armed mouth, must have been the tyrant of the seas it inhabited. It is now in the British Museum.

Near the quarry is an open working for coal, on the sides of which occur one of the finest and most complete sections of natural strata perhaps ever beheld. At the base is the bottom coal, upon which rests a layer of white felspathic stone (a volcanic production of earlier date than the Basalt of the neighbourhill); next above is a band of coal slate, interspersed with charred or anthracite coal, and underlying a stratum of Basalt, in a fragmentary or shattered state, which latter is covered with a Pleistocene deposit, containing fine specimens of quartz pebbles. The series is capped with a bed of clay (Argillacious). The whole is divided down the centre by a fault filled with sand (of the Permian period), which was washed in after the severance of the rocks, and by the course of ages turned to stone. The place is worthy of a visit from the amateur Geologist, as the process by which nature formed the crust of the earth is there exhibited on a smaller and well-defined scale.

Mr. George, the proprietor of the mines around, interested the party with exhibiting some candles, or what were the ghostly remains of candles, found in one of the workings, which the documents of the estate proved had not been opened for at least three hundred years. A proof that the value of coal was known in this district at that early period, though not much used.

The increase in the manufacture of iron in the vicinity, however, soon exhausted all the fuel which the ancient royal park-which occupied all the high land this side of the town, and of which memorials remain in the nomenclature of the district, such as Park Farm, Park Brook (perhaps Pouk Hill is but a corruption of Park Hill), Birchills, The Forest near Bloxwich, and Harden (an old British name for Forest)-supplied, and mining commenced in earnest. How long the earth will continue to give us fuel it is hard to say, but we cannot help shivering when we think what people will do when the supply is exhausted.

In the immediate vicinity is Bentley Hall, famous in English history for having been a temporary hiding-place of Charles II., when eluding the pursuing soldiery of Cromwell, after the battle of Worcester. Under the guidance of the Lanes, who then lived here, the King, after many singular adventures, reached the sea coast, from whence he escaped to France. Upon his restoration to the throne, after the death of Cromwell, he did

not forget the Lanes, who had a pension of £1,500 per annum settled on them, which is still enjoyed by their descendants.

What scenes has the bonny old town not witnessed.

She has seen the ferocious Mercian, "Offa the Terrible,” hunt with his brilliant cavalcade of nobles in her park; and her woods have witnessed the midnight-flight of a British monarch, unattended, ragged, and barefoot.

The morose yet true-hearted Mary, and the fickle Queen Bess, have been received with joyous revelry in her halls, leaving charters and grants as mementos of their visits.

*

And the ruthless Cromwell has marched his Ironsides through her streets, leaving memorials of his passage in the battered walls of Rushall Castle, and the little green mound near its church, where it is said he buried the garrison alive.

Her sons have worshipped at Caldmore (sacred moor), and Palfre or Bal-phre, God of Fire, the deities of those early times, and as mad bigots, they have maltreated in her fields and streets the apostles of a form of purified christianity.

In the valley to the West of Bentley Hall, in a dense wood, called "Inches Rough," the writer of this paper, during a summer day's ramble, stumbled over, or rather nearly into, a moat of a most complete kind. The underwood around formed an almost impenetrable fence, whilst the dark and wide waters seemed, from the decay of vegetable matter and other causes, almost complete mud. The drawbridge was gone, and no road was there to the insulated piece of land, which was covered with as dense a growth of trees as that outside the encircling waters.

The solemn stillness which reigned, with the thick and luxuriant vegetation, vividly recalled to mind the forest scenes described by travellers in the "Far West." Many ages must have elapsed since it was the fortified residence of some neighbouring Thane.

Bentley Hall has been rebuilt several times, and its moat is now a pleasant valley, filled up on one side, yet both are evidently more recent than the moat in the wood, whose history no one knows; and if any of the rustics are interrogated respecting it, the reply is similar to that which Stephens received from the Mexicans, "Who knows?" No doubt it is a relic of the tenth century, when the Danes ravaged this district-previous

*Local tradition asserts that he quartered some of his troops in St. Matthew's Church; the aisles being used as stabling for the horses.

to their fearful defeat and slaughter at Wednesfield Heath by King Edward the Elder,*

"And burnt the dwelling to the ground,
And forced its lord to fly."

Little thinking that their deeds would soon overtake them, and that they would never again behold the blue-eyed daughters of Loch-lyn, to win whose smile they undertook such desperate adventures. The purple heather blossoms over their graves on the neighbouring heath, and the trees of the surrounding woods nod in stately cadence as the winds hum their requiem through their branches, while the yellow gorse in its prickly armour, stands the fit guardian of a stranger's tomb. Peace be to their manes!

