It would be superfluous to enter into any detail as to the manner in which he executed the important, and, especially at the commencement of the working of the new scheme, highly arduous duties of this office. His fitness was acknowledged by all, and his performance even exceeded the expectations of the country. In the main matter of securing accuracy in the impressions of the Scriptures, complete success may truly be said to have been achieved, and chiefly through his care and knowledge; while the conciliatory manner in which the control exercised by the Board was carried into effect, through him, guarded against all cause of discontent on the part of the trade, and soon did away with those jealousies which a little indiscretion might have called into such activity as to have greatly marred the usefulness of the measure. He brought the whole machinery into smooth and efficient working order, and handed it over to his successor in a state that required little more than the ordinary care of seeing that nothing should interfere with the system as he had arranged it.

The result of this whole measure, thus skilfully framed, and ably and judiciously carried into operation, has been most beneficial to the public, and truly gratifying to those more immediately concerned in it. The impressions of the Scriptures, instead of losing, have been greatly improved, in accuracy and faithfulness, while they have been brought within the reach of all classes of the community, at charges very much below those exacted while the monopoly was maintained, as will be seen at a glance from the following tables. Of these, No. I. contains a state of the prices at which the very same description of Bibles, &c., were sold by the very same parties, the Queen's late Printers, at three different periods; viz., in 1836, when their patent had still some years to run; in 1839, after it had expired and the new arrangement had been determined on, but before any actual competition on the part of others had arisen; and in 1846, after the new system had been in operation for

half-a-dozen years. The other table, No. II., contains a state of the prices of Bibles published by private parties since the monopoly was destroyed. These do not so exactly correspond with the Bibles of her Majesty's late Printers as to admit of a particular comparison and contrast, but they serve to show the very low rate at which the public can now be supplied with copies of the Word of God.

No. I.

BIBLES, &C. PRINTED BY HER MAJESTY'S LATE PRINTERS.

BIBLES, &C. PRINTED BY OTHER PARTIES AFTER THE PATENT

WAS DONE AWAY.

PUBLISHED by REV. A. THOMSON, Coldstream.

Pica 4to, with Brown's References and Notes,
Small Pica 8vo, References and large Psalms,

8vo, large Psalms,

Portable Commentary,

.

The following passage taken from the Rev. Christopher Anderson's valuable "Annals of the English Bible," shows the effect which the altered state of matters in Scotland has had upon the conduct of the patentee in England :- "There is no occasion for any minute de

In addition to the ordinary official duties of the Secretaryship of the Board, Dr. Welsh engaged with great zeal in a scheme countenanced by it, and particularly encouraged by the Lord Advocate, for furnishing a "Standard Edition" of the authorized version of the Bible, as free from error as skill and care could render it. This it was proposed to accomplish, not by publishing an edition for common circulation, and so interfering with the booksellers or printers who had engaged in bringing out editions of the Scriptures, but by throwing off an impression limited in extent and handsome and expensive in style, which might serve as a constant standard and help to such parties, without injuring their trade; and it was hoped that a sufficient number of subscribers for copies among persons of rank and wealth, in addition to the great public libraries, might be obtained, to defray the expense of the undertaking. In the confident expectation of realizing this valuable scheme, Dr. Welsh devoted himself with great zeal and labour to the preparation of such an edition, and made such satisfactory progress as to warrant an applica

tail here, in proof of a fact so very well known to many. But, by way of brief illustration, it may be stated, that in the close of 1840, the patentee advertising five different sizes of the Bible, viz. twentyfour-mo, duodecimo, octavo, quarto, and folio, and thus presenting a Bible in twentyfour distinct editions, the united price charged was £20, ls. 6d. Early in 1841, he came forward, and by a list of prices, offered the whole for £9, 14s. 5d. The largest, or folio Bible, for which before he charged £4, he had now reduced to £1, 10s! The smallest, formerly charged 8s., was now only 3s. That which before cost 5s. 6d., was now to be no more than one shilling and twopence ! A similar reduction was advertised upon nineteen editions of the New Testament. Single books, gospels, or epistles, printed separately, which had been charged sixpence, were now to be sold for three halfpence! So much for February 1841; but even this would not suffice, for the very next month of March, the surprise and satisfaction felt at the former reductions had not subsided, when there came farther reductions still, and upon ten different books. Thus, the edition which in January was nine shillings, and in February only six, was now down to four shillings and sixpence and so in proportion with various other editions of the English Bible." Vol. ii. pp. 621, 622.