From the Author. Results of the Irish Census of 1861, with a special reference to the condition of the church in Ireland, by the Rev. A. Hume, LL.D., D.C.L. &c. The following objects of interest were exhibited : By Mr. J. G. Hollingworth, through Mr. Jacob. 1. Grant of the Manor of Wilmington and Advowson of the Church of St. Mary, Bath; 10th June, 1363, 37th Edward III. 2. Grant of an Annuity; 16th November, 1592, 35th Eliz. 3. License of Alvication with Great Seal affixed; Dec., 1623, 20th James I. 4. Letters patent from the Crown, being a pardon to William Orange Esq. for acts done by him during the Commonwealth; 15th November, 1662, 14th Car. II. 5. A Recovery; 28th February, 1680, 32nd Car. II. By Mr. Newton. 1. The original edition, "printed the year and month wherein "Rochell was lost, October, 1628," of "An Appeal to the Parlia"ment, or Sion's Plea against the Prelacie" by Dr. Leighton. For this publication Leighton was sentenced by the Court of the Star Chamber in 1630, at the instigation of Laud, to pay a fine of Ten Thousand Pounds, to be degraded from his Ministry, to be set in the Pillory at Westminster and there whipped while the court was sitting; to be pilloried a second time and have one of his ears cut off, one side of his nose slit, and be branded on the face with "S.S." (Sower of Sedition); a few days after, to be pilloried again in Cheapside, there to be whipped, have his other ear cut off and the other side of his nose slit; thereafter to be shut up in a close dungeon for life. When this sentence was pronounced the archbishop took off his cap and thanked God for so just a judgment. 2. A volume of Cowper's poems, the edges of the leaves, when partially spread out, shewing a very pretty picture of the village of Weston. The design illustrated the skill and taste displayed in the art of book-binding at the beginning of the present century. The following Papers were read :— 1. THE PRE-HISTORIC MAN OF CHESHIRE AN ACCOUNT OF A HUMAN SKELETON FOUND UNDER THE LEASOWE SHORE IN WIRRAL,* by Lieut.General the Hon. Sir Edward Cust, K.C.H. &c.† 2. GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES IN CENTRAL AFRICA, BY THREE DUTCH LADIES,‡ by J. A. Tinne Esq., F.R.G.S. * Transactions, p. 193. + See p. 249. + Transactions, p. 107. APPENDIX. THE PRE-HISTORIC MAN OF CHESHIRE. In the discussion which followed the reading of this Paper, (vide pp. 193 and 249) Mr. Henry Ecroyd Smith, Honorary Curator, said he felt it "incumbent upon him to protest against its assertions," declaring that "the skeleton was not found below, but several feet above the forest-bog "soil. The only peat beneath which it lay is a stratum only a few "inches thick composed of a residuum of a comparatively recent "marsh-not of the ancient wooded forest." Mr. Smith has since added the following remark-“ Having treated this matter more at length in another place, (viz., in The Reliquary, for April, 1865,) I "leave the issue with the greatest confidence to the judgment of those "who may take sufficient interest in the question to investigate it thoroughly." 66 In support of his own views and in reply to Mr. Smith's objection, Sir Edward Cust procured the formal depositions of three persons more or less acquainted with the exact position in which the remains were found, the substance of them being as follows: 66 66 66 1. Thomas Wilson, labourer, says, "On the 22nd January, 1864, I I was working at the Leasowe Embankment in the said county, and 'that on the aforesaid day of January, while acting as ganger over "the navvies employed on the sea shore, I saw something that I at first thought to be a rusty saucepan, laying in a spot where the tide had "washed away the peat soil, and that on pulling it up I found it to be "a skull, of which the lower jaw fell on the ground. I then took a "shovel and pickaxe and cleared away the blue silt which had gathered "about it; and seeing that it lay straight with some bones lying about "it that showed it to be a human skeleton, I went and reported it to "Mr. Jones." 2. Thomas Jones, Superintendent of the Leasowe Embankment, says, "On the 22nd of January (1864) I was called by Thomas Wilson "to inspect a skeleton that he had found upon the shore at the eastern "end of the embankment and that, on going to the spot, I saw several "human ribs and vertebræ lying on the silt below the ordinary bed "of peat, at least three feet below the surface of the peat formation "before the tide had destroyed it. That I personally overlooked the "careful removal of the remains to the office there; about five or six days afterwards many persons called to see them, but that it was "about a fortnight subsequently to their discovery that Mr. Smith and "Mr. Moore came with men and instruments to inspect the place where 66 "it was found, but that the spot was already much filled up by the progress of the tide and much fresh sand had been thrown upon it by "the intervening spring tide, which must have greatly altered the 'ground, because a considerable portion of the sandhill had been at "that time washed into the