Chapter C: Mansfield Ingleby

Birmingham.

_Symon Patrick, Bishop of Ely--Durham--Weston--Jephson._--In a small autobiography of Symon Patrick, the bishop's wife is stated to have been _Penelope Jephson_, grandchild of Lady Durham of Borstall. Can any of your readers inform me who this Lady Durham was?

Penelope Jephson was daughter of Sir Cornelius (?) Jephson, I suppose of Mallow in Ireland.

One of Bishop Patrick's granddaughters, Penelope, married Edward Weston, Under-Secretary of State, of Corkenhatch (Herts?). Query, Who was he, and are there any descendants of this marriage?

K. G.

_The Heveninghams of Suffolk and Norfolk._--This ancient family traces its pedigree through twenty-five knights in succession to Galtir Heveninghame, who lived when Canute was king of England, ann. 1020. (See Harleian MSS. 1449. fol. 91 b.; and Southey's _Doctor_, &c.)

From one of those knights, Sir John Hevenyngham (ob. 1536), descended a collateral branch, represented by Walter Heveningham of Pipe Hall and Aston estates, Staffordshire (1562), who married Annela, daughter of Fitzherbert the Judge. His eldest son was Nicholas, who married Eliza, daughter of Sir John Beevor; and the eldest son of the last-named was Sir Walter Heveningham (1612, ob. 1691).

Now I should feel greatly obliged to any of your readers if, from any of the published or written documents relating to the county of Stafford, or from any other source, they could favour me with answers to the following Queries:

1. Whom did Sir Walter Heveningham marry? His second son married the widow of Sir Edward Simeon, Bart.; but

2. What was the name of Sir Walter's eldest son, and whom did he marry? The issue of this {104} latter marriage was Charles Heveningham of Lichfield (ob. 1782), who married a daughter of Robinson of Appleby, and John Heveningham.

A CHIP OF THE OLD BLOCK.

_Lady Percy, Wife of Hotspur (Daughter of Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March)._--Upon what authority does Miss Strickland say (_Lives of the Queens of England_, vol. iv. p. 300.) that it is stated "by all ancient heralds" that this lady died without issue? What herald can say this without bastardising the second Earl of Northumberland? This assertion is a very sweeping one, and I have sought in vain for the statement said to be made by all heralds.

G.

_Shape of Coffins._--It would be interesting to ascertain in what localities any peculiar form of coffin is used?

In Devonshire, particularly among the farmers and poorer classes, the _ridged_ coffin is very general, the end being gabled. The top, instead of being flat with one board, is made of two boards, like the double roof of a house; in other respects the shape is of the common form. The idea is, that such coffins resist much longer the weight of the superincumbent earth; but there can be no doubt that it is a very ancient shape. Many years ago I heard that in some parish in this county the coffin was shaped like a flat-bottomed boat; the boat shape is known to have been an old form.

H. T. ELLACOMBE.

Clyst St. George.

_St. George Family Pictures._--In Gough's _Sepulchral Monuments_, vol. iii. p. 77., it is mentioned, with reference to the estate of Hatley St. George, in county of Cambridge, that, at the sale of the house in 1782, "The family pictures were removed to Mr. Pearce's house at Cople, Bedford." Can any one tell me if the family pictures here spoken of were those of the St. George family (which inhabited the house for six hundred years); and if so, what has become of them?

R. A. S. O.

Ceylon, June 11, 1853.

_Caley (John), "Ecclesiastical Survey of the Possessions, &c. of the Bishop of St. David's," 8vo. 1812._--The above is said, in a bookseller's catalogue, to be privately printed. It is unknown to the bishop of the diocese and Mr. Black. Can any of your readers give any information about it?

JOHN MARTIN.

Froxfield.

_Adamson's "Lusitania Illustrata."_--Is there any prospect of Mr. Adamson continuing his _Lusitania Illustrata_? Could that accomplished Portuguese student kindly inform me if there is any better insight into Portuguese literature than that contained in Bouterweck's _Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit_?

W. M. M.

_Blotting-paper._--When did blotting-paper first come into use. Carlyle, in his _Life of Cromwell_, twice repeats that it was not known in those days. Is not this a mistake? I have a piece which I am able to refer to 1670.

SPERIEND.

_Poetical Versions of the Fragments in Athenaeus._--Can any of your correspondents inform me of the locus of any of these, in addition to _Blackwood_, xxxvi., and _Fraser's Magazine_?

