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The Editor's Desk.

THE amiable Bishop of Salisbury, and the learned Justice Talfourd, who have been both suddenly called to rest, are undoubtedly a loss to the Church. The Bishop of Salisbury will be much missed by the poor in the neighbourhood of his palace,1 and the poet judge by the bar whom he instructed, and a large circle of friends whom he charmed by his conversation, and amiable, winning ways. We subjoin a short account of his death.

He had taken his accustomed early walk, and when he appeared at the breakfast-table, the only interruption to his wonted flow of spirits arose from the humane anxiety which he felt respecting the unfortunate woman charged with the murder of her child. On entering the court, no change was perceptible in his look or manner. His address to the Grand Jury, so far as it proceeded, was delivered with less fluency, perhaps, than was common to him. He occasionally recalled his words, and there was evidently a considerable mental effort required to embody, in language which his correct taste deemed suitable, the thoughts which were struggling for expression. It was observed that his right hand was clenched with an unusual degree of firmness, indicating powerful mental emotion. After he had spoken for about twenty minutes, the Grand Jury and spectators were appalled by observing that the failure of his voice was immediately followed by a drooping of the head ; and but for instant support he would have fallen. We need not here repeat the description given of this extremely distressing scene. Mr. Francis Talfourd, the eldest son, who had just joined the Oxford Circuit, was immediately summoned, but did not arrive until after his father had ceased to breathe. The melancholy tidings were received

1 He is to be succeeded, we are rejoiced to hear, by his most dear and intimate friend Canon Hamilton, who will, we doubt not, as Bishop, extend that constant care and attention in the diocese which as Canon he has so unremittingly bestowed on his cathedral.

by Mr. Justice Wightman and the Bar with emotions of profound grief. When Mr. Justice Wightman, in the Nisi Prius Court, announced the mournful fact, several of the barristers were affected to tears; and the Grand Jury in the other court received the information with feelings of the deepest sorrow. It was thought prudent to prepare the mind of Lady Talfourd by informing her, by telegraph, that his lordship had been the subject of an alarming and sudden attack of illness at Stafford. Lady Talfourd and Miss Talfourd left by the express train, and arrived in Stafford at half-past eight o'clock, when the dreadful extent of their calamity was first revealed to them. The Rector of Stafford waited upon the bereaved ladies at the Judges' House, and endeavoured to the utmost to assuage their grief.

On the 21st ult., the mortal remains of the lamented Judge were removed to London. The shutters of all the shops and offices in the town were either partially or wholly closed, and the blinds of private houses were drawn down, during the progress of the cortege. The Rector of Stafford walked first, and all the barristers on the circuit who had been apprised of the hour fixed for the removal voluntarily assembled, and, attired in mourning, followed the remains in solemn procession, unaffected and poignant grief being depicted in every countenance. There was something about this unostentatious and mournful procession which produced an effect on the bystander exceeding that of the most gorgeous funeral spectacle. It symbolised the reality of the sentiments of affection and respect which those who knew him best entertained for the kind-hearted, the gifted, and the accomplished Talfourd.

The Bishop of Oxford is in the habit of holding his ordinations in various churches of the diocese. On Sunday, the 12th of March, his lordship held one at the Church of S. Peter in the East, in Oxford. Our readers will, we are sure, peruse the account of this solemn service with feelings of peculiar gratification. The service was choral throughout, and the sermon was preached by the Lord Bishop of Graham's Town. After the sermon,

the candidates were presented by the Archdeacon of Oxford, and the litany and suffrages were sung by the Bishop of Oxford, assisted by the Archdeacon of Oxford, the Vicar, and two Curates, all kneeling before the altar. The choir consisted principally of the members of the Society for Promoting the Study of Plain Song, of which the Bishop is Patron. The Litany over, the Bishop proceeded to intone the Communion Service, and at the reading of the Epistle took his seat in a chair placed before the altar. After the oaths were duly administered, the office of Deacon was conferred upon thirteen candidates; the Gospel was read, and the Bishop then delivered, in a very impressive manner, the exhortation to those who were candidates for the Priesthood. The prayers of the congregation were asked, and after a solemn pause, the candidates kneeling, the Bishop commenced the "Veni Creator," which was sung to the old music in unison. The rest of the service was conducted in the same manner, and with the same regard to ritual proprieties. We really thank the Bishop of Oxford most heartily for the support he is giving to the cause of Church music, in which the Church's progress is more involved than many will allow."

