[Footnote 1: The following arrangement, which only slightly alters the text, corrects the main defects: "The church of this parish, which stood on the present site, was destroyed by fire on [date] and, having been rebuilt, was opened for divine service on [date]."] {53} * * * * * A CAROL OF THE KINGS. According to one legend, the three sons of Noah were raised from the dead to represent all mankind at Bethlehem. According to another, they slept a deep sleep in a cavern on Ararat until Messias was born, and then an angel aroused and showed them The Southern Cross, then first created to be the beacon of their way. When the starry signal had fulfilled its office it went on, journeying towards the south, until it reached its place to bend above The Peaceful Sea in memorial of the Child Jesu. I. Three ancient men, in Bethlehem's cave, With awful wonder stand: A Voice had call'd them from their grave In some far Eastern land! II. They lived: they trod the former earth, When the old waters swell'd:-- The ark, that womb of second birth, Their house and lineage held! III. Pale Japhet bows the knee with gold; Bright Shem sweet incense brings: And Ham--the myrrh his fingers hold-- Lo! the Three Orient Kings! IV. Types of the total earth, they hail'd The signal's starry frame:-- Shuddering with second life, they quail'd At the Child Jesu's name! V. Then slow the patriarchs turn'd and trod, And this their parting sigh-- "Our eyes have seen the living God, And now, once more to die!" H. OF M. * * * * * SIR W. SCOTT AND SIR W. NAPIER. Some short time ago there appeared in _The Times_ certain letters relative to a song of Sir Walter Scott in disparagement of Fox, said to have been sung at the dinner given in Edinburgh on the acquittal of Viscount Melville. In one letter, signed "W. Napier," it is asserted, on the authority of a lady, that Scott _sang_ the song, which gave great offence to the Whig party at the time. Now, I must take the liberty of declaring this assertion to be incorrect. I had the honour of knowing pretty intimately Sir Walter from the year 1817 down to the period of his departure for the Continent. I have been present at many convivial meetings with him, and conversed with him times without number, and he has repeatedly declared that, although fond of music, he could not sing from his boyhood, and could not even hum a tune so as to be intelligible to a listener. The idea, therefore, of his making such a public exhibition of himself as to sing at a public meeting, is preposterous.