BERKELEY. Lent is fast approaching: we hope that this year it will be kept with increased fervour, and that all those who are in earnest will mark the time by more prayer, public and private, more frequent attendance at Holy Communion, and more work for God. There will be in addition to the present services daily Evensong at 5, except on Wednesdays and Fridays, when there will be full Evensong and Sermon at 8.15. The Mothers' Meetings at Newport, which for a while were suspended, have been begun again at Mrs. Bray's house as before. The prayers of the Parishioners are earnestly desired for Mr. Arthur Wilfrid Baynham, who hopes to be ordained on the 1st of March, and afterwards to be Assistant Curate of Berkeley. Prizes were given by Lady Fitzhardinge to the best scholars in the Sunday School on Sunday, Jan. 4th. They consisted of Church services, prayer books, and story books; some of them were very handsome prizes; sixteen were given to the boys, and sixteen to the girls. Lady Fitzhardinge also gave a tea to the women who attend the Mothers' Meetings in Berkeley, on Thursday, the 8th inst. A great many came, and thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon, and the entertainment which was provided for them. The choirmen had their annual supper at the Chantry on the 29th December. After supper they gathered round the fire and sang songs and glees until it was time to separate. The Night School has been very well attended by a good many lads, and especially by a class of young men, who have attended with very fair regularity throughout. They had tea together at the Chantry on Saturday, the 17th. After various games which they all seemed thoroughly to enjoy, a magic lantern, belonging to Mr. Edward Bell and kindly lent by him for the occasion, was exhibited to them, and gave great pleasure and amusement. The "British Workman," or Working Men's club, will be opened on Saturday, Feb. 7th. The object of this institution is to give working men a place where they can thoroughly enjoy themselves without the danger of intoxicating liquors. It will in fact be a Public House without the drink. The Midnight Service on the last day of the old year was attended by a large congregation. The Service was the same as the year before, the Curate in charge hopes, however, if he is permitted to have another, to render it more effective with a fuller choir. CHURCH REGISTER. BAPTISMS. Dec. 31-George Hartley Mulder, son of John Brons and Sarah Ann Mulder, New Pekla, Holland. Jan. 4-Edward, son of Charles & Ann Phillips, Berkeley Heath. 6-John Atherton, son of Samuel and Susannah Launder Mason, Berkeley. 7-Emily, daughter of Harriett and Henry Knight, Pedington. 14—Arthur Cox, son of Robert Cullimore and Elizabeth Jones, Halmore. 18-Emily Augusta, daughter of Arthur James and Elizabeth Jane Rodway, Berkeley. George Frederick, son of ditto. 22-Frederick, son of James and Ann Birch, Sanigar. 25-Emily Sarah, daughter of William and Emily Carrington, Berkeley. MARRIAGES. Jan. 19-George Beer to Mary Jane Lustey, both of Sharpness. Elizabeth Fryer, aged 68 years. John Hobby, aged 3 months. George Adams, aged 72 years, Eliza Lane, aged 57 years. -00 COALEY. The Vicar's Balance Sheet of the Offertory and Church Lighting Accounts has been placed upon the Church Door. £4. 14s. of the Offertory has been applied to the following Societies : The National Society. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. The Diocesan Association. £13. 4s. has been applied to the Lighting of the Church, the Sick Poor, and Parochial Charities, leaving a balance in hand of £4. 16s. 1d. The Visit from the Deputation for the Additional Curates' Society, expected in January is deferred till February. The Rev. S. York will preach for the Society, on the evening of the First Sunday in Lent, Feb. 22. Feb. 18 being Ash Wednesday, there will be Morning Service at 11 o'clock, and Evening Service on that day, and on each Wednesday throughout Lent (March 18 excepted), at half-past Seven. A new tubular boiler has been put to the Church Warming Apparatus, and the whole covered in by adding a chamber, built of solid stone masonry, to the tower of the Church. This will afford 'These hollows are technically called "forms." Here the hare rests in a crouching attitude, with the chin and throat resting on the front paws.' THE HARE. XVI.