CONTENTS 1 31 4.4 An Introduction to the Political State of Great Britain Observations on the Treaty between his Britannic Ma- jesty and his Imperial Majesty of all the Russias 68 Introduction to the Proceedings of the Committee ap- POLITICAL TRACTS. MARMOR NORFOLCIENSE; OR, AN ESSAY ON AN ANCIENT PROPHETICAL INSCRIPTION, IN MONKISH RHYME, LATELY DISCOVERED NEAR LYNN, IN NORFOLK, BY PROBUS BRITANNICUS. First printed in the year 1739. IN Norfolk, near the town of Lynn, in a field which an ancient tradition of the country affirms to have been once a deep lake or meer, and which appears from authentic records to have been called, about two hundred years ago, Palus, or the Marsh, was discovered not long since a large square stone, which is found upon an exact inspection to be a kind of coarse marble, of a substance not firm enough to admit of being polished, yet harder than our common quarries afford, and not easily susceptible of injuries from weather or outward accidents. It was brought to light by a farmer, who, observing his plough obstructed by something, through which the share could not make its way, ordered his servants to remove it. This was not effected without some difficulty, the stone being three feet four inches deep, and four feet square in the superfices, and consequently of a weight not easily manageable. However, by the application of levers, it was at length raised, and conveyed to a corner of the field, where it lay for some months entirely unregarded: nor perhaps had we ever been made acquainted with this venerable relique of antiquity, had not our good fortune been greater than our curiosity. A gentleman, well known to the learned world, and distinguished by the patronage of the Macenas of Norfolk, whose name, was I permitted to mention it, would excite the attention of my reader, and add no small authority to my conjectures, observing, as he was walking that way, that the clouds began to gather and threaten him with a shower, had recourse for shelter to the trees under which this stone happened to lie, and sat down upon it in expectation of fair weather. At length he began to amuse himself in his confinement, by clearing the earth from his seat with the point of his cane: and had continued this employment some time, when he observed several traces of letters antique and irregular, which by being very deeply engraven were still easily distinguishable. This discovery so far raised his curiosity, that going home immediately, he procured an instrument proper for cutting out the clay, that filled up the spaces of the letters, and with very little labour made the inscription legible, which is here exhibited to the publick: POST-GENITIS. Cum lapidem hunc, magni Effundet patria fletus, Littoraque ut fluctu, Resonabunt oppida luctu : |