Queen Elizabeth’s Prayer Book.—­An obscure individual at Blackburn is said to be in possession of the prayer-book presented by Henry VIII. to his daughter Elizabeth at her confirmation.  This antiquarian curiosity was (it is stated) stolen from its deposit at Hampstead Court about the beginning of the last century, and the librarian dismissed for losing so valuable a volume.  It is enriched with notes or mottoes in manuscript, and is even conjectured to be the actual token by which Essex might have saved his forfeit life, if it had been delivered to the queen.  The title-page represents a triumphal arch, and has these words in black letter:  “C.  Certeine, Prayers and Godly Meditacyions very nedefull for every Christien.”  The imprint is:  “Emprinted at Marlboro, the yere of our Lord a Mcccccxxxviii, per me Joanis Philoparion.”  The volume is in good preservation, bound in velvet, with the royal arms and roses emblazoned.

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

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THE KING.

Authentic narrative of a plan, (now first made public,) for capturing Prince William Henry, his present Majesty, during his stay at New York in 1782; with the original letters of General Washington.

(From the Athenaeum.)

It must be remembered that, wild as this project may seem, it was sanctioned by the cool deliberate judgment of Washington; and it cannot, therefore, be doubted, that his Royal Highness was, for a time, in a situation of great though unknown danger.  We leave it to our readers to speculate on the possible consequences, had the plan succeeded.

When his present Majesty William IV. served as a midshipman in the British navy, he was for some time on the coast of the North American colonies, then in a state of revolution, and passed the winter of 1782 in the city of New York.  He is still borne in lively recollection by many of the elder inhabitants of that city, as a fine bluff boy of sixteen:  frank, cheery, and affable; and there are anecdotes still told of his frolicsome pranks on shipboard.  Among these, is the story of a rough, though favourite, nautical joke, which he played off upon a sailor boy, in cutting down his hammock while asleep.  The sturdy sea urchin resented this invasion of his repose; and, not knowing the quality of his invader, a regular set-to of fisty-cuffs ensued in the dark.  In this, it is said, the Prince showed great bottom; and equal generosity on the following morning, when he made the boy a handsome present of money.  His conduct in this boyish affair is said to have gained him the hearts of all his shipmates.