A GOOD SERMON TO A SMALL AUDIENCE. 



109 



volume of the vilest trash, which 

 :ircc, merely because it never 

 bad iny sale, fetched fifty or a hun- 

 dred pounds ; but if it were but one 

 of two or three known copies, no 

 limits could be set to the price. 

 Books altered in the title-page, or 

 in a leaf, or any trivial circumstance 

 which varied a few copies, were 

 bought by these soi-disant maniacs, 

 at one, two, or three hundred pounds, 

 though the copies were not really 

 worth more than threepence per 

 pound. A trumpery edition of Boc- 

 caccio, said to be one of two known 

 copies, was thus bought by a noble 

 marquis for 1475, though in two 

 (re three years afterwards he resold 

 it for 500. First editions of all 

 authors, and editions by the first 

 clumsy printers, were never sold for 

 less than 50, 100, or 200. 



To keep each other in counte- 

 nance, these persons formed them- 

 selves into a club, and, after a duke, 

 one of their fraternity, called them- 

 selves the Roxburgh Club. To gra- 

 tify lliem, facsimile copies of clumsy 

 editions of trumpery books "Were 

 reprinted ; and, in somo cases, it 

 became worth the while of more in- 

 genious persons to play off forgeries 

 upon them. This mania after a 

 while abated ; and, in future ages, 

 it will be ranked with the tulip and 

 the picture mania, during which, 

 were given for single flowers 

 and pictures. 



A GOOD SERMON TO A SMALL 

 AUDIENCE. 



A story is told of Dr. Beecher, 

 of Cincinnatti, that is worth re- 

 cording, as illustrating the truth 

 that we can never tell what may 

 result from an apparently insig- 

 nificant action. The Doctor once 

 engaged to preach for a country 

 minister, on exchange, and the 

 Sabbath proved to be excessively 

 ctormy, cold, and uncomfortable. 

 It was in mid-winter, and the snow 

 was piled in heaps all along the 



roads so as to make the passage 

 very difficult. Still the minister 

 urged his horse through the drifts 

 till he reached the church, put the 

 animal into a shed, and went in. 

 As yet there was no person in the 

 house, and after looking about, the 

 old gentleman, then young, took 

 his seat in the pulpit. Soon the 

 door opened, and a single individual 

 walked up the aisle, looked about, 

 and took a seat. The hour came 

 for commencing service, .'but no 

 more hearers. Whether to preach 

 to such an audience or not was now 

 the question ; and it was one that 

 Lyman Beecher was not long in 

 deciding. He felt that he had a 

 duty to perform, and he had no 

 right to refuse to do it, because only 

 one man could reap the benefit of 

 it; and accordingly he went through, 

 all the services, praying, singing, 

 preaching, and the benediction, with 

 only one hearer. And when all was 

 over, he hastened down from the 

 desk to speak to his "congregation," 

 but he had departed. A circum- 

 stance so rare was referred to occa- 

 sionally, but twenty years after it 

 was brought to the Doctor's mind 

 quite strangely. Travelling some- 

 where in Ohio, the Doctor alighted 

 from the stage one day, in a plea- 

 sant village, when a gentleman 

 stepped up and spoke to him, fami- 

 liarly calling him by name. "I do 

 not remember you," said the Doctor. 

 " I suppose not," said the stranger ; 

 " but we spent two hours together 

 in a house alone once, in a storm." 

 " I do not recal it, sir," added the 

 old man; "pray, pray, when was 

 it ?" "Do you remember preac- 1 

 twenty years ago, in such a place, 

 to a single person?" "Yes, yes," 

 said the Doctor, grasping his hand, 

 " I do, indeed ; and if you are the 

 man, I have been wishing to see 

 you ever since." "I am the man, 

 sir ; and that sermon saved my 

 soul, made a minister of me, and 

 yonder is my church. The cc everts 



