(Continued from p. 99.)

In my first communication I did myself the pleasure to send you a correct list of all the royal letters which had been sent by different English monarchs to the Grand Masters of Malta, with their dates, the languages in which they were written, and stating to whom they were addressed. I now purpose to forward with your permission from time to time, literal translations of these letters, which Mr. Strickland of this garrison has kindly promised to give me. The subjoined are the first in order, and have been carefully compared, by Dr. Vella and myself, with the originals now in the Record Office.

No. I.

Henry by the grace of God, King of England and France, Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, to the Rev. Father in Christ, Philip Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Jerusalem.

The venerable and religious men, Sir Thomas Docreus, Prior of St. John's in this kingdom, and Sir W. Weston of your convent, Turcoplerius, have lately delivered to us the epistle of your Reverence, and when we had read it, they laid before us the commission which they had in charge, with so much prudence and address, and recommended to us the condition, well being, and honour of their Order with so much zeal and affection, that they have much increased the good will, which of ourselves we feel towards the Order, and have made us more eager in advancing all its affairs, so that we very much hope to declare by our actions the affection which we feel towards this Order.

And that we might give some proof of this our disposition, we have written at great length to His Imperial Majesty, in favour of maintaining the occupation of Malta, and we have given orders to our envoys there to help forward this affair as much as they are able. The other matters, indeed, your Reverence will learn more in detail from the letters of the said Prior.

No. II.

Henry by the grace of God, King of England and France, Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, to the Rev. Father in Christ, Philip Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Jerusalem.

By other of our letters we have commended to your Reverence our beloved Sir W. Weston, Turcoplerius, and the whole Order of Jerusalem in our kingdom; but since we honour the foresaid Sir W. Weston with a peculiar affection, we have judged him worthy that we should render him more agreeable and more acceptable to your Reverence, by this our renewed recommendation; and we trust that you will have it the more easily in your power to satisfy this our desire, because, on account of the trust which you yourself placed in him, you appointed him special envoy to ourselves in behalf of the affairs of his Order, and showed that you honoured him with equal good will. We therefore most earnestly entreat your Reverence not to be backward in receiving him on his return with all possible offices of love, and to serve him especially in those matters which regard his office of Turcoplerius, and his Mastership. Moreover, if any honours in the gift and disposal of your Reverence fall due to you, with firm confidence we beg of you to vouchsafe to appoint and promote the foresaid Sir William Weston to the same, which favour will be so pleasing and acceptable to us, that when occasion offers we will endeavour to return it not only to your Reverence, but also to your whole Order. And may every happiness attend you.

No. III.

Henry by the grace of God, King of England and France, Defender of the Faith, and Lord of Ireland, to the Rev. Father in Christ, Philip Villiers de L'Isle Adam, Grand Master of the Order of Jerusalem.

Ambrosius Layton, our subject, and brother of the same Order, has delivered to us your Reverence's letter, and from it we very well understand the matters concerning the said Order, which your Reverence had committed to his charge to be delivered to us; but we have delayed to return an answer, and we still delay, because we have understood that a general Chapter of your whole Order will be held in a short time, to which we doubt not that the more prudent and experienced of the brethren of the Order will come, and we trust that, by the general wish and counsel of all of you, a place may be selected for this illustrious Order which may be best suited for the imperial support and advancement of the Republic, and for the assailing of the infidels. When therefore your Reverence shall have made us acquainted with the place selected for the said Chapter, you shall find us no less prompt and ready than any other Christan prince in all things which can serve to the advantage and support of the said Order.

That the subject of the above letters may be better understood, it may be necessary to state that L'Isle Adam was driven out of Rhodes by the Sultan Solyman, after a most desperate and sanguinary struggle, which continued almost without intermission from the 26th of June to the 18th of December, 1523. From this date to the month of October, 1530, nearly seven years, the Order of St. John of Jerusalem had no fixed residence, and the Grand Master was a wanderer in Italy, either in Rome, Viterbo, Naples, or Syracuse, while begging of the Christian Powers to assist him in recovering Rhodes, or Charles V. to give him Malta as a residence for his convent. It was during this period that the above letters, and some others which I purpose sending hereafter, were written.

William Winthrop.

