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every Member who values the independence of the institution to teach them a different lesson; and to convince them, that they have been suffered too long to possess the uncontrolled direction of its affairs.

Let every Fellow ask himself whether the Society, in its present state, effects any practical good? Whether its meetings, or its publications, are worthy of such an institution? or whether they have not been the subject of ridicule from the time of Horace Walpole to the present? They have seen that it has been daily growing worse; and that, if the present officers are allowed to nominate a Council as supine as themselves, no hope of improvement can be entertained.

In conclusion; we exhort each Fellow to exert himself in the formation of an independent and zealous Council; and when he affixes his name to the balloting list, we entreat him to reflect that, by adopting the recommendation of the officers, he will evince his approbation of the present state of the Society, of the manner in which its charter and bye-laws have been disregarded, of the frivolous objects upon which its funds are employed, and of the inanity and worthlessness of its proceedings; whilst, by selecting a Council according to his own judgment, he will have the honour of affording his assistance to the efforts which will be made to render the Society worthy of a place among the literary institutions of Europe.

The Members should moreover bear in mind, that the eyes of the public are upon them-that the existing state of the Society has been lamented or ridiculed in half the Journals of the dayand that there is not one of the officers themselves so inflexibly obstinate, or impenetrably dull, excepting perhaps Mr. Nicholas Carlisle, as not to be convinced of the necessity of improvement, though they are so completely held in trammels by the Secretaries that they cannot act according to their own inclinations. Will the Fellows, then, bow beneath the yoke which its servants have imposed, and which they still intend them to wear? or will they not rescue themselves and the Society from the degraded condition to which it has heen reduced? The humblest Mechanics' Institute in the kingdom effects more good, is governed in a more liberal and independent manner, and is more respected, than that which might be rendered the first literary society in England.

ADVERSARIA.

ORDER OF THE BATH.-Among the numerous letters which have been addressed to us, applauding the exposure which appeared in our last number, of the system of receiving fees from the Members of this Order, without fulfilling the objects for which they were demanded, the following letter signed "A Sufferer" merits particular notice:

"Your very able and forcible observations upon the Order of the Bath, and admirable exposure of the system carried on with respect to Officers upon whom the Order has been conferred, merit the thanks of the whole body, and it is to be hoped that Government will see the stipulations, for which so much money was paid, fulfilled.

"You will be rendering further service by keeping your eyes upon this proceeding; and should you have further occasion to notice the subject, perhaps you will inform the public whether those fees continue to be demanded for Statutes, &c. (not a copy of which, though paid for, can be procured,) from the Officers lately promoted into this Order for service in the East Indies and at Navarino.

"Perhaps you could suggest some laudable object towards which the fees paid by deceased Officers might be appropriated, the purposes for which they were paid not having been accomplished."

We assure our correspondent, that we will not fail to comply with his request, of watching the proceedings on the subject; and can inform him, in reply to his question, that one, at least, of the officers who received the third Class of the Bath, for Navarino, has paid his fees; and we have cause to believe, that some of those who were similarly rewarded for their recent services in India have likewise done so. Perhaps the fees paid by deceased Members of the Order could not be better appropriated than by printing a limited impression of those memorials of their services with which, in pursuance of the regulations, they furnished the proper officers, and by giving the surplus to some charitable institution connected with the naval or military service. It may be satisfactory to our correspondent and his fellow "Sufferers" to learn, that we know, from authority, that attention is awakened in the highest quarters to the conduct of which they so justly complain.

KNIGHTHOOD OF THE ELDEST SONS OF BARONETS.-The dignity of Baronet was established by Letters Patent, dated 22nd of May, in the ninth year of the reign of King James, 1611; and, by other Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the 28th of May, in the tenth year of his reign, 1612, making a certain ordinance, establishment, and final decree upon a controversy of precedence between the younger sons of Viscounts and Barons and the Baronets, and touching other points, also concerning as well Bannerets as the said Baronets; whereby the King was pleased, amongst other things, to knight the then Baronets that were no Knights; and did, by the same presents, of his mere motion and favour, promise and grant for himself, his heirs, and successors, that such Baronets, and the heirs male of their bodies as thereafter, should be no Knights, when they should attain and be of the age of one and twenty years, upon knowledge thereof given to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household, or ViceChamberlain for the time being, or, in their absence, to any other officer attending upon his Majesty's person, should be knighted by his Majesty, his heirs, and successors, as by the said several Letters Patent (amongst other things) did fully appear.-His present Majesty, however, having deemed it expedient that the said promise to confer the honour of knighthood in future should be discontinued, has, by Letters Patent, bearing date the 19th day of December last, been pleased to revoke, determine, and make void the said promise and grant in the beforementioned Letters Patent contained, "with respect to all Letters Patent for the creation of Baronets to be made and granted after these presents; and that the said Letters Patent shall be made hereaf.er without such clause as hereinbefore mentioned; without preju

dice, nevertheless, to any Letters Patent heretofore granted, or to the rights and privileges now by law belonging to any Baronet and his heirs male."

