an object which has long been very much desired by men of science, to ascertain the nature and form of the globe at the pole, and the manner in which the needle is acted upon in proceeding towards it.This, however, is not an object that can be | taken up by an individual; and if, after explaining his views to men of science, his plan may be pronounced practicable, of which there seems to be no doubt, we hope that Government will second his intentions, and provide for the expences of such au arduous undertaking. CHARTER STONE: LONDON In our last we had occasion to notice the history given by Mr. Walter Scott, of several Charter Stones, still preserved in Scotland; it is very likely, that others are yet remaining among us, though undistinguished, as nothing is so lasting as a natural rock, or large stone, and as we find many that have continued for ages unmoved, and with every appearance of being preserved to a distant period. Scripture has several instances of stones of witness, or meniorial; and they are said to have heard, or seen, certain transactions. No doubt, but what they were preserved with the strictest jealousy, by whom they concerned, and acquired by time a kind of sanctity sufficient to authorise veneration. We cannot help thinking that the stone well known in the metropolis under the name of London stone, is one of those Charter stones, of which our readers have seen Mr. Scott's account. The veneration always paid to it, though passed unnoticed by the ignorant; the care taken to preserve it, net from any value in itself, but only as marked by tradition, the authority apparently inherit in it, in the popular opinion, so far back as the time of Jack Cade, with his remarkable declaration, that being master of this stone, he was also master of the city, all these symptoms of importance, seem to agree well with the notion of a Charter stone. : 3. Nothing could be of greater consequence to the city, than the official proclamation of the King, and other governing officers, as of the Mayor for the time being. It is probable that Coronations might even take place at Loudon Stone, as well as at the stone of the Scottish Kings' Coronation, now forming part of the Regalia preserved in Westminster Abbey. Ali these particu Jars, with others, meet in London Stone, fairly enough. Some of our learned auti quaries may possibly recollect other Charter Stones; by their history they may mutually illustrate each other. We now proceed to give the history of Loudon Stone, so far as it has been handed down to us. It may be compared with that of the Charter Stones already described. To how many means of memorial had mankind recourse, before the invention of letters and PRINTING! We give first honest Stow's Account of this Memorial. Describing Walbrooke Ward, after mentioning St. Swithin's, Can nons Street, he adds, "On the south side of this high street, neere unto the channel!, is pitched upright a great stone, called London Stone, fixed in the ground very deepe, fastned with barres of Iron, and otherwise so strongly set, that if Carts doe runne against it through neg ligence, the wheeles be broken, and the stone it selfe unshaken. The cause why this stone was there set the time when, or other memory thereof is none; but that the same hath long continued there, is manifest, namely, since (or rather before) the Conquest. For in the end of a faire written Gospell booke given to Christs Church in Canturbury by I thel stane, King of the West Sarons, I finde noted of Lands or Rents in London belonging to the said Church, whereof one parcell is described to lye neere unto London-stone, Of later time we reade, that in the yeere of Christ, 1185, the first of King Stephen, a fire, which began in the house of one Ailward, neere unto London-stone consumed all East to Ealdgate, in which fire the Priory of the holy Trinity was burnt, and West to S. Erkenwalds shrine in Pauls Church: and these be the eldest notes that I reade thereof. Some have said, this stone to be set there, as a marke in the middle of the Citie within the wall but in truth it standeth farre neerer to the River of Thames, than to the wall of the Citie. Was it a stone that chartered a market, for a fair], or that chartered the city as a Corporate body?It certainly marked 1. a place where the people had a right to assemble there are still existing in certain Church yards, stones, (the remains of crosses, since the introduction of Christianity) which mark the spot for meetings of the parishioners by ancient right. 