nesses whose solemn guarantee of the existence of the golden plates

is all-important to the sect, since the Book of Mormon was taken back by an angel into heaven so soon as the prophet had completed his translation. Smith having obtained believers for stories so convenient to his purpose as this, hesitated not to practise on the credulity of his dupes by frequently pronouncing his so-called revelations. Having finished his translation, he had in March, 1830, a revelation that Martin Harris under pain of damnation was to sell his effects and pay for the publication of the Book of Mormon. After various difficulties had been surmounted, the book was printed. Another revelation commanded the institution of an apostleship composed of twelve persons. On the 6th of April, 1830, the new church was constituted at Fayette, Seneca county, under the title of "The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints." Persecution soon assailed the infant sect, and called forth the latent genius of Joseph. He succeeded in awakening enthusiasm in many minds, and sent forth missionaries who brought in numbers to his fold. He poured forth "revelations" on all occasions, and touching every subject. In January, 1831, he removed to Kirtland, Ohio, where Sidney Rigdon was settled. He organized his increasing followers very skilfully, sending them about preaching in every direction. He joined some of his disciples who had settled at Independence in Missouri, and twelve miles west of that city founded the new city of Zion. The growth of this apparently harmless, but essentially immoral sect, alarmed many people. Abuse and ridicule were launched against the Mormons, but still their numbers grew. In March, 1832, Joseph was taken out of bed, and tarred and feathered. But his activity did not relax. A flood of "revelations" came to regulate his church and establish his power. In July, 1833, the people of Missouri first displayed their intentions by breaking up the presses of the Mormon newspaper. In November following they made a more violent and unjustifiable attack upon the sect, committing great cruelty and driving them by force from the settlement. For three or four years they found refuge in Clay county, in the state of Missouri, Joseph still having his head quarters at Kirtland. In 1837, however, a bank he had set up in the latter city stopped payment, and the prophet had a revelation to quit it secretly by night for "far west" in Missouri. Shortly after this. Smith and his brother Hyrum were imprisoned, and in December, 1838, his people were violently expelled from Clay county, and took refuge in Illinois, where Joseph, escaping from prison, joined them in the spring of 1839. Here soon arose the flourishing Mormon city of Nauvoo, of which Smith was appointed mayor. To his civil and religious titles was ere long added the military distinction of lieutenant-general of a respectable regiment of soldiers styled the Nauvoo legion. Supreme head in matters temporal and spiritual of a thriving colony, the prophet waxed more and more confident, and not only publicly lectured the candidates for the presidency of the United States, but offered himself as a competitor. The manifesto he issued on this occasion is a curious illustration of the mingled shrewdness, vulgarity, and hypocrisy of the man. His lofty pretensions offended the pride of several of his followers, who apostatized from the faith and set up in Nauvoo itself a newspaper entitled the Expositor, in which the prophet was charged with practising polygamy, seduction, and other vices. In the name of the mayor the office of this journal was seized, and its presses broken up. The authorities of the state were appealed to by the owners of the Expositor, and a warrant issued for the apprehension of Smith, his brother, and sixteen confederates. Preparations were made at Nauvoo for an armed resistance, but the governor of the state persuaded Joseph to yield himself a prisoner on the promise of a safe conduct and a fair trial. The promise was not kept. On the 27th of June, 1844, a band of a hundred ruffians with blackened faces overpowered the small guard of Carthage gaol in which the brothers were confined, and in the most dastardly manner murdered Joseph and Hyrum. All Joseph Smith's errors were pardoned in the eyes of his followers by this cruel martyrdom. A new impulse was given to Mormonism by this violent persecution, and Brigham Young, Joseph's successor, raised the power and wealth of the community of Mormons near the Salt Lake higher than it had ever been.—(Grand Salt Lake City, by Remy and Brenchley.)