J. More Molyneux, Esq., F.S.A., exhibited the far-famed Loseley manuscripts, and other curious documents in the Great Hall, and courteously received his brother archeologists.

From the Loseley Manuscripts, ably edited and annotated by Mr. Kempe, we learn that the custom of swan-upping' was the taking of swans upon rivers for the purpose of affixing certain marks to their beaks. Its superintendence was entrusted to a person officially appointed Master of the Swans, who in the reign of Queen Elizabeth was Sir William More, of Loseley. Among the MSS. there has been found An Original Roll of Swan Marks, showing the beaks of the swans to have been notched with stars, arrows, chevrons, crosses, the initials of the owners' names, or other devices. Thus, in the above reign, are given the marks used for the swans of Lord William Howard, Lord Buckhurst, Sir Henry Weston, Francis Carew, Esq., William More, Esq., and the other principal persons resident in Surrey; likewise the marks of the Dyers' and Vintners' Companies, who to this day keep swans upon the Thames.

'GOD'S PROVIDENCE IS MAN'S INHERITANCE.'

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N Watergate Street, Chester, one of the curious gable-fronted timber houses is remarkable as

being, traditionally, the only house in the city that escaped the plague which ravaged the city during the seventeenth century.' In gratitude for that deliverance, the owner of the house is said to have carved upon the front these words,1652. God's Providence is Man's Inheritance;' on the cross-beam, probably derived from some old version of the 16th Psalm, verse 6, 'The Lord Himself is the portion of mine inheritance. . . . Thou shalt maintain thy lot.' But the poor old house no longer affords a bright picture of providence of God, as doubtless it once did in its palmy days; it can no longer take up the next verse, and say, 'The lot is fallen unto me in a fair ground; yea, I have a goodly heritage.' It now looks sordid and degraded, uncared for and gloomy,-in a word, Disinherited; and affords us a striking emblem of God's ancient people Israel, in their present forlorn and outcast state. The writer, a correspondent of Notes and Queries, is reminded of this old

'GOD'S PROVIDENCE IS MAN'S INHERITANCE.' 95

house and its inscription by meeting with the following passage in Bishop Burnet's sermon, preached January 7, 1691, at the funeral of the Hon. Robert Boyle: 'I will say nothing for the stem from which he sprang; that watered garden, watered with the blessings and dew of heaven, as well as fed with the best portions of this life; that has produced so many noble plants, and has stocked the most families in these kingdoms of any in our age; which has so signally felt the effects of their humble and Christian motto, "God's Providence is Man's Inheritance."

The adoption of this motto by the first or great Earl of Cork is recorded in our Peerages, and has become a matter of history. Certainly his career sufficiently proved that he did not trust God in vain ;' for it affords one of the most remarkable instances on record of temporal prosperity, and of the advancement of a needy adventurer to almost as high and honourable a position as it was possible for a subject to attain himself an immensely wealthy Earl, with four sons who were also peers, and the fifth the celebrated philosopher, the Honourable Robert Boyle.-Notes and Queries, 3d series.

Mr. Banks, the graceful novelist, has written a very interesting story upon the above text. And here we are reminded of Dr. South's very touching illustration of the providence of God:'

'A little error of the eye, a misguidance of the hands, a slip of the foot, the starting of a horse, a sudden mist or a great shower, or a word undesignedly cast forth in an army, has turned the stream of victory from one side to another

96 'GOD'S PROVIDENCE IS MAN'S INHERITANCE.'

and thereby disposed of empires and whole nations. No. prince ever returns safe out of a battle, but may well remember how many blows and bullets have gone by him that might easily have gone through him; and by what little odd, unforeseen chances death has turned aside, which seemed in a full, ready, and direct career to have been posting to him. All which passages, if we do not acknowledge to have been guided to their respective ends and effects by the conduct of a superior and a divine hand, we do by the same assertion cashier all providence, strip the Almighty of His noblest prerogative, and make God not the Governor, but the mere spectator of His world.'

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SUSSEX AND ITS WORTHIES.

USSEX, or, as the name denotes, the land of the
South Saxons, has seen changes as strange as

any of our counties. It is difficult to approach in idea to what it must have been eighteen centuries ago, when three parts of it were an impervious forest, inhabited by our painted, half-naked forefathers; when the sea-washed. hills, which have long since become surrounded by dry land, and fields, now the glory of the husbandman, teemed with ocean-life; and when many an acre, now covered by the waves, formed part of the English soil.

Whatever may be said of Professor Airy's opinion, that Cæsar twice landed on the shores of Sussex, History dimly sees Vespasian subjugating its savage tribes, making Regnum, the future Chichester, his headquarters; and three great Roman roads, with their military stations, traversing the length and breadth of the district, whilst its high hills' bristled with earthworks and encampments.

Descending to Saxon times, we might tell how the county became an independent, though the smallest, kingdom of

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