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of them, shall be compelled to swear before the treasurer and barons of the exchequer, that such account shall be true, any statute, act, or dinance, prescription, custom, provision, or any other thing whatso ever, to the contrary notwithstand ing.

And we also will, and by these presents for us, our heirs and suc cessors, grant to the said mayor, sherits, burgesses, and commonalty of the town of Knockfefgus, and to their successors, that the mayor of the aforesaid town for the time being, and his successors mayors of the town aforesaid, for the time being, for ever, viz. that every of them successively during the time he shall be in the office of mayor of the same town, that he may and shall be custos rotulorum, recorder of pleas, filers of recognizances, and of all our writs, or the writs of our heirs and successors, in the foresaid town, and in the county of the town aforesaid, and that may do, exercise, and execute all and every thing which to the office of custos rotulorum, in the town and county of the town aforesaid, appertaineth to be done, according to the laws and customs of our kingdom of Ireland, to take, receive, and levy all and singular the fees, rewards, advantages, profits, and emoluments whatsoever, to the said office doth belong or appertain.

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We also grant, for us, our heirs and successors, unto the said mayor, sheriffs, burgesses, and monalty of aforesaid town, and to their successors, that the clerk of the tholsel or the town-clerk of the same town, whoever shall be for the time, and his successors, shall for ever be in times to come the clerk of our crown and peace, in our county of the town of Knockfergus aforesaid, and that both he and they may have and exercise, and be able and

of power to have and exercise the office of clerk of our crown and peace, and the crown and peace of our heirs and successors, taken thereout all and singular fees, vailes, rewards, profits, and emoluments, whatsoever, belonging to the said office, from time to time, in as ample manner and form as any clerk of the crown and peace, in any other county within our kingdom of Ireland, had or received, hath or receiveth, or ought to have and receive, and to do all and singular what belongs by the clerk of the crown and peace of the said town and county, to be done and ex ercised, and that no other clerk of the crown or peace, of us, our heirs or successors, or any custos гоtulorum of ours, our heirs and successors, may enter or intermeddle in any thing that belongs to the office of clerk of the crown and peace, and custos rotulorum in the said town and county to be done.

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And furthermore, of our more plentiful special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, we have given and granted, and by these presents for us, our heirs and succes sors, do give, graut, and confirm to the said mayor, sheriffs, burgesses, and commonalty of the town of Knockfergus aforesaid and their successors, that the said mayor, sheriffs, burgesses, and commonalty of the town aforesaid, and their successors, and all and other the inhabitants of the said town of Knockfergus, from time to time, may, have and every of them may have, enjoy, common of tur bary, in all places near Loghmorn, as also common of bog, turbary, and heath, and of all other fewels necessary to be burned in the bonses, ovens, and kitchens of the said mayor, sheriffs, burgesses, and commonalty of the said town of Knockfergus aforesaid, or any of them within the aforesaid town, for the space

or circuit of four miles adjacent to the town of Knockfergus aforesaid, in and on every side or part of the same town, without rendering any thing unto us, our heirs and successors for the same, or to any other person or persons whatsoever.

We will, notwithstanding, and grant that it may be lawful to the overseers, and other our officers of our victuals, for the time being, to buy, sell, and have for one garri son, and soldiers residing, to be resident in any part of Ulster, all victuals and other things necessary for them in the same town, and there to sell hides and all other such like things, growing or coming by reason of their office or offices, to our use, or to the use of our army or garrison, there residing or remain ing.

And that it shall be lawful for every one of our garrison to provide for himself, and buy there all victuals and other things necessary and be longing to food, cloathing, building and repairing of their houses, without any custom to be paid or given, but so notwithstanding that he nor they may sell, or expose to sale, any parcel thereof, again any thing in this our charter to the contrary, in any wise, notwithstanding.

We also give, and of our special royal favour, certain knowledge, and mere motion, grant and confirm to the mayor, sherifls, burgesses and commonalty of the town of Knockfergus aforesaid, and their successors, that the aforesaid mayor, sheriff's, burgesses, and commonalty of the town of Knockfergus aforesaid, and their shccessors, may enjoy and exercise, and have all and singular advantages, and have all and singular advantages, by virtue and authority, tenor and power, of all the grants aforesaid, and other gifts and grants of ours, or our progenitors, to the said mayor,

BELFAST MAG. NO. XXXIV.

