Hall, as he submitted the Junius Correspondence,
through Mr. Hallam, to Serjeant Rough, who returned the letters to Mr.
Hallam. Where now are the original Junius Letters, and where the other
MSS.? The _Athenaeum_ has announced that the Stowe MSS., including the
Diaries and Correspondence of George Grenville, are about to be published,
and will throw a "new light" on the character of John Wilkes. I suspect any
light obtained from George Grenville will be very like the old light, and
only help to blacken what is already too dark. I therefore venture to ask
once again, Where are the Wilkes MSS.? and can they be consulted? Further,
are any of your readers able and willing to inform us who were the writers
of the different papers in the _North Briton_, either first or second
series? Through "NOTES AND QUERIES" we got much curious information on this
point with reference to the _Rolliad_.

W. M. S.

"_O wearisome Condition of Humanity!_"--Can any of your readers inform me
in what "noble poet of our own" the following verses are to be found. They
are quoted by Tillotson in vol. ii. p. 255. of his Works, in 3 vols. fo.

"O wearisome condition of humanity!
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity;
Created sick, commanded to be sound.
If Nature did not take delight in blood,
She would have found more easy ways to good."

Q.

Bloomsbury.

_Places called "Purgatory."_--The Rev. Wm. Thornber, in his _History of
Blackpool in the Fylde District of Lancashire_, gives the following
explanation of the name as applied to particular fields, houses, &c.:--

"The last evening in October (or vigil of All Souls) {242} was called
the Teanlay night; at the close of that day, till within late years,
the hills which encircle the Fylde shone brightly with many a bonfire,
the mosses rivalling them with their fires kindled for the object of
succouring their friends in purgatory. A field near Poulton, in which
this ceremony of the Teanlays was celebrated (a circle of men standing
with bundles of straw raised high on pitchforks), is named Purgatory;
and will hand down to posterity the farce of lighting souls to endless
happiness from the confines of their prison-house: the custom was not
confined to one village or town, but was generally practised by the
Romanists."

It is certain that places may be found here and there in the county still
going by