In consequence of which revocation, the Patents granted to the thirteen gentlemen recently created' do not contain the clause referred to 2.

IRISH PEERS PRIVILEGE FROM ARREST.-The question involving the freedom of Irish Peers from arrest has been recently decided by an act of the highest tribunal. In September last Lord Hawarden was arrested, after pleading his privilege to the Sheriff ineffectually.

Coates and Another, Assignees of Cox, a Bankrupt, against Viscount Hawarden. The Court of King's Bench, in Michaelmas term, granted a rule to show cause why the bail-bond should not be delivered up to be cancelled, and the costs attending the proceedings be paid by the plaintiffs. The rule was moved for, and obtained, on the affidavit of the defendant stating, that he was a Viscount of that part of the united kingdom called Ireland; that his right to vote in the election of representative Peers for Ireland had been allowed by the House of Lords, and exercised by the defendant, and that he was entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of an Irish Peer; that the defendant was arrested at his residence at Brighton on the 15th September, 1827, by an officer of the Sheriff of Sussex, and that he had been discharged from such arrest upon a representation of his privilege; that he immediately forwarded a strong remonstrance to the Sheriff; notwithstanding which, he had been again taken under the same process, on the 24th September, upon which occasion he had given a bail-bond, accompanied by a protest against the regularity of the proceedings. The Court, in granting the rule, said, that they entertained no doubt as to the defendant's privilege. The rule was subsequently made absolute, with costs; the defendant's counsel undertaking that no action should be brought.

On the meeting of Parliament Lord Hawarden made a complaint to

'See Retrospective Review, N. S. Vol. I. p. 524.

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The following is the clause in question: We will moreover, and do by these presents, of our more ample grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, for us, our heirs, and successors, covenant and grant to and with the said A. B. and his heirs male aforesaid, that we will, immediately after the date of these presents, create and make the said A. B. a knight; and that we, our heirs, and successors, will create and make the firstborn son or heir male apparent, begotten of the body of the said A. B. and of the bodies of his heirs male aforesaid, and every one of them, a knight, as soon as he shall attain the age of one and twenty years, although in the lifetime of his father or grandfather, upon notice given thereof to the Chamberlain or Vice-Chamberlain of the Household of us, our heirs, or successors for the time being, or in their absence to any other officer or minister of us, our heirs, or successors, attending the person of us, our heirs, or successors, to have, hold, and enjoy the same state, degree, dignity, style, title, place, and precedence, with all and singular the privileges, and other the premises before granted to the said A. B. and his said heirs male of his body lawfully begotten for ever."

3 It appeared also that the whole debt, except £4, had been received by Cox before his bankruptcy.

Manning and Ryland, Michaelmas Term, 1827. A curious letter from an Irish Peer, complaining to the Earl Marshal, in the reign of Charles the First, that he was under arrest for debt, will be found in a former page of the present Number.

the Lord Chancellor of the breach of privilege, who brought the matter under the consideration of the House of Lords; when Lord Hawarden being called to the table, stated his complaint, which was referred to a Committee of Privileges; and, after a report to the House, the Under Sheriff of Sussex, his Officer, and the Solicitor, were committed to the custody of the Black Rod, where they remained until they were, upon petition, subsequently discharged, on payment of their fees.

CURIOUS REGULATIONS.-In the Code of Ordinances for the government of the Savoy Hospital, founded by Henry the Seventh, the following regulations occur:

"De armis non portandis."-And we do prohibit and command, that no master, sub-master, chaplain, perpetual or hired, or any other attendant or servant of the aforesaid hospital, for the time being, shall carry a sword, or other arms, offensive or defensive, excepting a small knife (parvum cultellum), within the said hospital; nor the master, or any perpetual or hired chaplain, without."

