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BISHOP WAYNFLETE.

William (Barber) of Waynflete, where he was born, about the commencement of the fifteenth century, was one of the most eminent men of the age in which he lived. He was educated at Winchester and Oxford at the College founded by William of Wyckham; being distinguished for his literary attainments he was appointed master of Winchester school about 1433, and Henry VI. constituted him first provost of the College which he was establishing at Eton, in 1442, after he had superintended the scholastic establishment for two years. At the death of Cardinal Beaufort, in 1447, he was raised to the see of Winchester, which he held for thirty-nine years: in 1456 he was honoured with the post of Chancellor, which he resigned in 1460: he died at Winchester August 11, 1486. The piety, learning and abilities of bishop Waynflete has been dwelt on with rapture by all his biographers. Magdalen College which he founded at Oxford is a proof of his opulence and his munificence as a patron of learning.

CREED OF SAINT ATHANASIUS:

The Creed of St Athanasius, as it is com monly called, does not appear to have existed within a century after his death, and was ori ginally composed in the Latin tongue, and con sequently in the Western province of the Roman

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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

empire. Gennadius, patriarch of Constantinople, was so much amazed by this extraordinary composition that he frankly pronounced it to be the tale of a drunken man.

MONKS.

Even in the seventh century the monks were generally laymen; they wore their hair long and dishevelled, and shaved their heads when they were ordained priests. The circular tonsure was sacred and mysterious; it was the crown of thorns; but it was likewise a royal diadem, and every priest was a king, &c. This tonsure must often have proved an awkward impediment to the intrigues and follies of monkery. An amusing author who has recorded many anecdotes of the brotherhood, relates that during his stay in France, a friar in the dress of a scholar was married to the daughter of a rich widow at Lyons. He concealed the tonsure with a patch of artificial hair; but drinking too freely after supper and growing riotous, the patch was unluckily knocked off by his neighbour, whereupon to the no small disappointment of himself and his intended bride, the friar was immediately obliged to take to flight.

BENEDICTINE ABBOT.

In the early period of the French revolution, when the throne and the altar had been overturned, and the infuriated spirit of devastation was wasting the distant provinces, a Bendictine monastery in the department of La Vendee, was entered by a tumultuous band; the brotherhood were treated with the most wanton and unprovoked cruelty and the work of desolation and plunder was pursuing an uninterrupted course, when a large body of the inhabitants rallied, drove the despoilers from the place and secured the ring leaders, whom they would have punished most promptly, had not the venerable abbot, who bad received the most wanton indignities from these very leaders, rushed forward to protect them. "I thank you, my children," said he "for your generous and seasonable interfe"rence, let us show the superiority of the religion "we possess, by displaying our clemency, and "suffering them to depart." The sufferers felt so overpowered by the abbot's humanity, that they fell at his feet, and entreated his forgiveness and benediction.

SLEEPERS REPROVED.

A methodist preacher once observing, that several of his congregation had fallen asleep, sud

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