2. .A Some others have said, the same to be. place where proclamations (and other pub-set, for the tendering and making of paylic businesses) were made:-such being announced as a matter of course, in the most notorious place of public resort. ment by debtors to their creditors, at their appointed dayes and times, till of later time, payments were more usually made at the Font in Ponts Church, and now most commonly at the Royal Exchange. Some againe have imagined, the same to be set up by one John or Thomas London-stone, dwelling there against it; but more likely it is that such men have taken name of the Stone, than the Stone of them; as did John at Noke, Thomas at Stile, William at Wall, or at Well, &c." So far Stow modern perambulators of the City of London, speak of it in the following terms:-it is now removed from the channel; and is strongly built against -it should have been into-the wall of St. Swithin's church. Another conjecture is, that, as this street was anciently the principal one in the city, as Cheapside is at present, London-stone might have been the place where public proclamations and notices were given to the citizens. This conjecture has, indeed, some argument to support it; for in the year 1450, when Jack Cade, the Kentish rebel, came through Southwark into London, he marched to this stone, where was a great concourse of people, among whom was the lord mayor. On this stone Jack Cade struck his sword, and said, "Now is Mortimer lord of this city." It is also said, that this stone was set up for the Against the present fabric, in the centre debtors to their creditors, at their aptendering and making of payments by of the south wall, is placed the famous and pointed days, till, in after-times, they were really-mysterious London Stone, which resisted, though not without being somewhat usually made at the font in St. Paul's impaired, the great conflagration, and was church, or the Royal Exchange. These, carefully dug out of the rubbish. however, are but conjectures; nor can we We have examined it very closely; and find it say more, than that it is very singular, so to be of the nature of granite, or original much care should have been taken to prequartz: it yields fire when smartly struck history of its origin. But it is with this serve the stone, and so little to preserve the with the steel, and is of a close and compact sort of palladium as with others of the same internal contexture. This stone, which kind, and of the remotest antiquity-Venehas been carefully preserved for many ages, ration knelt before it; and had she found is of great antiquity, as appears from its what it really was, Veneration would have being mentioned by the same name so early disappeared, and the charm of mystery as in the time of Ethelstan king of the West Saxons. It formerly stood nearer being once broken and unwound, the simthe channel opposite the same place; and, ple thing would have prøved what it merely being fixed upright in the ground, was so was in reality, an unknown stone, like well fastened with bars of iron, that it was many which unrevered and unnoticed lie perfectly secure from receiving any daat the foot of the hill, from which they mage by carriages. Its age cannot be of nature in the place, or according to the originally rolled, either at some convulsion traced; but, from the most reasonable conjecture, it is supposed to be of Roman motion sends heavy bodies to the circumsystem of gravitation which in a rotative origin; for, as the ancient Roman colony ference. Some centuries hence, perhaps, extended from the river Thames no higher when the dark veil of ignorance revisits thau Cheapside, and Watling-street was the principal street, or Prætorian way;tion will take hold of this subject, and make this island, as it probably may, Superstiit has been supposed with great probability, much more of it than has been done bethat this stone was the centre from whence fore, grounding her respect upon the very they measured the distances to their several stations through England, more especially notice which we have taken of it. In this as these distances coincide very exactly, handed to posterity; and, like fame, gamanner have thousands of prodigies been Some of our forefathers were of opinion, thered strength as they went on: Vires that it was set up in signification of the acquirit eundo. Livy would never have city's devotion towards Christ, and of his care and protection of the city, under the of cows, the sweating of marble statues, employed his pen in recording the talking type of a stone, on which it was founded, and other portentous nonsense, had not and, by his favour, so long preserved. his contemporaries been so plainly persua This is the idea which prevails in these ded of the truth of these reputed facts, that lines of Fabian, in praise of London : his passing them unnoticed would have brought his annals into downright discredit. A survey of London without some dissertation upon London-stone would share the same fate, aud be stamped with the same anathema which the historian of Padua would have incurred had he not sacrificed blindly to the taste of his count trymen." It is so sure a stone that that is upon sette, 'Which from al hys foone a Now, if this stone be an original " char- | Capt. Folgar, as the island affords effecter stone," a true remain of ancient ages-tual concealment. In most other respects, a witness of important transactions, pledge of valuable rights,-a token of public as the description of the island, its produclaw, immunity, and consociation, what be- tions, &c. the accounts agree very concomes of these unadvised reflections on the sistently. credulity of superstition, past, present, or to comeThe fact, is, that could we trace the real History of many monuments to which a certain kind of deference is paid by the liberal minded, which degenerates into superstition among the uninformed, we should discover much more powerful reasons for popular