It he is ignorant of the method of proceding in such a case; for, as he will have a great number of copper-plates, in case he prints in weekly numbers, he does not know how he must treat with the engraver; nor even with the printer; or paper-sellers; as to the time they give credit for *. But the Author would chuse to publish by subscription if he could get up the numbers requisite to enable him to pay for his copper-plates, paper, and printing, on or before he wanted it. Your answer to these queries will be obliging to your humble servant, THO. KNOWLTON." "OH MY GOod Sir, July 19, 1765. "As I have this opportunity, would not let it slip, to tell you that I received your most valuable present, which I find is abounding with several plates, and that he has copied most of Rumphus on shells in every plate, and well copied they are, and that without taking any notice from whence so taken. I hope ere long I shall have the pleasure of making some returns. is said by most people that Yorkshire hams† are very much admired, and if you should think so, will send you some up, if that you will please to let me know whether they will be agreeable or no. I was at Cambridge, but was greatly disappointed in the design of the Physic-garden, which is laid out so preposterously, that instead of pleasing, gives a disgust; besides, it has little in it of proper furniture, plenty of all the common sorts, designed more to please the ignorant than the curious, for young Miller is not often to be seen in the garden, as I so understand, having a salary for walking about; but of all the gardens I ever saw, it is the worst furnished. I will say no more, truly lament that the honest design is so erroneously conducted, though a fine space of ground lies well and convenient as possible for the design, but must fail by so ill-judged proceedings, which I am sorry for, for theory is one thing and practice is another; but this is not the only one that he has miscarried in, &c. I am, with all due respects, your most humble servant, T. KNOWLTON." Letters of GEORGE Earl of MACCLESFIELD. To Dr. STUKELBY. « SIR, Woodbury Hall, near Biggleswade, Aug. 18, 1759. "Having been for some time upon a visit at this place, I did not receive your obliging letter, and the kind present that accompanied it, till the latter end of the last week, which prevented your having my thanks for both before this time. I have been pretty much engaged lately in an affair of some consequence, * Of this learned and laborious Antiquary see the Third Volume of these "Illustrations," p. 375; and in this volume, p. 589. It is much to be regretted that the exertions. of so indefatigable an Antiquary should have been cramped by penury. + Mr. Knowlton seems not to have recollected that he was writing to & Jew. The very learned President of the Royal Society; of whom see the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VI. p. 242. 6 which has taken up a great deal of my thoughts and time; so that I have not had much leisure for any thing else; notwithstanding which, I have hastily run over your Palæographia Britannica,' in which you give a large specimen of that sort of learning for which you are, among several other kinds, more particularly remarkable; and I doubt not that, when I shall have leisure time for that purpose, I shall have much pleasure in reading over that and the other little tract which you sent with it. I am much obliged to you for your kind remembrance of me, and am, Sir, your humble servant, MACCLESFIEld." Mr. DA COSTA to the Earl of MACCLESField. "MY LORD, May 4, 1753. "I have the honour to present to your Lordship, by order of the author, Mr. Peter Gabrij, a gentleman of the Hague, a printed sheet of his Observationes Meteorologicæ, anni 1752;' as also his ' Computatio Astronomica Eclipsis Solis et Lunæ, una cum Occultationibus Planetarum et Stellarum fixarum per Lunam, quæ hoc annuo decursu 1753, sub nostro Hæmisphærio, nobis erunt visibiles Haga Comitum.' This latter, as yet in MS. I have, by the said gentleman's order, likewise sent to the Rev. Mr. Birch, our Secretary (not to trouble your Lordship), the same papers to present to the Royal Society. The author ardently expresses in his letter the great satisfaction he shall receive if your Lordship honours and approves of his present; and, with the greatest respect, I remain, my Lord, "MY LORD, "Your Lordship's most obedient and most devoted servant, "E. M. DA COSTA." Mincing-lane, Jan. 19, 1763. "Your Lordship, I hope, will pardon the trouble here given, as also the seeming disrespect which I am guilty of in not paying my humble personal duties to your Lordship as my patron, and also as President of the Royal Society. I should