MR. URBAN,-In my former letter upon this subject (printed in your Magazine for May), I had so far proceeded with the action which was brought against Sir Patrick Barnewall, of Arrotstown, in the Court of Exchequer in Ireland, on behalf of Sir Thomas Ashe, the custodee of Valerian Wesley, as to show that the Court, aided by several other Judges, had come to the conclusion that the defendant should not retain possession of the Ward, or of his estates or title-deeds.

Sir Patrick, however, appears to have been by no means dismayed by this array of legal talent. Fortuna audaces juvat. Aided by his counsel, the Recorder for Dublin-for a Recorder could "hold a brief" in those days-who, after the manner of his fellow lawyers in Richard the Second's time,* had no doubt

Meved many maters that man never thoughte, he obstructed the proceedings in the cause by coming into Court on the 26th of January, 1606, and informing the Barons that no office or inquisition had been found upon the death of Valerian's ancestor, whereby the King's title and tenures might be apparent. And as this appeared to be a valid obstacle to further progress in the case, the Court, on the 13th of June, 1607, "to avoyd all indirect courses, and for the more due proceeding of the Court in his Majesties service, wherein there hathe bine much contention, with long delay and losse of tyme," in the presence, as well of Sir Patrick and Sir Thomas, as of their counsel, directed that a jury should be summoned from the counties of Westmeath, Kildare, and Dublin, to appear at the bar of the Court, when the entire cause should be argued before them.

On the 25th of the same month, it was accordingly found, by an inquisition, consisting of no less than twelve skins of parchment, and taken at the Exchequer bar as had been directed by the Court, that long before the agreement of the year 1602 was entered into with respect to Valerian's marriage, there had been a communicatio et sermo" between Garrett Wellesley and Sir Patrick Barnewall concerning a marriage to be concluded and agreed upon between Valerian and one of Sir Patrick's daughters, and that such agreement was made "pleno resolutione et bona fide ex utraque parte pro perimpletione veræ intentionis et mentium partium predictorum." It was also found that the conveyance made to Thomas

The day upon which this inquisition was held, Mr. Roger Downton, the clerk of the Pipe, delivered into Court the evidences and writings with which he was entrusted, and several orders of the Court were subsequently made, to which I do not think it is necessary to advert.

On Wednesday the 15th of June, 1608, all the Judges of the King's Bench, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and all the Barons sat in Court, when they alleged, "that by reason of many other causes of this terme, and the dayly imployment about the affayres of state every day, both forengnes and afternons, they are not sufficiently provided to geve their judgments and opynions in a cause of so great importance," and they appointed to sit again on the afternoon of the first day of the next term to hear it finally argued and determined, "if they be not in councell."

On Tuesday the 15th of Nov. (Michaelmas Term), the day "was wholie spent by all the Judges of bothe benches and the barons of this Court, who assembled heere all together in this Court, to geve ther censures and judgments upon the case and poynte of confidence fownd in the office or inquisition taken at the barr of this court upon the death of Garrett Wesley of the Dengen, and whether the kinge might seize by vertue of that office; and which matter holding the court all this whole day, no other order or motion was made; and upon theire severall censures given," an entry was made to this effect, that after the inquisition was found, objections were made by Sir Patrick Barnewall on behalf and in the name of Kelly and King, that by it no title or cause of wardship was found for the king to the body and lands of Valerian Wesly, and that if any title were found, yet the king ought not to

seize the land, nor expel Kelly and King without a scire facias. Whereupon Justices Sibthorp, Sarsfield, Calthorp, Palmer, Lord Walshe, and the Barons of the Exchequer declared their opinions, wherein all but Justice Sarsfield agreed, that there was good title and cause of wardship found for the king, of which opinion also was Sir James Ley, Chief Justice of the Chief Place, as is affirmed by the Chief Baron, unto whom he delivered his opinion before he went to England. And the greater number of the Judges and Barons also agreed that the king might seize Valerian's body and land without scire facias; therefore it is adjudged that the seizure of Valerian's land and body for the king's use should be continued.

