being brought there first by military duties, and in due time forming many personal connections there. MR. WELPLY's inability to find any public records of him in Kinsale may easily be accounted for by the nature of his duties, and the active military life

which these duties entailed.

FRANCIS FAIR.

THE MILTON-OVID SCRIPT. In a previous note on this Script (12 S. xi. 223) Horwood's account of the Prolusio

leaf penned by Milton in late school, or early college, days, was discussed at some length; many features noted by Horwood as peculiar to Milton Script of this period were provisionally identified in the Ovid Script, though the actual Prolusio leaf had not at that time been seen or located by the present writer. More recently (12 S. xii. 126), it was stated that an Autotype copy of the leaf had been located in the Record Office and by

and to show that the identification, though made in advance, was correct.

The e, h, r, specified by Horwood, are all seen in specimen 1, Theocritus; this form of h, is also seen in specimen 9 from the Prolusio leaf, and in specimen 10 from the Ovid Script. It occurs in the Chappell signature (12 S. xi. 245), and survived in deeds and documents for many years after; but in ordinary script it was rapidly being superseded by the later form; this, too, is found in both the Scripts now compared, and is seen in specimens 10, 13, 14, 18, from the Ovid Script, and in specimen 15 from the Prolusio. Even in this form of h, the full loop is a feature very rarely seen in Milton's later hand. The e reen in specimens 1 and 9 from the Prolusio is also seen in specimens 7 and 20, peirceth from the Ovid Script; both Scripts also show that when this e was terminal the writer often gave it a little ornamental flourish; we see this feature in the Prolusio specimen 36 and in

44, which come from T. 13. 49 and T. 11. 39 respectively. We have seen also that he used all three forms of e in one word in the lines to Ross (12 S. xi. 222), and that the same three forms appear in the Ovid Script in the two words the heavens of the stanza reproduced at 12 S. xi. 267.

a

The r noted by Horwood is seen in the Prolusio specimens 1, 2, 16, 19, 22, 32, 36, 42, and in the Ovid specimens 7, 20, 38; the later r is seen in the Ovid specimens 12, 14, 40, and in the T specimens 44, but not in any Prolusio specimen ; the letter that looks like r in specimens 1, 36, 37, is an earlier type of c; it is seen in the Ovid specimens 13 and 20. Other early forms are found in both Scripts; the p of parum in the Prolusio specimen 19 is exactly like the p of peirceth in the Ovid specimen 20; shorter form of the letter is seen in Ovid specimen 30 and in Prolusio specimen 34; again the likeness is remarkable, especially when examined with a lens. An early form of x is seen in the Prolusio specimens 16 and 17 and a duplicate in the Ovid specimen 18. An early form of capital h is seen in the Prolusio specimens 4 and 5 and in the Ovid specimens 6, 7, 8. The horizontal line in specimen 5 is a cancel line; there are one or two corrections in the exercise, though the penmanship as a whole is of the best copper-plate character; it is possible, therefore, that another fair copy had to be sent up, and we may owe the preservation of this leaf to that accident. The horizontal line below the word in specimen 4 marks the end of the verse; the same practice is uniformly adopted in the Ovid Script, and the horizontal line in specimen 20 is a case in point.

The capital a, uncrossed, seen in Prolusio specimen 22 and in Ovid specimen 23, is another early form; the Prolusio one is clearly made by the older and surer hand, but 23 is from stanza 27 and the difference is not so obvious in the case of specimen 30 from stanza 75. The Prolusio leaf is no doubt distinctly later than the early Ovid stanzas, but possibly_not_much later than the last of these. The Prolusio specimens 24, 25, and the Ovid specimens 21, 26, 27, show shorter examples of the same letter, but on the whole tell the same story. The capital t seen in the Prolusio specimens 1, 2, and in the Ovid specimen 3. also belongs to the documentary alphabet: the Ovid specimen is slightly varied by being linked

A

to the following h, but the general resemblance to specimen 1 is quite obvious. cruder type of this letter, in which the upper stroke is nearly vertical, is used to begin the first, and the third, line in stanza 3, reproduced in a former Note (12 S. xi. 268); this type is also met with in contemporary deeds. The capital m seen in specimens 40, 41, occurs less frequently in Milton's later script; the difference in touch is again in evidence, but careful examination reveals a really remarkable similarity; specimen 40 is from Ovid stanza 45, specimen 41 is from the Prolusio. The double f doing duty for a capital leter is seen in the Prolusio specimen 11 and in the Qvid specimen 12; this latter is also from stanza (3) and the single f in specimen 13 from a later stanza (75) shows more resemblance to the Prolusio f. The initial c of Prolusio specimen 42 is a worn and somewhat defective example of the documentary c already discussed (12 S. xi. 244).

