Fet. 5 Jac. p. 12, dors, mem. 1. De commissione speciali d ́no Cancellario et al.-This commission, which is directed to the Lord Chancellor and most of the members of the Privy Council, refers to a proclamation, dated 14 Jan. 42nd Eliz. wich, after reciting That she, the late Queene, having been informed that whereas divers of her loving subjects had of long time quietly enjoyei divers manors, lands, tenements, and hered.taments, some by descent, and others by purchase or other wise upon just and good considerations, and others that had obtained grants upon good considerations from the sad late Queen or some of her progenitors, had been of late years greatly vexed, sued, and were put to intolerable charges by colour of letters patents of concealments, which were found by the most part to be void in law, or upon pretence that the said manors, &c. were from the said late Queen concealed or unjustly detained, or might there after upon such pretence be vexed and put to extreme charges;" did thereby declare that she "had granted her commission under the great seal of England for the relief of her loving subjects in such cases, as the said late Queen in her princelie wis dome did think to tend to the general quiet and security of her loving subjects and their posterities, giving thereby to them, her said commissioners, full power and authority for such reasonable compositions as they should think fit, as well to secure the estates of her then loving subjects therein by force of her letters patents under the great seal of England, as to discharge the mean profits thereof, wherein her gracious pleasure was, that no person should be inforced or drawn to discover the imperfection or disability of any of their estates or interest."

The commission then proceeds to appoint the commissioners, who were, "FOR READY MONEY TO BE PAID IN HAND, to bargain, sell, conclude, demise, and cause to be conveyed for us and in our name to and with any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, any of our lordships, manors, lands, tenements, rectories, tithes, pensions, portions, oblations, messuages' [&c. &c.] which are conceived to be insufficient or doubtful in law, and yet are now holden or enjoyed by or under colour of such grants, demise, and title: Provided always, That you, our said commissioners, or any four or more of you as aforesaid, shall not bargain, sell, compound, or grant any other estate in fee simple, fee farm, or other term for life, lives, or years, than was formerly granted or mentioned to be

granted therein by any of our progenitors or predecessors." Here folow powers for enabling the commissioners to sell and convey lands, &c. holden upon estates tail determined; estates insufficient or coubtful in law; voidable estates, the arrears charged insuper thereon; undervalued estates; encroachments and inclosures upon highways and streets, passages, lanes, commons, and wastes; lands within the limits of forests, parks, or chases; grounds, lands, and places forsaken, and left bare and dry from the seas; salt marshes, frith grounds; groves, sands, meales, and salt-holmes won and gained from the sea; with instructions for enabling the commissioners to fully pursue the tenor of t is commission, the object whereof is so fully set forth in the preamble.]

empowering some of the commissioners Pat. 6 Jac. p. 21, dors.-A commission named in the preceding commission to grant leases.

Pat. 7 Jac. p. 12, dors.)

Commissio special' pro defect' titul.— James, by the grace of God, &c.-To our right trusty and right well-beloved counsellor, Tho. Lord Ellesmere, Lord Chancellor of England [and other members of the Privy Council and several of the judges, with the Attorney and Solicitor General at that time in office.]-Whereas, by our proclamation, bearing date at Whitehall, the 22nd of April last past, * before the date hereof, we did publish and declare that we were informed by our commis. sioners and officers employed ordinarily and extraordinarily in the care of our revenues, that the possessions of our subjects have, and do daily, fall within the danger of law, as well concerning their lands of inheritance, as their leases from us and our progenitors for lives or years, by many ways and means, not only upon points of defective form, but even in points of substance most just and weighty, as in respect of exchanges with the crown not duly conveyed or executed on the subject's part; of the falsity of considerations material upon which the letters patents have been obtained; of the falsity of suggestions, whereby the kings of this realm have been deceived, and some times ancient crown lands have been carried away, as if they had been but new augmentations of revenue by attainder or the like of entails made to the kings of this realm, or descended to them from their ancestors, whereby it appeareth that they have not been truly informed of their estate when

thereof so granted be spent, determined, perfected, or by Act of Parliament resumed or made void, and yet the lands still holden and enjoyed by pretence or colour of the said grants, and our present right and title not acknowledged, and which have not been granted by us nor the said late Queen, for life, lives, or years, without rent, or absque aliquo inde reddendo, as you or any four of you or them, whereof the Lord High Treasurer for the time being to be one, shall think meet and convenient to be passed and conveyed from us unto the said W. Typper, his heirs, ex'ors, or assigns, for and in respect of such services as he the said W. T. hath done and performed, or hereafter shall do and perform, unto us about or concerning the said commmission. T. R. 29 May.

Having already much exceeded the limits of an ordinary communication, I have now to close with one observation, viz. that the practices of "Concealors" were confined to one object, viz. concealed land, and that when the oppressions, which the system of collection and preservation of the land revenue of the Crown had encouraged and nurtured, grew beyond endurance, and were productive of perjury and fraud, the House of Commons at length procured an enactment to put an end to those legal

niceties and distinctions that for near sixty years had rendered the possession of the smallest portion of Crown land, or to any property whereto the slightest colour of claim on behalf of the Crown could be pretended by a Concealor, a damnosa hereditas, a source of probable distress, anxiety, and ruin to its possessors, and even to their heirs; and quieted an incredible number of possessions by thus placing the Crown upon an equality with the subject, in point of claiming title against an innocent purchaser or heir.

