And among the "Goods valued 28 Nov. 1651," is, "A Chesse board of silver wth 30 men to it, being parcele silver and parcele cristall," valued at 301. Besides the above, 66 playingtables" of mother-of-pearl and cedar are mentioned, which, from the number of men, must have been backgammon-boards. But what I more particularly wish to learn, by the medium of your periodical, is, whether any sets of chessmen of the reign of Henry VIII. are still in private collections, and I should esteem it a favour if any of your readers can give me this information. The names of the chess-men about that time became partly changed. The ancient terms of Ferce, Alfyn, and Roc, were dropped for those of Queen, Bishop, and Tower; and it was at this time, in all probability, the important variations took place in the moves of the queen and bishop, which proceeded, I believe, from the gallantry of the court of Francis the First. Before that time the queen could only move one square at a time, and was consequently the least valuable piece in the game; whilst the range of the bishop was confined to three squares, including the one in which it stood. The subject has such an interest for myself, that I forget when treating of it, that 1 become tedious to others; therefore, for the present, I shall conclude. Yours, &c. F. MADDEN. parish of South Perrott, I inclose a short account of it for insertion. As the structure contains nothing peculiarly interesting, so it would not claim a distinct notice in your work, if it were not destined so soon to be numbered with the things that were. MOSTERTON CHAPEL consists of a nave and chancel, and is situated on the right-hand side of, and at about fifty yards distance from the high road leading from Crewkerne to Beaminster. It is two miles and three-quarters from Crewkerne, and a quarter of a mile from the village of Mosterton. The nave, 37 feet 6 inches long, and 13 feet wide, is entered by two doorways; one of them, on the north side, is protected by a porch; the other, immediately below a great western window, is relieved by plain mouldings. It receives light through six pointed windows, of which four are of two lights each, with cinquefoil heads and trefoil-headed perpendicular tracery; one is a modern singlelight; and the last, occupying the greater portion of the western front, is of four lights, with cinquefoil heads and trefoil-headed perpendicular tracery. Some fragments of painted glass occupy the head of one of the north windows. In the north-east. corner is a circular turret, which formerly contained the rood-loft staircase. The ceiling is coved and ribbed. The chancel, 15 feet 3 inches long, and 12 feet 6 inches wide, communicates with the nave under a pointed arch. It has two windows, one of them, to the east, is of two lights, with trefoil heads and a quatrefoil in tracery, the other is a single-light. The ceiling, like that of the nave, is coved and ribbed. The western wall of the nave is continued up above the ridge of the roof, and is pierced with two apertures, in one of which a small bell is suspended. The angles of the building are strengthened with diagonal buttresses, and the apex of the eastern wall of the nave is surmounted with a plain cross. The font is an octagonal stone bason, lined with lead, 2 feet 4 inches across; it rests on a cylindrical pedestal; the height of the whole is 2 feet 9 inches. The date of this chapel may be referred to the close of the fifteenth century. WM. SAWYER. Mr. URBAN, OTTERDEN PLACE, KENT. THERE are few subjects which afford greater entertainment to the mind. than the rise and progress of science; and in reviewing the gradations by which mankind have arrived at their present state of knowledge, curiosity naturally leads us to inquire after the persons by whom, and the places, where, any remarkable discoveries have been made; whilst the interest we take e respecting them is increased proportion as they develope to us the laws of nature, avert evils, administer to the necessities, or contribute. to the enjoyments of man, Viewed with regard to these objects, the science of Electricity stands pre-eminent. Electricity is probably present in every form of matter," and its influence universal.* We have seen in our own day the great progress of the science by the discovery of the relation of electrical to chemical changes; an agency by which not only various changes are directly produced, but * Brande's Lectures. which likewise influences almost all which take place. The connection between Electricity and Magnetism has. been recently strengthened and confirmed; and interesting researches into electrical induction are still proceeding. The names of the philosophers. who have thus advanced the science are familiar to us, and at the Royal Institution have the most important discoveries been made, and the most brilliant experiments' exhibited. Possessed of the means of protection from the destructive effects of lightning, by the labours of former. electricians, and by those of later ones, of the most extensive powers of ana-, lysis, , we may with truth affirm, τέχνῃ κρατοῦμεν ὧν φύσει νικώμεθα. Eurip.. Under the impression of these observations, I am induced to transmit to you the following memoir, accompanied with engravings from drawings taken by myself. The writer of this article, when very young, was present at an exhibition of electrical experiments at the house of the late John Hunter in Jermyn-street, and he perfectly recollects the observation Mr. Hunter then made to him, "You have seen these beautiful experiments. Of Electricity as a science we at present know nothing; but the time will ar rive when it will be found