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Stabat Mater-Armed Neutrality.

tabat Mater.-The first words of a celebrated Latin hymn of the church, "Stabat mater dolorosa," in rhymed lines of eight syllables without metre. It has been set to music by nearly all the great composers; but the best known of all their compositions is that of Pergolesi, commenced by him when nearly on his death-bed, and finished by another hand.

"Time works wonders."-Northcote, in one of his "Conversations," to illustrate the credulity of mankind in general, and the gullibility of the Londoners in particular, related to Hazlitt an anecdote of a Sir George B, who, when a young man, put an advertisement in the newspapers to say that a Mynheer, lately arrived from Holland, had found out a method of taking a likeness much superior to any other, by the person's looking into a mirror, and having the glass heated so as to bake the impression. He stated this wonderful artist as living at a perfumer's shop in Bond street, opposite the hotel where he lodged, and amused himself the next day by watching the numbers of people who flocked to have their likenesses taken in this surprising manner.

Daguerre has spoiled the fun of the practical joke, and, with it, the point of Northcote's illustration.

Armed Neutrality.-The confederacy, so called, of the Northern powers against England, was commenced by the empress of Russia in 1780.

apoleon's Driving and Dancing.-Dodsley tells us, under date of 11th May, 1803, "the first consul, driving a phaeton with four horses in hand, was thrown from his seat in the park near St. Cloud.

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The shock was severe, but no serious injury was sustained. When he recovered, he said it was best for people to confine themselves to their own occupation.' Somewhere about this time it was, that at a ball in Paris, he disconcerted the whole quadrille by his awkwardness. He led his partner to her seat, and remarked, "The fact is, beautiful countess, that my forte lies not so much in dancing myself, as in making others dance."

Botany Bay took its name from the great variety of herbs which abounded on its shore when first discovered by Captain Cook in 1770.

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"of

Quorum.-A term derived from the words used in the Latin form of the commission issued to justices of the peace, in England; in which the expression occurred, " quorum unum A. B. esse volumus," whom we will that A. B. be one," thus rendering it necessary that certain individuals (said to be "of the quorum") should be present at the transaction of business. Hence, when in an assembly, committee, &c., it is necessary that a certain number (the majority, for instance,) should be present to give validity to its acts, that number is generally said to constitute a quorum.

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Assiento-Grub Street-Cobweb.

ssiento-A contract between the king of Spain and other powers, made in 1689, for furnishing the Spanish dominions in America with negro slaves. By the treaty of Utrecht it was transferred to the English, who were to furnish four thousand eight hundred negroes annually to Spanish America. The contract was given up to Spain in 1748.

Grub Street.-The name of a street near Moorfields, London, which was formerly the residence of the lowest class of literary characters, from which circumstance, the epithet Grub Street is applied to mean productions and bad compositions.

Evangelists.-Mark and Matthew wrote their Gospels in A. D. 44; Luke in 55; and John in 97. In 95, John was thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil at Rome, whence, being taken out unhurt, he was banished to the Isle of Patmos, and there, in the year 96, he wrote the Apocalypse, and died in 100.

Coals.-Sea-coal was prohibited from being used in and near London, as being 66 prejudicial to human health," and even smiths were obliged to burn wood in 1273. In 1840, there were consumed in London alone 2,638,256 tons.

Cobweb. From the Dutch kopwebbe; kop, in that language, signifies a spider.

ndex Expurgatory.-A catalogue of prohibited books in the church of Rome, first made by the Inquisitors, and approved by the Council of Trent. The index of heretical books, by which the reading of the Scriptures was forbidden (with certain exceptions) to the laity, was confirmed by a bull of Pope Clement VIII. It enumerated most of the celebrated works of France, Spain, Germany, and England. In 1805, the Spanish Inquisition interdicted the circulation of one hundred and two literary works. Locke's "Essay on the Human Understanding" was condemned on the ground that its doctrines were destructive of moral ideas; and Pope's works were censured as obscene, heretical, and blasphemous against his holiness of Rome.

Clergymen.-Lord Clarendon remarks, that "Clergymen understand the least, and take the worst measure of human affairs, of all mankind that can read and write."

Lingua Franca.-The dialect spoken chiefly along the European and African coast of the Mediterranean. It is a species of corrupt Italian, mingled with words of other languages, and may be termed the Creole of the Mediterranean.

Locust. From the Latin loca ustans, burning or laying places waste.

ooks.-"Our religion itself is founded in books, and without them," says Bartholin, "God is silent, Justice dormant, Physic at a stand, Philosophy lame, Letters dumb, and all things involved in

Cimmerian darkness."

The ancients used tables covered with wax, on which they wrote with a pointed instrument called a stylus, whence we get the word style as applied to literary composition. Afterwards they wrote with ink on the inner bark of trees, called in Latin, liber; thus, that word with them came to signify a book, and gives us library, &c. These barks when written upon were rolled up, and each document or treatise called volumen (from volvo), a roll; whence our volume. We get book from the Anglo-Saxon boc, a beech-tree, the bark of which was used by our ancestors for a like purpose. The Egyptians used the inner skin or film of a reed, called papyrus, from which we take our word paper; and when Ptolemy prohibited its exportation, lest Eumenes should make a library equal to that of Alexandria, the latter used the skins of goats and sheep for that purpose, which received the name of pergamena, (whence parchment,) from Pergamus, of which place Eumenes was king. Paper made of cotton was in use on the continent about A. D. 1000. Its manufacture was introduced into England in 1588. The first printed book was entitled "Speculum Humanæ Salvationis," and was the work of Laurens John Koster of Haerlem, who used wooden blocks for types. The first Bible