P. J. F. GANTILLON, B.A.

* * * * *

Replies.

ROBERT DRURY.

(Vol. v., p. 533.; Vol. vii., p. 485.)

Under the conviction that Robert Drury was a real character, and his _Madagascar_ a true narrative of his shipwreck, sufferings, and captivity, I crave your permission to give a few additional reasons why I think he should be discharged from the fictitious, and admitted into the catalogue of real and _bona fide_ English travellers.

I have before stated that Drury did not skulk in the background when he published his book in 1727; but, on the contrary, invited the public to Tom's Coffee-house, where he engaged to satisfy the incredulous, and resolve the doubting. By the 3rd edition of _Madagascar_, 1743, it farther appears that he continued "for some years before his death" to resort to the above-named house; "at which place several inquisitive gentlemen received from his own mouth the confirmation of those particulars which seemed dubious, or carried with them the air of romance." The period was certainly unpropitious for any but a writer of fiction, and Drury seems to have anticipated no higher rank for his _Treatise_, in point of authenticity, than that occupied by the several members of the Robinson Crusoe school. He, however, positively affirms it to be "a plain honest narrative of the matter of fact;" which is endorsed in the following terms by "Capt. William Mackett:"

"This is to certify, that Robert Drury, fifteen years a slave in
Madagascar, now living in London, was redeemed from thence and brought
into England, his native country, by myself. I esteem him an honest
industrious man, of good reputation, and do firmly believe that the
account he gives of his strange and surprising adventures is genuine
and authentic."

Mackett was a commander in the E. I. Comp. service; and the condenser of Drury's MSS., after showing the opportunities the Captain had of assuring himself upon the points he certifies to, characterises him as a well-known person, of the highest integrity and honour: a man, indeed, as unlikely to be imposed upon, as to be guilty of lending himself to others, to carry out a deception upon the public. {105}

Mr. Burton, in his lately published "Narratives," points out another source of information regarding Drury, in the _Gent. Mag._ for 1769, where will be found an account of W. Benbow; in this, allusion is made to his brother John Benbow, who was wrecked with Drury in the "Degrave" Indiaman, on Madagascar. W. D., who communicates the information to SYLVANUS URBAN, asserts that he recollects hearing the MS. Journal of this John Benbow read; and that it afforded to his mind a strong confirmation of the truthfulness of Drury's _Madagascar_. He adds the following curious particulars anent our subject:--"Robin Drury," he says, "among those who knew him (and he was known to many, being _a porter at the East India House_), had the character of a downright honest man, without any appearance of fraud or imposture. He was known to a friend of mine (now living), who frequently called upon him at his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, which were not then enclosed. He tells me he has often seen him throw a javelin there, and strike a small mark at a surprising distance. It is a pity," he adds, "that this work of Drury's is not better known, and a new edition published[1] (it having been long out of print); as it contains much more particular and authentic accounts of that large and barbarous island, than any yet given; and, though it is true, it is in many respects as entertaining as Gulliver or Crusoe."

It may farther be mentioned that the French, who have a good acquaintance with Madagascar, "have found Drury's statement of the geography, the natural history, the manners of the people, and the conspicuous men of the time, in Madagascar, remarkably accurate." (_Bib. Gen. des Voyages_, Paris, 1808.) Archdeacon Wrangham says: "Duncombe (?) calls Drury's _Madagascar_ the best and most genuine account ever given of the island;" and the missionary Ellis quoted Drury without the slightest suspicion that any doubt hangs over the genuineness of his narrative. Drury's account of himself runs thus:--"I, Robert Drury," he says, when commencing his book, "was born on July 24, 1687, in Crutched Friars, London, where my father then lived; but soon after removed to the Old Jury, near Cheapside, where he was well known, and esteemed for keeping that noted house called 'The King's Head,' or otherwise distinguished by the name of the Beef-stake House; and to which there was all my father's time a great resort of merchants, and gentlemen of the best rank and character." To this famous resort of the Revolutionary and Augustan ages I lately betook myself for _my stake_, in the hope that _mine host_ might be found redolent of the traditional glory of his house. But alas! that worthy, although firmly believing in the antiquity of the King's Head, and of there being _some book_ in existence that would prove it, could not say of his own knowledge whether the king originally complimented by his predecessor was Harry the Eighth or George the Fourth!

