The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-11-09 00:00:00

TESTIMONIAL TO A CAPTAIN.

The following letter has been sent to Captain Burns, of
the ship St. John, just arrived here from St. John's, New
Brunswick : _

Dear Sir,—We the passengers on board the good ship
St. John, of and from St. John, New Brunswick, cannot
take leave of you without expressing our respect for the
truly efficient and skilful manner in which you have dis-
charged the responsible duties of your office, during a
passage of twenty days across the Atlantic.
At all times we have found your demeanour that of a
gentleman, and your unwearied anxiety for the safety of
the vessel, and our individual happiness, such as to leave
an abiding impression of gratitude ou our minds.• We
will not soon forget the very happy time which has passed
so agreeably in the vessel under your command, and it is
our prayer that He "who rides on the whirlwind, and di-
rects the storm," may long preserve you in all your jour-
neyings, so that others may afterwards enjoy the same
privileges as those which we have so richly experienced,
owing to your unwearied assiduity and attention, and for
which we feel called on thus cordially to express our ap-
probation and thankfulness.
With sincere good wishes for your prosperity and hap-
piness, We remain, dear sir,
Most affectionately, your friends,
Alex. M'Leod Stavely, Minister of St. John's, N.B.
James Law, A.M., Minister, Richibucto, N.B.
• Alexander Petrie, Liverpool,
Arthur H. K. Allan, Fredericton, N.B.
Mrs. Iroine, St. John's, N.B•'
Miss Reid, Ayrshire.
Off Mizen Head, 26th October, 1847.

The following is the worthy captain's reply :
Ladies and Gentlemen,—l beg most respectfully to ac-
knowledge the receipt of your most gratifying compliment,
dated 26th Oct. 1847, in which my conduct, during a voy-
age from St. John's to this port, is appreciated by you in
the most flattering terms ; and I beg also to state that the
assiduity and attention for which you so cordially thank
me, shall be exercised on all occasions under similar cir-
cumstances, and I trust, in return, you will accept my
best but most humble thanks for the high eulogiums so
recently conferred upon your most obedient and humble
servant,

ARTHUR BURNS,
Master of the ship St. John.

THE ANTIQUITIES_ FOUND AT HOYLAKE.

A pamphlet bearing this title has made its appearance—
from the pen of our talented and respected townsman
A. Hume, Esq., LL.D., F.S.A., of the Collegiate Insti-
tution, and corresponding member of several antiquarian
and other scientific societies.

The author has evidently brought to his task the fruits
of much antiquarian research, and has treated his subject
—not in itself very fertile—with that extreme and retiring
modesty which is the frequent concomitant of genius.
The topic is one of much interest in this locality, and
scarcely less so to the topographical in any part of the
kingdom ; for who, of the thinking world, can be dead to
the feelings and speculations to which the contemplation
of physical mutations of territory give rise ?—the sub-
mersion, as in this case, by the inroads of the ruthless
ocean, f a probably extensive and assuredly fertile dis-
trict, peopled by a race long since gathered to their fathers,
vet leaving behind them, on the site of their habitations,
relics, though simple, of their state of civilization and
ingenuity. The work is illustrated by drawings on stone.
It appears that in the spring of 1846 the author hap-
pened to be at the parsonage of Hoylake, where he saw
some curiosities on the chimney-piece, which he was
informed were but " a small portion of those procured by a
poor man in the village who occasionally amused himself
by picking them up on the sea shore." These he exhi-
bited. Shortly afterwards, the interest of the curious was
again excited by the finding, by the late Dr. Carson, of
aLlilve
bearingrpool, omf
aarksskuo lfl
aanntdi
qoutiht
ye r. r eElivces
nntenaarlltyh, eafstaemr es e
vs peroat,
l
visits, he procured the entire stock of the humble collector,
extracted from the place known as the Submarine Forest,
to which several members of the Liverpool Literary and
Philosophical Society made an excursion in 1845. It lies
between the Leasowe Lighthouse and the mouth of the
m: aar
e tn us
ther i
in t y
extent,
adjacentn d f la
land,d nt o decay,
consists b
tt
'lot f
Dee • and our author remarks, that "to whatever cause
the ?act is attributable, it is unquestionable that a place
in which large quantities of vegetable matter attained
tide."
The area, over which the articles were found, is several
a
p"raobabobtltyommoorfelitghhatn t
vi
blue
clay, with black earth like turf, at the top." It is lower
t
feet; and a sand-hill—variable according to the state of
the wind—rests upon this bed, and presents its side to
the sea, from four to twelve and even twenty feet high.
The collector, an old inhabitant, has occupied the leisure
hours of 18 years in procuring them.
is
now daily covered by the
The most important of them are,—upwards of 100
buckles, 20 rings and fragments, 6 skewers or pins, 80
tags of straps, 3 needles, 2 needle cases, 3 brooches, 3
fibulae, 8 amulets or beads, one fish hook, one key, and a
cross.

Dr. Hume describes these seriatim with reference to
the drawings, and enters into an interesting inquiry as to
the respective probable dates of their formation, and the
several uses to which they were applied. The details are
highly interesting, and exhibit much antiquarian research.
Dr. flume states :

" Until the time of Edward 111., however, Wirrall was
still a forest ; but it was not the less fitted to be the posi-
tion of British towns and villages. This circumstance may
also in part account for the quantities of timber still found
here, similar to those which are found in Bagmere and
Ellesmere two centuries ago. From the period when
Wirrall was disafforested, it, of course, became much
better known. The Roman station at Hilbre was taken
possession of by monks, and the shepherd, the husband-
man, the sailor, and the ecclesiastic, passed frequently
over the district that had long been known only to the
forester or the sportsman. Villages were no doubt built,
and others extended; and there can be little doubt that
the convenience of Hoylake for purposes of navigation
caused it early to attain considerable celebrity. For
several centuries it was the practical Liverpool of our
north-western coast. It was one of the great landing-
places from Ireland. It has been celebrated in history as
the place of embarkation of William 111. at the period of
the revolution ; and it was the place from which William
Penn sailed with his friends when going to colonize or
" plant " the State to which he gave his name. Since
that time, strange causes have been in operation, sufficient
to account for more than all the changes which these anti-
quities suggest to the mind."
Several highly interesting extracts are given from vari-
ous authors relative to the locality, including some from
Captain Denham's " Mersey and Dee," from which it
appears that, from the tidal action, " the inhabitants of
two or three villages may have been dispossessed by
Father Neptune, when they fancied that their name and
fame were sufficient to endure for ever. And if we carry
our thoughts back, not 150 years only, as Capt. Denham
has done, but 300 or 400, how much greater must the
changes have been that have taken place in all that time."
Our author further states, that Dr. Traill informed him
that at the low-water of spring tides, the foundations of
houses could have been distinctly traced at a recent
Period on. the Hoyle Bank-.