hole and shore about it." 66 66 3. John Shergold, gardener to Sir Edward Cust at Leasowe Castle in Wallasey, says, "On the 23rd of January last (1864) I was informed "that the Embankment men had found a human skeleton on the shore, "and I went to the office of the Superintendent at the Township of Moreton in the said county, and saw the bones laid out in order on "the floor; and that afternoon I proceeded to the spot where they were found, near the centre of the large sandhill, and I think that when "first discovered it must have lain, by my observation, more than three "feet below the ordinary surface of the peat-that the sea had come "over the spot since the body was found, but that the bed on which it lay exposed was composed of blue silt: although there was a mixture “of sand, silt and peat lying all about it, I have no hesitation in stating "that there must have been at least three feet of peat above the site " where it lay." ANNUAL EXCURSION. On Wednesday the 3rd of August, 1864, a party of about ninety, comprising many ladies, several gentlemen not members, and a considerable proportion of the officers and other members of the Society, proceeded to Eaton Hall, the seat of the Marquess of Westminster, K.G., Lord-Lieutenant of the County of Chester. The visit was rather one of pleasure than in strict pursuance of the special objects of the Society, the intention of the gathering being to cultivate and increase social good feeling amongst the members, and to extend to their friends a similar expression of cordiality. The hall, gardens and pleasure-grounds were visited, and the party dined in the open air on the banks of the Dee within the park, Mr. Buxton, F.R.S.L., occupying the chair, and Mr. Craig Gibson, F.S.A., Hon. Librarian to the Society, acting as Vice-chairman. The usual loyal and complimentary toasts were given after dinner, and the party safely returned to Liverpool in the evening, after having spent a holiday with universal satisfaction. SHAKSPEARE TERCENTENARY CELEBRATION. A Special Meeting of the Society was held on the 20th of April, 1864, in celebration of the Tercentenary of the Birth of Shakspeare. It was attended by a numerous company of ladies and gentlemen, before whom the Rev. A. Hume, D.C.I.. &c., one of the Vice-Presidents of the Society, delivered, in the large lecture hall, an Oration on Shakspeare, which is printed in this volume (see p. 43). The usual meeting-room was appropriated to the exhibition of a collection of the early editions of Shakspeare and his contemporaries; and numerous medals, engravings, original sketches, portraits and relics were also displayed. The following list, prepared for visitors, is here reprinted, as it is thought desirable to preserve a record so highly interesting. Some remarks by John Fitchett Marsh Esq., the Chairman of the meeting and the chief contributor of objects, are added in elucidation of the value of early copies of Shakspeare. I. Contributed by John Fitchett Marsh, Esq., Fairfield House, Warrington. FOLIO AND QUARTO SHAKSPEARES, VIZ. :— 1. First Folio, 1623. Published at £1. A copy (and that imperfect, having the verses of Ben Jonson supplied in MS.), was last month (21st March, 1864), sold by Messrs. Sotheby and Co. for £273. The following is the collation of the present copy : The verses have been supplied from a copy of the 4th edition; the title has been altered in fac-simile from the 2nd edition, and the portrait inlaid. In other respects it is quite perfect, with the exception of a few lines in fac-simile (which defies detection until held to the light), and contains the same misprints as are noticed in Lowndes's Bibliographer's Manual, with the following peculiar variations : Page 214 in the "Taming of the Shrew is not misprinted 212. Page 37 in "Richard II." is not misprinted 39. Pages 54 and 55 in "Romeo and Juliet" are misprinted 55 and 54. Page 309 in Lear" is misprinted 307. 2. Second Folio, 1632. A copy at the sale above mentioned realized £54 128. The present fine and "tall" copy, measuring full 13 inches by 83 inches, has Ben Jonson's verses supplied from the first issue of the 3rd edition; but is otherwise quite perfect, having the following variations from the collation given by Lowndes : Page 205, in the first series of numbers, is misprinted 208. Page 49, in "Henry IV.," is not misprinted 45. Page 85, in "Romeo and Juliet," is misprinted 58. [The owner has two other copies of the 2nd folio in less perfect condition.] 3. Third Folio, 1664. At the same sale this edition fetched £43 1s., and copies have 4. Fourth Folio, 1685. A copy produced at the same sale, £23. The present is a Page 164 in the first series of numbers is misprinted 160. After page 272 is an unnumbered leaf, not mentioned by 5. A most pleasant and excellent conceited Comedie, of Sir Iohn Falstaffe, and the merry VViues of VVindsor. VVith the swaggering vaine of Ancient Pistoll, and Corporal Nym. Printed for Arthur Johnson, 1619. This was Mr. Dyce's copy, and is marked by him as collated perfect. Mr. Halliwell's copy sold, in 1856, for £16. |