[ 192 ]

7675

July 28

EACH DAY'S PRICE OF STOCKS IN AUGUST, 1821.

Bank Red. 3pr.Ct. 34 per 4 pr.Ct. 5perCt. B. Long Stock. 3pr.Ct. Con. Ct. Con. Con. Navy. Ann.

Irish.

Imp. 3 India Stock p. cent.

S. S. (N. S. S.JO.S.S.) India Bonds. Stock. Anu. Ann.

Com.

Ex. Bills.

Bills. Con.

29 Sunday 30 231

75 474 34|

934 3107419 493 1074 8194 854 94 34 108 74194 864 937 44 107284 19 747 5 86495 4 108

19

741

231

232

76

86 95

10948 194

75;

86 943 51 108

19

231

pr.

6 pr.

75

(75)

9234

2764

75

754

831

75

59 60

4

pr.

5 pr.

754

231

59 pr.

4

5 pr.

75

10/233

3764

75

86

11

76

76 5

86 95

954 1084 919 109 8419

754

59 pr.

JOHN NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET, WESTMINSTER.

AMICUS ANTIQUITATIS, in reply to Osman's remarks on the new Silver Coinage, p. 98, says, "Osman should have better informed himself on the subject, before he termed the reverse of the Silver Coinage an awkward mistake.' All the coins of England, since Charles I. (excepting the half-crowns, shillings, and sixpences, of George III. of the years 1817, 1818, 1819, and 1820), have been struck in this manner, and have been thus distinguished from medals, which have always had the obverse and reverse in the same position; so that the medal being held upright turns as on a pivot, and presents both sides erect: but eoins, except those mentioned of Geo. III. have been in the manner Osman calls a mistake. The Mint-Master has here followed a long-continued practice.

J. B. also remarks, in reply to Osman, "If it be a mistake, it is not a new, nor an uncommon one; the finest and most valuable coins in England, France, and other countries, for ages past, have frequently been stamped in the same manner; sometimes they have been stamped the contrary way; and I have now before me also some old gold coins, which have been stamped in neither of those ways, but side-ways to each other."

CLERICUS observes, "The passage in Henry Scogan's ballad, faith is ded witheuten workes,' is given by its author as the opinion of several noble clerkes; but is taken from the 2d chapter of the Epistle of James in the Bishop's Bible the passage is thus translated: For as the body without the spirit is dead, even so faith without workes is dead also,' and is rendered nearly the same in King James's Translation."

ANCALIS says, "I copy the following paragraph from the Gazette of January 6, 1708: - St. James's, January 4. The Count Bergami, Envoy Extraordinary from the Duke of Modena, had a private audience of her Majesty, to condole the death of his Royal Highness the Prince, conducted by Sir Charles Cottrell, Master of the Ceremonies; and introduced by the Right Honourable the Earl of Sunderland, principal Secretary of State.' From this it should seem that the family are of a more reputable origin than has been generally supposed." SI QUIS states, "I cannot trace the object of Sir Winston Churchill's Divi Britannici, 1660.' The author traces a series of Kings whose names never reached my ears before, and endeavours to trace an antiquity and importance to our history that rivals a Chinese historian. Could it be meant as a flattery to Charles the Second? And was Sir Winston an ancestor of the great Duke of Marlborough?”

The same Correspondent will find a satisfactory account of Andrew Jackson, an able Bibliomaniac, in Mr. Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. III. p. 625; and he will also find that Lilypot-lane leads from Noblestreet to Steyning-lane.

M. asks, "Was the late worthy Rector of St. Philip, Birmingham, a member of the family of the deep and finished divine' William Outram, D.D. who died Aug. 23, 1679, and is interred in Westminster Abbey, with a suitable monument and inscription? if so, he is of opinion the relationship should unquestionably have been recognized and specified by W. W. p. 469. See Dart's Westmonasterium, vol. II. p. 62, pl. 63."

