After this ingenious torturing of the Queen's English, it is not surprising to find, "In steed [sic] of Tenne command{ts.} Lords Pray'r, Creed: Heer's Three and Thirty Languages to Reade," that is to say, the sentence "But the just shall live by his faith," in that number of tongues, first in his stenographic characters, and then transliterated into longhand. His dedication is written in the style of a sermon, and in an introductory verse he does not fail to claim that by his art are "... Sermons writ even from the lip, And sudden thoughts before they slip." His good opinion of his own stenography, and powers of versification, sustains him to the end of his book, and he bids us adieu in this wise:-- "Herewith Farewell; If you can tell What yet more fair, short, swift maybee, Let the world know it, candedly [sic] show it Or if not, Follow this with mee." William Hopkins "Flying Penman" (1695), has the following commendation signed by one whose surname has since become famous in divinity:-- "Virgil, who largely wrot about the Gnat That saveing Man's life his own ruine gat, Might have emploi'd his pen about this Fly With greater pleasure and Utility, A Fly this is, but of more noble kind Than in the winged crue you ere did find: A Flying Man; the Flying-Pen-man 'tis Whose wing the fleeing game doth never miss. The Eagle strikes down and eats up his prey Destroying all that he doth bear away, But what this Pen-man takes he doth preserve, And makes it better to all uses serve, When fleeting words would vanish with their sound He doth them stay, and them deliver bound, By Lines of Characters wherein they rest As in a dwelling that doth please them best. The Art of Spelling at first was thought Strange, and they deem'd immortal who it taught, Spelling by Characters excelleth all That under any other Art doth fall. Some Charactors creep, some go, these do Fly Showing their authors great agility, And this ability he doth impart By certain rules of a defusive Art." EDWARD BEECHER. Hopkins gives a long list of theological words, and of abbreviations of such phrases as "the blood of the saints," "the breath of the Almighty," "the candle of the Lord," etc. In reporting the words of preachers, he advises the use of a book, with a margin ruled off, in which to "set down the numbers and names of all the heads contained in the sermon. All these heads," he says, "with parts of the Inlargements used upon them may be taken by such who hardly ever wrote before." This statement must be received _cum grano salis_.