Poetry.

SCRIPTURAL LYRICS.

BY MISS M. A. STODART.

No. II.

(For the Church of England Magazine.)

"At morning, at evening, and at noonday, I will cry aloud.'

'Tis morn! the fresh, the fragrant morn―
Sweet hour of prime, a day new born,
Emerging from the depth of night,
In the strong bound of fresh delight:
Sunbeams are bright on eastern sky:
Increasing glories strike the eye.
Then, while untried the opening day,
Lord, at thy feet, we kneel to pray.

And thus, while youth's wild pulses beat-
The morn of life so swift, so sweet,
'Mid hope and joy's ecstatic glow
Unshadowed by a thought of woe-
May every knee before thee bend,
And heartfelt prayers on high ascend,
To thee, the God of changeless truth,
To guide and guard the steps of youth.

But, lo! the orient colours flee,
The sun ascends o'er forest tree;
And thus more swiftly than we'd thought,
Life's toils and cares to us are brought :
The burden and the heat we feel,
Yet at our Saviour's feet we kneel,
And calmly ask for quickening grace,
Patient to run the allotted race.
And, Lord, in life's laborious hour,
Reveal thy love, declare thy power.

What though our hearts may sometimes faint,
And breathe to thee the deep complaint,
To youth's brief joys we look not back;
Onward we'd tread our patient track,
Work while 'tis day at duty's call,
Ere night's deep shadows o'er us fall.

And if thou wilt that we abide
Here till the shades of eventide,
When the frail form to earth is bent,

And life's best springs are dried and spent,
In life's decline, in labour's close,
Still may our hearts on thee repose,
And our worn spirits sink to rest
In peace upon thy faithful breast.

Even thus, at morn, at noon, at eve,
Thy love we'd watch, thy word believe.
O guide us on from youth to age,
Through all our toilsome pilgrimage;
Let thy dear love our journey cheer,
Hush every doubt, calm every fear;
And, while we suffer, trust, and love*,
Prepare us for thy realms above.

"To believe, to suffer, and to love....was the primitive taste" (Milner); a sentence which Henry Martyn said made a stronger impression on his mind than any sentence from any uninspired author.

HYMN.

BY THE REV. J. A. FENTON.

(For the Church of England Magazine.)

"In the evening, and morning, and at noon-day will I pray." -PS. IV. 18.

WE thank thee, Lord! Each rising sun,

Thy mercies rise anew:

For morning favours, morning praise
From willing lips is due.

When the sun mounts his mid-day throne,

Thy care our food supplies :

For noontide love, let noontide songs

Of gratitude arise.

And, when the curtain of the night
O'er earth and sky is laid,

Again thy gifts descend; again
Be our glad service paid.

Norton, near Sheffield.

Miscellaneous.

ORIGIN OF THE CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS.Mayence was the cradle as well of the art of printing, as of the efforts made by its enemies to fetter the spread of knowledge. Towards the close of the fifteenth century that memorable epoch in the annals of religious and civil liberty-Berthold, archbishop and elector of Mayence, was the first to take alarm at the dangers which impended over the dominion of darkness. He enjoys the unenviable distinction of having been the author of the first edict which established a censorship of books. It is dated on the 4th of January, 1486, and is extant in Galenus's "Cod. Diplom.," lib. iv. 469. It prohibits any individual within the archbishop's domains, whether ecclesiastic or layman, from translating into the vernacular German any book whatever, be it in Greek, Latin, or any living foreign tongue; or from buying, selling, and bartering it, or re-bartering, or in any way circulating it, unless he shall have previously sought and obtained licence to print or circulate it, from a board appointed for that purpose. This board was composed of the professors of the four faculties of the then existing university of Mayence, Drs. Bertram, Dietrich, von Meschede, and Eler. It was their duty to examine all manuscripts, &c., and pronounce whether they should be allowed to be printed or not. And they showed much zeal, as well as tact, in preventing any outcry from being raised in the execution of this duty. The penalties inflicted on offenders against the edict were very severe for that time of day: the publication was confiscated, the author wa excommunicated, and he was mulcted in the sum of one hundred golden gilders for behoof of the archiepiscopal chest. A regular code of instructions was also drawn up, for the guidance of the censors.— From a Correspondent.

