"Having in obedience to his Majesty's will signified thus much unto you, I shall not doubt of that your ready compliance; and the rather because his Majesty intends to send the same injunctions very speedily to the University of Oxford, whom I am assured you will equal in all other excellencies, and so in obedience to the king; especially when his commands are so much to the honour and esteem of that renowned University, whose welfare is so heartily desired, and shall ever be endeavoured by, Mr. Vice-Chancellor, "Your loving friend and Chancellor, "MONMOUTH." I believe this letter, or something like it, was published by Peck in his _Desiderata Curiosa_, and also by Mr. Roberts in his _Life of Monmouth_. The transcript I send you was made from a copy in the handwriting of Dr. Birch in the _Additional MS._ 4162., fo. 230. JOHN BRUCE. The following passage occurs in Rutt's _Diary of Thomas Burton_, 4 vols.: Colburn, 1828. I have not the work at hand, but from a MS. extract from the same, believe it may be found as a note by the editor in vol. i. p. 359. "Burnet was always an extempore preacher. He says that reading is peculiar to this nation, and cannot be induced in any other. The only discourse he ever wrote beforehand was a thanksgiving sermon before the queen in 1705. He never before was at a pause in preaching. It is contrary to a university statute, obsolete, though unrepealed." C. H. P. Brighton, June 27. LORD MAYOR NOT A PRIVY COUNCILLOR. (Vol. iii., p. 496.) This Query, and your answer, involve one or two important questions, which are worth a fuller solution than you have given. The Lord Mayor is no more a Privy Councillor than he is Archbishop of Canterbury. The title of "Right Honourable," which has given rise to that vulgar error, is in itself a mere courtesy appended to the title of "Lord;" which is also, popularly, though not _legally_, given him: for in all _his own_ acts, he is designated officially as "Mayor" only. The courtesy-title of _Lord_ he shares with the Mayors of Dublin and York, the Lord-Advocate of Scotland, the younger sons of Dukes and Marquises, &c. &c., and all such _Lords_ are styled by courtesy "Right Honourable;" and this style of _Right Honourable_ is also given to Privy Councillors in virtue of their proper official title of "Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council." So, the "Right Honourable the Lords of the Treasury and Admiralty." So much for the title. The fact stated in the Editor's answer, of the admission of the Lord Mayor _to the Council Chamber_ after some clamour, on the accession of William IV., is a mistake arising out of the following circumstances. On the demise of the crown, a London Gazette Extraordinary is immediately published, with a proclamation announcing the death of one sovereign and the accession of the other. This proclamation styles itself to be that of the--