On Monday, 23d January, 1608, on the first day of Hilary term, the jury of the county of Kildare, summoned to inquire upon the death of Gerald Welsley, appeared at the bar, where the evidences concerning his lands were produced; and upon the production of a mortgage made by the said Gerald to one John Sarsfield, a question arose on Valerian's behalf that the mortgage money had been tendered, but refused, "because the same was in the mixt monny then currant in this kingdome," and therefore the mortgage should cease; when the court ordered, by the consent of Mr. Jo. Sarsfield and Sir Thomas Ashe, that as the tender was not "performed with such due ceremonies as the lawe requireth," that Mr. Sarsfield should receive 601. " of silver harpes nowe currant in this kingdome," when tendered, and enjoy the lands for four years after the payment of the mortgage-mouey.

Numerous orders of Court were subsequently made with respect to the value of the mesne profits of "Wesley's lands," and writs of scire facias having issued against the ter-tenants thereof, there appeared in Court as such ter-tenants, Mr. Edward Wessley of Allasty, Patrick Wesley of Rath in the county of Meath, and others. It appears, also, that Sir Thomas Ashe filed a Bill against the widow of Gerald Wesley and his son Patrick, and "for as much as the said wydowe is knowen to be very aged and not able to travell," a letter missive was issued to Sir John Draycott to take her answer, and subsequently an attachment which was served upon her having been disobeyed, and "rescued from the sheriff's bayliffs, it was ordered by the Court that a serjeant-at-arms should be sent for her. It further appears that "divers of the Wesleys" were detained in Dublin during an entire term, because an inquisition had not been made up, owing to the want of several evidences which remained in the

jury's hands, and that Sir Thomas Ashe excepted to the inquisition, "because he suspects some abuses in one deed and one intent or writtinge, for certain rasures and interlynynges therein found in the materiall places," the which discovery occasions the commencement of a suit against "all such as he suspecteth in the said abuses." It appears, also, that Arland Grace, of Harristown, county Kildare, the foreman of the jury, that inquired for the King upon Gerald Wesley's death, was directed to bring such evidences and writings as were delivered to him, "when the Court will take order for satysfienge of such mony as was awarded to the said jury for their chardges.'

The last entry in the Rule books relating to this cause is dated the 9th of February, 1609, whereby it appears that a writ of injunction of the Court had been disobeyed by Sir Patrick Barnewall.

It would, perhaps, be worthy of inquiry whether Miss Mary Barnewall succeeded in obtaining as gentle and rich a husband as Valerian Wesley would no doubt have been, had the feudal system permitted an unbiassed choice. I shall, however, at present advert but briefly to Valerian's history only. In the year 1628 he was appointed sheriff of the county of Meath, and in 1634 M.P. for the borough of Trim. He married Lady Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Forth, whereby he became possessed of several houses in the city of Dublin, of the rent payable out of the mansion house of alderman Walter Kennedy in High-street, and of other property. On the last day of June, 1637, in consideration of a marriage portion of 1,5007. paid to him by Sir Gerald Kempe, of Slyndon, in England, his son and heir apparent, William Wesley, was married to Sir Gerald's daughter Margaret, and upon this occasion Valerian executed a settlement of his estates. William died on the 23d of April, in the following year, 1638, in St. Michael's parish, Dublin, leaving his wife with child of Gerald, otherwise Garrard Wesley.

The rebellion broke out in Ireland on the 23d of October, 1641, and was by statute declared to be at an end on the 26th Sept. 1653-soon after which time a Court of Claims was established by Cromwell, and power given to commissioners in the principal cities and towns in Ireland to receive petitions and claims. Valerian accordingly put in his claim to his estates, and on the 2nd of January, 1654, Miles Corbet and the other Judges having, as they stated, been informed that he was an "Irish Papist," they referred his petition to the commissioners appointed for the adjudication of the

claims and qualifications of Irish Papists transplantable." The death of Valerian, which took place in St. Michael's parish, Dublin, on the 1st of May, 1655, however, put a stop to any attempt that might have been made to transplant him to Connaught. Gerald, his grandson and heir, then brought forward his claim, being at the time "an infant of tender years," whereupon the Judges directed that the Lord-Deputy and Council should be moved, that pending the proceedings

upon his claim "course might be taken for his education in the Protestant religion, as to their honours should seeme meete. Colonel Daniel Axtell and Ralph James appear to have taken possession of the Wesley estates in Cromwell's time; but after the Restoration, in the year 1660, Gerald was fully and completely restored in the King's Court of Claims, by decree, and letters patent. Yours, &c. J. F. F.

