m 



oporations on the rospective ores and metals were effected 

 Willi an Apparatus which contained nearly two cubic feet 

 of that tremendously explosive compound, known to experi- 

 mental chemists by the familiar appellation of Mixed Gases 



March 30.-.Mr. Wilkinson delivered a Lecture in conti- 

 nuation of a course, on English History, in which the Con- 

 stitution, Government and Laws, and the state of Learnine 

 trom the rei-n of Henry the 4th, to that of Henry the 7th 

 were treated of. He remarked that Historians experienced 

 considerable difficulty in forming the confused, unsatisfactory 

 and otten contradictory events of this period into a clear 

 consistent, and well authenticated narration ; the Nation in 

 that part of the 15th Century, which was the subject of 'the 

 Lecture, being with little intermission engaged in wars that 

 produced the most surprising revolutions. This circum- 

 stance operated against Improvements in Legislation and 

 Jurisprudence— and therefore few particulars of im. 

 portance occurred that merited very particular notice He 

 spoke of the decline of Villanage, effected principallv bv 

 the necessity of employing Slaves in War to defend the 

 possessions or fight the Battles of their Lords, and their 

 ernancipation, consequent on their being entrusted with arms 

 He then referred to the description previously given of the' 

 Constitution of Parliament in the Reign of Richard the 2nd 

 which was similar in the beginning of the present period' 

 and showed the changes effected by the introduction of the 

 system of Representation, and the influence of the Laws and 

 Fohtical arrangements on the Constitution of the House 

 of Commons ; noticed the qualifications of Electors and 

 their Representatives, and the circumstances of the constant 

 attendance of the latter to their duties, and their receiving 

 <roni a principle of Equity, and not of positive Law, wa-es 

 ot their Constituents, and that wages commenced with the 

 commencement of representation. The influence of the 

 Clergy in the Public Councils of the Kingdom, the method 

 of conducting the business of Parliament, the duration of 

 the Sessions, and the principal systems of Laws were no- 

 ticerl ; and remarks were mach" on the corrupt and imperfect 

 Aduunistration of Justice, and the causes and effects were 

 traced. The ordinary and extraordinary revenues of the 

 Crown, the prerogatives of royalty, the pow(;r of dispensa- 

 sat.on assumed by gome Moiiarchs, the declension of the 

 f< iKlal system of Covernment, the distinction first now 

 known m th.; Law between a King dc fUclo and a Kin<' de 

 j«r^ were cursorily dwlt on, aiul (1... L.;cturer concluded 

 this division ol his subj..rt with some g.-neral remarks on the 

 comparative state of the Constitution, Coveninienl, and 