sheriffs, bur esses, and commonalty of the town of Knockfergus and Drogheda, before the time made and granted by act or acts of any parlia ment, or otherwise whatsoever, in as full and ample manner and form, as if they had been granted by these presents, without yielding, paying, or doing any fine or tee to us, our heirs, and successors, for the premises, or any of the premises, and without any inquisition or inquisitions of the premises, or of any parcel thereof, by pretence or virtue of our writs of ad quod damnum, or any other our commissioners, or any other our writs, or the writs of our heirs or successors in our chancery, or in the chancery of our heirs and successors elsewhere, returned, or to be returned, notwithstanding, that any of the aforesaid offices, franchises, liberties, customs, or any other the premises, be not named, or be misnamed, or to be not recited, or to be misrecited, so there be no express mention made in these presents,, of the true yearly value or certainty of the premises, or any of them, or of any other gift or grants, by us, our heirs or succesheretofore made to the said mayor, sors, or of any of our progenitors, sheriffs, burgesses, and commonalty aforesaid, any statute, act, ordinance, or provision, or any other thing, cause, or matter whatsoever, made notwithstanding. contrary to the premises, in any wise

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In witness whereof, we have caused witness our said deputy-general of our these our letters to be made patents, realm of Ireland, at Dublin, the fourteenth day of December, in the tenth year of our reign of England, France, and Ireland, and of Scotland the six and fortieth.

(We hope we have not tired our reuders by the insertion of the foreDdd

going Charter. To many it must have appeared tedious and uninteresting, but it was inserted at the particulur

request of a number of subscribers.— Some Bye Laws of the Corporation will be published in our next number.)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DISTINGUISHED PERSONS.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THOMAS qualities which adorn human nature

DAY. EXTRACTED FROM ANNA SEWARD'S LIFE OF DR. DARWIN, AND THE BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.

THO

HOMAS DAY, a man of singularly benevolent and independent spirit, was born in London in 1748. His father died while he was an infant, leaving him a conderable fortune. His mother, a woman of sense and a strong mind, brought him up in good habits and dispositions; which exerted an influence upon his whole character through life.* She married soon after her husband's death, a gentleman of the name of Philips.

This man was one of those common characters, who seek to supply their inherent want of consequence, by a busy, te zing interference in cir. cumstances, with which they have no real concern. Mrs. Philips, influenced by such a husband, often rendered uncomfortable, the domes tic situation of a high-spirited youth of genius; yet he possessed all those

It is probable that he received from

his mother an education well fitted to call forth strength of character, and to display the energies of a powerful mind. An instance of courage and strength of mind is related of her. While walking alone through a field, she was attacked by a fierce bull. She endeavoured to escape by flight, but finding that the animal gained on her, she resolutely turned round, and unfolding an umbrella, which she held in her hand, she faced hin, using the umbrella as a shield, and thus retreated, till she was able to clear the ditch and escape

his rage.

in such an eminent degree, that his first act on coming of age, was to aug. ment his mother's jointure, and to settle it upon Mr. Philips during his life. This bounty, to a man who had needlessly mortified him, and embittered so many years of his infancy and youth, evinced a very elevated mind.

Even at that period, "when youth elate and gay, steps into life," Mr. Day was a rigid moralist. Though he had no intention of confining himself to the pursuits of a particular profession, he entered at the Middle Temple in 1765, aud he so far made a study of the law, as at length to be called to the bar. But the study of men and manners was his favourite object. The fruit of these researches into the condition of mankind seems, at first, to have produced a kind of melancholy, proceeding from a sense of its wretchedness; but the native strength of his benevolence enabled him in some degree, to surmount this impression, and what remained was an ardent and active zeal for opposing tyranny in all its shapes, and promoting the welfare of his fellow creatures. His strict integrity, energetic friendship, open-handed bounty, sedulous and diffusive charity, greatly over-balanced, on the side of virtue, the tincture of misanthropic gloom, and proud contempt of society that frequently marked his character.

In 1770, he went to reside at Lichfield. He then looked the philo

sopher. Powder and fine clothes were, at that time, the appendages of gentlemen; Mr. Day wore not either. He was tall and stooped in the shoulders, full made, but not corpulent; and in his melancholy and meditative air a degree of awkwardness was blended. His features were interesting and agreeable amidst the traces of a severe small-pox: there was a sort of weight upon the lids of his large hazel eyes; yet when he declaimed,

.......

"Of good and evil, Passion, and apathy, and glory, and shame," very expressive were the energies gleaming from them, beneath the shade of sable hair, which curled about his brows.