MR. URBAN,-In your April number, p. 373, you alluded to the Pheasantry in St. James's Park, and some buildings upon the site thereof. Having been enabled to obtain some more precise information on that locality, allow me to communicate to you the result of my researches.

In the first place, I find that, so far back as 1608, there was a royal conservatory of this nature. I observe on the Patent Roll, 6 Jac., p. 2, n. 2, a grant by King James I. to "William Walker the keeping of our house and yardes in our parke at St. James, lately bought for the keepynge of certayne phesants, Gynney henns, partridge, and other fowles within our said parke ;" and this grant was renewed in the reign of Charles II., who shortly after the Restoration re-established this pheasantry. A reference to the Patent Roll, 23 Car. II., p. 1, n. 3, after reciting letters patent 28th March, 13 Car. II., of grant to "John Walker and William Walker his son, the keeping of our house and yards in our park at St. James's, built for the keeping of phesants, Genny henns, partridges, and other fowle within our said parke;" and that Queen Katherine had latterly, in the names of her trustees, purchased of the said John Walker and son their estates in the keeping of the said house and yards, as the same were then severed and inclosed; and upon the said premises, as also upon a parcel of ground taken out of St. James's ould highway, containing in length on the north 162 feet,

and in breadth on the east 42 feet, in the whole 3,600 foot more or less, hath lately caused several houses, edifices, and buildings to be newly made and erected, and laid out and expended great sums of money in building the same, the same were granted to trustees for 99 years at 58. rent, in trust for the Queen consort for life, and after her decease for such person to whom she should appoint, 2,000l. to be paid, with interest at 61. per cent.; and after payment of such 2,000l., the residue of the term was declared to attend the reversion of the crown in the premises.

King Charles II. appears to have extended the menagerie of his grandfather and father, and therefore it has been imagined that these establishments entirely originated with him, which certainly is not the fact. Among other appointments having relation to the keeping of the feathered tribe, so sedulously preserved by royalty, I find the following, made immediately after the Restoration:

"Charles the Second, by the grace of God, &c. To all men to whom these presents shall come greeting, Whereas wee have appointed our servant Richard Edes, gent., to keepe and breed three cormorants for our recreation and disport in fishing, and are pleased to allow unto him an yearly pension of two shillings and six pence of lawful money of England by the day for the same, know yee, thereforeper ipsum Regem."-Pat. 12 Car. II., p. 39, n. 3.-Yours, &c.

MR. URBAN, The question has been mooted with respect to Mr. Macaulay's striking conception of some traveller from New Zealand, in the midst of a vast solitude, taking his stand on a broken arch of London bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's (Essays, vol. iii. p. 101), whether it is entirely original, or may be found in

T. E. T.

some earlier writer. By some it has been traced to Henry Kirke White: to us it seems that its origin may rather be found in a poem of Mrs. Barbauld's, which, though little known, and flagging in parts, contains many lines that may vie with any in The Traveller or The Vanity of Human Wishes.

This poem, which is entitled Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, and was published in 1812, was apparently inspired by the alarm which Napoleon's uninterrupted success caused in the mind of the writer. It opens with a forcible description of the ills under which Britain was then labouring, and a prediction of her speedy decline and downfall, which happily has not as yet been fulfilled. After this we have the following passage:

Where wanders Fancy down the lapse of years,
Shedding o'er imaged woes untimely tears?
Fond moody power! as hopes, as fears prevail,
She longs or dreads to lift the awful veil :
On visions of delight now loves to dwell,
Now hears the shriek of woe or freedom's knell :
Perhaps, she says, long ages past away,
And set in Western waves our closing day,
Night, Gothic Night, again may shade the plains
Where Power is seated and where Science reigns;
England, the seat of arts, be only known
By the grey ruin and the mouldering stone;
That Time may tear the garland from her brow,
And Europe sit in dust as Asia now.