A very

Whilst upon this subject, we may well congratulate the Society for the Study of Plain Song upon the success which it has so soon met with. able paper was read at its last meeting, by the Rev. J. L. Fisk, whose indefatigable labours in the cause of more than once been noticed by us. warded us the paper, which has been which we shall extract in our next.

Church song have

Mr. Fisk has forpublished, and from For the present we

must merely commend it to those who are meditating the introduction of the music of the Church, as it is well fitted for general circulation.

The Churchman's Library demands at our hands a hearty greeting, and from our readers a ready reception. It is well remarked in the prospectus, that the theological merits of minor publications are far inferior to those of the more advanced works that have been published within the last few years. To supply a series of books, pervaded by a high tone, and written with dogmatic precision, though with that warmth which characterises the mediæval writers, is, we believe, the object of the promoters; and in the specimens before us they have not failed in carrying out their design. "Sunday, and how to Spend it," puts reverence to the great Christian festival upon the right ground, and shows, that those who have no sympathy with the Judaizing of modern times, would yet observe the LORD's day as becometh the children of GOD and members of CHRIST. "Church Worship" is an adaptation of Mr. Shaw's preface to the "English Psalter," which said preface we noticed some time ago. It is particularly happy in answering popular objections. But if we may select, where each book is so good, we cannot hesitate to avow a very great partiality for "Catholic and Protestant." The subject is well handled, the style pithy, the argumentum ad hominem here and there good, and the treatise as a whole is, we think, well calculated to remove a great deal of ignorance from the minds of the people. Let us give a passage.

"History and Meaning of the word Catholic.

"The name Catholic is derived from a Greek word, signifying universal. The original adjective is used, amongst other authors, by S. Justin Martyr, a Christian, who suffered about the year A.D. 167. He speaks of the Catholic' Resurrection, meaning thereby, the resurrection of all men at the last day. In the same way we find Christian writers, speaking of 'Catholic' Epistles of S. James, S. Peter, Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, &c., meaning thereby epistles, whether inspired or uninspired,

addressed to the whole Church at large, and not to the Christians of any individual city or country. Besides this general signification, however, the word was used in peculiar senses, both political and religious. Politically it was applied, in and after the time of the Emperor Constantine, to the Emperor's deputy in managing the general affairs of a division of the Empire, as distinguished from the magistrate who had the special care of legal matters. The Catholic,' therefore, of secular history, answers partly to our 'Lord Lieutenant,' partly to our 'Secretary for the Colonies. In later times this designation was also applied to the chief Bishop of any province, answering pretty nearly to our term Metropolitan. But it was in both cases a political, and not an ecclesiastical term.

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"Its religious sense was very different. We read constantly in ecclesiastical writers of Catholics,' the Catholic Church,' the 'Catholic faith.' The first person in whose works we find this word thus employed is S. Ignatius, a disciple of the Apostle S. John. He, writing in the year 107, A.D., to the church of Smyrna,— the same church to which, not many years before, the LORD had addressed, through S. John, words of encouragement and commendation,-expresses himself thus: 'Wherever JESUS CHRIST is, there is the Catholic Church.' After the same manner, also, the church of Smyrna, writing not many years later of the martyrdom of its Bishop, S. Polycarp, styles him Bishop of the 'Catholic' church in Smyrna, and addresses itself to 'every diocese of the holy Catholic Church.' We find the same expressions used by S. Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, who lived about A.D. 200; and by S. Cyprian and Cornelius, in A.D. 250, who continually speak of the 'Catholic' Church, and the Catholic' faith. There is scarcely one Greek or Latin writer in the next and succeeding centuries in whose works these phrases do not repeatedly occur. The term Catholic' Church was sometimes used to signify the whole or universal Church throughout all the world; sometimes, but later, it was a name employed to distinguish the Mother-Church from any chapels or oratories erected in the same parish. But by far the commonest use of the word was in opposition to the name 'heretic,' or 'schismatic,' and as equivalent to 'orthodox.' Thus

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