ancestors of the present Earl of Shrewsbury exchanged Farnham with Henry the Eighth, but are said to have reserved this privilege to themselves and their posterity.

BURNHAM is a large village, whose prosperity has been augmented by the privilege of holding three fairs annually. About one mile to the south are the remains of an Augustine nunnery, now fitted up as a farm-house, that was built, in the year 1228, by Richard, King of the Romans, brother of Henry the Third.

TAPLOE HOUSE, a seat of the Marquis of Thomond, late Earl of Inchiquin, is an ancient building, erected on the brow of an eminence, which commands a fine prospect of the Thames and the adjacent country. The park is stored with rich woods, and rendered beautiful by a bold inequality of surface. The noble trunk of a very aged oak,

"Whose antique root peeps out

"Upon the brook that brawls along the wood,"

spreads its majestic branches on an eminence in the park, and is said to have been planted by the Princess Elizabeth during the time of her confinement here. Mr. Ireland imagined this report to be untrue, as its size and venerable appearance intimate a much earlier existence.

SLOUGH is a hamlet appertaining to the villages of Upton and Stoke, but rendered interesting to the astronomer and man of science, from having long been the residence of the ingenious. Dr. Herschell, whose important mechanical inventions, and discoveries in the solar system, reflect a high degree of honor on his name, and likewise on the Monarch who has encouraged and patronized him. In the Philosophical Transactions for 1795, there is a particular description of his forty feet telescope, occupying 63 pages of letter-press, and illustrated with 18 engravings. It was completed in August, 1789, on which day the sixth Satellite of Saturn was discovered. The telescope is now standing in Dr. Herschell's garden.

ETON

ETON COLLEGE,

THE noble seminary of learning founded in the year 1440, by the unfortunate Henry the Sixth, "has every advantage from situation which the luxuriant hand of nature can bestow." The valley in which it stands is both healthy and fertile; and the vicinity of the Thames, which rolls its pellucid stream at a short distance from its walls, contributes to its pleasantness and beauty.

This foundation was originally endowed for a provost, ten priests, six clerks, six choristers, twenty-five poor grammar scholars, with a master to teach them, and twenty-five poor old men; and though some of its endowment was taken away by Edward the Fourth, yet, being particularly exempted in the act of dissolution, it still subsists in a flourishing state," and now supports a provost, vice-provost, and seventy scholars, besides various officers and assistants.

The scholars on this foundation are annually elected to King's College, Cambridge, but not removed till the occurrence of vacancies, when they are called according to seniority; and, after they have continued at Cambridge three years, are entitled to a fellowship. Besides the King's scholars, there are seldom less than 300 noblemen and gentlemen's sons, who board with the Masters, and receive their education at this seminary.

The college consists of two quadrangles. One of them is appropriated to the school, (which is divided into lower and upper, and each subdivided into three classes,) and the lodging of the masters and scholars: the other contains the apartments of the provost and fellows, and likewise the library, which is regarded as one of the finest in Europe, its original stock of books having been augmented at different periods, with collections bequeathed or given to the college by various literary characters. Some very valuable drawings, paintings, and oriental manuscripts, are numbered with the rare and curious articles here preserved.

*Gough's Additions to Camden.

In

In the provost's apartments there is a portrait of JANE SHORE, painted on pannel, and considered as original. The forehead is large, but the features are small and uninteresting. The hair is a yellowish auburn. Her only covering is a thin veil, thrown loosely over her shoulders. The principal argument for the genuineness of the portrait, is the circumstance of the confessor of this celebrated favorite having been provost of the college.

The chapel is a fine gothic structure, ornamented with pinnacles and embrasures, and very similar in its disposition of parts to that of King's College, Cambridge; and has, therefore, with much appearance of probability, been attributed to the same architect. Mr. Baker, the Cambridge antiquary, informed Mr. Walpole, that his name was Cloos, father of Nicholas Cloos, one of the first fellows of the above college, and afterwards Bishop of Litchfield: but Godwin observes, that the designer of the works at Eton was "the Bishop himself."

The origin of the singular custom celebrated at Eton every third year on Whit Tuesday, under the name of the MONTEM, cannot be satisfactorily ascertained, but may be traced as far back as the reign of Elizabeth, who, when on a visit to the college, desired to see an account of the ancient ceremonies observed there from the period of its foundation. In the list was an annual procession of the scholars, who on those occasions repeated verses, and gathered money from the public for a dinner, and other purposes. The ceremony of late years has been conducted with more regard to decorum than formerly; and the institution has been patronized by their Majesties, who frequently honor the celebration with their presence, as well as a liberal subscription. On these occasions the whole school are assembled, and arranged in military order, with music and colors. The fancy dresses of the Salt Bearers, and those denominated Scouts, are of different colored silks. Every person in the vicinity of Windsor is expected at these triennial assemblies to give something toward what is called salt-money; and different parties are stationed on all the neighbouring roads, to levy contributions from passengers, whose refusal to buy salt, would, perhaps, be attended with

danger.

danger. The amount of the sums collected is generally from six hundred to eight hundred pounds. This is given to the Captain or senior of the boys on the King's foundation, previously to his removal to Cambridge.

The village of ETON has of late years been considerably improved, many of the houses having been rebuilt, and others repaired in the modern style. It consists principally of one street, connected with the town of Windsor by a bridge thrown over the Thames.

COLNBROOK

Is an ancient town, situated on several channels of the river Colne, over each of which there is a small bridge. Camden affirms it to have been the Pontes of the Intinerary: Gale, Baxter, and some others, agree with his opinion; but Leland places that station at Reading, in Berkshire; Salmon, at Dorking, in Surrey; and Horsley, at Old Windsor. The market-house and chapel, which stood in a narrow part of the town, have been lately removed by the commissioners of the turnpike-roads, and a neat chapel erected in a more convenient situation. The inhabitants are chiefly supported by the expenditure of travellers. Some of the small islands formed by the different branches of the Colne in this neighbourhood, are supposed by Camden to have been the places where the Danes secured themselves from the attacks of Alfred in the year 894: but Bishop Gibson, with more probability, refers their successful defence to the Isle of Mersey, formed by the river Coln, in Essex.

MISCELLANEOUS.

In the north aisle of the church at Newport Pagnell, in the year 1619, the body of a man was found, with all the hollow parts of the body, and of every bone, filled with lead. The scull, with the lead in it, weighed thirty pounds, six ounces. It is now in St. John's College Library, Cambridge: and before it was rolled about, and battered, bore as great resemblance to lead, as petrified wood does to stone,