"Here you may see, with slow and measured march, Yet think themselves, good souls, the very thing; From humble' would be' up " In this strain he perambulates the streets, taking note of whatever is noteworthy, occasionally interspersing his comic with a vein of sentiment, e. g. — "Oh, woman, woman! loveliest, dearest, best, Oh, born our hearts' wild sallies to command! From all the cold world's wrongs; thy gentle hand Can press against the pallid brow of care, And warm to life and love the tide that lingers there." The author preserved his incognito notwithstanding Mr. Smith's earnest endeavours to penetrate the secret. He was evidently an Irishman, from the wild recklessness of his rhymes and the allusions in the text. He entitled himself, Shaughnessy O'Shaughnessy, Esq., of the County of Tipperary. After two cantos had appeared, a letter was received from Dermot O'Goster, Lieut. in the 88th Infantry, informing the editor that the lamented Mr. O'Shaughnessy, after partaking too freely at the Star and Garter, then a fashionable Hotel in Paradise Street, had walked into the Old Dock, and so terminated his poetical career. A communication was subsequently made that the ghost of the deceased poet had appeared in a whiskey barrel, and supplied the missing cantos. This is a remarkable foreshadowing of the spiritualistic communications of more recent years. Two more cantos subsequently were brought to light, and the subject terminated, and was forgotten for more than half a century. An accidental circumstance recently brought to my knowledge the name of the author, who was a young gentleman from Dublin, named Brooke, and at that period filled a situation in the office of Messrs. Brown, Shipley and Co. He returned to Dublin, but of his subsequent career my informant had no knowledge. Since then I have obtained further information. Mr. Brooke went into the Church. He was for many years Chaplain of the Mariners' Church at Kingstown. He is still living, and is Rector of a parish in the South of England. This little history is interesting in itself, but it will be felt to be much more so when I state that Mr. Brooke is the great grandson of the celebrated Henry Brooke, the author of the tragedy of the Earl of Essex, and of the Fool of Quality, which, in its abridged form of Henry, Earl of Moreland, has, perhaps, been the most popular novel ever written. It was highly praised and recommended by John Wesley, and, after going through many editions, was brought out in 1872, with a preface by Canon Kingsley. In the Dublin University Magazine, for 1842, will be found a memoir of Henry Brooke, by his descendant Richard, the poet of Liverpool. Mr. Brooke is also the father of a distinguished son, the Rev. Stopford Brooke, one of the Queen's Chaplains, a well-known author, and a distinguished member of the Broad Church School of English Theology. Several other members of the family are also known in the literary world, authorship having been indigenous in the family for several generations. I thought a short notice of these incidents might not be unacceptable to the Literary and Philosophical Society. "Elec Dr. CAMPBELL BROWN then read a Paper on tricity compared with Heat as a source of motive power."* THIRD ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, November 15th, 1875. J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Ladies were present at this meeting. Messrs. W. Bellis and E. L. Fleming, F.C.S., were elected ordinary members. The Rev. H. H. HIGGINS exhibited a copy of the Primer, published in the reign of Henry VIII., and an original copy of the Book of Common Prayer, published by Edward VI., also an original copy of the Directory, published by authority of Parliament in the reign of Charles I. The PRESIDENT exhibited a collection of the Fine Art volumes recently added to the Free Library. A lengthened conversation followed on the comparative merits of English and French typography. Mr. G. H. MORTON, F.G.S., exhibited a series of fossil corals from the carboniferous limestone of North Wales. The specimens were all remarkably perfect, and some of the species are of very rare occurrence. He also showed some photographs, indicating the position in the strata where the specimens were found in several localities, but principally in the neighbourhood of Llangollen. Mr. R. C. JOHNSON, F.R.A.S., gave an account of the November meteors, and showed their path in the sky by a diagram on the blackboard. Mr. T. J. MOORE exhibited the recently-mounted composite skeleton of the Elephant-footed Moa, Dinornis elephantopus, Owen, the bones of which were received from Capt. Hutton, Director of the Otago Museum, Dunedin, through the kind offices of Dr. Millen Coughtrey, Corresponding Member, early in the year, and a portion exhibited in their unmounted state, Nov. 16th, 1874. (See Proceedings, 1874–5, vol. xxix, p. xlvi.) FOURTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, November 29th, 1875. J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Ladies were present at the Meeting. Messrs. D. E. Yates, J. H. Tetley, and W. Gardner were elected ordinary members. Dr. Collingwood, one of the Honorary Members, and formerly Honorary Secretary to the Society, attended the Meeting. Mr. LUTSCHAUNIG exhibited a small collection of aërolites and meteoric stones. Mr. C. J. ENGLISH exhibited a horizontal section of one of the piles found among the remains of the Lake Dwellings near Rolle, on Lake Leman. Mr. E. R. RUSSELL then read a Paper on "The True Macbeth."* * See page 41. FIFTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, December 13th, 1875. J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Messrs. E. Harpin, Peter Cowell, Jas. Barnes, and Jos. B. Hutchinson, M.R.C.S., were unanimously elected ordinary members. 66 The PRESIDENT read a brief communication on The House of Stanley, and the Origin of its Legend of the Eagle and Child."* The Honorary Librarian read a Paper by Dr. Inman, “On a Means employed for Removing and Erecting Menhirs."+ SIXTH ORDINARY MEETING. ROYAL INSTITUTION, January 10th, 1876. J. A. PICTON, F.S.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair. Messrs. Alexander Reid and Geo. R. Rogerson, F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S., were duly elected ordinary members. Mr. ALFRED MORGAN, Honorary Librarian, read "A Few Notes on the Khasi Hill Tribes, and the Geology of the Shillong Plateau." Mr. JOSEPH BOULT read a Paper called "Gleanings from the Early History of Liverpool." § * See page 283. † See page 103. See page 115. § See page 153. |