seven translations or revisions of the English Bible, whereas since 1611, a space of two hundred and fifty-four years has elapsed without the slightest official attempt at correction or revision.* And we think we have given a fair instalment of proof to show that it is not the real intrinsic merit of the Authorised Version that has kept it thus unreasonably and unwarrantably in its present position.

We say this, we are aware, in the teeth of Messrs. Churton and Jones, who tell us in the preface to their second volume, that in giving fresh translations in the notes in order to represent the exact sense of the sacred writers, they do not intend in any way to depreciate the Authorised Version. For its own purpose,' they continue, that priceless treasure is the best 'translation ever produced; and in many, perhaps most re'spects, it is far superior to anything which can possibly be 'substituted for it.' This falls but little short of claiming inspiration for King James's translators; and were it not that their practice is better than their theory, and that a reasonable portion of their commentary is taken up with the flaws they cannot honestly help finding in their priceless jewel,' we should have remarked with considerable severity upon them. But when they admit the existence of manifest errors,' however tenderly they are disposed to deal with them, we cannot but think them very inconsistent in desiring to retain them in the text of the English version of the Scriptures, and very foolish in presuming to judge by anticipation of the future, and to venture the assertion that nothing equal to the present Authorised Version can ever be produced. The purpose' of that, or any version, ought surely to be to represent the original as faithfully as possible, and it is rather the duty of every age to improve what it has received from its predecessors, than to perpetuate and pass onwards known, recognised, and manifest

6 errors.'

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What, then, is the conclusion of the whole matter?' That, as in the early days of the Reformed Anglican Church the greatest care and pains were taken to provide the English reader with the best translation of the Scriptures that the times, opportunities, and stock of materials allowed, so, on the contrary, have these latter days been marked by a studied neglect and dishonest avoidance of this sacred duty.

We turn, however, to the authorities and dignitaries of the Church of England, to the archbishops and bishops, the deans and canons, and call upon them in the sacred name of Truth

* See Mr. Westcott's Bible in the Church,' p. 282 sqq.

to acknowledge and take cognisance of the long-neglected duty of the Church of which they are ministers, as a witness and 'keeper of Holy Writ,'* and to address Her Majesty the Queen of these realms to issue a Royal Commission for the revision of the present authorised translation of the Scriptures to men whose learning and moderation shall deserve and command the confidence of the nation.

And if the official mind in the Church be as deaf to the voice of the charmer as it has often been asserted to be in the State-if the fear of alterations in the English Prayer-book be too strong with the dignified clergy for the crying need of revision and correction in the English Bible-if our prelates are too much occupied with the repression of error to busy themselves with the disentanglement and propagation of truthwe turn from them to the responsible advisers of Her Majesty, to advise Her Majesty to issue her Royal Commission for the revision of the present Authorised Version of the Scriptures to such learned and moderate men as shall deserve and command universal confidence.

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If this be done, especially if it be done on the application of the authorities and dignitaries of the Church, as we hope and trust it will be, and if this great and desirable work be performed as it ought to be, we can imagine the Church of England presenting the revised and corrected Bible to her sons and daughters somewhat in this wise :- Receive,' she would say, my children, this revised and corrected translation of the Word of God in your own language, as nearly and closely 'corresponding to the original as the accumulated materials of centuries and the labour of my most learned and single'minded sons have been able to render it. I thank God that I have at length been enabled to grant you this long-deferred and long-needed boon. And, under God, my gratitude is due to those who, by uttering stern truths and merited re'proofs, have awakened my servants to a fuller and truer sense of my office as a "witness and keeper of Holy Writ," and freed me from the reproach of unfaithfulness and untruthfulness, which has long been injurious to my best energies. Take, then, this book, and make use of it with faith and 'prayer; may it, by God's blessing, bring forth in you an increase of both wisdom and charity, and tend to diminish the number, extent, and acrimony of controversies among the followers of one common Lord and Master!'

* Art. xvii.

ART. V.-1. Traforo delle Alpi tra Bardonnèche e Modane: Relazione della Direzione Tecnica alla Direzione Generale delle Strade Ferrate dello Stato. Torino: 1863.

2. Rapport adressé à la Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Nord de l'Espagne sur les Travaux de Percement du Mont Cenis. Par M. NOBLEMAINE. Neuilly: 1861.

3. Notice Historique sur la Percée du Mont Cenis et les Nouvelles Machines de MM. Sommeiller, Grandis et Grattoni. Par M. BONJEAN. Chambéry: 1863.

AMONGST the imperial works and worthy kings' which this

age, prolific in triumphs of engineering skill, has produced, there is none which-whether we regard the difficulty of the undertaking or the importance of the object-more conspicuously challenges attention and deserves admiration than the great tunnel through the Alps, now steadily advancing, of which we propose, in the following article, to give a short account.