PENNY SIGHTS AND EXHIBITIONS IN THE REIGN OF JAMES I.

The following curious list may amuse some of your readers. I met with it among the host of panegyrical verses prefixed to Master Tom Coryate's Crudities, published in 1611. Even in those days it will be admitted that the English were rather fond of such things, and glorious Will himself bears testimony to the fact. (See Tempest, Act II. Sc. 2.) The hexameter verses are anonymous; perhaps one of your well-read antiquaries may be able to assign to them the author, and be disposed to annotate them. I would particularly ask when was Drake's ship broken up, and is there any date on the chair^[1] made from the wood, which is now to be seen at the Bodleian Library, Oxford?

In explanation of the last line, Tom went no less than 900 miles on one pair of soles, and on his return he hung up these remarkable shoes for a memorial in Odcombe Church, Somersetshire, where they remained till 1702.

Another "penny" sight was a trip to the top of St. Paul's. (See Dekker's Gul's Horne Book, 1609.)

A. Grayan.

THE IMPOSSIBILITIES OF OUR FOREFATHERS.

In turning over the pages of old authors, it is amusing to note how the mountains of our primitive ancestors have become mole-hills in the hands of the present generation! A few instances would, I think, be very instructive; and, to set the example, I give you the following from my own note-book.

The Overland Journey to India.—From the days of Sir John Mandeville, until a comparatively recent period, how portentous of danger, difficulty, and daring has been the "Waye to Ynde wyth the Maruelyes thereof!"

In Lingua, or the Combat of the Tongue, by Brewer, London, 1657, originally published in 1607, Heursis complains that Phantases had interrupted his cogitations upon three things which had troubled his brain for many a day:

"Phant. Some great matters questionless; what were they?

Heur. The quadrature of the circle, the philosopher's stone, and the next way to the Indies.

Phant. Thou dost well to meditate on these things all at once, for they'll be found out altogether, ad grÆcas calendas."

Dr. Robertson's Disquisition on the Knowledge the Ancients had of India, shows that communications overland existed from a remote period; and we know that the East India Company had always a route open for their dispatches on emergent occasions; but let the reader consult the Reminiscences of Dr. Dibdin, and he will find an example of its utter uselessness when resorted to in 1776 to apprize the Home Government of hostile movements on the part of an enemy. To show, however, in a more striking light, the difference between the "overland route" a century back, and that of 1853, I turn up the Journal of Bartholomew Plaisted: London, 1757. This gentleman, who was a servant of the East India Company, tells us that he embarked at Calcutta in 1749 for England; and, after encountering many difficulties, reached Dover vi Bussorah, Aleppo, and Marseilles in twelve months! Bearing this in mind, let the reader refer to the London daily papers of this eighth day of November, 1853, and he will find that intelligence reached the city on that afternoon of the arrival at Trieste of the Calcutta steamer, furnishing us with telegraph advices from—

Rapid as this is, and strikingly as it exemplifies the gigantic appliances of our day, the cry of Heursis in the play is still for the next, or a nearer way to India; and, besides the Ocean Mail, the magnificent sailing vessels, and the steamers of fabulous dimensions said to be building for the Cape route to perform the passage from London to Calcutta in thirty days, we are promised the electric telegraph to furnish us with news from the above-named ports in a less number of hours than days now occupied!

We have thus seen that the impetus once given, it is impossible to limit or foresee where this tendency to knit us to the farthermost parts of the world will end!