Apart from these early forms, the common letters show more variety and elaboration in both the scripts now compared than is generally seen in Milton's later autograph. The d shows much variety in both; Prolusio specimen 32 and Ovid specimen 39 show one form; Prolusio 36 and Ovid 30, or 31, show another; Prolusio 33 and Ovid 28, 29, 35, show a third, in which the d is terminal and has a little extra flourish, curiously alike in all the specimens. The b has quite a pronounced loop seen in Prolusio specimens 9, 32, 37, and in Ovid specimens 38, 39; the

is also looped, and the lower bend of the letter is sometimes sharply angular; this is the case in the Ovid specimen 21, and in the Prolusio specimen 41; but we also find a blunter bend as in Ovid specimen 35, and Prolusio specimen 36.

Our forecast (12 S. xi. 223) of the features which would characterise an early script by Milton has been sufficiently justified, and it must now be quite clear that the Prolusio leaf makes a very important addition to our knowledge of Milton's autograph. Any one acquainted only with his T. script and his Commonplace Book might have pointed to the presence of these " documentary "' letters in a script as evidence that it was not written by Milton. We now see, however, that if these letters, or some of them, were not. present in the script it could hardly be an early script by him; their presence side by side with the later forms and the great, variety of his script alphabet as a whole will

About 1790 the French Government, desirous of obtaining the advantage which would result from the whale fisheries; and anxious to secure the employment of experienced navigators in that branch of commerce (and having to contend with Great Britain and Holland, who were powerful competitors) offered a bounty per ton on each vessel which should engage therein the other Governments probably offering this bounty on the return cargoes. Capt, William Hayden, of New Bedford, Mass., then at Dunkirk, by the assistance and aid of a powerful mercantile house there, and in Newport, went to England and purchased, among other old vessels of large tonnage, the Endeavour. In being affiliated or registered as a French vessel, she was named La Liberté, and under that name came to Newport. A gentleman of this town, and now residing here, was at Dunkirk on her arrival, visited her in company of an eminent merchant Benjamin Rotch, and was there informed of the fact of her being the vessel in question.

"The certificates associated were obtained for the purpose of being forwarded to Capt. Shubrick of the U.S. Navy, for the author (James Fennimore Cooper) of Red Rover,' which work was dedicated to him.. The letter to Capt Shubrick, and the answer from the author are annexed:

Copy of the Parchment Certificate from the British Consul.

"I, John Bernard Gilpin, his Britannic Majesty's Consul for the State of Rhode Island, do hereby testify that according to the best of my knowledge and belief, the Box accompanying this Certificate, having on the cover thereof a plate with an engraving representing a wrecked ship, with the words" Royal Caroline " on the stern, and

the words "To the author of Red Rover' " engraved on such plate is part of the keel of his Britannic Majesty's late ship Endeavour," in which Capt. James Cook made his first voyage round the world in the years 1768-1769-1770-1771, accompanied by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander.

"The Endeavour was afterwards sold and purchased by Mr. Wm. Hayden, of New Bedford, though at that time a resident of France, and was fitted out from Dunkirk on a whaling voyage. She afterwards came to Newport, R.I., consigned to Messrs. Gibbs and Channing (from whom I had this information), and having taken on board a

return cargo, met with some accident in Newport Harbor. I have frequently seen her hull at low water; and the wood from which the above mentioned box is made was cut from her keel by Capt. John Cahoon, of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Vigilant, some years since, and has remained in his possession until the box was made.-Whereof attestation being requested, I have hereunto set my hand and seal of office at Newport, in the State of Rhode Island, this first day of December, A.D. 1828. (Signed), JOHN B. GILPIN."

