In the same library there is a fine Psalter, which belonged to Queen Elizabeth. The _Livre d'Heures_ of Mary Queen of Scots was here also to be found: "Maria, glorious martyr and Queen of Scotland." It is conjectured these books were brought to Douai by the fugitive English Roman Catholic priests. In 1790 their collections were confiscated and given to the public library of Douai. It would be of interest to ascertain, if possible, the authenticity of the _Heures à l'Usage_, stated to have belonged to Mary Queen of Scots. Upon this point one may be permitted to be sceptical. I have myself seen two. One of these, it was said, had been used by Mary on the scaffold, and contained a note in the handwriting, as I think, of James II. attesting the fact. It was understood to have been obtained from a monastery in France. The other, a small Prayer Book MS. in vellum, of good execution, had the signature "M." with a line I think over it of "O Lord, deliver me from my enemies!" in French. I am, however, now writing from memory, and, in the first case, of very many years. Whether the line, "Maria, glorious martyr and Queen of Scotland," be written in the Psalter, or has been added by the mental excitement of M. Duthilloeul, the librarian at Douai, I cannot decide. The grand culmination of "and Queen of Scotland" forms doubtless a very striking anti-thesis: but neither the possessor of the book nor a priest would have so sunk the martyr, although a woman and a queen were alike concerned, as this line does. Lowndes states there is a copy of the bishop's treatise on vellum at Cambridge. A copy is in the British Museum; but the title, according, to Lowndes, has _seven_ sermons. It will be observed the title now given has _ten_. S. H. NOTES ON NEWSPAPERS. The social elements of society in the seventeenth century were more simple in their character and development than at the present period. The population was comparatively small, and therefore the strivings for success in any pursuit did not involve that severe conflict which is so frequently the case in the present day. Society then was more of a community than it is now. It had not public bodies to aid it. It was left more to its own inherent resources for reciprocal good, and for mutual help. The temptations to evade and dissemble, in matters of business, or private and public negotiations, were not so strong as they now are. Its transactions were more transparent and defined, because they were fewer and less complicated than many of our own. We readily grant that society now, in its social, religious, and commercial aspects, enjoys advantages immeasurably superior to those of any former period; still there are some few advantages which it had then, that it cannot possess now. The following advertisements, from the newspapers of the time, will illustrate the truth of the foregoing remarks: From a _Collection for Improvement of Husbandry and Trade_. Friday, January 26, 1693/4.