cured by him in New York. It was probably by an American artist, and evidently taken soon after the battle of Bunker Hill. It is inscribed as follows: "An Exact View of The Late Battle at Charlestown, June 17th, 1775," &c. By B. Romans. It is from a copperplate, 16 1-2 by 11 inches, and colored by hand. The President announced that the Standing Committee had accepted the invitation of our associate, Mr. Mason, for the Society to meet at his house on Tuesday evening, the 21st inst. SPECIAL MEETING. A social meeting of the Society was held at the house of Mr. R. M. MASON, No. 1 Walnut Street, corner of Beacon Street, on the evening of Tuesday, the 21st of December, at seven and a half o'clock; the President in the chair. In his opening remarks, the President indulged in some reminiscences relating to the house in which the Society were assembled, it having once been the residence of his father, the Hon. Thomas L. Winthrop, a former President of the Society. The President read the following letter from our associate, Mr. W. S. Appleton, noticing the death of a Corresponding Member, Mr. John Bruce, F. S. A., of London. BOSTON, Dec. 10, 1869. DEAR MR. WINTHROP, Had I supposed that the death of our Corresponding Member, John Bruce, F. S. A., would not have been noticed at the meeting yesterday, I would have sent you an extract from some English paper announcing it. He died on the 28th of October, aged 67, and the following appeared in the "Illustrated London News" for Nov. 13; the " Athenæum" and "Notes and Queries " have also printed memoirs : "John Bruce, Esq., F. S. A., an eminent antiquary, has just died, aged sixty-seven. He was of a Scottish family, and passed some time at the Grammar School of Aberdeen. He was originally brought up to the law, but relinquished that profession about the year 1840. He then devoted himself entirely to literature, taking especial interest in mediæval lore, and editing several works of historical importance, amongst others, "Hayward's Annals of Elizabeth," "The Leycester Correspondence," "Verney's Notes on the Long Parliament," "Letters of Elizabeth and James VI.," and other productions of a similar character. One of his most recent and important works was a "Calendar of the State Papers," of the reign of Charles I. Mr. Bruce contributed also to the "Edinburgh Review" and to the "Gentleman's Magazine," of which latter periodical he was for some time editor, and he took a leading part in the management of the Society of Antiquaries, of which he was Treasurer and Vice-President. At the death of Lord Aberdeen, he became, in succession to that nobleman, one of the trustees of Sir John Soane's museum in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields."* I will only add that he was, most deservedly, elected a Corresponding Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society in June, 1867. Yours very truly, WM. S. APPLETON. The President read a letter from Dr. H. I. Bowditch, accompanying the letters and memorials relative to the late Dr. Morton, and referred to in a former communication of Dr. Bowditch to the Society. (See proceedings of the meeting for January following.) He also read a letter placed in his hands by the Recording Secretary, from Mr. A James, of Halifax, N.S., dated December 3, 1869, and addressed to Mr. Edward Russell, of Boston, in which the writer refers to a document in his possession that he thinks should find a place in one of the public libraries of the United States. The document is the "original notes, in the handwriting of Mr. Mason, of the survey of Mason and Dixon's Line, bound up with the original correspondence between the Proprietors of Pennsylvania and Maryland, (Lord Baltimore and Thomas Penn); the two Commissioners; the Rev. * An interesting letter of Mr. Bruce to the Vice-President of the Society of Antiquaries, prefixed to a "Defence of Sir Ferdinando Gorges against a Charge of having betrayed the Earl of Essex, written by Himself," is published in the Appendix to Folsom's Catalogue of Original Documents relating to Maine; New York, 1858. — Eds. Mr. Maskelyn, the celebrated astronomer; and the public men of the two provinces interested." Mr. James expressed the desire that the manuscript should come to the United States rather than go to the British Museum, to which he had recently intended to offer it. No action was taken in reference to the communication of Mr. James. Mr. DEANE stated that he had written to Mr. Russell (who had kindly forwarded to him Mr. James's letter), and expressed the hope that the manuscript might be sent to Boston for the inspection of the members; the document referred to being the same which was seen by Mr. Porter C. Bliss, while on a visit to Nova Scotia, in 1860, and noticed in the proceedings of this Society for August, 1865, p. 441. The President also read a letter from our associate, Dr. Ellis, relating to another course of lectures by members of the Society. A number of subjects to be treated, and a list of persons to be invited to lecture, were read to the