In conclusion, I would just add, is not the circumstance of our subject holding the humble post of porter at the East India House confirmatory of that part of his story which represents him as one of the crew of Hon. Company's ship "Degrave," whose wreck upon Madagascar I take to be an undoubted fact? What so probable as this recognition, in a small provision for a man in his old age, whose misfortunes commenced while in their service? Finally, to me the whole narrative of Robert Drury seems so probable, and so well vouched for, that I have given in my adhesion thereto by removing him to a _higher shelf_ in my library than that occupied by such apocryphal persons as Crusoe, Quarle, Boyle, Falconer, and a host of the like.

J. O.

[Footnote 1: The editions of _Madagascar_ known to me are those of 1727, 1731, and 1743, by the original publisher, Meadows, Hull, 1807, and London, 1826.]

* * * * *

THE TERMINATION -BY.

(Vol. vii., p. 536.)

I would suggest a doubt, whether the suffix _-by_, in the names of places, affords us any satisfactory evidence, _per se_, of their exclusively Danish origin. This termination is of no unfrequent occurrence in districts, both in this country and elsewhere, to which the Danes, _properly so called_, were either utter strangers, or wherein they at no time established any permanent footing. The truth is, there seems to be a fallacy in this Danish theory, in so far as it rests upon the testimony of language; for, upon investigation, we generally find that the word or phrase adduced in its support was one recognised, not in any single territory alone, but throughout the whole of Scandinavia, whose different tribes, amid some trifling variations of dialect, which can now be scarcely ascertained, were all of them as readily intelligible to one another as are, at this day, the inhabitants of two adjoining English counties. If this were so, it appears that, in the case before us, nothing can be proved from the existence of the expression, beyond the fact of its _Norse_ origin; and our reasonable and natural course is, if we would arrive at its true signification, to refer at once to the parent tongue of the Scandinavian nations, spoken in common, and during a long-continued period, amid the snows of distant Iceland, on the mountains of Norway, the plains of Denmark, and in the forests of Sweden.

This ancient and widely-diffused language was the Icelandic, Norman, or Doensk tunga,--that in which were written the Eddas and Skalda, the {106} Njala and Heimskringla. In it we have the suffix _by_, under the forms of the verbs _ek by_, _ek bio_, or _at bua_, and _ek byggi_ or _byggia_, manere, habitare, incolere, struere, edificare; also the nouns _bu_ (Ang.-Sax. _by_, Dan. _bo_, _by_), domus, habitaculum; and _bui_, incola, colonus, vicinus; closely assimilated expressions all of them, in which the roots are found of our English words _bide_, _abide_, _be_, _by_ (denoting proximity), _build_, _borough_, _bury_ (Edmondsbury), _barrow_, _byre_, _bower_, _abode_, _&c._ Now, these explanations undoubtedly confirm the interpretation assigned by MR. E. S. TAYLOR to his terminating syllable; and it is probable enough that the villages to which he refers received their titles from the Danes, who, we know, on the subjugation of its former inhabitants, possessed themselves of the country in which they are situated. This, however, is a begging the question; for, resting simply on the evidence of the suffix, it is equally probable that these places preserved the names assigned to them by their former northern colonists. But our _by_ or _bua_, Ang.-Sax. _bugan_ and _beon_, and the Germ. (ich) _bin_ and _bauen_, have all been referred by learned philologists to the Greek [Greek: phuo], or to [Greek: bioo], or to [Greek: pauo, pauomai]; and the word has affinities scattered throughout numerous languages (there are the Camb.-Brit. _bydio_, habitare, and _byw_, vivere, for instance), so that we are surrounded by difficulties, if we attempt to establish from its use any such point as that involved in your correspondent's Query.

COWGILL.

* * * * *

THE ROSICRUCIANS.

(Vol. vii., p. 619.)

When Pope, in dedicating his _Rape of the Lock_ to Mrs. Arabella Fermor, was desirous of putting within the reach of that lady the information which MR. E. S. TAYLOR has sought through your pages, he wrote:

"The _Rosicrucians_ are a people that I must bring you acquainted with.
The best account of them I know is in a French book called _Le Compte
de Gabalis_, which, both in its title and size, is so like a novel,
that many of the fair sex have read it for one by
mistake."--_Dedicatory Letter to the Rape of the Lock._

This celebrated work was written by the Abbe Montfaucon de Villars, and published in 1670. "C'est une partie (says Voltaire, _Siecle de Louis XIV._) de l'ancienne mythologie des Perses. L'auteur fut tue en 1675 d'un coup de pistolet. On dit que les sylphes l'avaient assassine pour avoir revele leurs mysteres." In 1680, an English translation appeared (_penes me_), entitled:

"The Count of Gabalis; or the Extravagant Mysteries of the Cabalists,
exposed in Five Pleasant Discourses on the Secret Sciences. Done into
English by P. A. (Peter Ayres), Gent., with short Animadversions.
London printed for B. M., printer to the Royal Society of the Sages at
the Signe of the Rosy Crusian."

