history of; an apocryphal and uncanonical book of Scripture. It was always rejected by the Jewish church, and is extant neither in the Hebrew nor the Chaldee language, nor is there any proof that it ever was so. St Jerome gives it no better title than the Fable of Bell and the Dragon. It is however permitted to be read, as well as the other apocryphal writings, for instruction and the improvement of manners.