"Steam to India" was nevertheless almost stifled at its birth, and its early progress sadly fettered and retarded by those whose duty it was to have fostered and encouraged it—I mean the East India Company. From this censure of a body I would exclude some of their servants in India, and particularly a name that may be new to your readers in connexion with this subject, that of the late Mr. Charles P. Greenlaw of Calcutta, to whom I would ascribe all honour and glory as the great precursor of the movement, subsequently so triumphantly achieved by the Peninsular and Oriental Company. This gentleman, at the head of the East India Company's Marine Establishment in Bengal, brought all the enthusiasm of his character to bear upon the question of steam vi the Red Sea; and raised such an agitation in the several Presidencies, that the slow coach in Leadenhall Street was compelled to move on, and Mr. Greenlaw lived to see his labours successful. Poor Greenlaw was as deaf as a post, and usually carried on his arm a flexible pipe, with an ivory tip and mouth-piece, through which he received the communications of his friends. How often have I seen him, after an eloquent appeal on behalf of his scheme, hand this to the party he would win over to his views: and if the responses sent through it were favourable, he was delighted; but, if the contrary, his irascibility knew no bounds; and snatching his pipe from the mouth of the senseless man who could not see the value of "steam for India," he would impatiently coil it round his arm, and, with a recommendation to the less sanguine to give the subject the attention due to its importance, would whisk himself off to urge his point in some other quarter! I have already said that Mr. Greenlaw lived to see the overland communication firmly established; and his fellow citizens, to mark their high estimation of his character, and the unwearied application of his energies in the good cause, have embellished their fine "Metcalfe Hall" with a marble bust of this best of advocates for the interests of India.

J. O.

PARALLEL PASSAGES.

(Vol. viii., p. 372.)

Adopting the suggestion of F.W.J., I contribute the following parallel passages towards the collection which he proposes:

1. "And He said unto them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth."—Luke xii. 15.

2. "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would that do I not; but what I hate that do I."—Rom. vii. 15.

3. "Without father, without mother, without descent," &c.—Heb. vii. 3.

4. "For I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you."—2 Cor. vii. 3.

5. "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."—1 Cor. xv. 32.

6. "Be not thou afraid though one be made rich, or if the glory of his house be increased; for he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, neither shall his pomp follow him."—Ps. xlix. 16, 17.

The following close parallelism between Ben Jonson and Horace, though a little wide of your correspondent's suggestion, is also worthy of notice. I have never before seen it remarked upon. It would, perhaps, be more correct to describe it as a plagiarism than as a parallelism:

John Booker.

Prestwich.

ASTROLOGY IN AMERICA.

The six following advertisements are cut from a recent Number of the New York Herald:

"Madame Morrow, seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, and a descendant of a line of astrologers reaching back for centuries, will give ladies private lectures on all the events of life, in regard to health, wealth, love, courtship, and marriage. She is without exception the most wonderful astrologist in the world, or that has ever been known. She will even tell their very thoughts, and will show them the likenesses of their intended husbands and absent friends, which has astonished thousands during her travels in Europe. She will leave the city in a very short time. 76. Broome Street, between Cannon and Columbia. Gentlemen are not admitted."

"Madame la Compt flatters herself that she is competent, by her great experience in the art of astrology, to give true information in regard to the past, present, and future. She is able to see clearly any losses her visitors may have sustained, and will give satisfactory information in regard to the way of recovery. She has and continues to give perfect satisfaction. Ladies and gentlemen 50 cents. 13. Howard Street."

"Mad. la Compt has been visited by over two hundred ladies and gentlemen the past week, and has given perfect satisfaction; and, in consideration of the great patronage bestowed upon her, she will remain at 13. Howard Street for four days more, when she will positively sail for the South."

"Mrs. Alwin, renowned in Europe for her skill in foretelling the future, has arrived, and will furnish intelligence about all circumstances of life. She interprets dreams, law matters, and love, by astrology, books, and science, and tells to ladies and gentlemen the name of the persons they will marry; also the names of her visitors. Mrs. Alvin speaks the English, French and German languages. Residence, 25. Rivington Street, up stairs, near the Bowery. Ladies 50 cents, gentlemen 1 dollar."

"Mrs. Prewster, from Philadelphia, tenders her services to the ladies and gentlemen of this city in astrology, love, and law matters, interpreting dreams, &c., by books and science, constantly relied on by Napoleon; and will tell the name of the lady or gentleman they will marry; also the names of the visitors. Residence, No. 59. Great Jones Street, corner of the Bowery. Ladies 50 cents, gentlemen 1 dollar."

"The celebrated Dr. F. Shuman, Swede by birth, just arrived in this city, offers his services in astrology, physiognomy, &c. He can be consulted on matters of love, marriage, past, present, and future events in life. Nativity calculated for ladies and gentlemen. Mr. S. has travelled through the greater part of the world in the last forty-two years, and is willing to give the most satisfactory information. Office, 175. Chambers Street, near Greenwich."