Previous to the breaking up of the meeting at Pouk Hill, Mr. L. D. Capewell exhibited drawings of a remarkable crustacean (as lobsters, shrimps, crabs, &c., are called by Geologists), named Pterygotus, which he had found in the Wenlock Shale, near Dudley. It was a shrimp-like creature, though without the propelling fan tail of that animal. Its name signifies ear-wing, and alludes to the appendages on each side its head, by which it is supposed to have propelled itself through the waters, at the bottom of which it spent its chief time, crawling over the muddy deposit seeking for food. Its length was from five to six feet, and it was a creature of a higher development or order than the famous Trilobite of the Silurian Limestones, which are rocks of an older formation than that in which it is found.

The walk home lay through those suburbs of the town, the names of which are highly suggestive of the greenwood character of old Waleshale. But the coal-pit refuse has overwhelmed the woods of Birchills, and the shadows of long rows of dingy houses replaced the umbrageous character of Green Lane. The old stumpy stems which, in the days of our childhood, dotted Park Street, have disappeared; and the patriarchal trees of the Bridge, the last of a race that once were the pride of Walsall, have fallen before the fiat of the Improvement (?) Commissioners.

In remembrance of this event Walsall's younger sister, Willenhall, received its name, Winehalle-The Hall of Victory.

To the Sons of Old Erin.

Ye sons of Old Erin, why seem ye so sad?
The cold snows of winter are yet far away,

While spring will bring sunshine to make your heart glad,
Though the Pope should be shorn of his temporal sway.

.

"The warm ray of love, and the light note of gladness"
Again shall be heard when the shamrock shall bloom;
And earth will yield flowers to charm away sadness,
Though popes, kings, and tyrants should sleep in the tomb.

Still cling to the faith ye so ardently cherish;
Still kneel at the shrine of the saints ye adore;
But sell not your freedom-let tyranny perish,
And vex not to-day with the curses of yore.

Search history's page, whose glimmerings seem
To reveal all the wrongs that a nation can bear,
It points out the spot, were it only a dream,

When the triple-crown'd despot thy sorrows did share.

But sorrow's dark cloud came o'er your loved isle,
And her valiant sons bled on her country's plain,

The conquering tyrant from him got a smile,

And the seal of St. Peter to rivet the chain.

Then let not Rome's troubles your happiness mar,
But peacefully cultivate valley and plain,
And o'er the green fields shall arise freedom's star,
While link'd to Old England by loyalty's chain.

With the brave sons of Erin and Albion as brothers,
The clouds of misfortune shall vanish away.

And careless of Rome, or its clerical troubles
The long night of Erin shall yield to the day.

J. A. J.

Literary Societies.

WESLEY YOUNG MEN'S SOCIETY.-There has been three meetings held in connection with this Society. On the 19th, an Essay was read by Mr. Frakes, on "The means of promoting the welfare of our fellow-men." There have also been "Miscellaneous Readings,” and a discussion, on "Which is the best form of Government, Monarchy or Republicanism?” It is proposed to hold a Conference of the various Literary Societies of the town and district, principally Wesleyan, in the Wesley School Rooms, on Friday, December 26. The object of the Conference will be to consider the best method of conducting Young Men's Improvement Societies. Essays will be read on subjects connected with this object, and discussion thereon invited. The Meeting will be an open one. The Chair to be taken at half-past One o'clock, by the Rev. R. Hardy. On the same day, the Annual Soiree, in connection with this Society, will be held. Speeches and Recitations will be given by the Members, President, and Vice-President. The Chair to be taken by the Rev. G. F. White. J. S. Hill, Secretary.

VERULAM CLUB.-The programme of engagements for the last month has been: I.-An Essay on "Proofs of Wisdom and Goodness in Creation." II. "Readings and Recitations from the Poets Laureate." III.—A Discussion on the somewhat hackneyed though unsettled question, "Is the retention of Capital Punishment beneficial?" Aff. Mr. North, Neg. Mr. Bayliss. IV. Conversation respecting "Mesmerism and Electro-Biology." Chairman for the past month, Mr. S. Trees. Secretary, Mr. J. R. Crapper.

Correspondence.

To the Editor of the Walsall Observer.

SIR,

I gather from your November number, that it is proposed to establish an Union of the Young Men's Societies in Walsall, and as the promoters of the movement are not yet pledged to any particular mode of action, perhaps you will allow me to suggest what appears to me the most desirable method of cementing your societies, not only with each other, but with kindred associations throughout the district.