498 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



them were opened, and they knew that they 

 were naked, and they sewed fig-tree leaves to- 

 gether and made themselves breeches." The 

 Bishops' Bible was published in London in 

 1568. The text of this was compared with 

 the original by eight bishops and seven other 

 scholars of reputation, who appended their 

 initials to their respective tasks. In 1582 ap- 

 peared, at Rheims, in France, an English ver- 

 sion of the New Testament, prepared by sev- 

 eral Roman Catholic exiles, and in 1609-'10 a 

 similar version-of the Old Testament at Douay. 

 They form the standard English Scriptures of 

 the Roman Catholics, being generally known 

 as the Douay Bible. In July, 1604, King 

 James appointed fifty-four scholars to prepare 

 a new version of the Bible. Only forty-seven 

 accepted the appointment, and the result of 

 their labors was the publication in 1610 of the 

 version known as " King James's Bible," which 

 has been in common use from that time to 

 this, slightly modified by the revision prepared 

 by the most learned English and American 

 scholars a few years ago. 



Benefit of Clergy. Until the reign of 

 Henry VI. all members of the clerical order 

 were almost totally exempted from the juris- 

 diction and, authority of the secular magistrate 

 in respect of crimes and offenses. This was 

 called " Benefit of the Clergy. " If a priest or 

 "clerk" happened to be imprisoned by the 

 secular arm on a criminal charge, he was, on 

 the demand of the bishop, instantly delivered 

 up without any further inquisition not to be 

 let loose upon the community, it is true, but to 

 be detained by the ordinary till he had either 

 purged himself from the offense, or, having 

 failed to do so, had been degraded. In the 

 reign mentioned this was so far altered that 

 the prisoner had first to be arraigned, but 

 could arrest judgment by plea, declining the 

 jurisdiction either before or after conviction. 

 At first the test of admission to this singular 

 privilege was the clerical dress and tonsure ; 

 but in course of time all who could read a 

 mark of great learning in those days whether 

 of the clergy or laity, were allowed the privi- 

 lege. A layman, however, could cfhly claim it 

 once, and upon doing so was burned on the 

 hand and discharged. He was then tried by 

 the bishop, and usually acquitted, even though 

 he had been previously convicted either by "his 

 country or his own confession. By this ac- 

 quittal the offender was restored to his liberty, 

 his credit, and his property in short, in the 

 eye of the law he became a new and innocent 

 person. The test of reading was applied as 

 follows: On conviction, the felon demanded 

 his clergy, whereupon a book (commonly a 

 Psalter) was put into his hand, which he was 



required to read, when the judge demanded of 

 the bishop's commissary, Legit ut clericus 1 If 

 the answer was simply legit, the prisoner was 

 burned on the hand and discharged ; but if it 

 was non legit, he suffered the punishment due 

 to his offense. During the reign of Queen 

 Anne the benefit of clergy was extended to 

 all persons convicted of clergyable offenses, 

 whether they could read or not, but it was dis- 

 cretionary with the judge whether a fine or 

 imprisonment was inflicted. The benefit of 

 clergy was totally abolished during the reign 

 of George IV. 



Catacombs. Those in Paris were origi- 

 nally quarries which had existed under the 

 city from the earliest time. In 1774 the 

 Council of State issued a decree for clearing 

 the Cemetery of the Innocents, and for remov- 

 ing its contents, as well as those of other grave- 

 yards, into these quarries. These quarries 

 or catacombs, as they were called were con- 

 secrated with great solemnity on April 7, 1786, 

 and the work of removal from the cemeteries 

 was immediately begun. The bones were 

 brought at night in funeral cars, covered with 

 a pall, and followed by priests chanting the 

 service of the dead. At first the bones were 

 heaped up without any kind of order except 

 that those from each cemetery were kept sepa- 

 rate ; but in 1810, a regular system of arrang- 

 ing them was commenced, and the skulls and 

 bones were built up along the wall. From the 

 main entrance to the catacombs, which is near 

 the Barriers d'Enfer, a flight of ninety steps 

 descends, at whose foot galleries are seen 

 branching in various directions. Some yards 

 distant is a vestibule of octagonal form, which 

 opens into a long gallery lined with bones from 

 floor to roof. The arm, leg, and thigh bones 

 are in front, closely and regularly piled, and 

 their uniformity is relieved by three rows of 

 skulls at equal distances. This gallery con- 

 ducts to several rooms resembling chapels, 

 lined with bones, variously arranged. One is 

 called the " Tomb of the Revolution," an- 

 other the " Tomb of Victims" the latter 

 containing the relics of those who perished in 

 the early period of the Revolution and in the 

 " massacre of September." It is estimated 

 that the remains of fully 3,000,000 human 

 beings lie in this receptacle. Owing to the 

 unsafe condition of the roof, admission to the 

 catacombs has been forbidden for years. Of 

 the other catacombs in existence, the most 

 celebrated are those on the Via Appia, at a 

 short distance from Rome, where, it is believed, 

 the early Christians were in the habit of retir- 

 ing in order to celebrate their new worship in 

 times of persecution. These catacombs con- 

 sist of long, narrow galleries, usually about 



