the mercantile transactions of this country with the eastern world. A broad tablet of stone over the entrance has the following inscription: This Building was erected M.DCC.LXXXIV. by the Representative of the late SIR WILLIAM JAMES, BART. To commemorate that gallant Officer's Achievements in the During his Command of the Company's Marine Forces in And in a particular Manner to record the Conquest of It Here he found Rama-gee Punt with the army besieging, as they said, the three forts on the main land; but they were firing only from one gun, a four-pounder, at the distance of two miles, and even at this distance the troops did not think themselves safe without digging pits, in which they sheltered themselves covered up to the chin from the enemy's fire. The commodore judging from these operations, that they would never take the forts, determined to exceed the instructions which he had received from the presidency, rather than expose the English arms to the disgrace they would suffer, if an expedition, in which they were believed by Angria to have taken so great a share, should miscarry. The next day, the 2d of April, he began to cannonade and bombard the fort of Severndroog, situated on the island; but finding that the walls on the western side which he attacked, were mostly cut out of the solid rock, he changed his station to the north-east between the island and the main; where whilst one of his broadsides plied the north-east bastions of this fort, the other fired on fort Goa, the largest of those upon the main land. The bastions of Severndroog, however, were so high, that the Protector could only point her upper tier at them; but being anchored within a hundred yards, the musketry in the round tops drove the enemy from their guns, and by noon the parapet of the north-east bastion was in ruins; when a shell from one of the bomb-vessels set fire to a thatched house, which the garrison, dreading the Protector's musketry, were afraid to extinguish: the blaze spreading fiercely at this dry season of the year, all the buildings of the fort were soon in flames, and amongst them a magazine of powder blew up. On this disaster the inhabitants, men, women, and children, with the greatest part of the garrison, in all near one It consists of three floors: in the lower room are, various Indian weapons, armour, &c. brought as trophies from Sedroog Castle. The upper stories are neatly fitted up; on the cieling of the first is a series of views, in six compart. ments, of the relative situation of the fleet and fortress onthe day of the assault. The summit is embattled, and has turrets at the angles. From the windows and roof, the prospects are uncommonly extensive, and very rich; they include a great part of Essex, Kent, and Surrey; with the river Thames, and the metropolis... This tower was erected by Lady James, who resided with her husband, Sir William James, at Park Place Farm, near Eltham. Their daughter and heiress married the late Thomas Boothby Parkyns, first lord Rancliffe, whose son, George Augustus Henry Anne Parkyns, lord Rancliffe, has recently come of age, and is now owner of this building, and its surrounding grounds*. ene thousand persons, ran out of the fort, aud embarking in seven or eight large boats, attempted to make their escape to fort Goa; but they were prevented by the English ketches, who took them all. The Protector now directed her fire only against fort Goa; where the enemy, after suffering a severe cannonade, hung out a flag as a signal of surrender, but whilst the Morattoes were marching to take possession of it, the governor perceiving that the commodore had not yet taken possession of Severndroog, got into a boat with some of his most trusty men, and crossed over to the island, hoping to be able to maintain the fort until he should receive assistance from Dabul, which is in sight of it. Upon this the Protector renewed her fire upon Severndroog; and the commodore finding that the governor wanted to protract the defence until night, when it was not to be doubted that some boats from Dabul would endeavour to throw succours into the place, he landed half his seamen, under cover of the fire of the ships, who with great intrepidity ran up to the gate, and cutting down the sally-port with their axes, forced their way into it; on which the garrison surrendered: the other two forts on the main land had by this time hung out flags of truce, and the Morattoes took possession of them. This was all the work of one day, in which the spirited resolu❤ tion of commodore James destroyed the timorous prejudices which had for twenty years been entertained of the impracticability of reducing any of Angria's fortified harbours.-Brayley's Illustration of the Works of Bloomfield. Orme's Hindostan. * Beauties of England, Vol. VII. On and Woolwich. Richard de Lucy, one of the grand jus ticiaries of this kingdom, in the reign of king Henry II. was the founder of this religious house; a gentleman deservedly eminent as a soldier, a statesman, and a lawyer, which different provinces he executed with fidelity to his prince, and a conscientious regard to the true interests of the nation. It was begun by him not quite two years before his death; and, after he had finished it, he retired from the active world, and, it is said, became the prior of his own convent. The king, unwilling to lose the counsel and assistance of so able and experienced a servant, earnestly endeavoured to dissuade him from entering into this idle and useless scheme of life, but it was a vain attempt.. Influenced by the superstitious prejudices of the age, he thought the putting on a monkish cowl would render his passage to heaven more certain. Richard de Lucy, his only son Godfrey, bishop of Winchester, and others of the family, were buried in the church belonging to this religious house. Some of their tombs and coffins were discovered in the year 1630, by workmen employed to dig out stones from the rubbish of this decayed fabric; and there was one monument in particular, which, from its being placed in the choir on the north side of the altar, is judged to have been that of the founder. It was forced open, and within a stone coffin, in a sheet of lead, the remains of a catcase lay enwrapped, whole and undisjointed; and upon the head some hair, or something like hair, appeared. By the direction of Sir John Epsley, at that time lord of the manor, the, monument was again covered, and he planted a bay tree over it. In 1753, when Dr. Stukeley made his pilgrimage, as he terms it, to this abbey, he thought the tree to be by far the finest of the kind ho had ever seen; but the two principal stems of it are since perished, and, from the weakness of the root, it is not likely long to put forth any branches to serve for a memorial of the place of inter fment of this once eminent personage. Dr. Stukeley was of opinion, that the farm house standing upon the premises was the original mansion or seat of the founder, in which he and and Woolwich. Richard de Lucy, one of the grand jus ticiaries of this kingdom, in the reign of king Henry II. was the founder of this religious house; a gentleman deservedly eminent as a soldier, a statesman, and a lawyer, which different provinces he executed with fidelity to his prince, and a conscientious regard to the true interests of the nation. It was begun by him not quite two years before his death; and, after he had finished it, he retired from the active world, and, it is said, became the prior of his own convent. The king, unwilling to lose the counsel and assistance of so able and experienced a servant, earnestly endeavoured to dissuade him from entering into this idle and useless 'scheme of life, but it was a vain attempt.. Influenced by the superstitious prejudices of the age, he thought the putting on a monkish cowl would render his passage to heaven more certain. Richard de Lucy, his only son Godfrey, bishop of Winchester, and others of the family, were buried in the church belonging to this religious house. Some of their tombs and coffins were discovered in the year 1630, by workmen employed to dig out stones from the rubbish of this decayed fabric; and there was one monument in particular, which, from its being placed in the choir on the north side of the altar, is judged to have been that of the founder. It was forced open, and within a stone coffin, in a sheet of lead, the remains of a carcase lay enwrapped, whole and undisjointed; and upon the head some hair, or something like hair, appeared. By the direction of Sir John Epsley, at that time lord of the manor, the, monument was again covered, and he planted a bay tree over it. In 1753, when Dr. Stukeley made his pilgrimage, as he terms it, to this abbey, he thought the tree to be by far the finest of the kind he had ever seen; but the two principal stems of it are since perished, and, from the weakness of the root, it is not likely long to put forth any branches to serve for a memorial of the place of inter ment of this once eminent personage. Dr. Stukeley was of opinion, that the farm house standing upon the premises was the original mansion or seat of the founder, in which he and |