The original French work went through several editions: my own copy bears the imprint of _Amsterdam_, 1715, and has appended to it _La Suite du Compte de Gabalis, ou Entretiens sur les Sciences secretes, touchant la nouvelle Philosophie_," &c.

So much in deference to Pope,--whose only object, however, was to make Mrs. Fermor acquainted with so much of Rosicrucianism as was necessary to the comprehension of the machinery of his poem. MR. E. S. TAYLOR must go farther afield if he is desirous of "earning the _vere adeptus_," and becoming, like Butler's _Ralpho_--

For MYSTIC LEARNING wondrous able,
In magic _Talisman_ and _Cabal_,
Whose primitive tradition reaches
As far as ADAM'S first green breeches;
Deep-sighted in INTELLIGENCES,
IDEAS, ATOMS, INFLUENCES;
And much of TERRA-INCOGNITA,
Th' intelligible world could say;
A deep OCCULT PHILOSOPHER,
As learned as the wild Irish are,
Or SIR AGRIPPA; for profound
And solid lying much renowned.
He ANTHROPOSOPHUS and FLUDD,
And JACOB BEHMEN understood;
Knew many an amulet and charm,
That would do neither good nor harm;
In ROSY-CRUCIAN lore as learned
As he that _vere adeptus_ earned."
_Hudibras_, Part i. Canto 1.

These lines enumerate, in a scarcely satirical form, the objects and results of a study of _Rosicrucianism_, in so far as it differs from that of alchemy and the occult sciences. The history of the _Rosicrucians_,--or rather the inquiry as to whether actually existed at any time such a college or brotherhood, and, if so, to what degree of antiquity can it lay claim,--forms another and, perhaps, somewhat more profitable subject of attention. This question, however, having been fully discussed elsewhere, I will conclude by a _catalogue raisonne_ of such books and essays (the most important of which are readily obtainable) as will enable your correspondent to acquire for himself the information he seeks.

Allgemeine und General Reformation der ganzen weiten Welt, beneben der
Fama Fraternitatis, oder Enstehung der Bruederschaft des loeblichen
Ordens des _Rosenkreutzes_, &c. 8vo. Cassel, 1614. [Ascribed to John
Valentine Andrea. In this pamphlet occurs the _first_ mention of the
society; no allusion being made to it in the works of Bacon,
Paracelsus, Agrippa, &c. It was republished at Frankfort in 1617 under
a somewhat different title. Appended to it is a tract entitled
"Sendbrieff, oder Bericht an Alle welche von den _neuen_ Bruederschafft
des Ordens von _Rosen-Creutz_ genannt etwas gelesen," &c. This work
contains a full account of the origin and tenets of the brotherhood,
{107} and is the source whence modern writers have drawn their
information. It called into existence a host of pamphlets for and
against the very existence and tenets of the society.]

Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique, accompagnee d'un Catalogue
raisonne des Ecrivains de cette Science, par l'Abbe Lenglet du Fresnoy.
3 vols. 12mo. Paris, 1742.

Theomagia, or the Temple of Wisdom, containing the Occult Powers of the
Angels of Astromancy in the Telesmatical Sculpture of the Persians and
Aegyptians; the knowledge of the _Rosie-Crucian_ Physick, and the
Miraculous in Nature, &c., by John Heydon. 8vo. 1664. [The works of
this enthusiast are extremely curious and rare. He is also the author
of the following.]

The Wiseman's Crowne, or the Glory of the _Rosie-Cross_, &c.; with the
Regie Lucis, and Holy Household of _Rosie-Crucian_ Philosophers. 8vo.
1664.

Elhavarevna, or the English Physitian's Tutor in the Astrabolismes of
Mettals _Rosie-Crucian_, Miraculous Sapphiric Medicines of the Sun and
Moon, &c., all Harmoniously United, and Operated by Astromancy and
Geomancy, in so Easie a Method that a Fine Lady may practise and
compleat Incredible, Extraordinary Telesmes (and read her Gallant's
devices without disturbing her fancy), and cure all Diseases in Yong
and Old, whereunto is added Psonthonphancia, &c. 8vo. 1665.