to act a most important part in the economy of Nature." In Electricity by contact, Galvani, Volta, Ritter, Davy. Ou the connection between' Electricity and Magnetism, Oersted, Wollaston, Faraday, Barlow, Ritchie. On the operation of these forces beneath the surface of the earth, Solly, Fox, and Faraday, in this country; Dobereiner and others on the Continent. GENT. MAG. May, 1932. My friend the late Tiberius Cavallo has observed in his treatise on Electricity, that a new era in that science commenced from Stephen Gray, whose experiments led to considerable discoveries; and as most of those experiments were carried on in conjunction with the late Granville Wheler, at Otterden Place in Kent; as several of them were made to carry the electric influence to considerable distances, experi ments which led to the positive assertion and proof of the identity of lightning with electricity by Dr. Franklin, and to his invention of metallic conductors; * as the first living animal was electrified by Mr. Wheler at Otterden;t and as the phenomenon of a pencil of light issuing from an electrical point, was first distinctly seen there, I flatter myself your philosophical as well as antiquarian readers «June 30, 1729. I went," says Mr. Gray, "to Otterden Place, to wait on Mr. Wheler, carrying with me a small glass cane of about eleven inches long and seven eighth parts of an inch in diameter, with some other requisite materials, designing only to give Mr. Wheler specimens of my experiments. The first was from the window in the long gallery that opened into the hall, the height about sixteen feet. The next from the battlements of the house down into the fore court, twenty-nine feet; then from the clock turret to the ground, which was 34 feet; this being the greatest height we could come at, and, notwithstanding the smallness of the cane, the leaf brass was attracted and repelled beyond what I expected. As we had no greater heights here, Mr. Wheler was desirous to try whether we could not carry the electric virtue horizontally. He proposed a silk line to support the line by which the electric virtue was to pass; with which, together with the apt method Mr. Wheler contrived, and with the great pains he took himself, and the assistance of his servants, we succeeded far beyond our expectations. The first experiment was made in the matted gallery July 2, 1729, about ten in the morning. About four feet from the end of the gallery there was a cross line that was fixed by its end to each side of the gallery by two nails, the middle part of the line was silk, the rest of each end packthread, then the line to which the ivory ball was hung, and by which the electric virtue was to be conveyed to it from the tube, being 30 feet in length, was laid on the cross silk line so as that the ball hung about nine feet below it. Then the other end of the line was by a loop suspended on a glass cane, and the leaf brass held under the ball on a piece of white paper, when, the tube being rubbed, the ball attracted the leaf brass, and kept it suspended on it for some time."-Phil. Trans. vol. xxxvii. p. 18. They subsequently made use of a line 124 feet long, in the barn, with the like results; afterwards they repeated the experiment with a direct line of 650 feet. And again from the turret closet window, when the line was 765 feet, when the attraction was not sensibly diminished; and lastly they carried the line out of the great parlour window, and down the spacious field before it to a distance of 836 feet. "Some time after, in my absence, Mr. Wheler tried a red-hot poker, and found that the attraction was the same as when cold. He also suspended a live chick upon the tube by the legs, and found that the breast was strongly electrical." And Mr. Gray, in giving an account of experiments they made in concert, at another time, says: "Mr. Wheler, soon after my coming to him, procured silk lines strong enough to bear the weight of his footboy, a good stout lad; then, having suspended him upon the lines, the tube being applied to his feet and hands, and the finger of one that stood by held near his hands or face, he found himself pricked or burned as it were by a spark of fire, and the snapping noise was heard at the same time."-Phil. Trans. vol. xxxix. p. 18. They also suspended a large white cock upon the lines with the same effects. "We caused to be made an iron rod four feet long, and about half an inch in diameter, pointed at each end, but not sharp, being left about the bigness of a pin's head. This being suspended on the lines, then the tube being rubbed and held near one end of the rod, and then the finger or cheek being put near either end of the rod, the effect was the same as when an animal had been suspended on the lines with respect to the pricking pain we felt. : "At night we made the luminous part of the experiment, suspending the iron rod upon the silk lines, then applying one end of the tube to one end of the rod, not only that end had a light upon it, but there proceeded a light at the same time from the other, extending in form of a cone whose vertex was at the end of the rod. We could plainly see that it consisted of threads or rays of light diverging from the pores of the rod, and the exterior rays being incurvated. This light is attended with a small hissing noise; every stroke we give the tube causes the light to appear."."-Ibid. p. 19. In concluding this paper, Mr. Gray observes, "Although these effects are but in minimis, it is probable in time there may be found out a way to collect a greater quantity of it, and consequently to increase the force of this electric fire, which by several of these expe |