not have failed in my respect to your Lordship had not the death of a most tender and affectionate Father, whose obsequies by my religion I must strictly attend to, incapacitated me. I hope your Lordship's pardon, and do not doubt it, as your Lordship's known humanity will dictate how afflicting the loss of a tender parent is, and how necessary the observance of religious duty is consistent with the well-being of society. "The present application to your Lordship is most humbly to intreat your Lordship's vote and patronage for me to succeed the late Mr. Francis Hawksbee as Clerk to the Royal Society, for which place I declare myself a Candidate, and I have presumed to inclose your Lordship my proposals to that purport, begging your Lordship's perusal of it, and transmittance to the Society. I hope your Lordship will not be offended at my presumption in sending to your Lordship, as I do not know, my Lord, whether it is the duty of a Candidate to transmit them immediately to your Lordship, or inmediately to the Council. "I am, with great subinission, my Lord, your Lordship's most devoted, most obliged, and obedient servant, E. M. DA COSTA." Royal Society House, Feb. 10, 1763. "MY LORD, "The Statutes of the Royal Society ordains the Clerk to be disqualified from being a Member thereof. As I had the honour to be elected into the said place at the last meeting, I hereby, in consequence of the said Statute, beg your Lordship's and the Society's leave to withdraw myself from being a Fellow of the said Society, and for that purpose have presumed to trouble your Lordship and the Society with this requisite letter of notice. Permit me, my Lord, to add, that the great honour the Society has conferred on me demands my most grateful and humble thanks. My vigilance and attention to the duties of my office shall be the principal object of my thoughts, and that only the honour of serving the Society in my present station, so generously conferred upon me could ever make me quit the honour (which I always esteemed the greatest happiness of my life) of being a Member of this learned and illustrious body. "I am, with great respect, my Lord, your Lordship's most obedient, most obliged, and humble servant, E. M. DA COSTA." Rev. PHILIP MORANT to Mr. DA COSTA. "SIR, Colchester, June 22, 1749. "I humbly beg your pardon for keeping your book† so long. It has given me so much pleasure, that I could not forbear reading it with great attention; and some business that hath intervened, is the reason I could not dispatch it, as I proposed, within a month. It contains multum in parvo, and obliges the public with extracts of books on the same subject, most of which are very scarce. I hope I shall be able to get one, for I like it so well that I should not chuse to be without it. Yours I will return by the first opportunity, with my humble thanks for the use of it. Lescaloperius's account of the Druids, which is inserted in your book among other extracts, and makes a considerable figure there, was published by that Father (who was a Jesuit) at the end of his Commentary upon 'Cicero de Naturâ Deorum.' "I remain, with due respect, Sir, your most obedient and obliged humble servant, PH. MORANT." Druidical Temples and Altars in the Isle of JERSEY. "1. In St. Martin's parish, near the sea, there is a large one. The outermost part consists of 21 stones, erected in the figure of an oval. Within which there are fourteen others in two rows, seven on each side, which support three large flat stones, about six feet in diameter each. There are two others down. Close by this Temple, there are stones of a very great bulk set up on end. Under this place there are caverns that go into one ano The learned Historian of Colchester; of whom see the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VII. pp. 274, 632. + Frickius de Druidis, 4to. ther; ther*; the entrance into which is three feet high and two broad [a cove], like the Hakpen. See Dr. Stukeley's Abury Descr. page 38. 2. In the same parish, near Montorgueil Castle, upon an artificial hill, is another. The supporters are five stones; and the top stone is 15 feet long, 104 broad, and 3 thick. "3. There are three in St. Helier's, or the Town parish. "1. One [a kistvaen] consists of three stones erect, and the top stone placed on them is 11 feet long, 10 feet broad, 11⁄2 feet thick, on the West end; and, on the East and North, 2 feet and more. At some distance from this are some other single erect stones. About half a mile north-west from it are the remains of an agger or tumulus. "2. The second consists of one great stone, 15 feet long, 61 broad, and 4 feet thick, supported by three erect ones. On each side of it are two