Mr. URBAN,

Lincoln's-inn Fields,
Sept. 10.

BEG to offer an opinion, in which

came to me to ask advice respecting the steps he should take to obtain the payment of his mother's jointure;

legal characters, respecting the indispensable necessity of registering, in like manner with Wills, all Marriage Settlements, and other Deeds relative to the entailing of Estates. The common practice of suppressing such documents, militates against every idea of common justice; inasmuch as it shields a man who, by means however unjust, has placed himself in an estate, from every attempt made by the real heir to obtain his rights; and so long as he holds in his own hands that evidence, without which his adversary is impotent,, he can smile on the futile attempts of justice to dispossess him of his tenure. What avails it, therefore, that the Court of Chancery will, by ejectment, grant redress to the injured party, if he, without these documents, is unable to shew any right at all to the property?

A gentleman of my acquaintance is confident that his paternal estate is an entailed one; but the last possessor, being aware of his ignorance of this fact, bequeathed it at his death to a cousin, who now holds it, to the exclusion of the heir-at-law. The only way recommended, by which he can prove his right, is by filing a Bill of Discovery against the possessor, in order to obtain the necessary knowledge of his title: the possessor, in consequence, will produce the Will by which he enjoys the estate, and this Will indisputably gives him a right to continue possession; but the investigation does not prove whether or not the estate be entailed; which is the point to be ascertained. Another resource is, to search the Ecclesiastical Court, in order to find the Will which originally created the entail. But suppose, unfortunately, that the instrument was not a Will, but a Marriage Settlement; where would then be his resource? Is it fair that a man should thus be shut out from his natural claims? Surely not. Justice peremptorily requires, that every species of document creating entails, or fixing the reversion of Marriage Settlements, should be registered, and subject to inspection, or be invalid.

Again, a person, some days ago,

without effect, to the person who succeeded to the estate of his father and mother. I advised him to decliné taking any coercive step in so uncertain a state of the business, unless he was prepared for all the disagreeable consequences of a failure of his suit; and told him he had better try to obtain, by some indirect means, a sight of the Settlement mentioning the jointure; and that I would afterwards give what assistance I was able. But, Sir, how long may this man be before he can see the Settlement ! and, on the other hand, how unsafe to proceed without being on proper ground! his claim at present, as he confessed, being founded only on surmise. This case is not an uncommon one; persons are daily defrauded of their property by the concealment of the above-named proofs.

When the law is framing, it will be of little service to individuals of our own times, unless it be enacted, that all persons shall register Marriage Settlements, Deeds respecting jointures, and entailing of estates, drawn out since the commencement of the present reign; and, moreover, it should be enacted, that all persons, on being legally called upon, shall produce any document which proves the entailment of their estates; aud, in case of refusal, that their tenure be considered as illegal.

I have-now, at some length, offered the concurrent opinion of many eminent Lawyers on this sort of fraud. I cannot conclude, without expressing my admiration at so material a point having hitherto escaped the eye of the Legislature; and I sincerely hope, it may speedily be taken into consideration by the promoters of justice, and ultimately become incorporated in our code of laws, in many respects so admirably calculated for the maintenance of every man's right. Yours, &c. A BARRISTER.

father (George Smart), and intituled, "Moss's Poems," said then to have been written by a Clergyman residing near that town; in which pamphlet a Poem, beginning with, "Pity the sorrows of a poor old man," was the first in every respect, and considered so much superior to all the others, that some persons supposed it written by a different Author, though no name was ever mentioned to your present Correspondent. Mr. J. Smart (who is, or was lately in London, employed as a compositor in a printing office) could probably remove any remaining doubt.

A similar literary imposition was practised about 60 years ago, which you will find noticed in the fourth volume of Fawkes and Woty's Poetical Calendar, p. 27.

In the year 1728, an octavo volume, called, "The Poetical Works of Mr. William Pattison, late of Sid ney College, Cambridge, was published by H. Curll; in which collection first appeared in print, a Poem, Abelard to Eloisa, written in answer to Pope's Epistle of Eloisa to Abe lard; which very production of Mr. Pattison was about the year 1750, with several trifling verbal altera tions, and the insertion of two additional lines, shewn about as the literary labour of Miss Cooper, or Cow per, afterwards wife of Colonel Madan; and the same was printed as hers, with high encomiums thereon, in "Poems by Eminent Ladies, 1755," 2 vols. 12mo. published by R. Baldwin; since which period, it has appeared in many collections and selections, both in England and Scotland, often with some still farther trivial variations, generally for the worse; but always, except by Fawkes and Woty, attributed to Mrs. Madan, who, perhaps, was not born at the time it was written.

I

Mr. URBAN,

L. W.

Aug. 19. TRANSMIT to you an impression of a head of Julius Cæsar, of the medallion size, and which, if not unique, is extremely rare. (See Plate II, fig. 1.) It might properly be termed a Medallion, if it were not that it is taken from a plate having no reverse. This circumstance, together with the situation and place where it was found, and the reason GENT. MAG, October, 1809.

able supposition, that it was coëval with Julius Cæsar's invasion of this Island, render it highly probable that it was fixed to some of his Military Insignia on that occasion. The cast was sent to ine as a present by my friend Mr. B- of Winchester, who informed me, that a boy of that place took them off neatly.

The acute Rev. Dr. Milner, in his History of Winchester," gives an account how and when it was found; and risks a conjecture, that it had been intentionally buried, assigning the time and cause. I shall subjoin what he says on the subject; leaving to your Antiquarian Correspondents to form their opinions on the subject, and, if agreeable, to favour the publick with them.

Dr. Milner's Preface is dated April 6, 1798; and it is almost an incredi ble circumstance, that a labouring man, living on a great post-road, passing through, and within four miles of Winchester, the seat of our Clergy and of Learning in this county, should have possessed such a remarkable relick of antiquity for nearly 36 years, when he probably would at any time have gladly relinquished it for a few shillings,

The head is very neatly engraved in Dr. Milner's Plate, but of a much less size than the original; though he does not mention that circumstance*. Dr. Milner's account is this:

"Notwithstanding the silence of Cæsar concerning any incursion made by the Romans in either of his Expeditions, so far to the West as our City [Winchester], yet the following discovery renders it probable that a part of his army, at least, had been in our neighbourhood; and even that they had met with a defeat there, and been obliged to bury their ensigns, to prevent their falling into the hands of the Britons. Perhaps this was the case in the first Expedition, with some part of the ca valry embarked on-board the 18 transports which were driven by stress of weather to the Western parts of the Island; who, it is natural to suppose, would land, and attempt to form a junction with the land. forces to the East. Be that as it may, about 56 years ago some labourers, dig. ging for sand, near the entrance of Otterburn, which is a village about four miles distant from Winchester, at the depth of

* In our Plate, the figure is reduced to about one quarter of the original size; which is market on the Plate EDIT. 19 feet,