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"De non ludendo ad talos."- And whereas it becomes the good and honest to be adorned with good and honest manners; we do therefore command, that no master, &c. in any manner, privately or openly, play at dice, cards (cartas), or any other illicit and prohibited games (jocos), within the said hospital. But they may, at all times, play at chess (scaccos), and, at the time of our Lord's Nativity, for forty days, at tables, without fraud and blasphemy, and great sums of money; nor provoke tipplings, murmurings, strifes, and quarrels, nor use secret conversation with any woman or girl, especially within the aforesaid hospital. And that none of them be a night-walker, or on any night lie or dare to be without the hospital, in any place within two miles of the same hospital, beyond seven o'clock in the evening. And that none of them, nor any woman [thirteen were ordained to reside there], nourish, keep, or carry dogs of any kind, or ravenous birds, within or without the hospital."-Cotton. MS. Cleop. C.v. f. 27.

LONDONIANA.-Drury-lane.-Some writers have supposed that this place was so called from its having been the residence of a Sir Thomas Drury, who had a spacious mansion towards its northern extremity at the other end, or its southern extremity, in the reign of James the First, stood the noble residence of the Earl of Craven. This caused a great accession of inhabitants in these parts of the parishes of St. Clement's Danes and St. Mary-le-Strand. But long before this the Cock and Pie public-house, now a few doors from the end, stood alone, having been built prior to the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First. About the end of the latter reign, the George Inn, which was taken down many years ago, and some few others, began to be built. In the reign of Charles the First the neighbourhood was further improved by new buildings; and in that of Charles the Second Drury-lane was the centre of gaiety and dissipation, and consequently of attraction to the looser and juvenile parts of the community. That its vicinity was the haunt of the Cyprian corps, we have the authority of Butler in his Hudibras. Here were bowling-alleys, gaming-houses, and taverns in every direction; to which we may add gardens, the probable names of which still re

main; as Short's gardens, Brown's gardens, &c. long since formed into streets. These being in the neighbourhood of what were called the Cock and Pie fields, it is likely that the house called the Cock and Pie was the seat of the hilarity of the times. Tradition says that the Cock and Pie public-house was known in the reign of Henry the Seventh as a place of pleasant resort for the citizens of London. It was afterwards called the Music-house, probably from the celebration of May-day round the may-pole which stood in the Strand, nearly opposite Little Drury-lane. For while apprentices and servants used to dance round the tall may-pole, it is very likely that the citizens of a higher order met to enjoy the same species of amusement in a higher degree at the Cock and Pie; an idea which is justified by the appearance of the long-room for many years afterwards. This ancient ale-house, which was once much more extensive than at present, it appears, looked over the Cock and Pie fields to the westward on one side, and towards the gardens of Craven-house on the other. Even so late as the reign of George the First many of the houses in Cravenbuildings had trees before them; and one also stood at the upper end of Little Drury-lane, nearly in front of the present Cock and Pie alehouse. The gardens extending along the Strand might also have been seen formerly from the back of this house.

Lewterner's-lane, in Drury-lane, was commonly called Newtener'slane; but the wickedness of its inhabitants having gained, as well as some other places near it, the appellation of "Little Sodom," they have given it the preferable name of Charles-street, as appears from a stone fixed in the front of a house at the eastern end of it. Whetstone-park, running between the south side of Holborn and the north side of Lincoln's-inn-fields, was also a receptacle for Cyprians, and continued highly offensive to the decent part of the community, till they were routed by the mob, and the King's life-guard was obliged to be called out to suppress the riot that ensued. Upon the site of Wild-court, Great Wild-street, stood Wild-house, which was occupied by a Spanish ambassador when William the Third landed at Torbay, and was plundered shortly after by the rabble of property to the amount of 100,000l. Several respectable and well built old houses in the vicinity of Drury-lane, the approaches to which are now obscure and unsightly, sufficiently attest the different classes of people that once occupied them, from their present inhabitants. Amongst these is the large house in Brownlow-street, many years used as a lying-in hospital, and the remains of a considerable inn in the Coal-yard, &c. It is certain that a house in Brownlow-street, Drury-lane, formerly belonged to the Duke of Lenox. M. Monconnys, in his Voyage d'Angleterre, in 1663, mentions one of the small streets leading into Drury-lane, that was principally occupied by certain females of the lowest description. He had been to visit Gresin, i. e. Gray's-inn, and Great Queen-street, with which he says he was much delighted. He afterwards passed through one of the little streets near Drury-lane, which he conceived was the public brothel, as being inhabited by women as disgusting in their appearance as in their minds, who were standing at their doors to call in passengers. "To me, however," he observes, "they said nothing,

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