London: Published for the Proprietors, by EDWARDS and HUGHES, 12, Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's; J. BURNS, 17, Portman Street; and to be procured, by order, of all Booksellers in Town and Country.

PRINTED BY

JOSEPH ROGERSON 24, NORFOLK STREET, STRAND, LONDON.

ABBEY OF ST. ALBANS*.

ST. Albans, in the county of Hertford, separated

from the site of the Roman Verulamium-of the walls of which a few remains are in existence-by the river Ver, is so called from the monastery there founded by Offa, king of Mercia, in honour of Albanus, the first British martyr. Offa is commended by Alcuin, after his death, as a prince of engaging manners, and studious to promote good Christian morals among his people. At the same time, he does not disguise that these better qualities were tarnished by deeds of avarice and cruelty. Among the oppressive acts of Offa towards the church, he seems to have usurped the property of bishops and abbots in the monasteries, not suppressing the religious houses, but giving them as preferments to his friends; particularly one at March, in Cambridgeshire, and the abbey of Bath, which he made bishop Heathorod, of Wor

We have been favoured by the following account of the chief works on St. Albans :

"History of St. Albans up to end of last century, to be found in Newcombe's History of St. Alban's, 4to."

Modern books on St. Albans:

"St. Albans (Verulam); historical and topographical description of, with history and biography, including information and early eccl. history of the kingdom from the records." By Williams. St. Albans. 1822.

"History of Verulam and St. Albans; containing an historical account of the decline of Verulam and origin of St. Albans, and of the present state of the town, the abbey, and other churches, public buildings, dissenters' places of worship, incorporation of the borough, its government, ruins in the vi

cinity, seats, &c., &c." St. Albans. 1815.

"The ancient history of St. Albans contained in Bede, Hist. Eccl. lib. 1. cap. vii. Father Butler's Lives of the Saints. June

22. Acta Sanctorum Junii., tom. iv." Monastic Historians :

Matthæus Parisiensis; Roger de Wendover (some works of Roger of Wendover have been lately published by the English Historical Society); William Rushanger, lately published by the Camden Society; Watt's (?) edition of Math. Par. (about (1690) contains a collation of the other two.

VOL. XVIII.

"Offa, who deem'd that abbey which he built
Might well atone the Mercian monarch's guilt,
To saintly odour deadly sins convert,

And lay the accusing ghost of Ethelbert." Verulam is believed to have been founded before London. At the time of Cæsar's invasion, it was a place of great strength. In the reign of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, it was surprised, and most of the inhabitants slaughtered. It was restored, however, and remained a chief station of the Romans until their departure. It fell into the hands of the Saxons; but Uther the Briton, surnamed "Pendragon," recovered it with much difficulty, after a tedious siege (Gibson's Camden, p. 298).

"I was that city which the garland wore
Of Britain's pride, delivered unto me
By Roman victors, which it won of yore;
Though nought of all but ruins now I be,
And lie in mine own ashes as ye see:
Verlame I was; what boots it what I was?
Sith now I am but weeds and wasteful grass.
*
*
*

*

"And where the crystal Thamis wont to slide
In silver channel down along the lee,
About whose flowery banks on either side,
A thousand nymphs, with mirthful jollity,
Were wont to play, from all annoyance free;
There now no river's course is to be seen,
But moorish fens and marbles ever green!"
SPENSER'S RUINS OF TIME.

Albanus, stedfastly refusing to abjure the Christian faith, was beheaded at Holmhurst-hill; on which spot the monastery was erected, A.D. 793, for one hundred Benedictine monks. This rich monastery continued to flourish under a succession of forty abbots, who possessed both spiThey had a preritual and temporal authority.

There is a tradition that the river Thames flowed near the site of Verulam.