—R. H. SMITH, Miles, a learned prelate, the son of a fletcher or maker of arrows, was born in the city of Hereford about 1568. He studied at Corpus Christi college, Oxford, and afterwards at Brazennose, where he took his degree. He subsequently was made one of the chaplains of Christ's church, and during his tenure of this office he took the degree of B.D. He then became a canon residentiary in the cathedral church of Hereford, and in 1594 was created D.D. He was a studious and laborious scholar, well skilled in the classical and oriental tongues, and was one of the translators of the prophets in the authorized version of the Bible. Nay, such was the confidence reposed in him, that he was chosen along with Bilson, to give the version its final revision. He also wrote the "Translator's Preface," often prefixed to our quarto bibles—"a comely gate," as Fuller says, "to a glorious city." His services were rewarded by his elevation to the see of Gloucester in 1612. He died in 1624, and was buried in his own cathedral. He was a diligent and worthy prelate, and for his erudition was named "a very walking library." A volume of his sermons was published in folio, 1632.—J. E. SMITH, Richard, a learned Roman catholic divine, was born in Worcestershire in 1500, and was educated at Oxford. He took his M.A. degree in 1530, was elected registrar of his university in the following year, and became subsequently rector of Cuxham, principal of St. Alban's hall, divinity-reader of Magdalen college, regius professor of divinity and D.D., and master of Wittington college in London. He was deprived of his preferments in the reign of Edward VI., and although he recanted his opinions at Paul's Cross in the first year of this reign, was not restored to his position in the church. He then went abroad; but upon the accession of Queen Mary he returned to England, regained his professorship, and was made canon of Christ church, and chaplain to her majesty. When Ridley and Latimer were brought to the stake. Smith preached a sermon on the text, "If I give my body to be burnt and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing;" and he was a witness against Archbishop Cranmer. When Elizabeth came to the throne. Smith was deprived of all his preferments, and again recanted some of his opinions. He escaped from the custody of Archbishop Parker, and went to Flanders. He died in 1563.—F. SMITH, Richard, a Roman catholic controversialist, was born in Lincolnshire in 1566, and was educated at Oxford, and subsequently at Rome, under Bellarmine, and at Valladolid in Spain. He returned to England as a propagandist of Roman Catholicism, and took an active part in the religious disputes of his time; but a quarrel occurred between him and Parsons the jesuit, which eventuated in obliging Smith to take refuge in France. He died there March 18, 1655.—F. SMITH, Robert, an English mathematician, was born in 1689, and died at Cambridge on the 2nd of February, 1768. He was educated at Cambridge, where he distinguished himself highly in mathematics, became a fellow of Trinity college, and in 1716 succeeded his intimate friend Cotes as Plumian professor. He was afterwards appointed master of his college. His treatise on Optics, published in 1728, is of high repute to this day. He was the author of various other mathematical works, and the editor of his friend Cotes' lectures.—W. J. M R. SMITH, Samuel, a popular writer of religious tracts, was the son of a clergyman near Dudley in Worcestershire, and was born there in 1588. He was educated at Oxford, but left without taking a degree, and settled eventually as perpetual curate of Cressedge in Shropshire. Upon the breaking out of the rebellion he went to London, where he sided with the presbyterians, amongst whom he became a popular preacher. He was deprived of his curacy at the Restoration, and thenceforth no traces seem to have been left of him. He was the author of "David's Blessed Man, an exposition of the First Psalm," of which there were fifteen editions; "The Great Assize," which ran through more than thirty-one editions, and has been since frequently reprinted; "A Fold for Christ's Sheep," and the "Christian's Guide," each of which were as popular as the first named. He published, besides, a great number of tracts and sermons.—F. SMITH, Sydney, a clergyman of the Church of England, eminent for his wit and his social and literary talents, was born in 1771 at Woodford in Essex, being the second son of Mr. Robert Smith, a clever but eccentric country gentleman. At six years of age Sydney was sent to Mr. Marsh's school at Southampton, which he quitted for Winchester, then in a wretchedly mismanaged condition. In the interval between his leaving Winchester and entering New college, Oxford, he was sent for six months to Mont Villiers in Normandy, to perfect his knowledge of French, which he always after spoke with great fluency. On obtaining the fellowship at Oxford, to which he was entitled