others. That on the East is 12 feet long, 34 broad, and between 2 and 3 feet thick, supported by erect ones. That on the West, not supported now, is 7 feet long, and 4 broad. On the North are four others, not supported now by others. They are all upon an artificial hill, agger, or tumulus. "3. The third is 14 feet long, 71⁄2 broad, and 3 feet thick, or more, supported by 5 erect stones. On the E. S. E. stood stones circularly placed, of which one is yet standing, six feet high. The rest have been broken to pieces to make a wall." To the Rev. PHILIP MORANT, Colchester. London, Dec. 9, 1752. "SIR, "I cannot express to you the concern it gave me that I happened to be from home when you did me the honour to call on me, and that I was afterwards obliged to go into Buckinghamshire, where my stay prevented me again of the sensible pleasure of embracing you. On my return I delayed writing to you daily, hoping you was not yet returned to Colchester, and therefore might still have the pleasure of seeing you, but finding it otherwise, I now write you to enquire with great sincerity after your health, and to assure you of the joy I partake in your muchesteemed friendship, and, whenever opportunity offers, in your learned and agreeable conversation. "I must now acknowledge the receipt of your much-esteemed letter of July 19 last, and the present sent me with it. I am ashamed of my not doing it sooner, but a variety of businesses. and my attachment to my study to complete the work I am about (of which inclosed I send you a Proposal), really so employed me, that I had not a moment's leisure. I hope, Sir, you *There are in Wales and Ireland under-ground houses, or artificial caves, consisting frequently of several chambers, and generally opening towards rivers or the sea; having been, as those of the Germans described by Tacitus (De Morib. Germ. c. 3), magazines against the extreme rigour of the winter, or hiding-places for men and goods in time of war. J. Toland, Hist. of the Druids, pp 107, 103. P. MORANT." me. will therefore pardon my disrespectful neglect, and accept now my unfeigned thanks for your friendship and endeavours to serve The stones are Diluvian remains, flinty casts in the shells of the genus of shell-fish called Echini. These were of two different classes of the genus, one being an Echinites cordatus, the other an Echinites galeatus; and I am much obliged to you for them. You hint that fossils are scarce at your place. I am also apt to think so by the few I ever heard of that were collected in your neighbourhood. "Harwich Cliff abounds with several kinds of fossil shells, and petritied wood. If it should ever lie in your way to get some from thence, I shall be greatly obliged to you to send me some, directed as you did before. I have further to beg of you, if you can easily get them, to send me a small box of the seaweeds or corallines found on your coast. You have only need to lay them in a heap, damp as they are. You was so good also to present me another parcel; it contained that kind of pebble flint commonly called plum-pudding stone, and a piece of clay-stone or Ludus helmontii. Pray let me know where they were found. "Pray, Sir, favour me with an answer to let me know of your welfare, and please to direct it for me at the Bank Coffeehouse. I beg leave, dear Sir, to offer you my hearty services in any thing I can be capable of doing. Your commands I shall always with pleasure obey, for I assure you I am, with great respect, dear Sir, your very obedient servant, E. M. DA COSTA." "SIR, To Mr. DA COSTA. Colchester, July 19, 1752. "I have long been endeavouring to get some Fossils here to make you a present of; but they are so scarce in this place, that I have been able to procure no more than these two stones*, of which be pleased to accept. Whether they grew in that form, or were wrought, you are best able to judge. I remain, Sir, "Your most obedient humble servant, P. MORANT." Letters to and from the Earl of MORTON. "SIR, To Mr. DA COSTA. Dalmahoy, near Edinburgh, July 22, 1765. "I desire you will send me two Lists of the Royal Society for this year, and write me the names of the Members that have been elected since that List was printed. "I should likewise be glad to know the result of Mr. Canton's experiments. I am apt to think they will answer in the way he described, though my experiment will rather shew it to a greater certainty, but that must be deferred till I return to London. MORTON." "Your humble servant, "They were the Echinita Cordati, and Galeati." E. M. D. C. + Of this noble and intelligent President of the Royal Society see the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. VII. pp. 277. 633, 3 C VOL. IV. The |