men. In the apocryphal book of
the "Birth of Mary," translated by Archbishop Wake, which is to be found in
the works of St. Jerome, and which is attributed to St. Matthew, there is
an account of a miracle in the early history of the Virgin Mary, in which
it is said (ch. iv.):

"2. And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen Psalms of
Degrees, fifteen stairs to ascend.

"3. For the temple being built in a mountain, the altar of
burnt-offering, which was without, could not be come near but by
stairs."

It goes on to state how the infant Mary miraculously walked up these
stairs. In the account of the same miracle, in the _Protevangelion_,
ascribed to St. James, it is related (ch. vii.) how the priest--

"5. ... placed her (the infant) upon the third _step of the altar_."

From this comparison it would appear, that the "stairs about the temple"
were synonymous with the "steps of the altar."

I would therefore suggest, for the consideration of those better acquainted
with the subject, that these Psalms were adapted to be sung (not _on_ the
steps, as some think, but) as a kind of introit while the priests ascended
the steps of the altar.

To show their adaptation for this purpose, it may be worth remarking, that
they are all, except cxxxii., introits in the first Prayer Book of Edward
VI.

J. R. G.

Dublin.

* * * * *

AMERICAN POEMS IMPUTED TO ENGLISH AUTHORS.

(Vol. viii., pp. 71. 183.)

The southern part of the U. S. seems to make as free with the reputations
of English authors, as the northern with their copyright. The name of the
South Carolina newspaper, which, with so much confirmatory evidence,
ascribed _The Calm_ to Shelley, is not given. If it was the _Southern
Literary Messenger_, the editor has been at it again. The following began
to appear in the English papers about Christmas last, and is still "going
the round:"

"THE SORROWS OF WERTHER.--The _Southern Literary Messenger_ (U. S.) for
the present month contains, in 'The Editor's Table,' the following
comic poem of Thackeray's; written, we are told, 'one morning last
spring in the _Messenger_ office,' during a call made by the author:--

'Werther had a love for Charlotte,
Such as words could never utter.
Would you know how first he met her?
She was cutting bread and butter.

'Charlotte was a married lady,
And a moral