feeling than it is now in our power to assign: of which let this history, compared with the others mentioned, stand as one instance. MUTINEERS OF THE BOUNTY. In former volumes of the Literary Panorama [Vol. VI. p. 120: Vol. IX. p. 125.] we introduced all that was then known, concerning an island which is peopled by a mixed descent, speaking our language, yet not our countrymen; and preserving much of our manners, and even our religion, yet forming no part of the British dominions. After a lapse of six years, we have again received accounts from them, obtained by a British ship. The astonishment of Capt. Sir Thomas Staines, at finding on an island, far distant from all land, a people which spoke his language, must have been extreme; and the advantage that he supposes might be made of this mixed posterity,' deserves the attention of those to whom it is addressed, and will, doubtless, receive it. It is proper to notice, that former observations placed this island in latitude 25° 2. S. longitude 180° W. the present account places it in 25° 4. S. longitude 180° 25'. W.-Also, that the former account describes the Patriarch under the name of Alexander Smith [and there really was a seaman of that name, on board the Bounty] the present account describes him under the name of John Adams. Is this the same man?—or is it another, and consequently, not the same as the former chief seen by the American, Capt. Folgar? We rather think it is another man; and possibly this John Adams might not be seen by last of these men, and of the island on which The following account of the fate of the the survivor of them was found, is from the pen of the gallant and sensible Sir Thomas Staines, the Captain of the ship that lately touched at the island. Sir Thomas writes from Valpariso:— On my passage from the Marquesas Islands to this port, on the morning of the 17th of September, I fell in with an island where none is laid down either in the Admiralty or other Charts, according to the several Chronometers of Briton and Iagus; closed to ascertain whether it was inhaI therefore hove-to until day light, and then bited, which I soon discovered it to be, and to my great astonishment found that every individual on the island (40 iu numto be the descendants of the deluded crew ber) spoke very good English. They prove of the Bounty, which from Otaheite proceeded to the above-mentioned island, where the ship was burnt; Christian appears to have been the leader and sole cause of the mutiny in that ship. A venerable old man, named John Adams, is the only surviving Englishman of those who last quitted Otaheite in ber, and whose whole of the little colony could not but exemplary conduct and fatherly care of the command admiration. The pious manner in which all those born on the island have been reared, the correct sense of religion which has been instilled into their young minds by this old man, has given him the pre-eminence over the whole of them, to whom they look up as the father of the whole, and one family. 'A son of Christian's was the first born on the island, now about twenty five years of age (named Thursday October Christian); the elder Christian fell a sacrifice to the jealousy of an Otaheitean man, within three or four years after their arrival on the island. They were accompanied thither by six Otaheitean men and twelve women: the former were all swept away by desperate contentions between them and the died at different periods, leaving at present Englishmen, and five of the latter have only one man and seven women of the original settlers. The island must undoubtedly be that down in the charts. We had the meridian called Pitcairn's, although erroneously laid. sun close to it, which gave us 25 deg. 4 min. S. for its latitude; and longitude per number of years, constituted the wellchronometers of Briton and lagus, iso known Ormskirk race-ground. It was an deg. 25 min. W. It is abundant in yams, appeal from the commissioners under the plaintains, hogs, goats, and fowls, but Inclosure Act, and the questions to be tried affords no shelter for a ship or vessel of any were, whether the plaintiff was Lord of a description; neither could a ship water third part of the Mauor of Aughton, whe there without great difficulty. I cannot, ther at the time of making the act, the however, refrain from offering my opinion plaintiff was Lord of the Manor of Upli that it is well worthy the attention of our therland, and whether he was not owner laudable religious societies, particularly of the soil of the commons and waste lands that for propagating the Christian religion, intended to be inclosed. The learned the whole of the inhabitauts speaking the Counsel stated he should shew from a book Otaheitean tougue, as well as the English. compiled under the auspices of no less a During the whole of the time they have personage than King Alfred, that the lands been on the island, only one ship has ever in dispute, were at that time, manors held communicated with them, which took by grants, either from himself or his predeplace about six years since by an American cessors, and then in possession of a person ship called the Topaz, of Boston, Mathew of the name of Actred. He should then by Folger, master. The island is