reorganised under the leadership of Viscount Goderich—formerly Mr. Robinson. Three per Cents. averaged 84; wheat, 58s. 6d. JANUARY—The celebrated “Horace Bentley” controversy originated in a paragraph which appeared this month in _Berrow’s Worcester Journal_, stating that the Roman Catholics in Cavan, Ireland, were renouncing the errors of their Church in considerable numbers. In the _Journal_ of February 7, a person signing the initials “W. L.” begged, as an English Catholic, to be informed what were the errors that the Catholics of Cavan were renouncing, and pledged himself that, if any one would point out to him only one error, either in morals or doctrine, which the Catholic Church taught, he would, as soon as possible after, publicly read his recantation in the parish church of B—. In a fortnight after W. L.’s letter had appeared, one was inserted in reply, signed “Horace Bentley,” offering, if the Bible was accepted as the test, to prove that the Church of Rome taught “several fundamental and fatal errors.” W. L. replied that he would “leave Mr. B. to take his own course. He might prove his allegations from the Holy Scriptures, or from any source he might deem expedient—he was ready to join the issue with him.” This, Horace Bentley contended, was an evasion of the requirement—that an absolute test of truth and error should be agreed upon; but, nevertheless, proceeded to prove the existence of what are considered by Protestants to be the principal errors of the Roman Church, by an extraordinary array of quotations from Catholic authors and authorities themselves. The letters were, on all hands, admitted to display singular ability. W. L., at first, questioned the correctness of the quotations, and was evidently astonished at their production. An offer was made by the Catholic party to change their champion, on the ground of W. L.’s incompetence; and, though this was not accepted, yet the last two letters under that signature were plainly from another hand. In these, endeavour was made to show that the doctrines of the Church of England were, in many respects, identical with those of the Church of Rome, and that “every consistent Protestant must be an infidel.” The Protestant party were so delighted with their disputant, that a proposal was made to purchase a piece of plate by subscription. The _incognito_ was, for a long time, most admirably preserved, and the letters of Horace Bentley were pretty generally ascribed to the Rev. Dr. Hook, then Dean of Worcester. It has now, however, long been known that they were written by the Rev. G. Redford, D.D., LL.D., minister at Angel Street Chapel, Worcester. The original W. L. was a machine manufacturer at Bromsgrove.