He possessed true compassion for the poor in their sufferings of cold and hunger; to the power of relieving them he nobly sacrificed all the parade of life, and all the pleasures of luxury. He was fond of rational society, but he disliked fashionable circles, and entertained supreme contempt for those who arrogate consequence upon the mere grounds of rank and wealth. Above all things he expressed aversion to the modern plans of female education. He had learned, from some disappointments in very early life, to look back with resentment to the allurements of the graces. He resolved, if possible, that his wife should have a taste for literature and science, for moral and patriotic philosophy, that she might be his companion in that retirement to which he had destined himself; and assist him in forming the minds of his children to stubborn virtue and high exertion. He resolved also, that she should be as simple as a mountain girl in her dress, her diet, and her manners; fearless and intrepid as the Spartan wives and Roman heroines. There was no finding such a creature; philosophical

romance could not hope it. He must mould some infant into the being his fancy had imaged; he nursed systematic ideas of the force of philosophic tuition to produce future virtue, and he determined to mould the infant and youthful mind.

After procuring credentials of his moral probity, he set out with his friend Mr. Bicknel, a barrister, to the town of Shrewsbury, to explore the hospital in that town for foundling girls. From the little train, Mr. Day in the presence of Mr. Bicknel, selected two of twelve years each; both beautiful; one fair, with flaxen locks, and light eyes; her he called Lucretia. The other, a clear brunette, with darker eyes, more glowing bl m, and chesnut tresses, na ned Sabrina.

he These girls were obtained on written conditions, for the performance of which Mr. Bick-, nel was guarantee. They were to this effect; that Mr. Day should, within a year after taking them, resign one into the protection of some reputable tradeswoman, giving, one hundred pounds to bind her apprentice; maintaining her, if she behaved well, till she married, or began business for herself; upon either of these events, he promised to advance He avowed his four hundred more. intention of educating the girl he should retain, with the view of making her his future wife; solemnly engaging, if he should renounce his plan, to maintain her in some respectable family till she married, when he promised five hundred pounds as her wedding portion.

Mr. Day went instantly to France with these girls; not even taking an English servant, that they might receive no ideas, except those which he might choose to impart. They teized and perplexed him; they quarrelled, and fought incessantly; they sickened of the small-pox; they chained him to their bed side by

crying, and screaming if they were ever left a moment with any perSon who could not speak to them in English. They lost no beauty by their disease. Soon after they had recovered, crossing the Rhone with his wards in a tempestuous day, the boat overset. Being an excellent swimmer he saved them both, though with difficulty and danger to himself. He came back to England in eight months, heartily glad to separate the little squabblers. Sabrina was become the favourite; he placed Lucretia with a chamber milliner. She behaved well and became the wife of a respectable linen-draper in London. On his return to his native country, he entrusted Sabrina to the care of Mr Bicknel's mother, with whom she resided some months in a country village, while he settled his affairs at his own mansion-house.

After taking possession of his mansion, he resumed his preparations for implanting in Sabrina's young mind the characteristic virtues of Arria, Portia, and Cornelia; his experiments had not the success he wished and expected; her spirit could not be armed against the dread of pain and the appearance of danger. When he dropped melted sealing wax upon her arms she did not endure it heroically, nor when he fired pistols at her petticoats, which she believed to be charged, with balls, could she help starting aside, or suppress her screams. When he tried her fidelity in secret-keeping, by telling her of well-invented dan gers to himself, in which greater danger would result from its being discovered that he was aware of them, he once or twice detected her having imparted the secret to the servants, and to her play-fellows. She betrayed an averseness to the study of books, and of the rudiments of science, which gave little promise of ability,

that should one day be responsible for the education of youths, who were to emulate the Gracchi.

Mr. Day presisted in these expe riments, and sustained their continual disappointment during the whole year: The difficulty seemed to lie in giving Sabrina a motive to exer tion, self-denial, and heroism. It was against his plan to draw it from the usual source, pecuniary reward, luxury, ambition, or vanity. His watchful cares precluded all knowledge of the value of money, the reputa tion of beauty, and its concomitant desire of ornamented dress. The only inducement, therefore, which this lovely artless girl could have to combat and subdue the natural preference, of ease to pain, of va cant sport to the labour of thinking, was the desire of pleasing her protector, though she knew not how, or why he became such. In that desire, fear had greatly the ascen dant of affection, and fear is a cold and indoient feeling.

Thus after a series of fruitless trials, Mr. Day renounced all hope of moulding Sabrina into the being his imagination had formed; and ceasing to behold her as his future wife, he placed her at a boarding-school in Warwickshire. His trust in the power of education faltered; his a version to modern elegance subsided. From the time he first lived near Lichfield, he had daily conversed with the beautiful Honora Sneyd; without having received a Spartan education, she united a disinterested desire to please, fortitude of spirit, native strength of intellect, literary and scientific taste, to unswerving truth, and to all the gra ces. She was the very Honora Sneyd, to whom the gallant and unfortunate Major Andre's unextinguishable passion is on poetic, as his military fame and hapless destiny are on patriotic record; pa

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