Dictionnaire Infernal; ou Repertoire des Etres, Apparitions de la
Magique, des Sciences occultes, Impostures, &c., par Collin de Plancy.
8vo. Paris, 1844.

To render this list more complete, a great number may be added, the titles of which will be found in the following essays, from which much information on the subject will be gained:--

New Curiosities of Literature. By George Soane, B.A. 2 vols. 8vo.
London, 1849. [In vol. ii. p. 135. is an able and interesting essay
entitled "_Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry_," in which the author, with
considerable success, endeavours to show that _Rosicrucianism_ had no
existence before the sixteenth century, and is a mere elaboration of
Paracelsian doctrines: and that _Freemasonry_ is nothing more than an
offspring from it, and has, consequently, no claim to the antiquity of
which it boasts.]

Swift's Tale of a Tub. [In Section X. of this wonderful book will be
found a caustic piece of satire on the futility of the _Rosicrucian_
philosophy.]

Butler's Hudibras. [Grey's notes to part I., _passim._]

Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions. By Charles Mackay, LL.D. 2
vols. 8vo. [In the section devoted to the _Alchymists_, is a carefully
compiled account of the _Rosicrucians_.]

Chambers's Papers for the People, No. 33., vol. v., "Secret Societies
of the Middle Ages."

Idem, No. 66., "Alchemy and the Alchemists."

The Guardian, No. 166.

The Spectator, No. 574.

Idem, No. 379. [This number contains Budgell's _Legend of the Sepulchre
of Rosicrucius_.]

The Rosicrucian: a Novel. 3 vols. 8vo.

Zanoni. By Sir E. L. Bulwer.

After the slumber of a century, with new objects and regulations, _Rosicrucianism_ (so to speak) was revived in the country of its birth.

A very curious volume was published fifty years ago, entitled _Proofs of a Conspiracy against all the Religions and Governments of Europe, carried on in the secret meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati, and Reading Societies_, by John Robinson, A.M., &c., 8vo., London, 1798. This volume is chiefly occupied by a history of the origin, proceedings, and objects of the _Illuminati_, a sect which had rendered important services to revolutionary interests, and laid the foundations of European propagandism. Much curious matter relative to this sect will also be found in George Sand's _Comtesse de Rudolstadt_, vol. ii.; upon, or just before, its extinction, a new political association was formed at Baden and Carlsruhe, under the auspices of Baron van Edelsheim, police minister of the Elector, under the title of _Die Rosenkrietzer_. This society was called into existence by a reactionary dread of that republicanism in politics, and atheism in morals, which seemed at that time to prey upon the vitals of European society. The society soon spread, and had its affiliations in various parts of Germany, giving such uneasiness to Buonaparte, to the accomplishment of whose projects it exercised an adverse influence, that he despatched a secret messenger for the purpose of obtaining information as to its projects and developments. He did everything in his power to destroy the association, which, however, survived, until his murder of Palm, the bookseller, for publishing the _Geist der Zeit_, seeming to call for a new and modified association, led to its extinction, and the creation of a new secret society, the celebrated _Tungen-Bund_, in its place.

It will be seen that in the foregoing I have confined myself to that part of your correspondent's Query which relates to "the Brethren of the Rosy-Cross." I have not ventured to allude to the Alchymists, or the writings of Paracelsus, his predecessors and followers, which form a library, and demand a catalogue for their mere enumeration. If MR. E. S. TAYLOR, however, is desirous of farther information, and will favour me with his address, I shall be happy to assist his researches in Hermetic philosophy to the extent of my ability.

WILLIAM BATES.

Birmingham.

The Society of Rosicrucians, or Rosecroix (whom Collier calls a sect of mountebanks), first started into existence in Germany in the seventeenth century. They laid claim to the possession of divers secrets, among which the philosopher's stone was the least. They never dared to appear publicly, and styled themselves _The Invisible_. {108}

In 1622 they put forth the following advertisement:

"We, deputed by our College, the principal of the brethren of the
Rosicrucians, to make our visible and invisible abode in this city,
through the grace of the Most High; towards whom are turned the hearts
of the just: we teach without books or notes, and speak the languages
of the countries wherever we are, to draw men like ourselves from the
error of death."

The Illuminati of Spain were a branch of this sect. In 1615 one John Bringeret printed a work in Germany containing two treatises, entitled _The Manifesto and Confession of Faith of the Fraternity of the Rosicrucians in Germany_.