completely a fine levied in 15th, Edward II. shew the iron-bound, with rocky shores, and land-property in the possession of Richard de ing in boats is at all times difficult, although safe to approach within a short distance in a ship.' Manley Dixon, Esq. Vice-Admiral of the Blue, &c. &c. LÅNCASTER ASSIZES. April 7. THE following is almost a singular instance of ability to trace lands and property from such an early period. It shews the propriety of preserving our National documents, with the utmost care; and multiply ing them by means of the press. It adds strength also, to the saying among the profession of the Law, that "the right of the heir at law, is stronger than an Act of Parliament;" because an act of Parliament may be mistaken; but claim by heirship cannot be mistaken:-though, unhappily, it may be, and often is, supported by incompetent evidence. Before Sir Simon Le Blanc, Knt. PLUMBER, ESQ. v. MAWDESLEY, ESQ. This cause excited an unusual portion of public interest, and occupied the whole of the day. Mr. Scarlett addressed the Jury on behalf of the plaintiff, Col. Plumber: the defendants were John Mawdesley, Esq. the Earl of Derby, and Sir Thos. Stanley, Bart. The questions arose in consequence of an Act of Parliameut passed in the year 1813, for inclosing lands in the township of Aughton, part of which lands, had for a Wallays, in 1822. In 1871, the manor of The documents, which were principally in the latin language, engaged the attention of the Jury for several hours. They were-extracts from Doomsday Book, to prove the existence of these manors in the days of King Alfred. The chiograph of the fine in 15th, Edward l. conveying the manors to de Wallays, and various conveyances by matter of record in the time of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, by which the property was derived to the family of the Bradshaws. The property was traced through the reigns of Edward II. John, Duke of Lancaster, Richard II. Henry V. Henry VIII. Edward VI. Mary, Elizabeth, Janies I. Charles I. and the ninth year of the Commonwealth, to the possession of Bartholomew Hesketh, Esq. when it was made the subject of an action by him, against the ancestors of the defendants, which action being ready for trial at Lancaster Assizes, in 1656, was by a rule of court referred to arbitration. The original award was produced, and it completely established the title of Mr. Hesketh, through whom the present plaintiff claimed as against the defendants' ancestors. It appeared, that the proprietors of these manors had uniformly exercised manorial rights, but there was no evidence to shew that any courts of the manor had been kept. The exercise of those rights had been for many years neglected, and in consequence of their disuse had been usurped by the freeholders within the parish of Aughton, who now insisted on the ailotments under the inclosure act, to the prejudice of the claim of the plaintiff. Mr. Topping contended, that although mention was made of the manors in question in Doomsday Book, they never, from the earliest period to the present hour, had been considered as manors. There was not an instance of those Courts being held, which were incident to every manor, such as the Courts, Leet, and Baron; neither did it appear that there ever had been any steward who could have held such Courts. The office of game-keeper, was one which all persons having the right of appointing were most forward in exercising; but in the present instance, there was no trace of any game-keeper.-He should shew, that for the last fifty years the freeholders had done every act which would have devolved on the plaintiff and his ancestors, had they been Lords of the manor; they had felled timber, they had erected a pound for impounding cattle, and they had appointed constables. The learned Counsel submitted that the property in the soil belonged to the freeholders. Many witnesses were examined to these facts; but their evidence by no means confirmed the statement. Sir Simon Le Blanc said, he never recollected a case where a clearer title had been deduced from so remote a period, by documentary evidence. There was not a single chasin in the proof. The plaintiff's title to the manor of Uplitherland, and the third part of the manor of Aughton, was indisputable. The claim of the defendants was founded on acts done by them in modern times-acts which were of no avail | when set in opposition to the paramount right of the plaintiff. The Jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff. Poetry. SPECIMEN OF HINDOO POETRY; And Paraphrased by Dr. Gilchrist, What havock you beauties display, Each sigh is condens'd to a tear. To spread their dark locks o'er thy car, Each face a bright evening star. While honey distills from each tongue; They spare not the old-nor the young. Hath lately forsaken his lyre To gaze on the maids of the plains, Whose gait fills his breast with desire. Among the specimens given by Dr. Gilchrist, is one that may boast of Princely origin; it is a sonnet, by the late Nabob Uzuph ud Dowla, or as the Dr writes his name, intending to present a more correct pronounciation, Asur ooD DUOLU. SONNET. Are lucid drops in either eye, Love's magic gems set there? Mere twinkling spheres of air. |