The Court of Wards and Liveries might, as your correspondent J. B. suggests, have entertained delators and spies, and rewarded them for their information with the grant of a concealed wardship or a concealed tenure, or with a share of the" composition" paid by the ward's estate; but, beyond the partial encouragement thus offered to such persons, there was little in the conduct and management of that court, as it seems to me, that equalled the harpyism of the Concealor, whose occupation, sheltered as it was by commissions of concealments, and patents of concealments, and inquisitions for concealed lands, rendered him a most formidable antagonist in that still dreaded court the Exchequer. Yours, &c. T. E. T.

May 10, 1853.

The Committee of the Society of Antiquaries, which has been sitting during the greater part of the session with the purpose of revising its bye-laws, has at length made its report to the Council; and the latter body, having adopted its recommendations, has issued a scheme of the proposed amendments to the body at large, in order that they may receive full consideration before the re-assembling of the Society in November. The suggestions made by the Committee with a view to increase the efficiency of the Society are principally four, and respectively relate, to the constitution of the Council, to the office of Secretary, to the appointment of Local Secretaries, and of a new Committee to be called an Executive Committee. On

the first subject the Committee expresses an opinion that gentlemen elected on the Council should be retained for more than one year to a greater extent than is possible under the existing system. Of the eleven members who, under the Charter, remain on the Council at the annual election, nine are officers, so that only two who are not officers can be retained. The Committee propose to meet this difficulty, to the extent of two members of Council, by directing that the senior of the four VicePresidents should retire in each year (in conformity with the practice of the Royal and other Societies), and by excluding the Secretary from the Council, which is in accordance with the practice of the Society after its first reception of the Char

ter. Four ordinary members of Council will thus be capable of re-election. The Committee further suggest the adoption of the system pursued by the Royal Society, that each member of the Council should deliver in the name of any person whom he may think it desirable to place in the succeeding Council. In considering the office of Secretary, the Committee recommend that in future there should be only one instead of two; and that the resident Secretary should devote his whole time to the service of the Society, receiving an additional remuneration. To meet this arrangement, the Council announces that Sir Henry Ellis the senior Secretary is willing to take the post of Director, which will be vacated by Lord Viscount Strangford: Sir Henry continuing to receive his present salary. In addition to the present standing committees (selected from the Society at large) for the objects of Finance and the Library, it is proposed to constitute an Executive Committee, the duty of which shall be to superintend the correspondence of the Society on all subjects relating to literature and antiquities; to direct any antiquarian operations or excavations carried on by the Society; to examine papers sent for reading, and objects sent for exhibition; and to consider and recommend to the Council such of them as it may deem worthy of being published. It is further proposed to appoint Local Secretaries in different parts of the country, whose province shall be to communicate regularly with the Executive Committee, and to give the earliest intimation of any discovery relating to history or antiquities. Such Local Secretaries are to be chosen, as far as possible, from the Fellows of the Society; but gentlemen holding the office, and not being Fellows, will be entitled to attend its meetings and to receive a copy of its Proceedings. This proposition, if efficiently carried out, is more calculated to accomplish the objects for which the Society was constituted, than any other that can be conceived: and we trust that it may prove the source of vigour and activity which will form a new era in its history. The last, and very excellent, suggestion of the Committee is that, in future, any other business than the purely scientific pursuits of the Society should be discussed at meetings specially convened for such objects, too many of the ordinary meetings of the Society having been latterly wasted in unprofitable debates. We regret to see that the Committee retains the unreasonable number of vacant Thursdays in the bye-law which enacts that no ordinary meetings shall be holden "in Christmas week, in the first week of the new year, in Passion, Easter, or Whitsun weeks, or

in the week during which the Anniversary Meeting shall be held." (To these not many years ago was added King Charles's Martyrdom, the very occasion, one would have presumed, for some excellent historical dissertation.) We think the two last of these holidays-if holidays they are to be called-might well be abrogated. There can be no reason why a meeting should not be held on the Thursday following Whit Monday: nor can any hinderance to an ordinary meeting arise from the anniversary, unless it occurs upon a Thursday.

At the anniversary of the Royal Asiatic Society held on the 21st May, the Council reported the deaths of fourteen members during the past year; among whom were the Duke of Wellington, Mr. Erskine son-in-law of Sir James Mackintosh, Mr. James Atkinson the translator of the great epic poem of Firdausi, Dr. S. Lee the selftaught Orientalist, and the celebrated M. Burnouf of Paris, whose studies in the Zend have formed an epoch in the history of the language. The continued efforts of the French and English discoverers in Assyria during the past year have been rewarded by great success. Vaulted passages, colonnades, and chambers full of valuable relics, testify to the skill and energy of the French explorers; and a large collection of cylinders, tiles, ornaments, and vessels of beautiful workmanship, in agate, marble, and cornelian, form the nucleus of an Assyrian museum at Paris; which is to be adorned also with photographic views of the discoveries, taken upon the spot, and in many cases coloured with the actual pigments found at the same time, among which a splendid cake of ultramarine is recorded, as big as a pigeon's egg. The good understanding between the rival discoverers is a gratifying fact; and M. Place gracefully acknowledges the assistance he has received from Colonel Rawlinson. The letters of Colonel Rawlinson from time to time have kept the Society informed of his discoveries. In one letter he gives an account of a bronze lion discovered at Nebbi Yunus, bearing the inscription, "Esarhaddon, king of kings, conqueror of Misr and Cush" (Egypt and Ethiopia.) In another, he inclosed a copy of an inscription in a Semitic alphabet, being one of a numerous collection of inscriptions upon sheet lead, packed in sepulchral jars, discovered at a place called Abushudhr. With a third he communicated a list of the Babylonian months found on a slab, by the aid of which the succession of events recorded in the inscription of Bisitun may be approximately determined. In the last letter received, he states that he had at length received the long-expected