Although the most frequented in modern times, the Mont Cenis is by no means the oldest of the passes of the Alps. It seems not to have been known to the ancient Romans, nor to have been used as a highway, or at all events not as a military road, until the middle ages. Recent researches have established the fact, almost beyond a doubt, that Hannibal led his army into Italy by the pass of the Little St. Bernard. To reach the north of Italy and the plains of Lombardy from France, however, the shortest route is by way of Chambéry and the valley of the Arc. The railway, which leaves the Paris and Lyons line at Ambérieux and passes by Culoz and Chambéry, has been pushed forward to St. Michel in that valley, and from this point the traveller proceeds in a diligence as far as the village of Lans-le-bourg-a distance of about sixteen miles where the ascent of the Mont Cenis begins. About onefourth of the distance between St. Michel and Lans-le-bourg, in a romantic part of the deep valley through which the rapid torrent of the Arc forces its way-shut in by lofty snowcovered mountains-lies the poor little hamlet of Fourneaux, and about a mile beyond it the larger but still insignificant village of Modane. On the right of the road, close to Fourneaux, the attention of the traveller is arrested by numerous white buildings which have the appearance of barracks; behind them a steep inclined plane, with two lines of iron tramway, ascends to a considerable height, and stops at two square-framed doors placed against the side of the mountain, near which are perched a few cottages and workshops. On

the same line with the top of the incline, and a few paces to the east or right, may be distinguished a semicircular hole, out of which the spectator may perhaps, at the moment when he gazes, see a waggon or waggons issuing loaded with broken stones, and tilting their contents down the steep side of the mountain. Those buildings are the dwellings and workshops of the men employed in piercing the Alps, and that hole is the mouth of the great tunnel itself on the Savoy or northern side.

Hopeless indeed must have appeared even a few years ago the idea of carrying a railway through the mighty barrier with which Nature has girdled Italy, and which, while it has too often failed as a defence against invasion, has had the effect of isolating her in a great degree from the rest of Europe, and has impeded her material prosperity. The genius of Napoleon did much when under his auspices the Simplon road was made, and the traveller could climb the lofty summit of the Alps comfortably seated in his carriage. M. Céard of Geneva, to whom that noble work is due, the more remarkable as it was the first of its kind, relates in his account of it that the Emperor Napoleon frequently summoned him to his presence to ask the same question: Eh bien! le canon, quand passera-t-il le Simplon? This was followed by similar roads across the St. Gothard, the Splugen, and the Stelvio; and when these magnificent roads were completed, it seemed as if all had been done that engineering skill could accomplish to make a highway into Italy. Nor is it likely that more would have been attempted if steam had not entirely changed the nature of the case. The delay occasioned on a long journey by the ascent and descent of these mountain-passes was little felt when the greatest rate of speed on level roads did not exceed eight or nine miles an hour. But when railways began to spread their multitudinous arms on both sides of the Alps -when they crept up the valleys, and the course of the locomotive was suddenly arrested by the frowning masses of rock which seemed to say, Thus far shalt thou come and no 'farther when the traveller had to exchange the luxurious saloon in which he was whirled along like an arrow through the air for the uncomfortable seat of a slow and jolting diligence the question irresistibly occurred, Is it possible for a locomotive to scale that lofty wall? or, if not, is it impos'sible to carry on the railway through the Alps?' The Austrian engineers, who have shown the greatest boldness and skill in the construction of Alpine roads, were the first to deal with this difficult problem. The railroad from Vienna to Trieste

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crosses the Noric chain of the Alps at Semmering. The line ascends in gradients varying from 1 in 40 to 1 in 100 for 25 miles from Gloggnitz station to the summit of the pass, and then crosses the watershed in a tunnel 4,000 yards in length at an elevation of 2,893 English feet above the sea. This colossal work was accomplished for the Austrian Government by the engineer Carlo Chega, between 1848 and 1854. Another line of railway is also far advanced across the Brenner, between Botzen and Inspruck, which will open a very easy and direct mode of communication between central Europe and Northern Italy. But the Italian Government was naturally anxious that these important Alpine passes for steamcarriages should not be exclusively in the hands of Austria; and they therefore applied themselves with great energy to open a similar connexion between the Italian kingdom and the French provinces both of Savoy and of Nice.

At first the favourite idea was that a practicable railway could be so constructed as to climb the mountain, and many were the ingenious schemes devised for the purpose. Perhaps in nothing has engineering science made more rapid progress than in the power of overcoming steep gradients. We well remember when the man would have been thought a visionary who should have proposed to make a locomotive line with a gradient of one in fifty; even one in a hundred was thought a formidable obstacle. Now, however, gradients are faced of one in thirty, or even one in twenty-seven, of which an example exists in England, and a ruling gradient of one in fifty is only considered objectionable, inasmuch as it limits. the carrying power of the engine, and so increases the ratio of the working expenses to the gross returns. It is, in fact, a mere question of expense. But the gradient of the Alps! That was a gradient which transcended all experience. Still, engineers did not despair. The possibility of a railway across the Simplon was seriously discussed, and we believe that the late lamented Mr. Robert Stephenson was employed by a company to survey the pass, but his report was unfavourable. We remember, ten years ago, meeting in a small chalet near the summit of the mountain a foreign gentleman surrounded by maps, and plans, and sections, who told us that he was bent upon the same errand. Stationary engines, cog-wheels, pneumatic tubes - every kind of mechanical apparatus, were proposed to meet the difficulty, but hitherto without result.*

* An experimental line is at this moment in operation on the Mont Cenis, on the plan invented by Mr. Fell, an American, for