meeting. Dr. Ellis's letter was referred to a committee consisting of Dr. Ellis, the Recording and Corresponding Secretaries. Charles A Mr. DEANE read a paper on "The Forms used in issuing letters-patent by the Crown of England"; with some remarks relating to the early history of the Massachusetts Charter of 4th Charles I. The Forms in Issuing Letters Patent by the Crown of England. Of the original thirteen States of this Union, the larger part, as we know, were settled under charters (Provincial, Proprietary, or Municipal) from the Crown of England; and it should not be an uninteresting inquiry, to the student of our history, as to the official forms which were used in issuing these important documents. By these forms we see, that, although the grants were made by the Sovereign, in virtue of his prerogative, yet this exercise of his prerogative is surrounded by important formalities; in order that "no detriment or injury may result to the property or persons of his Majesty's subjects, or to the rights and possessions of his Majesty's crown; according to the principle which may be traced to the earliest periods of the English Constitution, that the prerogatives of the Sovereign are not to be exercised arbitrarily, or without discretion, but legally, and for the general benefit of the Commonwealth."* During the first and second years of Queen Victoria's reign, a law was passed, entitled "An act for keeping the Public Records"; pursuant to which arrangements were made by the Master of the Rolls, for ascertaining the condition of the records, scattered in various depositories in London, and finally for bringing them together into one large department, and arranging them for use. In this way large masses of most valuable papers were collected from the Tower, the Rolls Chapel, the Chapter House, Carlton Ride, the Rolls House, the Remembrance House, Somerset House, Whitehall-yard, Westminster Hall, and other places. The most of these have now been consolidated with the Public Record Office in Fetter Lane! Full reports were made to her Majesty, from time to time, of the progress of the work, by the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records, Sir Francis Palgrave, in which a most minute account is given of the nature of the papers, and of their condition. In his Second Report issued in 1841,† he also gives a full description of the "Offices and Documents connected with the Working of the Great Seal"; showing "to your Majesty," to quote his own words, "that a large and very important portion of the Records of the Common Law side of the Court of Chancery is composed of the Enrolments of the documents which pass your Majesty's Great Seal, or of the Dockets supplying the place of Enrolments." "It therefore appeared expedient to his Lordship, the Master of the Rolls, that the origin and * Sir Francis Palgrave, in his Report cited below. † Second Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records. (May 15, 1841.) Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street, for Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 1841. progress of all the several instruments which authorize the affixing the Great Seal, as well as of all the documents under the Great Seal, thus ultimately becoming Records of Chancery, should be traced through their different constitutional stages up to their source, the expressed or implied commands of the Sovereign. And by his Lordship's direction I have attended at the several offices and departments partially or wholly connected with the working of the Great Seal hereinafter noticed, and obtained the information now presented to your Majesty. "The whole process of passing Letters-Patent under the Great Seal is, however, very complicated, and differing according to the nature of the documents. The subject will therefore be rendered more intelligible, by first submitting to your Majesty a general view of the course or cycle of these documents; which course, in the numerical majority of cases, that is to say, in the cases for Patents for Inventions, Charters for Incorporations, and other instruments of the like nature, issued as of grace and favor, upon the application of your Majesty's subjects, is the following: 1. Petition addressed to the Crown, upon which is grounded the 2. Reference to the Law Officer or Officers by the (Privy Council or 3. Report of the Attorney and Solicitor General, or one of them, and of the Privy Council, if required, as explained below. 4. Warrant under your Majesty's Sign Manual, which is the authority for the 5. Bill (called the Queen's Bill) [or King's Bill, according as the Sovereign is a man or a woman] under your Majesty's Sign Manual; which is the authority for the 6. Bill of Privy Signet; which is the authority for the 7. Writ of Privy Seal; which, being the recipi of the Lord Chancellor, is the authority for the 8. Patent under the Grand Seal."* In some cases, instanced by the writer in his elaborate Report, some of these stages are dispensed with. The process * Palgrave's Report, p. 28. |