highest esteem for Mr. Tozer's labours in
the Danteian field. I am only jealous for
the preservation of the letter and spirit of
the text.
6. I note two slips in Dr. Moore's ' Textual Criticism.' The first is at p. xviii of the Prolegomena. The date there given as that of the decree of the Spanish Inquisition con- demning three passages of the ' D. C.' is 1612, whereas on the opposite page it is stated the decree will be found in the ' Index Librorum Prohibitorum et Expurgatorum,' Geneva, 1519 (reprinted from that published at Madrid, 1514). This is, of course, a chronological im- possibility.
The second occurs at p. 677, and is couched thus :
"This [119 (Bat. 411)] is a very beautiful and well-preserved MS. on vellum in the Biblioteca Nazionale at Palermo. It is late fourteenth century, I should say about 1480-90." These errors may be slight, but one furthers the perfection of so estimable a work by pointing them out for future editions. As a small contribution towards its attainment, I called Dr. Moore's attention to them last August, and received the subjoined reply :
" On p. 677 clearly ' fourteenth century ' should be fifteenth, but these mistakes I am afraid are due, now and then, to the Italian way of reckoning centuries. On p. xviii I have no time to go to a library to see the correct date of the 'Index Libr.,' &c., but you could, no doubt, find it in some Bibliographical Manual."
A brief search in our Rylands Library resulted in the discovery that "1519" and (i 1514 "should be respectively 1619 and 1614. The Index was not in existence until some fifty years later than the former dates, and the two editions referred to belong to the latter. I observed in the list of the Pius IV. edition of 1564, "Dantis Monarchia." Persecution of Dante seems to have been as relentless after as before the grave. But the universal homage and more liberal policy meted to his memory during the last two centuries have more than made amends for both. J. B. McGovERN.
St. Stephen's Rectory, C.-on-M., Manchester.
THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND SIXTY
YEARS AGO.
WERE it not for fear of making the heading too long, I would add " viewed through a pair of American spectacles." In the year 1842 the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D.D., then of Philadelphia, visited England, being forti- fied with introductory letters. He was a protagonist of the powerful Evangelical party, and became the rector of St. George's
New York. He was amazed at the condition
of the churches in England :
' It is not the habit or taste of England to keep their churches in an attractive or a comfortable londition at any time. I did not see a single church in England which would be allowed by the poorest congregation in Philadelphia to remain in its present condition. Even their new churches they try to build as much as possible like the old ones ; and they are all, to our eyes, cheerless and uncomfort- able, from the want of that provision for the ease of the occupants to which we are accustomed."
He visited Watton, Herts :
' How shall I describe the odd little church, com- posed of pieces of many shapes and sizes, jutting out with corners in all directions, filled with many various monumental stones, having a little oak pulpit and desk fastened against a corner of the wall, hardly big enough to hold a man of even moderate size with comfort ? But, in church build- ing, our taste and the English differ widely."
He found Holy Trinity, Cambridge, " a very old, cruciform edifice, most inconvenient and uncomfortable ; but in these respects it [had] been much improved by the efforts of Mr. Carus." St. Jude's, Glasgow, had a very " awkward and unchurchlike arrangement." This consisted of
" a pulpit in the centre against the wall, beneath which, oetween its two staircases, [was] the com- munion table ; and then two other pulpits, which [were] used for reading-desks, on the sides, of equal height with the centre one. They [were] all three round tubs of similar construction, with separate winding stairs for each."
Old St. Giles's, Edinburgh, on the contrary, had been " modernized and, improved, and divided for several places of worship."
The great preachers of the day were Henry Melville, Baptist Noel, Hugh Stowell, and Mr. McNeile, of St. Jude's, Liverpool. Mr. Melville, however, was disappointing :
" The sermon was very deficient, intellectually and evangelically, and delivered in a very rapid, hurried manner, with great apparent carelessness, and without the least appearance of feeling."
Mr. Noel, though " less deep and instructive in doctrine " than Dr. Tyng had expected, was characterized by great beauty of appear- ance, a soft, gentle, and musical voice, and dignity of manner. When Hugh Stowell
" rose sometimes in his forcible appeals, with his amazing command of language, and his accumulating energy of voice, the whole multitude seemed moved as the heart of one man."
McNeile was an impressive reader, and " the first of preachers." An odd custom obtained in his church :
"Every one was searching the Scriptures, as he referred to them, to see if these things were so. Even the people who filled the aisles were all hold- ing little Bibles in their hands, in the same employment."