H. C. K.

---- Rectory, Hereford.

* * * * *

INSCRIPTIONS ON BELLS.

(Vol. vi., p. 554. Vol. vii., p. 633.)

My note-book contains a considerable number of inscriptions on bells; some extracted from books, but others transcribed from the bells themselves. I send you a few of the most remarkable inscriptions, with one or two notes on the subject.

Chesterton, Cambridgeshire:

1. "God save the Church."

2. "Non sono animabus mortuorum, sed viventium."

S. Benet's, Cambridge (see Le-Keux' _Memorials_):

1. "Of all the bels in Bennet, I am the best,
And yet for my casting the parish paid lest. 1607."

2. "Non nomen fero ficti,
Sed nomen Benedicti. 1610."

3. "This bell was broke, and cast againe,
by John Draper, in 1618,
as plainly doth appeare:
Churchwardens were,
Edward Dixon,
for one,
who stood close to his tacklyn,
and he that was his partner then,
was Alexander Jacklyn."

Girton, Cambridgeshire:

"Non clamor sed amor cantat in aure Dei."

Stoneleigh, Warwickshire:

1. "Michaele te pulsante Winchelcombe a petente daemone te libera.

2. "O Kenelme nos defende ne maligni sentiamus focula."

Eastry, Kent:

"One bell inscribed with the names of the churchwardens and the maker;
a shilling of William III., and other coins are let into the rim."

Erith, Kent:

"A tablet in the belfry commemorates the ringing of a peal of 726
changes in twenty-six minutes."

S. Clement, Sandwich, Kent:

"In the ringing chamber of this noble tower is a windlass for lowering
the bells in case of repairs becoming necessary, with a trap-door in
the floor opening into the church."

S. Mary, Sandwich, Kent:

"This bel was bought and steeple built, A.D. 1718. J. Bradley, R.
Harvey, Ch. wardens. R. P. F."

S. Andrew, Histon, Camb.:

"Coins of Queen Anne in the rim of one bell; but dated 1723."

S. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster (Weever, _Fur. Mon._, p. 491., edit. fol. 1631):

"King Edward the Third built in the little sanctuarie a clochard of
stone and timber, and placed therein three bells, for the vse of Saint
_Stephen's_ Chappel. About the biggest bell was engrauen, or cast in
the metall, these words:

'King Edward made mee thirtie thousand weight and three:
Take mee downe and wey mee, and more you shall fynd mee.'

But these bells being to be taken downe, in the raigne of King _Henry_
the Eight, one writes vnderneath with a coal:

'But _Henry_ the Eight will bait me of my weight.'"

If any farther extracts may interest you, they are very much at your service.

W. SPARROW SIMPSON, B.A.

* * * * *

WAS COOK THE DISCOVERER OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS?

(Vol. viii., p. 6.)

MR. WARDEN will find this question discussed by La Perouse (English 8vo. edit., vol. ii. ch. 6.), who concludes unhesitatingly that the Sandwich group is identical with a cluster of islands discovered by the Spanish navigator Gaetan in 1542, and by him named "The King's Islands." These the Spaniard placed in the tenth, although the Sandwich Islands are near the twentieth, degree of north latitude, which La Perouse believed was a mere clerical error. The difference in longitude, sixteen or seventeen degrees, he ascribed to the imperfect means of determination possessed by the early navigators, and to their ignorance of the currents of the Pacific.

Allowing for the mistake in latitude, the King's Islands are evidently the same as those found on some old charts, about the nineteenth and twentieth degrees of north latitude, under the names of _La Mesa_, _Los Mayos_, and _La Disgraciada_; which Capt. Dixon, as well as La Perouse, sought for in vain in the longitude assigned to them. They appear to have been introduced into the {109} English and French charts from that found in the galleon taken by Commodore Anson, and of which a copy is given in the account of his voyage. Cook, or Lieutenant Roberts, the compiler of the charts to his third voyage, retained them; and La Perouse was the first to erase them from the map. There can, indeed, be little doubt of their identity with the Sandwich Islands. But although Cook was not actually the first European who had visited those islands, to him rightly belongs all the glory of their discovery. Forgotten by the Spaniards, misplaced on the chart a thousand miles too far to the eastward, and unapproached for 240 years, their existence utterly unknown and unsuspected, Cook was, to all intents and purposes, their real discoverer.