Extract from letter of Robert Stevens, Esq. "As to the ship that went round the world, and came to my wharf Sept. 2, 1793, and lay there until 30th May, 1794, when she attempted to move to Mr. Gibb's lower wharf, where she grounded. When she came to my wharf, she was called the Liberty. She came, I think, from France. Her cargo was oil and whalebone," (Dated April 2, 1828, at Newport). From Wm. Rolite, Jun., of New Bedford, Mass.:

"The letter of 30th ult. came duly to hand, and I am pleased with the opportunity of confirming the character of the vessel thus described. My neighbour Seth Russell tells me that the Liberté, which came to Newport in 1792 or 1793, was the Endeavour, that their house purchased her materials, and put them in a new ship called the Wareham. As Capt. Hayden went to France in 1788, I conclude the Endeavour was purchased in 1790 or '91, and fitted from Dunkirk."

"CHOP DOLLARS."-In Looking Back,' by Captain the Hon. Sir Seymour Fortescue, R. N., published in 1920, at p. 61, after referring to the general reputation for honesty of the Chinese merchant, the author says:

On the other hand, the lower class Chinaman could never resist helping himself to a tiny slice off any silver dollar that came into his hands. The result was that after a short time the dollars in circulation lost so seriously in value that they could not be accepted at their face value, and earned for themselves the sobriquet of Chop Dollars."

I am afraid the midshipman on board the Audacious had the usual ignorance of Europeans as to the things Chinese. Chop Dollars were Spanish, Mexican, or other dollars chopped or stamped with a Chinese character to show through whose hands they had been. The chop was effected by a steel punch having a Chinese character at the end, and with the aid of a hammer and a small anvil. The result was similar to writing one's name on the back of a banknote, so that the note can, if necessary, be traced to the hands of the indorser.

A dollar after being chopped many times gradually breaks up, and the material of the dollar is then put into circulation as brokensilver and taken by weight in payment for purchases. The broken silver is generally wrapped up in small paper parcels, the contents of which are weighed in a small pocket weighing-machine similar in principle to a steel-yard.

In a Chinese book called Shroffing made easy,' published in Canton in 1864, sixty-one

different sorts of dollars are described and

the various means taken to falsify silver coins are illustrated. Many of those engaged in putting depreciated coinage into circulation very cunningly put chops upon those portions of the coin which they allow to remain intact, so that the chop being upon silver makes it difficult to discover that other parts of the coin have been adulterated with lead or copper. Although silver dollars have for more that two hundred years been freely used in China they have never been accepted at their face value, they have always been taken as so much silver. One Tael of silver is the equivalent to ten Mace, and the ordinary dollar is reckoned as weighing 7 Mace 2 Candareens. In the reign of Kwang Sui silver dollars and other coins were minted at Canton under foreign supervision, and since then many other mints have issued silver

and copper coins. How far these coins are being accepted at their face value I cannot say, but up to 1880 it might be fairly asserted that the only coinage current in China was the copper cash, though taxes were paid to the Government in silver shoes or lumps of sycee (literally spun silk).

H. L. D.

TALLIS'S LONDON STREET VIEWS.-There appears to be some uncertainty as to the date of publication of these interesting records of commercial London of the past, but an advertisement of W. Grimstone's once celebrated eye snuff on the back wrapper of The New Monthly Belle Assemblée, for April, 1839, after discoursing on the virtues of this preparation, states, "See Tallis's London Street Views, No. 26."

Grimstone's warehouse, where he also sold tobacco and cigars, was at 39, Broad Street, Bloomsbury, and this number of Tallis shows an engraved view of it.

His " Herbary was at Highgate, off the Archway Road, and among his " patrons were King William IV, the Duchess of Kent, and the Lords of the Treasury.

Has it been definitely proved how many numbers were published of this valuable topographical work? Any particulars would be most welcome. I am aware of the article by Mr. E. Beresford Chancellor in the 'London Topographical Record,' vol. xii. E. E. NEWTON.

Hampstead, Upminster, Essex.

FOUNTAIN OR RESERVOIR PEN.-The fol

lowing must be a very early reference to the forerunner of the modern fountain pen. I send it, as the particulars are not recorded in the index to the diary.

Pepys's Diary, Aug. 5, 1663, reads:

This evening came a letter about business from Mr. Coventry and with it a silver pen, he promised me, to carry inke in, which is very necessary. A. W. WATERS.