nd illustrious among men,--the Des Carteses, Gassendis, and
Wallises of his age; while Bunyan associated with the despised
Nonconformists. Nor is is likely that Bunyan read the _Leviathan_; Dent's
_Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven, The Practice of Piety_, Fox's _Martyrs_,
and, above all, his Bible, constituted his library during his imprisonment
for conscience-sake, which lasted from 1660 to 1672. Had he suffered from
Hobbes's philosophy, he would have proclaimed it upon the house-tops,
especially in his _Grace Abounding_, that others might have been guarded
from such dangerous scepticism. The _Vision_ of Hobbes was doubtless
intended to render the forgery more popular.

GEORGE OFFOR.

Hackney, Jan. 1851.

* * * * *

THE MOTHER CHURCH OF THE SAXONS.

In "NOTES AND QUERIES" (Vol. ii., p. 478.) SIR HENRY ELLIS observes, that--

"Although St. Martin's, Canterbury, is commonly called the mother
church of England on account of its having been the first used here by
Augustine, tradition represents, that when this missionary arrived in
Kent, he found an ancient church on the site of what is now called St.
Martin's."

SIR H. ELLIS adds, that--

"A charter of King Canute's styles Saviour's church, Canterbury, the
mother and mistress of all churches in the kingdom of
England."-_AEcclesia Salvatoris_, &c.

I conceive these accounts to be perfectly reconcilable. From Bede's
_Ecclesiastical History_ (b. i., caps. 25, 26.), we learn that, on the east
side of Canterbury, in the year 597, there was a church dedicated to the
honour of St. Martin, that was "built while the Romans were still in the
island," some two hundred years before this date. St. Martin's was the
church wherein Bertha, Queen of Kent, used to pray; she having been a
Christian of the Royal Family of the Franks.

It will, of course, be allowed that during the sixth, seventh, and eighth
centuries, different saints were held in especial honour in different
countries. For instance, not long after the arrival of the Roman
missionaries in England, various churches and monasteries,--at Canterbury,
Lindisfarne, Bamborough, Lichfield, Weremouth, and Jarrow, and the capital
city of the Picts,--were wholly or partially named after St. Peter. When
Naitan, King of the Picts, was about to build his church, he sought the
assistance of the Abbot of Weremouth, a strong supporter of Roman
observances, and "promised