Yet then the ingenuous youth whom Fancy fires
With pictured glories of illustrious sires,
With duteous zeal their pilgrimage shall take
From the Blue Mountains or Ontario's Lake,
With fond adoring steps to press the sod
By statesmen, sages, poets, heroes trod,
On Isis' banks to draw inspiring air,

From Runnymede to send the patriot's prayer.

Pensive and thoughtful shall the wanderers greet
Each splendid square and still, untrodden street,
Or of some crumbling turret, mined by time,
The broken stair with perilous step shall climb,
Thence stretch their view the wide horizon round,
By scattered hamlets trace its ancient bound,
And, choked no more with fleets, fair Thames
survey

Through reeds and sedge pursue his idle way.
With throbbing bosoms shall the wanderers tread
The hallowed mansions of the silent dead,
Shall enter the long aisle and vaulted dome,
Where Genius and where Valour find a home;
Awe-struck midst chill, sepulchral marbles breathe
Where all above is still and all beneath.

To all this we may add what to some may appear a trifle, but with us has a certain weight-that a little further on in the poem, where the change is described which comes over a country on its being deserted by the Genius either of Civilisation or Liberty (we cannot clearly make out which), we are told that the pilgrims

Explore the fractured arch, the ruined tower, in which, it will be observed, we have the very expression employed by Mr. Macaulay. Whether, in the passages given above, Mrs. Barbauld herself was indebted to Kirke White or any other writer, we know not: that Macaulay is somewhat indebted to her, we regard as almost certain. Yours, &c.

EGINHARD.

qua

The future Education for the Civil Service of this country has been placed upon a new footing by certain regulations issued by the Privy Council after the example set by the East India Company. A board of commissioners, assisted by examiners, are to grant certificates of lification after ascertaining-1. That the candidate is within the limits of prescribed age; 2. That he is free from physical defect or disease likely to interfere with proper discharge of his duties; 3. That he bears a good moral character: and 4. GENT. MAG. VOL. XLIII.

That he possesses the requisite know. ledge and ability for his office. The detailed regulations are left to the heads of the several departments. A period of six months' probation is to be undergone before final appointment to any office. Power is left with the chiefs of each department to make appointments without certificates, on account of special qualifi cations. The commissioners appointed by Government are, Sir Edward Ryan, assistant controller-general of the Exchequer; Mr. Shaw Lefevre, clerk-assistant 4 H

P. 275. "He prayed they might not betray him (the King) as they had done his father."

P. 275." Argyle wanted but honesty and courage to be a great man."

P. 276. "The Scots represented to the King the act against Montrose to be for his service."

P. 286. "Argyle received the King at Edinburg." P. 289. "The King's table was very well served." P. 300. "The King left the Duke of York with his mother, matters of religion only excepted." P. 300. "The Duke full of courage."

P. 304. "The Duke could not speak in Latin with Sir George Ratcliff."

P. 305. "The Duke of York assured of free exercise of religion."

Swift's Remarks. Indeed! a great concession.

The whole letter a most excellent performance.

A cursed, insolent villain, worse than even a Scot, or his own father.

Damnable proceedings.

The fitter for his office. Very weak!

There I differ from him-they were the cause of his destruction, like abominable Scotch dogs.

Only common pity for his death, and the manner of it.

Cursed Scots in every circumstance!

A Scotch duke, celebrated by the author; a perfect miracle! A prodigious rarity.

That Earl was a beast! (I mean Lauderdale.)

Not half enough of the execrable breed.

I do not approve it.

He was the only man a Scot that had ever one grain of virtue, and was therefore abhorred and murdered publickly. Impossible!

Very certain.

Scots damnable kirk!

The virtue and humility of the Scots.

A tyrannical Scottish dog. Oh! if the whole nation to a man were just so treated; begin with Argyle, and next with the fanatick dogs who teased him with their Kirk puerilities.

Most traitorous, dam infernal Scots for ever. A perfect hero, wholly unscottified.

A seasonable prayer, but never performed.

Trifles to a Scot.

Impudent, lying, Scotch dogs.

That dog of all dogs. With Scotch food, &c. Yet he lost the kingdom for the sake of popery.

Quantum mutatus.

Because he was illiterate, and could read only popish Latin. Who unkinged himself for popery.