-2. The Ware. The HE common hare is well-known to all who live in the British islands. It is found in every part of Europe except Norway and Sweden. The hare feeds wholly on vegetable substances, and does terrible injury to young plantations, fields of early wheat, and other cereal crops. habits of the hare are, for the most part, nocturnal. During the day hares rest in open fields and stubbles, and especially in grassy hollows. For partial concealment they excavate holes, in which they lie. These hollows are technically called forms.' Here they rest, in a crouching attitude, with the chin and throat resting on the front paws. Hares are good swimmers when occasion requires. Mr. Yarrel records in the London Magazine, that he saw a hare swim from the sea-shore to an island a mile distant. He saw two hares come down to the shore, and he watched them for half an hour. One of the hares from time to time went down to the very edge of the water and then returned to its mate, and eventually one hare took to the sea at the precise time of the tide called 'slack-water,' when the passage across could be effected without being carried by the force of the stream either above or below the desired place of landing. The other hare then cantered back to the woods. As game, the hare is shot in great numbers, and there is no cruelty in that; but we cannot say the same about hunting poor puss with a pack of harriers, or 'coursing' it with greyhounds. These forms of socalled 'sport' doubtless give an excuse for healthy exercise to men, and give excitement to the gallant dogs, but it seems a very unfair and unequal match thus to run a defenceless little hare to the death. The poet Cowper kept several pet hares in his house, and he gives minute details of their ways and habits. He wrote an epitaph on one of his favourites, in which the following stanzas occur: N tracing the history of the English Reformation we find that the seeds of opposition to the usurped power, and the corruptions of Papal Rome, had been sown in early times, especially by Grossteste, Bishop of Lincoln, in the reign of Henry III.; by Wycliffe, in the reign of Edward III.; and in the reigns of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., by John Colet. This excellent and distinguished man was the son of a wealthy English merchant, who had obtained favour in the court of Henry VII., and being the sole survivor of the merchant's twenty-two children, John became the heir of his large property. Not caring, Dean Colet. however, for the prosperous worldly career which was thus opened to him, he chose the clerical profession, as more adapted to his tastes and feelings. Colet studied for seven years, and graduated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and appears to have had especial ability for mathematics. The Greek language was not then taught in the University; but at this time the study of that tongue, and its literature, had been revived in France and Italy by the learned Greeks who had fled there from Constantinople, when that city was taken by the Turks; and this new learning,' as it was called, attracted Oxford students to the Continent, and among others Grocene, who, on his return to Oxford, gave lectures on the Greek language and authors, although Oxford was then the stronghold of the Scholastic Theology,' which was mainly produced by the subtle works of Duns Scotus, Aquinas, and the like. The intelligent mind of Colet could not endure the fanciful and allegorical interpretations that these doctors gave to the plainest words of Scripture, and in 1493 he, too, went to Paris and Florence for four years, where he learnt the Greek language, and studied the works of the Greek and Latin Fathers of the Church, preferring Origen, Cyprian, and Ambrose, to Augustine, who was the favourite of the Oxford Schoolmen.' 6 Colet also improved his knowledge of the English language and studied elocution, that he might be able to preach in England in a better and more attractive manner than was then customary. On his return to Oxford he took Holy Orders, and gave a course of lectures on St. Paul's Epistles, explaining the Apostle's words in their natural and literal sense, to the utter astonishment of the University. Colet was only twenty-nine, and had not yet taken a degree in Divinity, yet he dared to reverse the whole system of teaching and lecturing in Oxford. Instead of turning all the Scriptures into mysteries aud allegorics, Colet set forth the plain meaning of the words; and instead of expounding single texts, he dwelt on the whole drift and aim of an epistle. Many who had Nearly all the in former ideas These lectures were heard with intense interest. only intended to criticise were convinced by them. elder men of learning were, however, too much rooted to approve of Colet's teaching, with the exception of Prior Charnock, Grocene, and Linacre. Colet turned to the younger men of the University, many of whom attached themselves to him and his opinions, among whom was More (afterwards Sir Thomas More), then only seventeen, with whose genius Colet was greatly impressed, though they afterwards took differing lines of thought and conduct. Colet's lectures awakened fresh interest in the study of Scripture, about which he related an anecdote. When sitting in his study in the winter vacation a priest entered, whom he recognised as an attendant at his lectures. After some converse the priest took a book from the folds of his dress, and said, 'This contains the Epistles of St. Paul, which I have transcribed with my own hand. I owe to your lectures my love for St. Paul.' Then, brother,' replied Colet, 'I love you for loving St. Paul, for I also love and admire him.' The talk continued, till at last the priest asked Colet to enlighten him as to some of the truths which were hidden from him in the |