0IANT8 AND PIQMIES. 



55 



moTinrchs was (.lescenflcd . It was regarded as the " palladium 

 of Scotland." A prophetic couplet announced that wherever 

 it might be placed there would the Scots be supreme. 



" Ni (allat fatuni Scoti, quocunque locatum 

 Invenient lapidein, regiiare tenenter ibidem." 



This prophecy seemed to have a fulfilment when the monarchs 

 of the House of Stewart sat on it to be crowned in WestminstKr 

 Abbe}' as monarchs of Great Britain. It *s said to be a block 

 of limestone. A chip with a hammer might reveal whether it 

 is of Cretaceo-eocene limestone of Uethel, or Carboniferous 

 limestone of Scotland, or even Ireland, and effectually dispose 

 of the legend of its history. It is not likely, however, that it 

 will be subjected to this process. When we went to Scotland 

 we descended in the London Clay, and reached the bottom of 

 it when we arrived at Williston Junction, as if we had gone 

 down the Artesian Well at the Fisheries Exhibition, and 

 certainly much more easily, (as the latter mode of descent is of 

 course impracticable) and we as certainly came up when we 

 returned to London. We propose to make a similar descent 

 and ascent to make you accustomed to such geological processes. 

 Our next descent in the London Clay thus occurs : The 

 Executive Committee, of the Fisheries F'xhibition, have invited 

 us to a pleasant excursion up the Thames, above Maidenhead, 

 as far as Medmenham Abbey. They h? invited Foreign and 

 Colonial Commissioners, and others. Ai . le time appointed, 

 we assemble at the Paddington Station, of the Great Western 

 Railway, on the London Clay. Thence we proceed by railway 

 to the Taplow Station. Carriages are in waiting to take us to 

 Maidenhead. I am accommodated with three others. One is 

 a fellow-excursionist to Howieton, another is Lindley Sarabourne, 

 the '' artist of Pitncli" the third is the pyrotechnist of the 

 Crystal Palace^ three very pleasant companions. We arrive at 

 the Tharans at Maidenhead, and have passed through (down) 

 the London Clay and reach the Chalk. We are also in the 

 neighborhood of Eton. We are to have a Reception at 

 Maidenhead on our return. A steam-launch is waiting to 

 receive us. It is gaily decorated with international flags flying 