O. says, "Permit me to ask your Correspondents learned in genealogical lore, whether any pedigree exists of the family of 'Mauduit of Warminster,' and its collateral branches? The lordship of Warminster was granted to Robert Mauduit le Chamberlain, by Hen. II. pro servicio suo; he dying and leaving only a daughter, we find it next possessed by his brother William, who also held the office of Chamberlain. His great grandson William Mauduit, Earl of Warwick, died 53 Hen. III. and was buried here, and his heart in the nunnery of Catesby, Northamptonshire. He leaving no issue, his sister Isabel carried the earldom of Warwick into the family of Beauchamp, but certainly not Warminster, which passed to the heir of Thomas Mauduit.-Here occurs my first difficulty, as I cannot ascertain the connection between Earl William and this Thomas: from this point I go on very well through Sir Thomas, who was attainted temp. Edw. II., and John who was summoned as Lord Mauduit, 17 Edw. III., till I come to an Alice Mauduit, quæ fuit uxor Johannis Laghfull.' She lived in the reigns of Rich. II. Hen. IV. V. and VI. and is the last person who bore the name. She had an only daughter Maude, married to Wm. Mohun of Sarum, whose three daughters were her coheirs; but how this Alice possessed the lands is equally a mystery; whether she was daughter and heir, or widow of a Mauduit, she seems to have possessed the lordship in full right, and granted it at her pleasure."

JASPER would be highly obliged by any of our Correspondents informing him of the names and titles of the persons who forced King John to sign Magna Charta, and who are their descendants at the present day?

We heartily thank our worthy Correspondent for a judicious Letter sent from Brackley.

Y. Z.'s suggestion of a plan for building a new Church is under consideration.

I

Mr. URBAN,

Sept. 3. HAVE lately met with a gentle man who has visited the Negro kingdom of Benin so recently as the year 1820; and I regret that this meeting did not take place early enough to give me an opportunity of inserting in the Tour of Africa" the information I have received from him. The account of Benin in this work was extracted from Barbot and Nyendael, who were in the country about the end of the seventeenth Century; and I am not aware that any particulars respecting it have been published since this period. As I cannot now avail myself of the communication of this gentleman, he has permitted me to present it to the Publick through the channel of your Magazine.

Lieutenant John King of the Royal Navy, the gentleman from whom the following information is derived, is a young man of great spirit and enter prise, whose benevolence to black men has been so invariable, whose adherence to truth so inviolable, and whose manners have been so conciliating, that he would undertake to traverse their countries from the Gulf of Guinea to the borders of the Sahara or Great Desert.

That such a journey is practicable there can be no doubt, because it is actually, and annually, performed by Moorish merchants, and, from my knowledge of Mr. King, I should as little doubt his being competent to the undertaking; my only fear would be, lest the constitution of a European should fall a sacrifice to the climate.

Mr. King landed at Gatto, the Agatton of former voyagers, which is situated on the Western side of the river Formoso, and about hundred miles from its mouth. European

factories are established here for the purposes of trade. The custom of exposing twins, which formerly prevailed at Arebo, now prevails at Gatto; the infants being each placed in an earthen pot, with the face upwards, and left to perish on the summit of a hill.

From Gatto, Mr. King proceeded in a hammock to the city of Benin, the capital of the country, which lies to the North-west, and is sixteen hours, or about sixty miles, distant. The country became more hilly and more cultivated as he advanced into it.

Benin stands on a plain, at the foot of an amphitheatre of bills, stretching East, West, and North. The walls have been greatly destroyed, and the city has been half depopulated, by a civil war of former times; the circumference of the habitable part being now not more than from two to 'three miles. The streets are wide and straight, the houses regular and contiguous, but they are divided from each other by a narrow space. They are constructed with mud, and occupy the four sides of a square court; the roofs resemble that of an English barn, and are thatched with palm leaves. The houses of great inen are very neat and handsome; the walls within are inlaid with cowries, and along every side of the room runs a seat raised about eighteen inches from the ground. Mats and cloths, made in the country, are spread on the seat and on the floor. There are markets in which all the necessaries of life, and manufactures of the country, are exposed to sale.

The walls of the palace are entire. On that front of the square at which Mr. King entered were three gates, the principal one in the centre. Ou either side of this were ranged eight or ten large elephant's teeth, cu

riously